Have to agree, re changing your pitcher...

Have to agree, re changing your pitcher...
by 2Domer (2019-04-27 13:38:03)
Edited on 2019-04-27 13:40:56

In reply to: Allow me one rant posted by GoIrish!

Here’s what I think happens (and I’ll bet you agree): you get into late innings with your starter, who has pitched a great game so far. Then he starts to look a little wobbly. It’s mostly a feel, and baseball is such a mental thing. The opponent gets a hit. The pitcher falls behind on the count and maybe walks a couple of guys. It just begins to feel like things are changing. The coach visits the mound and asks the pitcher how he feels. The pitcher probably says “Coach, I feel good. I still got it!” So the coach turns to the catcher and says “ How does he look?” And the catcher says “Coach, he still has good stuff.” All of that may be true, but something must be done to change the feel, because so much of the game is mental and things happen based upon how things feel. It affects everybody: the pitcher, the catcher, the guys in the field, and also the other team. If your guys start worrying that something bad might happen, that in itself induces bad things to happen. So I think you have to go with the way things feel, even if it happens to defy logic. Sometimes you just need to show the opponent something different, even if you like your starter’s stuff more than your reliever’s stuff. I know it’s a judgment call and sometimes it turns out to be a bad call, but as a matter of philosophy that is what I think, because the game is so darn mental. (But as you point out, sometimes pure logic dictates a change too.) I don’t mean to be guilty of 20/20 hindsight. That isn’t fair. But you made some comments that ring true to me, so I wanted to add my own agreement.