What happened in the 9th inning?

[The Ghost of Bob Starr]

4 hours ago, BTH said:

That doesn’t explain why they left in the worst hitter to bat.

You say worst hitter on angels, and several dudes come to mind. Not an easy case. 

[Jeff Fletcher]

It was a little confusing, but we asked Wash all of that. 
 

He said he wanted Adrianza to bunt. It wouldn’t surprise me if Adell stole third on his own, which then changed the equation. You’re not going to then lift Adrianza for Drury in the middle of the AB.

Rengifo for Neto made sense because Rengifo has been hitting better and he’s a lefty. 
 

He could have hit Drury for Schanuel, but he said he wanted Schanuel to learn how to handle that situation, which does make some sense too. Also, Schanuel is a lefty and is likely to put the ball in play. It was unfortunate that he popped up. 
 

I noticed Drury walking around with his bat and helmet in the dugout throughout the inning so I’m not sure what they had in mind for him if it was none of those situations. 

[Angels 1961]

2 minutes ago, Jeff Fletcher said:

It was a little confusing, but we asked Wash all of that. 
 

He said he wanted Adrianza to bunt. It wouldn’t surprise me if Adell stole third on his own, which then changed the equation. You’re not going to then lift Adrianza for Drury in the middle of the AB.

Rengifo for Neto made sense because Rengifo has been hitting better and he’s a lefty. 
 

He could have hit Drury for Schanuel, but he said he wanted Schanuel to learn how to handle that situation, which does make some sense too. Also, Schanuel is a lefty and is likely to put the ball in play. It was unfortunate that he popped up. 
 

I noticed Drury walking around with his bat and helmet in the dugout throughout the inning so I’m not sure what they had in mind for him if it was none of those situations. 

Jeff is it time to finally put Adell in RF every day?

[BTH]

27 minutes ago, Jeff Fletcher said:

He said he wanted Adrianza to bunt. It wouldn’t surprise me if Adell stole third on his own, which then changed the equation. You’re not going to then lift Adrianza for Drury in the middle of the AB.

But why does Adell stealing change the equation?

Wouldn’t the point of bunting be to get the tying runner (at 1B) to second?

After Adell’s SB, the tying run still wasn’t in scoring position.

And why not lift Adrianza for Drury if the equation changed? It was only one pitch into the AB.

[Blarg]

12 minutes ago, BTH said:

But why does Adell stealing change the equation?

Wouldn’t the point of bunting be to get the tying runner (at 1B) to second?

After Adell’s SB, the tying run still wasn’t in scoring position.

And why not lift Adrianza for Drury if the equation changed? It was only one pitch into the AB.

So you now want Washington to pull Adrianna after a 1-1 count to put Drury in? Do you even, for one second, think maybe you are just too stubborn to realize when your argument has jumped the shark? 

[Jeremiah]

8 minutes ago, BTH said:

But why does Adell stealing change the equation?

Wouldn’t the point of bunting be to get the tying runner (at 1B) to second?

After Adell’s SB, the tying run still wasn’t in scoring position.

And why not lift Adrianza for Drury if the equation changed? It was only one pitch into the AB.

I get what you’re saying, but changing batters mid-at bat is extremely rare, and usually done because the batter cannot continue the at bat for whatever reason. It would put Drury at a disadvantage to do that. By that point, Adrianza was it.

[Angels in 2030]

15 hours ago, tdawg87 said:

Angels baseball happened.

[BTH]

17 minutes ago, Blarg said:

So you now want Washington to pull Adrianna after a 1-1 count to put Drury in? Do you even, for one second, think maybe you are just too stubborn to realize when your argument has jumped the shark? 

Look, I acknowledge that it doesn’t happen much, but just because it doesn‘t happen doesn’t mean that it should be the case.

Just because something is always done a certain way doesn’t make it right.

And still, despite everyone arguing with me, no one has addressed my main (and the biggest question): why does Adell stealing 3B change the equation on bunting? The tying run was still at 1B, and the goal of bunting would be to get the tying run into scoring position.

Edited April 23 by BTH

[Jeremiah]

I will agree that bunting there doesn’t make sense. A team only gets 27 outs. They should not give any of them away intentionally.

[Blarg]

BTH. You are focused on Adrianza's plate appearance, which really wasn't a critical moment. Trout with bases loaded was the critical moment and he froze. That is where focus should be, the Angels #1 player is not capable of putting together a decent plate appearance. 

[m0nkey]

11 minutes ago, BTH said:

why does Adell stealing 3B change the equation on bunting? The tying run was still at 1B, and the goal of bunting would be to get the tying run into scoring position.

I like that no one’s answered this part of your question lol

[Angels 1961]

2 minutes ago, m0nkey said:

I like that no one’s answered this part of your question lol

They need to read Moneyball

[BTH]

5 minutes ago, Blarg said:

BTH. You are focused on Adrianza's plate appearance, which really wasn't a critical moment. Trout with bases loaded was the critical moment and he froze. That is where focus should be, the Angels #1 player is not capable of putting together a decent plate appearance. 

I’m not focusing on that because what’s there to focus on?

He’s who you’d want up in that spot, and he didn’t get the job done.

Not much more to discuss there.

There’s nothing anyone but Trout could’ve done up there.

How is Adrianza’s plate appearance not a critical moment? When you’re down to 3 outs left and the tying run is at 1B with the winning run at the plate, that is a critical moment.

But there was a strategic decision involved with Adrianza’s plate appearance, which is why I’m focused on it. First, he was left in the game despite hitters with better career numbers on the bench. Then, the bunt was taken off despite the tying run still being at 1B.

[BTH]

4 minutes ago, m0nkey said:

I like that no one’s answered this part of your question lol

This is the only real gripe I have, because I don’t understand it.

I can understand the reasoning behind other decisions, but this one made no sense.

[Tank]

20 minutes ago, BTH said:

And still, despite everyone arguing with me, no one has addressed my main (and the biggest question): why does Adell stealing 3B change the equation on bunting?

because adell is a moron on the bases and probably would have been thrown out at home by 40 feet.

[BTH]

1 minute ago, Tank said:

because adell is a moron on the bases and probably would have been thrown out at home by 40 feet.

I hope that’s not the answer.

And if it was, that’d be easily preventable by telling him to stay at third or having Hicks run for him.

[m0nkey]

1 minute ago, Tank said:

because adell is a moron on the bases and probably would have been thrown out at home by 40 feet.

Adells run was meaningless (unless you had orioles -1.5). He could’ve just stayed at third, and the guy on first would’ve been at second with a successful bunt. 
 

So hypothetically the Angels would’ve had second and third with one out, which is what they were seemingly trying to do at the beginning of the at bat. 

[Tank]

all of this would be an unnecessary distraction if trout would have gotten a clutch hit with the bases loaded, which he didn't do. 

[Tank]

Just now, m0nkey said:

Adells run was meaningless (unless you had orioles -1.5). He could’ve just stayed at third, and the guy on first would’ve been at second with a successful bunt. 
 

So hypothetically the Angels would’ve had second and third with one out, which is what they were seemingly trying to do at the beginning of the at bat. 

when you're behind by two runs, scoring one is a necessary step to scoring two.

[BTH]

9 minutes ago, Tank said:

all of this would be an unnecessary distraction if trout would have gotten a clutch hit with the bases loaded, which he didn't do. 

Sure. Or if Schanuel did. Or if Rengifo hit an XBH.

But I’m still curious about the thinking there, as a similar situation could come up again, and I don’t get what they were thinking.

[BTH]

9 minutes ago, Tank said:

when you're behind by two runs, scoring one is a necessary step to scoring two.

And scoring one run is meaningless if you don’t score the second run.

[tdawg87]

10 minutes ago, Tank said:

when you're behind by two runs, scoring one is a necessary step to scoring two.

In any other inning but the 9th. 

[Kendo36]

I trust Wash. Ultimately, the bases were loaded and the bums couldn’t come through. There is going to be some feel to Wash’s managing rather than a straight analytical approach. He’s building a culture.

[BTH]

9 minutes ago, Kendo36 said:

I trust Wash. Ultimately, the bases were loaded and the bums couldn’t come through. There is going to be some feel to Wash’s managing rather than a straight analytical approach. He’s building a culture.

I generally agree, but I’d at least like to try and understand his thinking and not blindly believe everything he does is right.

[T.G.]

34 minutes ago, BTH said:

I generally agree, but I’d at least like to try and understand his thinking and not blindly believe everything he does is right.

Sometimes we don't get to know "the why." That's life.