Struck out. All weekend.

[Moose Milligan]

If you’d asked me a few weeks ago, I probably would have told you that I didn’t care if Aaron Judge hit homer 60, 61 or 62 against us. 
 

I’m not sure what’s changed, but in the words of the great Mox from Varsity Blues, “I say, ‘**** that.’”  I do not want to see our guys pitching to him this weekend. 
 

I do not want to see Judge (who, for the record, I don’t have much of a problem with) celebrating at our expense. I don’t want to see his teammates celebrating at our expense. I sure as hell don’t want to see their fans celebrating at our expense. 
 

Nothing would please me more this weekend than seeing Yankee fans crying about how we walked Judge 12-15 times over three games and how they bought tickets to see him hit #62 and blah blah blah.  Nothing would please me more than, after years of seeing Judge destroy our pitching, giving him absolutely nothing to hit and having him stand on first base all weekend while the boos rain down.

I want us to be the bad guys. I want us to be the killjoys.  I do not want Hyde to give in. And even if he does have our guys pitch to Judge, I want our guys to be smart and throw everything in the dirt. Or airmail it over the home plate umpire. 
 

I doubt it happens.  I’m sure some poor sap like Baumann or Baker or Krehbiel or  Reed will go down in history as the sucker who grooved a belt high fastball to Judge for #62. He’ll be on replays forever.  And after the game he’ll give some stock answer about “wanting to challenge him” or something which is silly because our pitching hasn’t ever been a challenge for Judge. 
 

So, Hyde and/or Elias, if you’re reading, just walk Judge all weekend long. Make the Yankees and their fans miserable. Be the bad guys. Don’t let anyone have fun at our expense. It’s a new era for Orioles baseball, we’re no longer a laughingstock. No longer a team to set records against. No longer a team to beat up on.  Do not give in. 
 

Milligan, out. 

Edited October 2, 2022 by Moose Milligan

[JimGinSP]

I like the narrative BUT, Hyde’s MOY selection isn’t confirmed.   Hate to see Hyde lose his shot to earn that honor by pissing off folks in the media capital.  

[baltfan]

judge is hardly hateable.  Pitch to him and if he hits it he hits it.  Orioles are out of contention realistically anyhow. 

[glenn__davis]

Nah.  Respectfully Moose, that's lame.  No one will care/notice if it happens against the Orioles vs. any other team.  

If we walk him I'd rather it be at a time when it actually makes sense to intentionally walk him.

[ShoelesJoe]

35 minutes ago, baltfan said:

judge is hardly hateable.  

If only the same could be said about their fan base. I think Moose’s suggestion has more to do with poking them in the eye than dissing Judge. 

[Aristotelian]

I couldn't care less if he hits 62 through 65 against us. I'd like to see how our guys do pitching to the best hitter in the game. We shouldn't act intimidated or do anything different. He still makes an out more than 50% of the time.

[Sports Guy]

Ehh, it’s only the AL record

[Frobby]

I don’t care if he hits the HR against us.  Walking him every time up would be a lame thing to do.  I’d still walk him in certain situations, like I would in any other game.   

[PHRESH]

1 hour ago, Sports Guy said:

Ehh, it’s only the AL record

Some might say it's the MLB record lol

[Can_of_corn]

3 minutes ago, PHRESH said:

Some might say it's the MLB record lol

They'd be wrong but yea, some might say it.

[waroriole]

4 minutes ago, PHRESH said:

Some might say it's the MLB record lol

Some would be wrong. 

[DrungoHazewood]

This situation brings us back to the purpose of walks, and how they're not doing what they're supposed to do and maybe we should consider a change.  All of you who think the rules were handed to Abner Doubleday on stone tablets can go read another thread now...

Walks (and balls and strikes) were invented in the 1860s to make pitchers put the ball over the plate, and to make the batter swing and put the ball in play.  It was common for a pitcher to throw 50 or more pitches to a single batter, none of which were anywhere close to what we now call the strike zone.  So... balls, and strikes.

Clearly that's not working so well.  Not when walks afford the defense an opportunity to avoid pitching to the other team's best player at all. The penalty is not steep enough if the defense chooses to accept it pretty regularly.

So while I want Judge to hit zero homers against the Orioles this week, I'd like to see what happens if teams could decline a walk.  Or maybe a walk puts the last guy who made an out on first, and the batter gets to keep batting with a 0-0 count. And maybe a four-pitch walk becomes two bases.  It's a flaw in baseball that you can just decline to pitch to the other team's best player, just take him out of the game.  Baseball is a worse game when the stars are just walking to first instead of putting the ball in play.

[DrungoHazewood]

8 minutes ago, PHRESH said:

Some might say it's the MLB record lol

I, for one, refuse to acknowledge any sports records in the era of flawed humans (1,000,000 BC to the present).

[Roll Tide]

2 hours ago, baltfan said:

judge is hardly hateable.  Pitch to him and if he hits it he hits it.  Orioles are out of contention realistically anyhow. 

Yeah …it really doesn’t matter. I’m not saying we should throw him BP. But try to win the game and make him hit your pitch.

[Moose Milligan]

3 hours ago, JimGinSP said:

I like the narrative BUT, Hyde’s MOY selection isn’t confirmed.   Hate to see Hyde lose his shot to earn that honor by pissing off folks in the media capital.  

True, but it's all the writers that make that vote, not just NY voters.  NY writers vote's don't carry more weight than anyone else's.

2 hours ago, baltfan said:

judge is hardly hateable.   

Agree, I like him, overall.  

2 hours ago, glenn__davis said:

 No one will care/notice if it happens against the Orioles vs. any other team.  

 

I'll notice.  You'll notice.  Everyone here will notice.

 

2 hours ago, ShoelesJoe said:

If only the same could be said about their fan base. I think Moose’s suggestion has more to do with poking them in the eye than dissing Judge. 

Poking them in the eye, repeatedly.  Very hard, sharp, quick thrusts.

But also, who do you want a record set against?  You or someone else?  

1 hour ago, Sports Guy said:

Ehh, it’s only the AL record

True.

21 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

This situation brings us back to the purpose of walks, and how they're not doing what they're supposed to do and maybe we should consider a change.  All of you who think the rules were handed to Abner Doubleday on stone tablets can go read another thread now...

Walks (and balls and strikes) were invented in the 1860s to make pitchers put the ball over the plate, and to make the batter swing and put the ball in play.  It was common for a pitcher to throw 50 or more pitches to a single batter, none of which were anywhere close to what we now call the strike zone.  So... balls, and strikes.

Clearly that's not working so well.  Not when walks afford the defense an opportunity to avoid pitching to the other team's best player at all. The penalty is not steep enough if the defense chooses to accept it pretty regularly.

So while I want Judge to hit zero homers against the Orioles this week, I'd like to see what happens if teams could decline a walk.  Or maybe a walk puts the last guy who made an out on first, and the batter gets to keep batting with a 0-0 count. And maybe a four-pitch walk becomes two bases.  It's a flaw in baseball that you can just decline to pitch to the other team's best player, just take him out of the game.  Baseball is a worse game when the stars are just walking to first instead of putting the ball in play.

TLDR

1 hour ago, Aristotelian said:

  I'd like to see how our guys do pitching to the best hitter in the game. We shouldn't act intimidated or do anything different.  

 

I'm not sure when you joined but I know you've been here awhile.  I'm pretty sure we're all well aware of Judge's history against us.

If you need to be reminded, it's a .314/.430/.712 slash line with 35 homers.  That's more homers against any team and by a decent amount.  He's got 28 against the Jays and then the next highest amount is 21 against the Sox.  

I've seen how our guys do pitching to him for years now and the results are hardly ever pretty.  He's got 9 homers against us this year, which is more than any other team.  I'm pretty sure I know how this story ends.