Fire Bruce Bochy (2)
Yesterday's game went 14 innings. Bruce Bochy is good for a couple of blunders in a 9 inning game.
Before one pitch was thrown, you could see that Bochy was already working to avoid the sweep. Having managed bad teams for years and thus trying to avoid the sweep with some regularity, perhaps Bochy merely views all sweeps as negative. If so, someone should let him know it's only bad when the Padres get swept. Bruce decided to start Eric Young. Eric Young is either the worst player or second worst player on the team depending upon which stats you're looking at. Not only did Young start, but he was batting second. Now, batting order isn't the most important thing in the world, but there is still some effect and as a general rule you just don't put your worst hitters at the top of the lneup. Basic stuff. Eric Young came up to bat 5 times during the game and was not pinch hit for once. He should have been. Both his bat and glove are liabilities.
In the top of the 9th, Sweeney replaced Linebrink. I don't so much have an issue with this move as I have an issue with Sweeney being the low leverage guy. That position should really belong to Adkins and/or Cassidy. Both have put up negative WXRL this year.
In the bottom of the inning, Eric Young was allowed to hit for himself. That's no good. Johnson should have been hitting there.
In the tenth, Bochy partially redeemed himself going to his closer in a tie game and finally getting EY out of left field.
In the eleventh, Bochy blew it again. Hoffman had only thrown eleven pitches. He's thrown more than double that in an inning without needing to be removed. Hoffman should have still been on the mound. Instead, Bochy goes to the 'pen. Not only does he go to the 'pen, he goes to the 'pen for one of his least effective relievers, Jon Adkins. Perhaps Embree is unavailable, you might have thought, but that proved false when after Adkins nearly gave the game away in came Embree.
In the 14th, Bochy made another pitching change. He was forced to bring in Cassidy. That's the sort of thing that happens when you pull your closer too soon and you use your better relievers in low leverage situations.
The solution?
Fire Bruce Bochy.
Good news, too
Paul DePodesta joins Padres front office. I'd just like to take this time to say, "Yay!"
Before one pitch was thrown, you could see that Bochy was already working to avoid the sweep. Having managed bad teams for years and thus trying to avoid the sweep with some regularity, perhaps Bochy merely views all sweeps as negative. If so, someone should let him know it's only bad when the Padres get swept. Bruce decided to start Eric Young. Eric Young is either the worst player or second worst player on the team depending upon which stats you're looking at. Not only did Young start, but he was batting second. Now, batting order isn't the most important thing in the world, but there is still some effect and as a general rule you just don't put your worst hitters at the top of the lneup. Basic stuff. Eric Young came up to bat 5 times during the game and was not pinch hit for once. He should have been. Both his bat and glove are liabilities.
In the top of the 9th, Sweeney replaced Linebrink. I don't so much have an issue with this move as I have an issue with Sweeney being the low leverage guy. That position should really belong to Adkins and/or Cassidy. Both have put up negative WXRL this year.
In the bottom of the inning, Eric Young was allowed to hit for himself. That's no good. Johnson should have been hitting there.
In the tenth, Bochy partially redeemed himself going to his closer in a tie game and finally getting EY out of left field.
In the eleventh, Bochy blew it again. Hoffman had only thrown eleven pitches. He's thrown more than double that in an inning without needing to be removed. Hoffman should have still been on the mound. Instead, Bochy goes to the 'pen. Not only does he go to the 'pen, he goes to the 'pen for one of his least effective relievers, Jon Adkins. Perhaps Embree is unavailable, you might have thought, but that proved false when after Adkins nearly gave the game away in came Embree.
In the 14th, Bochy made another pitching change. He was forced to bring in Cassidy. That's the sort of thing that happens when you pull your closer too soon and you use your better relievers in low leverage situations.
The solution?
Fire Bruce Bochy.
Good news, too
Paul DePodesta joins Padres front office. I'd just like to take this time to say, "Yay!"
posted by Richard B. Wade at 11:30 AM
6 Comments:
Well said ... I hope you get an opportunity to ask Sandy A about Bochy at the BP Pizza Feed this evening :-)
I disagree... I am NOT Bochy's biggest fan, but one thing the manager HAS to do is play all his players so they're fresher when he needs them to pinch-hit or something. So giving EY a random start here and there (especially when we already have the seriest in hand) is a good thing. If we don't want EY in games, we need to fault KT for giving that tool to Bochy.
Perhaps you start EY, but you have to pull him in a high leverage at-bat.
My contention is not that he's worse than Dusty Baker. That would be an abomination. He's just one of the worst in-game tacticians in the game. It's inhuman. Should he really be fired? Probably not. The players love him and I think he gets better efforts out of guys than other managers would. That said, "Fire Bruce Bochy" is a far superior title when compared to "Bruce Bochy is a Lousy In-Game Tactician." Don't you think?
Once again, Richard, well said! It was fun to see and visit with you yesterday at the Pizza Feed and the ballgame!
Add letting Jake Peavy bat in the top of the 8th after throwing 100+ pitches thru 7 innings to the list of Bochy's mistakes ... perhaps because he doesn't have a good PH'er (hello Paul McAnulty?) ...
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