Willie and Jerry (split from The Beltran Situation)

[batmagadanleadoff]

No way on the bunting. Willie was a serial bunter. Jerry isn't. Willie demonstrated thoroughly that he had no clue as to how an offense worked. Willie bunted everywhere. He bunted with the pitcher. He bunted with Lo Duca. He bunted in the first inning. He bunted in the first inning of games where Reyes led off and reached second base on his own: with the fastest runner in MLB already in scoring position with nobody out and there being virtually no chance of a ground ball double play, Willie Randolph ---you guessed it!--- sac bunted Reyes to third base. In the first inning. To my recollection, Jerry's done every one of these things-- and bunted ahead of both the number 7 and 8 slots-- during his slightly briefer tenure. (I was about to break out the numbers, but JCL beat me to it.) It kills me when I see him described by beat writers as an "intellectual," ostensibly because of the glasses and non sequiturs. It's like hearing people who've listened to a dullard Brit describe him as "sooooo smart, y'guys."

I hate Manuel's current use of the sac bunt as much as you do ... as much as anybody. But this season's less than a month old. 2009 was a lost season. And Jerry didn't bunt in 2008 when he inherited the same team that Willie managed for the first two and a half months of that season. You have to account for this if you're going to compare how Jerry and Willie use the sac bunt.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

I'm the last guy to defend Willie over Jerry but neither Delgado nor Reyes hit real well until the takeover in 08; it's hard to say whether Jerry would necessarily have bunted less had they continued to struggle but seeing how he handled "the lost season" freebie he got last year, he'd probably be just as bad.

[Guest Edgy DC]

I suspect that Jerry Manuel is thinking about bunting right now, going over in his head times he could have bunted this week but didn't, thinking about how he'll bunt again if that situation arises, and that he might have to work the game situation to make sure the sitation arises again.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Edgy DC wrote: One thing I think he has over Willie is the ability --- perhaps after weeks of EdgyDCarian frustration --- to wake up one morning and eat shit. Just look at his roster and say, "Fuck me, if I wasn't dead wrong about Angel all along. Dead wrong."

Maybe this is one of those days Manuel woke up, bringing in Rodriguez when he actually needed the guy.