So this is obviously on my mind. I’m going to be like this for a few days. Just bear with me.
What were Scioscia’s options other than squeezing in that situation?
1. Squeeze on a different pitch. Probably a good call since Delcarmen hadn’t thrown a strike.
2. Let Aybar swing away. Well, Aybar is not all that great of a hitter. And he has no pop. A decent portion of his hits this year were from infield singles. I’m not all that optimistic about Aybar getting the run home by swinging away. Of course if he makes an out you have Figgins up, but now Figgins HAS to get a hit to get the run in.
3. Pinch hit for Aybar. Let’s look at our options:
A. Wood, Mathis, Quinlan: All of them would be at a disadvantage from the righty-righty matchup. Especially against a hard thrower like Delcarmer. Mathis and Wood are strikeout machines, which is the last thing you want when you’ve got a guy on third.
B. Matthews Jr.: Well, he is a lefty with some pop, so he would have a chance to bring the runner home with a well-placed out. But there are two problems with this as well. One is that GMJ looked terrible against Papelbon. And I know, Papelbon is good, so that’s not terrible, but his bat looked really slow and he’s prone to the strikeout as well. The second is that if you take out Aybar, you lose a decent amount of defense at shortstop when you have to replace him with Wood or Figgins. Aybar has better range and a better arm than both of them, even if his hands aren’t quite as good. If the Angels were losing by one (and thus needed the run to even keep the game going) or this was a home game where the game ends if a run scores, then I say you do it. But even if the Angels had scored there, they need to go out and play defense.
None of these options really excite me. The stat guys and bitter Angels fans will all say that number 2 or number 3B were the ways to go. I still think number 1 gives us a pretty good shot to win. The Angels are a small ball team and had their best bunter at the plate. He just didn’t get it done.
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Jose Mota does not like walks as much as he should have... "I still don't like walks," and "I love Teixeira's approach" do not, to him, seem to be contradictory statements. (I assume) But, he doesn't think the Angels should have squeezed in that situation. he thinks letting Aybar swing away was the better call, for three reasons,
1. Delcarmen hadn't thrown a good pitch yet. Aybar could have easily been on first with better hitters to follow.
2. A wild, unpredictable, hard-throwing pitcher is extremely difficult to bunt against.
3. Aybar had the confidence going because of his hit the night before.
I think point 3 is, at beast, unprovable. But I tend to agree with points 1 and 2.
He also said that Frankie "off the record" said that he wanted to be back, that he doesn't want to pitch in any other city, and that any published reports to the contrary are untrue and the result of his agent's initiative, not his wishes. and he thinks the angels will make Tex a big offer, but not his market value offer, and thinks Tex will have to take less money to stay in Anaheim, which he doesn't think will happen, but he definitely thinks the Angels should sign him.
The more and more I think about it, the more and more I think I'm against the squeeze. At first I was firmly entrenched in the "it was the right play, just not executed" camp. Even despite my analysis in this post, I'm beginning to realize just how huge of a risk that was when there were plenty of other ways to get Willits home.
Dammit. I think I've gotten more upset over that play as the day has gone on rather than less. This blows.
As for how what the Angels will do in the offseason, I'm definitely thinking about it and will post on it at some point, but it kind of seemed like posting now would be counting the inheritance before the body was even cold.
Although if I keep replaying the image of that failed bunt in my mind, I may have to start talking about free agents just to stay sane.
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