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OT: Raise the Jolly Roger: New season of plundering begins

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Got some luck there. Gonzales is entirely at the whim of the BABIP gods, so walks are a bit worrying to see.

Still, he's mostly living where you want to live on the edges of the zone, generating fairly soft contact. Some of the hits have been a bit hard, but nothing too worrying just yet.

I'm curious how we will manage with him on the mound. In a 2-1 game like this, I think it makes sense to treat him like a 5 and dive type pitcher, not seeing the lineup for the 3rd time.
 
Seems like Gonzales is going to be pulled after 5, Roansy is up in the bullpen and warming up. I know I just said on the last page that bullpen management is one of Shelton's strengths, but I REALLY don't feel good about putting Roansy in a 1 run game.
 
Seems kind of silly to suggest taking Gonzales out given where his pitch count is, but I think you manage the situation to win. If we don't add on some cushion, then I'd give any reliever a fresh inning. Gonzales is at best a dice roll to allow traffic and it's only a matter of time before one is in the gap or over the fence.

It would be nice to see Gore not get the calls in this one and scratch out a couple of runs.
 
This team has gotten absolutely bullshit good BABIP luck this year and I'm all for it lmao

I fully thought they'd leave Davis on 2nd after that Taylor dink hit.
 
Interesting call now. I still feel like with the situation, go for the win with fresh relievers, but it's fair to not be confident in Contreras and maybe it's better in the long run to ride the starter, at least with a quick hook instead of not letting it play out.

If Abrams gets on, I would have a reliever ready to go though.
 
Yeah that single is exactly the risk of Gonzales coming back out. Abrams is a massive base stealing threat and you're really relying on not getting any more seeing-eye singles to keep him from scoring. It's really just a function of BABIP luck with how Gonzales just doesn't strike guys out.

You need a really clutch double play here.
 
The problem was evident against Thomas. No put away pitch = no way to get through that situation other than a put out or walk.

Now Contreras is in a situation that is set-up for failure. Hopefully he can step up in a big way, because even coming in a bit wild and giving up a walk could be the difference between winning and losing.
 
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Okay maybe I should fully trust Shelton's bullpen decisions then :laugh:

Strikeout, a weakly hit groundout that was nearly a double play and another strikeout by Contreras.
 
Ok Roansy, we see you.

What I want to hear soon is him embracing the bullpen role and thriving in it. I feel similarly about Ortiz. If you have those guys as bridge guys to Chapman and Bednar, with Mlodzinski on the way back, then you are really cooking in the bullpen, which is crucial for giving yourself an opportunity to convert games like this into Ws.

One thing I wish that Block and Wehner had accentuated: Cruz made an extremely mature decision there just to take the out at second and not make the throw. Maybe he has a very small chance to make a fantastic play and end the inning, but more likely that there's an issue and it leads to an automatic run. I think he makes that throw in 2022 (and it probably sails wide).
 
MrBrightside said:
Why would it not be reviewable as to whether he touched the ball in fair territory? I don’t think he did but it’s odd that they couldn’t challenge it.
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Yeah seems silly to me.

And Cruz gets a called strike 3 on a ball several inches outside the strike zone. Thought he actually did well to not swing at some of those from the lefty reliever.
 
Good lord what a horrible game this ump has called. He's not just missing the zone by a huge amount, which is an easy nitpick when we all have the auto-box on the TV. He's all over the place in terms of the width and depth of the zone.

That's what makes an umpire bad rather than missing calls a robo ump would make, because it doesn't establish something that is the baseline for all players in the same way. If he wants to call a huge zone, it should be huge all game.

I think the process for Cruz has been very good so far. He isn't chasing bad pitches and putting himself into poor hitting counts. If he keeps it up, he will have success, and he still came up with a big single earlier, which turned him into what is currently the winning run.
 
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I can see a useful path for Contreras as a reliever, but a multi-inning, 40+ pitch reliever is not the path for that whatsoever.

He's a 1 inning guy throwing max velocity and then you pull him.
 
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Leaving him in against Thomas is inexcusable. It should be Ryan in there right now.

Bailed out with mishit fly balls. I guess the thinking is just not to burn too many arms too fast. I can sort of get rolling the dice on Abrams instead of having Fleming face multiple guys potentially, but we are lucky Thomas didn't make it 5-3.
 
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