Why not pinch hit for Aybar in the 9th?

by NewportHalo on Apr 22, 2009 10:48 PM PDT Comment 49 comments

This is not another Brandon Wood post but why not pinch hit anyone for Aybar? Aybar is a very very good defensive player and he should be starting at short but with two outs in the 9th, I'd rather see just about any other position player at the plate not named Gary Mattews Junior. Willits, Wood or Izturis all would have been better options in that situation. Did anyone bring up this point on the broadcast? I was watching with it muted (wife in the room).

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Um. This is a fanpost???

by eyespy on Apr 22, 2009 10:51 PM PDT reply actions

+1

Angel Pitching (Adenhart), Angel Defense - get past that.

by vladtheimpaler on Apr 22, 2009 11:19 PM PDT up reply actions

No, nobody around here thought about it.

;) My freakin’ eyes are tired from reading “BRING IN WOOD” posts. I think my retinas are bleeding.

RIP Nick Adenhart - Angel fans will never forget you!

by Downing Rules on Apr 22, 2009 11:00 PM PDT reply actions

Let's be fair

His point, for better or worse, was that just about anyone else would have been better than Aybar in that situation. Willits at least can work a count, and might well have been able to get on base in that situation. But I probably would have left Aybar in too.

In memoriam Nick Adenhart

by rspencer on Apr 22, 2009 11:10 PM PDT up reply actions

The thing I find funny ...

is how everyone is a fucking expert after a failure like this.

What the hell?

What if Aybar gets a hit that prolongs the game? Then, Scioscia is a genius. Instead, he’s an a$$hole in, I’d venture to guess, 80% of the fans’ books right now.

Mike is paid to take risks and we, the fans, have to hope they work out. Make too many risks that do not pan out and he will have to be held accountable. But for cryin’ out loud, this season is way too young to have all this kind of talk going on about “how stupid Scioscia is.” It’s disgusting and I am getting jaded being around all these whiny assholes here on the internet.

NOTE TO ALL: Leave your unused tickets and Angels gear on my doorstep. I’m taking your donations right now.

RIP Nick Adenhart - Angel fans will never forget you!

by Downing Rules on Apr 22, 2009 11:15 PM PDT up reply actions

Get a grip, DR....

Scioscia has – for years – made questionable calls with regard to line-ups and playing the right guys. Just because you don’t like dissent doesn’t mean we shouldn’t bring up our differences with Scioscia.

BTW, you mention Aybar getting a hit to extend the inning…

What are the chances that Aybar hit a HR?

Then, what are the chances that Wood hits a HR?

This isn’t just about Wood. I have seen the last out come and go with the Halos on the losing end of a game with Napoli on the bench. This phenomenon isn’t specific to Aybar/Wood – it is systemic with Scioscia.

RIP Nick...

Jim Scully
Jim Scully Home

by jimmuscomp on Apr 22, 2009 11:37 PM PDT up reply actions

I'm gonna be honest

After ALDS game 3 last year with Aybar and his clutch hit, we win the game. I had no qualms with him coming up with 2 outs in the 9th. In fact, it was probably the smarter decision. Wood is very untested (major league wise), and I dont think you his first meaningful at bat of 2009 would be with the game on the line. Thats just foolish.

While dissent is a great thing, I wouldn’t go anywhere near as far to say there is a “systemic” problem with Scioscia. We’ve all become very spoiled. Hindsight is always 20-20. Every “wrong decision” will always be a “questionable call.” All of Scioscia’s right decisions have given us a world series title, a wild card berth, and 4 division titles. I’ll take those any day of the week.

RIP #34

by linkbruin on Apr 22, 2009 11:46 PM PDT up reply actions 1 recs

*I dont think you give him

RIP #34

by linkbruin on Apr 22, 2009 11:46 PM PDT up reply actions

that also doesnt make sense

take out you, would is should

RIP #34

by linkbruin on Apr 22, 2009 11:47 PM PDT up reply actions

ALDS

Does anyone really remember Aybar for his winning hit in game 3 or is it really for his epic fail in game 4?

by turs12 on Apr 23, 2009 12:49 AM PDT up reply actions

“What have you done for me lately” — found that on the back cover of my book, Cute Cliches.

RIP Nick Adenhart - Angel fans will never forget you!

by Downing Rules on Apr 23, 2009 12:58 AM PDT up reply actions

Depends if youre a glass half full or half empty kind of guy

Just showing there is definitely precedent. Wood has none in this instance.

For me at least, I like to remember the good things that have happened. Not the “epic fail(s).” Find no enjoyment that way. But hey, there still need to be pessimists to balance it all out.

RIP #34

by linkbruin on Apr 23, 2009 1:10 AM PDT up reply actions

Fire him?

RIP Nick Adenhart - Angel fans will never forget you!

by Downing Rules on Apr 22, 2009 11:53 PM PDT up reply actions

firemikesciosica.com is available

RIP #34

by linkbruin on Apr 23, 2009 12:00 AM PDT up reply actions

of course i will also get some of my cs friends to make sure that site never makes it off the ground

RIP #34

by linkbruin on Apr 23, 2009 12:00 AM PDT up reply actions

I'll call my mafioso friends if it does.......

RIP Nick Adenhart - Angel fans will never forget you!

by Downing Rules on Apr 23, 2009 12:09 AM PDT up reply actions

No -

I don’t advocate firing Scioscia. My point is there is a middle-ground between believing he is an all-knowing, all-loving deity and wanting to have his image burned in effigy.

That’s where I stand. I like (generally) his bullpen construction and his use of starting pitchers.

I don’t like how he handles the line-up and his seeming lack of understanding of putting good hitters high in the order and crappy hitters low in the lineup.

I don’t like his handling of Naps/Mathis – but few here do…

Anyway, got to run, and I hope this clarifies my opinion. I don’t love Scioscia and I certainly don’t hate him. I disagree with how he does some things – and think it could be done better…

Call me a dissenter. Wanna send me to Gitmo a la “W”?

RIP Nick...

Jim Scully
Jim Scully Home

by jimmuscomp on Apr 23, 2009 9:09 AM PDT up reply actions

Good analysis you bring up: I don’t like how he handles the line-up and his seeming lack of understanding of putting good hitters high in the order and crappy hitters low in the lineup.

I can certainly see your point made here. Maybe Hatcher and him are not that good at making out lineups. What should they do to solve that problem?

RIP Nick Adenhart - Angel fans will never forget you!

by Downing Rules on Apr 23, 2009 9:19 AM PDT up reply actions

As I have argued in the past....

try other combinations.

Here is a post I made a while back about this very thing…

Lineup Analysis by JimMusComp

RIP Nick...

Jim Scully
Jim Scully Home

by jimmuscomp on Apr 23, 2009 2:51 PM PDT up reply actions

I agree

This goes far beyond Aybar/Wood

Soth let Finley hit .200 for an entire year and into the playoffs.

He sent Saunders down one year after he was our best pitcher in April.

He sent Weaver down for a utter waste of a roster space when Weaver was setting records and definitely our best pitcher at the time.

Last year Napoli had a Top 5 OPS in the AL but didn’t get nearly enough playing time considering Mathis was hitting .200 and playing catch with Torii.

He couldn’t bring Fuentes into the game in Minn against their 2 best hitters who just happen to be lefties, with 2 outs in the 8 because he is stubborn.

by MH252525 on Apr 23, 2009 12:10 AM PDT up reply actions 1 recs

Yep, what I'd do to have Buck Rogers or Terry Collins back...

boy, were they surely magicians with lineups and situations.

RIP Nick Adenhart - Angel fans will never forget you!

by Downing Rules on Apr 23, 2009 12:13 AM PDT up reply actions

Cut him some slack DR

Like it or not, everything he said in his post is 100% true

RIP Nick. We will miss you!

by KingF15h on Apr 23, 2009 5:23 AM PDT up reply actions

Ugh.

Yeah, that’s what he was saying.

Are you being willfully ignorant, or just trying to start a flame-war?

It’s one of the two.

RIP Nick...

Jim Scully
Jim Scully Home

by jimmuscomp on Apr 23, 2009 9:10 AM PDT up reply actions

I am just not a "THERE'S A PROBLEM" kind of guy...

everyone can point it out … who can offer a better solution?

If Scioscia went with all of your (I am saying EVERYONE who is being critical) suggestions, what if it STILL DID NOT PAN OUT? Everyone would be bitching just as loudly, if not louder.

We don’t hang out in the locker rooms, we don’t watch these guys as close as Scioscia does day in and day out. I think he has a good grip on what is right and wrong in the Angels baseball world.

The FO’s extension of Scioscia’s contract tells me that they see something in him that proves he is making the best decisions with the best available personnel. I’m sold on this belief, you guys aren’t; so there we are.

RIP Nick Adenhart - Angel fans will never forget you!

by Downing Rules on Apr 23, 2009 9:24 AM PDT up reply actions

I'm sold. :-)

I’ve been sold. I watched last year’s playoffs and saw a lack of execution, not a lack of quality managing.

Let's do this for Nick Adenhart, Courtney Stewart, and Henry Pearson.

by AlanFalcon on Apr 23, 2009 10:03 AM PDT up reply actions 1 recs

Bingo!!!!!

We have a winner, and his prize is….

R.I.P. King Ad-Rock #34

by Seik1177 on Apr 23, 2009 11:10 AM PDT up reply actions

I would never critcize Scioscia for playing production over "experience"

regardless of how it turned out but that is not what he does. If he would have given Finley’s abs to a young player when it was clear Finley was done I never would have complained at that even if the young player sucked even more. When something isn’t working though the last thing you can do is have blind faith it will.

by MH252525 on Apr 23, 2009 1:53 PM PDT up reply actions

That's a fair argument...

My point is simply this:

If he tried other methods and – given enough time to succeed or fail – the methods didn’t work any better we would at least KNOW that the other methods didn’t work.

Right now, we don’t know – and with the way this season is evolving it seems that Mike might have to manage a little differently than he has in the past simply out of necessity. This team is thinner because of injuries, and the offense is without its’ biggest bat. If that doesn’t require thinking outside the box, I don’t know when one might need to think outside the box.

Also, why hold on to BWood if there are no plans to play him? He had a TON of promise three years ago and could have been used to get a front of the rotation starter – why didn’t they cut bait with him then and cash him in if they thought Aybar was the superior player?

I just don’t get it.

RIP Nick...

Jim Scully
Jim Scully Home

by jimmuscomp on Apr 23, 2009 2:46 PM PDT up reply actions

hahahaha....rec'd

the bitching people can do when you give them a winning team. Ridiculous.

Do it for Nick '09

by BryanHarvey'sMoustache on Apr 23, 2009 10:19 AM PDT up reply actions

Don't forget about Shea Hillenbrand's 204 plate appearances in 07

with his stellar .599 OPS, taking AB away from Kendry who that year had an OPS of .812 in 126 plate appearances.

I am a fair weather fan so the Angels better win!

by Halo84653 on Apr 23, 2009 7:33 AM PDT up reply actions

sorry

But when your GM signs someone to be your DH, you have to run him out there. Mike was simply doing what the team wanted him to. I’m convinced he doesn’t have as much pull as the media and fans make it seem.

by dmhead on Apr 23, 2009 10:10 AM PDT up reply actions

Hmm. Not by what I have read and observed from my Bob Uecker seats … Scioscia has his fingers in the pie of a lot of the baseball operations from top (The Show) to the bottom (scouts and lower minors).

In a year of such turmoil, whining still abounds.

by Downing Rules on Apr 23, 2009 10:14 AM PDT up reply actions

I'm sure he does

But I’ve also noticed he’s changed his tune since Reagins has been around, especially with regards to OBP. I just think the whole “Scioscia runs the show” idea that the media has put out there over the years is just a bit overstated.

by dmhead on Apr 23, 2009 10:51 AM PDT up reply actions

Agree completely, but...

he makes out the line-up card and makes in-game decisions re: bullpen usage and pinch hitting.

The way I understand it: The GM manages the roster – ie. who is ON the 25 and 40 man rosters and the Field Manager decides how to use the players he is given.

I do agree with you re: Reagins. I really think our new GM has more sabermetric tendencies than Stoney did. Similarly, I think Scioscia will now have more awareness with regard to OBP, SLG and hopefully lineup construction. But, we’ll see…

RIP Nick...

Jim Scully
Jim Scully Home

by jimmuscomp on Apr 23, 2009 8:47 PM PDT up reply actions

I think I am like most of the people here who, when we are critical Scioscia re: personnel questions,

are really being critical of the management in general. I know that some in game decisions like the one being discussed here is all on Mike. Other lineup decisions are certainly the result of both the front office and Scioscia. You are right to not to blame Mike, or give credit to Mike for every thing that goes right or wrong with regard to personnel decisions.

By the way, I am not sure where I stand on letting Aybar bat in the ninth. I have been very vocal about my opinion that Aybar should not be the Angels starting short stop. But Aybar did start and I don’t think putting Wood in with the game on the line in the ninth would have been a good idea.

I am a fair weather fan so the Angels better win!

by Halo84653 on Apr 23, 2009 10:26 AM PDT up reply actions

Good example

But I have a feeling he’s learned his lesson. GMJ is really only playing right now because of Vlad’s injury.

I have nothing important to say.

by thrill000 on Apr 23, 2009 11:50 AM PDT up reply actions

you should probably get some saline for that

This bullpen collapses faster than the Austro-Hungarian Empire

by HaloDutch on Apr 23, 2009 7:58 AM PDT up reply actions

I thought the same thing with 2 outs and the TIEING RUN at the plate.

Please PH Brandon Wood!!!!!

Put Kendry Morales at 1B, and move Sean Rodriguez to 3B......NOW LETS GO WIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

by acuda27 on Apr 22, 2009 11:32 PM PDT reply actions

... so this IS another brandon wood post.

RIP Nick Adenhart :(

by scottnak on Apr 22, 2009 11:39 PM PDT reply actions

its like the NFL......

the backup QB is always the most popular guy on the team…..for the fans.

Godspeed Nick - RIP - 1986-2009

by norcaliangelsfan on Apr 22, 2009 11:43 PM PDT up reply actions

Frank Reich ruined it for all the other backup QB's didn't he?

;)

RIP Nick Adenhart - Angel fans will never forget you!

by Downing Rules on Apr 22, 2009 11:53 PM PDT up reply actions

pretty much

Godspeed Nick - RIP - 1986-2009

by norcaliangelsfan on Apr 23, 2009 12:27 AM PDT up reply actions

Because he was the best option?

Doesn’t Aybar have like a 5 game hitting streak going or something? He doubled earlier in the game. Who on the bench was a better option?

On the bench you had:
Brandon Wood – you really want to put him in that situation cold?
Howie Kendrick – in the middle of a huge slump
Robb Quinlan – against a righthander?
Jeff Mathis – not a good option, and not going to happen because he’s the backup catcher

So which of these players would you have hit? You mentioned Willits (currently in AAA), and Izturis (already in the game, playing second base and batting second), so I think perhaps Scioscia had a better handle on the situation.

No, it was not mentioned in the broadcast, because Aybar was the best option in the situation.

by leftwing on Apr 23, 2009 6:04 AM PDT reply actions 1 recs

upi are correct

Also the past 2-3 games Aybar and actually GMJ have been our best hit it in the gap hitters
You had to let him hit there.
And by the way he didnt strike out he hit the ball down the line just right at 1b. He made solid contact, and you also have to remember that if he get on base, drives the run in, he is now our fastest option to be on the basepaths.
Stop playing the hindsight game in APril, do that in October

Terrorist plot to blow up Fenway? I'm okay with that

by Sinatrasratpack on Apr 23, 2009 7:31 AM PDT up reply actions