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The kind of thing that makes the game so interesting

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Great game, exciting!  Great catch from Beltran, big home runs from Delgado, beltran_catch.jpgRios, Youkilis – it was back and forth, everything you can ask.  Some solid pitching performances – we saw JJ Putz put away Delgado and Beltran with nasty splits – so the game had everything.  But at the end of the day, for me, the most important sequence of the night was in the ninth inning with runners at first and second, no outs and Derek Jeter comes to the plate.  You’re wondering, “What is Davey Johnson gonna do?” Jeter had struck out in his last at-bat, but obviously he has a history in big moments. So do you let him swing or do you ask him to bunt to move the runners over? He’s one of the best bunters in baseball. I thought it was interesting because what’s going through the managers mind is “I got a guy at the plate who is not going to hit into a double play” – you’re hoping he’s not unless he hits a bullet right at someone – so that’s why he lets him swing.  He hit a rocket to right field which moved Victorino to third and Roberts stayed at first. I think if it wasn’t the combination of speed on base in Victorino and Roberts, you may have seen Jeter bunting.  But with those base runners, if he strikes out those two guys can steal bases.  If he bunts them over, you’ve got your hottest hitters coming up and they may pitch around the next guy to set up a double play.  usa_celebration.jpgThose are the things that Davey factored through his mind.  The way it worked out, Jeter ends up flying out and it left first and third and Roberts was able to steal second.  That’s the kind of thing that makes the game so interesting.

What did I think?  What’s my strategy?  I thought that with Rollins, Youkilis, David Wright coming up that Jeter bunts.  But, as it turned out, he didn’t and it worked out pretty good.

  



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