The Matt Williams Effect

[blue911]

The Cardinals did

and that has what to do with today's lineup?

[Ray D]

they don't have a lefty in the bullpen

Really?  Well then I like the lineup fine.

[sportsfan882]

I still think it makes more sense putting your best hitter in the 2 spot. Rendon is the ideal 2 hitter.

Let Harper bat after Werth and move LaRoche's sorry ass down to 6.

[Terpfan76]

Agreed...

I don't think it was expected that he spring down the line but peeling off halfway to the base? Come on son, at least step on first. I didn't get through the whole thread yet fwiw.

[imref]

I still think it makes more sense putting your best hitter in the 2 spot. Rendon is the ideal 2 hitter.

Let Harper bat after Werth and move LaRoche's sorry ass down to 6.

Agreed, would much rather see Rendon hitting #2, though I guess we'll see a L/R swap for a while, Harper #2 against righties, Rendon #2 against lefties (with Desmond moving into the #5 slot).

[Jordanz Meatballz]

Rendon's been batting 5th against lefties. I don't necessarily disagree, but I think if Harper starts playing to his potential it'll be Span-Rendon-Harper every game.

Werth can bat wherever he wants; IMO he's earned it.

[Mattionals]

Rendon's been batting 5th against lefties. I don't necessarily disagree, but I think if Harper starts playing to his potential it'll be Span-Rendon-Harper every game.

Werth can bat wherever he wants; IMO he's earned it.

I'd flip Harper and Rendon right now but I don't like the idea of LaRoche and Harper back to back.  Maybe move Harper to 6 and put Desmond at 5?  Ideally I'd go Span, Rendon, Werth, Harper, Zim, LaRoche, Desmond, Ramos and pitcher.  Obviously they aren't healthy for that though.

[tomterp]

and that has what to do with today's lineup?

Well, if the Cardinals have historically ever had a lefty in the bullpen, that must count for something, right?

[wpa2629]

This game is on Williams - You MUST yank Clippard after he walks the 190 hitter to load the bases. Ibanez owns his ass.  Williams didn't  even have a lefty warming until Ibanez was at the plate.

That is no bueno

Clippard needs to move down in the pecking order - Storen needs to set up until Clip gets his mojo back

[Terpfan76]

This game is on Williams - You MUST yank Clippard after he walks the 190 hitter to load the bases. Ibanez owns his ass.  Williams didn't  even have a lefty warming until Ibanez was at the plate.

That is no bueno

Clippard needs to move down in the pecking order - Storen needs to set up until Clip gets his mojo back

This I agree with. Clippard needs to earn his way back into higher leverage situations. I'm not 100% sold that Storen is all the way back but I think he's earned a shot at some chances.

[NationalHeat]

5 blown leads in less than a month, but they'll keep trotting him out there I'm sure. Horse crap.

[Optics]

I've been a Matt Williams fan but his willingness to stick with Clippard is just pissing me off. I mean he benches Harper for not hustling, yet he continues to trout out Clippard who has now blown a tie or lead in FIVE appearances already. I thought for sure he'd bring in the lefty to face Ibanez tonight, but nope. Right now he's basically Davey Johnson but a bit more hot headed.

[BigMeech]

Oh, Clippard sure likes to hustle us.

[PC]

This is the headline for the post game report tonight in the Post:

Williams sits tight as Clippard implodes

I couldn't have said it better myself.

[Ali the Baseball Cat]

 

Welp.

[PC]

The final paragraph in the Post report:

The Nationals continued to support Roark until he came out of the game to a deserved standing ovation. The showdown between Harper and Trout had fizzled, and it seemed the Nationals would take the more important result. And then Clippard imploded, and Williams watched.

[mmzznnxx]

I like Williams supporting Clippard. Hitters have bad streaks, as do pitchers. Hitters have had bad streaks for us so far, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't be moved around.

Clippard's had one good outing so far this season and the rest bad. At this point, you need to move him to lower leverage situations and let him build himself back up. You're going to lose the trust of the rest of the team (especially pitchers) if they keep trotting Clippard out there to blow games.

And what Williams is doing that Davey did (which made me upset) is you can tell when a pitcher is off, and you have to pull them at the right time. Most could see Clippard wouldn't preserve that lead so you need to put someone else in there. Winning > Pitcher's feelings and confidence, especially when the latter is misguided.

The offense deserves a good amount of blame, because they had plenty of chances to put up multiple runs, but made Richards look way better than he should have. But Clippard, Desmond and Williams sabotaged what should have been a nice, rough win.

I know it's "early", but if the signs we're seeing aren't altered, we're looking at 2013: Part II, Electric Boogaloo.

[mitlen]

 "And then Clippard imploded, and Williams watched."

Matt "Nero" Williams

[spidernat]

Oh, Clippard sure likes to hustle us.

Clippard must be "hurt".

Actually the entire team must be "hurt".

[nfotiu]

Things unravelled pretty fast last night.  First guy got in on an error on an easy play, then Clippard struck out the next batter, the next was softly hit to Desmond with no play and then a pop up to Desmond.  At that point, there was no reason to be concerned about Clippard at all.   Aybar's single was the first sharply hit ball.  There were two out at that point, and didn't seem like much reason for concern.  The walk was the big red flag, but I don't think he had a strong reason to have anyone up and ready by that point.  Rushing a guy in with the bases loaded probably wouldn't have worked out well either. 

[JCA-CrystalCity]

Things unravelled pretty fast last night.  First guy got in on an error on an easy play, then Clippard struck out the next batter, the next was softly hit to Desmond with no play and then a pop up to Desmond.  At that point, there was no reason to be concerned about Clippard at all.   Aybar's single was the first sharply hit ball.  There were two out at that point, and didn't seem like much reason for concern.  The walk was the big red flag, but I don't think he had a strong reason to have anyone up and ready by that point.  Rushing a guy in with the bases loaded probably wouldn't have worked out well either. 

Aybar's single isn't a hit if there wasn't a runner at 3d affecting the defensive positioning.   Not to make too much of an excuse, but Desmond put the team in the hole.  Clip could not quite dig out of it, but a pop, a soft ground ball, and a K is not a bad attempt.  He got in trouble after another gb, the first sharp contact of the inning, and the BB sure as heck showed he was toast and not bailing the team out.

If we are assigning goat horns, then the team needs to produce two pair.

[WhiteWhale]

He pulled the trigger on getting Storen in for Clip the other night. Things developed in an odd fashion last night because of the error. There are 162 of these things called games a year folks. Next time we will score on their guy when their skipper can't yank him fast enough.

I was okay with the Bryce benching because it has been reported and confirmed there was warning
I was okay with yanking Clip for Storen the other night.
I was okay with not yanking Clip last night.
I am okay with letting Desi work through it, OR giving him a mental health day off.

We have talent, and IMO we have a Manager who is straight with the guys. His worst offense was TALKING about the Bryce situation after.

We looked as little league as possible in the 8 run loss to the Cards, but finished the series with a split and a walk off. I am trying to not get too high or too low just yet with this team this year.

Think about the things that people get upset about, and then think about the end result or what it might be - we are in a pretty good place

- "Zimm got $100m and now he is a bum". Well, he isnt a bum, just has a bum shoulder, he will play first, and on a NL team, his bat plays at first
- "Adam LaRoche should not have been brought back" - he had a down year in 2013 as did the whole team basically, he is doing well this year, and then the marriage will end
- "Soriano was an overpay" = not my money, will walk after this year, hasnt stopped us from locking anyone up that we can be sure of, and is doing pretty well this year
- "Espinosa should have been traded for a bag of balls" - hey, I said this myself, but how good does trusting him look now?
- "We should lock up Desi" - dude is struggling, we made an offer, that I didnt think was high enough, but Zach Walters looks pretty darn good as a back up plan, as does finding another 2B if Danny moves over when Desi is gone. That can go either way and I am fine with that.
- "We should lock up JZ" - we have lots of young arms, we have a another "lock up" candidate in Fister, and we can leverage our depth in negotiations
- "Werth was an overpay" - This one, I think, is taking care of itself. The finances of Free Agents has changed.
- "We aren't going to be able to lock up everybody" - No teams do/can, but we may not want to and have decent orginizational depth

In summation, I trust Rizzo, and by proxy trust Matt Williams. I truly believe nothing about the current ownership group or front office will keep the Nationals from winnnig a World Series. I know there are lots of LAC folks out there, but that has been debated with excellent points on this board before.

Where we are, is a lot better than where we were, and I think that trend will continue.

[PebbleBall]

I've studied Matt Williams for a month now and he's about to double-down and bat Clippard 2nd.

[tomterp]

Things unravelled pretty fast last night.  First guy got in on an error on an easy play, then Clippard struck out the next batter, the next was softly hit to Desmond with no play and then a pop up to Desmond.  At that point, there was no reason to be concerned about Clippard at all.   Aybar's single was the first sharply hit ball.  There were two out at that point, and didn't seem like much reason for concern.  The walk was the big red flag, but I don't think he had a strong reason to have anyone up and ready by that point.  Rushing a guy in with the bases loaded probably wouldn't have worked out well either.

Clippard also failed to hold the slow Pujols on first, which directly led to their first run. 

[imref]

Zuck noted that Williams went and rewatched the pitch to Ibanez before coming out to talk to the press last night, he said it was a good pitch, out of the zone, low and away, and Ibanez just got to it.  It wasn't as if Clippard left a ball hanging over the plate.  Still, hard to understand why he left Clippard in given he was struggling and his history against Ibanez.