Yesterday’s game…well, it was really bad. Joba Chamberlain was having some problems and then in the 4th inning descended into bloopy bleeder Hell, which resulted in 7 Texas runs with two outs.
Anyway that’s not this is about. It’s about managers and their love of bunts against all odds.
The score was 10-9, and the Yankees had scrapped their way back into the game. It started off with Jason Grilli doing what Jason Grilli does (pitching badly) at which point Ron Washington rushed his closer Frank Francisco into the game.
Francisco is a pretty good pitcher but when he blows up, he blows up big. And last night, he was blowing up. After he walked Alex Rodriguez to load the bases, the Yankees got three straight non-bleeder hits which scored them four runs.
And so, Nick Swisher was at the plate with men on first and second and no outs against a pitcher who was exhibiting a good amount of wildness. And on the first pitch–a high nowhere near the zone ball–he showed bunt. This immediately made me angry.
Nick Swisher’s best baseball skill is walking. He is 4th in the AL in that category, with 40-100+ less plate appearances than the guys ahead of him.
Bunting, on the other hand, is not something he is good at. Yes every Major League player should theoretically know how to bunt but the fact is some people just suck at it. Like Nick Swisher. From what we’ve seen and how little he’s called on to put one down, I would call it one of his worst baseball skills.
So, it was really no surprise when Swisher didn’t get that bunt down because he should have never been asked to do it in the first place. If you remember people being very confused about Dusty Baker having Adam Dunn bunt, this is pretty similar.
And beyond that, the fact is that having Swisher bunt the runners over would set the table for Melky Cabrera. Now I like Melky just fine, and he is what he is. And what he is, is a guy who doesn’t hit baseballs very well. I’m not going to yammer on about run expectancy matrices or anything but I’ll just say I wouldn’t have felt comfortable with Melky swinging away to try and get that runner in. In fact, I’d pretty much expect him to fail. If it were Melky up in Swisher’s situation, I would want him bunting.
Plus, with one out and the tying and go-ahead run on second and third Ron Washington might have just walked Melky to get the force at any base. No, I don’t think anyone in their right minds would want to pitch to Derek Jeter, but he hits groundballs over 50% of the time (this is why he hits into so many doubleplays) and Texas has a very good infield defense. It would not have been the wisest move but it wouldn’t have been as dumb as it seems at first, either.
In short: The bunt attempt was stupid and even if it had worked out, it would have been stupid. Giving away an out with a guy who gets on base 37% of the time (that is very good in baseball, you whiners!) is just not good. Of course, it would help if Swisher could actually bunt but that’s a totally different issue.
Windy with a chance of dingers.