So, the Angels play the game the right way, and do all the little things, do they not?
The squeeze was, quite obviously, an absolute joke of a call by Scioscia. There's one out. It's 2-0 (and the pitch in question was ball three); Delcarmen is either all over the place, or purposely throwing pitches that will be difficult to bunt. You have a chance to get the run in with a fly ball or a hit, and even if Aybar--who shouldn't be hitting for himself there anyway, and you're making your intentions of trying a "surprise" play pretty obvious by letting him to go up there--doesn't get the job done, you've got another chance with Figgins, your leadoff hitter. To choose a suicide squeeze--where you get one chance, and if you fail, you're completely screwed (thus the name)--over those options is absolutely insane. It's a manager continuing to ignore both the situation and his personnel, and insisting on playing the Angels' patented brand of "small ball" even when it couldn't be less appropriate. It's not taking a chance, it's not ballsy. It's dumb.
The choice of pitchers for the ninth is similarly confounding. Shields threw 28 pitches on Sunday night, getting seven outs. He threw 15 more in the 8th tonight, setting Boston down in order. The other options were Arredondo--who threw 28 pitches himself on Sunday--or K-Rod, who threw 33. You have to have an incredible lack of faith in those other two guys in that spot to stick with Shields. Leaving him in after the double--which wasn't crushed, but it's not like these are good pitches--is nuts, and sticking with him after Kotsay ripped a first pitch curveball to Teixeira (incredible play) just makes no sense.
While I'm at it, how about Caray's call of Hunter's game-tying single? It's not so much that he said, "and nobody's chanting now", but the defiant, unprofessional tone with which he said it. At least the series is over, and we're done with him for awhile, right? Wrong.
In the end, everything probably worked out as it should have, with the AL's two best teams, the Red Sox and Rays, meeting in the ALCS. Oh yeah, the Rays advanced this afternoon as well. I guess I didn't mention that. It was quite an afternoon. Seems as though B.J. Upton's shoulder is feeling a bit better.
Monday, October 6, 2008
What Just Happened?
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12 comments:
Thank God SportsCenter delivered the goods by informing viewers that BJ Upton is the first player who's last name begins with 'U' to have a multi-homer postseason game in ML history.
Unrelated: is there a timetable for an update on the NFL contest? No rush intended, just curious to see how shitty I'm doing.
Totals contest update coming in the morning. Sorry about the delay, meant to do it last week but didn't have time. You're doing decently well.
I see nothing wrong with Scioscia's strategy in that situation. Of course, I might be biased.
Good analysis of the Sox-Angels game. It's sort of as if the Angels' 2002 championship was born out of a pact with the devil, in that their success that year engendered the next six years of folly in their approach on offense. When they traded for Teixeira, I figured they'd maybe turned the corner. Apparently not so. Dating back to 2004, they are 1-9 against the Sox in the playoffs. That's a small sample size, but the one game that they won is a telling example. Homeruns and patience at the plate won that game for them, not small ball.
i was really sad when i saw ron darling in the booth with caray and buck.
caray is like the new king on uninformed hyperbole and martinez and darling pretty much just repeated each other all night with different words.
tbs really laid an egg imo. the coverage has sucked orsillo outstanding.
Garland and Weaver were also in the bullpen, and both of them should have been fresh. For some reason managers don't like using starters out of the bullpen in the play-offs despite the fact that an average starter, fresh, for one or two innings, is going to be better than an overused reliever.
If I wish it hard enough, can Dick Stockton do the ALCS all by himself?
Darling is terrific as a Mets announcer on SNY in NY. He has been just OK as a TBS announcer this postseason. I suspect it has a little to do with the chemistry he has on SNY with Gary Cohen and Keith Hernandez, and lack of chemistry with Buck Martinez, Chip Caray or Dick Stockton. Buck is just awful.
Also, will someone in MSM please rip Scioscia for calling that squeeze?!?! And contributing to viewers having to listen to that awful "Dirty Water" Boston song.
From Verducci at Cnnsi:
"Don't blame Angels manager Mike Scioscia for the failed squeeze-bunt attempt in the ninth inning of ALDS Game 4. It was the right call: a count where a strikeout pitcher needed to get a strike over the plate, with a very good baserunner at third. The blame falls squarely on Erik Aybar for an utter lack of execution."
WTF??? How can anyone justify the call to squeeze?
There's a reason I wrote this post. I was pretty confident the MSM would act as they are. They love Scioscia and the "play the game the right way" Angels.
I tend to blame players first in situations like these; Aybar gets his bat to touch the ball and Varitek doesn't tag out Willitts. I'm not excusing the call for a squeeze, especially since the Sox knew it was coming. But how much blame do you assign to the player?
Obviously he shouldn't have messed up as badly as he did, tad, but Scioscia needs to understand that a bunt is not automatic, and that there is a chance of something like that happening.
That's why I always groan when analysts talk about how great small ball is to "make things happen." I feel like the odds of bad things happening are greater than they think.
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