Augiesmallball: except in the 8th inning: CWS game

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orangecat

1,000+ Posts
I just heard the question asked of Augie about the chance to tie the game with small ball in the 8th. His answer, he thought Belt was going to hit a home run to the opposite field! I believe Augie said what he meant, but what are the chances of that happening?

I mean, I thought small ball was all about playing the percentages?
 
The better quote of the night was "Runs are more important than hits" when Erin Andrews of ESPN was giving him a hard time that the team only had 2 hits at that point in the game. That is Augie.
 
I was surprised that Belt didn't bunt, but the way the inning played out, I don't think it would have mattered if Brandon had sacrificed.
 
I too questioned the no-bunt call. Also, what was Preston Clark thinking by running on the fly ball hit to left that he got doubled up on. I guess he was being too agressive knowing he does not have good speed and wanted to be able to score on a hit to left. But it was very poor baserunning.
 
As Darrell Royal said, three things can happen when you don't bunt, and two of 'em are bad. OK, maybe he didn't say that.
Augie just went with a gut feeling there, and it didn't work out. He does vary his calls sometimes, and this was one of them.
 
When everyone, from the fans in the stands to the opposing teams' bat boy knows you're going to bunt, sometimes it pays to swing away. Last night, it didn't. Augie had a hunch, and more often than not those hunches pay off.
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accurate, I agree with what you are saying. The reason for my post is that it seemed like after Augie came under some criticism for playing small ball during the regional, even when it wasn't working, he responded during one of the wins over TCU.

I think it was the day after the first win over TCU, 7 sacrifice bunts, he was interviewed during the game, he made his point about small ball and said "that's my story and I'm sticking to it", referring to sticking with small ball if the circumstances dictate. I took that to mean he would consistently use small ball, unless the situation did not call for small ball.

Well, here we are less than three weeks later and he's decided he's changing his mind, not going to be consistent.

Bottom line, he made a big deal of staying with it, you don't just happen to get 7 sacrifices in a game.

Then he got lucky last night when he strayed from consistency and won anyway. Can you imagine the storm if we didn't win?
 
Augie usually plays the percentages with his small ball philosophy, but he doesn't want to be completely predictable. Otherwise, the third baseman creeps up to the batter's box on bunt situations.
I thought we should have bunt there in the 8th, but Augie played a hunch, he envisioned an Omaha homer from Belt. Many of his choices have been great ones at the CWS over the years, but this one did not pay off like he hoped.
 
Even though Preston Clark made the out-to-lunch run on the fly ball with one out to allow them to double, I do not understand him putting another hitter in for Clark.

II just did not understand him putting other players into the game for Moldenhauer, Keyes, or Clark.

I will say this. I was so ready for some Longhorns at the game to go and punch the announcers lights out. The one especially was so pro Southern Miss that it was nauseating. When they made one good scorin play he even yelled, "Yes!"
 
Announcers should be impartial, but I think it is easy to side with the underdog when you don't have an allegiance towards either team.
 
SmallBall: a hit batsman and three walks. Hell's fire, it just doesn't GET any smaller than that! Perfection, just perfection.
 
The DMN article quoted Augie as telling Loy to let the pitcher throw two strikes before he took a swing.

You are right. It does not get any smaller ball than that.

I do love the way he schooled Erin Anderson. "Hits are not runs." Priceless.
 
The way SM loaded the bases, Loy didn't need Augie to tell him not to swing. But we all knew at the time Augie was reminding him. IIRC, Torres starting the inning by swinging at a 3-2 ball that he shouldn't have. He would have walked as well.
 
Actually, Torres swung at a 3-1 pitch which was high and ball four. And while I questioned some of Augie's decisions, I like the Belt swinging away as it does give opponents some doubt as to whether a bunt is always coming - and Brandon has been hitting really well.
 
In the post-game conference, Augie said (after Torres hit Ball 4 into a fly-ball out in cf) that he took one thing that he has a tiny bit of control over and told *all* of the batters that they were only going to get one swing. And, that they could not take that swing until two strikes were called against them. The only batter to take a swing after Torres flew out in the 9th was Tant Shepherd who fouled off a 3-2 pitch before he went down swinging. Coach Garrido said he told Loy (when he took the offensive timeout as Loy was about to go to the plate) to not just take the pitches he saw but work on his timing and rhythm so he'd be ready if the pitcher got 2 strikes on him.
 
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