Because being up by 4 runs in the ninth inning is not a high-leverage situation. There’s no real point in bringing in your best relief pitcher when you’re up by 4 runs and only need 3 outs.
Of course, on the other hand, there’s no point saving your best relief pitcher for simply closing out the ninth inning. If the game is really close in the sixth or seventh or eighth, and you really need some outs, why not bring him in earlier to get the important outs when you really need them. Saving him for the ninth inning is sort of pointless if one of your lesser relievers gives up four runs in the seventh and you enter the ninth down by three runs.
The whole way that closers are used in baseball is pretty silly. I know some people argue that there’s a certain mentality to being a closer, and that using a closer in different situations doesn’t work, but i think that’s pretty much crap. If the guy is a good pitcher, and can get outs when you need them, then he should be able to do it in the sixth inning just as easily as in the ninth.
If you want a better critique of the whole “closer paradigm,” search for RickJay’s posts on the subject.
Because you might be up by only a run tomorrow, and if you use him now, he may be too tired to go tomorrow. You have to trust the res of your bullpen at some point, and a four run lead is when you do it.
Crap…Tigers got swept by the Yanks,2 to 1 ,5 to 3 ,2 to 1. That sucks,. They wasted games from their best pitchers and the ass end of the order is coming up.
Jason Mother-Lovin’ Schmidt. Jason “$47 million for six games” Schmidt. Well, make it seven, apparently.
Jason Schmidt will be making his first major league start in over two years tomorrow night for the Dodgers. And I just happen to have tickets. This oughtta be interesting.
I’ve been joking with friends since last season that Schmidt was going to be the Dodgers’ savior, filling in that last piece of the puzzle to make them champions. Of course, I didn’t expect him to ever actually pitch again. Now that it’s actually happening – I don’t know what to think. I want to be hopeful; I really do. But I just refuse to believe it.
I hope my Reds sweep you guys. We really need it, and let’s face it: you guys have been playing so hard to build up that monstrous lead over your division rivals, doesn’t a few relaxing games off sound like so much fun?
If you happened to read the article that ESPN wrote about our series (Reds and Brewers) it was written very well. A lot of it was about how both of us wanted to make statements after the all-star break, and we really ended up just in the same place.
(Although I would say we fared worse than you, but that’s opinion)
If the Giants would have just folded and called it a season the way they were expected to, I might be willing to relax. But I’m afraid not.
On the other hand, with Schmidt on the mound tonight, I’m concerned about a 13-1 thumping being possible. How many pitchers have come back successfully after going more than two years without facing major league batters?
To be fair, we might give up a bunch of runs early too against your lineup. Micah Owings is putting more fear into pitchers with his bat than he is batters with his pitching!
Also, recent history suggests the Reds are a really crappy road team when they get west of St Louis. I wonder how much difference the (to them) later start makes.
I suppose we’ll see. I hate road games on the west coast…they aren’t over until after one in the morning and I can’t generally stay up late enough to watch them all!
This, more than anything, is what scares me about the idea of ever leaving LA, where I’ve lived all my life. On a recent business trip to DC, I had a hard time staying awake long enough to even watch the end of a Sunday evening game, which went on until about 11pm. I don’t know how you people do it.
Anyway, FoieGras, I will be at tonight’s game, so I will try to personally see to it that the Reds want to head back east as quickly as possible. It’s a win-win.
