I watched the bottom of the ninth of the Phillies/Blue Jays game, the Phillies leading 5-4. Toronto put men on first and second with nobody out, bringing Aaron Hill to the plate. Hill homered twice in the game and has 19 long balls on the season. The Phillies announcers thought he would bunt. He swung away and popped out. Then John McDonald was picked off second and Vernon Wells grounded out to end the game in favor of Philadelphia.
What do you think of the idea of Hill bunting? He certainly had the ability to end the game with one swing of the bat. A successful bunt would set up a sacrifice fly, increasing the chance of the Blue Jays tying the game. I think Cito made the right decision, but I’d like to hear your comments. Hill has not sacrificed this year, but has 14 for his career.
Posted by David Pinto at 4:25 pm | Games, Strategy | Permalink | 2 Comments
Comments
Leave a Reply
June 29th, 2009 @ 12:28 pm
This comment is very late and probably nobody will read it. But, I think it’s likely correct to have him bunt. I think this increases the chance of scoring one run, and also increases the chance of scoring two runs. It greatly reduces the chance of scoring more, but that’s irrelevant in this situation.
Of course, the relative batting abilities of Hill, Wells, and whoever bats after Wells are relevant here, but assuming the three are close in batting ability, *and* that Hill has a very good chance of successfully bunting, then I think he should have bunted.
June 29th, 2009 @ 6:51 pm
Is it really too much to expect a major league hitter to be able to bunt the ball to third base? I think bunting would be much better play, and besides, if he gets to two strikes then try and swing away so you can get the best of both worlds. But in the 9th when you have to get 1 run, then I say bunt.
On a side note, I actually wish the Braves would do that more often. They seem to get 1st and 2nd no out quite a few times and don’t get the run in. As they are cursed with little speed, I think bunting would make more sense to at least try and get 1 run out of that situation, even if it is early in the game.