Antonetti and Acta?

[Bigfist]

Sorry, don't mean to bring this up again and not trying to start a war, but I posted this on the game thread from yesterday and I doubt many saw it, but here is my question.

When Phelps was called up, I thought we heard that he would play 2B against the righties and OCab against lefties. Phelps hasn't looked particularly good, but he has been benched against Garcia, Verlander, and tonite against Penny..all righties. Additionally, in the last game against the Yankees, OCab was put into the game in the ninth as a defensive replacement for Phelps. And I had thought that Phelps was supposed to be the superior defensive player between the two of them.

I guess what I am asking is that does anyone think Antonetti may have forced Phelps on Acta, and now this is his way of responding? Seems odd to have Phelps up here and not playing.

[skatingtripods]

Phelps looks 100% overwhelmed at the dish. Maybe give him a few days to collect himself.

Acta has a better grasp of this clubhouse than Antonetti does. The Phelps call-up had a very negative effect on OC. He was clearly pissed. Whether he should swallow his pride or not is another thread for another day, but Acta's already dealing with a frustrated clubhouse. No need to exacerbate things.

Could be his way of trying to get OC to play better to justify more playing time.

[Bigfist]

Phelps looks 100% overwhelmed at the dish. Maybe give him a few days to collect himself.

Acta has a better grasp of this clubhouse than Antonetti does. The Phelps call-up had a very negative effect on OC. He was clearly pissed. Whether he should swallow his pride or not is another thread for another day, but Acta's already dealing with a frustrated clubhouse. No need to exacerbate things.

Could be his way of trying to get OC to play better to justify more playing time.

I understand what you are saying. I guess I think if Phelps is just going to ride the bench, we are better off just sending him back to Columbus to play every day, even if it is as DH and maybe some time at 3B. On the other hand, I guess Phelps is probably headed back to Columbus anyhow once Hafner is activated (which I hope is very soon!).

[gotribe31]

OC looks just as overwhelmed, hit yesterday nonwithstanding. He's terrible at the plate and in the field. The only way to get better against major league pitching is to get reps against major league pitching. No reason for Phelps not to be in their tonight.

[motherscratcher]

I don't know bigfist. I hadn't realized that phelps has grabbed so much pine since his call up and I can't explain it. I guess tripods is probably right because he has looked overwhelmed, but I think you need to keep sending him out there.

And fuck Orly. No offense, but he's a goddam professional and if he doesn't understand why phelps got the call then he can suck a bag of dicks.

[bookelly]

Uncle had 3 hits tonight. Whatever it is Acta's doing, it's working for now.

[DeanSheen]

Yeah for now. I want Uncle out of there. Cord needs to make a case.

[leadpipe]

If you can PLAY, you can PLAY.

OC is a guy who is running out the string. Clearly.

Veteran leader, (as many referred to early in the year) fine. The winning teams have veteran leaders that can PLAY.

Pissed they brought a young guy up? - play better.

They've already got total humps at the corners in that infield. That group can't afford to drag along a "veteran leader" who frankly, stinks. And they have been, and you've seen the results on the scoreboard.

And save the "Acta lighting a fire" garbage. Did the "veteran leader" need that? Has he not been giving maximum effort all year?

All boils down to my first line in this post. The rest is wishes and fairy tales. Just like we "wish" throwing a .200 hitter out there at the hot corner is good enough cause he plays good D, we're "wishing" that O-Cab's veteran presence will somehow mask the fact he can't really play anymore.

Really, the offense will get better when they find of few more guys that can friggin' hit. That. Simple.

[WiscTribeFan]

Really, the offense will get better when they find of few more guys that can friggin' hit. That. Simple.

If Hafner weren't hurt and Choo, Sizemore and Santana actually hitting on a regular basis, we could afford to have a no-stick all glove 3B out there. We don't necessarily need to bring in other guys who can hit, we need the hitters that we do have to right the ship. Management isn't going to sell the farm to bring in short-term replacements, so we need the guys we have to play better. Bottom line. The team we've got now is the team, for the most part, that we're going to sink or swim with. The cavalry ain't coming, unless someone thinks that bringing in the likes of a Casey Blake is considered the cavalry.

The answer isn't in AAA either, and Cord Phelps shouldn't have been expected to come in and jump start an offense that has grown dormant, not in his first time around. That's a lot to ask of a kid seeing his first big-league action.

[British_Pharaoh]

Well Phelps is batting 8th today. Hopefully he will have some success against a pitcher who has struggled in his past 3 outings and has a high ERA against the Indians

[motherscratcher]

Well Phelps is batting 8th today. Hopefully he will have some success against a pitcher who has struggled in his past 3 outings and has a high ERA against the Indians

Glad to see him back in the lineup. He sure as shit isn't going to straighten anything out from the bench.

Don't know what to make of Sherzer. The dude seems to be all over the place, sometimes dominant, sometimes terrible. Hope we get the terrible version.

[leadpipe]

Really, the offense will get better when they find of few more guys that can friggin' hit. That. Simple.

If Hafner weren't hurt and Choo, Sizemore and Santana actually hitting on a regular basis, we could afford to have a no-stick all glove 3B out there. We don't necessarily need to bring in other guys who can hit, we need the hitters that we do have to right the ship. Management isn't going to sell the farm to bring in short-term replacements, so we need the guys we have to play better. Bottom line. The team we've got now is the team, for the most part, that we're going to sink or swim with. The cavalry ain't coming, unless someone thinks that bringing in the likes of a Casey Blake is considered the cavalry.

The answer isn't in AAA either, and Cord Phelps shouldn't have been expected to come in and jump start an offense that has grown dormant, not in his first time around. That's a lot to ask of a kid seeing his first big-league action.

My post wasn't advocating bringing up a ton of prospects. Just a reality check for some who seems to think there's some magic dust out there that's going to make some guys better. Too many total ciphers offensively in that line-up now.

And as far as the established guys, which I agree with you are a HUGE part of the problem, but there was a reason Travis Hafner is Old Yeller. You needed to get lucky twice with him - and early in the season he got half right, but at the end of the day, a strictly DH, who with injury/interleague games is a 90 game a year player - how much does he need to hit to help you? Can he hit enough to help you? He'll be back Saturday (allegedly) but how many games till he gets right?

And sadly, it looks like Sizemore's ceiling is much lower than 5 years ago when we were thinking he might turn into a top ten player. Now we're hoping for .275 & 20?

And lastly, they don't have the pitching to afford a zero at third ILO. This would be the case even if the guys that are supposed to hit, hit. Again, when 6-7-8-9 in your order are arguably the top four offensively productive positions, you've got problems. Hanahan seems like a nice fellow - but there's a reason you'd be very hard pressed to name a 3B that had a 10-15 year career based soley on defense, cause he couldn't hit a lick. The reason there are so few is cause that ain't the way you win.