Ouch
- Thread starter vbsideout
- Start date
If the Birds lose this one it looks like it's back to the bad news bears days
Piscotty can never work for the border patrol. Because he cant catch anything near the wall.
He has to be the worst OF in the league at going back and catching a fly ball. Then he threw home for some bizarre reason. Like a bad LL team
From my vantage point down the RF line it appeared he expected Carp to cut the throw off and get the runner at 2B. It was a cuttable throw and they would have had the runner easily. He reacted as soon as Carp let it go. Carp later said he messed up. But yes his tracking of the the fly ball was not a thing of beauty. He was looking for the wall way before he got to the track. He'll never be confused with Jim Edmonds or Larry Walker out there. We were talking about how the Cards have no one who might contend for a gold glove. We used to have multiple guys who were plus defenders
Wong made some nice plays. And Leake pitched well again. Unfortunately Bowman and Rosey picked the same game to have bad outings.
About bunting again. Twice in the 9th inning the defense was giving up the 3B line. Wong led off and could have easily pushed one down there for a hit. Fortunately he did single and get on. He moved to 2B on Garcia's ground out. Then Fowler was given the 3B line as well. He could have easily rolled one down there for a hit and moved Wong to 3B with only 1 out. Unfortunately he hit a weak ground ball for the 2nd out. I know many don't like bunting but these wouldn't have been sacrifices. When trailing by 1 in the 9th I'm just looking for a runner. And I'd much rather have a runner at 3B with only 1 out than at 2B with the 1 out. But I guess that's too old school. We didn't used to see defenses playing all over the field so much. Hitters used to take what they were given and make the defense pay. But defenses today know that hitters are macho men who are don't care how you play them they're going to hammer away regardless of how effective it might be. I heard Jimmy Ballgame say recently that people talk about bad luck of hitting it right at someone. He chuckled and said maybe there was a reason the defense was there. Lol.
Jimmy's way smarter than he gets credit for. That's the thing, and my biggest gripe about offense vs. the shifts. Defenses have made adjustments, and obviously they are working. Guess who hasn't made an adjustment? It's got to be coming soon I would think.
I caught a re-run of some of the 82 team members rehashing. Ozzie credited Whitey with helping him become a better offensive player. Said Whitey made him a deal. Whitey would pay him a dollar for every ball he hit on the ground. Ozzie would pay a dollar for every one hit in the air. Ozzie said he accumulated a nice stash of Whitey's money. Whitey just sat there grinning and nodding. I've always thought Wong should take a similar approach. Just get on base. Hit it on the ground and use his speed. He should lay down a bunt every game. How much higher would his OBP be if he'd do that instead of trying to crank one every time? And then learn how to steal bases. He's fast enough. He just needs to learn how to do it. He needs to be a pest instead of trying to be a masher. But it goes back to that macho man thing I mentioned above.
I don't have the numbers they do. Maybe the stats say their way is more effective in the long run. Everyone just try to mash and hope we run into a few. But it would be more fun to watch the old way. Get on and get things moving. It's a lot more enjoyable than base to base waiting for a blast.
Right on queue. A good article talking about this very thing by Goold. If you can't hit it by them the adjustment is just try to hit it over them. My issue is very few try to hit it where they ain't any more and that includes taking the bunt when they're giving it to you. So I don't think the hitters are doing all they can to adjust and take advantage of the soft spots in the D.
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/base...al&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=user-share
http://www.stltoday.com/sports/base...al&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=user-share
Baller I agree. Not sure who's fault it was but either the throw was to the wrong place or the cut off did not do his job. Bottom line a poor defensive play led to a runner getting to 3rd when he should have been stopped at 1st or thrown out at 2nd and then scored.
