The Rangers' confidence, and Ian Kinsler swinging 3-0

Ron Washington wants his guys to know that he believes in them, and that he has confidence in them. He wants them to have that confidence, that swagger…

I think most people here agreed it was just fine to swing there. It was just a crappy swing.

Whatever, happens.

Lewin would say something like “Vlad is in a bit of a wobble right now” and TAG would remind us all of how great Vlad has been all year and that Wash still has all the faith in the world with Vlad up there.

I love the mute button.

It would be different if the bases were loaded, or if the 3-0 pitch was in the dirt…but that pitch in that situation offered a quality opportunity to end the game.

In my mind thats a given in that situation.

I don have a problem with Ian bunting at any point at all.

Nellie’s boomstick

(and directed towards AJM), but I don’t think it was the swinging on 3-0, it was the fact that Ian had sucked last night and he was late when he KNEW he was going to get a fastball. He should have started that swing earlier, and if he got a slider instead, it would have been 3-1 and keep going. But he was SO LATE, that is what bothered me the most.

Batters have faced 3-0 counts 5,759 times in Major League Baseball this year.
Batters have swung on a 3-0 count 291 times, or 5.05% of the time.

The Rangers have faced 3-0 counts 197 times this year.
The Rangers have swung on a 3-0 count 15 times, or 7.61% of the time.

The Diamondbacks, by my research, have swung at a 3-0 count the most this year, 28 out of 215 times (13.02%).
The Angels are second, swinging 23 out of 194 chances (11.85%).

The Mets have not swung at any of the 178 3-0 counts they’ve faced this season, the only team that can make such a claim.

and walked the next pitch… I was in shock that he had the green light… probably moreso than Ian’s.

I think that ron probably gives him the day off today, giving Hamilton a little rest getting to play DH today. Maybe the extra rest will do him some good

For the game yesterday I had more of an issue with Ian’s at-bat in the 2nd where he swung at two pitcher’s pitches (that appeared to be balls) immediately after a walk. The Rangers had that guy on the ropes at that point, he was having a hard time finding the strike zone and I felt like Ian let him off the hook.

That and the missed throw-down to 2nd are why I was annoyed with Ian. I had no problem with his 3-0 swing other than it seemed like he was going for it all instead of just trying to square up on the pitch.

At the ballpark, I was pissed, but of course I was at such an angle where I couldn’t tell balls and strikes at all. If the pitch really was grooved down the middle, why wouldn’t you want Ian Kinsler swinging? Now, I’m more upset at the people who let the first baseman waltz over and make a catch in the stands.

are the fans that let an opposing player come in to their seat and catch the ball. If you’re in the stands you have to catch that ball. Or knock it away. Anything.

I think I have figured him out. It is all pitch recognition. Look how many foul balls he has. He is generating no power because he is swinging late because he is trying to figure out what kind of pitch is coming. And on another note on the douche how can you hit 355 at AAA and 190 here. I mean the pitching is so much better in the majors but to hit 160 points lower. We would all be thrilled to see him hit 245 and hit 25 HRs a year I would think.

I just got re-tweeted by Old Hoss Radbourn.

a main reason why us fans were so mad last night about the Kinsler thing was because we wanted to see Lee get the win, and you expect so much more than a foul out on a 3-0 count

more of a reflection on Kinsler’s performance the whole night. The missed cover of 2nd…0-4 at the time of the AB… Like you said, he had a bad game…had Kinsler had a hit or two, there would probably have been less of an issue with swinging 3-0

While I was crusing Angelswin Blog in the hopes for links this week, I came across their testimonial section. Having nothing to do with being an Angels blog or not, that strikes me as weird. Do other blogs do this?

I don’t care that Vlad’s in a slump, the bases juiced would put more pressure on Wuertz to actually throw something in the zone for Vlad to crush. I mean, if Wuertz is going to pitch carefully to Vlad, he’s got to REALLY throw it out of the zone. So Vlad would see some good pitches, and I think hit the ball hard. And win in the 9th. And I was pretty pissed off after that swing. Obviously, the result is what really pissed me off, but I was grinning at the thought of bases juiced, bottom of the 9th, 2 outs, tie game. Not that it matters, with hindsight being what it is after a win in the 10th…

However, I do agree with most of what you had to say – 3-0 has a better chance at seeing a good pitch to hit than 0-0; Washington showed confidence in Kinsler to get it done.

Heard this: The Astros are working very, very hard to work out something acceptable in order to move Roy Oswalt. But there are a lot of questions about how many teams would be interested, given all the dynamics — the cost in prospects, ’12 option.

I did have a problem with him being late on the pitch.

If Oswalt takes the mound Friday night against the Brewers, “the odds of him being traded are down to almost nothing” says Richard Justice of the Houston Chronicle. ESPN’s Buster Olney tweets that the Astros are “working very, very hard” to find an acceptable Oswalt deal despite all the obstacles.

Ken_Rosenthal
  
Source: #Phillies know what #Astros want for Oswalt and can satisfy them without making separate deal involving Werth. #Cardinals out, #Dodgers making no progress. #Phillies divided about whether to take add’l payroll and trade add’l prospects.

SI_JonHeyman
  
#rangers join fielder fray with angels, chisox. Very active for bankrupted team

Thing of it is, when you overtly display a bad attitude as much as Ian does…the jogging to first, the sulking demeanor after a flyout, etc., you don’t leave yourself much wiggle room when you have a night like he did.

He would do well to emulate Marlon Byrd, and never ever leave any doubt as to hustle and being “in the game”.

At least someone in the media gets it.