To bunt, or not to bunt. That is the question.
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- July
- 24
Jerry Manuel wasn’t crazy with the idea of Carlos Beltran bunting last night, giving himself up to provide a RBI chance for Robinson Cancel.
Manuel said he understood, that Beltran wasn’t hitting and was trying to make something happen.
It was an unselfish play, which is why I liked it.
How about you? Your thoughts on Beltran bunting.
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on Thursday, July 24th, 2008 at 10:04 am by John Delcos.
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JD: I thought the play was terrible. He could have hit a 3 run homer to put the game out of reach. He’s bunting to leave it open to ROBINSON CANCEL???? ROBINSON CANCEL??? Which leads me to my next question…why wasn’t Castro Pinch hitting?
One extra run in that situation can make a huge difference. If
we had Church,Delgado and Alou coming up it might have been OK but Carlos should know the situation and not sacrafice an out for Robinson Cancel,Nick Evans or A. Reyes
I said I liked the bunt last night, and, I still do. Beltran tried to make a fundamentally sound baseball play. Beltran has all of the tools. Let’s allow him to use them.
Beltran bunting is a very poor decision especially w/Cancel coming up to pinch hit. The guy has 8 AB in MLB since 1999.
Beltran is suppose to be one of the guys who drives in runs. Manuel should put him in the 2 hole to get him some more FB since he is struggling.
It actually seemed like the Phillies were flat last nite. Anybody get that sense?
I have no problem with the play Carlos hasnt been swinging the hottest bat (4-17) including a bunch of tailored made DP groundballs. So in that situation up by 3 and looking to simply tack on runs he put his team in a spot to get a run without a hit. If the mets were down in that spot i would have a problem with the play, but up 3 looking to tack on im fine with it.
Scoop: I’d like to see Beltran batting second as well. But unfortunately that would mean a pretty weak 5 thru 9. Until the Mets make a trade for a legitimate OF bat, or get Church back with a clean bill of health, this lineup will eventually be in trouble.
i agree with Steve #2.
Cancel?????
we have other hitters… :-( too bad church couldnt just pinch hit.
I have no issues with Carlos attempting a bunt there. Again, in that situation, you are up 3 runs in the bottom of the 8th and the idea is to get 1 insurance run. Regardless of who is batting behind Beltran in that situation, they are Major League Baseball players plenty capable in that situation to put the ball in the outfield to sacrifice the runner home. Also in that case, 1 extra run, means potentially an extra days rest for Billy Wagner. I’m tired of people getting on Beltran’s case all the time. The guy is a 5 tool player. I wonder what you guys would be saying if he wouldn’t have bunted and let’s say struck out or grounded into a dp. Everyone would be saying, “oh he sucks, can’t even get the guys over into scoring position.”
45 minutes to game time and no lineup card JD? You’re slacking! :)
I’m fully expecting the B lineup today, Cancel catching, Reyes at second, evans in left (although he’s a better option than Anderson.)
Wait a minute, this isn’t Willie’s team anymore?
Will Jerry the OG bring the A lineup to a crucial rubber match/day game!?!??
We’ll see.
Castro better be catching. Tatis better be in Left. Easley better be at second. No surprises Jerry!
Bob: Since JD is lazy today.. ;-) here is the met lineup:
Reyes/Evans/Wright/Delgado/Beltran/Tatis/Easley/Castro/Perez
Phills:
Rollins/Utley/Burrell/Howard/Werth/Victorino/Feliz/Coste/Moyer
I think the play was horrible mainly because of the players he had hitting behind him. If Ryan Church was there to protect him the play wouldnt of been as bad but when you have Cancel, Easily, Anderson you just cant do that.
Not to mention hes our “superstar”.
I wasn’t thrilled with the decision myself.
Slump or not, he is a guy we count on to drive runs in, not to move runners over.
It would have been nice to have a couple of more runs, just so Billy could have had another day of rest. Now, he probably won’t be available today.
I’d have liked the play more with a smaller lead. With the 3-run lead at home the bunt seems overly-conservative. Why give away an out (even though he was clearly bunting for a hit) when you could end the game with one swing? It’s the baseball equivalent of playing for the field goal and really getting less than you might have gotten if you just ran your offense.
Yeah, Beltran hadn’t been hitting the ball well and he insured that he wouldn’t hit into a double play. But that only made it something less than a “horrible” baseball play as described by Eric Young and Steve Phillips on BB 2nite. That is the same overreaction we get from the radio crew. It’s not a great play but it’s not meritless either.
There’s about 117 million reasons why Beltran shouldn’t be bunting. But, that said, as we learned today, you can’t stop Robinson Cancel—you can only hope to contain him.
I think Beltran’s bunt play highlights that Beltran is miscast as a clean-up hitter (or 5 hitter). His entire career before the Mets was spent primarily as a 2 and 3 spot hitter. Granted, he has more pop than most 2 hole hitters, but his mentality, speed, skills, OBP and career experience show that he is more suited for that spot. It seems, due to Delgado’s troubles (except as of late), the big contract, and Beltran’s historic ‘04 playoff run (with a small sample not indicative of his true performace) the Mets want to force a role on Beltran he does not want and/or for which he is ill-suited.