Rockies

I was just listening to the playoff game between the Rockies and the Phillies, and after getting the first two hitters on base in the top of the 8th, I heard the radio announcer, former major leaguer Rick Sutcliffe, comment he looked for the Rockies to bunt and move the players over to second and third. The batter was Torrealba, who hit a two run homer in the 4th. Sure enough, Torrealba laid down the bunt and moved the runners over. This is standard baseball strategy, and yet statistics show that when teams do this, it fails 75% of the time to lead to any runs. That’s what happened in this case. Then in the bottom of the inning, the Phillies hit a home run, and as it stands now, the Rockies are only leading by one run. I think it’s time, unless the hitter is in a slump, or it’s the pitcher, something like that, to retire the “conventional” wisdom about “moving the runners over” by giving up an out.