Look at the lineups--they tell you all you need to know about the difference between these two franchises and why the Ray's win the division by a wide margin with one third the Yankees' payroll: the Rays have their best hitters in the two and three slots. Boone has them batting third and fourth. Hence his best hitters get fewer PAs in the course of the game and many dozens fewer PAs in the course of a season.
Mitch Miller turned down the Beatles. So did Bert Kaempfert in Germany. So did every label in London, but George Martin had left his wife and children to shack up with his secretary, and family-oriented Lew Grade made him sign the Beatles and produce them as a punishment. He figured it would be an embarrassing blot on George's career.
Martin never did own up to any of that, but it is said to be true. Did he ever luck out.
And yes, we'll be bringing out the offense in the later innings.
I might have mentioned it before, but I'm friends with a guy--since the late 60s-- who pitched against Kenny in college. He said Ken killed him that day and laughs about it.
My brother played Patrick McEnroe in a tennis match when we were young. Patrick was a year or two younger than my brother. My brother was the number one player on our team and McEnroe annihilated him.
My (ex) sister-in-law (my brother's fault) was ranked as college singles top five. She and her doubles partner would practice against Martina Navratilova as doubles against her and lose badly. Then Martina would work out for three hours. It was the steroid era.
At age 20 in the Yankee farm system, Wander Franco would be five years away from his first token MLB appearance just before being traded away for a 35-year-old pitcher just recovering from elbow surgery.
The Gallo bunt: a textbook vindication of evidence-based strategy. The evidence clearly shows that bunting on average is a losing strategy, especially when the bunter is capable of hitting a two-run homer and the batters behind him are much less likely to hit one out. Gallo did the Rays a favor there. In fact, if Kevin Cash could have ordered Gallo to bunt there, he would gladly have done so.
Addendum--maybe you could have argued for a bunt there if the Yankees needed only one run. But they needed at least two. You needed an XBH there. The batter most likely to get one in the upcoming batters took that off the table and passed the baton to hitters less likely to do that.
I don't know if JM's comment was directed to me, but I will just have to defer to the superior baseball acumen of Aaron Boone and other mavens who think that it's a great idea to take the power bat out of the hands of a lefty batter with 38 homers, up against a righty pitcher with a man on when you need two runs to tie and no one coming up who is as good a homerun hitter. It doesn't make sense to call Boone an imbecile yet opine that that imbecilic move was just great just because you have a nostalgic soft spot for bunting.
Nobody on the left side of the diamond, nobody on base, and Gallo in a slump. Good play. Normally a power hitter bunting is stupid. Like all games one size doesn't fit all. Now Boone's bullpen management, well if you want a textbook example of "imbecilic"... I have never seen anything like it...
Nobody on the left side of the diamond? No Rays defenders in the right field bleachers, either. Yes, the bunt strategy worked out great. They lost a crucial game. I can understand suggesting a losing strategy in advance, as a gamble, but I don't understand defending it after it clearly proved to be self-defeating and resulted on a critical loss. And Gallo says that he did it on his own. If Boone were a competent manager, he would not leave critical strategic moves to the players.
Doug K.: But neither nearly as likely to hit a home run as Gallo. So not the same hitters at all. Not nearly as good as Gallo. Compare their respective OPS's. That's why it made no sense for Gallo to pass the buck to hitters less likely to hit a homer than he is.
Smart teams like the Rays deploy the shift against pull power hitters like Gallo because they are saying, in essence, "Yes, please do bunt or stroke a weak single the opposite way. We'd much prefer that to a homerun. Thanks!" And Gallo played right into their hands in one of the most critical situations of the season.
When I was a little kid playing baseball I always marveled at how my dad and other coaches could repeatedly hit the ball in the direction they wanted to hit it during fielding practice. I don't understand how when given and entire half of the infield, due to there being 4 outfielders, these assholes continue to hit it to fielders. How hard is it to guide the ball when you have THAT much space?
Maybe that's true (Although Gallo has been pretty bad since he came over to the Yankees) but bunting drove in a run and we had runners on first and second and two speed guys on the bases with less than two outs in what was now a one run game.
It would have been nice if Boone had a contact hitter that could have delivered a single.
So you're saying the smart move was to take possible XBH bat out of the hands of the best of this lot--a left-handed power hitter vs. a right-handed pitcher--and place it in the hands of the worst of the lot. It's understandable to decry the failure of Sanchez and Odor in this situation, but have you earned the right to do that when you endorsed a strategy that placed the fate of the game in their hands?
The same hitters come to the plate, but you have no idea how things would have unfolded had the preceding events been different--Kay calls it "the fallacy of the predetermined outcome." On the face of it, it was a ridiculous strategy--having your best power hitter bunt and in effect kick the can down the road to inferior hitters.
Finally--bunting, even under those circumstances, is far from risk-free. Gallo might have popped it up for an easy out or fouled it off, putting himself at a disadvantage in the count, and so on.
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I think the Mutant Ninja Turtles fit better now that we have Bronxie.
ReplyDeleteThere's a bad Odor at the bottom of the lineup. And no DJ. Wtf?
ReplyDeleteI think DJ has a hip issue and I don't mean the October Issue of Modern Beatnik.
ReplyDeleteDoug K.
Tinky-Winky could have been a good sub for Heaney
ReplyDeleteDoug K,
ReplyDeleteYou're right. Glass man has the soul patch and not DJ.
JM,
ReplyDeleteOrange Roughy is rested and ready!
...to be over anxious and swing at anything.
But at least he's rested!
Celerino, Poo-Poo would be a good sub for Bonehead.
ReplyDeleteOr Ca$hman
Or HAL
I'm here.
ReplyDeleteLook at the lineups--they tell you all you need to know about the difference between these two franchises and why the Ray's win the division by a wide margin with one third the Yankees' payroll: the Rays have their best hitters in the two and three slots. Boone has them batting third and fourth. Hence his best hitters get fewer PAs in the course of the game and many dozens fewer PAs in the course of a season.
ReplyDeleteI am sick of Nelson Cruz.
ReplyDeleteI'm sick of this entire season.
ReplyDeleteThat's pretty damned funny, Doug!
ReplyDelete—Mitch Miller
Hoss,
ReplyDeleteMitch is just saying that because he's the cover.
So we're going to get a bunch of timely HRs to save us tonight again, right?
ReplyDeleteSing along with The Master!
ReplyDeleteNice to hear Ken tonight.
ReplyDeleteMitch Miller turned down the Beatles. So did Bert Kaempfert in Germany. So did every label in London, but George Martin had left his wife and children to shack up with his secretary, and family-oriented Lew Grade made him sign the Beatles and produce them as a punishment. He figured it would be an embarrassing blot on George's career.
ReplyDeleteMartin never did own up to any of that, but it is said to be true. Did he ever luck out.
And yes, we'll be bringing out the offense in the later innings.
Tampa looks far from unbeatable tonight.
Thank you anon.
ReplyDeleteI just changed the feed.
I love me some Singleton.
Not in that way, though.
Rufus, we all love Singleton in "that" way, that horny devil!
ReplyDeleteI might have mentioned it before, but I'm friends with a guy--since the late 60s-- who pitched against Kenny in college. He said Ken killed him that day and laughs about it.
ReplyDeleteWendy is dicey, but he got the strikeout.
Bloop and a blast please.
ReplyDeleteMitch Miller and the Beatles.
ReplyDeleteI have to get my mind around that.
My brother played Patrick McEnroe in a tennis match when we were young. Patrick was a year or two younger than my brother. My brother was the number one player on our team and McEnroe annihilated him.
ReplyDeleteRufus,
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wpyxPxyPRo
Still one of my faves
So Stanton is back to stepping in the bucket. The dream is over.
ReplyDeleteHBP is better than a walk, I guess?
ReplyDeleteWendy no bueno. Lasagna either, so far.
ReplyDeleteDoug K,
ReplyDeleteAll I am saying, is Mitch *must* have done the brown acid.
That is mesmerizing.
Rufus,
ReplyDeleteI have it on one of my favorite playlists. For some reason it always works for me.
Unlike throwing German into the biggest game of the year when he hasn't pitched in a long long time.
Winnie,
ReplyDeleteMy (ex) sister-in-law (my brother's fault) was ranked as college singles top five. She and her doubles partner would practice against Martina Navratilova as doubles against her and lose badly. Then Martina would work out for three hours. It was the steroid era.
And I'm still singing along with Mitch.
Doug K,
ReplyDeleteNow I HAVE TO ask:
Did *you* do the brown acid?
And do you also have tiptoe through the tulips on your playlist?
I have the Angels -- Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again, live version on mine. More hi test meth than brown acid, but similar vibe.
Pull The Lasagna after a third of an inning, THEN BRING GERMAN IN NOW?!!!! What is this nonsense?
ReplyDeleteKevin,
ReplyDeleteThink "Brown Acid".
It's the only explanation.
Either that or:
Boone happens.
Get rid of the beached whale chant please.
ReplyDeleteReplace it with "Steinbrenner sucks!"
Rufus,
ReplyDeleteI do own "God Bless Tiny Tim" but no Tiptoe is not on any playlist.
However this is...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7RZLHtdIwU&list=PL9F777F07D69737A3
Actually it isn't... but it might be on my next one.
The old "brown acid" trick! Of course! Kevin
ReplyDeleteI like the comment that it needs to be on a horror movie soundtrack.
ReplyDeleteNow, I'm going to have to dig into my Dr. Demento files...
ReplyDeleteLOL. Yeah it's pretty amazing. In one of the songs he sings a duet with himself playing the male and female parts.
ReplyDelete5 hits is not going to get it done.
ReplyDeleteFuckers.
Boone is pushing his luck here with German.
ReplyDeleteOf all the pitchers on the staff, WTF IS WRONG WITH BOONE????????
ReplyDeletePencilneck Geek:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cxmxhul7UXM
Classy Freddie on Letterman with Andy Kaufman:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEeGydhC-SE
ICS misses that one.
ReplyDeleteABREU ¿??????????????? The fix is in
ReplyDeleteThank Yahweh Lasagna faced that entire ONE batter.
ReplyDeleteThe last man in the pen, I have never seen anything like this
ReplyDeleteAbreu for first base next year.
ReplyDeletebonehead outsmarting hisself again.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the idea is to confuse Tampa so badly that they'll make a mistake
ReplyDeleteI am very confused by to Boone's bullpen plan and in game management.
ReplyDeleteAt least Lasagna wasn't overworked.
ReplyDeleteFuck bonehead
fuck brainless
fuck HAL
BOONE needs to go for a ride with Clemenza. Just despicable
ReplyDeleteBoone is a moron. I know that's ableist slur, but I mean no disrespect to anyone with an intellectual disability. BUT BOONE IS A MORON!!!!
ReplyDeleteMaybe The Cartel has Boone's family
ReplyDeleteWinnie,
ReplyDeleteI'd go for imbecile or even idiot. There's no proof bonehead can dress himself without help.
At age 20 in the Yankee farm system, Wander Franco would be five years away from his first token MLB appearance just before being traded away for a 35-year-old pitcher just recovering from elbow surgery.
ReplyDeleteWhat will Sherman write? "BOONE is a fucking moron"!
ReplyDeletePerfect fucking bunt.
ReplyDeleteWOW!
ReplyDeleteThey're playing actual fucking BASEBALL!
The bunt by Gallo against the shift was great. If he had real speed he could've had a double.
ReplyDeleteAnother ugly weird beard.
ReplyDeleteThese guys are scrappy.
ReplyDeleteIf Boone wasn't such an idiot, they could win a lot of games.
Gallo surrenders. A two run homer would have been better baseball.
ReplyDeleteWasn't that pitcher in "The Thing"?
ReplyDeleteHoly fuck.
ReplyDeleteBonehead last all his brownie points by putting ICS on deck.
ReplyDeleteGardy killed that.
ReplyDeleteOh shit. Sanchez.
ReplyDeleteDP coming up.
ReplyDeletePatented ICS DP coming up!
ReplyDeleteAnd Odorific on deck. We're fucked.
ReplyDeleteMaybe he'll K and the Yankees will have a chance.
ReplyDeleteSanchez swung at a terrible pitch.
ReplyDeletePitiful at bat
ReplyDeleteAaaaaaand, Ice Cream goes chasing pitches way out of the strike zone. Of course.
ReplyDeleteAt least it wasn't a DP.
ReplyDeleteBonehead is beyond idiot.
Trade him ASAP.
ReplyDeleteTrade Bonehead if possible.
ReplyDeleteInclude money in the trade.
ReplyDeletePallets of it.
His lack plate discipline after all these years is appalling - both of them
ReplyDeleteMost infuriating loss of the year
ReplyDeleteThis one's on bonehead pinch hitting ICS.
ReplyDeleteI did like the Gallo bunt, but too little, too late.
Fuck boone
fuck the intern
fuck HAL the pampered billionaire.
How many games has Boone lost? 8? 10? More?
ReplyDeleteHe just sucks.
JM,
ReplyDeleteI'll take the over.
Sanchez hacking at shit like George Dubya clearing brush
ReplyDeleteThere's no such thing as clutch. So the basement dwelling millennials tell us.
ReplyDeleteBut there IS such a thing as NOT clutch.
And bonehead pitch hit him in the ninth.
I'd say cut his nuts of slowly with a rusty dull knife, but they've obviously atrophied to the point of non-existence, so it wouldn't matter.
The Gallo bunt: a textbook vindication of evidence-based strategy. The evidence clearly shows that bunting on average is a losing strategy, especially when the bunter is capable of hitting a two-run homer and the batters behind him are much less likely to hit one out. Gallo did the Rays a favor there. In fact, if Kevin Cash could have ordered Gallo to bunt there, he would gladly have done so.
ReplyDeleteAddendum--maybe you could have argued for a bunt there if the Yankees needed only one run. But they needed at least two. You needed an XBH there. The batter most likely to get one in the upcoming batters took that off the table and passed the baton to hitters less likely to do that.
ReplyDeleteYou know what a Bronx cheer is? A raspberry?
ReplyDeleteYou've earned one.
I don't know if JM's comment was directed to me, but I will just have to defer to the superior baseball acumen of Aaron Boone and other mavens who think that it's a great idea to take the power bat out of the hands of a lefty batter with 38 homers, up against a righty pitcher with a man on when you need two runs to tie and no one coming up who is as good a homerun hitter. It doesn't make sense to call Boone an imbecile yet opine that that imbecilic move was just great just because you have a nostalgic soft spot for bunting.
ReplyDeleteNobody on the left side of the diamond, nobody on base, and Gallo in a slump. Good play. Normally a power hitter bunting is stupid. Like all games one size doesn't fit all. Now Boone's bullpen management, well if you want a textbook example of "imbecilic"... I have never seen anything like it...
ReplyDeleteNobody on the left side of the diamond? No Rays defenders in the right field bleachers, either. Yes, the bunt strategy worked out great. They lost a crucial game. I can understand suggesting a losing strategy in advance, as a gamble, but I don't understand defending it after it clearly proved to be self-defeating and resulted on a critical loss. And Gallo says that he did it on his own. If Boone were a competent manager, he would not leave critical strategic moves to the players.
ReplyDeleteNot to mention that the last two outs were made by "home run hitters". Power hitters with low BA's just like Gallo.
ReplyDeleteBoth Struck out.
Doug K.: But neither nearly as likely to hit a home run as Gallo. So not the same hitters at all. Not nearly as good as Gallo. Compare their respective OPS's. That's why it made no sense for Gallo to pass the buck to hitters less likely to hit a homer than he is.
Deletesadness engorges my sadness center as I rotate in a never ending vortex of melancholy
ReplyDeleteSmart teams like the Rays deploy the shift against pull power hitters like Gallo because they are saying, in essence, "Yes, please do bunt or stroke a weak single the opposite way. We'd much prefer that to a homerun. Thanks!" And Gallo played right into their hands in one of the most critical situations of the season.
ReplyDeleteHe did wind up on third
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a little kid playing baseball I always marveled at how my dad and other coaches could repeatedly hit the ball in the direction they wanted to hit it during fielding practice. I don't understand how when given and entire half of the infield, due to there being 4 outfielders, these assholes continue to hit it to fielders. How hard is it to guide the ball when you have THAT much space?
ReplyDeleteAnon,
ReplyDeleteMaybe that's true (Although Gallo has been pretty bad since he came over to the Yankees) but bunting drove in a run and we had runners on first and second and two speed guys on the bases with less than two outs in what was now a one run game.
It would have been nice if Boone had a contact hitter that could have delivered a single.
Doug K. -- Yes, with that Bunt Gallo drove in just ONE run that still left the team two runs behind in the bottom of the ninth.
ReplyDeleteAnd consider the OPS of these players:
Gallo .815
Gardner .697
Sanchez .741 (.701 vs. RHP)
Odor .673
So you're saying the smart move was to take possible XBH bat out of the hands of the best of this lot--a left-handed power hitter vs. a right-handed pitcher--and place it in the hands of the worst of the lot. It's understandable to decry the failure of Sanchez and Odor in this situation, but have you earned the right to do that when you endorsed a strategy that placed the fate of the game in their hands?
Gallo scored. If he had homered, the same hitters come to the plate. So it seems that you are arguing that the roster comes up short, which it does.
ReplyDeleteThe same hitters come to the plate, but you have no idea how things would have unfolded had the preceding events been different--Kay calls it "the fallacy of the predetermined outcome." On the face of it, it was a ridiculous strategy--having your best power hitter bunt and in effect kick the can down the road to inferior hitters.
ReplyDeleteYour best power hitter of those coming up in that inning, that is.
ReplyDeleteThe best power hitter of those following Stanton, to be even more precise.
ReplyDeleteFinally--bunting, even under those circumstances, is far from risk-free. Gallo might have popped it up for an easy out or fouled it off, putting himself at a disadvantage in the count, and so on.
ReplyDelete