Justin Bour optioned to AAA

[Blarg]

Aybar fucked up. It was a suicide squeeze and he pulled the bat back. That was all on Aybar but Scioscia didn't throw him under the bus.

From ESPN

Scioscia: "I thought it was a good situation for us. With a guy at third base, with the guy at the plate and the count we had. And it didn't work out."

From New York Daily News

"It was a great count for it," was the way Scioscia put it. "And Erick's a terrific bunter. Delcarmen throws hard, but it was a buntable ball. Erick just didn't get it done. That happens."

The following year in the OCR that was reliving the event.

“There’s things that happen in a player’s career that are not always going to be positive,” he said. “The only way to achieve in this game is to handle the downsides. Occasionally, the downside is part of this game. You’re going to make more outs than you will get hits so some plays aren’t going to get made.

“You have to handle that and he’s got a good makeup. He’ll be fine.”

 

[AngelsLakersFan]

That's my point. It was a bad managerial decision, and instead of allowing the media to question his call he talked about how Aybar isn't going to allow his failure to execute to derail his career.

[stormngt]

3 hours ago, Blarg said:

Aybar fucked up. It was a suicide squeeze and he pulled the bat back. That was all on Aybar but Scioscia didn't throw him under the bus.

From ESPN

Scioscia: "I thought it was a good situation for us. With a guy at third base, with the guy at the plate and the count we had. And it didn't work out."

From New York Daily News

"It was a great count for it," was the way Scioscia put it. "And Erick's a terrific bunter. Delcarmen throws hard, but it was a buntable ball. Erick just didn't get it done. That happens."

The following year in the OCR that was reliving the event.

“There’s things that happen in a player’s career that are not always going to be positive,” he said. “The only way to achieve in this game is to handle the downsides. Occasionally, the downside is part of this game. You’re going to make more outs than you will get hits so some plays aren’t going to get made.

“You have to handle that and he’s got a good makeup. He’ll be fine.”

 

If you think that is calling out a player than I am sorry.  Maybe you didnt see the last two words in the sentence..."it happens".  In other words it's common in baseball to fail

[Broad Street]

10 hours ago, Taylor said:

So a batter?

Why not both?

[Blarg]

6 hours ago, AngelsLakersFan said:

That's my point. It was a bad managerial decision, and instead of allowing the media to question his call he talked about how Aybar isn't going to allow his failure to execute to derail his career.

You are really missing the point. 

[AngelsLakersFan]

19 hours ago, stormngt said:

If you think that is calling out a player than I am sorry.  Maybe you didnt see the last two words in the sentence..."it happens".  In other words it's common in baseball to fail

 

16 hours ago, Blarg said:

You are really missing the point. 

You're right, Scioscia took full responsibility for the terrible squeeze call.

[Stradling]

9 minutes ago, AngelsLakersFan said:

 

You're right, Scioscia took full responsibility for the terrible squeeze call.

In your opinion why was it a terrible call?

[Inside Pitch]

On 5/15/2019 at 1:30 PM, AngelsLakersFan said:

Ya I agree, it's not really bad mouthing a player and the players probably aren't going to take it that way. It's still a passive aggressive method of deflecting blame off of himself and on to the player. When a manager asks a player who sucks at something to execute that thing he sucks at he deserves questioning, not the player for not executing. Last nights blunder is not Bour's fault, it's Ausmus' for putting him in. 

I read that as him defending Aybar -- he flat out pointed out he was a terrific bunter which was the truth.  Essentially it was -- dude is great, he just didn't get it done this time.  If anything he's deflecting blame away from the player.  Should he have said "it was my call" or taken blame for it -- meh...  But that wasn't him calling the player out IMO.   

Bill James online before joining the Red Sox used to have a thing called the Flat Bat Award, that was "given" to the player who had the most number of bunt hits or % of attempts to bunt hits ..  Aybar won the thing like 5 times including two or three in a row.

[Kevin]

37 minutes ago, Stradling said:

In your opinion why was it a terrible call?

I don’t know if it is a terrible call but I think Boston was expecting it. We have to remember the situational context. Angels had won a 100 games that year but were facing a familiar situation, down again in a playoff series against Boston. After losing the first two games at home, they fought hard to win game 3 and came back to tie up game 4 late.

Morales ends up getting the double and Willits pinch running for him, gets bunted over to third. I believe that was the sequence. 

Now here are the Angels 90 feet away from taking the lead and hoping Frankie doesn’t pull a game 2 and blow it. Get back to Anaheim and beat Boston finally. Another thing to remember was, except for Napoli’s  homeruns in game 3, Angels offense wasn't doing great. Most of their hits were singles if I remember correctly.

So what’s going through Mikes head? Can he trust his offense to get a hit or at a minimum a sac fly? Or does he feel the suicide squeeze is the safer bet if he doesn’t trust his offense. Problem is, is Boston expecting it? This isn’t a middle of July game. It’s do or die for the Angels and the Red Sox would rather close it out. I would say Boston is expecting it in my opinion.

I don’t know if it was a bad call but I wouldn’t have done it. I would have hoped for the sac fly. 

Looking at the video, I would say it was a tough pitch to bunt for Aybar. Just a tough situation. 

 

 

[AngelsLakersFan]

5 minutes ago, Inside Pitch said:

I read that as him defending Aybar -- he flat out pointed out he was a terrific bunter which was the truth.  Essentially it was -- dude is great, he just didn't get it done this time.  If anything he's deflecting blame away from the player.  Should he have said "it was my call" or taken blame for it -- meh...  But that wasn't him calling the player out IMO.   

Bill James online before joining the Red Sox used to have a thing called the Flat Bat Award, that was "given" to the player who had the most number of bunt hits or % of attempts to bunt hits ..  Aybar won the thing like 5 times including two or three in a row.

Perhaps that is the context of that specific quote, but I distinctly remember in that post game interview that it was Scioscia who brought up Aybar and the lack of execution when he was asked about the decision to squeeze. 

[Kevin]

Actually reviewing the video again, the count on Aybar is 2-0. Expecting a pitch right down the pipe is what we all would have expected and it was anything but that.

Maybe not terrible call after all.

[Inside Pitch]

Just now, AngelsLakersFan said:

Perhaps that is the context of that specific quote, but I distinctly remember in that post game interview that it was Scioscia who brought up Aybar and the lack of execution when he was asked about the decision to squeeze. 

I'm not really taking a side so much as I didn't get the same vibe you did.  I agree it's all about context and Im too far removed from the memory of it all to have a legit opinion.  But, calling out players was a rare thing for MS, and I'd assume that he wouldn't really feel the need to own up to calling a bunt or a squeeze if for no other reason because everyone and their brother knows it was a big part of his playbook.

[Inside Pitch]

8 minutes ago, Kevin said:

I don’t know if it is a terrible call but I think Boston was expecting it.

Yep, I'd assume that everyone always expected that sort of stuff while playing the Angels, it's what they were known for...     As was Aybar.

[AngelsLakersFan]

1 hour ago, Stradling said:

In your opinion why was it a terrible call?

It's not often you see a team try and create a run with back to back bunts. You get a lead off double in a tie game you shouldn't pin your season on a squeeze attempt.

[AngelsLakersFan]

7 minutes ago, Inside Pitch said:

I'm not really taking a side so much as I didn't get the same vibe you did.  I agree it's all about context and Im too far removed from the memory of it all to have a legit opinion.  But, calling out players was a rare thing for MS, and I'd assume that he wouldn't really feel the need to own up to calling a bunt or a squeeze if for no other reason because everyone and their brother knows it was a big part of his playbook.

Maybe. I don't think there was a single time in his tenure here that I remember him doing anything less than bringing up a player not executing when asked about a questionable call. Yes it's subtle, but it rubbed me the wrong way for years. It's like having your boss question a failure and you start talking about the guy you had handle the situation. It's a deflection.

[T.G.]

That Aybar bunt attempt was 11 years ago. 

Just saying.

[m0nkey]

Holy cow we're talking about the 2008 playoffs?  

[m0nkey]

Oh TG already said that

[Chuck]

On 5/15/2019 at 9:39 AM, True Grich said:

This is betrayal at the highest level.  Another forum?  I demand a full scale investigation. This is outrageous!! 

There are no other forums, we're it. That said, there is a Blog and there's Facebook fan groups and Twitter. I think Stad was referring to a Facebook group, which I unfollowed a long time ago. 

[Lou]

19 minutes ago, cvdog said:

 Why don't we just release Cozart, Bourjos,  Harvey and Cahill and start bringing up more youth. 

you really don't keep up on roster moves, do you?

[stormngt]

6 hours ago, AngelsLakersFan said:

 

You're right, Scioscia took full responsibility for the terrible squeeze call.

Scioscia has no obligation to apologize publicly for his decisions.   It didnt work out.  Scioscia is gone it's time for you to stop bitching about him.  

Ausmus decision to pitch hit Bour was beyond logic! That's this season and that's what we should be talking about! But most importantly I am not asking Asmus for an apology.

[DMVol]

11 hours ago, stormngt said:

...Ausmus decision to pitch hit Bour was beyond logic! That's this season and that's what we should be talking about! But most importantly I am not asking Asmus for an apology.

It looks bad in hindsight and I have a hard time rationalize it.....but managers make decisions every day that work or don't...all make questionable decisions....bigger picture is required here....

[hangin n wangin]

On 5/14/2019 at 8:26 PM, HeavenlyHalos said:

That's absolutely hilarious. The GM pretty much letting Ausmus know how Facking stupid that was. Awesome and ridiculously funny timing. Tough night for Bour.

Who's stupid though? The manager or the GM that hired the manager and signed said Bour? Lol

In this case...the answer is....these guys are both dumb as F*ck.

[stormngt]

3 hours ago, DMVol said:

It looks bad in hindsight and I have a hard time rationalize it.....but managers make decisions every day that work or don't...all make questionable decisions....bigger picture is required here....

I cant argue your premise.  I have been saying that all along.  I have been telling the board this for almost a decade!

However Ausmus said he was going for a HR that at bat.  Logically that doesn't make sense.  Fletcher is your best contact hitter.  La Stella was your leader in Home Run and the best player in the game was in the hole!

I rarely say anything overly negative on a player or coach.  This move sent me off the deep end 

[stormngt]

3 hours ago, hangin n wangin said:

Who's stupid though? The manager or the GM that hired the manager and signed said Bour? Lol

In this case...the answer is....these guys are both dumb as F*ck.

Doesnt happen often... but I agree with you.