Pirates 6, Cubs 5

by Charlie on May 25, 2008 6:24 PM EDT Comment 12 comments

This has been a pretty exciting weekend of baseball so far. This game featured two homers by Luis Rivas, which... wow. It also featured a couple of very good defensive plays by the Pirates, a pretty funny moment in which Alfonso Soriano muffed a play in the outfield by appearing to lose the ball in the sun, another excellent performance by Damaso Marte (who has allowed just two runs since April 20) and yet another game-winning hit by Jason Bay.

There's been a lot of hand-wringing recently about Bay's ability to produce in the clutch, some of which was probably held over from 2006, when he posted a low batting average with runners in scoring position. (It doesn't look like any big deal now, but as I recall, people complained about it quite a lot then.) It's worth pointing out that, before today, Bay's career line was .282/.378/.517. With runners on, it's .282/.386/.506. With runners in scoring position, it's .283/.398/.526. With runners in scoring position and two outs, it's .262/.404/.500. The only split that's been an issue is with bases loaded, where he's hit .226/.263/.650, but that's in only 62 at bats.

In other words, there's absolutely no problem here. Nothing to see, move along.

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Actually, Charlie

up until the last 2 days, it has been a problem this year. He was 6-37 with runners in scoring position this season, before yesterday. With today’s hit, I believe he’s 8-40 this year…which is right at .200.

by Thunder on May 25, 2008 7:08 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Yeah, I know. I meant that it’s not a problem in the sense of it being an issue that needs to be addressed. Some people have proposed moving Bay to the leadoff spot, for example. That just isn’t necessary. It’s 40 at bats. That’s it.

by Charlie on May 25, 2008 7:22 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Guilty Charlie...

...my proposal was actually lead-off or hitting second. While I have admittedly been on JBay’s case re: his lack of clutch hitting this year, it was based more on the horrible OBP we were getting from 1-2 in the order.

Of course moving JBay up would be robbing Peter to pay Paul, so whatever. :)

by Hitman Easler on May 25, 2008 7:39 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I think it might be.

And FWIW, I do feel like I’ve heard the leadoff argument from people other than you, although I guess I should take the lesson and reply to specific arguments from specific people, not to strawmen.

I’d have no problems having Bay hit second.

by Charlie on May 25, 2008 7:54 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I think there were others, stilll,

but I posted a few times that I would like to see Bay lead off.

Bay was making good contact and collecting hits while walking a ton, but not seeing all that many balls leave the yard, so I thought he was an excellent candidate for the job. McLouth was driving runners in from the leadoff spot and I thought it was important for him to bat with a better hitter or two in front of him. Also, McLouth wasn’t stealing bases, and a healthy-knees Jason Bay doesn’t run the bases too much worse than McLouth.

All things considered, I took a lot from the small sample size and thought flipping McLouth from one and Bay from three would be a good thing to try out. I am pretty willing to let it go, now, especially after Bay’s 5 home runs in his last 30 at bats.

I still want someone to bat in front of McLouth (a 2-3 punch of him and Bay is actually good), but he probably should lead off, Freddy isn’t doing an overly wonderful job of it.

by DITO on May 25, 2008 9:19 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Up until the last few days...

one could justify Bay’s performance as a whole as being on a downward trend since the middle of 2006. This month will be the 2nd month that his numbers will be above his career average numbers since the All Star break in 2006, almost 2 full seasons.

Hopefully, the past week or two is a sign that Bay is returning to normal.

I still find it amazing though, that Bay had zero walk off hits before yesterday, for his career.

by Thunder on May 25, 2008 7:31 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs