Welp, Are We Officially Worried About Brach?

[weams]

Just now, theocean said:

How many of Gabe's analytical decisions backfire before he gets pelted with batteries by the loving Philly fans?

Next game. It's Philly. The Gods don't even know about you.

[jabba72]

http://www.espn.com/video/clip?id=22960145

 

Markakis' HR. Ok, umm no question the balls are juiced this year after seeing that HR.

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

2 minutes ago, jabba72 said:

http://www.espn.com/video/clip?id=22960145

 

Markakis' HR. Ok, umm no question the balls are juiced this year after seeing that HR.

That looked like Nick Markakis from 2008.  

[jabba72]

1 minute ago, OsFanSinceThe80s said:

That looked like Nick Markakis from 2008.  

He did crush it but the ball carried alot on its own as well. Jones HR yesterday was absolutely crushed too. I have a feeling a new league HR record is going to be set this year. 

[Going Underground]

1 hour ago, Frobby said:

This is from the catcher’s point of view, so everything’s reversed from the CF camera view we see.   

I watched the last inning when I got home on replay. MASN did not do a replay of the pitch and no box to see how close it was. I notice the Nationals use the box more then the Oriole telecasts.

[TouchemAll]

Yup

Didn't like Brach as the closer last year either. In his defense if Davis makes the glove play, or if he gets that CLOSE third strike call inning over, but to many walks

[SteveA]

2 hours ago, Frobby said:

It was 11th pitch.    Here’s the chart.    Close, but a ball.  

But I will say that the ump had been calling a lot of borderline pitches strikes the entire game.   Both Bundy and Odorizzi had benefited from such calls, mostly on the outside edge of the zone.

[Frobby]

35 minutes ago, SteveA said:

But I will say that the ump had been calling a lot of borderline pitches strikes the entire game.   Both Bundy and Odorizzi had benefited from such calls, mostly on the outside edge of the zone.

Odorizzi got a couple of calls on the other side of the plate, but nothing on that side.

[Frobby]

Bundy did get a couple of calls on that side.   

[joeyc]

I never was a big fan of Brachand I hate him as a closer. He breaks under pressure. Much rather see Givens in that role.

[Sanfran327]

I'm not a knee-jerk reaction kind of guy, but I would absolutely prefer Givens in the closer role until Britton gets back (and even a bit after that as Zack gets his bearings again). Brach was too good in his SU role in past years to take him out of that and into a role where he's struggled so much. Givens seems to have the most electric stuff right now, anyway, so he'd be my choice. Also, from a maturity standpoint, I think Givens is ready to make the leap. Nothing seems to bother the kid, and Brach seems to get a little frazzled in the 9th from what we've seen.

[Redskins Rick]

2 hours ago, Sanfran327 said:

I'm not a knee-jerk reaction kind of guy, but I would absolutely prefer Givens in the closer role until Britton gets back (and even a bit after that as Zack gets his bearings again). Brach was too good in his SU role in past years to take him out of that and into a role where he's struggled so much. Givens seems to have the most electric stuff right now, anyway, so he'd be my choice. Also, from a maturity standpoint, I think Givens is ready to make the leap. Nothing seems to bother the kid, and Brach seems to get a little frazzled in the 9th from what we've seen.

You do remember Givens had 6 BS in middle relief last year?

He does have electric stuff, most of the time, he also hasn't been pitching as long as some of the other guys, and he does get frazzled too.

 

[MurphDogg]

20 hours ago, Redskins Rick said:

You do remember Givens had 6 BS in middle relief last year?

He does have electric stuff, most of the time, he also hasn't been pitching as long as some of the other guys, and he does get frazzled too.

 

I think Givens is the better pitcher, but I also think that top setup men can potentially pitch in higher leverage situations overall than closers. Add in that Givens is arbitration eligible for the first time after this season and that arbitration tends to over value saves, it is probably to the Orioles benefit that Givens stay in the setup role for at least another season.

[weams]

4 minutes ago, MurphDogg said:

I think Givens is the better pitcher, but I also think that top setup men can potentially pitch in higher leverage situations overall than closers. Add in that Givens is arbitration eligible for the first time after this season and that arbitration tends to over value saves, it is probably to the Orioles benefit that Givens stay in the setup role for at least another season.

I'd almost like to see O'Day close if healthy. 

[Frobby]

I watched the 9th inning again this morning, and a re-viewing confirmed my view that Brach did not pitch poorly in that inning, other than the four pitch walk to Morrison.    First guy struck out and Brach’s stuff was nasty.    Second guy hit a pretty routine chopper on a nasty pitch from Brach that Davis lost in the sun — very tough break.    Next batter was the four pitch walk and it was punctuated by a pretty bad passed ball from Joseph on the second pitch that might have unnerved Brach a little.   Next batter was a tough battle that went 7 pitches and Brach eventually won on a nasty changeup.    Then came Kepler’s epic 11-pitch at bat that started off 0-2 and eventually resulted in a walk — I give the credit to Kepler for fouling off several tough pitches and laying off ball four, which was a close pitch but definitely outside the strike zone by a couple inches.

Pause there — Brach had thrown 29 pitches and just lost a very tough battle to load the bases.   Buck stuck with him — a debatable call at that point.    I would have changed pitchers but the decision can be justified.    Borderline decision.

Brach’s final sequence was not particularly good — he fell behind 3-1 and the final pitch was a bit up and center of the plate.    But, it yielded a flare that was not well hit and only a foot or two from being caught.     

Overall, what I didn’t see was a guy intimidated by closing.    The inning just didn’t go his way.