Cliff Lee

I'm sorry, but I consider it your problem and not theirs that you were down 9-1. I understand where you're coming from, but look at it from their perspective.. when do you get game situations where you can practice stuff?? It can't be practiced in practice because you don't have the game situation.

I was taught the scoreboard doesn't dictate the way you play the game.

An 8 run lead is no time for mercy---I have to say coach at that point you can still pull it out===the onus is on you---is your team so bad they cannot make up 8 runs?

They were not showing you up at all--they were striving to make sure you did not get back up off the mat!!!

quote:

Am I way out of line? Do any of you think along the same lines as I do?

Yep....Worry about your own team, not how the other coach chooses to run his team and and go back and fix whatever it is that made your team get pasted.

Make your team better.

Who was bunting and stealing? Starters? Backups that need the experience? 8 runs isn't an insurmountable lead in hs ball.

And I never take my foot of the gas till we hit the 10-run rule mark, for pitching purposes if nothing else.

i ease up depending on team..10 i quit running and bunting..12 usually stop being aggressive.

I believe it was Whitey Herzog back in the 80's who said,"When they stop hitting home runs, I'll stop running."

Now this was pro ball, but if you are playing a good team, as soon as you let up, the players let up, and next thing you know you have a 2 run lead or you are behind.

Take it as a compliment that they didn't want to give your team a chance to come back. It is a different way to look at it, but I would say they respected your team too much to let up.

Nicholas25...I understand that if you were taught that way, then we might expect you to react the same way. Understandable.

But I'm with the others. Worry about your own club and getting better. If the other team was standing there calling your team losers and bums, then that is one thing. If they were playing the game within the rules, then you gotta suck it up man.

Are you sure your reaction isn't emotional due to a good butt spanking?

local middle school scored 15 runs in first inning. Coach was flumoxed as to what to do. He slowed down the game after the 5th run scored. He asked the umpires what to do with out insulting the other team. (They called the game at 3 1/2 innings.) (Team was clearly out of its league. our side was cheering for them - they seemed like a group of good kids.)

Some of the things I've heard suggested is to bunt, bat from the other side, slow the runners down. 9 runs isn't a lot. Maybe the other coach thought you were strong enough to come back. I've seen it done - been on both ends.

as someone said above, 8 runs is not that insurmountable. pitchers could change, etc. maybe in the last inning, but not in the 6th. I wouldn't consider it before it was 10 runs.

and i agree, the coach may have been showing you some respect, thinking you could've come back. apparently, you didn't agree with him..

thinking back, this happened to our team when we were eleven. we were getting crushed. we lost 19-0. the other team was bunting. I was livid. but 19-0 at age 11 is a little different..

My point is that if I'm up by 8 in the 6th and if I push 2 more runs across the game is over (mercy rule - 10 after 5) then my kid at 70 pitches doesn't have to go back out and I don't have to burn another pitcher because I have a game tomorrow and one on Monday I'll squeeze the last sonofabitch home. I'll explain it to you afterwards, but I'll do it and sleep fine.

I've seen 9 runs scored in a 1/2 inning between 2 good varsity teams. It's hs baseball. Get better.

Amen ironhorse - you said it best. Get the game over with as quickly as possible. I say go for 12 runs so you can have a couple to play with. 9 - 1 is not a bad score and is not impossible to come back on.

Look your upset and ticked off and it's understandable but you cannot control what the other team does. Control what you can control. Make your team better.

Each time you say that the other team is bush league to your players you send the wrong message. They are now given an excuse for why they got beat - the other team is jerks.

Put the responsibility back on your kids. They messed up so they have to get better.

You want to let up after 8 run lead then that is your choice but who's fault is it if the other team comes back on you? Either way - up or down - your team allowed the other team to score 8 runs on you.

If you are talking High School Federation rules and the pitcher's innings are limited, then try and get the game over with as soon as possible, and however you feel you can do it. I just don't see how what the other team does (swing away, sac bunt, steal, whatever), should have any impact on how you feel. Sorry.

Nicholas25,

I understand where your coming from and believe that when a team is way ahead you should call the dogs off to a certain degree. That being said I don't think 8 runs is that big of a lead. Two weeks ago my sons team was losing 7 to 0 going into the last inning. After a three run shot and a solo shot, then before you new it the game ended in a 7-7 tie. Teams will also bunt, steal and squeeze to get those last 2 runs so they can get to the ten run rule and save their pitching.

JMO


Banditsbb

quote:

Originally posted by Nicholas25: In fact, I have never been around a genuine baseball man, who doesn't understand the unwritten rules and codes of the game. When you are up by a bunch late, just play the game, don't try to squeeze them across.

No offense, but since in another thread you were saying that even though it's your first year coaching you think you're qualified and ready to be a head coach, statements like this tell me your not.

Get some experience and then revisit some of these topics.

Nicholas25

Just a word or two of advice from an old warhorse---loose the idealistic approach if you want to last in this game--- idealism does not lead to success

A couple of comments:

1) They were probably trying to get to +10 for the mercy rule and end the debacle.

2) Based on the way you guys played, you should be happy for them to GIVE you outs via the bunt.

3) Why is +8 the magic number? Personally, I will call off the dogs when we are +11 but not before then. If you want to complain, get someone out.

quote:

Originally posted by Nicholas25:
Brother, you have never seen me organize and run a practice, teach a fundamental skill, motivate a player, make a strategic move, or do anything to benefit a baseball program.

No I haven't. My point is there is more to it than just those things. Such as when to be idealistic and when to be realistic. I don't mean any offense by that. I've been in your shoes.

I still say you would be best served by working under a "genuine baseball man" for a few years. Being a player, knowing the game, and being a successful coach are vastly different skill sets.

ps - I bet the butler coach wasn't made HC his first year in coaching. There's a reason why.

If you coach long enough you will lose and win a game that you were up or down 8 in the 6th inning.

quote:

Some of the things I've heard suggested is to bunt, bat from the other side, slow the runners down. 9 runs isn't a lot. Maybe the other coach thought you were strong enough to come back. I've seen it done - been on both ends.

Gimmicks like batting from the opposite side is much more insulting and rubbing it into the face of the losers. Play it straight up.

Slowing down the runners is fine as long as teams aren't slowing it down so much like if a batter hits a gap shot to the fence and only takes a single when it was a legit double.