Tuesday, May 23: two hot teams collide as Orioles visit Yankees

[Dunk35]

Can't get swept here. 1/3 will be a miracle. 
 

1-3 against the Yanks this year. 

[Hank Scorpio]

2 minutes ago, Roy Firestone said:

As tough a loss as we've had this year. Learn the lesson YOU CANT PITCH TO JUDGE WITH THE GAME ON THE LINE!

Sure you can. You just can’t throw ridiculous pitches to him.

[Alasdaire]

Also this was our least-likely win of the series anyway with Cole starting. It sucks, but losing to Gerrit Cole/Aaron Judge in New York happens.

[Tony-OH]

For me, this ranks right up there with the McKenna drop ball because how bad the "error" was. Dropping a simple flyball is about the equivalent of throwing an 0-2, middle middle splitter to Judge. 

It just should never happen if you are a major league pitcher. It definitely should not happen if you are a closer.

[baltfan]

1 minute ago, Tony-OH said:

Bautista is now what, 11 for 15 in save chances. That's not a good enough percentage to stick as a closer long term. He's a good strike out guy, and guy you want in those situations, but yeah, he's not your up a run closer because he can't be counted on not to throw an absolute garbage pitch at any point.

One of those blown saves was McKenna.  And I believe another was in extra innings.  This one was blown when the best hitter 8n the game hit a mistake.  Not saying he doesn’t need to get more consistent, but I don’t think it’s as bad as the save stats make it looks. 

[oriolediehard]

I blame the loss on not walking Judge.  Judge has 38 hrs lifetime against O's and a .313 batting ave.  At least Bautista should have wasted the 3rd pitch. We should have won if we walked Judge.

 

 

[O's84]

Just now, Tony-OH said:

For me, this ranks right up there with the McKenna drop ball because how bad the "error" was. Dropping a simple flyball is about the equivalent of throwing an 0-2, middle middle splitter to Judge. 

It just should never happen if you are a major league pitcher. It definitely should not happen if you are a closer.

He's too in love with his splitter, even when he can't command it.  Instead of pumping 100+ at which Judge was late on, he decides to throw the splitter.  He had thrown the splitter twice tonight, one he hung up and in, the other was way short of the plate that no MLB would swing at.  In a one run lead in that situation you can't risk it.  If it a 3 run lead I'd give him a little leeway.  With a 1 run lead you cannot do that. 

[Hank Scorpio]

Also… Michael King is good but you have to make friggin contact in that situation.

It’s not always about hitting it into the second deck. 

I know Frazier isn’t great but I appreciate his situational awareness and ability to put the bat on the ball. I know it’s not how the game is played anymore these days but dammit when you have playoff aspirations they all count.

[Tony-OH]

You know, if Bautista throws a 101 mph fastball up and Judge hits a HR, you tip the cap to him. 

Down 0-2, Judge knows he's most likely getting a splitter. Last time they met, All Bautista would throw him was splitters' and walked him. 

This time they went away then in with two fastballs to get 0-2. Good plan. The problem is, the pitch call was bad because no way Judge expects or gets to a 100 up on 0-2 when he's protecting against the splitter. So if do call a splitter. You take you glove and you put it on teh ground to tell the pitcher to bury that splitter. Fault on the side of throwing it on the dirt. 

WHATEVER YOU DO, DON'T THROW A MIDDLE MIDDLE CRAP SPLITTER. 

[Tony-OH]

1 minute ago, O's84 said:

He's too in love with his splitter, even when he can't command it.  Instead of pumping 100+ at which Judge was late on, he decides to throw the splitter.  He had thrown the splitter twice tonight, one he hung up and in, the other was way short of the plate that no MLB would swing at.  In a one run lead in that situation you can't risk it.  If it a 3 run lead I'd give him a little leeway.  With a 1 run lead you cannot do that. 

Agreed. That's why that pitch was 90% Bautista's fault on execution and 10% on Rutschman for making that pitch call. No way Judge is expecting a 100 MPH fastball up, and even if he was, he certainly was not going to be cheating to get to it. 

 

[baltfan]

 

4 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

You know, if Bautista throws a 101 mph fastball up and Judge hits a HR, you tip the cap to him. 

Down 0-2, Judge knows he's most likely getting a splitter. Last time they met, All Bautista would throw him was splitters' and walked him. 

This time they went away then in with two fastballs to get 0-2. Good plan. The problem is, the pitch call was bad because no way Judge expects or gets to a 100 up on 0-2 when he's protecting against the splitter. So if do call a splitter. You take you glove and you put it on teh ground to tell the pitcher to bury that splitter. Fault on the side of throwing it on the dirt. 

WHATEVER YOU DO, DON'T THROW A MIDDLE MIDDLE CRAP SPLITTER. 

Exactly. This is what people are missing. The splitter isn’t a bad pitch here. What is bad is not burying the thing. You don’t remotely try to throw it as a strike.  He hung it, but that is because he wanted it to be a strike or to just fall barely out of the zone. That’s the mistake.  

Edited May 24, 2023 by baltfan

[slakattack]

Mounty and Mateo are voids in this lineup and you see when Tony has an off night, it's basically Mullins and Rutsch vs. the bad guys (apologies to Gunnar)

[baltfan]

2 minutes ago, slakattack said:

Mounty and Mateo are voids in this lineup and you see when Tony has an off night, it's basically Mullins and Rutsch vs. the bad guys (apologies to Gunnar)

Mounty is not a championship first baseman.  He expends the zone too often and is easy for elite pitchers to exploit. Problem is we don’t have a better solution at the moment in the minors and I suspect the logical ones will struggle in the majors at first similar to Gunnar.  You can just pray that you get in the playoffs and Mounty gets scorching hot where he literally hits everything.  

[Hank Scorpio]

3 minutes ago, slakattack said:

Mounty and Mateo are voids in this lineup and you see when Tony has an off night, it's basically Mullins and Rutsch vs. the bad guys (apologies to Gunnar)

I thought Mountcastle was seeing the ball okay from Cole early on. He looked more like the guy we know in the 10th. 

Don’t get me started on Mateo. Hey, he got on base tonight!!!! 

[SemperFi]

Most disconcerting for me, beyond the awful pitch and defensive lapses is their inability to advance runners with less than one out.  I cannot find a stat breakout for it (just RISP) but it seems they are inept especially in extra innings.