I hate early hrs

Who is derek folwer?

And that was the shallowest sac fly ive ever seen.

Molina hit it well , but close enough to be run down .

Nailed , (Carpenter) , in plenty of time .

So glad Matheny insists on pitching Cecil in important situations.

The Ringling Brothers .

It would be better to play with 24 players rather than giving Cecil a roster spot .

don.rob11 wrote:

Peralta and Piscotty due back Friday
I'm guessing a Tui and Sierra go down .

I really hope these guys have got or will get a rehab assignment.  What they are doing now has worked as well as anything.

don.rob11 wrote:

It would be better to play with 24 players rather than giving Cecil a roster spot .

FWIW, Bernie was destroying Matheny this morning  on his radio show.  Apparently, during the post-game press conference, Matheny said something to the effect of with 2 left-handed hitters coming up, he "had to go with the left-hander."  (Siegrist was allegedly unavailable due to a stiff neck).

Bernie's response was, no--you don't HAVE to go with a left-hander--not when its this left-hander who has given up a near .500 batting average against left-handed hitters and an OPS allowed of over 1.400.  Bernie went on to describe it as "managing by numbers" and just because you're suppose to use a LHP to get out LH hitters doesn't mean you do so when the LHP sucks.

Hard to argue against any of Bernie's points.

You guys (and Bernie) are making the mistake of using logic. Matheny brings in Cecil to face lefthanded hitters because the book says lefthanded pitchers are better against leftthanded hitters than righthanded pitchers. I know he didn't pitch last night because of his neck, but use Siegrist as an example. It doesn't matter that Siegrist's career BAA against righties is nearly 50 points lower than it is against lefties, Siegrist is a lefthanded pitcher and dadgummit he's going to get out lefthanded hitters. He's been working on that curveball for two years, and, hey, it might come in at 74 mph without any substantial break, but it's a weapon he can use against lefties.
In a way, Matheny learned this from La Russa. If you make the move everyone expects you to, then you can get up on the podium after the game and say "We had to bring in a lefty to face a lefty" and no one in the room questions you, even if it goes badly. But if you bring in a righty to face a lefty and the lefty gets a hit, well ... now you have to explain yourself.
The irony is that when La Russa played hunches, they usually worked out for him. Matheny will never play hunches because he's nowhere near as smart or accomplished as La Russa.

Last edited by artie_fufkin (5/17/2017 2:16 pm)

forsberg_us wrote:

So glad Matheny insists on pitching Cecil in important situations.

I don't see that he's got any choice.  He may be the one guy in the bullpen who's not going anywhere.  {It's my understanding that his staggering contract is a "full no-trade deal," whatever that means.  It's not like Matheny has a pen full of lights out set-up men.  Either Cecil is going to come around or they are going to be playing with a 24 man roster, and not a very good one at that.

This situation, like most of them, I see as being on Mo.