Quote:
Originally Posted by jthig32
Oh, I wouldn't characterize that way. Hitting German seems awfully stupid, and pitching around Punto in the sixth really bothers me.
And the lineup bothers me, and will continue to bother me. Having Elvis hit second is already a bad idea and has been all year. Now with Josh so hurt is really weakens our middle of the order.
|
Eh, Punto had a couple of close pitches he could have swung at and I am not so sure that he pitched around him considering Washington took him out after that. His final pitch sure seemed like he was trying to get a strike called. Body language indicated as much too. Possible that his inability to consistently throw the ball where he wants to coupled with his nibbling style just created a walk. Possible that he did pitch around him too - but not completely sure I know which took place given his performance up to that point, attitude after, and Washington's decision.
Even if he did, considering it would have been a strategy play to get Carpenter out of the game (the guy that had pretty well shut us down minus one huge Napoli swing), I wouldn't have made that a fundamental mistake by Ron at the level I felt the other mistakes were, especially considering Punto had a hit previously and the eventual swinger, while having great success in pinch hit scenarios, was put in a very tough situation.
Agree though that having Elvis and Josh moved down in the lineup would be wise in theory, of course there is some truth to the "if it ain't broke..." thought process and messing with the confidence of players with a single series left. Even if I did do that, I wouldn't have touched Cruz. Dude is just fragile in my opinion with regard to his hitting spot. Would honestly not be surprised to see him not hit a single HR this series due to that change. Would obviously be disappointed, but it wouldn't surprise me.
Hopefully last night was a series of poor decisions and bad breaks and it will even out tonight with the best team winning and taking back home field advantage.