I'm talking about the August 27th game between the Dodgers and the Rockies.I was listening to the game in my car and there was a managerial decision that has been bugging me because it made no sense to me.
In this critical game, the Dodgers had a 3-2 lead in the 9th. Torre had already brought in Jonathan Broxton to escape an 8th inning jam. Broxton was in the #5 hole because of a previous double switch.
In the top of the 9th, Franklin Morales was pitching for Colorado. He had thrown a 1-2-3 8th inning and got the first two out in the 9th when Andre Ethier reached on an error.
Manny Ramirez was up next followed by Broxton.
Rockies manager Jim Tracy walked Ramirez. A no brainer. Who would you rather face in Coors Field? A Hall of Famer or a reliever with 4 career plate appearances?
So Ramirez is put on... and remember Morales has pitched well thus far... and should have been out of the inning because of the error... and now is pitching against a reliever.
And Jim Tracy makes a pitching change.
And more than that... a double switch.
He removed Brad Hawpe from the lineup, brought in Ryan Spilborghs to play the outfield and put Rafael Betancourt on the hill.
Am I missing something?
I checked the Rockies websites, and Morales wasn't injured.
Why the heck did Jim Tracy not trust Morales against a reliever who has only 3 more plate appearances than Eddie Gaedel?
Did Morales plead his case?
"Skip! This guy is 0-4 lifetime and doesn't participate in batting practice. I have a plan on how to get him out!"
"What is it?"
"I am going to throw the ball towards the plate and he won't hit it."
He had no problem having him throw to Andre Ethier but was there a scouting report saying "Broxton kills Morales. He takes him deep!"
Maybe he thought Broxton was due.
No comments:
Post a Comment