Three Keys to Winning the Stupid Game
October 5, 2012 at 10:47 am by Ben Duronio under Atlanta Braves
With how right-handed the Cardinal lineup is, Medlen’s usage of his curveball throughout the game will be a very big key for the Braves while St. Louis is at the plate. He will face three lefty hitters, so he will not be able to utilize his changeup at the same rate as he has all season, even though he does use it against right-handed hitters more frequently than most changeup specialists do. His curveball has taken the biggest jump of any of his pitches this year, and he will have to locate it it with regularity to succeed this evening.
Both pitchers do well at keeping the ball in the ballpark and avoiding free passes. This means there will be a lot of balls put in play, so whichever team makes fewer defensive miscues will probably have an advantage. The Braves outfield defense is one of the best the league has ever seen, so they should not have many issues there. In the infield, they could run into problems outside of shortstop. Not being able to balls has been an issue all year, but what they really need to focus on is not giving away outs. The Cardinals have below average defenders at many positions, so keeping the ball in play and avoiding strikeouts will be rather important for the Braves this year to take advantage of the underwhelming defenders for St. Louis.
Cristhian Martinez has been left off the post-season roster, something I would not have done. I would have kept him over Luis Avilan, even though Martinez has reverse platoon splits. The Cardinals really only have one left-handed hitter in their lineup when you consider switch-hitters, so I am not quite sure the team needs three left-handed relievers to get through their lineup. If Fredi sticks to Venters in the sevenh and O’Flaherty in the eighth regardless of matchups, there could be problems. As mentioned, the Cardinal lineup is very right-handed so matching right-handed pitchers up with their tough right-handed bats will be key. I would also consider throwing Kimbrel for two innings if they have a lead and are facing a tough part of the Cardinal order.
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With yesterday off and tomorrow off there is really no reason for Kimbrel not to pitch two innings today other then Medlen just being so dominant its not needed.
I just puked a little in my mouth after thinking about the Fredi/Venters/7th combo.
I’m surprised to see Francisco was left off the roster.
I am as well. I was thinking Francisco would get the nod over Hinske, since Francisco seems to win that argument from both an offensive and defensive perspective. Hinske is likely out the door in the offseason, maybe Fredi wants to give him a goodbye gift.
Yeah, that was a terrible call. Hinske’s completely cooked, and Francisco’s got his uses.
The fact that Fredi’s intelligence is a key to winning this game makes me the sadz
To clarify, the roster is set only for this game. If they move on to the divisional round, they will set a new roster.
Agree about leaving Martinez off of the roster. I was also surprised to hear Ben Sheets say he would have been open to being a reliever for the playoffs. I would have much preferred to see Ben Sheets in the 8th inning tonight against Holliday, Freese, etc. than either Venters or EOF.
The goddamn Cardinals don’t have ANY lefties besides 2 shitty relievers and a starter that pitched a few days ago. Hinske has sucked dog balls all season. UGH. DUMBASS FREDI
So much for #2 on this list of three keys.
Spot on with this write-up, I really assume this website needs far more consideration. I�ll probably be once more to read much more, thanks for that info.
If only we could have gotten 2 out of 3…