Skin Blues wrote:The Duke wrote:TheDoctor wrote:Can we go with Stroman 2x through the order, then Sanchez 2x through the order?
Simply makes too much sense, for it to happen.....:|
Using Stroman for only 2 trips through the order makes so much damn sense... his hard hit % and FB% both go through the roof the third time through. I don't know if he's changing his approach to be less pitch-to-contact and it's backfiring, or if people just learn to adapt to his pitches, but it just ain't working. Sending him out for the 6th cost us Game 3. Just amazing that he was allowed to not only face Kipnis a third time, but also Napoli who luckily "only" walked (although ended up scoring, again), after he had already hit one ball off the fence and another one over it in his first two trips vs Stroman.
I think we may see teams do more of that type of piggybacking that the Rockies tried a few years ago rather than the old school "leave him in until he starts to suck" strategy, of which there is an inherent flaw that you wait for the starter to get into trouble before removing him. It will take real balls for a manager to remove a starter with a shutout after 5 or 6 innings even though it may be the best decision. After seeing strict traditional closer usage deteriorate after the flak Showalter took, maybe a better approach to starter usage will follow as well.
This is what I was saying in the bullpen thread. Build a pitching staff around guys that are solid twice through the line-up, and then turn it over to a reliable pen. This will also be much more budget-friendly than looking for starting pitching that can you complete games.
