Skip to main content

quote:
Originally posted by zombywoof:
your best bunter and fastest player drops on down and gets on, then he did his job. There is no rule that says you can't bunt just because a pitcher is throwing a no-hitter.


Then, why didn't he do it again, in the ninth inning, instead of ending the game with a pop foul?
quote:
Originally posted by coach2709:


Now if Big Papi drops a bunt up third base because they have that shift on him going then yeah that's bush league. He doesn't have the drag bunt in his skill set so he shouldn't resort to that.


I completely disagree coach. If the opposing team wants to load up the right side of the infield, I don't know why it would be considered bush if a player lays a bunt down? Heck, they're basically daring the batter to do it. The only reason I wouldn't advise Big Papi to do it, is he has a chance to hit the ball out anytime he's in that batters box...especially at Fenway!

I've watched ESPN and MLB Network the last 24 hours, and I've learned that the commentators (former MLB players) are just as divided on this issue (Aybar bunt) as we are here on this website. That's what makes it fun, everyone looks at it differently.
Guys I'm talking about Big Papi dropping a bunt down to break up a no no being bush league. Overall, I agree that he should drop a bunt down more often but even then I doubt the defense would adjust to him.

If there is a no no in the late innings and Big Papi comes up down 5 runs or more and drops a bunt to get on base then that's bush league. That's a cheap way to get on. If it's in the early innings and he does drop a bunt down then I don't see it as bush league.
Thanks for posing the question bsbl247. Wow, this topic is just as divisive as the debt ceiling debate in Congress. Great topic and great points about one of baseballs oldest unwritten rules. I'm getting the sense that nobody is stradling the middle on this one, which makes it all the better.

Sandman brought up the point that Verlander choked under pressure to field the bunt last Sunday. I totally agree that it was all on Verlander, and he should have easily got the out. This sounds vaguely familiar as he did the same in the World Series a few years ago (2006) against St Louis. Remember? I'm a huge Verlander (VA native) fan, but he has to make that play or we wouldn't be talking about it right now.
I think a team having to choke down a no hitter should be expected to fight like hell not to let it happen. They should be expected to try anything they could dream up (within the rules).

Think how cool that would be. As the pitcher gets farther and farther down the gauntlet of a no-no, crazier challenges start coming at him from the other team's bench: People going deep in the counts and deliberately fouling off as many pitches as they can, Big Papi tries to fool the shift with a bunt, the last 3 batters in the 9th are high-average contact pinch hitters, stuff like that.

Then if the pitcher survives it, he's really done something awesome.

But no...we're all going to tell ourselves that there's certain kind of gentlemen's standard of limited agression in this situation, and let our million-dollar athletes let us down by leaving something out of the game.

B.S.
quote:
Originally posted by bsbl247:
I've watched ESPN and MLB Network the last 24 hours, and I've learned that the commentators (former MLB players) are just as divided on this issue (Aybar bunt) as we are here on this website. That's what makes it fun, everyone looks at it differently.


There are the traditionalists who believe in the game being played as gentleman (as it should) and then there are the newer breed who say win at all costs. It depends on the coaching too, old school vs new.

As I asked, how many no no's have been broken up by the bunt?
Too me, Angels are in a very tight pennant race, score is only 3-0, Aybar Bunting in that situation is not bush. He is the lead off hitter in that inning and he has the tools to pull it off. Team comes first, anyone who thinks that was bush given "ALL" the circumstances is off base in my opinion. Aybar was only competing, nothing wrong with that. Now if the score was 10-0 and the Angels had no way of getting to the post season, then it would be bush.
I googled "bunting to break up no hitter?".

This is one result.

05/28/2001 -

SAN DIEGO — Oh, those pesky "unwritten rules" of baseball.

With Curt Schilling just five outs away from a perfect game Saturday night, San Diego's Ben Davis blooped a bunt for a single and opened a classic — and nasty — debate.

Some of the Diamondbacks seethed right then, spending the rest of the game peppering Davis, the Padres' catcher, with obscenities.

After Schilling completed the three-hitter for the Diamondbacks' 3-1 win, manager Bob Brenly called Davis' move "chicken."

Schilling (8-1) said he was "a little stunned" that Davis would bunt so late in what could have been the 15th perfect game in modern history. He said he'd always heard that players should earn their way on base that late in a no-hitter or perfect game.

On Sunday, little changed. Brenly, a former big league catcher, still contended that Davis' bunt was "chicken."

But he said it falls into one of the many gray areas in those "unwritten rules" that players and managers love to quote.

"Like I said, that's the way I was raised in the game," said Brenly, who came out of the broadcast booth to take his first managerial job. "That doesn't mean that I'm right and they're wrong, that's just the way I was taught how to play the game."
Last edited by AntzDad
quote:
Originally posted by TPM:
quote:
Originally posted by bsbl247:
I've watched ESPN and MLB Network the last 24 hours, and I've learned that the commentators (former MLB players) are just as divided on this issue (Aybar bunt) as we are here on this website. That's what makes it fun, everyone looks at it differently.


There are the traditionalists who believe in the game being played as gentleman (as it should) and then there are the newer breed who say win at all costs. It depends on the coaching too, old school vs new.

As I asked, how many no no's have been broken up by the bunt?
Not enough.... I'll buy into to the traditiion of not doing everything you can do to win. When pitchers start grooving fastballs to hitters who need a hr to complete the cycle
quote:
Originally posted by TRhit:
YOU PLAY TO WQIN AT ALL TIMES AND AT ALL COSTS-IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH OLDSCHOOL,NEWBREED WHATEVER


Really....read the above by Antzdad.

I didn't say I agree or disagreed with the play, just that there are "unwritten rules" in baseball which have been around for many years.

I always felt busting up a no hitter or perfect game would be one of them.
Last edited by TPM
First off......Ordonez should have run the bases and let the umpire make the fair or foul call. Just because your in the big leagues now shouldn't change the basics.

Secondly......as a batter your job is to get on base anyway possible within the rules of the game, no-hitter going or not. Last time I checked bunting is an approved way to get on base.

Add Reply

×
×
×
×
Link copied to your clipboard.
×