Thursday, May 1st Rays @ O's

[bluedog]

Disagree. Even if you walk Crawford, you're still almost certainly going to have to face Carlos Pena if Haynes does anything but ground into a double play. Crawford with two on vs. Pena with the bases loaded? Pick your poison.

Uh...just look at their recent hitting? Crawford is hitting .500 over the past couple of weeks, Pena is hitting .200.

I know its pretty radical, but I'd rather pitch to the slumping hitter and walk the guy who's destroying the ball.

[PaulFolk]

Uh...just look at their recent hitting? Crawford is hitting .500 over the past couple of weeks, Pena is hitting .200.

I know its pretty radical, but I'd rather pitch to the slumping hitter and walk the guy who's destroying the ball.

If the pitcher weren't Jamie Walker, I'd probably agree. But Pena has owned Walker this year, and I'm sure Trembley was in no hurry to set up a rematch with the bases loaded. He took his chances that Walker could retire Crawford and Haynes.

[Dr. FLK]

Uh...just look at their recent hitting? Crawford is hitting .500 over the past couple of weeks, Pena is hitting .200.

I know its pretty radical, but I'd rather pitch to the slumping hitter and walk the guy who's destroying the ball.

It gets a little tougher when the "slumping hitter" is a guy who has absolutely destroyed your team this season.

[Orioles Magic]

Uh oh, Bradford. Here come the seeing eye ground ball singles. That has got to even out at some point.

[bluedog]

Its certainly not a slamdunk decision either way, like I think pulling Burres after the leadoff walk if not sooner was, but I'll take my chances pitching around Crawford, try to get the backup OF to bounce into 2, and if he just gets out, to go after Pena.

Yup - we're thinking alike. I think the key is that one run is as good as 4 runs for TB given how good their pen has been and how poorly the O's are hitting right now.

If you are willing to give up a run but want to minimize the big inning, pitching to Crawford makes some sense.

If you want to give your team the best chance to get out of the inning unscathed, setting up the DP, force all around and pitching to a weak hitter and a slumping hitter with the bases loaded makes more sense.

[Hank Scorpio]

Good call, that was a pretty nasty popup!

Yeah, now Pena's 2-3 with 2 home runs that traveled about 900 feet against him.

Not that it mattered at that point with our anemic offense.

[Hank Scorpio]

Question : Has Jay Payton EVER come back from being down 0-2 to take a walk?

[bluedog]

It gets a little tougher when the "slumping hitter" is a guy who has absolutely destroyed your team this season.

He's 2 - 10 in the current series. You don't see the Rays pitching around Luke Scott despite how well he hit against them in the first two series this year. They know he's slumping, so they pitch him aggressively.

Same thing for us and Pena. Being afraid of a guy hitting .200 recently because of what he did to you a month ago is bad judgement.

[PaulFolk]

Question : Has Jay Payton EVER come back from being down 0-2 to take a walk?

Better question: has Jay Payton ever taken a walk?

[blueberryale77]

Torres continues to take several steps before releasing his throw every time he fields a grounder at short. I'm not at all comfortable with him out there.

[bluedog]

If the pitcher weren't Jamie Walker, I'd probably agree. But Pena has owned Walker this year, and I'm sure Trembley was in no hurry to set up a rematch with the bases loaded. He took his chances that Walker could retire Crawford and Haynes.

But you do have the option to bring in another pitcher to face Pena. We have a 40 man pen (as someone else said) so use it!

It makes no sense to pitch to their hottest hitter when you have better options available. Not sure any amount of justification will change that.

[PaulFolk]

But you do have the option to bring in another pitcher to face Pena. We have a 40 man pen (as someone else said) so use it!

It makes no sense to pitch to their hottest hitter when you have better options available. Not sure any amount of justification will change that.

Who would you have brought in?

[blueberryale77]

Brian seriously needs to get rid of this glove he's been using, or at least do something to take the curse off it. He has much better hands than he has shown this season.

[bluedog]

Who would you have brought in?

Me? Sherril. But I'm pretty unconventional. I believe you use your best pitchers in the most cricital situations in the game.

But a normal manager? Bradford and I'd bring him in right after intentionally walking Crawford. Need a double play - bring in the guy that gets 80% + ground balls.

[Orioles Magic]

MLB Gameday is showing back to back singles against Bradford. I can't see the game. Are the hits seeing eye grounders or solid legitimate shots?