Let's get his average back over .240, then maybe we'll talk. I'm glad he's had a good week, hope he got whatever funk he's been in this year figured out.
Any insight on when they do sometimes adjust the shift with 2 strikes? I've seen it on occasion... invariably due to the batter showing a proclivity to try and beat the shift. TBH, if more batters did what Crawford did last night, shifts would probably decrease in their extreme-ism.... but then playing him straight up shifts the advantage back to the batter (and even with him beating the shift, he still only mustered a single). This is why I don't want MLB trying to meddle in and ban shifts... its tremendous gamesmanship. Both physically and psychologically.
That's basically what I'm saying. The concept is this: You would normally pitch batter A with strategy X. Batter A has tendencies to hit the ball to spot M. You now pitch batter A the *same way* with strategy X, but shift your fielders to spot M. The idea of the shift is that the shift itself is what gives the advantage, given the same pitching style. If you change your strategy when pitching with a shift, teams will identify that, and now you give the hitter an advantage. Anything that gives the hitter an advantage in knowing what might be coming is generally a bigger edge than whatever you gain by shifting defenders. So if anything you do results in a hitter getting an advantage (even if your pitcher/defense has one too), you probably shouldn't do it. Not sure if that makes sense at all? Is this really true - is that new data this year? Here's the last 6 years: Year - Shifts - % Increase 2011 2,350 n/a 2012 4,577 94.8 2013 6,882 50.4 2014 13,229 92.2 2015 17,826 34.8 2016 28,130 57.8 2017 26,705 (-5.0) We had a small dip last year, but it's gone up over 50% a year before that and is done 11x as often as 6 years ago. Not sure about this year's pace, but I imagine it's still higher than anything besides 2016.
The only time I don't get the shift is in a situation like last night when a home run or extra base hit doesn't tie or win the game in the last inning.
I think the Astros should be the first team to embrace the Gig economy, and shift, but contract different personnel for each varying type of shift. And call it the Shift Gig. Put that in front of the players union, and watch their eyes swell.
Just got through watching the game from last night. That would have been a tough one to stay up for and watch live. So glad I DVR'd it and knew ahead of time that we were going to win 3-1. Marwin's 3 run HR with 2 outs in the bottom of the ninth was a thing of beauty. He is having overall a disappointing year but he continues to get some huge hits for us. We really needed this win with Oakland breathing down our neck and the majority of our better hitters on the DL. I hope until they get back some of the replacements will start stepping up. Thank god the pitching continues to be stellar.
I'm not sure I understand this. All a shift does, theoretically, is decrease a batter's chance of getting a hit, all else being equal. Until batters start proving they can and will *intentionally* beat a shift, the circumstances don't really matter, unless I'm misunderstand something? The historical data thus far shows batters are unable or unwilling to intentionally go opposite-way or whatnot to beat shifts. Maybe there are certain exception players, and if so, the shift should certainly not be used against them. EDIT: That said, there is a big difference between unwilling and unable, and I don't know that we have data that tells us which is the case. If it's more about unwilling, then I see why your scenario would be bad to shift (if the batter can decide to do it when he wants).
Our section was down the first base line and there were tons of Stros fans there. Everyone was on their feet with two outs (fans of both teams) and yeah, it was super exciting for those of us rooting for the champs. Exchanged lots of high fives after the game with random strangers wearing Astros gear.
The Stros have Kemp on the bench and Marwin in the outfield. Gotta try him in the infield and let Davis or White come off the bench, he's earnt the opportunities. White + Davis' plate approach and inability to locate cutters makes them sitting ducks to anyone who has had the time to scout them. MadBum. MadBum Madbum..
Agree Kemp should play everyday even when everyone is healthy, damn sure shouldn’t be sitting out now
Ya that doesn’t make a lick of sense. I’ve wondered that every time I see yulli at second. And way to go not being able to drive a runner in from third with ZERO outs.
