Running 2017 MLB postseason thread

You were wrong at the time and you’re still wrong.

 

JFC. Both of you have a pleasant evening.

 

Those claiming taking Verlander out was the right call are using hindsight in their argument, so let's apply hindsight on both sides. We know pinch-hitting Gattis didn't work. No, I don't think Verlander would have gotten a hit. He would have been up there bunting. If he does that successfully, they have a runner in scoring position. Perhaps Springer still singles and they tie the game. If that happens and Verlander holds it at 2-2 in the bottom of the seventh, Jansen doesn't even come in for the eighth.

The Astros' bullpen has been a disaster and Verlander has been fantastic. There was some logic to leaving him in. Of course, we don't know how tired he really was at that point and I don't know how good or bad he is at bunting. But let's put aside the hindsight and the sarcastic digs about Verlander getting a hit. He wouldn't have been swinging away.

 

You two were determined to have a debate with him whether he wanted to engage or not ...

 

For the record, Verlander is a good bunter.

 

Wally Moon took advantage of the short porch in left field by hitting a bunch of opposite field home runs. They were called "Moon Shots."

Moon hit 37 of his 49 homers from 1959-61 at the Coliseum. When the team moved into Dodger Stadium in 1962, he hit 4 homers.

He also had one of the great unibrows of all-time:

 

Thanks. That makes the argument for leaving him in even stronger. In hindsight, it seems quite clear that taking him out was the wrong call.

 

Wrong.

 

Repeating your failed argument over and over again won't make it true. The move failed. Gattis did not get a hit. Hitting into a fielder's choice cost them and still left them with a runner at first base. Then the bullpen gave up another run with Verlander out of the game.

There is at least a decent chance that Verlander could have bunted the runner over to second base, leaving them in a better position with one out without using the pinch hitter.

Of course, that answer applies hindsight, but so did the arguments on the other side that talked about what happened after Verlander was removed. (To be fair, that was cjericho, but you were backing his play.)

 

The Coliseum was horrible for Duke Snider.
L.A. fans never got to see him at anything close to his best.
The right-field fence was something like 450 from home.
Thankfully, Vin Scully could tell us how good Snider really was.

 

Pinch hitting is always wrong unless the pinch hitter gets a hit.