The Toronto Blue Jays are not going to be playing baseball come October if they continue on their path of stupidity. In the top of the eighth inning of today’s game against the division leading Red Sox, Roy Halladay, who was well on his way to his third win of the season, was yanked from the ballgame by his manager only to watch from the bench as his two run lead evaporated with one swing of the bat.
Playing a team like the Red Sox, losing a close game is understandable; however, today’s game should have ended with a different result. Throughout Halladay’s career, the Blue Jays bullpen has continually cost him wins but the managers continue to pull him in close games when he is pitching well. When will these managers learn? I am sure Halladay would prefer to remain in these games and lose them himself than to sit on the bench and watch the bullpen fumble the lead away.
Today’s game was exactly how J.P. has pictured things I am sure. Having Halladay (or any other starter) pitch into the eighth or even the ninth inning and then bring BJ Ryan in to close out the game. Unfortunately, BJ was unable to pitch today so Gibbons decided to try to get fancy instead of just leaving Halladay in to finish the inning/game. When Scott Downs got David Ortiz to chase a pitch for the strikeout I thought things would work out fine after all. Walk Manny Ramirez, one of the most dangerous hitters in the American League even when he is hitting below .200, and go after the next batter, which happened to be JD Drew. To the detriment of Halladay and the Blue Jays, that was not Gibbons plan.
Gibbons decided to try to pitch to Manny. Even though Manny has not been hitting well so far this year, I still would have given him a free pass even if the guy behind him was hitting over .300. Once the count got to 2-0 on Manny I thought for sure they would just finish the walk and start fresh with the next batter but of course that didn’t happen and Marcum served up a nice steak dinner and Manny ate it up for a two run homerun to tie the game. The bullpen still might have given up the runs and lost Halladay the win but it would not have been Manny that did the damage. Is not one of the cardinal rules of any sport: not to get beat by the other teams best player?
Losing to a team that historically finishes higher in the standings is not a good practice to get into if the Jays are serious about a playoff appearance. Playoff teams play smart baseball throughout the year and not just down the stretch.
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3 comments:
We do not know what Gibbons saw in Doc...we only know what we wanted to see. The right decision was made bringing in the lefty for Ortiz - these days are the days of situational pitching. Also, Doc went 10 innings his last start and even though he is the workhorse of the team,we don't want him to wear down. I am sure he agreed with the decision to bring in Downsy - he has been known to persuade Gibbons to leave him in the game when he is still feeling it. And bringing in Marcum, given his last performances vs them is not something I could question. Plain and simple, the 'pen blew it. Perhaps pitching around Manny might have made the difference, but if they do that and the #5 hitter gets a HR, the game isn't even tied, it is tilted in the wrong direction. And we all know the Sox team can hit.
Pulling Doc when the Jays did could have been the right choice given the length of his last outing. Putting in a lefty was a no brainer once the decision to pull Doc was made. Pitching to Manny at that point, no matter who was pitching (or what the pitcher did last time the teams met...that is over, history), likely wasn't advisable but we can argue that all day long. The main mistake was made when the count went to 2-0 and they continued to pitch to Manny. I would have much rather seen Drew get the HR because that would have shown that the Jays did what they could to avoid giving up runs and still were not good enough on that day. Allowing Manny to hit the HR gave me the impression they don't really take every game seriously. Let the little guys (or in Boston's case, the littler guys) come through, don't get burned by the big guys...ever.
I'm sure it's an extremely hard decision for a manager to pull an ace from the game. But in the same breath, your bullpen's confidence is shot when your ace closer is out for a long time....what the frigg!?
I couldn't agree with you more, Shuster. Leave him in the game!! If he loses it; he did it to himself. As you can PLAINLY see, the bullpen is as trustworthy as a used unicorn salesmen.
*sigh* We so DESPERATELY need pitching :(
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