July 18 @ the A's
- Thread starter E5 Yaz
- Start date
Yes, but that was the very moment Chang was going to become a genuine middle-of-the-pack shortstop.
Agreed. And it's a reminder that no matter how poor a season the other team is having, they are MLB players and are also trying to win.
The powerful AL East all lost tonight while getting outscored (32-8)
Red Sox lose - (3-0)
Yankees lose - (5-1)
Rays lose - (5-3)
Orioles lose - (10-3)
Blue Jays lose - (9-1)
Wonder when the last time the entire AL east lost on the same day
View: https://twitter.com/bostonsportsinf/status/1681513599112454144?s=46
Red Sox lose - (3-0)
Yankees lose - (5-1)
Rays lose - (5-3)
Orioles lose - (10-3)
Blue Jays lose - (9-1)
Wonder when the last time the entire AL east lost on the same day
View: https://twitter.com/bostonsportsinf/status/1681513599112454144?s=46
Or, since they're probably going to lose occasionally, this was a good time to do it
Why? They had a fresh-ish pen, a weak opponent, and everyone else lost. If you'e going to run the B squad out there, do it when you're up 11-0, not because you want to get cute 5 games after the ASB.
Also don't keep preaching you only have to win series. That's bullshit. You have to win winnable games.
Because everyone else lost and they didn't lose any ground. If you're gonna lose, and you're gonna, not losing ground seems to be the best outcome.
I only preach about the need to keep starting Yu Chang at SS until Story returns.
As far as "winning series" goes, if they play .667 the rest of the way, they'll be OK. Every game is winnable. Even Oakland wins 1 of every 4. Houston lost to Colorado.
"Getting cute"? Is that the post hoc analysis of every loss now? That Cora was "getting cute"? Is this all because Duval hit for Duran against a pitcher with a 250 OPS split? Or because he rubbed Devers's groin the wrong way? Or because he thought maybe Wong can't play *every* game?
The "you' is clearly Cora, not joe dokes.
Last night's results speak for themselves.
And on that point, yes, Cora likes to get cute in a way that is not designed to win. He instead pursues other goals. Sometimes those are worthy goals that can be met intelligently - pitching Scott recently to save BP arms, for example, was a good decision. But we're 5 games out from the ASB and nobody should be dying for rest at this point. In isolation, some of these aren't bad - including Alfaro for Wong (who Cora has kept in laughers, if stealing rest for him was so important.) But collectively?
-Starting Jacques when he's already pitched in 2 games since the ASB.
-Keeping Jacques into the second inning.
-Starting Refsnyder against a RHP.
-Starting Alfaro for Wong when Devers is out (and Chang is, correctly, the SS).
The “other goals,” though is always winning. Just macro not micro. I get questioning his game to game decisions, or even whether long term planning can be more effective than inning to inning planning, but “other goals” makes it sound like he is not trying to win.
Fair point - I don't think Cora is trying to lose overall. I think on the individual game-level Cora is often too cute/myopic/tactically inane in trying to meet the goals of the long-term philosophy/strategy. Sometimes you've got to juggle off-days given what's going on on the field. Sometimes you have to seize a moment to bag a winnable game. (Raffy had to argue his way into at least one key game earlier this year.) Not every game is a good game to "try to get player X to start hitting." So on, so forth.
The question really is how often Cora's short-term/game-level choices void the long term goals, or, in other words, "Are they self-defeating?" That is most likely unanswerable with any kind of precision. But, for example, there was no reason to open with Jacques as opposed to another. And there are more egregious examples of Cora punting when he didn't quite have to (e.g., burning good arms late in a losing game instead of earlier when the outcome was still in doubt.)
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I think Cora is a little like me with charging my phone. I get stressed when it is under 70. I never let it get to 30. The truth is that my compulsion to find a charger when I don’t need one is causing inconvenience to avoid future possible inconvenience that may never materialize.
I actually really like the Pivetta games. When the minstrels write ballads to this season, Nick will be praised in song.
When he's "on" Pivetta kind of reminds me of Derek Lowe (albeit with completely different stuff, primarily fastballs vs. sinker balls). The confidence and the bravado...
