i absolutely hope its jones -- hague should stay

Can we get one fucking run here and at least make em work to sweep our ass ?

LETS GO BUCS

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They are a bunch of fuckers

why did we go with the back-up line-up last night.

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“White collar conservative flashin down the street, pointing that plastic finger at me, they all assume my kind will drop and die, but I'm gonna wave my freak flag high.”
Jimi Hendrix

here's what I don't understand -- maybe SteelPro can help --

7th inning, Tabata leads off with single

next batter is harrison, they pinchhit Walker

Rather than sacrificing the runner over to 2nd, they let him swing away

I don't get it -

With none out, down by one run, don't you want to get the runner over so that we have 2 chances after that to drive him in?

So, what happens --

Like clockwork, Walker grounds into a DP

I knew that was coming -- just knew it --

Hurdle, the KING of bunting -- the guy who makes his starting pitchers spend more time bunting than pitching in spring training, fails to call for a bunt in the perfect situation.

shaking my head over Hurdle's decision-making -- someone please tell me that he knows what he's doing in that situation and that I'm totally wrong about bunting right there -- and don't give me that stuff about letting his "best hitters" swing away -- Walker is freakin terrible right now - the right play is to get the sacrifice.

Another reason I hate west coast games. Too late for an old man like me.

So, I didn't see the situation you refer to, Steel. Hurdle is damned if he does, and damned if he doesn't, for if he had called for the Sac, and the runner still didn't score, there would be those who would have excoriated him for taking the bat out of Neil's hands. Sure as shit.

But I agree with you, no matter what some may or may not say, and no matter whether it ends up working in that situation or not, you bunt in that situation, unless you have somebody like Willie Stargell at the plate. Which we definitely do not have.

Hurdle needs to stick to his guns. Small ball strategy is the only one that will work for us, even in situations where it doesn't pan out, it's the only one we have given our lineup.

So far, we're hitting worse than last year. I was disappointed at Karsten's start however, first not great one (not terrible but not great) of the year.

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Playing football was the greatest thing that ever happened to me. If I could go out today and suit up, I would do it.--Jack Butler

Joe - that's what I don't understand about Hurdle -- it seems like he's not sure what strategy he wants to use with this team -- in my view, he needs to play only small ball -- get a guy on, move him over, then drive him in with a single. That's all we can really hope for.

Last night, that was the no-brainer play. I was fearful when he pinch-hit for Harrison that he would allow Walker to "swing away" in that situation -- My fear was based on likely DP. My fears were soon realized.

On Karstens, don't feel so badly -- after an awful 1st inning, he completely shut down their lineup. I mean, completely. Karstens is fine, although I was definitely worried about during that 1st inning disaster.

Good news re: Karstens. Glad to hear that. Got to at least keep the starting pitching respectable. That is the only thing that keeps us ball games, and this lineup needs every decent start they can get to have a shot.

I agree with you. Small ball the only way to go. There would be very few hitters in our lineup I would trust in that situation to get a base hit. Maybe deeper into the season. Maybe. Neil was very, very good last year in RBI situations, but this year, he's playing like crap so far. Even so...you gotta play the percentages and those say, small ball for this lineup until they prove differently.

Why was Neil brought in anyway? I would have just gone with JHay, and had him bunt, and if you are going to swing away, go with the speedy JHay at least to reduce the risk of the DP.

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Playing football was the greatest thing that ever happened to me. If I could go out today and suit up, I would do it.--Jack Butler

Yeah, I'll tell ya who I'm worried about. Our fucking #1 2008 draft choice. Mr. Alvarez is currently hitting .077 with the exact same OBP. But, of course, he does have one HR and one RBI! Oh forgot, he struck out three times last night in four at bats. Some of you are still saying to be patient with this guy? My question to you - how fucking long? Or am I just being a moron because I'm critical of him?

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Sure, I'll be happy to help with the strategy. First off, most managers don't like to play for the tie on the road. I can go into the reasons why (many I agree with, a few I don't) but that in itself would be a lengthy post. I'll just say that Hurdle saw what he thought was maybe his best opportunity to score more than a single run and grab the lead. Just looking at this particular situation you have to know when Walker came in they weren't going to bunt. Why waste a move pinch hitting just to sacrifice? Secondly, although his strategy wasn't to bunt Hurdle did want to move the runner. He felt Tabata had a good chance of swiping second and he had the green light. He was running early in the count but Walker fouled off the pitch. It appeared to be a straight steal because it didn't look like Tabata was looking in for hit and run contact. Frankly I agree with the strategy. I think gambling with a quality base stealer is a better play than giving away an out. Now if you want to go into what Walker did wrong in how he handled the at-bat that could also be a pretty lengthy subject. But of course you can't hang the manager for that one so I'm not sure it would be as much fun for you guys

You're right to be critical and many are. The Bucs have basically no one with the potential for this much power in the minors (though an argument could be made that sometimes isn't 100% accurate, sometimes guys develop power they didn't flash before). So that's why the patience. The Bucs NEED Pedro to develop and become the hitter everyone expected him to be when we drafted him in the first round of the draft. We need that middle of the order bat...badly. Because if he's not it, we should/might/could go outside the organization for it, but it will cost us plenty, either in prospects a-plenty (unlikely), or in dollars (probably just as unlikely). Hague looks to have some promise, but we have to temper that over the long haul. Tough call either way.

The kid was brought up too early in 2010. He should have never sniffed the majors until at least part-way into 2011, but the club is desperate, and sometimes bring kids up sooner than they should. He flashed nicely late 2010, but we haven't seen anything resembling that in the majors since that time. Sham argues he should just stay in the minors this season, or at least until much later on. Maybe he's right, but I'm not sure. He's seen all the minor league pitching, and he's shown he can handle that. What he hasnt' shown is that he can handle major league pitching. This is where he needs the work, but then, you are talking about a big gaping hole in your lineup until he (hopefully) gets it figured out. Again, tough decisions.

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Playing football was the greatest thing that ever happened to me. If I could go out today and suit up, I would do it.--Jack Butler