Rise and Phight: 9/26/2022

Sep 26, 2022 - 11:00 AM

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I have a quibble with Rob Thomson.

Yesterday, in the eighth inning of their game against the Braves, Thomson elected to intentionally walk Ronald Acuna with men on second and third and two outs. It didn’t matter when David Robertson spiked a curveball to the backstop, but the fact that they didn’t want to have Acuna beat them made a decision later on more curious.

In the eleventh inning, with a man on third and one out, Thomson elected to pitch to Acuna, who then singled on a rather poorly located fastball by Andrew Bellatti and gave Atlanta the lead. They would need the insurance run later scored, but the question should be asked:

Why did Thomson pitch to Acuna rather than let him trot to first base harmlessly and set up a potential double play?

Were they scared he might try to steal, where a single could knock in two? Were they simply willing to risk Bellatti being able to retire him, which he very nearly did? It’s strange that they were ok him being intentionally walked with the lead, but when they were tied, they were fine with him swinging the bat. It wasn’t the only reason they lost, but it didn’t help.

On to the links.

Phillies news:

• A bit of injury news as Brad Hand was sent to the injured list and Chris Devenski was brought up to replace him.
• In other injury news, Nick Castellanos is targeting the Chicago trip to come off of the injured list.
• Is Andrew Painter going to join the list of teenage phenoms to do well in the major leagues?

MLB news:

• In case you missed it (you probably didn’t), Albert Pujols joined the rarified air of the 700 HR club this weekend.
• Craig Counsell is kind of annoying most of the time, but on this point, I think I have to agree with him.
• The Guardians are the AL Central champions again, a really young team that might make some noise in the playoffs.
• Miguel Andujar was claimed by the Pirates off of waivers, meaning they finally have that trade piece that every team should trade for and send their superstar to Pittsburgh.