Frazier, Mateo, Hicks, O'Hearn: Little Things that Helped Make the Magic

[spleen1015]

Maybe you guys who are smarter than me can explain this to me.

Frazier is LH. You're playing the shift where the 3B is pretty much in the SS position. You throw him a pitch low and away, a perfect pitch for a hitter like Frazier to hit down the line against your shift.

I've seen this a lot watching games where the pitcher throws somehting that I will say is 'against' the shift.

[Fiver6565]

12 minutes ago, spleen1015 said:

Maybe you guys who are smarter than me can explain this to me.

Frazier is LH. You're playing the shift where the 3B is pretty much in the SS position. You throw him a pitch low and away, a perfect pitch for a hitter like Frazier to hit down the line against your shift.

I've seen this a lot watching games where the pitcher throws somehting that I will say is 'against' the shift.

I happened to catch MLB Tonight and the analyst there (can’t remember his name, he’s a former GM, but not Steve Phillips) pointed out the same thing about the defensive alignment. The shift certainly worked in our favor on that one. 

[now]

18 minutes ago, spleen1015 said:

Maybe you guys who are smarter than me can explain this to me.

Frazier is LH. You're playing the shift where the 3B is pretty much in the SS position. You throw him a pitch low and away, a perfect pitch for a hitter like Frazier to hit down the line against your shift.

I've seen this a lot watching games where the pitcher throws somehting that I will say is 'against' the shift.

I wondered the same thing... but then consider Frazier's other strength: turning on the inside pitch and lining it down the RF line (as per his winning hit last year for Seattle, and several repeats for us this season). So it's kind of a pickle for pitching strategy. Maybe the high fastball?

In a similar vein, you might wonder why not let O'Hearn hit away to the right side to move the runner along, and possibly get a hit, versus trying the unfamiliar bunt. But not going to overthink that one!

Edited September 18, 2023 by now

[LA2]

3 hours ago, Tony-OH said:

Damn, I'll be honest, maybe it was because of the late camera decision to show where the ball was, but yeah, I thought it was a weak hit too. Damn good piece of hitting by Frazier.

If you track his eyes during the AB, it was so deliberate: he aimed that hit!

[LA2]

7 hours ago, Mooreisbetter27 said:

Great point above about Hays.  He hasn't been mentioned yet, but totally accurate that he got us on the board and he started the tying rally.

O'Hearn is usually very intense and stoic looking.  When he dropped that bunt down and was coming back to the dugout he had this huge grin on his face the entire way.  I think it's the longest I've ever seen him smile.  

Such a great win. 

Yeah, admittedly my purpose in the OP was to headline the guys who have had so many doubters here, wch is much less the case with Hays (or Rutschman).

[Can_of_corn]

2 minutes ago, LA2 said:

Yeah, admittedly my purpose in the OP was to headline the guys who have had so many doubters here, wch is much less the case with Hays (or Rutschman).

No one is suggesting that it isn't possible for one or all of them to make the occasional big play.

Doesn't mean the team is the better for playing them over other options.

[ledzepp8]

7 hours ago, Frobby said:

It wasn’t as weakly hit as I thought when I saw it live — 94.4 mph off the bat.  But on the ground, and right down the line.  As someone here said, as if he was playing snooker.  

As to the “Delmon Young” comment, it’s pretty apt in terms of how loud the stadium was at that moment.  OPACY can definitely get loud when the fans are riled up.  And the combination of the clutch hit and the thrill of watching Mateo at full throttle definitely riled us up!
 

 

I just love the fan reaction on that hit.  Going crazy in the stands and waving the runner home. It was awesome. Not quite the pop that the Delmon Young double/JJ slide at the plate got but I'm partial because I was at that game losing my mind. That was the loudest I have ever heard a stadium get.

[Yossarian]

Frazier's swing looked more like something you would see in cricket.  He got his pitch and guided that ball down the 3B line.   A beautiful hit. 

[Chelsea_Phil]

LBW?

[Yossarian]

And O'Hearn's bunt - you could see the concentration and attention to detail.  I don't know how much they have middle of the order hitters work on bunting in spring training, but the form was text book.  Not quite as good as Mullins rolling one down the third baseline, but perfect for the job he was asked to do. 

[Yossarian]

Kevin Brown missed his opportunity to say "it is bedlam in Baltimore" after that hit of Frazier.

[spiritof66]

28 minutes ago, ledzepp8 said:

I just love the fan reaction on that hit.  Going crazy in the stands and waving the runner home. It was awesome. Not quite the pop that the Delmon Young double/JJ slide at the plate got but I'm partial because I was at that game losing my mind. That was the loudest I have ever heard a stadium get.

I was at the game in a section behind the Oriole dugout, so when Frazier connected, I had a pretty good view of the flight of the ball. My eyes followed the ball to see whether it was fair and where it landed. When I had tracked it, I said to myself, Matteo might be able to score on this. I looked up and couldn't find Mateo -- I figured he'd be on his way to third base, but he had just rounded third and was heading home. That's when I got really excited (I think I yelled out, "He's gonna score!") It's not often a guy will score from first on a double without even drawing a throw, but all the ingredients were there: ultra-fast runner running with the pitch, ball hit against the shift, Willie Keeler placement of the hit.

My hearing has declined since 2014, but I'm pretty sure the noise was nowhere near that for the Delmon Young hit, and it never occurred to me yesterday that the stands might collapse from the vibration.

In everything I've read about the game, there's been virtually no credit given to Dean Kremer. Joe Saunders etched his name into Oriole history with a strong outing against the Rangers in the 2012 wildcard game. His line that night: 5.2 innings, 1 hit, 1 run (in the first inning), 1 earned run, 1 walk, 4 K's. Kremer last night: 5.0 innings, 2 hits, 1 run (in the first inning), 1 earned run, 2 walks, 5 K's.  Although his five innings were less than you'd like, Kremer did what starters are supposed to do: he gave his team a chance to win, even if that chance later shriveled away to almost nothing.

I wonder when Pete Fairbanks (39 pitches) next takes the mound for the Rays.

Yesterday I stayed to watch the on-field celebration and the handing out of the Postseason caps and shirts. It looked like Hicks was the first guy to get to Cedric, so the guy still can run a little bit when it's important.

From mlb.com's account of the Rays' celebration to mark their clinching of a postseason berth: "But the Rays had been hoping for a different kind of celebration on Sunday afternoon. That much was evident inside the visitors’ clubhouse, where the furniture had been cleared out and plastic sheets were rolled up above a row of lockers. Rather than raucously spraying champagne, a small group of players quietly shared a shot."     I guess you could say it was  subdued.

In 1968, Harvard and Yale were both 8-0 entering their season-ending game. Yale, with a 16-game winning streak and Calvin Hill (that's Grant Hill's father, for you younger fans), led by 16 points in the final minute, but Harvard scored two TDs and two-point conversions to tie the game, leading to the Harvard Crimson headline, "Harvard Beats Yale, 29-29." You could say the Orioles swept the Rays in this series, which ended in a 2-2 spilt. 

[Yossarian]

7 hours ago, spleen1015 said:

Maybe you guys who are smarter than me can explain this to me.

Frazier is LH. You're playing the shift where the 3B is pretty much in the SS position. You throw him a pitch low and away, a perfect pitch for a hitter like Frazier to hit down the line against your shift.

I've seen this a lot watching games where the pitcher throws somehting that I will say is 'against' the shift.

Not all pitches end up where the pitcher interns then to go. 

[Jagwar]

12 hours ago, LA2 said:

1. Frazier PERFECTLY pool-cued that double down the LF line, just as Ben McDonald strategized it. Pinchrunner Mateo, running on the pitch, was halfway to 2nd on bat contact and already rounding 3rd at full speed when Arozarena finally got to the ball:

https://www.mlb.com/gameday/rays-vs-orioles/2023/09/17/716553/final/video

2. Hicks correctly reads Rutschman's ground ball and comes home from second on the seeing-eye single.

3. O'Hearn, inspired by McCann's sac bunt a few games ago, crouches his whole body down with the bat, incl. his face as he joked in the post-game interview, to lay down flawlessly his first major league sac bunt, moving Rutschman to third for Mullins' game-winning sac fly.

Not to mention a rag-tag bullpen minus Bautista picking up for Jorge Lopez's two gopher balls.

Yes, the stars--Rutschman's homer and single, Henderson's great defensive play--were indispensable, but to rephrase John Lowenstein, Frazier et al may not be stars, but sometimes they sparkle. And now it's Hyde, not Weaver who knows how to place them and when so that they have the chance to do so.

 

Weren't there 2 outs when Adley singled in the 10th? Hicks was running on contact no matter what. 

EDIT: Sorry, should have read the entire thread first. 

Edited September 19, 2023 by Jagwar

[spleen1015]

37 minutes ago, Yossarian said:

Not all pitches end up where the pitcher interns then to go. 

Yeah. This time the catcher was set up right where the pitch was going.