What was our weakness last Wednesday?

[Malike]

1 minute ago, Idaho_OriolesFan said:

Im not saying he threw in the towel. Nobody said that. What I did ponder is if he made the executive decision to risk one side instead of the other. Is it not possible that you could think, "Do I pull him or leave him? If I leave him then he might not get better and this game could get out of hand. However, if I pull him, then I have to go into my reserves. No matter what I choose I got to to stick with and own. Touch decision what do I do."?
*shrug*

If you are a manager at any level in any occupation, you always know the long-term outlook > knee-jerk reactions of your decisions that employees (fans in this case) might be. He doesn't just need to get through the next game, he needs to get through all of September and hopefully, deep into October. The picture is bigger for him than for the fans, where the picture shows every game is a must-win game and that's just wrong.

[Uli2001]

19 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

No.

Cleveland is in a must win situation.

The O's are almost certainly going to the playoffs.  That is what you save something for.

I see it differently. The O's are in a pennant race for the division title and a bye in the playoffs. Cleveland has a vanishing chance of getting a WC. The O's are in a must-win situation, Cleveland is not.

[Can_of_corn]

6 minutes ago, Uli2001 said:

I see it differently. The O's are in a pennant race for the division title and a bye in the playoffs. Cleveland has a vanishing chance of getting a WC. The O's are in a must-win situation, Cleveland is not.

 

Cleveland have a roughly 5% of making the playoffs.

They MUST WIN.

The O's have very close to 100% chance to make the playoffs and are ahead in their division race.

They are not in a must win situation.  You could make a case that they would be better off resting guys and not winning the division over burning up their bullpen and roster to win the division.

[Uli2001]

Finally TB lost.

[Uli2001]

19 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

 

Cleveland have a roughly 5% of making the playoffs.

They MUST WIN.

The O's have very close to 100% chance to make the playoffs and are ahead in their division race.

They are not in a must win situation.  You could make a case that they would be better off resting guys and not winning the division over burning up their bullpen and roster to win the division.

The Orioles have a great chance to win the division and have a bye. This is a much bigger prize than just making the playoffs as a WC.

[Can_of_corn]

3 minutes ago, Uli2001 said:

The Orioles have a great chance to win the division and have a bye. This is a much bigger prize than just making the playoffs as a WC.

Right...

But it's still not MUST WIN.

Cleveland has to win, they MUST WIN, or they go home.

The odds of a wildcard team winning the World Series is a whole lot better than the odds of a team that doesn't make the playoffs.

[spiritof66]

13 hours ago, Malike said:

Every game isn't a must-win game, if that is your mindset, September is going to be a cruel mistress for you.

In the Orioles' situation, almost every game should be a try-to-win game. In act, a game against a bad team like the WS is even more important to win because you should have a better shot at beating them at home on Wednesday, if you deploy all your resources, than you have of winning any of the games in Arizona.

I wasn't able to watch Wednesday's game, but I was following it. When Gibson stayed in, I thought I must be wrong about Thursday being an off-day. That was a winnable game, and I think Hyde should have tried harder to win it, even if it weakened the pen a little bit for Friday after the off-day.

[Frobby]

3 hours ago, spiritof66 said:

In the Orioles' situation, almost every game should be a try-to-win game. In act, a game against a bad team like the WS is even more important to win because you should have a better shot at beating them at home on Wednesday, if you deploy all your resources, than you have of winning any of the games in Arizona.

I wasn't able to watch Wednesday's game, but I was following it. When Gibson stayed in, I thought I must be wrong about Thursday being an off-day. That was a winnable game, and I think Hyde should have tried harder to win it, even if it weakened the pen a little bit for Friday after the off-day.

There is a difference between a “try and win” game and “must win” game.  The team wants to win as many games as possible.   But that doesn’t mean you put your 9 best players on the field every day.  Players need rest, bench players need occasional starts to stay sharp, relievers needs days off, etc.  I do think Hyde should have considered pulling Gibson sooner, but with a 6-man rotation, it’s harder to pull a starter early.