Same story as last year

[Frobby]

Worth pointing out, as I did somewhere else, that Duvall also torched us in spring training, going 4 for 6 with a double and two homers.  

[banks703]

27 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Worth pointing out, as I did somewhere else, that Duvall also torched us in spring training, going 4 for 6 with a double and two homers.  

Exactly! So when a guy is on said heater against you, stop throwing him stuff in the zone. 

 

The ball that he hit off of Bautista was hard and straight at the bottom of the zone... to a historically good low-ball hitter. Felix missed his spot but Duvall also just made a really good swing on a 100mph and obnoxiously straight fastball. He's a good player (he's obviously not going to OPS .1300 for a full season) and was hammering O's pitching all weekend. Don't throw him anything that he can barrel up to hurt you.  

 

In football you can ice a kicker with a timeout. In basketball you can hack someone to disrupt their shooting rhythm. In baseball, when a guy is seeing the ball super well and squaring you up like Duvall was all weekend, all you can really do is throw him pitches that he HAS to chase to make hard contact. My frustration is that the O's seem to NEVER learn to stop throwing to a guy who is on a tear against them. 

[JR Oriole]

I have no way of knowing what the thought process is, but I guess my main issue is IF we continue to pitch to a guy like that because we are being defiant or because we have this competitor mindset that we are going to be tough guys and show that we can get (insert guy on a tear) out.  I would much rather them recognize (sooner) that said player is on a roll against us right now and let's just try to get the next guy out.  The law of averages doesn't always work out.  

[Moshagge3]

Do you notice other teams doing this? Cedric Mullins was having a great series when he came up with runners on second and third in the sixth inning. He had homered in his previous at bat. Rutschman was, what, 0 for his last 6? Were you surprised they didn't intentionally walk Cedric to face Adley because Cedric was "on a tear"? 

Felix Bautista had just struck out Duvall the previous game. He did it on a splitter that wasn't even very good. Walking Duvall to put the tying run in scoring position would have been deranged.

[JR Oriole]

1 minute ago, Moshagge3 said:

Do you notice other teams doing this? Cedric Mullins was having a great series when he came up with runners on second and third in the sixth inning. He had homered in his previous at bat. Rutschman was, what, 0 for his last 6? Were you surprised they didn't intentionally walk Cedric to face Adley because Cedric was "on a tear"? 

Felix Bautista had just struck out Duvall the previous game. He did it on a splitter that wasn't even very good. Walking Duvall to put the tying run in scoring position would have been deranged.

I definitely understand not walking Duvall there.  But that is mainly because the Red Sox could have sent up 56 year old Tim Naehring and he would have come through.  The Red Sox were winning that game the second McKenna gift wrapped that drop.  In that ballpark, with those fans, against that team.....we were going to pay for that one and we did.  

[Moshagge3]

15 minutes ago, JR Oriole said:

I definitely understand not walking Duvall there.  But that is mainly because the Red Sox could have sent up 56 year old Tim Naehring and he would have come through.  The Red Sox were winning that game the second McKenna gift wrapped that drop.  In that ballpark, with those fans, against that team.....we were going to pay for that one and we did.  

In Thursday's game the Orioles also gifted the Red Sox a fourth out. Bautista overcame that ballpark, those fans, and that team.

[JR Oriole]

1 hour ago, Moshagge3 said:

In Thursday's game the Orioles also gifted the Red Sox a fourth out. Bautista overcame that ballpark, those fans, and that team.

Very good point.  I guess getting away with it twice in a row was not going to happen.  The Mateo error was bad but I have seen ground ball misfires to first lots of times.  The McKenna drop seemed to be another level of awful.  

[banks703]

2 hours ago, Moshagge3 said:

Do you notice other teams doing this? Cedric Mullins was having a great series when he came up with runners on second and third in the sixth inning. He had homered in his previous at bat. Rutschman was, what, 0 for his last 6? Were you surprised they didn't intentionally walk Cedric to face Adley because Cedric was "on a tear"? 

Felix Bautista had just struck out Duvall the previous game. He did it on a splitter that wasn't even very good. Walking Duvall to put the tying run in scoring position would have been deranged.

I don't think comparing Cedric's series to Duvall's series is apples to apples and I think the AB that you are referencing for Cedric was in the 7th, not the 6th. Dick Bleier threw Cedric two cutters (they played the matchup - Cedric is a career .252 hitter in L/L matchups, hitting .230 for his career with runners on base). Plus, no disrespect to Triston Casas but he is certainly not Adley Rustchman, who started the season 6-6. Did they throw Ceddy a meatball that he could close his eyes and swing at hard? No, two left on left cutters to a guy who has never hit lefties well. In almost any situation I am probably going to pitch to Cedric over Rutschman. Call me crazy for preferring to throw to the lesser of two evils in that situation. 

 

Do we see other teams pitch around hot hitters? Yes, literally every game. I'll use your mention of Adley as a perfect example. Adley was as hot as you can get starting the season 6-6. Did they change how they pitched to him? I think the answer to that question is pretty clear given that he went 0-9 the rest of the series. No one is suggesting that they walk Duvall in that situation but you keep going back to that as if someone proposed it. All that we are saying is that there is a long history of the O's getting torched by the hot hitter, which has clearly carried over to the early part of this season.