Jim French Stepstool
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Everything posted by Jim French Stepstool
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Among corner INF types, we've witnessed the so-so (at best) MLB debut of Tyler Black, seen occasional waves from the big HR, big K bat (Wes Clarke), followed the tough luck, ball-to-the-face season of Brock Wilkin, seen Mike Boeve hit like the dickens when he was available, and been intrigued by the overall offensive skillset of Luke Adams. Through all this, I must admit Ernesto Martinez has flown under the radar for me. A 6-5, 250lb guy who has put together nice numbers, stolen some bags & even was athletic enough to play a bit of CF is pretty intriguing. I'd love to hear from some of you who have seen much more of Biloxi than I have, what you think of the guy & his ceiling. Thanks!!!
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Shoulda saw this coming re Rea, with them using six starters. The 'his day to throw' guy could pick up an inning or two (didn't expect 2.2 though). I thought Milner was pretty good. No real hard contact but the HBP was untimely & shouldn't happen. He pretty much HAD to be used tonight. Nice job. I understood Turang squaring w/the runner on 3rd since it was a LHP, but I wouldn't have done it since he's starting to see the ball pretty well now. The butcher boy they switched to was a great call with the way Harper was crashing, just didn't get a good enough piece of the ball. I had a Charlie Moore-ALCS flashback watching Frelick charge & throw to 3rd. Boy it's fun when the bottom 2-3 spots get on base. I think it was Rottino who mentioned 'launch angle-itis' or something like that regarding Adames tonight. Yeah, good call but understandable the way the ball's been flying for him. Stay within yourself, young man. I think we've played this team really well through four meetings, outs at the plate in Philly notwithstanding.
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ESPN Madison has reported that Tyler Van Dyke will miss the remainder of the season w/a "significant knee injury". I hoped for the best but this isn't all that surprising. So you have Locke, who has a decent amount of experience from last year. But he isn't mobile or particularly big, and due to that sidearm-type delivery I suspect all opposing D-lineman will have a few days of 'get your hands up' drills when it's UW prep week. I think Mabrey Mettauer has a chance to be effective at some point, but this doesn't strike me as the type of system that's friendly to a QB who was at his HS prom four months ago. They would be well-served to find out exactly how much they can lean on the offensive line moving forward.
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I felt we played them pretty well in Philadelphia throughout that series, except we didn't hit the first two games, made much better contact in game three but couldn't buy a break on batted balls, and all week sent people on contact plays that pretty much every other team would've sent but Philly wound up having a play at the plate every time as the batted ball placement/fielders' placement worked against us like, every time.. I hope we come out finding that sweet spot between being confident & yet still relaxed. For whatever reason that seems to sometimes elude them at home.
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Holy crap, what a terrific post.
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I think their best hope is for Chourio to stay at #2, and if they can get #'s 8,9 & leadoff to reach on a consistent basis (easier said than done, of course) the offense can take off. Turang reaching nine times over the weekend & Ortiz picking up four hits, a walk & appearing to get his RF stroke back are encouraging. Chourio seems locked into leadoff vs LHP, but then maybe Perkins at #2. Please, not Mitchell.
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- joey ortiz
- sal frelick
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The thing about Misiorowski & Yoho, they've been able to script their outings, days off, # of pitches, etc. by having them in the minors. Especially Mis, having him go into a situation where the sked is more uncertain might not be something they want to do. Just trying to think along with the braintrust. I'm not against him coming up. Hudson I think should be imminent.
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I'll bet there are a lot of dugout decisions made, here & elsewhere, that are built on consensus. But I agree that there's no need to mention that in the postgame. And as to your bunting comments, sorry, I didn't notice you were only asking about extras. Really doesn't change my philosophy though.
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I can't name any specifically as it's been a little while since it's happened, but they have twelve on the season. It should be more because like I said, they should be better at it. I'm also including bunt hits in my thoughts about this, so the total amount of successful bunts would be higher than twelve. If the bunt was successful & the run didn't score, that's on the next man, especially if the runner is on 3rd w/less than two out. Understand, there have been times when it wasn't a great idea. The Perkins bunt to end the game a couple months ago is a prime example. I'm not advocating turning into a fastpitch softball team. But it's a skill many of these guys have, and it should be cultivated & sharpened. With most fans, popping up a bunt or being thrown out when trying to bunt for a hit leaves them with a real empty feeling like "he should've swung away". That's normal. To me, the feeling should be the same when someone Ks or hits a lazy fly ball when the 3rd baseman is playing 18 feet behind the bag (Rickie Weeks was notorious for this; he could run & seemingly refused to even learn how to be a marginal bunter. drove me nuts). But like I said, it depends on the situation. This is a team that's built on run prevention & the pen. A run here or there can be huge. And most of the time this year I think the situation was correct when they tried it. Just get better at it.
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That's why, if something I don't understand or don't agree with occurs I like to hear the explanation later, rather than jump on someone. In this case, I'm OK with wanting to give him a day off, but the ups & downs in the BP is what got everyone scratching their heads. They vacillated, or at least seemed to. I've often seen situations where it seemed to make perfect sense to leave, say, a LHP in to start an inning if a LHH is leading off, then pull him. But most managers seem married to the "It's so-and-so's inning" philosophy. They at least claimed to look into the possibility of going against that on Sunday. At the end of the day I think they liked the way the ball was coming out of Koenigs' hand in the 9th, with the 2-run lead felt confident about him finishing up vs the guys they had lined up to face him, and it unexpectedly blew up.
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I'm going to raise a point that's unfortunately been lost in all this----the offense today. We've all seen 3-game sets where after a team wins the first two, it almost seems inevitable that the other guys salvage the 3rd game, especially if they're the home team. We were in that scenario today, facing their ace, fell behind 5-0, and scored 8 unanswered & ten total. We let Gallen off the hook early, but ran up the count, didn't chase too much, and it paid off eventually. And that was w/o Contreras. Very, very impressive. And I'm probably out on an island here, but I have no problem with the thought behind most of the bunts. I have a problem with bad bunts, but the majority of the time I think it's people that are good enough to do it, are doing it at an appropriate time & need to do it better rather than that they shouldn't be doing it. If Frelick or Turang or whoever bunts & pops it up, I dislike it but not any more than if he swings away & pops up or Ks or whatever.
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Duly noted, but I think he'll be available tomorrow.
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He did, he mentioned it afterward. Lost in all this...........how does everyone feel about the idea to go with 6 starters, at least this time through? There are innings limits I'm sure, but it isn't like the starters constantly go deep into games. It basically makes you keep juggling eight men in the pen. Not the SAME eight, but still would've been nice to have another multi-inning arm available today.
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Why wouldn't Williams be available tomorrow?
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Me too. But Contreras would've been unhappy with days off in the first 2 months of the season, didn't want them, Murphy played him every day, and many fans thought that was a bad idea. Different positions & all that, but part of the job is saving someone from themselves, and the indecision made this look bad, as opposed to just staying away from him, period. His not being happy doesn't bother me. Devin would probably throw 8 days in a row if they let him. It's the indecision. Even if they wanted from the get-go to use him for one hitter, then get him up for the 1st time AFTER the bottom of the 10th started.
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He is, unless he's unavailable on a given day. The actions taken today appeared to say he's available today, then no he isn't, then yes he is but only for a hitter or two. That's where the egg on the face comes from.
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Even though I'm a huge Turang fan, that was a makeable play by him on the Carroll base hit. One of the few balls he can hit that would've probably been a routine DP. Would've saved this thread a # of pages, too. Koenig has gone multiples, and the LHHs coming up did give it a semblance of reason. What adds fuel to the fire is that DW was up, then sat. Then if they DO get to the point where he's used for one out, he gets back up again? They got caught second-guessing, or something during the initial warmup made Henderson or whoever not want to see him throw 22 pitches.
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That insinuates he would've come out for the 8th & not Megill, which would've surprised me.
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As far as I can remember, yep. But supposedly that was the idea.
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Lefties coming up was a big part of it as per the presser. Koenig IMO "had it" in the 9th. In the 10th there were no other viable options if they wanted to stay away from DW. Ashby getting through his last inning would've made Payamps available, but that didn't happen. Also Hall only going three factored in. All this stuff is inter-related.
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After we shut them down for a game-and-a-half, this team showed just how good they can be at scoring runs. The rough thing today was we absolutely gave them one in the 8th, and Hall basically gave them three to make it 5-0. Not characteristic. Then Turang is walked to get to Chourio, in the same game in which Turang reaches base five times but has two misplays in the INF (even though it wasn't an easy play, the ball Carroll hit was a play Turang can make & quite probably would've been a DP). Even then, he saves us with the backup on the bad throw. Without hearing the presser, I'm guessing Williams sat down when it became a 2-run lead. Given where we are, if that's the case I get it. Still, with the first-round bye crap in play it can be criticized. But no one's a moron, or doesn't know what they're doing, etc. ---Just heard Murphy. They wanted to protect him due to the workload, 13-game stretch, etc & would've used him if they got to 2 outs in the inning & needed him to lock it down. Koenig DID throw the ball well in the 9th & there were lefties coming up, so I get it but it can be questioned & I'm sure it will be here.
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You mentioned that defense seldom makes headlines. That's a huge understatement. Sal Frelick is a winning ballplayer, something sabermetrics can't totally capture. Has a much stronger arm than many have given him credit for, too. He'll probably never be a 650-PA guy unless he raises the OBP considerably due to lack of power, but I wouldn't bet against him eventually becoming a guy that hits .285-.300 w/contact & his share of walks. Just a real integral part of a roster.
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I just had a flashback to my JR year in HS.
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Wisconsin vs. Alabama - Saturday, 9/14/24, 11am Central
Jim French Stepstool replied to LouisEly's topic in Other Sports
I agree the LBs are collectively a pretty talented group. But I don't know if the mental mistakes have anything to do with being tired. And there seems to be enough depth that it shouldn't be a case of their getting gassed. That said, I agree they don't receive nearly enough help. -
Wisconsin vs. Alabama - Saturday, 9/14/24, 11am Central
Jim French Stepstool replied to LouisEly's topic in Other Sports
Watching it live & seeing one replay (I have no desire at this point to watch it over again), I have no idea what they were trying to do defensively in the last minute of the half. It almost looked to me like some sort of prevent package with an unfamiliar combination of players, causing confusion as to where the heck everyone was supposed to be. I think the line was OK today. It's a very, very simplistic looking running attack, but when the box isn't overloaded they seem good enough to get a push for decent yardage. How, or if, things get amended for Locke with the bye week will be interesting. Really, they SHOULD'NT have trouble giving a QB time to throw since most of the routes are shorter. Had the long opportunity with Kekahuna. Got to convert that one. If people thought they don't throw long often enough now, I shudder to think what things might look like with Locke at the helm. And from what I understand Mettauer isn't close yet. I thought your guy Aaron Witt looked pretty good.
