I saw the argument in the game thread....

[Butcher]

<!--quoteo(post=53050:date=Jul 29 2009, 09:56 AM:name=veryzer)-->QUOTE (veryzer @ Jul 29 2009, 09:56 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec--><!--quoteo(post=53046:date=Jul 29 2009, 09:50 AM:name=Butcher)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Butcher @ Jul 29 2009, 09:50 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><!--quotec-->Let me address several points here.

- When several choices are placed before you and you willingly choose the least (or less) desirable or least (or less) effective option, you're either stupid, insane, or retarded. I don't know how you can get around that fact. It's like looking at two stacks of bills and you can pick either one. One stack is a million dollars. The other stack is half a million. Now...half a million dollars is still pretty fucking sweet and I'd love to have it. But if I don't choose the million dollars, then I must be retarded. In this object lesson, sending Fox to the plate is the stack of a million dollars. Sending Fontenot to the plate and letting him swing away is half a million dollars. Sending Fontenot to the plate and asking him to execute a squeeze play is deciding to skip the stacks of bills and go digging in the couch cushions instead, hoping to find a million dollars worth of coins.

- BT? Relief pitchers are called on to bunt and nobody bats an eye because, with very few exceptions, they can't hit worth a damn. How many pitchers could you count on to hit a medium-to-deep fly ball?

- Asking Fontenot to bunt, in a vacuum, isn't necessarily insane. But <i>in that situation, with all of the other options Lou could have picked instead (including using Fox),</i> it was.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->


then when the fuck is the suicide ever a wise option?
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<!--quoteo-->QUOTE <!--quotec-->Here are a few things that could make it a defensible decision:

- the bases aren't loaded
- the bases weren't just walked loaded (all three batters reached base via the walk) by the pitcher currently on the mound
- the current batter can't hit a fly ball with any degree of consistency (Cesar Izturis, Juan Pierre, etc.) -- those types of players are usually more adept at bunting because they are forced to
- your pitcher is at the plate and it's too early in the game to lift him for a pinch-hitter
- the batter isn't a LHB (a RHB would obscure the play from the catcher somewhat)

I could go on.

I'm not saying a squeeze play is *always* a bad decision. But it sure was last night.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Those are a few factors that could make it a wise fucking option.