A free pass for an old-school manager
Harold Reynolds would call it “fundamental baseball.” I’d call it crazy. But Mike Scioscia got off the hook Monday night — I haven’t seen any criticism at all – because everyone accepts the old-school garbage about how important it is to bunt and “move runners along.”
Hogwash. The Angels got a lead-off double in the top of the ninth last night. That’s when Scioscia ordered a sacrifice bunt to move the runner to third and then a squeeze play. A few pitches later his Angels had the bases cleared, two outs and no runs on the board. Sorry folks, the odds are better with a runner on second and none out of just letting three straight batters try to get a hit. Instead, Scioscia willingly surrendered an out to get the guy to third and then threw all his playoff eggs in one basket — one pitch, actually — by calling for the squeeze, which was botched.
This is the big leagues, not Rettman’s Market in Sellwood-Moreland Little League — guys can hit. They get paid to hit. It’s been decades since an obscure guy named Earnshaw Cook wrote an obscure book called “Percentage Baseball” where he proved that bunting runners to third is the bad play. It’s better to give three big-league hitters a chance to get a single than it is to have a guy (maybe — if you make a good bunt) on third and one out.
You can have all that “small ball” stuff. To me, it smacks of a manager intruding on the game too much so he can show people how smart he is. Yes, I know the Angels have played that way under Scioscia since he got the job. So what? Considering their talent level, they’ve underachieved a lot of that time.
Heck, given the way starting pitcher John Lackey showed up his teammates constantly on the field when they made mistakes behind him, the Angels had enough bad karma they were destined to lose, anyway. I don’t remember the last time I’ve seen a pitcher this side of high-school ball react to errors behind him the way Lackey did. Man, he’s lucky someone didn’t slap him.
As long as I’m kind of on the subject, anyway — the two remaining American League teams are so much more talented than the two National League teams it isn’t even funny. Tampa Bay and Boston are loaded. Philadelphia? Well, average at best. The Dodgers? Ugh. If Andruw Jones hadn’t gotten hurt, they wouldn’t have made it this far.
Baseball, Coaches | Dwight Jaynes | October 7, 2008
" Harold Reynolds, "Fundamental baseball, American League, Anaheim Angels, Andruw Jones, Baseball playoffs, Boston Red Sox, Dwight Jaynes, John Lackey, Los Angeles Dodgers, Mike Scioscia, National League, Philadelphia Phillies, Tampa Bay Rays
Scioscia deserved to lose with those idiotic decisions. Let you players hit. Leave that small ball junk to the Asian teams in the Little League World Series. And another thing…is that the best defensive guy he had in right field? He played that bloop into a double (he’s lucky it wasn’t a inside the park HR) and then he made a crummy throw to the plate.
But MLB players batting averages are lower then players in most other leagues. Now they may be better hitters but they are facing better pitchers. How can you say the chances of them getting a hit is better then some kid with an aluminium bat with a meat ball pitcher?
I know what your saying with letting the players hit but I’m not second guessing the coaches plan for trying to generate a run.