2024 Gameball Thread

[DocJJ]

22 minutes ago, waroriole said:

How is it idiotic to try and steal 2B to be the tying run? Especially with a pitcher who doesn’t hold runners and a fast runner at 1B. 

Because the game ends when the out is made on the basepath.  Never end a game with an out on the basepath.  Give your team a chance to hit.

[Aristotelian]

6 minutes ago, DocJJ said:

Because the game ends when the out is made on the basepath.  Never end a game with an out on the basepath.  Give your team a chance to hit.

I think the odds of a SB and a hit are higher than an XBH or two hits. LAA has 6% XBH rate, two hits is like 7%, so maybe 13% chance to win there? A SB gets you to like 27%. If you have >50% chance to make it it's a good play. Definitely not stupid. Plus he made it. Admittedly it is a terrible anticlimactic way to lose but I blame the umps.

[Billy F-Face3]

Regarding the base steal at the ending of the game, Coincidentally I was posting about this exact same situation for the Orioles at the end of Game 2 last night in the Angel's series. There were runners on 1st and 3rd. Typically, looks like a good situation to run. But Gunnar was up to bat and the Orioles were down by multiple runs (I think it was 3 runs IIRC).

We came to the conclusion that it would be foolish to risk the the runner trying to steal 2nd, because that's a run we need to score and we had a hitter who is capable of powering a 3 run home run at the plate. The risk outweighed the reward to steal.

[Frobby]

1 hour ago, DocJJ said:

Game ball #3 goes to Angels Jo Adell for trying to steal with 2 outs and representing the tying run.  Although I think he was actually safe, that is pure idiotic...

 

My son's travel team used to do incredibly stupid stuff like that and I'd go ballistic....

I’m sure he wasn’t running on his own.  He was acting on orders.  Took a perfect throw, a great tag and a questionable call to get him.  Not a bad decision to try to get him into scoring position given that Kimbrel has yet to allow an extra base hit.   

[Fiver6565]

Not only was the SB not idiotic, it was the obvious play. Palmer called it before Adell was even on base. The entire ballpark knew he’d try to get into scoring position. 
 

And the game ball for this one has to go to Gunnar, it’s not even close. Kremer Honorable Mention, real nice start from him. 

[Gunnar]

10 hours ago, DocJJ said:

Because the game ends when the out is made on the basepath.  Never end a game with an out on the basepath.  Give your team a chance to hit.

The clear choice by the numbers is to attempt the steal. There is obviously an emotional letdown when it doesn't work but decisions should not be made on emotions.

[dystopia]

Stealing was the right move. It took a perfect throw to get him, and even then they didn’t really “get him”. 

[RZNJ]

11 hours ago, DocJJ said:

Because the game ends when the out is made on the basepath.  Never end a game with an out on the basepath.  Give your team a chance to hit.

Do you also feel runners should never attempt to steal with two outs in an inning or is it just the 9th inning?   As you already can see, no one agrees with you that it was a bad decision for Adell to attempt a steal.  It made sense.  The odds were greatly in his favor.  It didn’t work out even though it looked like he was safe.

[Moose Milligan]

It's been well noted that Kimbrel isn't great at holding runners and can be run on.  Given Adell's 91% sprint speed (yes, I know stolen base technique is something else altogether) I thought letting him run wasn't a bad move.

He had a hell of a jump, I was surprised that the play was as close as it was.

[Aristotelian]

4/27 7-0 win vs OAK. Gunnar boosted his lefty on lefty OPS but Cole Irvin gets the gameball. After the lowly A's beat our ace we couldn't afford another loss to a bad team. Irvin stepped up with 7 strong shutout innings, probably could have gone longer. 

[Malike]

9 minutes ago, Aristotelian said:

4/27 7-0 win vs OAK. Gunnar boosted his lefty on lefty OPS but Cole Irvin gets the gameball. After the lowly A's beat our ace we couldn't afford another loss to a bad team. Irvin stepped up with 7 strong shutout innings, probably could have gone longer. 

I agree it's Irvin and it's not close, but they didn't beat our Ace. He left with the lead. He was excellent as well yesterday.

[baltfan]

Irvin’s ERA is 3.24 now.  Dude deserves to stay as a starter.  

[ChuckS]

9 minutes ago, baltfan said:

Irvin’s ERA is 3.24 now.  Dude deserves to stay as a starter.  

Yep.  I think Wells will be moved to the bullpen upon his return and Suarez may as well if they have to move someone out of the rotation for Bradish. 

[Moose Milligan]

1 hour ago, baltfan said:

Irvin’s ERA is 3.24 now.  Dude deserves to stay as a starter.  

He’s not as good as his last two starts but not as bad as his start to the season. The truth is somewhere in the middle. 

But he was the player of the game today for sure. 

[survivedc]

Thought it a little weird that the “players of the game” at the stadium were Adley and Mountcastle. Irvin was a shoo in and how often will he get the honor and a quick interview for the fans?