Before you start, this is not another Jack-Bashing post that seem so popular in times of dispare.

 

That being said.....It really pissed me off in the bottom of the 5th against the Mariners Lowell singles to leadoff the inning and JP is up w/ no outs. Instead of telling JP to bunt to move Lowell to 2nd and MAYBE beat it out for a single himself (which he does the best in the league) he lets JP swing away almost hitting into a DP. Now, with a 1-0 deficit and an offense that you KNOW struggles to produce runs why don't you call the bunt Jack? You have one of the top bunters in baseball at the plate with no outs. You have Alex Gonzalez on deck who, regardless of RISP avg can hit the ball better right now than JP can.

 

So using this example, and the recent lull of the Marlins offense, I think Jack needs to be a little more creative when it comes to the offensive side. I know hes not an aggressive manager and lets his players just play. But when the team is struggling like this its NEVER to early to try to manufacture runs, something this team has forgotten how to do ever since they landed delgado as a power hitter. Everyone is noticing the dramatic shift in the Marlins gameplay this season from small ball to more of a reliance from our 3 and 4 spot hitters.

 

I know JP is the heart of our offense and when he gets on base the offense comes alive. But last night's lack of bunt call enraged me. That being said, I've lost some faith in McKeon. Not because of the losing streak and not because of the articles that hes to negative. Just because he doesn't call the simple plays that may bring your club out of the gutter. We are focusing to much on the individual (1-8 we have very good batting averages) but it seems like players arent playing team ball right now.

I think there has been too much bunting

People griped the other night about bunting in the 8 or 9th inning loosing by one run and today it is not bunting in the fifth inning.

My gripe is not with the amount of bunting (and I'm assuming we're not talking about drapery because I like that bunting), but when they are or aren't doing it.

My gripe is not with the amount of bunting (and I'm assuming we're not talking about drapery because I like that bunting), but when they are or aren't doing it.

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exactly. i think runner on first with no outs in a close game where the other team's pitcher seems to be pitching lights out. i think waiting until the 8th or 9th inning in this game to bunt would have been pretty dumb. i think this game should have one of those where you are pushing for runs every chance you get.

If you can't score period you can't give away outs. Maybe if we had better success with runners in scoring position or runners on third with less than two out, the philosophy would be different, but we can't give outs to the other team in the form of bunts when we give them to them enough in the form of 1-2-3 innings.

 

There's no speed on the bases anymore (can anyone remember the last time someone scored from first?), there's no threat of stringing together three hits without making an out, and there's no need to put a runner into scoring position by giving an out, the runner may as well be on first or third or in the dugout, doesn't make a huge difference at this stage.

It doesn't even matter lately. Whichever strategy you pick, they're going to screw it up. Jack's tried 20 different lineups, playing small ball early, benching players.....

 

There is no strategy that fixes this problem. Until guys start hitting and driving in runs, they'll keep struggling.

I haven't seen Niner get significant PT. I'm just saying.

More shocking is Jeff Cox' cautious baserunning. One baserunner kill and we're crawling around the bases the rest of the night. We've taken third base on an outfielder's arm less than 10 times, or close to it, over the past 3 years.

*prays for rains to sweep the problems of this team away*