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Thursday, August 23, 2007

Time to sweep



Game 4 in New Jersey is under way.

It's Gary Galvez vs. Kevin Ool. Yes, "OOL."

It's conceivable that we clinch a playoff spot tonight: if we win, and Quebec AND New Haven both lose, then we're in.

I'll be around later in the game, but for now, follow along with all the scores here.

5 comments:

Joe Grav said...

Anger level...rising

Weed and Roche both get on base against Kevin Ool, bringing up our BEST hitter, Mike Torres...

and Vic has him BUNT.

WHY@#ERAEFJAFDAJFOACAO

Then, Luis Lopez grounds out to first, and BJ Weed breaks for home, and is gunned down running home... another runner lost on the basepaths.

This team has been very good this year, but little shit like that has been happening all year.

Why you would EVER bunt with MIKE F'IN TORRES is BEYOND ME.

Joe Grav said...

Correction: Lopez struck out and the third strike was dropped by Kuklick; Kuklick recovered the ball, and threw down to first to retire Lopez; during that time Weed broke for home for some reason, and was thrown out on the return throw to home.

Dumb baseball = the Jackals get out of a 1st & 2nd, 0 out jam

Wooden U. Lykteneau said...

Joe - Three reasons:

1) Torres is only hitting .264 (.292 SLG) vs LHPs and has grounded out 27 times in 81 PA = better chance of a DP than a base hit and said base hit is very likely to be just a single (2 of 19 H for XB, both doubles).

2) Torres is only hitting .276 in August, so Vic's probably trying to take some of the heat off him by having him make a productive out = doesn't press trying to get a hit

3) By moving the runners over, you put two men in scoring position with a L/R matchup against a flyball hitter and a speedy guy on 3B = a betterthan average chance of a sac fly

Joe Grav said...

You've started the game by putting two men on. It's not like you've been struggling all game and are trying to play for one run.

.276 is not a bad average in August...and he's been one of the best hitters in the league all year.

Sac fly, shmack fly, you're not playing for one run in that situation.

Teams with runners on first and second with nobody out score more runs in an average inning than runners on 2nd and 3rd with 1 out. Fact.



And Joe Hough just grounded into another double play to end what was a promising rally for the Spirit.

Looks like this one ain't meant to be our night. Oh well, let them have their one... we'll take the three and move on :)

Wooden U. Lykteneau said...

Right, but do the math. He's hitting .342 for the year against righties - including a bad (for him) August. Over the last 3 weeks, those splits are probably like .295/.215 for R/L and even more likely, he's hitting weak grounders more frequently. This is the X factor of managing: Vic can see what batters are and aren't doing well and then manages accordingly. I'm working blind here, but the numbers tell me that he has reason to believe in a righty that hits lefties for power and puts the ball in the air vs. a lefty that struggles and hits the ball on the ground.

As for the baserunning, well, there's a reason why some of these guys are in independent ball.