Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better
With the way the two managers managed, it's a miracle either team won. Small ball. Pointless intentional walks. Stupefyingly dumb intentional walks.
You get the picture.
The WTF Frank Senior Moment is a no-doubter. That's for sure.
Bottom of the fifth, Nats have a 1-run lead. Brian Schneider doubles to centerfield, bringing up Cristian Guzman, followed by Livan. BUNT!?!?!?!?
When Guzman showed bunt and pulled it back for a ball, I just assumed he was bluffing. He wasn't. That wasn't even the stupid call.
Even after he had two strikes on him, he still bunted. This time it went foul, for a strikeout.
You've got a guy who's a groundball machine, hitting left-handed, where he'd presumably hit a ball to the right side, and you're still bunting?!?!
I had my scorebook with me. It reads: "K(6) BUNT?!?!?!"
Even ignoring the stupidity of bunting a runner over for the pitcher (who's a good hitter for a pitcher, but man!), bunting in that situation is dumb. Bunting with two strikes is borderline treasonous. It's been a while since I've taken a poli sci class, but I think all you need is for two witnesses to stand in open court. I'll be one. Will anyone else in attendance stand with me? We'll schedule the beheading for Memorial Day, alright?
I felt bad for poor Jamey Carroll. He didn't get one opportunity to bunt today. In fact, he looked quite stunned in the first when he was up there with no one on. He just watched the first two strikes go by, before realizing he could swing away. Carroll, sans bunt, had one of his best offensive games -- two hits, an RBI, and a run scored. I'm sure Frank won't care about the hits, and will just return him to autobunt mode soon anyway.
I thought about debuting the WTF Ned Yost Brat-With-Kraut Move Of The Game, but decided against it. Regardless, he intentionally walked two batters. The first was reasonably defensible -- pitching around Brad Wilkerson to get to Jamey Carroll. Carroll came through, though.
The second was also borderline treasonous. I'm not sure how the laws work up in Wisconsin (wherever that is) though. He intentionally walked Cristian Guzman to get to the pitcher's spot. Not only that, but it was a situation where the pitcher was obviously going to be hit for. I can't explain it. I don't even want to try to explain it.
Frank brought up Carlos Baerga. Why not Silk Byrd? Because Milwaukee had a righty ready in the bullpen. Had it been Byrd, I can imagine Milwaukee would've definitely brought the fresh arm in.
UPDATE: As is per his wont, Distinguished Senators has a much more entertaining look at the same issue. If you want humor go to him, if you want dry mechanical prose, stick with me!
___
The Majority Whip was an easy call too. While I'm not a brown-shirt-wearing facist like some other undemocratic websites, Carroll was overshadowed by the Senor Statesman, Vinny Castilla. He did it with the bat: an RBI Double. He did it with the glove: a few nifty plays, including an excellent pick off a tough hop while he was playing in to start the key DP in the 8th inning. He did it with his aged feet: Scoring the eventual winning run from third on a passed ball.
___
As I was watching Livan, I noticed he wasn't pushing off his back leg at all. Presumably, his knee is still bothering him. He's a pitcher who doesn't rely on power so much as tossing up various types of slap at random angles. If he can get through it, it might not be as bad as it would be for another pitcher who relies more on power.
It does make me wonder how it might affect his arm though. We certainly don't want a situation that's going to put additional strain on his arm.
___
We hit our homestand goal: 5-2. And we're just .5 game out of first. And the Braves have just lost one of their starters, John Thomson (A Distant Cousin of the Georgetown Coach, I think) for three months. It's not a crippling blow, but it certainly forces them to direct their attention at that problem, instead of tinkering with their decrepit outfield.
You get the picture.
The WTF Frank Senior Moment is a no-doubter. That's for sure.
Bottom of the fifth, Nats have a 1-run lead. Brian Schneider doubles to centerfield, bringing up Cristian Guzman, followed by Livan. BUNT!?!?!?!?
When Guzman showed bunt and pulled it back for a ball, I just assumed he was bluffing. He wasn't. That wasn't even the stupid call.
Even after he had two strikes on him, he still bunted. This time it went foul, for a strikeout.
You've got a guy who's a groundball machine, hitting left-handed, where he'd presumably hit a ball to the right side, and you're still bunting?!?!
I had my scorebook with me. It reads: "K(6) BUNT?!?!?!"
Even ignoring the stupidity of bunting a runner over for the pitcher (who's a good hitter for a pitcher, but man!), bunting in that situation is dumb. Bunting with two strikes is borderline treasonous. It's been a while since I've taken a poli sci class, but I think all you need is for two witnesses to stand in open court. I'll be one. Will anyone else in attendance stand with me? We'll schedule the beheading for Memorial Day, alright?
I felt bad for poor Jamey Carroll. He didn't get one opportunity to bunt today. In fact, he looked quite stunned in the first when he was up there with no one on. He just watched the first two strikes go by, before realizing he could swing away. Carroll, sans bunt, had one of his best offensive games -- two hits, an RBI, and a run scored. I'm sure Frank won't care about the hits, and will just return him to autobunt mode soon anyway.
I thought about debuting the WTF Ned Yost Brat-With-Kraut Move Of The Game, but decided against it. Regardless, he intentionally walked two batters. The first was reasonably defensible -- pitching around Brad Wilkerson to get to Jamey Carroll. Carroll came through, though.
The second was also borderline treasonous. I'm not sure how the laws work up in Wisconsin (wherever that is) though. He intentionally walked Cristian Guzman to get to the pitcher's spot. Not only that, but it was a situation where the pitcher was obviously going to be hit for. I can't explain it. I don't even want to try to explain it.
Frank brought up Carlos Baerga. Why not Silk Byrd? Because Milwaukee had a righty ready in the bullpen. Had it been Byrd, I can imagine Milwaukee would've definitely brought the fresh arm in.
UPDATE: As is per his wont, Distinguished Senators has a much more entertaining look at the same issue. If you want humor go to him, if you want dry mechanical prose, stick with me!
___
The Majority Whip was an easy call too. While I'm not a brown-shirt-wearing facist like some other undemocratic websites, Carroll was overshadowed by the Senor Statesman, Vinny Castilla. He did it with the bat: an RBI Double. He did it with the glove: a few nifty plays, including an excellent pick off a tough hop while he was playing in to start the key DP in the 8th inning. He did it with his aged feet: Scoring the eventual winning run from third on a passed ball.
___
As I was watching Livan, I noticed he wasn't pushing off his back leg at all. Presumably, his knee is still bothering him. He's a pitcher who doesn't rely on power so much as tossing up various types of slap at random angles. If he can get through it, it might not be as bad as it would be for another pitcher who relies more on power.
It does make me wonder how it might affect his arm though. We certainly don't want a situation that's going to put additional strain on his arm.
___
We hit our homestand goal: 5-2. And we're just .5 game out of first. And the Braves have just lost one of their starters, John Thomson (A Distant Cousin of the Georgetown Coach, I think) for three months. It's not a crippling blow, but it certainly forces them to direct their attention at that problem, instead of tinkering with their decrepit outfield.
posted by Chris Needham at
8:50 AM
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