You can get into Game 3 in LA for as little as $875 (American)
In retrospect yes, but the inning didn’t start out that way, right? It started out facing 7-8-9 and that’s decidedly NOT when you want to expend your best reliever and then have him maybe a little gassed in the eighth when he has to face the dangerous hitters. Things went sideways, and you can’t just bring a guy in without warming him up.
I’d also point out that up to that point Springer had for two games looked like he couldn’t swing a bat without falling down due to the knee injury. He looked TERRIBLE, so I’d be fine with letting Bazardo pitch to him anyway. I guess adrenaline kicked in and Springer hit the ball out. Whaddya gonna do; I think Dan Wilson did fine there.
Imagine the tedium if at any point in the game, the manager of the fielding team could call “Time out! Hey Mr. Umpire, I want to warm up a fresh pitcher starting right now and when he’s ready we’ll resume the game right where it is. Hey, Jones! Get up and start tossing. Lemme know when you’re ready.”
That would certainly facilitate micromanaging the ideal reliever into the game at the ideal pitch.
We deal with those sorts of delays now when a pitcher is injured and can’t continue. The reliever even inherits the balls & strikes count of the at-bat in progress. But it’d be a whole 'nuther thing if managers could do that at will.
Well, you could warm him up, right? In fact I think I saw a quote from Munoz that said he was ready to go. I dunno, I still think I want more aggression from my manager in a must-win game.
In fact, I highly doubt I’m letting Woo go back out there for a third inning. If you have to pitch Bazardo (rather than letting Brash and Munoz finish the game off) let him start with a clean inning and the bottom of the lineup. Then if he lets guys on go to Munoz to clean it up. And if you have to mix and match for the 8th and 9th fine, at least you played your cards.
Looking a bit deeper I see that Munoz only got more than three outs once all season, although he did go two innings twice in the postseason. I guess if I know I have him for 2 innings I’m damn well doing to make sure he’s facing Springer, Lukes, and Vlad whenever they come up. Let Brash and Speier deal with the other guys.
All moot now, of course. Hopefully the Jays can at least put up some resistance against the Dodgers.
Managers love to keep their relievers fresh for tomorrow. Which is a decent instinct until today is must-win. Then that bias bites back hard.
No team wants to enter the WS with an exhausted bullpen. But better that than to lose the league championship and watch your shiny fresh relievers go on a multi-month vacation while also watching your ALCS/NLCS rival play the Big Show.
There are several days until the first World Series game (Friday night). I don’t think that was a consideration at all.
Yeah, it definitely wasn’t that. I think it was just “bullpen by numbers” which is what most managers do, at least in the regular season. Bazardo is the setup guy, Brash is the other setup guy (but more matchup-dependent), Speier is there to get out lefties, and Munoz is the closer.
The non-fans of the teams involved will be Dodger haters and Springer haters because of the Astros sign stealing.
Which, in fact, was likely why Brewers manager Dan Murphy went to his closers, Abner Uribe and Trevor Megill, early in games 3 and 4 of the NLCS. Uribe came in during the 6th inning of Game 3, and Megill game in during the 7th inning of Game 4, undoubtedly in hopes of keeping the Dodgers from scoring more while the Brewers’ hitters attempted to stage comebacks.
Yep. It’d be interesting to know the truth about what was going on in Wilson’s head at that moment.
Here’s what he’s said in public in retrospect, but that may not be the whole story of his thinking in the moment. In fact, he says nothing useful at all in this interview. Mariners Manager Defends Eduard Bazardo Decision That Led to George Springer Homer.
But to the degree it says anything, it says this:
is the correct diagnosis.
This, I think, was the key non-move. Woo had walked a batter in the 5th but got out of that inning with a DP. Then he allowed a single in the 6th, but a hard-hit ball was caught and he got out of another inning. If you let him start the 7th, you should have a quick hook, especially after the leadoff 5-pitch walk. But letting him face the 2nd batter in the inning was definitely the wrong move.
(He said, with benefit of hindsight.)
That I’d have to agree with; Bazardo is a lot better off coming in with a fresh start and they had other arms available.
As did the Jays, the Mariners seemed to lose faith in some relief pitchers, and started overusing the guys they thought they could trust. If you’re not going to use Eric Lauer or Yariel Rodriguez or Luke Jackson or Caleb Ferguson, then why are they on the roster?
I’ll be rooting for the Jays mainly for Donnie Baseball to get a ring. Not optimistic though.
As a Dodgers fan who had to put up with Mattingly’s managing for a number of years, I’m fine with him never getting a WS ring.
The Angels have hired former major league catcher Kurt Suzuki as their new manager; Albert Pujols and Torii Hunter had also both been considered for the position.
Suzuki finished his career as a catcher with the Angels in 2021-22; he had been a special assistant to the team’s GM since then – which also means that he has no direct experience as a coach or manager.
Here’s a crazy stat.
Since 1985 when the LCS went to seven games, there have been four instances prior to this year where one went four games and one went seven games (2012, 2007, 2006, 1988). In every case, the team in the seven game series won the WS.
I was in St. Louis when they hired Pujols in his rookie season. And there for his meteoric rise to stardom and eventual sure-thing HoF status.
IIRC he was, even after being traded to the Angels and playing a few years there, not really plausible manager or coaching material. A standout skill as a player no doubt. But a poor command of English, not a teaching demeanor, etc. Maybe a good dugout cheerleader as a player, but not demonstrating the kinds of talents a manager needs.
Maybe he’s grown up a lot, and I admittedly haven’t been following him closely in a long time. Which leaves me wondering what LAA senior leadership is thinking now.
The cynic in me says they are thinking that they have to pay him the “personal services contract” of $1M per year for the next handful of years. They probably thought that might be a way to save $1M per year on their manager.
Pujols is reportedly being interviewed by both the Padres and the Orioles, so there must be something about him that interests owners.
Oh, no doubt. As someone who watched all of Pujols’ career in St Louis with intense interest, he never really struck me as someone that would make a good manager. It will be interesting to see if, when he inevitably gets a managerial post, he can join the short list of “truly great players who were also good managers”.