gambochaman said:

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JohnnyTexAg1995 said:

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gambochaman said:

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Yet again, the simplest way to score the manfred runner, the bunt, is nowhere to be found

Epic fail man

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so who do you bunt… Bregman, Yordon, or Diaz??

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Bregman of course…the first batter of the inning

Period

The end

Dont care wtf they are…advance the gdamn runner

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We have the top of the lineup up and you think we should try to play for one run? Really handicapping yourself in those situations as they are just as likely to be able to scratch in a run as well.

agdaddy04 said:

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Seemed like they were playing Harper more straight up than normal.

I'm also done with trying to stretch Hader when we don't have a lead. Only going to wear him out for when we actually need him.

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Agreed. I think the thought is that he is burned for tomorrow anyways (back to back days already), so let him go a little longer, as long as it doesn't get excessive. But he doesn't handle these scenarios well at all.

agdaddy04 said:

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Seemed like they were playing Harper more straight up than normal.

I'm also done with trying to stretch Hader when we don't have a lead. Only going to wear him out for when we actually need him.

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Yeah I do not like using Hader this way early

And I think burning pitchers for one out like Neris is also dumb

The Porkchop Express said:

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I really don't see the value of keeping everyone in the dark on an injury. It's not like it's football where there's 1 game a week and you'd game plan differently based on a possible injury. Very frustrating to the average fan, probably enormously frustrating to the media.

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Agreed, but ngl, I might have checked out if they said tucker would be out til Sept back in June.

Gotta win 1 of the next 2 and then win 3/4 against KC.

Can't afford to let Seattle get within 3 games of the lead because that means you're a weekend away from 2nd

BadAggie said:

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Devil Rays 1
Seamen 0

Top of 2nd

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I'm watching. Let's go Rays!

Charlie Murphy said:

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All for taking shots at Dana but don't see how it applies tonight. That's two great teams battling it out into extras.

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Well, for one it relieves my irrational anger.
Two, he's low hanging fruit.
Three, I can't blame Cintron for every loss.
And four, it would have been prudent to find another bat at the deadline.

I feel that my last two points are the strongest.

I think it's quite obvious that we are using this tough stretch to rest players. Bregman sat against Boston, Alvarez versus Baltimore, Presley's on the DL, and now Altuve versus Philly. Sit them in the games with a higher probability of losing, make sure you win the games you should, maintain the lead in the division, and then rest more down the stretch.

I'm an old school baseball guy and remember when the bunt was a common fundamental way of manufacturing runs. Watching guys trying to launch home runs rather than advancing runners in late innings drives me absolutely b##sh##!
Bregman always says he does anything to help his team win - well then try bunting or hitting it to the right side to advance the lead runner for crying out loud. With Hader pitching a one run lead even in Manfred ball could be enough. Frustrating as hell!

Rays 1
Mariners 4

Mariners always play better at home. Not so much on the road.

I wonder what we would have had to give up to get a bat. Or if anyone was even interested in our trade bait. Apparently not.

BCEDAg said:

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I'm an old school baseball guy and remember when the bunt was a common fundamental way of manufacturing runs. Watching guys trying to launch home runs rather than advancing runners in late innings drives me absolutely b##sh##!
Bregman always says he does anything to help his team win - well then try bunting or hitting it to the right side to advance the lead runner for crying out loud. With Hader pitching a one run lead even in Manfred ball could be enough. Frustrating as hell!

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If Bregman bunts, you are immediately taking away his ability to draw a walk and negating his eye.

You have to have some players you can trust to swing the bat and take good ABs.

There is no way you are lobbying for Yordan to bunt in that situation.

We didn't need a bunt in T10. If it were B10 and all we needed was 1 run it's different.

We needed one of our top 3 hitters to get a hit. Harper made a great snag on Yordan and Diaz was just unlucky.

Aggie8587 said:

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Yep, offense has choked away some huge opportunities to blow the division lead wide open.

Stros last 8 losses have come by a combined 11 runs… including 6 one-run losses in the last 3 weeks

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Literally did nothing at the trade deadline to help the offense. It was bound to come back and haunt us. Needed to add an OF/1B bat in a bad way.

you know...speaking of Bryce Harper...

there's another outfielder who made the transition to first base.

he's not going to win a gold glove, but his defense is adequate

W said:

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you know...speaking of Bryce Harper...

there's another outfielder who made the transition to first base.

he's not going to win a gold glove, but his defense is adequate

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Would love for Yordan to make that transition over an offseason

We're 13th in MLB in team OPS in August. Not great, but also not awful. Had Dana known that Tucker was going to be out well into September, he might have been more aggressive in landing a bat. But after the price to land Kuchi, we probably didn't want to deplete the farm any further with the belief that we'd soon get an MVP caliber bat back in the lineup.

Thankfully our pitching has been able to carry us. If we can maintain our division lead for a couple of weeks and hopefully get Tucker back, then we're looking like a matchup in the playoffs that no one wants.

If Tucker doesn't return this season, which surprisingly seems possible, then we're really going to regret not adding a bat.

Until we are very close to clinching the division, there should be no rest days for your star players. The Mariners have a pretty easy next week or so.

It is entirely possible we could be staring at a tie in the standings at the end of the weekend if we don't take care of business.

Why does Espada use Hader in the 9th in tie games on the road? I get this strategy at home because that could be the other team's last inning to hit but makes no sense to me on the road because the other team will have always have at least one more inning to hit. What am I missing about this strategy from his perspective?

The strategy is throw the dude that gives you your best chance at getting another shot on offense. That's typically your closer.

I hate it though because in close games we've already burned our leverage guys and there's no one behind Hader.

So either he struggles because it's a non save situation or the game continues and you end up with someone like Caleb Ferguson trying to close it out.

rosco511 said:

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Why does Espada use Hader in the 9th in tie games on the road? I get this strategy at home because that could be the other team's last inning to hit but makes no sense to me on the road because the other team will have always have at least one more inning to hit. What am I missing about this strategy from his perspective?

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I would guess he doesn't want to lose because he saved his best bullet.

But if not really using him as a closer anymore then why wait until the 9th to use him? Also, you will still have to go out and close out the other team in the extra inning format, which is much more difficult for pitchers so would think would want actual closer for this?

Maybe there is data to support this approach, but just does not seem to make intuitive sense to me that you treat this guy as your closer the entire game until the 9th.