Series Thread: Phillies at Rangers (3/31-4/2)

[UK Cowboy]

Well, that could have gone better. At least we kept it within a touchdown....

 

[WilltheThrill]

"How can you feel comfortable Perez starting Game 163 and not trust him enough to start opening day?"

Exactly.

And yet some people still somehow defend Wash's in-game managing skills. And once again, it isn't a case of 20/20 hindsight or armchair quarterbacking. Multiple people on here even said before the game ever started that the decisions to start Scheppers and Moreland were both awful calls and just disasters waiting to happen. It didn't take extensive statistical analysis or in-depth knowledge of the game either... just common sense. Start a guy on the mound on Opening Day (when adrenaline is higher than usual) who has never made 1 big league start? Probably a bad idea. Start a guy who can't hit lefties against a tough lefty while benching a hot hitter who does hit lefties well? How could that possibly backfire, right?

 

[Windingmywatch]

Want to be clear ... if Sheppers and Ross are amongst our best five pitchers in a SP role ... then they ought to be in the rotation. Ditto Nick Martinez.

When Colby and Harrison hopefully are ready to be activated in 2-3 weeks ... they have to make the rotation stronger or else it does not advance the opportunity of winning. The idea that a guy gets activated because he's owed something rubs me the wrong way.

If Sheppers, Ross and Martinez ... along with Perez turn out to be the real deal and pitch strong ... well how great would that be? Will sure get Harrison's and Holland's attention.

 

[terpsfball09]

I'm not sure if that has been posted but...

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-b...nto-garbage-can-on-opening-day-004803475.html

 

[Justinkm83]

I'm not sure if that has been posted but...

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-b...nto-garbage-can-on-opening-day-004803475.html

That makes me sad to look at, and a little embarrassed of our fans.

 

[TheRangerDude]

And yet some people still somehow defend Wash's in-game managing skills. And once again, it isn't a case of 20/20 hindsight or armchair quarterbacking. Multiple people on here even said before the game ever started that the decisions to start Scheppers and Moreland were both awful calls and just disasters waiting to happen. It didn't take extensive statistical analysis or in-depth knowledge of the game either... just common sense. Start a guy on the mound on Opening Day (when adrenaline is higher than usual) who has never made 1 big league start? Probably a bad idea. Start a guy who can't hit lefties against a tough lefty while benching a hot hitter who does hit lefties well? How could that possibly backfire, right?

If I had a means of knowing that these choices were purely of Wash's influence and no one else agreed with him or had a hand in it. I would agree 100%. But it is completely possible that the FO also has a hand in Moreland getting the start over Choice- seeing what they have in Moreland or giving him his one last shot. Starting Shepp I can see being more of a Wash sort of move but hard to say if he was the only one pulling for it and just point the finger at him. I don't think starting Choice lost this one for us at all though.

It's hard to say what would have happened had Yu or Perez started but you would like to think the results would have been better. Still, given the current condition of SP... we were due for one of these sooner rather than later. Might be a tough first week or so. I'm hoping to see Cheerios catching tomorrow.

 

[terpsfball09]

Its not helping our reputation in other cities I'm sure

 

[TheRangerDude]

I'm not sure if that has been posted but...

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-b...nto-garbage-can-on-opening-day-004803475.html

Wow, that's horrible.

 

[Al Falfa]

Lineup buffoonery that doesn't pass the American Legion/high school ball sanity check is the hallmark of what we can expect from Wash. I don't care if it is OD ... you put your best lineup on the field based on the pitching match ups and who is swinging the hot bats. That didn't happen today... no surprise to me.

Somebody is going to say it was the pitching that failed ... well we can talk about who should have been on the mound too ... am just focused on the lineup at this point.

If you aren't doing everything to win every game then you are a crappy manager.

Let's see if I got this right. You want the position player who had the best ST to be in the line up, but you don't want the pitcher who had the better ST stats to start?
How about we just chill and see what we have in mid June after the pitching is somewhat settled and maybe see if the spring training superman can make adjustments when his ass starts getting worked over on a regular basis by pitchers who make a living turning ST hall of famers in to .220 hitters. A little early to be freaking out.

 

[Justinkm83]

I swear the A's are the luckiest team I can remember. Sonny Gray has a line drive go off his leg with runners on the corners and the damn thing didn't go more than 4 ft. from him. He tossed it home to get Brantley at the plate to keep it 0-0. The Indians have left runners in scoring position all night.

 

[WilltheThrill]

Let's see if I got this right. You want the position player who had the best ST to be in the line up, but you don't want the pitcher who had the better ST stats to start?
How about we just chill and see what we have in mid June after the pitching is somewhat settled and maybe see if the spring training superman can make adjustments when his ass starts getting worked over on a regular basis by pitchers who make a living turning ST hall of famers in to .220 hitters. A little early to be freaking out.

There's a major difference between letting a hot bat from spring training fill out 1 of the 9 lineup slots over a guy who struggles against lefties and letting a hot relief pitcher make his starting pitching debut on Opening Day. I wouldn't expect you to understand that though.

I see very few people freaking out here. What I do see is a bunch of people calling out Wash on obvious blunders and you crawling out from under your rock to defend him like always.

 

[terpsfball09]

MM shouldn't have been playing today and Perez should have been starting today. There's not really any ways around it. There isn't really "hindsight is 20/20" here because we all thought the same thing. We all thought that it should've been perez out there and unexplainably it wasnt. We definitely thought choice should have been out there against lee, but he wasn't. I think that's basically all that needs to be said. Get em tomorrow

 

[TheRangerDude]

Let's see if I got this right. You want the position player who had the best ST to be in the line up, but you don't want the pitcher who had the better ST stats to start?
How about we just chill and see what we have in mid June after the pitching is somewhat settled and maybe see if the spring training superman can make adjustments when his ass starts getting worked over on a regular basis by pitchers who make a living turning ST hall of famers in to .220 hitters. A little early to be freaking out.

That is a pretty good defense for starting Shepp on opening day using the same logic but I would say on opening day, you really would like to send a guy out there that has at least started a MLB game before and had some experience. That is an awful lot of pressure for a kids first start. Personally, I think there is a lot more pressure on a pitcher making his first start than a position player making his. I mean giving up a ton of runs hurts a lot more one guy going 0-5 with an error or something. Still, you do have to credit Shepp, he had a great spring and I look for him to look much sharper the next go around.

 

[WilltheThrill]

MM shouldn't have been playing today and Perez should have been starting today. There's not really any ways around it. There isn't really "hindsight is 20/20" here because we all thought the same thing. We all thought that it should've been perez out there and unexplainably it wasnt. We definitely thought choice should have been out there against lee, but he wasn't. I think that's basically all that needs to be said. Get em tomorrow

Exactly.

 

[WilltheThrill]

That is a pretty good defense for starting Shepp on opening day using the same logic but I would say on opening day, you really would like to send a guy out there that has at least started a MLB game before and had some experience. That is an awful lot of pressure for a kids first start. Personally, I think there is a lot more pressure on a pitcher making his first start than a position player making his. I mean giving up a ton of runs hurts a lot more one guy going 0-5 with an error or something. Still, you do have to credit Shepp, he had a great spring and I look for him to look much sharper the next go around.

Another guy who gets it. Pretty simple stuff really. Well said.

 

[jta4437]

I can deal with Scheppers starting opening day b/c he earned it by being one of, if not the best, SP candidate in ST that remained healthy, Perez didn't exactly put a claim on it in ST, so I think we're splitting hairs there

Hopefully the Moreland thing was a veteran thing on opening day, time will tell though, history tells us otherwise though

 

[WilltheThrill]

I can deal with Scheppers starting opening day b/c he earned it by being one of, if not the best, SP candidate in ST that remained healthy, Perez didn't exactly put a claim on it in ST, so I think we're splitting hairs there

Hopefully the Moreland thing was a veteran thing on opening day, time will tell though, history tells us otherwise though

Scheppers earned his rotation spot, but throwing him out there on Opening Day is a lot to ask of the kid in his Major League starting debut. There is enough adrenaline pumping and nerves jumping for a pitcher making his debut in a regular game, much less in an Opening Day sellout. I realize Wash didn't exactly have great options to choose from, but I would have given Perez the ball, as he has started big-time games before. You could tell Scheppers wasn't able to control the nerves and adrenaline just by how often he missed high in the zone.

 

[Windingmywatch]

Let's see if I got this right. You want the position player who had the best ST to be in the line up, but you don't want the pitcher who had the better ST stats to start?
How about we just chill and see what we have in mid June after the pitching is somewhat settled and maybe see if the spring training superman can make adjustments when his ass starts getting worked over on a regular basis by pitchers who make a living turning ST hall of famers in to .220 hitters. A little early to be freaking out.

Al ... where in my post do I say Scheppers shouldn't have started?

Know it is implied but given it was ST ... maybe going with the best SP from Aug - Sept and who you gave the ball to to pitch 163 might have started versus a guy making his first start.

And I still say you go with your hot RH bat against Lee ... not a LH bat who suffers against good LHP. That miscalled a platoon.

Watch tomorrow facing a RHP Wash will say he's going with the platoon % and starts Moreland.

 

[terpsfball09]

Well, the fact that it was only the second guy in the past million years to have his starting debut on opening day should say alot. I think perez should have gotten it just because he's the only guy in the rotation from last year. He pitched in game 163, which has to be similar jitters as opening day has.

 

[WilltheThrill]

Anyway, I can't wait until we have the Yu-Harrison-Perez-Lewis rotation back and either Ross or Scheppers is able to help out the bullpen again.

Also, what is wrong with Ogando? He doesn't even resemble his former self. He had a bad spring and he's letting it carry over into the season. He just hasn't looked right since he pulled his hamstring running to 1st against the Giants.