Lou Pinella, What the hell are you doing?

[imb]

i can't put this in the game thread, but im not a big fan of derosa sac bunting in front of cedeno and blanco

 

what do you know, strike out, groundout, no runs

 

let derosa swing the bat

 

can't believe that move didn't pay off. ronny cedeno is pretty much a guarantee to get at least one run in, what with his solid approach and great contact skills.

 

i wasn't displeased with ronny (or Blanco) that much (though i was watching on sportsline, so i didnt see the actual pitches). He at least saw a lot pitches and worked it to a 3-2 count.

 

It was just a dumb move to take the bat out of a good hitter's hands and leave the inning to two bad ones.

[Mizzou]

i can't put this in the game thread, but im not a big fan of derosa sac bunting in front of cedeno and blanco

 

what do you know, strike out, groundout, no runs

 

let derosa swing the bat

 

can't believe that move didn't pay off. ronny cedeno is pretty much a guarantee to get at least one run in, what with his solid approach and great contact skills.

 

i wasn't displeased with ronny (or Blanco) that much (though i was watching on sportsline, so i didnt see the actual pitches). He at least saw a lot pitches and worked it to a 3-2 count.

 

It was just a dumb move to take the bat out of a good hitter's hands and leave the inning to two bad ones.

Agreed with the last part. Ronny swung at some crap though. Yes he worked the count full, but he swung at two balls in the dirt with that full count. The first one he was lucky enough to foul out. The second one, not so much.

[Sammy Sofa]

Ironically, I think Cedeno has conditioned himelf to essentially never swing at the first pitch, and the first one get was a juicy one right down the middle.

 

I just take issue with Soto not batting for either Cedeno or especially Blanco.

[Guest]

Pretty much any manager would have DeRosa bunt there but Soto not batting for Blanco was my big issue with Lou's decision making that inning.

[CubColtPacer]

Ironically, I think Cedeno has conditioned himelf to essentially never swing at the first pitch, and the first one get was a juicy one right down the middle.

 

I just take issue with Soto not batting for either Cedeno or especially Blanco.

 

Looking through the game logs from this month, that isn't really true.

I think it's more that the pitchers decide to attack him outside the zone. From those at-bats, he takes a lot of called balls on pitch number 1, but otherwise it's about a 50/50 ratio of Cedeno either swinging at the first pitch versus taking a called strike.

[Sammy Sofa]

Ironically, I think Cedeno has conditioned himelf to essentially never swing at the first pitch, and the first one get was a juicy one right down the middle.

 

I just take issue with Soto not batting for either Cedeno or especially Blanco.

 

Looking through the game logs from this month, that isn't really true.

I think it's more that the pitchers decide to attack him outside the zone. From those at-bats, he takes a lot of called balls on pitch number 1, but otherwise it's about a 50/50 ratio of Cedeno either swinging at the first pitch versus taking a called strike.

 

"I know what I saw" fails yet again. Stats = good.

[Choonch]

Just keep pitching Bob Howry in close games, Lou.

 

And having Derosa lay down a sac bunt in the bottom of the 9th wasn't a smart move.

[manbearcub]

No defense for bunting there. None.

[SouthSideRyan]

Just awful. Once again bunting the best of the 3 hitters due up to get the guy over for lesser ones(Fontenot, and who knows probably Ted Lilly or something)

[Choonch]

Lou, Soto is a good hitter. You don't have to bunt with him. Idiot.

[sneakypower]

if you get the bunt down, win exp goes from .438 to .477

 

the problem is i don't trust Soto at all for that

[BigbadB]

The Soto bunt call was beyond ridiculous, but I'm more pissed about pitching to Izturis with an open base. A double play ends the inning.

[abuck1220]

lou's either trying to cover his ass by doing the most by-the-book stuff possible or he got kicked in the head by a horse.

 

he's been as bad as any player during this stretch.

[Mizzou]

The Soto bunt call was beyond ridiculous, but I'm more pissed about pitching to Izturis with an open base. A double play ends the inning.

The Soto bunt was horrible, you're right. But as I mentioned in the game thread, pitching to Izturis was the right call. He's not good at baseball. You should assume that Carlos Marmol can strike him out and then retire Schumacker somehow. Loading the bases with one out for Skip Schumacker, a good hitter with good speed, would've been the wrong call.

[CUBZ99]

lou's either trying to cover his ass by doing the most by-the-book stuff possible or he got kicked in the head by a horse.

 

he's been as bad as any player during this stretch.

 

Agreed, he has made some awful calls lately.

[Cubs08]

Lou was just saving a clutch hit from Soto for game 4 of the NLDS.

[BigbadB]

The Soto bunt call was beyond ridiculous, but I'm more pissed about pitching to Izturis with an open base. A double play ends the inning.

The Soto bunt was horrible, you're right. But as I mentioned in the game thread, pitching to Izturis was the right call. He's not good at baseball. You should assume that Carlos Marmol can strike him out and then retire Schumacker somehow. Loading the bases with one out for Skip Schumacker, a good hitter with good speed, would've been the wrong call.

 

I know exactly how bad Izturis is. However, the one thing that has been a constant for the light hitting punk he is, is his ability to put the ball in play.

 

Feel free to take a look at his K's per AB and come back and tell me it was the right call to let a light hitting, contact hitter swing away with an open base.

 

He K's once about every 16 AB's.

[Guest]

The Soto bunt call was beyond ridiculous, but I'm more pissed about pitching to Izturis with an open base. A double play ends the inning.

The Soto bunt was horrible, you're right. But as I mentioned in the game thread, pitching to Izturis was the right call. He's not good at baseball. You should assume that Carlos Marmol can strike him out and then retire Schumacker somehow. Loading the bases with one out for Skip Schumacker, a good hitter with good speed, would've been the wrong call.

 

I know exactly how bad Izturis is. However, the one thing that has been a constant for the light hitting punk he is, is his ability to put the ball in play.

 

Feel free to take a look at his K's per AB and come back and tell me it was the right call to let a light hitting, contact hitter swing away with an open base.

 

He K's once about every 16 AB's.

 

Yes, that was horrible no matter how you slice it.

[Cubs08]

Dear Lou,

 

Please stop using Howry in close games. He's been [expletive] this year.

 

Signed,

Cubs08

[Sammy Sofa]

Not PHing Edmonds for Johnson when he was up against a newly brought in righthanded reliever with a guy on 3rd and 1 out late in the game struck me as not the best decision. It ended up working out with Blanco in the next AB, but still...

[bukie]

Not PHing Edmonds for Johnson when he was up against a newly brought in righthanded reliever with a guy on 3rd and 1 out late in the game struck me as not the best decision. It ended up working out with Blanco in the next AB, but still...

 

The concern there is that Shouse is waiting in the pen to come in, and Shouse kills lefties. PH with Edmonds, and then you're stuck with Blanco after Shouse comes in, and then who? Zambrano?

[Sammy Sofa]

Not PHing Edmonds for Johnson when he was up against a newly brought in righthanded reliever with a guy on 3rd and 1 out late in the game struck me as not the best decision. It ended up working out with Blanco in the next AB, but still...

 

The concern there is that Shouse is waiting in the pen to come in, and Shouse kills lefties. PH with Edmonds, and then you're stuck with Blanco after Shouse comes in, and then who? Zambrano?

 

Ideally you're trying to get that extra run in on 3rd with 1 out in the 8th and then win it. Again, it worked out with Blanco, but it would have been ideal to maximize the attempt to get Aramis in from 3rd with only 1 out.

[CubColtPacer]

Not PHing Edmonds for Johnson when he was up against a newly brought in righthanded reliever with a guy on 3rd and 1 out late in the game struck me as not the best decision. It ended up working out with Blanco in the next AB, but still...

 

The concern there is that Shouse is waiting in the pen to come in, and Shouse kills lefties. PH with Edmonds, and then you're stuck with Blanco after Shouse comes in, and then who? Zambrano?

 

Ideally you're trying to get that extra run in on 3rd with 1 out in the 8th and then win it. Again, it worked out with Blanco, but it would have been ideal to maximize the attempt to get Aramis in from 3rd with only 1 out.

 

Which way is maximizing your result though? Is it:

 

Blanco and McGehee against Shouse?

 

Or is it Johnson against Villanueva, and then Blanco against Shouse?

 

I would probably argue the second one. I have no faith at all that McGehee is a major league caliber hitter against any type of pitcher. Plus in the 1st scenario, you're sending up your backup catcher in a DP situation. And Shouse is an unbelievably extreme GB pitcher..his GB/FB ratio is 3.27.

[Sammy Sofa]

Good points.

[Cubs08]

115 pitches for Harden today :yahoo: