IGT 4/21/06, Banister v. Williams

[nymr83]

Johnny Dickshot wrote: ="abogdan"]How do you use a pitcher for only two batters in the 12th? If you're going to use Bradford, you have to bring him in to start that inning. Why waste a lefty on Eric Young and Adrian Gonzalez when the only hitter in that lineup you should be scared of - Brian Giles - is a lefty? I can't believe there's more harping on bullpen usage when it gave you 8 scoreless innings on the road. When should Willie plan for the Mets to have given them a lead? The 36th inning?

the point is that once you're past the 8th inning and tied you need to not use any pitchers for less than a full inning or two. the bullpen did perform well but Willie didn't.

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

I completely disagree. You play for the win on the road, and when you're in xtras, that means every moment of the game.

Basically you're arguing that it would have been OK for Willie lose it in the 12th for the a chance you might win it in the 15th.

[Guest Bret Sabermetric]

But in the larger sense shouldn't your overwhelming principle be "I have a finite number of innings I can get out of my pen, and a theoretically infinite number of innings I can work them in, so using a man for far fewer innings than he's capable of pitching tonight gets me into deep doo-doo eventually"?

Maybe not this game, but if you burn your pen like it's firewood on a romantic evening, eventually you're going to have a 22-inning job where you're wrecking someone's arm or asking an outfielder to pitch to Albert Pujols.

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

]Maybe not this game, but if you burn your pen like it's firewood on a romantic evening, eventually you're going to have a 22-inning job where you're wrecking someone's arm or asking an outfielder to pitch to Albert Pujols.

Well, we are talking about this game, and nymr, zvon and abogdan are basically sore because Willie didn't try and lose it sooner than he did. Why not use Julio in the 9th if that's the attitude?

In a general sense I think WWSB has been OK with his his use this year (amazing how better pitchers make you look like a better manager).

[Guest Bret Sabermetric]

I'd say better pitching, not necessarily better pitchers. The jury's still out on the Mets maintaining a 3.08 ERA over the season.

[Guest abogdan]

]Well, we are talking about this game, and nymr, zvon and abogdan are basically sore because Willie didn't try and lose it sooner than he did.

I have no idea what you're talking about. Randolph's bullpen usage last night decreased the Mets' chances of winning the game. He was left with the options of leaving in a tired Chad Bradford to pitch to lefty Brian Giles with the winning run on base, or bringing in Jorge Julio, who shouldn't be brought into a tie game until it gets to the 20th inning. Randolph should have used his best available reliever, Bradford, to start the 12th. Three of the next four hitters were right handed. Had he done that, Randolph would have had the added option of going to Feliciano against Giles the next inning.

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

And when Gonzalez ends the game with a home run in the 12th you expect Willie to say, "Well, I know Bradford's splits vs. lefties are terrible, but I put him in there because I was expecting us not to score for two more innings even though the top of the order was due up so I could use my specialist on Brian Giles in the 14th."

You would have a better case killing him for that.

What "decreased the Mets chances of winning," was the fact the fucking offense scored 1 run in 14 innings.

[Guest Iubitul]

Nymr83 wrote: remember the home plate umpire calling a brave safe at the plate and allegedly telling john franco that he's got a flight to catch?

Angel Hernandez. IIRC, it was a Sunday afternoon game before the All-Star break...