In the 9th, when Hamilton was on 3rd and they were intentionally walking Bruce, did anyone else half expect him to break for him?

 

Absolutely, I thought about it..

The bunt/out was 100% on BP. That is a horrible, horrible mental mistake. His job was to sacrifice & get the runners over (which I agreed with). He laid down a good bunt but made the type of mental mistake that I've seen far too often from BP.

 

If BP would've done his job, Astros would have walked Votto to load the bases & the Reds would have needed a fly ball from the #4 hitter to seal the deal & bring Chapman in for the 9th.

 

I cannot get upset with Votto swinging at the 1st pitch. It was a good pitch to hit & he drove it hard. Hamilton has the green light to steal, and I think he went on his own. Votto gets criticized for not driving in runs & being too selective...so I cannot criticize him for being aggressive & lining the 1st pitch 400 feet to straight away center.

 

Just a bad break.

 

 

 

 

I think you mean Manny Parra & I agree one million %.

 

I would agree except in that situation. If you know you have that guy on and see him take off you have to hold off. That fly ball wins the game in that situation. Any other inning, if you get a good pitch, hit it.

The bunt/out was 100% on BP. That is a horrible, horrible mental mistake. His job was to sacrifice & get the runners over (which I agreed with). He laid down a good bunt but made the type of mental mistake that I've seen far too often from BP.

 

If BP would've done his job, Astros would have walked Votto to load the bases & the Reds would have needed a fly ball from the #4 hitter to seal the deal & bring Chapman in for the 9th.

 

I cannot get upset with Votto swinging at the 1st pitch. It was a good pitch to hit & he drove it hard. Hamilton has the green light to steal, and I think he went on his own. Votto gets criticized for not driving in runs & being too selective...so I cannot criticize him for being aggressive & lining the 1st pitch 400 feet to straight away center.

 

Just a bad break.

 

 

I'd agree if they were isolated incidents. Problem is, these kind of mental errors occur on a daily basis with this team. It's just like football IMO. A team gets a lot of false start/offsides penalties and everyone says they're a poorly disciplined team and that it's a reflection of a lack of preparation from the coach. This is no different. Consistent mental errors are a direct result from a lack of preparation from the manager.

Not all the math, which is what you choose to ignore. It's impossible to make decisions based on math alone. To think otherwise shows lack of understanding.

 

I'm not basing it totally on math. I don't think bunting in that situation was the worst call ever, but it was still a bad decision. That wasn't the only time they attempted to bunt late though and it was dumb to attempt it on the 10th pitch of an inning when the pitcher hadn't thrown a strike yet.

I'd agree if they were isolated incidents. Problem is, these kind of mental errors occur on a daily basis with this team. It's just like football IMO. A team gets a lot of false start/offsides penalties and everyone says they're a poorly disciplined team and that it's a reflection of a lack of preparation from the coach. This is no different. Consistent mental errors are a direct result from a lack of preparation from the manager.

 

Oh so you're saying that just because a bunt is attempted it might not work out? Are you sure that there is a chance the bunt won't work???

Tie ball game in the 9th, runner on 1 and 2, you always have to bunt them over. More ways to score from 3rd, also with Voto coming up it would force him to swing and not take silly strikes. Unfortunately Phillips thought he should run closer to the Crawford boxes than the first base line.

I'd agree if they were isolated incidents. Problem is, these kind of mental errors occur on a daily basis with this team. It's just like football IMO. A team gets a lot of false start/offsides penalties and everyone says they're a poorly disciplined team and that it's a reflection of a lack of preparation from the coach. This is no different. Consistent mental errors are a direct result from a lack of preparation from the manager.

 

The best way to fix constant mental errors by a player - get rid of the player. These guys are who they are.

 

Brandon Phillips is not going to change. He got traded to the Reds in the first place because of who he is; every manager he has played for with the Reds has tried to "fix" him; he is not changing. You have to take the good with the bad and hope the good far outweighs the bad. He is like that cornerback in football who gets burned 5 times a year for long TD's ... but he also has 8 picks.

 

Votto's head has been in a weird place all year. I don't know what is happening with him.

 

Those are your two main culprits in bone head plays this year. The 3rd biggest culprit is probably Cozart. What can a manager do to fix the goof ball mistakes by those three?

On Dusty's managing decisions, at least 80% of the decisions he makes and gets hammered for on here are decisions that would have been made the same way by virtually every manager in baseball. When is "Moneyball"/sabermetrics thinking ever going to register with managers? I love the scenes in that movie with Beane sitting around the table with all the old fogie scouts as they do their old fogie thinking.

I'm not basing it totally on math. I don't think bunting in that situation was the worst call ever, but it was still a bad decision. That wasn't the only time they attempted to bunt late though and it was dumb to attempt it on the 10th pitch of an inning when the pitcher hadn't thrown a strike yet.

 

I only remember on the 1st pitch of the AB for Phillips next at bat. Was there another one? After taking the pitch he called off the bunt...and that didn't work either.

The vast majority of teams bunt in that situation...yet BGP disagrees.

The best way to fix constant mental errors by a player - get rid of the player. These guys are who they are.

 

Brandon Phillips is not going to change. He got traded to the Reds in the first place because of who he is; every manager he has played for with the Reds has tried to "fix" him; he is not changing. You have to take the good with the bad and hope the good far outweighs the bad. He is like that cornerback in football who gets burned 5 times a year for long TD's ... but he also has 8 picks.

 

Votto's head has been in a weird place all year. I don't know what is happening with him.

 

Those are your two main culprits in bone head plays this year. The 3rd biggest culprit is probably Cozart. What can a manager do to fix the goof ball mistakes by those three?

 

Do what good managers do, pull them.

 

Mattingly's pulled Puig more than once this year. Girardi has pulled ARod before. Maddon has pulled guys.

The vast majority of teams bunt in that situation...yet BGP disagrees.

 

That doesn't make it right. The vast majority of head coaches in the NFL don't know how to manage the clock, call time outs or use challenges. Does that make it right to screw those things up because others do it?

 

Not only BGP disagrees. The math says you are less likely to score a run when you bunt. The math does not lie.

That doesn't make it right. The vast majority of head coaches in the NFL don't know how to manage the clock, call time outs or use challenges. Does that make it right to screw those things up because others do it?

 

Not only BGP disagrees. The math says you are less likely to score a run when you bunt. The math does not lie.

 

And high school ball, and college ball...and so on. If that doesn't prove my point about the math not always being important nothing will. The math includes pitchers who do the majority of the sacrifice bunting to get to the 1 hole hitter, who doesn't typically drive in a ton of runs. The math doesn't always work for every situation.

 

And because a large sample size says not to it doesn't mean it's wrong to do it in that particular situation, with the Reds personnel, at that point in the game. What it comes down to is this, can Jay Bruce hit a fly ball or get a hit to score a run? If you don't think that can happen then make an argument but quit using the excuse of math when math has zero to do with it.

I'd agree if they were isolated incidents. Problem is, these kind of mental errors occur on a daily basis with this team. It's just like football IMO. A team gets a lot of false start/offsides penalties and everyone says they're a poorly disciplined team and that it's a reflection of a lack of preparation from the coach. This is no different. Consistent mental errors are a direct result from a lack of preparation from the manager.

 

I think it is different. I put mental errors in baseball on the players more than the manager, especially base running errors. Those are player judgment calls almost every time. Like I said, the best way to fix these if you are a manager is get rid of the players who constantly make the poor decisions because they are who they are.

And high school ball, and college ball...and so on. If that doesn't prove my point about the math not always being important nothing will. The math includes pitchers who do the majority of the sacrifice bunting to get to the 1 hole hitter, who doesn't typically drive in a ton of runs. The math doesn't always work for every situation.

 

And because a large sample size says not to it doesn't mean it's wrong to do it in that particular situation, with the Reds personnel, at that point in the game. What it comes down to is this, can Jay Bruce hit a fly ball or get a hit to score a run? If you don't think that can happen then make an argument but quit using the excuse of math when math has zero to do with it.

 

Let's ignore that bunt from Phillips where he made the base running mistake even though the 9 pitches prior to the bunt were balls and they were willingly taking the bat out of the hand of their best hitter. Let's also ignore that in that same situation if the 3rd baseman charged to field the "bunt" they had almost no chance to throw out Hamilton at 3rd if he stole. That wasn't the only attempted bunt late. How many times can you keep supporting a decision to reduce your chances of scoring a run by 23%?