This should be fun /sits back and watches

I don’t like the bunt either. It’s bad baseball in most if not all cases.

But… one case in which I’d bet you’ll find unanimity among professional baseball managers regarding the bunt is in the final two innings in a tie game in which you’re playing for one run. I’m not saying that unanimity makes it more right, just that you’ve got to come to expect to see the bunt in that spot unless you’ve got an absolutely elite hitter at the dish. Manny Ramirez isn’t bunting there. Albert Pujols isn’t bunting. Neither is A-Rod. But if you aren’t in that class of player, you’re going to be asked to lay one down.

Which brings me back to this – every major league hitter lays down bunts in the cage before they get to swing away. This is stuff you work on in the spring. It’s a skill you’ve needed your entire life as a baseball player. The Rockies take a 1-0 lead in the 8th inning if CHRIS IANNETA DOES HIS GODDAMN JOB and gets a bunt down.

Am I missing something here? Is Chris Iannetta hitting his weight yet? Oh, he’s not, but he’s got a bunch of cutesy idiotic nicknames around here, so that’s OK, he gets a pass. He’s struggling mightily, and had fanned twice already in the game. You can’t count on him to put the ball in play here. You ask him to bunt. He fails. Iannetta fails. This is not Clint Hurdle’s fault. This is on Chris Iannetta for getting down a horse-bleep bunt. He does his job, Tulo’s scooting home from second on Barmes’s single and we’re all slapping each other on the back over a 1-0 victory (God willing).

But he fails and it’s Hurdle (and, somehow, Dan O’Dowd’s) fault that a big league player can’t execute a sacrifice bunt. (Hell, maybe it is, maybe Hurdle needs to have guys working on their bunting a little more.)

Was that fun enough for you, RMN?

It’s hard to agree with you 100% when the “leadoff man on, bunt him to second, hit to score him” late inning strategy is what won the game for the Giants.

If Iannetta bunts successfully, Barmes’s single scores Tulo.

Right now, we do not have a man on pace for 30 HR or 100 RBI. For this team to win, everyone has to contribute. And more often than not, that will mean a simple clutch single than a two run bomb. Everyone who had a shot with a runner on 2nd is to blame for the loss. Dex’s K was troubling, yes the first pitch was out of the zone, but the 2nd two were closer. At some point you have to acknowledge that the outside corner is going to be called a strike and move the bat.

David OhNo (who I miss as a sparing partner) had a good article about bunting last year. Basically a runner at 1st and no outs, has a very slightly higher percentage chance of scoring than a runner does at 2nd with 1 out, though it’s close enough to be a virtual wash.

Personally in a late game I like it if done correctly and with the right players. It takes away a double play, unless the other team walks the next batter, and then you’ve got another base runner and potential run on.

Sorry, but neither Hurdle or O’Dowd should have their current positions, both have proven that their are ill fit to lead a MLB team. I am tired of the same old worn excuses, this team should be able to at least compete in the NL West, and what do we have, but a poor excuse of a baseball team. I am tired of hearing that these rookies have potential and all that BS, Monforts, O’Dowd, and Hurdle all need to be on the next Amtrack train to Kansas to go work in a double A team, where they belong. I for one, will not buy another Rockies ticket, hat, jersey, baseball card or anything in any way that benefits this sad excuse of a professional baseball team. I wish the rest of Denver would wake up and join me in protest of this disgrace, some night with less than 500 people in attendance would send a clear message that the O’dowd dumbasses need to sell this team to someone who wants to build a winner and not try to stockpile money for their kids.

of trying to justify anything that happens with Hurdle, just like I’m beyond being angry at him. With Clint Hurdle as our manager, we know exactly what we’re getting. We’ve KNOWN what we’re getting with him. We know he’s going to bunt, let his pitchers hit for themselves only to replace them with a fresh arm immediately thereafter. We know what we’re getting with this guy! In that regard, we’ve dug our own grave.

On the flip side, the players seem to really enjoy him and while his concept of strategy is debatable, I don’t think he’s the world’s worst manager and his post-game interviews are full of great comedy when he answers questions smugly and acts smarter than everyone else in the room.

Where O’Dowd fits in to this whole thing I have no idea.

Good fundamental baseball IS having someone bunt that CAN’T usually drive in that runner. That’s the way it was intended t be and taught way back when.

I like that number -career ops of 103 and 111 to swing away.
I propose everyone bring a sign to flash to the dug out and GM box that says –
“Don’t bunt ! He has a career ops of 103 and 111 – swing away!" Or – “No D.P.’S !”
Or simply – “ops of +103 and 111”

Just like the old days with Bill Veck on “Be a manager Day”.