# MLB: May 2011 **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [May 1, 2011, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-may-2011/580379 "2011-05-01T13:14:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Southern\_Yankee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/southern_yankee/32/2800_2.png) [@Southern\_Yankee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southern_Yankee)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2011, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-may-2011/580379/81 "2011-05-13T17:07:31Z")
In more somber [news](http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=6540158), the end is near for Harmon Killebrew. Hopefully he’ll go out peacefully. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2011, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-may-2011/580379/82 "2011-05-13T19:56:10Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > Are we just producing better pitching now? … Better medicine. I think that’s one factor. There are a lot of very good pitchers who wouldn’t be pitching today if not for modern Tommy John or other surgeries. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2011, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-may-2011/580379/83 "2011-05-13T19:58:16Z")
A rare treat for rules wonks (like me) – in today’s Giants v Cubbies, the Giants have committed both Obstruction and Interference. And in other news, Madison Bumgarner (0-5) continues to struggle. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2011, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-may-2011/580379/84 "2011-05-13T20:05:24Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > And in other news, Madison Bumgarner (0-5) continues to struggle. Here’s a weird one - I like to read the little stats on the boxscore. Stuff like pitch count and number of strikes. Today’s game shows how meaningless those numbers are, at least through 4 innings. Bumgarner has thrown 72 pitches, 46 for strikes. Dempster has thrown 76 pitches, 42 for strikes. You’d think Bumgarner would have been doing much better. Nope - Bumgarner has 6 baserunners (4 hits, 2 BBs), 2BBs and 4 Ks for 3 ER. Dempster has 4 hits, 1 BB, 7 Ks for 1 ER. I need to stop paying attention to that noise. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2011, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-may-2011/580379/85 "2011-05-13T20:20:37Z")
The 2 BB’s Bumgarner’s given up were (a) after getting ahead 0-2 to the leadoff batter, and (b) to the pitcher, which extended the inning and led to another RBI single. So I guess it’s important to pick your spots to be wild. Bumgarner’s weird…lazy looking 3/4 delivery, which can be either a 78 MPH curve or a 95 MPH fastball. Must be particularly tough on lefties…assuming he gets it over the plate. ---
**Author:** ![pricciar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@pricciar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pricciar)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2011, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-may-2011/580379/86 "2011-05-14T03:08:15Z")
Tonight the Phillies and Braves played a pretty wild game. Some bad playing, and some excellent bullpen work. Fun game. I had one strategy question, though. Bottom of the 5th score tied no outs Prado is on first and the pitcher is on second. Nate McLouth comes up and sacrifices. I don’t get having a .261 avg .353 obp hitter come up to bat to move runners over when there is already a runner in scoring position. I must be missing something. Bottom of the 7th score tied no outs. Prado opened the inning with a double. McLouth comes up with another bunt to move him to third. This one makes less sense to me. What is the point of bunting to move Prado to third? I know it is easier to score from 3rd, but this isn’t a pitcher or weak hitting short stop we are talking about here. A long single scores the run. Ok. I missed the bottom of the first. Mclouth sac bunted then, too. That time it really worked out, because Hamels threw the ball away. Can someone explain to me what is going on with the number 2 batter sac bunting three times in one game? What advantage is it to take the bat out of a better than average hitter’s hands in these situations? ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2011, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-may-2011/580379/87 "2011-05-14T04:24:49Z")
> [@pricciar](#): > > Tonight the Phillies and Braves played a pretty wild game. Some bad playing, and some excellent bullpen work. Fun game. > I had one strategy question, though. > > Bottom of the 5th score tied no outs Prado is on first and the pitcher is on second. Nate McLouth comes up and sacrifices. I don’t get having a .261 avg .353 obp hitter come up to bat to move runners over when there is already a runner in scoring position. I must be missing something. > > Bottom of the 7th score tied no outs. Prado opened the inning with a double. McLouth comes up with another bunt to move him to third. This one makes less sense to me. What is the point of bunting to move Prado to third? I know it is easier to score from 3rd, but this isn’t a pitcher or weak hitting short stop we are talking about here. A long single scores the run. > > Ok. I missed the bottom of the first. Mclouth sac bunted then, too. That time it really worked out, because Hamels threw the ball away. > > Can someone explain to me what is going on with the number 2 batter sac bunting three times in one game? What advantage is it to take the bat out of a better than average hitter’s hands in these situations? I didn’t see the game, and I’m not a huge proponent of the sac bunt, but a few thoughts. (My apologies if what follows makes you say, “Well, duh, I knew THAT already!” I’m not sure how deep your strategic understanding goes.) 1. Late in a tie game: With the score tied in the bottom of the 7th, teams will often try to play for that one run. You can actually score from third with one out in a lot of ways that you can’t scofre from second on, including a medium depth fly ball (sac fly), a grounder that isn’t right at someone (if your guy at 3rd is a good baserunner), an infield single, an infield error, a wild pitch, a passed ball, even a squeeze play, if you’re so inclined. So it may be that the manager deems it worthwhile to get that guy to 3rd even at the cost of an out. 2. Advancing 2 runners: the bottom of the 5th situation–a successful sac bunt moves the runner from 2nd to 3rd, which has the same advantage as above (though it’s earlier in the game so one run isn’t perhaps that big a deal). But it also moves the runner from 1st into scoring position. Now a single will probably score 2 runs, not just one, and a double definitely scores two. You put one runner in scoring position who otherwise wouldn’t have been there, you remove the possibility of a double play, and you put the other runner in position to score on several kinds of outs (plus wild pitch, infield hit, balk, etc.). Again, not an obviously unreasonable choice. 3. Not a sacrifice: Any possibility that McLouth was trying to catch the Phillies’ infielders napping and hoping to bunt for a hit any of these times? Just because something goes into the scorebook as a sac bunt doesn’t necessarily mean the guy was expecting to give himself up. Sometimes the bunt is a response to seeing the third baseman playing too far back, and in this case McLouth just hit it a little too hard, resulting in an out when a hit was the real intent. 4. Gamesmanship. If you think the batter might bunt, you as the defensive team will respond in certain ways. You pull your first and third basemen in, you make your pitcher and catcher very aware that they may have to field the ball, you throw pitches that maybe can’t be bunted so well. Each may give the offensive team an advantage, from being able to expect certain pitches to having a better chance of whacking the ball by the 3B or 1B. So, leaving the bunt as a possibility can help you in the long run. I don’t know that I’d want to have my #2 hitter bunt three times just to keep the other team guessing, but I can pretty much guarantee you that the Phillies will look for a possible McLouth bunt every time he comes up for the rest of the series, maybe the rest of the year–which could eventually work to the Braves’ advantage. Again, I don’t think I’d do it myself, but I’m not sure it’s wholly unreasonable. Hope this helps. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2011, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-may-2011/580379/88 "2011-05-14T09:36:17Z")
Joey Votto is the fucking man. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2011, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-may-2011/580379/89 "2011-05-14T15:02:16Z")
Votto is tearing it up. Apparently 2010 was no fluke. Also no fluke: my personal saviour, Jose Bautista. 12th homer last night. He’s batting .365 with a .525 on base percentage (!!!) and a \*\*.798 \*\*slugging. Holy shit. Right now his OPS+ is 268, which is ridiculous. If he kept that up, which of course I assume he can’t, it would tie Barry Bonds’s 2002 season as the best adjusted OPS in the history of the major leagues. If it drops by 100 points he’ll STILL have a better season than he did last year. You know, the year he hit 54 home runs. Baseball Reference already credits the man with 3.4 WAR. That’s a pretty good season. He’s only played 30 games, for God’s sake. ---
**Author:** ![pricciar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@pricciar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pricciar)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2011, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-may-2011/580379/90 "2011-05-14T16:36:54Z")
Thanks Ulf, the first three I knew about, just didn’t seem to make much sense to use a guy who can actually hit the ball give up an at bat like that. And, from watching the game it didn’t seem like he was bunting for a hit. The announcers didn’t react as if he had, either. But, your last point is one I hadn’t thought of and it makes sense. Thanks for coming up with some reasons for me. I still think it wasn’t the best move, but at least I can see a little bit of where they were coming from. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2011, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-may-2011/580379/91 "2011-05-14T17:59:19Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Votto is tearing it up. Apparently 2010 was no fluke. > > Also no fluke: my personal saviour, Jose Bautista. 12th homer last night. He’s batting .365 with a .525 on base percentage (!!!) and a \*\*.798 \*\*slugging. Holy shit. > > Right now his OPS+ is 268, which is ridiculous. If he kept that up, which of course I assume he can’t, it would tie Barry Bonds’s 2002 season as the best adjusted OPS in the history of the major leagues. > > If it drops by 100 points he’ll STILL have a better season than he did last year. You know, the year he hit 54 home runs. > > Baseball Reference already credits the man with 3.4 WAR. That’s a pretty good season. He’s only played 30 games, for God’s sake. Bautista is freaking amazing. Looking at this site: [2011 Major League Baseball Batting Leaders | Baseball-Reference.com](http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/MLB/2011-batting-leaders.shtml) he leads MLB in almost every meaningful batting category. And to top it off, he leads the majors in walks, too. Crazy. ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2011, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-may-2011/580379/92 "2011-05-15T01:29:58Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > Bautista is freaking amazing. Looking at this site: [2011 Major League Baseball Batting Leaders | Baseball-Reference.com](http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/MLB/2011-batting-leaders.shtml) he leads MLB in almost every meaningful batting category. > > And to top it off, he leads the majors in walks, too. Crazy. Walks isn’t a meaningful batting category? ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2011, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-may-2011/580379/93 "2011-05-15T03:13:29Z")
Today Bautista went 1-for-5 with a home run and a walk, and his percentages actually got a little worse. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2011, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-may-2011/580379/94 "2011-05-15T03:39:45Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Has anyone else noticed that offense is WAY down? > > The American League’s batting average - this is for the whole leager - is .251. That’s a full nine points below last year, which was already quite low, and if it keeps up it will be (easily) the lowest AL batting average since the introduction of the DH. I note that the league average the last year without the DH was .239, which frankly makes me awfully sympathetic to the people who came up with the idea. > > The NL’s batting average is just .250; that would also be the lowest average since 1972. > > Other numbers are similarly shrinking. > > I wonder why this is? It’d be easy to say roids, and I suppose that’s part of it, but batting average, specifically, is at a remarkable nadir. It’s lower than it was in the mid-to-late 70s or 1980s, when steroids weren’t a problem; indeed, in the 70s it was unusual for ballplayer to do weight training. If you’re going to compare as far back as the 1970s, I’ve gotta reach back one more decade and note that, at a similar point in the 1968 season, the BA for all of MLB was **.227**. Hell, the BA _recovered_ to about .250 the next season, IIRC, when they lowered the mound. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2011, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-may-2011/580379/95 "2011-05-15T12:14:38Z")
> [@Yookeroo](#): > > Walks isn’t a meaningful batting category? :smack: Yes…I worded that poorly. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2011, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-may-2011/580379/96 "2011-05-15T14:22:16Z")
Damn. The Reds are starting to hit their stride now that Johnny Cueto and Homer Bailey are healthy and pitching well. The Reds offense manhandled McClellan last night. I need to do some more research to back up this claim, but I think Brandon Phillips is the best all-around 2nd baseman in the NL and top 3 in all of the majors when you factor in his speed on the basepaths, his defense and his durability as he hardly ever gets hurt compared to say, Chase Utley. ---
**Author:** ![Southern\_Yankee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/southern_yankee/32/2800_2.png) [@Southern\_Yankee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southern_Yankee)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2011, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-may-2011/580379/97 "2011-05-15T15:27:59Z")
That was an ugly night all around in the Bronx. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2011, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-may-2011/580379/98 "2011-05-15T15:31:40Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > I need to do some more research to back up this claim, but I think Brandon Phillips is the best all-around 2nd baseman in the NL and top 3 in all of the majors when you factor in his speed on the basepaths, his defense and his durability as he hardly ever gets hurt compared to say, Chase Utley. You could be right. Cano and Pedroia are at the top, I believe. But after that, there’s a big group that’s all very comparable. It’s tough to rank Phillips amongst Weeks, Kinsler, Utley, and Young. But all of them have some durability issues, so Phillips has an advantage. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2011, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-may-2011/580379/99 "2011-05-15T19:17:44Z")
Holy moly. Two more already today for Bautista. His bat speed is amazing, his plate coverage phenomenal. ---
**Author:** ![Invisible\_Chimp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f05b48/32.png) [@Invisible\_Chimp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Invisible_Chimp)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2011, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-may-2011/580379/100 "2011-05-15T20:05:31Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > Holy moly. Two more already today for Bautista. His bat speed is amazing, his plate coverage phenomenal. Experts were saying that his jump last year was legit, but there was going to be a regression to the mean. There has been no regression. It looks like he’s going to hit 50+ HR again easily. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-may-2011/580379.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mlb-may-2011/580379.md?page=6)