IS THIS NOT EXACTLY WHAT I WROTE ABOUT LAST NIGHT?

[dogs24]

Last night, for those of you who missed it, I typed a long diatribe bemoaning the fact that managers CONSISTENTLY allow their starters to stay in games long after they've demonstrated -- through lack of control and flattening of pitches -- that they are off their game. Relievers, on the other hand, are relieved as soon as they demonstrate inneffectiveness, or the matchup dictates a change.

It befuddles me, it annoys me, it drives me crazy. I see it all season long, starters staying in when they're tired, while relievers sit on their ass. It's one thing in the regular season, when you need to keep your bullpen fresh and groom your starters' confidence. But in the playoffs, there's absolutely NO EXCUSE!

In game 7, there's absolutely absolutely absolutely NO NO NO NO NO EXCUSE! And we've seen it TWICE! Once with Wood last night, and again with Pedro tonight. It's absolutely amazing!

Look at the thread in "Zambrano and Clement saved for game 8" to see the full details. ARGH!

 

[LogansRun]

Bingo!

Dusty = Grady = Morons

 

[oldmantime]

The Babe made him do it!!!!!!!!!!!!

Don't you know about the CURSE??

 

[Revere14]

The Yanks are gonna do the same thing with Rivera. Pitch #42 coming...

Revere14

 

[Revere14]

Guess it didn't matter...

Revere14

 

[GreenDoberman]

"you go with the horse that got you there", if he had yanked Pedro and put in one of those bums to get rocked, you would have been bitching ten times about that.
"live by the sword die by the sword"

 

[dogs24]

No, I wouldn't Green.

When a starter tires, and you have 8-10 fresh arms in the pen, there is absolutely NO REASON to force him to continue to pitch. I don't care if his name is Pedro, or Schilling, or Johnson, or Brown...all of the greatest starting pitchers are still human beings. Human beings are subject to fatigue, and when they tire, their skill level diminishes considerably. I'd much rather have a fresh and fired up Alan Embree throwing his nasty stuff to Matsui than have Pedro serving up meatballs. Don't get fooled by the name on the back of the uni, if the man's exhausted, he's not playing with a fraction of the natural talent that the 'real' Pedro Martinez has.

Managers consistently "forgive" starters for deteriorating at-bats late in the game, particularly when they have the lead. If it had been a reliever -- any reliever -- who had started to serve up hit after hit in the 7th and 8th innings, he would have been yanked after no more than two or three batters, and earlier if the situation dictated that someone in the pen would've matched up better against a particular hitter. But with starters, there's some weird, unwritten rule of reverence that says you can't lift him until he pitches himself into irrevocable trouble, or worse -- until he pitches his team into a deficit.

As a fan, I can clearly see when a pitcher starts to keep his pitches up, when they start flattening out, when he ceases to fool the batters. Even if no runs score, if the hitters all of a sudden start hitting frozen ropes that happen to be turned into outs, that's GOT to raise a red flag for the pitching coach/manager, who have to be able to read the signs a helluva lot better than a fan. It's at that point that the red flag has got to go up and they must, must, must consider relieving their pitcher. Why they wait until X number of hits or runs have crossed the plate, I will never, ever understand.

If you get burned playing a matchup; i.e. bringing in a lefty to face a lefty in relief of a tiring starter and you get burned, well, you tip your cap to the other side...at least you made the right call. But if you allow Pedro to pitch as long as he did last night, you're asking -- BEGGING -- to lose the game.

The fault there is squarely on the balding head of Grady Little.