Should've Walked Him

Plus: Day in Review, May 9, 1949

Aug 18, 2023

Should’ve Walked Him

As you know, most analytical people will tell you that intentional walks are a net negative and shouldn’t be used.

There are far too many articles out there about intentional walks for me to do the subject justice. However, I did find this clip out of this old Hardball Times article:

I probably should have heeded Tango and Dolphin’s advice.

Massive Failure

Share The Baseball Replay Journal

The Phillies went into the top of the 9th in their game against the Reds with a 4-2 lead. Starter Ken Heintzelman was cruising, and I thought that the final three outs would only be a formality.

Boy, was I wrong.

I didn’t think anything of it when Johnny Wyrostek led off with a base hit. I didn’t even take a sreenshot for posterity.

That brought up Dixie Howell, who popped out to first base. Two outs to go.

Up came Virgil Stallcup, relegated to the 8th spot because he hasn’t been hitting:

That brought up Cincinnati pitcher Herm Wehmeier. The computer manager decided to leave him in despite being down by 2 runs, and even though the tying run was on at first base. It’s a controversial move, but I can see it happening.

Now the bases were loaded, and I was a bit concerned about Heintzelman’s ability to get through this game. Up came Danny Litwhiler:

Well, that was it for Heintzelman. I brought on Jim Konstanty to try to put out the fire.

Jim faced Chuck Kress, pinch hitting for Hank Sauer in another interesting computer manager decision:

The score was now tied at 4, and the bases were still loaded. Up came Jimmy Bloodworth:

I’ve got no idea how the right fielder made a throw like that after landing on his side to make the catch, but whatever. There were now two men out, runners on second and third, and the Phillies were suddenly trailing, 5-4.

Up came Ted Kluszewski.

Should I have walked Ted? I decided not to, reasoning to myself that he probably wasn’t going to do all that much damage.

Here’s what happens when you pitch to him:

So much for the comeback.

Both of these teams are bad, but at least they’ve given us some entertaining baseball here in early May.

Other Action

Tigers 7, Yankees 5: At Detroit, the Tigers break through with a huge 4-run 8th inning to win this one. Watch the game here.

Dodgers 11, Cardinals 10: At Brooklyn, the Dodgers win a wild one. Read the summary here.

Pirates 7, Braves 5: At Boston, Kiner goes 3 for 3 in this one. Watch the game here.

Giants 3, Cubs 2: At New York, the Cubs waste 3 chances to win this game in the late innings. Read the summary here. Watch the game here.

Reds 9, Phillies 4: At Philadelphia, see above.

Standings

The Pirates and Yankees are both playing extremely well. The Giants look good, and the Indians are surprisingly good. Everybody else is basically out of contention, though the Cardinals could make a run for it.