Pirates (Falter) vs Cubs (Imanaga): 5/18/24, 1:20pm

[Stratos]

9 hours ago, gflore34 said:

Neris' cleanest inning of the season?  Threw only 3 balls.

That's a good sign.

[Stratos]

Mastro's avg bat speed according to Savant is only 0.5 mph faster than Madrigal's.  Will Smith slaps harder.

[mfcubs22]

9 hours ago, Stratos said:

I think Bart caught the ball and went for the tag with the ball in glove but also secured with his barehand so it doesn't get knocked out as catchers are taught, and then the hands split apart either before or after the tag and got unlucky with Belli knocking it out.

Some might disagree but I think any game-ending play shouldn't be able to be subject for review, even a HR call.  It's just anti-climactic, just let the teams walk it off.  Umpires have never been this good at their jobs anyways in the history of baseball, not by a longshot.

Now THATS a hot take. The only plays that shouldn’t be reviewed are the ones that matter the most?

[Rcal10]

8 hours ago, Stratos said:

Yeah but the score is tied late in the game, they're going home if they can you'd think.  Isn't that a safety squeeze kind of situation?  Why wouldn't Happ at least wait until they throw to 2B and start the DP to commit?  I wonder by the stats how often runner in that kind of situation works.

The baserunning on this team is terrible.  Same base coaches, virtually the same players, not sure the issue.  Maybe just bad luck let's hope.

The plays the Cubs are getting tagged out at the plate are not bad baserunning plays. They are plays where the runner is INSTRUCTED to run on contact. Happ was not supposed to read the ground ball. He was to run home, period. Same as any other player who has been tagged out previously under the same circumstances. Any complaints about this should be directed to the managers decisions to have the runner winning contact. I get the frustration, but it isn’t bad baserunning. It is bad strategy. And honestly I am not sure it is even bad strategy. It is unfortunate circumstances where guys hitting grounders directly at fielders and therefore the runner at 3rd is an easy out at home.

As for guys being tagged out at home where they are the 3rd out of an inning, that is another story. But in those cases if the runner has even a 40% chance of scoring the 3rd base coach isn’t wrong to send him, depending on who is up next. If you have a 40% chance to score but don’t try because you are hoping the next guy can drive you in, if that guy only has a 30% chance of actually driving you in the 3rd base coach made the right decision to send the runner. But it never looks that way when 3 out of 5 the guy is thrown out at home and the other 2 people say the Cubs are lucky the other team didn’t execute properly or the Cub would have been out. Just because a guy gets tagged out at home to end an inning that doesn’t mean the 3rd base coach made a decision less likely for them to score than has he held the guy up. Yesterday was a perfect example. Bellinger probably had a 40% chance to score. So should Harris have held him and hoped Happ or the next guy could have driven him in? Of course not. He had to send him. And had the Pirates executed he would have been out. But they didn’t. How mad would all Xubs fans been if Harris held Bellinger and the  Happ and Tauchman didn’t get the runner in? 

[Max Power]

The way this organization consistently can’t diagnose injuries and plays short handed because of it is insane. It’s been this way for years.

 

[Transmogrified Tiger]

20 minutes ago, Max Power said:

The way this organization consistently can’t diagnose injuries and plays short handed because of it is insane. It’s been this way for years.

 

People aren't machines, the idea that they're grossly misunderstanding the magnitude of injuries in ways they could've prevented is silly.  You can see this reflected in the fact that this complaint echoes across fans of many teams and many sports year after year.

 

Just now, TomtheBombadil said:

^^ Its kind of how the modern world works. Citizens just need to be healthy enough for the season to happen and the employer to profit. Any healthier and they might start asking for a better life or asking questions that might lead to some unfortunate (for them) accidents/occurrences/deaths 

[UMFan83]

55 minutes ago, Rcal10 said:

The plays the Cubs are getting tagged out at the plate are not bad baserunning plays. They are plays where the runner is INSTRUCTED to run on contact. Happ was not supposed to read the ground ball. He was to run home, period. Same as any other player who has been tagged out previously under the same circumstances. Any complaints about this should be directed to the managers decisions to have the runner winning contact. I get the frustration, but it isn’t bad baserunning. It is bad strategy. And honestly I am not sure it is even bad strategy. It is unfortunate circumstances where guys hitting grounders directly at fielders and therefore the runner at 3rd is an easy out at home.

As for guys being tagged out at home where they are the 3rd out of an inning, that is another story. But in those cases if the runner has even a 40% chance of scoring the 3rd base coach isn’t wrong to send him, depending on who is up next. If you have a 40% chance to score but don’t try because you are hoping the next guy can drive you in, if that guy only has a 30% chance of actually driving you in the 3rd base coach made the right decision to send the runner. But it never looks that way when 3 out of 5 the guy is thrown out at home and the other 2 people say the Cubs are lucky the other team didn’t execute properly or the Cub would have been out. Just because a guy gets tagged out at home to end an inning that doesn’t mean the 3rd base coach made a decision less likely for them to score than has he held the guy up. Yesterday was a perfect example. Bellinger probably had a 40% chance to score. So should Harris have held him and hoped Happ or the next guy could have driven him in? Of course not. He had to send him. And had the Pirates executed he would have been out. But they didn’t. How mad would all Xubs fans been if Harris held Bellinger and the  Happ and Tauchman didn’t get the runner in? 

In the situation yesterday it would have been runner on 3rd and 1 out. I believe the MLB average for an individual batter getting a runner home from 3rd and less than 2 outs is around 50%. 
 

I agree with most of what you are saying though. Those contact plays are not bad baserunning and I don’t think the strategy is wrong either.  I’m not sure why we’ve failed so many more times than every other team in baseball but I suppose bad luck is a big component. 

Edited May 19, 2024 by UMFan83

[Derwood]

Feels like these Pirate pitchers are going to be a pain for the next few years. 

[UMFan83]

We just using the same game thread today? lol

[Rcal10]

1 hour ago, UMFan83 said:

In the situation yesterday it would have been runner on 3rd and 1 out. I believe the MLB average for an individual batter getting a runner home from 3rd and less than 2 outs is around 50%. 
 

I agree with most of what you are saying though. Those contact plays are not bad baserunning and I don’t think the strategy is wrong either.  I’m not sure why we’ve failed so many more times than every other team in baseball but I suppose bad luck is a big component. 

Bellinger got a bad break from second and he kind of stumbled rounding the base too. I would guess “normally” the chances of him scoring on that exact play are over 65%. When talking to Taylor McGreger he even said his break was bad and he stumbled. Now, Harris should have seen his break was bad, but he couldn’t know of a slight misstep. They had to send him.. 

[NorthsideAvenger]

1 hour ago, Derwood said:

Feels like these Pirate pitchers are going to be a pain for the next few years. 

Until they are traded. 

[squally1313]

1 hour ago, Derwood said:

Feels like these Pirate pitchers are going to be a pain for the next few years. 

Pitchers break. Pitchers throwing 101 with run especially break. 

[Irrelevant Dude]

Oh God, is Zaidman doing TV today?

[Transmogrified Tiger]

 

[Stratos]

13 hours ago, Max Power said:

The way this organization consistently can’t diagnose injuries and plays short handed because of it is insane. It’s been this way for years.

 

They seem pretty good at diagnosing injuries since they have the most guys on the IL haha.