Bunting for a Hit with 2 Outs and a RISP from the 4 Hole
Posted by Raphy on September 19, 2010
Orioles' clean-up hitter Adam Jones drove in a run today by bunting for a single with a runner on 3rd and 2 outs. A play like that is certainly strange and doesn't happen that often. In fact, according to the PI, the last time a clean-up hitter had a 2-out bunt single with a runner in scoring position was 1999. That year it happened twice. The first was by the Brewer's Dave Nilsson in the first inning on August 8th and the second by Jermaine Dye in the 3rd inning on October 1st.
September 19th, 2010 at 3:14 pm
unbelievable. how the hell did you research that hilarious tidbit?
September 19th, 2010 at 3:38 pm
PI event finder looking for singles by the #4 hitter with 2 outs and a RISP. You can then use your web browser to search the page for the word "bunt"
September 19th, 2010 at 4:30 pm
Is it possible for Showalter to win Manager of the Year, even though he's only been the O's manager since August 1 or 3 or something?
September 19th, 2010 at 4:38 pm
Dave Nilsson is underrated. Not many players age 29 retire after a year in which they made the All-Star team and had an OPS+ of 140 as a catcher. Well, without doing the research, none.
September 19th, 2010 at 4:56 pm
Not on the subject of the bunt, but what a mismanaged game by Girardi. Nunuez on third, no one out. So bring in a strikeout guy (Thames) from the bench to replace a contact guy.
Strikeout guy strikes out, so bring in a big hitter (Teixeira) who is slow and playing on a broken toe. Inevitably Teixeira is walked to set up the double play.
BTW who got taken out for Tex? The Yanks fastest player, Brett Gardner. Gardner's their best option to slap the ball on the ground and let Nunez score. If walked he has the best chance of any Yank to break up the double play.
Some of you guys here are pretty smart. Can anyone explain what Girardi was thinking?
September 19th, 2010 at 4:59 pm
Any way to find failed attempts?
September 19th, 2010 at 5:11 pm
Girardi was probably thinking that in an extra inning game on the road without his closer, he'd rather try and get a 2 or 3 run lead by sending Thames and Teixiera up there then take a 1 run lead and leave it up to someone else in the bottom of the inning. As it turned out, the Orioles scored in the bottom half of the inning, so a 1 run lead wouldn't have held up anyway. Yankees fans will complain about this for weeks (especially if they don't win the division) but if Thames or Tex had homered you'd all be calling Girardi a genius.
September 19th, 2010 at 5:21 pm
@7 - Okay. I can see going for more than one run.
However one run was required to win. So the way I look at it, get one, then worry about getting a second. Particularly, if you don't substitute and things go the same way (O's get one out and then walk the bases loaded) then you get to go to take out Berkman and put in Tex. Since Tex can really hit from both sides of the plate (Berkman is a faux switch-hitter) that means whatever option the O's go to - you've got a chance.
Even so you're right about complaining about this for weeks, especially if the Yanks don't win the division. As for calling Girardi a genius. Nah, Yanks fans are not that easy. But we'd probably be calling the guy who hit the homer clutch for the rest of the year - regardless of what any stats said.
September 19th, 2010 at 6:54 pm
David In Toledo, I don't think anyone but Nilsson has retired after a year with an OPS+ of even 125 or better as a catcher, regardless of age or All-Star status. Chris Hoiles reached 117 in his last season, 1998, age 33. Going back to 1906, there was a catcher named Mike Grady who put up a 123 in his last season, age 36. Those two came closer than anyone else to matching Nilsson's feat.
According to the Wikipedia article on him, Nilsson left MLB so he could play for Australia in the 2000 Olympics (there have been celebrations of the 10th anniversary of those games here in Sydney this last week). He made a few comeback attempts, but they never worked out.
September 19th, 2010 at 7:51 pm
@5
You failed to mention that Thames was brought in in the middle of an at bat! it was only on a 1-1 count after the pitcher threw the ball into the stands on a pickoff attempt that he brought Thames in....
September 19th, 2010 at 10:10 pm
@9 Gerry -- Did you use a 300-PA minimum in your search? I have Babe Phelps with a 126 OPS+ in 1942, in 281 PAs.
Babe Phelps was a good-hitting catcher in the 1930s-40s, mostly with Brooklyn. Among all catchers with at least 2,000 PAs, Phelps's 125 career OPS+ ranks 10th, tied with Yogi Berra and Ernie Lombardi.
September 19th, 2010 at 10:29 pm
How often do we see any substitution mid-PA for a non-injury reason?
September 20th, 2010 at 12:24 am
John Autin, yes, I used a 300-PA minimum. Nilsson, I think, had over 400 PA, which neither Hoiles nor Grady had. Phelps holds the single season batting average record for catcher qualifiers. Biography at http://bioproj.sabr.org/bioproj.cfm?a=v&v=l&pid=11183&bid=718
September 20th, 2010 at 1:00 am
I didn't know they bunted in the AL.
September 20th, 2010 at 8:48 am
Jones won this game with a 2-out bunt single, but he was 5th in the order that day:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BAL/BAL201008160.shtml
September 20th, 2010 at 10:54 am
on a side note why didn't anyone sign jermaine dye this year is he hurt?
September 20th, 2010 at 1:03 pm
I watched that video clip and what a great bunt! I don't think he could have bunted it to a better spot. The fielder got their quickly but Jones is just too fast.
September 20th, 2010 at 1:14 pm
Ramon Hernandez's 12th inning, bases loaded walk off bunt in Game 1 of the 2003 ALDS is legendary.
September 20th, 2010 at 3:24 pm
I think the main reason he brought in Thames (and then Teixeira) is that once they guy was on third, and they had less then two outs, he wanted a flyball hitter in there to try and get the sacrafice fly. Doesn't seem all that unusual of a choice to me.
September 20th, 2010 at 7:01 pm
The first player I thought of when I saw the headline was Steve Garvey, who often batted fourth and occasionally laid down drag bunts. As the cleanup hitter, Garvey bunted for a hit with two outs and a runner in scoring position three different times: On July 27 and August 12, 1980, and on August 23, 1981.
September 20th, 2010 at 8:47 pm
@12 - Another common reason to remove a batter mid-PA is ejection.
September 21st, 2010 at 11:22 am
I have an unrelated question... I just noticed that yesterday on BR's WAR leaderboard Roy Halladay was at 6.3, but this morning it's down to 6.2, even though Halladay hasn't pitched between then and now... what could Halladay possibly have done to lose.1 WAR?
September 21st, 2010 at 11:54 am
@ 16
To hear Orlando Hudson tell it, the owners are racist *rolls eyes*
The real reason, of course, is money. He wanted too much for his age/value at this point, and the Nationals offered him a contract and he turned it down.
September 21st, 2010 at 1:23 pm
Malcolm, I think Sean said he would be updating park factors on a weekly basis, so it's possible that caused a slight change to Halladay's number. And he may have gone from something like 6.26 to 6.24. It's not a meaningful change, whatever the reason.
September 21st, 2010 at 4:44 pm
Ah, that could be it. Thanks Johnny.
September 22nd, 2010 at 7:49 pm
@21
Double, I'm assuming you're thinking of Manny Ramirez who was once with your fair, west-coast team.