Pretend You Live in a Bubble...

[The Genius]

"Charlie let Sabathia..er...Rincon "hit". Why?"
Because Helton was leading off. Now Helton is hitting .303 against lefties and .377 against righties. Is that enough of a difference to give up an out in a close game? I think not. But then again, I doubt that Charlie knew the numbers. I'm still waiting ( 2 1/3 seasons) to see him reading anything on the bench. Either he has fantastic memory or he's illiterate.

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ June 15, 2002 01:14 AM: Message edited by: The Genius ]</font>

[Alex]

As it turned out, Helton got a hit, I don't remembe what Hollandsworth did.

But Charlie took out Rincon after two hitters. Well, if you are risking losing the possibility of scoring a run by letting the relief pitcher hit in the top of the inning, then you only let him face two batters in the bottom of the inning...HE COULD ONLY GIVE UP ONE MORE RUN then could have been scored in the top of the inning by pinch hitting for him!

And of course, when you factor in that they got at least one hit anyway...the smart play would have been to try and get the run across and perhaps get even more runs.

Instead, they held Mcdonald on Rincon's infield out...then were forced to send him with one out on another grounder to try and avoid having a runner on third with two outs!

Mcdonald was out and the chance to score was pretty much squashed.

At least we won....Yippppeee!

[Hawaii007]

According to the game log you are mistaken Alex. Personally, I think it is worth the potential loss of a run, you have the lead already, you want to protect it the best you can. Plus, Rincon hit the ball on the ground which is what any of the PHers on the bench would have done most likely right? Anyway...this is what happened after Rincon was NOT pinch hit for:

COLORADO 8TH
-C Allen in right field.
-Bottom of the 8th inning
-T Helton grounded out to second.
-T Zeile grounded out to third.
-T Hollandsworth singled to left.
-D Riske relieved R Rincon.
-J Uribe doubled to left center, T Hollandsworth scored.
-G Norton hit for G Bennett.
-G Norton walked.
-B Agbayani hit for J Speier.
-M Wohlers relieved D Riske.
-B Agbayani grounded out to third.

As you can see, Rincon got two quick outs, and Hollandsworth got the single. I was looking at the MLB gameday thingy and they show the location of the pitches on it, and it is pretty accurate, I compared it to when I was watching the game, anyway, the hit Hollandsworth got was into short left-center. The pitch was waist high middle of the plate-in. My guess it was a jam-job blooper. SO in other words, Rincon was effective.

Anyway...I do believe the manager and the coaches ahve all the stats on hand.

[Alex]

Rincon faced three batters and gave up a hit. I thought he faced two batters and gave up at least one hit. They still hit .333 against him.

I'd rather have had a better chance to score in the top of the inning. The only other logical reason I can see to let Rincon bat is he used to pitch in the National League and perhaps got some at bats...but how many?

Everything worked out tonight, but how many times will we see our relievers batting during interleague games?

[Alex]

You have a decent sized lead..something like 6-2 or 6-3...it's the top of the eighth...

Your number-8 hitter, Johnny Mac, hits a triple.

Do you let your relief pitcher hit?

I would say no.

Charlie let Sabathia..er...Rincon "hit". Why?

Perhaps because the heart of the order was coming up for Colorado, and Charlie felt leaving Rincon in to bat was the wise move, that way Rincon could pitch in the bottom of the inning against the heart of Colorado's order.

I'd rather have the possibility of the extra run by pinch-hitting for him.

I just saw this scenario on the CBS Sportsline pitch by pitch display. I've gotten no feedback nor opinion from anyone else...is this a really big blunder, letting Rincon hit with a runner on third and one out in the top of the eighth just so he can pitch in the bottom of the eighth?

I say yes. What say ye?

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ June 15, 2002 12:27 AM: Message edited by: Alex ]</font>

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ June 15, 2002 01:19 AM: Message edited by: Alex ]</font>

[Hawaii007]

I was thinking the same thing, and the reason I think is because Helton and Hollandsworth were coming up in the bottom of the inning so Rincon was needed to pitch to them. That is part of the problem with having only one lefty in the bullpen.

[Hawaii007]

Rincon pitched to six batters in the game. He got the side out in the previous inning after Drese walked the leadoff batter in the inning.

I still think it was the right move, especially with the bullpen not 100% and Rincon in control.

[Alex]

I get it now. Charlie was afraid the lead-off man might get a hit, dance off of first, causing our relief pitchers other than Rincon grief, our reliever is forced to throw fastballs to keep the runner from stealing. The batter knows this and jacks the 2-0 pitch over the fence for a game tying homer.

Yeah, got to worry about other teams little ball, even while we have none. And Charlie likes it that way.

[The Genius]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size=2 face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><table border="0" width="90%" bgcolor="#333333" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="0"><tr><td width="100%"><table border="0" width="100%" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" bgcolor="#FF9900"><tr><td width="100%" bgcolor="#DDDDDD"><font size=2 face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by Alex:

Everything worked out tonight, but how many times will we see our relievers batting during interleague games?</font></td></tr></table></td></tr></table></BLOCKQUOTE>

They should never bat. Shuey is on the DL from taking batting practice (how stupid is that?). I'm sure I remember the same thing happening last year or the year before.