GDT: 4/9/18 gnats

Great pitchers tend to cause a lot of bad abs. I think you are underestimating making someone like Max 'work' when he had his A+ stuff going.

I'd agree that it's too much to expect a team to get a pitcher like Scherzer last night over 100 pitches in the 5th. But that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about having your guys go up there and take a pitch or two just to make Scherzer throw more. To shorten up with two strikes and try to make him throw a couple more pitches to put you away. If we'd gotten Scherzer to average two extra pitches an inning he probably exits after 8.

Honestly I put the blame largely on the coaches here. I don't think they ever told guys to cut back on the aggressiveness and try to get the pitch count up. They wanted our hitters attacking the ball. That played right into Scherzer's hands and gave him so many quick outs.
 
I'd agree that it's too much to expect a team to get a pitcher like Scherzer last night over 100 pitches in the 5th. But that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about having your guys go up there and take a pitch or two just to make Scherzer throw more. To shorten up with two strikes and try to make him throw a couple more pitches to put you away. If we'd gotten Scherzer to average two extra pitches an inning he probably exits after 8.

Honestly I put the blame largely on the coaches here. I don't think they ever told guys to cut back on the aggressiveness and try to get the pitch count up. They wanted our hitters attacking the ball. That played right into Scherzer's hands and gave him so many quick outs.

And if you do take the less aggressive approach you are in an 0-2 hole at the mercy of one of the games best. If a great pitcher is repeatedly pounding the zone with quality pitches then there isn't much you can do. You just have to hope he makes a mistake and be ready for it.
 
And if you do take the less aggressive approach you are in an 0-2 hole at the mercy of one of the games best. If a great pitcher is repeatedly pounding the zone with quality pitches then there isn't much you can do. You just have to hope he makes a mistake and be ready for it.

After about the third inning when it was clear we weren't touching Scherzer, it probably was smarter to just stand there and get into a hole than to attack. Better to be 0-2 or 1-2 than to ground out weakly on the first pitch. I just wanted to see something that showed we were trying to get into the Nats pen.

But I will admit there is a bit of hindsight here. While I wanted to see attempts to run up Scherzer's pitch count during the game, it's entirely possible Scherzer could have lost it mid game making a more aggressive approach work. There are plenty of times were a ball finds a hole and having to pitch out of the stretch throws the pitcher off.
 
After about the third inning when it was clear we weren't touching Scherzer, it probably was smarter to just stand there and get into a hole than to attack. Better to be 0-2 or 1-2 than to ground out weakly on the first pitch. I just wanted to see something that showed we were trying to get into the Nats pen.

But I will admit there is a bit of hindsight here. While I wanted to see attempts to run up Scherzer's pitch count during the game, it's entirely possible Scherzer could have lost it mid game making a more aggressive approach work. There are plenty of times were a ball finds a hole and having to pitch out of the stretch throws the pitcher off.

After Scherzer faced the lineup twice, only 2 of the remaining 10 batters he faced hit the first pitch.

7 of those 10 batters saw at least 2 strikes.

Try again.
 
Back
Top