McGregor on Rutschman: "They're throwing it (fastballs) by him right now"
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Tony-OH
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By OsFanSinceThe80s · Posted
The Orioles starters absolutely have to do better against the Royals. You can't ask this bullpen to pitch most of the game and expect to win. Right now I probably trust Coulombe the most and Soto (which I never would have guessed a couple weeks back). Perez has been really shaky recently to the point I'm wondering is he nursing a tired arm or minor injuey. Cano hasn't been good as well and O's really need him to get back into a groove. And Akin is usually trustworthy, but only starting the inning clean. -
I'll be working at Gate F. If you're getting drunk at Pickles before the game and then walk through the closest gate, you'll walk right past me. -
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For me, bullpen strategy in a short series is developing a core principle or two and working backwards from that. That’s usually going to involve how we want to pitch to their best guys. In this case, there’s really no way to game Witt. He doesn’t have any discernible platoon splits, and in fact he destroyed RHPs this year. He doesn’t even have any particular pitches he struggles against. If you have to pitch to him, power stuff seems to be the way to go — if he has any weakness, it seems like maybe it’s LHPs who can attack him with high velocity and some sort of off speed weapon (Skubal, Framber, Kikuchi, EdRod, Rodon, Sale, Gore). So maybe you’re looking at Soto and Perez there, although you really just shouldn’t be pitching to him at all if you can avoid it. Beyond him, the other “hero” is Salvador Perez. And that’s from where I’d be building out my strategy. He probably should not see a LHP all series. There’s a fairly meaningful career platoon split there (109 wRC+ to 101), and it’s been more pronounced this year (130 to 110). I would be looking to force feed him ABs against Cano (1/4 with a single), Webb (0/2 with two Ks), and Dominguez. He’s always had trouble with offspeed stuff, which means Webb might be the preferred option. They’ve faced a ton of LH starters in the last week or so, but it seems like their preferred lineup against RHPs stacks LH hitters like Melendez and Gurriel behind Perez. Melendez is awful against LHPs, so ideally Perez might be the last hitter that the starters see. They pinch hit very liberally in platoon fashion in the bottom half of the lineup, so if you brought in someone like Akin behind the starter, they might very well hit for him. Forcing them to do that erases a lot of the platoon stacking in the late innings, so you could subsequently bring in a RHP to pitch to Perez without the same concern that they’d be exposed after him. In sum, I think the ideal attack plan is for Burnes/Eflin/Kremer to see Perez three times, then bring in Akin or Cionel to pitch to the bottom of what will likely be a lefty-heavy lineup. They’ll potentially PH there, but that’s okay because none of those guys are that good. You then go to one of the RHPs for the top of the lineup, which it seems will consist of Pham, Witt (pitch around), and Perez. Then back to Coulombe or Soto for the bottom of the lineup again. -
By beantownrefugee · Posted
I have two tickets to Game 1 of the WC which I cannot use due to work travel. Section 352, row 4, seats 9 & 10. Asking $70 total for the two. Paid $205 to the Orioles as a season plan member. PM me if interested. Paypal preferred. -
Can't make game 1. I'll be at game 2...last time I was at a playoff game at Camden, we beat Scherzer and the Tigers. -
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