I'm sure there was reasoning behind calling for Homan to sac bunt (more than once) in a 2 strike count, but it certainly couldn't have been good reasoning. That's a real hard one to swallow.

Sure looks like we'll get another chance to hand Ole Miss a loss at this point. Looking forward to a better day Tomorrow!

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I for one do not disagree with your "swing away" post. That's a different argument than leaving it on with two strikes. It's really hard to hit with two strikes under any circumstance, especially when you viewed the first four pitches from a squared bunting stance.

At that point, it's about putting your nose on the ball and grinding out the bunt (lay off bad pitches while you're at it).

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except Homan got to 0-2 after 2 pitches. He should have swung away right there...not after squaring around and watching 2 more balls.

I agree hitting with 2 strikes is no easy task, but every single type of foul ball when swinging away gives you more opportunities to continue the at bat

keeping the bunt on reduces the possibilities of outcomes....AND it's much harder to bunt with 2 strikes when you feel like you have to protect the plate and the pitcher isn't going to pipe one down the middle for you. That lends to less successful bunts even when you do get the bat on the ball.

At 0-2, he should have turned around and protected the plate, swinging away.

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with the tying run on first the absolute worst scenario there is grounding into a DP. and swinging away in an 0-2 count has a infinitely higher probability of outcome than keeping the bunt on.

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With that logic then why was the last batter swinging away with only 1 out and a guy on first?

Also, infinitely higher is not correct. I can't tell you how many times I have seen a bunter pop the ball up and the guy get doubled off first.

And why be so scared of the DP when there were no outs? The game would have turned out no worse than what happened.

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the last batter has a greater than .300 batting average, yes? The infinitely higher was tongue in cheek, hopefully you are not that dense. I hope I don't really need to explain the importance of keeping the man on first in that situation.

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What do you think Homan's average is? Go ahead and take a guess. Do you think Homan has a better average than the last batter?

Your logic falls completely apart. And go read my previous post about sacrifice bunts.

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Had Homan followed a cardinal rule (don't offer at pitch above your squared bat), he would worked a full count. That would have been a good time to take the bunt off because the pressure is now back on the pitcher. Even if you leave it on the pitcher has no choice but to "pipe one". Poor execution on a couple levels.

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I agree. If the gamble is on to bunt with 2 strikes, you better make damn sure your guy in the box isn't reckless and has a great eye so he can protect...then the batter better damn sure do it.

Full count and swing away puts all that pressure on the pitcher.

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with the tying run on first the absolute worst scenario there is grounding into a DP. and swinging away in an 0-2 count has a infinitely higher probability of outcome than keeping the bunt on.

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Homan is fast as can be. Unless he hits a rocket right at a guy, they aren't turning a DP.

deciding to keep the bunt on makes a successful bunt that much harder with 2 strikes, and reduces all other potential outcomes of swinging away. Keeping the bunt on for fear of the double play just doesn't add up imo.

It's not a major deal, and I'm not too upset that they decided to keep it on, but I think it was the wrong call.

I'm much more concerned about controlling what we can control. And part of that is the black hole in the cleanup spot for the past month +.

I love Melton, but he has been an inning and momentum killer for a long time. We can control that, and honestly when I looked back at just how rough his numbers have been the last 16 games, the decision should have been made before the tourney.

However, perfect opportunity to roll the dice tomorrow and move things around.

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I don't disagree with you, when Homan offered at a bad pitch the first time the bunt should have been off immediately. Don't give the pitcher strikes make him earn them.

Kind of like the AB Banks had earlier in the game. He swung at two just awful pitches down and away. You could see by his reaction his frustration with himself. He took a few pitches and then smacked one in to left center because the pitcher needed to throw a strike.

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I for one do not disagree with your "swing away" post. That's a different argument than leaving it on with two strikes. It's really hard to hit with two strikes under any circumstance, especially when you viewed the first four pitches from a squared bunting stance.

At that point, it's about putting your nose on the ball and grinding out the bunt (lay off bad pitches while you're at it).

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except Homan got to 0-2 after 2 pitches. He should have swung away right there...not after squaring around and watching 2 more balls.

I agree hitting with 2 strikes is no easy task, but every single type of foul ball when swinging away gives you more opportunities to continue the at bat

keeping the bunt on reduces the possibilities of outcomes....AND it's much harder to bunt with 2 strikes when you feel like you have to protect the plate and the pitcher isn't going to pipe one down the middle for you. That lends to less successful bunts even when you do get the bat on the ball.

At 0-2, he should have turned around and protected the plate, swinging away.

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with the tying run on first the absolute worst scenario there is grounding into a DP. and swinging away in an 0-2 count has a infinitely higher probability of outcome than keeping the bunt on.

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With that logic then why was the last batter swinging away with only 1 out and a guy on first?

Also, infinitely higher is not correct. I can't tell you how many times I have seen a bunter pop the ball up and the guy get doubled off first.

And why be so scared of the DP when there were no outs? The game would have turned out no worse than what happened.

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the last batter has a greater than .300 batting average, yes? The infinitely higher was tongue in cheek, hopefully you are not that dense. I hope I don't really need to explain the importance of keeping the man on first in that situation.

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What do you think Homan's average is? Go ahead and take a guess. Do you think Homan has a better average than the last batter?

Your logic falls completely apart. And go read my previous post about sacrifice bunts.

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so your argument is really that Homan shouldn't have been bunting in the first place? That is fine, and likely true, but irrelevant to the discussion.

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The bigger issue is we've lost 3 of our last 5 games and if we lose tomorrow that will mean we enter the post season having lost 3 of our last 6. It doesn't affect anything as far as a national seed or not but it's just not the way you'd like to enter post season. Now, it will likely turn out to mean nothing as I expect us to roll through our Regional regardless.

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I'm really bad at math, but wouldn't it be 4 of the last 6? Maybe there's something I'm not seeing.

Anywho, of those 4 losses, potentially 3 could be to top 10 teams.

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Yeah, obvious mistake

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The bigger issue is we've lost 3 of our last 5 games and if we lose tomorrow that will mean we enter the post season having lost 3 of our last 6. It doesn't affect anything as far as a national seed or not but it's just not the way you'd like to enter post season. Now, it will likely turn out to mean nothing as I expect us to roll through our Regional regardless.

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I'm really bad at math, but wouldn't it be 4 of the last 6? Maybe there's something I'm not seeing.

Anywho, of those 4 losses, potentially 3 could be to top 10 teams.

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Yeah, obvious mistake

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Okay, just checking. I was serious about being bad at math. Really thought I might have missed something

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Down one in that situation a run does nothing but eat up arms in extras. Why not Gideon to swing away with a guy on first.

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I would have had no problem with this. I wasn't happy with the bunt in the first place because I didn't want to play for one run in a mostly meaningless game.

I'm just saying that once RC/Bolt showed we were playing for one run, I'm not upset that they stuck with the bunt with two strikes.

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with the tying run on first the absolute worst scenario there is grounding into a DP. and swinging away in an 0-2 count has a infinitely higher probability of outcome than keeping the bunt on.

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It's not a major deal, and I'm not too upset that they decided to keep it on, but I think it was the wrong call.

I'm much more concerned about controlling what we can control. And part of that is the black hole in the cleanup spot for the past month +.

I love Melton, but he has been an inning and momentum killer for a long time. We can control that, and honestly when I looked back at just how rough his numbers have been the last 16 games, the decision should have been made before the tourney.

However, perfect opportunity to roll the dice tomorrow and move things around.

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This is actually exactly why this particular situation is so incredibly frustrating to me... The way that we approach a game, the way we "manage" games or whatever you want to call it is something that we absolutely have control over.

Essentially you only get 27 outs to do damage, especially if you're trailing. Yes, Melton has really been struggling, and that's unfortunate. I agree that it may be time to experiment with the lineup just to see what happens, as we're in a situation where we can afford to do that. However, I would argue that decisions directly effecting the efficient usage of the finite outs we have at our disposal to create runs are far more important than the details of the particular lineup that we roll out on any given day.

I'm pretty much never a fan of the sac bunt, but if there's one situation where I can tolerate it it would be playing for the tie late in a game as the home team (even though I still wouldn't have called for it.) So in today's game I was ok with the call, even though we were asking one of our most consistent bats to put the sac down. All that goes out the window in this particular situation though. We all saw what happened and are aware that there were 2 strikes...

If it were a situation where Homan was swinging away and rolled over on a hard grounder right to the 3rd baseman resulting in a dp, and then Choruby struck out on 3 pitches out of the zone I wouldn't have found the results a fraction as frustrating as what ultimately did end up happening.

Seeing as how I manage these games from my couch or a seat at Olsen I guess I'll just have to deal with it and look forward to tomorrow. But that doesn't make this loss taste any sweeter.

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with the tying run on first the absolute worst scenario there is grounding into a DP. and swinging away in an 0-2 count has a infinitely higher probability of outcome than keeping the bunt on.

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Homan is fast as can be. Unless he hits a rocket right at a guy, they aren't turning a DP.

deciding to keep the bunt on makes a successful bunt that much harder with 2 strikes, and reduces all other potential outcomes of swinging away. Keeping the bunt on for fear of the double play just doesn't add up imo.

It's not a major deal, and I'm not too upset that they decided to keep it on, but I think it was the wrong call.

I'm much more concerned about controlling what we can control. And part of that is the black hole in the cleanup spot for the past month +.

I love Melton, but he has been an inning and momentum killer for a long time. We can control that, and honestly when I looked back at just how rough his numbers have been the last 16 games, the decision should have been made before the tourney.

However, perfect opportunity to roll the dice tomorrow and move things around.

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I don't disagree with you, when Homan offered at a bad pitch the first time the bunt should have been off immediately. Don't give the pitcher strikes make him earn them.

Kind of like the AB Banks had earlier in the game. He swung at two just awful pitches down and away. You could see by his reaction his frustration with himself. He took a few pitches and then smacked one in to left center because the pitcher needed to throw a strike.

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First banks swing was a hit n run I believe.