At the time of Mitch Moreland's grand slam today, a large rain storm was clearly about 20 minutes from reaching the stadium. The Rangers were up 6-0 with 1 out in the 3rd.

Let's say this situation comes up again in the future (though the possibility of cancellation is still uncertain; just the guarantee of a lengthy delay that could lead to cancellation). Would you support the Rangers choosing to automatically sacrifice their remaining outs in the 3rd as well as their outs in the 4th?

without a doubt yes. unless some sort of massive collapse happened w the pitching on our end. in the instance of today and how well harrison was mowing them down... thats exactly what they shoulda done.

I actually think thats a call that wash/maddux would make, too. however i dont belive either of them saw this game being cancelled. I think they both thought the game would just be postponed until later tonight.

I agree with DC ,I think if it was a night game we would have seen alot of frist pitch swinging instead of just playing it out. Mangers make that call all the time and we've done it before also, it's part of the game just like everything else.

no way, it disrespects the integrity of the game. no team would stoop so low.

I agree with DC ,I think if it was a night game we would have seen alot of frist pitch swinging instead of just playing it out.

I'm not talking about first pitch swinging. I'm talking about stepping on the plate and bunting for automatic outs.

I've never seen any manager do this. I doubt any ever would.

I believe that breaks one of the unwritten rules of baseball. kinda like sending your first batter up there to foul off 25 pitches to wear a pitcher down.

i dont believe it breaks baseball etiquette though to have them swing at anything and everything to quickly end the game though. dont ask me the difference... cuz there's not really but i'm pretty sure youre bunt idea is a violation of the unwritten rules. and lord forbid dallas braden finds out...

I think the main reason lead off men don't fowl off 25 pitches is because it would be next to impossible.

so pleasantries aside, i'm guessing you dont believe bunting every play as a give up out breaks an un written rule of baseball?

@Dcaggie06 --- You're dumber than dirt

-The End-

@ gbkeith

i distinctly remember elvis being fairly efficient at fouling pitches off to the corner box perpetually. Even having 8-10 pitch at-bats. granted not 25 times, but to say its impossible, I dunno. find a good enough contact hitter anythings possible. it was more sarcastic than anything... but its whatever

@John...... oh. sorry. i thought i was smart. but since you say i'm not i guess i'll have to never show my face on this site again. i wont dare shame you or the great dave with my presence again. since youre opinions are all I pine for.

fyi there are multiple other posters who also are questioning whether intentional outs are breaking the integrity of the game... so i'm not the only one.

oh crap i posted again.... sorry for my stupidity again...

fyi there are multiple other posters who also are questioning whether intentional outs are breaking the integrity of the game... so i'm not the only one.

I think the problem is that you used a really dumb analogy. Not that you suggested it violates the integrity of the game.

yeah. sarcasm is hard to pick up via text.

come on man, you know i go way over the top in my analogies!

Two key points:

1) The point in the game you are at.

Only after the grand slam put them up 6-0 with one out in the third would it even make any logical sense to begin to take measures to speed up the game. At that point, there were still 11 outs needed before the game became official...5 of the Rangers' outs and 6 of the A's outs. I think that is too early to do anything drastic to speed up the game.

2) What steps you take to speed up the game.

Sure, you can emphasize pitching to contact and being aggressive at the plate and trying to avoid deep counts, but I don't think you would ever "sacrifice" outs like laying down bunts, getting picked off on purpose or intentional strikeouts. Those types of things as mentioned above are just not the right decorum, and would more than likely just induce similar types of countermeasures by the opposition to delay the game.

Besides if the rainstorm (and potential washout of the lead) is 20 minutes away, there's really no practical way to have gotten the game to the middle of the 5th anyway, even with extreme measures taken.

I think that is too early to do anything drastic to speed up the game.

Why?

The probabilities seem to me to be very much in favor of this strategy. The possibility of a rain-out was at least a 50% chance at that point. The storm was clearly going to be heavy and last at least a few hours.

The win probability at 6-0 with 1 out, B3rd, is 94.9%.

Matt Harrison's a career 4.75 xFIP, but the A's have a below average offense, so if we adjust that to 4.50, then over 2 innings we'd expect him to give up 1 run to them on average. Going back to the win probability calculator, 6-1 mid-5th is a win probability of 95.6%. The Rangers would have been expected to gain 1 run with their 5 sacrificed outs, which would have meant a 7-1 game by the mid-5th, a 97.5% win probability. So the sacrificed outs would be giving up a mere 2% of win probability.

If we say the new game after a rainout starts at 50-50, then we get the following win probabilities for our 2 options:

1) Do nothing: [0.5 * .975] + [0.5 * 0.5] = 73.8%
2) Take the automatic outs: 95.6%

(Yes, maybe the automatic outs don't make the game official in time, but that still just leaves you back at option 1.)

Still can;t get 11 outs and 3 half inning breaks in 20 minutes no matter how much of an abortion you make the game....

Just as an fyi.... even though i was being sarcastic... some lurker D Bags wanted to call me stupid for my foul ball comment, the major league record for foul balls in an at bat is 22, 3 shy of what i said. There has also been multiple occasions of 18, 17, and like a bajillion at 14.

so yeah..... not so stupid after all.

safe@gerrydavis.com

The crew chief has his own website and email listed on it. He sells umpiring stuff. Screw him. That game should not have been called.

If you're talking about time asved... just bunt back to the pitcher.
You don't have to step on home intentionally.

If you're thinking of subversive play, go look up how Nap LaJoie stopped Ty Cobbs batting title string.
That's one damn good story of how much Cobb was hated... but they couldn't beat him without being subversive. So much for integrity in Baseball.

@Hubz

damn you.... now youre making me read! i'm actually gonna look that up. Thanks!

Just as an fyi.... even though i was being sarcastic... some lurker D Bags wanted to call me stupid for my foul ball comment, the major league record for foul balls in an at bat is 22, 3 shy of what i said. There has also been multiple occasions of 18, 17, and like a bajillion at 14.

so yeah..... not so stupid after all.

Dude, you seriously must have 1,000 posts at this site per day. Pretty weird.

Anyway, yes, your initial foul balls analogy was really, really dumb. You stated that fouling off 25 pitches intentionally would be breaking an unwritten rule of baseball... as if batters can just do that whenever they want, as simply as making automatic outs.

Just a painfully dumb analogy, and the fact you keep trying to defend instead of admitting the error just says that much more about what we're dealing with here.

despite your post being completely unnecessary, but to help yourself feel some kind of dominance over me or something, i'm beginning to find it and partially you, woefully dense. i already admitted that i was just being over the top. what's done is done. i just thought it was interesting when i found those stats out today i decided to share as a mere fun fact. not self defense towards anything. I might post often on this, but its mainly because i enjoy the rangers and i enjoy the interaction on this website/ both good and bad. I'm on this site for the fun of it. You however seem to take this, and yourself way to serious. Again i feel the need to remind you that you come across as if your attempting to audition for a job on this site. we all get it, youre good with stats, what you need to learn is that people are allowed to have their own opinions, and those opinions at times might disagree with yours. you need to learn to take a step back and quit being so confrontational. I might be new to posting to this site, however i've actually been an avid reader for the past 3 years. All i can say is that if you truly enjoy this site, and you appreciate the hard work that joey has done to get this site to where it is, you might want to take a step back, look in the mirror and your actions and realize that youre not a very good representative for this site. how you interact with ppl on this site are more likely to push them towards LSB or even Evan Grant's blog and chats (travesty). Regardless there's always someone like you on any site like this. I just thought i'd be forthcoming enough to let you know youre doing yourself a disservice for all you supposedly stand for. Again i'll re-iterate, i always enjoy the debate, and its fun to bust each others balls, but you gotta realize there's a line between just "having fun with the guys" and you being a major @$$hole.

@ Ranger100

20 minutes - 6 minutes 15 seconds for breaks in between innings = 13:45
For 11 outs? Only 5 the Rangers.

And if I am the opposing manager all I have to do is make a couple of pitching changes and that would be that.

Logic fail.

@ Dcaggie06

Hope this helps.

Getting Even With a Narcissist
Getting even with a narcissist is easy to do. The easiest way to get even with a narcissist, is to take a dig (even a very minor one) at the flaw(s) you see in a very non-angry, non-confrontational, matter-of-fact way and walk away. It will eat and eat at them forever, because they feel they have been exposed for the fraud that they consider themselves in the deepest recesses of their psyche. Such a comment can, in some cases drive a narcissist so crazy that they wind up doing something even crazier in an effort to save face.