1. I was surprised Maddon did not pinch hit for Bartlett yesterday when he came up in the 9th inning. Glad he did today.
2. In one AB yesterday, Crawford struck out swinging at a pitch in the right handed batters box. I don’t remember what the pitch was, but it looked ugly. I hope nobody takes this as a slap at Crawford; it is merely an observation.
3. I have been less enthusiastic about Ruggiano because of his high K rate in AAA, and when I saw him in Durham he did not impress particularly. But I do think he has a chance to be useful and would like to see him prove it. Still, and I realize this is more emotional than anything else, I would be sorry to see Gomes go.
4. I hate the intentional walk, but when it is used to load the bases I think it is about as stupid a move as possible. When the batter is the remains of Erstad’s carcass the move is even less justifiable. And when the pitcher is Jackson, that decision is even more deadly. Maddon did the same thing earlier in the year and it bit him. I wish he would stop.
I hope nobody takes this as a slap at Maddon. It is merely a disagreement with a particular tactic.

gomes looks lost at the plate most of the time and ruggiano and i think that him and gross should share RF and hinkse and floyd should share DH since both of them cant really field all that great, also i though pena was supposed to be activated by now? any word when he is going to be activated?

should be here as long as he pitches like he has been

Best of the season by any Ray? Even if the result was a line drive at the SS it was fantastic. The HR I think puts it over the top. If some of the guys on the team could hit so well while being patient and knowing how to foul off bad pitches we’d be 5 games ahead of Boston. Longoria and CC hacking at the first pitch is gettin worse and worse, and then BJ and Gomes seemingly scared to hit fastballs at times makes me want to puke.

Ruggiano and Gomes. They are quite similar. Ruggiano struck out a bit less frequently; Gomes hit home runs and walked more frequently. Ruggiano had a higher BA; Gomes had a higher OBP and slugging . Ruggiano stole bases slightly more often at a 73 rate; Gomes did it at an 82% rate. Ruggiano is almost certainly a better fielder.

Gomes had one good partial season in the majors, one terrible one and one so-so one. He has hit for good power here and generally mashed lefties. There is not enough information about Ruggiano in the majors, so we cannot compare, but I do not see why anyone thinks he is clearly a better choice than Gomes unless one considers the fielding difference the determining factor.

The first half of last year was bad for him. But i started to see a much better Navarro the last half, or last 1/3rd of the year. Perhaps having DiFelice up earlier this year helped navvaro as well (not with his hitting, but his calling of games).

and disdain for Gross, but as a tandem, Gross and Ruggs platooning would be an above average right fielder IMHO. I don’thave stats to back it up, but the eye test tells me that Ruggs is a more complete player than Gomes, and seems to play better sporatically than Gomes can. I would be plenty happy with a Gross/Ruggs RF and dangle Hinske for one more bullpen arm. Or keep Hinske as a backup 1b, 3B, RF. Hinske>Gomes…

Jonny is a heck of a team guy, but he is a AAAA guy…

But we should just continue with the platoon for now. I’d give Justin a bit more PT than what he has been getting, but Gross is good vs righties and he should continue to play vs them. He should never ever hit against a lefty. Justin should play the bulk against lefties and some righties. Gomes should just hit vs lefties.

how discussions of in-game tactics can be blinkered because we can only guess at what would have happened were another decision made, but the results of the one we see are obvious and so are usually measured against our higher expectations.

For example, last night with Floyd on base in the 9th, fans were calling for Gross to pinch run. A reasonable option. He wasn’t, and his hit brought in the winning run, so the earlier tactical choice proved right. But that is only because of intervening events that nobody could have known would happen.

Suppose, for example, that with Floyd on second Navarro had gotten a hit and Floyd was gunned down trying to score. Wouldn’t fans be up in arms about not pinch running? And to the argument he was saving Gross to pinch hit for Bartlett the reasonable response would be you do not risk tying the game for something that may never become a factor, leaving a better option on the bench for such an eventuality.

That is why I prefer to ask questions about tactics rather than assuming the manager is wrong, or worse, assuming his decision is based on inattention or stupidity or lack of understanding of the game, all of which are not credible judgments about experienced baseball men.

There are obvious errors of judgment, I agree, and sometimes there are styles that make little sense but are part of a manager’s approach. But more often than not, the judgments we make as fans are overhasty and once made we remember them and all other managerial decisions are evaluated with that predisposition to see the error foremost in our minds.