Kolek planning to go pro
The old school baseball guy in me thought the same thing. But in the brave new world of baseball bunting is the scarlet letter.
Exactly. He was likely going to be the long man if any pitchers struggled in the first couple of innings. I'd be tempted to go with Lackey in Game 1, Q in Game 2 and Lester in Game 3 on regular rest after his 55-pitch relief appearance. Lackey didn't have a great season but he had a 2.73 ERA over the last month. It'd give the rest of your starters a chance to get back on schedule a bit and the Cubs do not want to get into a bullpen battle with the Dodgers. That said, my best guess in that we'll see Quintana in Game 1, Lester in Game 2 and Arrieta in Game 3.
Quintana should go Game 1, use Lackey (or Montgomery) if you need to.
Unless you're Matt Wieters
I think you've gotta go Q in game 1 if he's ready. I think we see Hendricks in 3 as that would be normal rest and Arrieta in 4 - just a guess. Rondon needs to make the roster. Honestly, I'm not sure Lackey is necessary if you think Q can go in game 1 and feel good about Arrieta's hamstring.
Exactly. He was likely going to be the long man if any pitchers struggled in the first couple of innings.
Umm, I think that is exactly what happened yesterday and it wasn't Lackey.
I love that bunt against the shift.
Honestly, I'm not sure Lackey is necessary if you think Q can go in game 1 and feel good about Arrieta's hamstring.
Nope. Hendricks made it through 4. That's not the first couple innings.
While true, he didn't exactly bridge to the reliable part of the pen either. I would have thought Lackey was preferrable to Montgomery, Strop, Duensing and co.
I love me some Chris Sale, but this kind of start is pretty typical for him.If I'm a BoSox fan, I'm worrying about this yearly late-season fade.
I didn't really care about whether he bunted or not. But he had to make Davis throw pitches. It was a terrible AB for two reasons.1. He had just walked two batters in a row. Lind comes up and swings at the 1st pitch.2. Maddon had his cards on the table. Davis, who never throws more than one inning was the horse he was riding for the last 2 1/3 innings. At the point when Lind stepped to the plate, Davis had already thrown 20 pitches and still had 6 outs to go (not to mention the 2 walks). Make him go deep into the count. They had a chance to get him into the 50 pitch area.Maybe if Dusty managed as hard as he chews on his toothpick, things would have turned out different. It's not against the rules to tell Lind to look at some pitches.
Yeah definitely. It is a little league rule. If the pitcher is being wild, let him be wild. Don't help him out.There were a lot of things that happened yesterday that violate many little league lessons.The pitch count factor is a good point as well. Just a really terrible AB by Lind.
The other mindset is that when a pitcher has walked consecutive batters, he's more likely to throw a first ball fastball down the middle. I assume that's what Lind was looking for. IOW, it's not "wrong" to swing at the first pitch against a pitcher struggling with command but you need to be very particular about your pitch. You look for a certain pitch in a certain location and if you don't get that, you keep the bat on your shoulder. Lind's AB wasn't awful because he swung at the first pitch. It was awful because he got too anxious and rolled over a curveball on the first pitch.
Scoop at its best. Rip a guy (Strasbourg) as gutless without any facts.