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Thursday, August 17, 2017

They had a catcher playing third last night, and we never bunted

Jeez, I gotta quit trying to figure out this game. Maybe it was a brilliant move last night - like blowing Watson's computer mind by leaving your queen unprotected - not testing Met catcher Travis d’Arnaud, while he stood knock-kneed at third base. Surely, that's what the Mets expected of us. d'Arnaud hadn't played 3B since Tee-Ball. They scratched two infielders, forcing the emergency defense. It was gift-wrapped for Jacoby Ellsbury, leading off. Just lay down a bunt, exploit the rift, take the gimme. Nope. Never tried. Nobody did. Not once.

Yeah, Gardy sacrificed in the seventh, but not for a hit. With each batter, the Mets moved d'Arnaud around the field, trying to hide him. When he played third, we never even tried. Billy Martin must have been churning in his grave.

Well, we won, right? So why complain? Win, and the what-ifs vanish into the box score like ants into tall grass. All I know is that when Ellsbury led off the game, I'd have bet the house he'd bunt. If it worked, he would have blown the gaskets of every Met pitcher: They're going to kill me with bunts. Even if he failed, they would have had to pitch high and tight. We never tried. Nope. Not once. (And by the way, in the post-game show, nobody asked Joe why we didn't bunt. Not exactly Jake Tappers, the press corps.)

But we won, right? We won without El Chapo or the Toms River Miracle (TRM), who played as defensive replacement. We beat a dead team that, if it played in the AL East, would be chasing Toronto. We kept pace with the '17 Redsock Hall of Fame Superteam of Destiny (TM) which - speaking hopefully here - just might be peaking too soon. There are tweaked gonads and slumps yet to come this season, and nothing ruins a September slog more than remembering how hot you were in August. 

I particularly wonder if Chris Sale can keep carrying them. Yeah, he's Cy Young right now, but three games ago, his Matrix cracked: He gave up 7 runs in 5 innings. Thus far, Sale has thrown 168 innings - within last year's pace (226), but that was most he'd ever thrown. He's a workhorse, for sure. So was David Price. The Redsocks are congratulating themselves for rearranging their rotation to have him face us twice more before Labor Day. Fine. That's a lot of pressure innings. They claim Sale gets better the more times he sees each batter. But if we reach the playoffs, it would be four times in five weeks. (Of course, they can play Doris Kearns Goodwin at third, and we won't bunt.)

Any three-game win streak gets me drunk and delusional. I set the World Series rotation. Here's my dream scenario: 

Greg Bird returns and hits as in spring training. That puts us on a level with Houston, Cleveland and - gulp - the Dodgers. This is our lineup.

1b Bird
2b Castro
ss Didi

3b Torreyes (though Joe will play Headley, or the TRM.)
c Sanchez
lf Gardner/C. Frazier (Joe will play Gardy)
cf Hicks
rf Judge
dh Hot Hand (Matt Holliday? Headley. Clint. The TRM.) 


Four man rotation: Sevy, Sonny, CC and Sink (as in Kitchen Sink)
Bullpen: Betances and Robertson as closers. El Chapo? I wouldn't let him near a one-run lead for the next five years.


And if the Mets tonight play Choo Choo Coleman at third, will somebody, for god's sake, please bunt? 

14 comments:

Parson Tom said...

A 3-game winning streak! Hot damn! This team is good!

I'm not falling into that trap again. Even if we sweep the Mets, this team still has the same glaring weaknesses, and the ties that are binding the whole thing together are fraying in the bullpen as night after night we need three or four guys to go four or five strong innings. How long before one or two of them, in addition to Chapman, has their arm fall off? And night after night, runners are left on base like there's been pile-up on the Deegan.

Boston is waiting for us. I can't wait until those beaneaters are losing their appetites over the contract they gave Chris Sale, just like how they feel now about David Price. For now, it looks like they got the horse and they're going to ride him hard. Until we can beat a good team in a series -- the way we did early this season -- the Yankees are at best one and done in the wildcard consolation game. And even if Sevy wins that one, do we really stand a chance against the Astros or the Red Sox?

In baseball, everybody's got a puncher's chance in the postseason, but right now, we look more like the Bayonne Bleeder than any sort of real contender.

KD said...

Three things I want to say: 1) Didi is awesome! 2) Joe will never NOT go with Chapman. 3) Joe will make sure nobody tries to bunt on that poor catcher playing 3B. He has too much empathy for a brother catcher placed in such an untenable situation.

Leinstery said...

Is this on the players or Joe at this point? Did no one notice that he was out there? Why didn't the replay guy call into the dugout and tell Joe to challenge the hitters to hit it at him? Or is everyone blind and stupid? It seems pretty impossible to miss the guy criss-crossing the diamond every batter.

Why does Joe always yank a pitcher having a good start too soon and leave a bad one in two batters too late? I couldn't figure out why he'd leave Garcia in as long as he did, guy was behind almost every single batter and by the grace of God did he escape every inning. It wasn't due to a short bullpen, Bryan (Brian?) Mitchell and Shreve were both out there and who knows the last time they threw. Oh well, Terry Collins has really impressed with his bullpen mismanagement this series. Two wins due to leaving relievers in too long, one win due to leaing his starting pitcher in too long. Who would of ever thought Joe isn't the worst?

Anonymous said...

IS GIRARDI TOO NICE OF A GUY TO MANAGE?

CAN'T BENCH CERTAIN PLAYERS DUE TO "LOYALTY"?

WON'T BAT CERTAIN PLAYERS DOWN IN THE ORDER, WORRYING ABOUT "INSULTING" THEM? (AROD-EVEN JETER IN HIS LAST YEAR).

WON'T TWEAK THE BULLPEN PECKING ORDER BECAUSE CERTAIN PEOPLE MAY GET "ANGRY" AND "MOODY"?

WON'T TEST ANOTHER TEAM'S PROFESSIONAL ATHLETE BY "TESTING" HIS ABILITY TO FIELD HIS
POSITION IN QUESTION FOR THE NIGHT?

I THINK EVERY BOX HERE, HAS BEEN CHECKED.

THIS ISN'T A POPULARITY CONTEST.

BILLY MARTIN IS CHURNING.

Anonymous said...

EL DUQUE...... IS "SINK" JORDAN MONTGOMERY?

MONTY IS OUR MOST UNDERRATED PITCHER.

I RANK HIM OVER CC IN A HEARTBEAT, AND IN A PLAYOFF SCENARIO, I WANT MONTY TO PITCH BEFORE CC, ANY DAY.

....BUT GIRARDI WOULD DO THE OPPOSITE.

CC WOULD GET THE NOD FIRST.... WHY?

"LOYALTY".

el duque said...

Not loyalty, Caps. But this is my private delusional fantasy, and in it, CC is 28 again!

Local Bargain Jerk said...


Q: Can you name a four letter word ending in "-U-N-T" that is not in polite usage in the Yankee dugout?

A: No, I mean the other word.

KD said...

oooh! oooh! I know!! BUNT!!!

:-)

Joe Formerlyof Brooklyn said...


I resent the obvious insult to Doris Kearns Goodwin. She was pretty damn good at turning bunts into double plays -- in 1973.

....duya think she's lost something?

Anonymous said...

FUNNY STUFF LBJ....LOL

Parson Tom said...

Joe's right. If there's anybody from Boston we need to tolerate, DKG might be on the list.

Anonymous said...

Somebody needs to acquaint el duque and other assorted denizens of this blog with a run expectancy table (or matrix). These have been around for more than thirty years and definitively demonstrate that even a SUCCESSFUL sacrifice bunt, on average, reduces a team's chances of scoring in an inning. Now of course there are exceptions--such as those occasions when a pitcher is batting and perhaps it's the eighth inning and you need only one run to tie. But overall, sacrifice bunting is a losing strategy--provably so. Moreover, there's no percentage in settling for a bunt single (to test D'Arnaud's agility) from a batter with a reasonably good chance of getting an XBH.

Hello, el duque? Read to emerge from the Dark Ages on this one? See the following:

http://www.fangraphs.com/library/misc/re24/

Local Bargain Jerk said...


It was difficult, but I actually took the time to read the article you referenced. The writer of the article variously describes his own work as being "extremely useful", "extremely easy", a "great thing", "a snap", "valuable", "a very useful measure", and "very simple to use".

My opinion is that he is a wee bit biased. I would offer that "inhospitably sterile" and "terminally joyless" are also reasonable ways to characterize his work.

You conceded above that "of course there are exceptions--such as those occasions when a pitcher is batting and perhaps it's the eighth inning and you need only one run to tie."

For me, both the article and your caveat fail to consider the potential of laying down a dribbler in front of the lead-footed, fluffernutter-handed, out-of-position catcher positioned 70 feet up the third base line. The fact that this scenario is missing from both your analyses must mean that the "run expectancy" of a bunt in that situation would literally be "off the charts".

Calm, cool, calculated logic has its place in the game. So does common fucking sense.

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