Deep Run at Godwin

Good points. Heard about it. Deep Run finally hit the ball it sounds like. So, far, the 3 guys with the first 3 wins on the mound are Boyle, Gardner, and now Brooks, and there are a slew of others that can pitch. If they hit consistently, they could challenge James River later in the regionals.

I thought Deep Run looked good, I also thought Stephens was out there about 3 hitters too long. he was clearly gassed. His stuff was great for 5 but I would have gone to the pen earlier. On a side note Deep Run sure does love to bunt. 1st and 3rd no outs with the leadoff guy up-pop out on a safety squeeze, and then #2 hitter sacs the guy over from 1st to 2nd on a safety squeeze, guy at third has to stay. I saw the safety squeeze at least three times out of DR last night, all from the top of the order. made little sense to me

I thought the same thing Wahoo. Found it quite odd that you have what most coaches would consider to be their better contact hitters at the top of the order, and they chose to do that. Bunting and safety squeezing in that situation makes little sense. Most coaches would've been licking their chops with a 1st and 3rd no outs with your 1-2-3 guys coming to the plate. It shows little faith in those guys IMO.

DR has always been a big proponent of bunting, even under Odell before Hicks, it'll always be a major part of the game, especially against Godwin in what looked to be either a 1-0 Godwin win or a 2-1 DR win at the time. Runners in scoring position, with no chances for a double play, seemed to be the goal.

1-2-3 hitters for Deep Run actually had 7 rbis by my count last night. Stephens just seemed to wear down a little bit in the 6th, but thats kind of to be expected this early in the year, he was getting up in pitches, not sure what his count was though. Deep Run is 3-0 so far, so whatever the strategy, must be working pretty well. Godwins bats will wake up, they wont be down for long. Theyve had to face some good pitching to start this year

When the game was close, they twice played station to station when I thought the situation called for being more aggressive -- go for the run and make them prove they can throw you out, worst case the trailing runner moves up anyway. But they had the crystal ball. Ultimately they strung some singles together, then Brooks got a big hit and all of a sudden they'd broken it open.

No one way to play it I guess.

The 1-2-3 hitters getting 7 rbi's simply alludes to the fact that they can hit and shouldn't be bunting there. The 7 rbi's came when they weren't going station to station. While they eventually got to Stephens, the bunting strategy wasn't why, it was due to a long early season outing. I don't recall the Odell era being bunt-happy. Runners in scoring position trying to avoid the double play?? They had a runner on 3rd. Even if there was a double play, the run scores and based on the way the game played out at that time, and it being a tight game, nothing wrong with scratching a run in a 1-0 or 2-1 game. While it ended up not being a factor in the end, whether the strategy is right or wrong, it failed in these instances.

I suspect the 1st/3rd bunt was done because the defense missed a chance to get an out on a bunt by the prior batter, and the coach decided to pressure them to see if they would crack. Quite often you'll see a ball thrown away in that situation, and had it happened the game would've broken open right then and there. It didn't work, but the hits that followed made it a moot point.

Or even bait the 3rd baseman into not making a decision between going after a hesitating runner down the third base line or taking the out at first. i've seen it freeze the 3b numerous times and then everyone's safe.

As someone said earlier, the point is moot after what DR did in the 6th. I believe it all started with a catcher's interference followed by a hit batter. Ah, the little things.