Man, it sucks that we can’t even play small ball right.

I was expecting him to bunt, but I guess he was thinking along the same lines as AMJ. Personally, I wanted to see Andrus or maybe even Boggs lay it down. Yes, Salty Struck out, but he struck out trying to get a hit. Maybe he changes his approach, and tries to slap the ball to right field with a guy on first.

Chris Davis’s chances of not making an out are about 1 in 4, and most of those outs he isn’t going to advance anyone due to his high K%, and giving how poorly this team is hitting in general in June, I think going small ball was an absolute no brainer.

Going to 3B sets you up for another bunt, or for a sac fly, or even for a weak single to shallow OF.

I generally hate small ball, but:

A) This team isn’t hitting, and basicly you can treat most of the hitters on this team as pitchers.
B) It was the 9th inning
C) It was a tie game.
D) Any run was a walk off run.

1 Run is worth as much as a crooked number inning, so the odds start favoring small ball. Most of the odds against small ball are improved by the odds of getting the big run innining, and that’s just meaningless here.

Given how the Rangers haven’t been hitting, I still bring in Andrus for the bunt. I would have also pinch-hit for Davis, and I would have left Omar in the game to hit for himself. But I respect your analysis big-time, anyway.

That’s not what this site is about.

doesn’t work for me here. To see the problems with that assumption, you only have to go as far as the next inning last night: Kinsler on second, no outs, Young singles ~ and Kinsler doesn’t score.

the idiots will come to tell you how wrong you are

dont you know you bunt every time w/o even assessing the situation at all

the hilarity of it…if wash had bunted and failed, which is extremely possible, then these same people would say he was stupid

but if you were going to bunt, why not use a pitcher like Millwood or Padilla who presumably has a lot more experience bunting than any of those position players?

Hindsight is 20/20… If he had put in Elvis, and he missed two bunts and lined into a dp then everyone would be clamaring for him to have done what he did do…

We won the game… if the next time this happens, the situation might seem to imply a bunt over, then maybe we will try it… But if we win the game regardless, does it matter?

That’s still 90 feet further than what we got last nite. Bunt – no brainer

meaning a hard hit grounder has an increased chance of getting through

I still think it is a bunting situation though. My biggest problem is not pinch hitting for the Stike Out King, but later deciding to pich hit for Omar.

but then again, I think its in the same vein as hitting 16 against a Face upcard in blackjack. Hitting it is the right call, but its close to a coin flip decision, and whatever you do you are likely to fail.

and talk about how the Rangers are going to kill Brandon Backe tonight.

And I have to say that I agree.

and it was pretty

if elvis successfully puts down the bunt, and the next guy fails to score byrd on an out, you still have a good chance that there are only two outs, which gives one more hitter a chance to get a hit to drive in byrd. you also still have the chance that evlis bunts for a hit and/or there is an errant throw on the bunt. you also have two batters for which a wild pitch scores byrd.

i think you also have to consider the alterations in hitting approaches that may come into play. i think when a player is aware that all he needs to do is get a fly ball or ground ball up the middle he is focused more on making contact and less likely to strike out. that isn’t assured, but i dont think you can point to salty’s strikeout rates as likely to obtain in that unique situation.

when do Rangers hitters ever change their approach from “be aggressive and drive it”?

are having Murphy try to bunt in the 6th inning and PH Jones for Vizquel. Why give up an out in the 6th and right now Vizquel is hitting better than AJ.