Likely meaningless, but CFM has made 5 career starts with tonight’s HPU (Jeff Nelson) behind the plate.
5 starts
0-3, 5.02
21 runs (earned or unearned) allowed in 28.2 innings
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What is the hold up with MLB and releasing the game times, everything other than today is TBD
A vow of celibacy might be easier for you.
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Two comebackers moved the walked runner to 3rd, and then I thought he got careless with the 9-hole hitter (Zunino) and did not pitch him carefully/tough enough.
Still waiting for the Umpire Scorecard to drop, but I thought Manny was relatively consistent. He had 4 real head scratchers that I can remember, but none worse than the high strike to Altuve.
His zone definitely widened as the game went on, but he was overall consistent, which is really what you want from a HPU.
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Perils of a third base coach:
This one I have lived. Brantley was the runner, and Tucker hit the ball hard on the ground at the left fielder. The coach held Brantley at third, and I do not know how aggressively Brantley was running.
On the other hand, the LF does not have a great arm, and Gurriel was next with a DP being a strong possibility.
Sometimes the coach will decide to risk sending him to force the defense to make a play. The main reason for taking a chance is not being able to depend on the next hitter to drive him in. Relevant factors include the number of outs, the outfielder’s depth and arm, who the next hitter is, and whether the runner had a good jump and is running all out to go hard around the bag or already has started to let up.
A DP was the worst possible outcome after holding the runner, and that is what we got.
HPU was mostly fairly good. Agreed his zone expanded a little at the end, but overall he was not bad. I generally like a big strike zone anyway. I’d rather the ump expand the zone than squeeze good pitches. He was a non-factor in the game, which is exactly what you want.
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You two guys who know way more about umpires and umpiring than I do expressed my thoughts about him.
I was thinking about this play earlier this morning. Obviously knowing what you know now, you take a chance. But you didn’t know that, and you had bases loaded with one out. I don’t know that Brantley had a great jump, and the ball was hit hard right at the LFer. Yuli due up certainly should have been a consideration, and I don’t know how Pettis is viewing his chances with Yuli right now. But yeah, absolutely worst possible outcome.
One thing besides Yuli’s slump is his seeming reluctance to work a count or to take a walk. He swung at the first pitch, which was on his hands, and was jammed more than a little.
I didn’t realize Pettis was back with the team.
Normally this would be true, but he had walked in his 2 prior ab’s, which prob led Dusty to think maybe he was seeing the ball better and had a chance.
I also thought Brantley would have been out at the plate by a fairly wide margin, the left fielder was scooping up the ball before he had even reached 3rd base. Tucker simply hit that ball too hard for the run to score.
My recollection is that the left fielder was not playing very deep, and Tucker hit the ball so hard that the LF was picking it up around the same time Brantley reached third base, if not slightly before. If you send Brantley then he’s probably toast at home or caught in a rundown unless the throw is really far offline. If Brantley were just 3-4 steps further I think sending him and forcing a play is a no-brainer. As it were, tough decision as you say, but holding him at third was the right call IMO.
He isn’t. He is done for the year.
Also on Brantley, I think he froze for a split second to make sure the ball was through, and got kind of a flat footed start. Unless the throw was just horrendous, or the catcher dropped the ball, he’d have been out by at least 10 feet.
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D’oh! Yeah, old habits, I guess.
Perhaps if Gary Sanchez is the catcher…
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Biggest what if didn’t have to do with decision making. It was the Tucker laser beam.
Good chance that chases Snell.
Instead… it’s up there with the Alvarez game 7 line drive.
Navin is spot on, I think. It was a liner in the infield, and Brantley had to make sure it was through. I do not know if you watched the throw on the replay from the OF, but the LF did not even reach the cutoff man with his throw. If Brantley had been able to get an immediate good jump, I would have sent him.
Yuli’s having walked already should not be a factor. His history is swinging at anything he can reach. One of those walks was on four pitches well off the plate which required no discipline from him at all.