Al Lindro

"...Yost chooses the one with the tired arm because he can't get beyond basic baseball strategy." That's the key point. I am co-authoring a book with Bill James (in my dreams). He is critical of the "trot out the closer to start the 9th" mindset that has come to dominate MLB managerial thinking. Just by sheer LOGIC, one would have to agree that there are key situations in a game when you want to put your best short reliever in. Say it's the 7th inning, you are up by one (or even down by one) and the opponent has two on with no out. Why would you NOT be calling on your best short reliever right there? So ... the idea that the so-called "closer" is just a 9th inning guy is flawed. But, in today's game we had a different situation. Stetter goes 6 up, 6 down in the 7th and 8th. And then he is invited to take a shower. Where is THAT notion coming from? Oh, yes, the stupid "book". Get the closer in there for the 9th ... but WHY? If Stetter (a) walks the first guy in the ninth, or (b) lets the tying run reach base, OK. Out of there. But, who is to say that he doesn't get 3 more outs without 2 runs scoring? Why is a closer a better option than HE, Stetter, is given his performance in the 7th and 8th. Watch him closely. Get him out if he falters. But for crying out loud, give him a chance to show he can go 3 innings. What's wrong with that thinking? I swear, some "baseball guys" think that good managing amounts to adopting every informal rule of thumb in the game, all the conventional wisdom, all the "by the book" stuff. If that's what they think they need to do to be successful, then I submit they will always be mediocre managers, blessed from time to time by great talent that overcomes their mediocrity, and cursed at times by poor talent that makes their mediocrity glaringly unacceptable --- at which point they become the 3rd base coach for the Marlins or something. If you agree with Bill James and me, I promise to send you an autographed copy of our new book when it is released.

"But I want to win just like anyone else who has been waiting their entire life." Are you a Cubs fan, or just kind of young? http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

Maybe I don't have the situation right in my head but .... why not: Double switch when Shouse comes in, putting Miller in the #9 hole and Shouse batting 5th? That puts off the Shouse plate appearance for when the Brewers either have a lead or are into an even longer contest where the entire "book" has gone out the window in terms of how the roster is used.

Grant Ballfour.

Time to check the record book. Has any pitcher ever entered a tie game in the 12th with an ERA higher than 16.88? I guess the thinking is we can get 3 in our next half inning. Oh, wait ... road game.

They give us bases loaded with no outs due to a missed call on strike 3, and a dropped pop up. . They score only once on 8 hits (same as us) into the 11th inning. They serve up David Weathers for us. We fail to leg our way out of a double play. We first pitch swing into a pop up (Graffy) with a pitcher going DEEP into the game, to say the least. The Reds don't deserve to win this one, but the Crew definitely deserves to lose it, regardless of the outcome. Anywhere but Cincy and we are already dead meat. And we still might become that. A win tonight would be like winning a golf match with birdie on a playoff hole --- one that bounced off a tree and rolled in after pausing on the lip.

Quote upthread re: Cappy ... "the only thing I don't like, just by looking at the numbers, as I didn't actually watch him pitch, is that he only threw 58% strikes..." What would you say a good ratio is? I'd kind of like to see 2/3rds strikes, but it's not often a guy does that in my experience.