Time for Casey to Take Advantage

After tonight's game, Minnesota manager Ron Gardenhire made it clear the Twins had made it a point of not wanting to let Prince Fielder beat them (doesn't every team?), but he did anyway.  The key point of the game was the Brewers 7th.  Counsell had popped out, Weeks and Morgan followed with singles and Braun had popped/flied out to short right.  So Prince is up with runners at 1st and 3rd with 2 outs and the score 3-2, Minnesota.

Keep in mind, Casey McGehee would be up after Prince.  Casey HAS been hitting a bit better of late and definitely getting better at-bats even in his outs, but he still has been struggling and Gardenhire elected to pitch to Prince.  A Jose Mijares fastball with bad location was seared to right and the ultimately winning runs scored.  With Prince on 2nd and 2 in, Casey grounded out to first.

With every clutch hit, Prince is going to see fewer and fewer hittable pitches.  If keeps his plate discipline, it'll be tons of walks...if not, lots more strikeouts.  Realistically, the Brewers could have Ryan Braun, Prince Fielder, Troy Tulowitski and Jose Bautista all in a row and Prince still wouldn't get much to hit.  Protection may be overrated and over-emphasized, BUT, if a guy is going to kill you and the next guy is nearly no threat at all, the decision to pitch around or intentionally walk the killer guy gets super easy.  

This gives Casey an opportunity.  Seen as a bad hitter or not, having just walked a guy, the pitcher isn't likely to fool around.  Casey SHOULD see more fastballs and if he continues working on finding his approach, the sharply hit balls will become base hits and the "just got under it" flies will become home runs.  Take advantage, Casey.  Do what you did last year and either make the decision on how to handle Prince hard or make them pay when they take the easy way out.