Mike Scioscia's decision to squeeze home a run on Monday night in the ninth inning of Sox-Angels was the biggest managerial gaffe in postseason baseball history.Fans of the 2003 Red Sox would disagree with you. I'm guessing there are many others, though my coffee-deprived brain is having trouble remembering them at the moment.
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Um, No
I'm not going to say it was the brightest thing to do, but this is too much:
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5 comments:
Yeah, Little leaving in Pedro. Oy. The only time I have ever seen something so similarly awful -- where the pitcher has nothing, NOTHING, left, and his manager is the only one who cannot see it -- was David Cone in Game 5 of the 1995 ALDS. He was totally drained, and Showalter left him in.
Now, I didn't mind that, seeing the Yankees throw it away, but Cone deserved better.
Note that both Showalter and Little lost their jobs after these games.
As I recall Roger Mason pitched a damn fine 8th inning, but Mitch Williams was our closer and when 9th inning comes around you put in your closer! Nevermind that he'd blown the game a few days before and hadn't pitched well in weeks.
Yeah, I'm still bitter. Maybe this season will finally put to rest the ghosts of '93.
You and I have different "ghosts of 1993." Mine involve rooting for a team that was hotter than hot down the stretch, won 104 games, and then somehow lost to some scruffy and fat bunch of tobacco spitters in the NLCS.
Bastards.
I could break down every single one of his points with a legitimate counterpoint. I might do that very thing on my blog.
Ultimately, the only problem I have is that Scioscia couldn't be sure Delcarmen could get a pitch near the zone since he'd been wild in his previous two pitches.
Obviously, none of the sabermetricians would do this, but I wonder how many people, if Aybar had chopped to first (not scoring the run) and Figgins had made an out, would have wondered why the Angels, an admittedly small ball team, didn't "go with what brought em" and try a squeeze. My guess is that there would have been a few. But alas, we'll never know.
Is it bad that I keep replaying that missed bunt over and over in my head? Will it go away eventually?
Daniel -- I've been replaying Lonnie Smith's baserunning blunder from Game 7 of the 1991 World Series for nearly 17 years now, so no, you're not going to get rid of it lightly.
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