Tuesday, March 30, 2004

Baseball Prospectus PTP

It's a freebie, so I can link to it. These things are great. Mike "Go Hard or Go Home" Johnston figures in the cast of nobodies.

In that August 11th game, the Pirates had 17 hits and only managed 4 runs as they lost to the Cardinals. Reggie Sanders left 10 (!) men on base. Redman's out at home - the second part of an 8-2 double play - happened in the first inning. In the third, Rolen made a great play at third and had Redman dead, but somehow he got back to third safely. On the next play, a fly ball to right with the bases loaded, Redman didn't tag up and the Cards caught Kendall in a run-down between second and third. They screwed up the run-down - with the ball, Cairo ran past Kendall to throw to third - and it was safe all around. Simon grounded out to end the inning. In the fifth inning, Redman was safe at the plate on a close play after Mike Matheny retrieved an errant relay from Danny Haren. On Redman's fourth hit of the day, Edmonds threw Nunez out at the plate for his second assist of the day. Article, box score, play-by-play here.

The August 13 game was just as interesting. With two outs in the ninth, left-hander Pedro Borbon pitching, the score tied, and St. Louis needing a win to stay in first place, Kendall singled. La Russa had Giles and Sanders intentionally walked to load the bases to face the left-handed Carlos Rivera, who Mac had just put in the game as a defensive replacement for lefty-killer Craig A. Wilson. The only right-handed player on Mac's bench was Abraham Nunez, so Mac sent Randall Simon to pinch hit. Not surprisingly, Borbon got two quick strikes on Simon, but Simon singled home Kendall for the Pirates win. Mac and La Russa can turn the game on its head when they try to outsmart each other.

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