Penmanship Problems (Split from Overheard)

[Guest Edgy DC]

There's plenty in this bullpen. But when Jerry pulls Stokes after one inning, despite (1) him getting off to a nice start, (2) having a gassed pen, and (3) having three more innings to take care of, I grow frustrated.

Jerry is pissing me off daily with his bullpen use. He's making all the mistakes Randolph made, only moreso, and I'm beside myself. I look to my right and there I am. And both of me are grumpy.

Ilike Jerry more personally, but Willy never made me/us this grump-frustated. I can't even come up with a sig line.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Are you literally beside yourself?

[Guest Edgy DC]

Yes, it appears I am --- sharing an office and a paycheck with my grumpy doppleganger. The worst part is that the wonderful trait folks tend to have about not being bothered by our own smells does not work with the other me. OtherI stinks appears to be quite comfotable in his funk.

[metirish]

I think Cohen felt the same way as Edgy....I do too ....Gary remarked that he asked Manuel about Feliciano and Jerry said that if he only uses him for one batter a night then he can trot him out as much as he wants.

[Guest Edgy DC]

I'm going to guess that he's wrong and that the results, under close analysis, will suggest as much.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Sean Green used four days in a row, and five games in six.

Game One: 1 2/3 IP, 0 H, 0 BB, 0 ER, 0 SO

Night off for the guy.

Game Two: 2/3 IP, 1 H, 0 BB, 0 ER, 1 SO

Game Three: 1 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 0 ER, 3 SO

(We're at peak performance and the guy would seemingly get a rest here in the interest of maintaining it, right? And we see some laboring with two baserunners and three Ks, right?)

Game Four: 1 IP, 1 H (HR), 0 BB, 1 ER (HR), 0 SO

Game Five: 0 IP, 3 H, 0 BB, 2 ER, 0 SO

Stop the madness.

[Guest Swan Swan H]

It may be time for the painful elimination of Ken Takahashi. Elmer Dessens has 11 saves and a sub-2.00 ERA at Buffalo, so he may be able to provide an option.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Yes, Dessens has been good and so has -- surprise! -- Eddie Kunz.

I'd suggest trying to knock Parnell down a few notches on the order, at least till he gets it together again, and slot in the above mentioned fellas for Takahashi and Switzer. Or even demote Parnell fpor a spell if you wanted to keep hold of one of those lefties.

PS -- Jerry's management makes me mad but I'm not beside myself. The O could make things a lot easier.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Stokes and Switzer. Nice!

That's why I love Jerry. I stay on his stupid gangsta ass long enough and he listens to me.

[Frayed Knot]

FWIW, Jerry essentially admitted that he was relying on the "proven" guys a bit too much and that he has to back off from that tactic.
Now, between the re-shuffling of roles and the re-shuffling of jobs, things may get a bit more spread out. Either that or he'll just start over-relying on different guys and the cycle will repeat itself.

[Guest Edgy DC]

It's worrth a lot. It'll be worth all the more if the lesson sticks with him.

[Gwreck]

Buster Olney of ESPN takes up this issue:

Jerry Manuel's preference for constantly playing match-up with his relievers on a regular basis already seems to be taking a toll on the Mets' bullpen. There are some teams that don't have a single reliever on pace to make 70 appearances, and the Mets have four (and would have had five if Putz hadn't broken down). It's difficult to consider these numbers without concluding that the Mets' relief corps is being mismanaged.

Key: Current | Pace | Career High

Francisco Rodriguez
Games: 34 | 81 | 76
Innings: 34.2 | 81 | 86
Work on consecutive days: 9

Sean Green
Games: 33 | 79 | 72
Innings: 32 | 76 | 79
Work on consecutive days: 10

Pedro Feliciano
Games: 40 | 95 | 86
Innings: 30 | 71 | 64
Work on consecutive days: 18

Bobby Parnell
Games: 36 | 86 | NA
Innings 27 | 64 | NA
Work on consecutive days: 12

[metirish]

Nice work by Olney , those are some scary numbers .

[Frayed Knot]

]Francisco Rodriguez -- Work on consecutive days: 9

Nine ... Really?

[metirish]

="Frayed Knot"] ]Francisco Rodriguez -- Work on consecutive days: 9 Nine ... Really?

Yeah , I've been wondering about those....Feliciano 18 days?

[Guest Swan Swan H]

Is that nine sets of consecutive days?

[Benjamin Grimm]

Yes, I would assume so. There were nine times that he worked on back-to-back days. Not that he worked nine consecutive days.

[Frayed Knot]

That makes more sense.

[Frayed Knot]

Hard to believe that LaRussa's boys aren't on that list of multiple guys heading for 70+ appearances (they have just 2) considering all the changes he makes -- although the Cards do have the same number of guys with at least 25 games to date (6)