Jim French Stepstool
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Everything posted by Jim French Stepstool
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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. -
Wisconsin vs. Alabama - Saturday, 9/14/24, 11am Central
Jim French Stepstool replied to LouisEly's topic in Other Sports
I don't know if anyone expected them to actually win today. But I wanted to see something much cleaner, at home, in a game of this magnitude. The 2nd quarter sequence was particularly ugly. You're competing, and in the game. The Mellusi fumble was a huge gaffe, obviously, but the details bookending either side of it, those are the details that kill you. You receive a punt, and fair catch it at the 5-yard line. That's inexcusable & makes the fumble even more of a killer due to field position. Then you force an incompletion on 3rd down, holding them to a FG. Except you don't because Hills jumps offside. TD. I guess we weren't saved in the 2nd half, when Chaney was able to take the field & proceed to play worse than the people who replaced him in the 1st half. His over-pursuing & lack of assignment-assuredness is getting to be very old. Would love to know what we were doing in the secondary late in the half when they scored in like two plays. It almost looked like we were trying to take away the short pass, which I assume wasn't the case because that would be lunacy, so I'll chalk it up to, once again, people not being where they're supposed to be. Words can't express how bad everyone should be feeling for Van Dyke. -
Wisconsin vs. Alabama - Saturday, 9/14/24, 11am Central
Jim French Stepstool replied to LouisEly's topic in Other Sports
Actually the one TD they scored was when they kept the ball on the ground. Defensively I don't know how they would've fared today with Leonhard in charge, but if his past is any indication they would've blown way fewer assignments, and the only way they give up 42 or more is if the mistakes were as plentiful as what we saw today, on both sides of the ball. Look, I'm not a huge Fickell detractor. Deeming him a failure at this point would be foolish. But he also hasn't done much of anything to generate confidence either. He strikes me as a coach/administrator who puts a lot of responsibility for success on his coordinators & staff. And right now that doesn't exactly cause me to feel the need for sunglasses. And wanting to add Jack Del Rio when they did makes things a little more curious. But I don't see the need to go over the top with criticism until sometime next year at the earliest, if warranted. -
Wisconsin vs. Alabama - Saturday, 9/14/24, 11am Central
Jim French Stepstool replied to LouisEly's topic in Other Sports
That game in Seattle I believe was Darrell Bevells' 1st indication he should have the keys to the offense. Came in late & showed pretty well. They came out with their hair on fire when they played OSU last year & made it interesting for awhile. I could see that happening again, but what scares me is Alabama wearing them down with their combination of physical play & speed & things getting ugly in the 2nd half. They'll need a couple three turnovers & we haven't been able to generate them all that much. And somehow make Milroe a pocket passer on some predictable down & distance passing situations, which means the D-line has to at least occupy some blockers on early downs. About a 26-pt spread. Hope I'm wrong. -
Nice of him to give Peguero a vote of confidence like that.
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I would've pulled him before his last hitter. But it would've made for an interesting dynamic because Payamps was set for the 6th & Koenig the 7th. Very similar to his fifth inning vs Colorado, lots of hard contact. Sometimes the bear eats you, and sometimes...........
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Was wondering the same. I'm assuming they would've pulled him for Josh Bell or Grichuk. Kind of a gray-area decision for me.
