Today’s voice of reason

Here’s an excellent piece from the Cincinnati Enquirer. It’s a simple little piece dispelling some of the little myths about the 2008 Reds. Last night I almost pulled my hair out. In the first inning of the second game of a double header, Ryan Freel doubled to lead off the first. Jerry Hariston Jr. then bunted him to third. The question is…why?

A bunt in that situation made little sense. With Griffey on deck, the odds of him making a productive out are low. He eventually drove in the run with a hit to left, but it’s probable that Freel scores from second ANYWAY on the base hit. The sac bunt accomplished nothing but waste an out and lowered the odds of a big inning. There are circumstances where getting a runner to third with one out is advisable (pitcher hitting, tie game in the 9th), but in the first inning of a game where the pitcher has an ERA over 5 (and your pitcher’s ERA is over 8!), and has a .360 BAA and the hitter is hitting .330, giving up an out with a sac bunt becomes losing baseball.

In other news, pole day was mostly a hit, so check out this interview between Whitlock and Danica. We chide Whitlock from time to time, but he’s a fan of the Blue and Gold and loves the race, so that makes him ok in our book (even if he’s on crack when it comes to football).

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