Another note on Nicky: I noticed on Baseball Savant that his batted ball numbers are actually better this year than last. He appears to have been very lucky last season, with a number of his home runs having a worse than 50/50 shot of success. This season he has been slightly unlucky by the same metrics.

But the other big change from last season to this season is that teams are shifting against him about half the time, whereas they did that only a very small portion of his ABs last year. His numbers against the shift are very poor.

he was safe...that's what people are saying.  why not challenge?  it's idiotic not to.....

1 minute ago, fathom said:

Way to swing at first pitch Delmonico. Easily the most disappointing of the offensive guys.

TBF the wind is blowing in but i agree with you,he's been a shell of the guy who finished the season strong last year.

1 minute ago, harkness99 said:

Ricky it much much much worse... only thing he does that's any good strat wise is let his hitters 3-0.

 

He reeks of incompetence in all else.

Ricky used to get questioned a lot about his bullpen use with the Cubs. A lot of people have forgotten about that. It's probably the biggest thing a manager has control of in determining wins and losses. If you know how to manage a pitching staff, you pretty much don't need to know much else to be successful at running a game. On top of that, Ricky does bunt too much. 

I didn't know that Davidson had looked safe. Up until my comment, no one mentioned that. I'm only listening to the radio feed and knew the situation.

 

Edit: which I guess is why my initial comment was a question ha

Edited May 11, 20187 yr by soxfan2014

Just now, southsider2k5 said:

A replay on the Cubs feed just confirmed it.

Yea that was what I saw watching on MLB thats using the Cubs feed.

1 minute ago, soxfan2014 said:

So have pitcher swing away?

1. why is delmonico leading off?

2. Why did he not challenge the play when he was clearly safe.

3.The runner getting thrown out because of a failed bunt is not something that always happens...  sorry but it's not.

4.  No the pitcher shouldn't swing away.. but that's not an excuse for everything else.

 

Garcia adds nothing to this club.

Just now, Soxfest said:

Garcia adds nothing to this club.

I'd still rather have him in there than Engel.

Just now, Soxfest said:

Garcia adds nothing to this club.

For me, Garcia is really a good guy to have around.

Just now, CaliSoxFanViaSWside said:

Yea that was what I saw watching on MLB thats using the Cubs feed.

Yeah I’m out of town and watching the Cubs broadcast through MLBN and the Len was all over that play.  Given the importance of that out and being down by five early, it seemed like an obvious call to challenge.

It's not Renteria's fault if the play wasn't challenged. They have a guy who tells him what to do. 

But it does seem this year and last, there have been several times a challenge appeared in order but never happened. Maybe they are just OK with the call going against them and increasing their chances of losing.

Edited May 11, 20187 yr by Dick Allen

2 minutes ago, harkness99 said:

1. why is delmonico leading off?

2. Why did he not challenge the play when he was clearly safe.

3.The runner getting thrown out because of a failed bunt is not something that always happens...  sorry but it's not.

4.  No the pitcher shouldn't swing away.. but that's not an excuse for everything else.

 

1. Discussed on first page.

2. I only knew situation, didn't know he was safe due to listening to radio (also discussed on this page)

3. Eh if the catcher has a great arm like Contreras and the guy on 2nd's secondary is too big due to the bunt attempt, yes it does happen

4. NL ball is stupid anyway so whatevs

Edited May 11, 20187 yr by soxfan2014

1 minute ago, TheTruth05 said:

I'd still rather have him in there than Engel.

100% agree.  He’s our best CF option at the moment.

2 minutes ago, TheTruth05 said:

I'd still rather have him in there than Engel.

Amen to that.

1 minute ago, harkness99 said:

1. why is delmonico leading off?

2. Why did he not challenge the play when he was clearly safe.

3.The runner getting thrown out because of a failed bunt is not something that always happens...  sorry but it's not.

4.  No the pitcher shouldn't swing away.. but that's not an excuse for everything else.

 

When you are an American league team who has a pitcher who has a career total of 20 PAs and last hit in 2016, it happens more often than if you were an NL team who was drilled on playing this type of baesball.

The struggles of the rotation all around are a daily kick in the nuts.  This is by far the worst rotation in baseball.  Puke.

Just now, southsider2k5 said:

When you are an American league team who has a pitcher who has a career total of 20 PAs and last hit in 2016, it happens more often than if you were an NL team who was drilled on playing this type of baesball.

Exactly. It's hard for the runner. You have to get a good jump, but this is a guy who stands a good chance of going through the attempt so you have to be careful. It shouldn't have happened , but taking everything into consideration, it's really no surprise. You miss a bunt, and the runner isn't Ricky Henderson at 2nd, they are vulnerable. 

Get a hit

So fucking livid that they didn't challenge that. Whoever's decision it was not to challenge needs to lose their job or at least be reassigned a new job. Absolutely awful.

ALL HAIL YOLMER!

Again, just three consecutive home runs and it is tied

1 minute ago, TheTruth05 said:

ALL HAIL YOLMER!

Yay

PALKTASTIC

Nice Palka