For me it comes down to this: the game was tied. It wasn't like they needed Willingham to come up and hit a grand slam.

 

Are you going to "man up" and take your best shot at giving your team a chance to win? Or are you going to pass the burden on to your teammate?

 

I guess Mauer could argue that by walking he was giving the team its "best shot". Looking at the statistics of both players, I have to question that.

 

I stopped reading when you said "man up"

Surprising take from Joe C. He doesn't get that critical very often, this seems like a really odd choice to break the pattern.

 

What Mauer did there struck me as pretty defensible. His plate discipline is what makes him the hitter he is. If the situation had been different, and it were a stone cold Plouffe due up next, then maybe I could see ripping Mauer. But it was our top run producer on deck.

 

It's not like the time he tried to bunt with guys on base, which Laudner called "stupid" in the postgame.

 

I mean Mauer has the highest OBP in the league, he isn't exactly the guy we should be ripping on for plate discipline, if anything the Twins should be using that at-bat as an example moving forward. (i.e. Walks help win games to!)

 

The funny thing is, if Mauer "mans up" and swings at that 3-1 pitch and hits a grounder back to the pitcher we would be getting posts and articles about how Joe wasn't clutch etc etc.

Surprising take from Joe C. He doesn't get that critical very often, this seems like a really odd choice to break the pattern.

 

What Mauer did there struck me as pretty defensible. His plate discipline is what makes him the hitter he is. If the situation had been different, and it were a stone cold Plouffe due up next, then maybe I could see ripping Mauer. But it was our top run producer on deck.

 

It's not like the time he tried to bunt with guys on base, which Laudner called "stupid" in the postgame.

 

I mean Mauer has the highest OBP in the league, he isn't exactly the guy we should be ripping on for plate discipline, if anything the Twins should be using that at-bat as an example moving forward. (i.e. Walks help win games to!)

 

The funny thing is, if Mauer "mans up" and swings at that 3-1 pitch and hits a grounder back to the pitcher we would be getting posts and articles about how Joe wasn't clutch etc etc.

 

Red herring.

 

Also, does anyone think Mauer didn't have a green light on 3-0? Sitting fastball (sinker) and got one -- for a called strike. It's not as if the only strike he could swing at was the 3-1 slider.

Surprising take from Joe C. He doesn't get that critical very often, this seems like a really odd choice to break the pattern.

 

What Mauer did there struck me as pretty defensible. His plate discipline is what makes him the hitter he is. If the situation had been different, and it were a stone cold Plouffe due up next, then maybe I could see ripping Mauer. But it was our top run producer on deck.

 

It's not like the time he tried to bunt with guys on base, which Laudner called "stupid" in the postgame.

 

I mean Mauer has the highest OBP in the league, he isn't exactly the guy we should be ripping on for plate discipline, if anything the Twins should be using that at-bat as an example moving forward. (i.e. Walks help win games to!)

 

The funny thing is, if Mauer "mans up" and swings at that 3-1 pitch and hits a grounder back to the pitcher we would be getting posts and articles about how Joe wasn't clutch etc etc.

 

Red herring.

 

Also, does anyone think Mauer didn't have a green light on 3-0? Sitting fastball (sinker) and got one -- for a called strike. It's not as if the only strike he could swing at was the 3-1 slider.

 

That was my only concern, as well. It was fairly obvious that the Mariners weren't giving in to Mauer after the first pitch was called a ball. By the end of the AB, besides the obligatory strike on the 3-0 pitch and the nasty slider for strike 2, with Luetge mostly nibbling and avoiding the strike zone and Mauer adamantly refusing to lift the bat from his shoulder, it appeared (to me, anyway) that both sides preferred the BB to giving Mauer something decent to swing at, implying the Mariners were firm disbelievers in the cliche that "a walk is as good as a hit", and- contrary to Gleeman's supposition of the odds going up dramatically in the Twins favor- actually preferred and liked their chances with Wilhelmsen v Willingham.

Edited August 19, 201214 yr by jokin