[kfay]

It's the top of the 8th inning and your major-league ballclub is in a 1-1 tie with your arch nemesis. Your ace pitcher (who is ~41 years old) has already thrown 90 pitches and 7 2/3 innings. There are runners on 2nd and 3rd with 2 outs and at the plate is the one of the better clutch hitters in baseball who is batting .315 on the year and .441 with runners in scoring position and two outs. You have 3 All-Star caliber relievers in your bullpen, two of whom have ERAs of 1.8 and 2.3.

Do you stick with your starter or do you make a move to the bullpen who you may be trying to save for the post season which is less than a month away.

[pclayton]

Why do I have to pitch to the .315 batter in the first place? I have an open base to walk him to and I set up the force at home.

90 pitches isn't a whole lot, even for a 41 y.o., but he's probably lost some velocity in the late innings since he's allowed 2 runners on. I suppose I pull him and bring in my set-up guy.

[kfay]

As far as walking the guy I the situation is this. The player at the plate currently is a righty v. your righty pitcher. Next up is a lefty who is only batting .285 but that is largely the result of an extremely poor first half of the season. Since the All Star break this lefty has been one of the top 10 producers in all of baseball. If you walk, one of your setup men is a LHP. Your shutdown closer, however, is a RHP and is very much accustomed to 4-out saves.

[jtfanclub]

kfay, on Sep 17 2007, 09:28 AM, said:

Do you stick with your starter or do you make a move to the bullpen who you may be trying to save for the post season which is less than a month away.

90 pitches in 7 2/3 innings? Wow.

Pitch to the sucker. just keep it away from the plate. If it gets to 3 balls, turn it into an IW and send in the setup man. Even All-Stars sometimes get eager at the plate.

There's a lot of exceptions to this...IF the guy at the plate has sent the ball to the warning track twice this game, IF the catcher is poor defensively, IF the pitcher's speed is dropping, IF your All-Star has owned this guy, but in general, yeah, you pitch to him.

I'm not worried about saving the pen for the postseason. I am worried about saving the pen for extra innings. But this pitcher has been putting them up and mowing them down. Unless you see signs to the contrary, keep him in. That's why you have a pitching coach, because he can see the signs.

[keylime]

If the batter is the lead off guy in the roster, you bring in your reliever. If he's the number 7-8-9 guy you tend to leave your guy out there. Furthermore, there is nothing wrong with a walk if the number 2 guy is less dangerous in that position versus the number 1 guy.

The pitcher has been efficient with 90 tosses in nearly 8 innings. He's done his job.

[Gerben42]

And I thought cricket was confusing...

[EricK]

I went to a baseball game when I was in Atlanta a couple of years ago. The game kept stopping and starting for no apparent reason. I didn't realise until now that it was because the coach was asking for advice on a random internet forum.

[Fluffy]

EricK, on Sep 17 2007, 05:28 PM, said:

I went to a baseball game when I was in Atlanta a couple of years ago. The game kept stopping and starting for no apparent reason. I didn't realise until now that it was because the coach was asking for advice on a random internet forum.

Lol, that makes my day thank you

[chicken]

EricK, on Sep 17 2007, 12:28 PM, said:

I went to a baseball game when I was in Atlanta a couple of years ago. The game kept stopping and starting for no apparent reason. I didn't realise until now that it was because the coach was asking for advice on a random internet forum.

i hope it has been in the better times of the braves. ridiculous what they did this year. selling the future for a coming free agent. i already thought about selling my braves pins. if they dont make it to the playoffs with a healthy chipper what will happen next year? scary.....

[mike777]

kfay, on Sep 17 2007, 09:28 AM, said:

It's the top of the 8th inning and your major-league ballclub is in a 1-1 tie with your arch nemesis.  Your ace pitcher (who is ~41 years old) has already thrown 90 pitches and 7 2/3 innings.  There are runners on 2nd and 3rd with 2 outs and at the plate is the one of the better clutch hitters in baseball who is batting .315 on the year and .441 with runners in scoring position and two outs.  You have 3 All-Star caliber relievers in your bullpen, two of whom have ERAs of 1.8 and 2.3.

Do you stick with your starter or do you make a move to the bullpen who you may be trying to save for the post season which is less than a month away.

Your ace starting pitcher is the best pitcher on your staff period, Better, far better than your closer. 90 pitches is nothing, resting the guy is the last thing we need to worry about. Geez we are probably paying the guy a 1/2 million per game and he only pitches once a week, for less than 90 minutes, other half he is sitting on the bench and he gets 6 months off. If he is tired, get rid of him.

Pitch the guy with your beststuff from your best pitcher, do not walk the batter.

[han]

Agree.

[Winstonm]

Depends of whether you are a Red Sox fan or a Yankee fan.

[kfay]

Winstonm, on Sep 17 2007, 06:28 PM, said:

Depends of whether you are a Red Sox fan or a Yankee fan.

Well I am a Tigers fan and was pretty angry at Francona following this call. I thought it was pretty clear to go to the bullpen.

Obviously there are a lot of factors to be taken into account, but even though Schilling was shutdown the whole night he wasn't shutdown in the 8th, clearly.

Of course it's all moot now if the Tigers are going to blow more games like they did tonight. Totally disgusting.

[mike777]

lol typical fan....something is very clear but you state no facts to..prove it.
in fact if you have facts that prove it..you show no facts why manager chooses to go agaisnt facts.......


silly

[Gerben42]

Thanks to all the replies I seem to have figured out what is going on.

Why did no one consider asking the pitcher who appears to be doing well enough if he is tired? If I have to make a decision, I need this information!

[pclayton]

Gerben42, on Sep 18 2007, 03:50 AM, said:

Thanks to all the replies I seem to have figured out what is going on.

Why did no one consider asking the pitcher who appears to be doing well enough if he is tired? If I have to make a decision, I need this information!

The pitching coach is probably standing on the mound with the catcher talking to the pitcher as this is taking place. Some pitchers will fess up to being being tired and others won't.

The Tigers have made quite the run in the last month, but the Indians are awfully tough. It won't matter to my Angels since they'll either play the Red Sox or the Yankees in R1.

[mike777]

Gerben42, on Sep 18 2007, 06:50 AM, said:

Thanks to all the replies I seem to have figured out what is going on.

Why did no one consider asking the pitcher who appears to be doing well enough if he is  tired? If I have to make a decision, I need this information!

In the OP we are clearly NOT told the pitcher is exhausted or sick or injured. If so then this is not a problem.

The manager or the catcher should know if the pitcher is exhausted, too exhausted to continue, that is their job.

btw I think my Cubbies are going all the way this year.