Gotta hand it to Wedge....

[consigliere]

For as much as I am about ready to ship him out of town....

At least he is finally calling these guys out in April and not saying the same ole crap like in previous years like "just gotta grind it out", "it's a long season", etc. Tonight, even in a win, he didn't pussyfoot around the issue and frankly said "we gotta get a whole lot better defensively. We didn't help CC at all. No excuses for some of the things that happened out there."

So credit where credit is due.

But, that is about all the credit he is getting from me for now.....

[consigliere]

"CC did a good job....but we did a poor job behind him...I mean, hell man, we gotta do a whole lot better than that."

[Guest]

I have a question.
They won the game but this still bothered me.
Top of the 9th, tie game.
Marte leads off with a double. Grady comes up.
No thought of a bunt to get him to 3rd with 1 out???
Then Grady walks and still no bunt?
2nd and 3rd, 1 out, they walk Hafner and load em up for our hottest hitter with runners on in Victor.
Anyone else thinking that at all?

[pup]

There are 3 people that this team HAS to do everything in their power to allow them to swing the bats, especially in game winning situations.

Grady should never asked to bunt with a runner in scoring position.
Delucci probably looks a lot like Peralta trying to bunt. I see the bases loaded with Vic coming up angle, but I would rather take my chances with Grady, Pronk and Victor all getting a swing. Bunting one, letting the other get walked only gives you one "real' shot at getting the winning run home.

I won't ask for the castration of Wedge for deciding to let those 3 guys try to win a game.

[furls]

The Indians are not capable of playing small ball. I wrote this last year (about Wedge and the team) and I still stand by it:

4.) Fundamentals: This is such a crapptastically vague topic that folks always seem to just toss it out there. I will be specific with what bothers me. This team completely lacks the ability to advance runners and score runners from third with less than two outs. Those runs should come across, but they don't. They don't in a lot of cases because of poor plate discipline and lack of fundamentals. How many guys on this team can bunt? Ever seen it? It is UGLY, yet this is a crucial aspect of the game and really puts the tribe behind the eightball in close games.

You know what happens when you get greedy and try to pull an outside pitch with runners on base? It usually ends in a double play grounder to short or second. I do not play major league baseball, nor have I ever, but I still know that little tidbit of information. So why is it that I continually see these double plays end rallies?

Baserunning: we don't need to even mention this. If you have watched the Indians this year you know what freaking adventure that is. It is like seven starters went and got baserunning advice from Manny Ramirez in the offseason. It is an epidemic through the whole team.

[consigliere]

I have a question.
They won the game but this still bothered me.
Top of the 9th, tie game.
Marte leads off with a double. Grady comes up.
No thought of a bunt to get him to 3rd with 1 out???
Then Grady walks and still no bunt?
2nd and 3rd, 1 out, they walk Hafner and load em up for our hottest hitter with runners on in Victor.
Anyone else thinking that at all?

I'll be honest here, I am 100% in Wedge's corner in this one.

By doing it the way you would have done it, you take the bat out of your two best players hands. I would consider a Sizemore bunt to get Marte to 3rd, but man, considering he is a Top 10-15 hitter in baseballl....would the Yanks have A-Rod bunt? Would Carlos Beltran be bunting there? Dunno.

Also, with Sizemore lefthanded, you have to think he can at least put the ball in play to the right side of the infield.

But, I think NOT having Dellucci bunt was a good call. You bunt Delluci, and then you take the bat out of Hafner's hands as they give him the free pass. Victor is no slouch, but I'd take 1st and 2nd with Hafner getting pitched to ANYDAY over bases loaded with Vic up there. I actually thought that was a great decision by Wedge, and he hinted in the postgame that "they were forced to pitch to Haf there."

In any other situation, yeah, I'd be screaming for the bunt......but man, the bunt is way over-rated, and no way am I sacrificing my two best hitters just to get a guy from 2nd to 3rd base.

[Guest]

I just figured getting a win after that meltdown, you would do anything you had to.
That's just me.
They won anyway, and that's all that matters.
If it was the playoffs and they did that, then I'd be pissed.

[sandlot33]

I have a question.
They won the game but this still bothered me.
Top of the 9th, tie game.
Marte leads off with a double. Grady comes up.
No thought of a bunt to get him to 3rd with 1 out???
Then Grady walks and still no bunt?
2nd and 3rd, 1 out, they walk Hafner and load em up for our hottest hitter with runners on in Victor.
Anyone else thinking that at all?

there is no point of bunting with 1 out and a guy on second since he is already in scoring position...if there were no outs than maybe cause a sac fly would allow the guy from third to score. if there were 1 out and you bunted the man over to third, that would be the second out, and there is no possibility of a sac fly...plus you never take the bat out of the hand of the best hitter on the team

[Guest]

There WERE no outs and Marte was on 2nd.

[DarNoor]

The only reason Wedge is finally showing emotion is because he knows his job is on the line.

[sandlot33]

There WERE no outs and Marte was on 2nd.

you said there was 1 out

[Guest]

If he bunted him to 3rd, then there we be one out
Sorry for the confusion