Hi forum, my first post.
A friend told me about this site several years ago and I finally joined. I look forward to making many friends here.
I am from Los Angeles and a baseball fanatic. Naturally I love the Dodgers (and even have a soft spot in my heart for the Angels). I've been discussing something with my friends and am baffled by their indecision on this issue. Feel free to share your opinion as I am interested in hearing from the fans who really understand the game.
The Dodgers had a 15 game win streak on the road going, but were losing to the Cardinals 2-1 late in the game Wednesday. This streak was a living, breathing, growing franchise record with every win, hadn't been done since 1924, and was two away from the all-time MLB record of 17 set in 190-something. It's the top of the 7th. Juan Uribe leads the inning off with a sharp double! We got the tying run on second, nobody out. Here come the boys in BLUE!
What do you do if you are managing the Los Angeles Dodgers with your now record 15-game road win on the line? Do you play this inning for ONE RUN and a TIE, essentially starting the game over and hoping for another opportunity later? Or do you let the next batter, your number 8 batter, swing away in the hopes of a BIGGER INNING? Because after all, you KNOW you're going to be pinch hitting that number nine (pitching) spot. Then, you've got your TOP OF THE ORDER!!
Mattingly calls for Punto to bunt Uribe to third!! In doing so, he consciously is HANDING AN OUT to the Cardinals. Even if the sac bunt is successful, now you only have 2 outs to score the run, AND, you've just eliminated 33% of your inning without ANY guarantee you'll score that run!
There is a long-standing FACT in baseball that on a base hit, a runner on second has almost JUST as much chance of scoring as a runner on third. Isn't that why they refer to a runner on second as "A RUNNER IN SCORING POSITION"? So WHY reduce your chances of SCORING that run by 33% by handing an OUT to your opponent? For the chance of ONE fly ball to tie the game? Why not take a chance at THREE ATTEMPTS to produce a base hit, or better yet, let the Dodgers swing away in the hopes of scoring maybe 2, 3, or MORE RUNS? It's the DODGERS...currently on a 15-game road slaughterhouse tour!!! They got their LEAD-OFF BATTER on SECOND with NOBODY OUT!!? They're playing 85% win-ratio BASEBALL IN THE LAST 40 GAMES TO THAT POINT!
But Mattingly, adult diapers firmly in place under his Dodger whites, gives his third base coach the old "finger-burried-to-the-second-knuckle-in-the-nostril" sign to have Punto BUNT Uribe to third! (This is the part where as a Dodger fan, you realize the incompetence of Joe Torre hasn't rubbed off from the park yet) Hey Don! Maybe this is the way they play it in New York! But we have a TEAM going on here! We have PUIG! Gonzalez! We got some serious BATS! Let the boys do what they do best...let em RAKE!!!
So Punto, swallowing his regurgitated lunch awash in the back of his throat as he sees the sign given him, lays an egg and bounces the sac-bunt off home plate, handing the Cardinal catcher a plump summer peach which he happily plucks off the tree at eye level, and throws out Juan at third by about two acres.
Man on SECOND in SCORING position with NOBODY out and trailing by one late in the game, just turned into man on FIRST, ONE out, NOBODY in scoring position, but now looking at a FORCE-OUT INNING-ENDING RALLY KILLING DOUBLE-PLAY scenario, should a ground ball be hit.
Atta boy, Mattingly. How in the WORLD have the Dodgers done so well to this point?
In fact, a ground ball was ultimately hit, and the inning ended on a double-play. Opening double...WASTED. Chances of scoring the tying run? Hamstrung with a sharp knife like a scene out of "Rambo". Any chance of a big inning rally by a HOT TEAM? Taken out by Drone fire on it's first movement. And the worst part? All from friendly fire.
15 game road winning streak? SHOT IN THE HEAD at POINT BLANK RANGE. That's not the kind of "execution" we Dodger fans are looking for, Donnie.
Do any of you feel Mattingly did the right thing here? I go to a LOT of Dodger games. I talk to other fans. It's fairly unanimous amongst us. There was a reason Donnie baseball was seriously close to being fired. The man is a poor manager. I have seen him mismanage the pitching staff to no end, and his musical chair routine with the players is old too. The Dodgers were in last place. No life. No "spark". Just Mattingly at the wheel.
If Puig wasn't brought up when he was, Mattingly is unemployed today. Puig single-handedly jump-started this team and saved Mattingly's job. The other Dodger players, stumbling through their halfhearted efforts because of the lack of fire lit in them under Mattingly, was introduced to PUIG ball. They have responded accordingly, and what a thrill it is!
You don't bat .517 in spring training on a fluke! Thank you MATT KEMP for getting injured when you did. It opened the door for Dodger brass to call up our saviour.
The rest is history, playing out for all to see. Where it ends? I don't know, but I'm guessing with L.A.'s first World Series title since '88. There is, however, one looming landmine that could derail the Dodgers. And it worries me.
Don Mattingly.
Anyone who cares to comment, I welcome your responses and look forward to the discussion.
Bram
A friend told me about this site several years ago and I finally joined. I look forward to making many friends here.
I am from Los Angeles and a baseball fanatic. Naturally I love the Dodgers (and even have a soft spot in my heart for the Angels). I've been discussing something with my friends and am baffled by their indecision on this issue. Feel free to share your opinion as I am interested in hearing from the fans who really understand the game.
The Dodgers had a 15 game win streak on the road going, but were losing to the Cardinals 2-1 late in the game Wednesday. This streak was a living, breathing, growing franchise record with every win, hadn't been done since 1924, and was two away from the all-time MLB record of 17 set in 190-something. It's the top of the 7th. Juan Uribe leads the inning off with a sharp double! We got the tying run on second, nobody out. Here come the boys in BLUE!
What do you do if you are managing the Los Angeles Dodgers with your now record 15-game road win on the line? Do you play this inning for ONE RUN and a TIE, essentially starting the game over and hoping for another opportunity later? Or do you let the next batter, your number 8 batter, swing away in the hopes of a BIGGER INNING? Because after all, you KNOW you're going to be pinch hitting that number nine (pitching) spot. Then, you've got your TOP OF THE ORDER!!
Mattingly calls for Punto to bunt Uribe to third!! In doing so, he consciously is HANDING AN OUT to the Cardinals. Even if the sac bunt is successful, now you only have 2 outs to score the run, AND, you've just eliminated 33% of your inning without ANY guarantee you'll score that run!
There is a long-standing FACT in baseball that on a base hit, a runner on second has almost JUST as much chance of scoring as a runner on third. Isn't that why they refer to a runner on second as "A RUNNER IN SCORING POSITION"? So WHY reduce your chances of SCORING that run by 33% by handing an OUT to your opponent? For the chance of ONE fly ball to tie the game? Why not take a chance at THREE ATTEMPTS to produce a base hit, or better yet, let the Dodgers swing away in the hopes of scoring maybe 2, 3, or MORE RUNS? It's the DODGERS...currently on a 15-game road slaughterhouse tour!!! They got their LEAD-OFF BATTER on SECOND with NOBODY OUT!!? They're playing 85% win-ratio BASEBALL IN THE LAST 40 GAMES TO THAT POINT!
But Mattingly, adult diapers firmly in place under his Dodger whites, gives his third base coach the old "finger-burried-to-the-second-knuckle-in-the-nostril" sign to have Punto BUNT Uribe to third! (This is the part where as a Dodger fan, you realize the incompetence of Joe Torre hasn't rubbed off from the park yet) Hey Don! Maybe this is the way they play it in New York! But we have a TEAM going on here! We have PUIG! Gonzalez! We got some serious BATS! Let the boys do what they do best...let em RAKE!!!
So Punto, swallowing his regurgitated lunch awash in the back of his throat as he sees the sign given him, lays an egg and bounces the sac-bunt off home plate, handing the Cardinal catcher a plump summer peach which he happily plucks off the tree at eye level, and throws out Juan at third by about two acres.
Man on SECOND in SCORING position with NOBODY out and trailing by one late in the game, just turned into man on FIRST, ONE out, NOBODY in scoring position, but now looking at a FORCE-OUT INNING-ENDING RALLY KILLING DOUBLE-PLAY scenario, should a ground ball be hit.
Atta boy, Mattingly. How in the WORLD have the Dodgers done so well to this point?
In fact, a ground ball was ultimately hit, and the inning ended on a double-play. Opening double...WASTED. Chances of scoring the tying run? Hamstrung with a sharp knife like a scene out of "Rambo". Any chance of a big inning rally by a HOT TEAM? Taken out by Drone fire on it's first movement. And the worst part? All from friendly fire.
15 game road winning streak? SHOT IN THE HEAD at POINT BLANK RANGE. That's not the kind of "execution" we Dodger fans are looking for, Donnie.
Do any of you feel Mattingly did the right thing here? I go to a LOT of Dodger games. I talk to other fans. It's fairly unanimous amongst us. There was a reason Donnie baseball was seriously close to being fired. The man is a poor manager. I have seen him mismanage the pitching staff to no end, and his musical chair routine with the players is old too. The Dodgers were in last place. No life. No "spark". Just Mattingly at the wheel.
If Puig wasn't brought up when he was, Mattingly is unemployed today. Puig single-handedly jump-started this team and saved Mattingly's job. The other Dodger players, stumbling through their halfhearted efforts because of the lack of fire lit in them under Mattingly, was introduced to PUIG ball. They have responded accordingly, and what a thrill it is!
You don't bat .517 in spring training on a fluke! Thank you MATT KEMP for getting injured when you did. It opened the door for Dodger brass to call up our saviour.
The rest is history, playing out for all to see. Where it ends? I don't know, but I'm guessing with L.A.'s first World Series title since '88. There is, however, one looming landmine that could derail the Dodgers. And it worries me.
Don Mattingly.
Anyone who cares to comment, I welcome your responses and look forward to the discussion.
Bram
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