He's MUCH better than Scott Kazmir
The great thing about having a blog is the ability to disseminate my thoughts to events as they transpire. So I'll use this forum to state that Victor Zambrano is a sack of crap who should be pulled from the Mets rotation. 2 outs and the pitcher up - how do you turn that into a grand slam?? He's just lucky that didn't happen at Shea, I'm not sure he'd have made it back to the dugout in one piece.
That is all.
That is all.
posted by Eric at 5:32 PM
4 Comments:
How about commenting on this?
Pitcher Matt Morris of the Giants was ejected from the game in the bottom of the 1st inning by home plate umpire Travis Reininger for throwing at batters.
Manager Felipe Alou of the Giants was ejected from the game in the bottom of the 1st inning by home plate umpire Travis Reininger for arguing Morris´s ejection.
Pitching Coach Dave Righetti of the Giants was ejected from the game in the bottom of the 1st inning by home plate umpire Travis Reininger for arguing.
Ray King of the Rockies was ejected by home plate umpire Travis Reininger in the top of the 8th inning for hitting Omar Vizquel after warnings had been issued.
Rockies Manager Clint Hurdle was automatically ejected following the ejection of Ray King.
OK, I brought this up to Eric online, and he disagreed with me, but I'll post it here anyway.
I blame Randolph for letting Zambrano face Giles. I would have pulled him.
Zambrano could not locate anything all day, and he couldn't even throw strikes with his off-speed pitches. He could throw his fastball for strikes, but wild in the strikezone.
After the single to the pitcher and the walk to Roberts, Randolph should have gotten someone (Oliver, perhaps) up in the bullpen and taken a slow walk to the mound. After the single by Barfield he should have taken another slow walk to the mound and taken him out.
The matchup was a terrible one:
- Bases loaded, nowhere to put Giles if he walks.
- Zambrano needs to throw strikes, and can only throw strikes with his fastball
- Giles is a fastball hitter
- Zambrano's fastball was consistently missing the target, wild in the strike zone.
At this point, the score was still 1-0, and they only needed one out to get out of the inning. As it turned out, the grand slam cost them the game.
Now, I understand Eric's argument, that when taking a long-term view the bullpen needed the rest and you want to nurse zambrano through trouble so he can eat up innings. I would not have played it that way though, because you don't try to set up the bullpen for the next game or two at the *expense* of losing this game. Not to speak for Eric, but what I understood him to mean was that it was a worthwhile gamble. If Zambrano gets Giles, he might go another two or three innings, saving the overworked bullpen.
My opinion though was that the risk was too high considering all the factors. I didn't predict a home run, obviously, but I thought the matchup was *extremely* unfavorable for the Mets and that Randolph shouldn't have allowed it to happen.
As it turned out, Zambrano got Gonzalez, the next batter, to end the 4th, and was then lifted for a pinch hitter in the bottom of the inning. So he only ended up pitching 4 innings anyway, leaving the rest to the bullpen. So after allowing the unfavorable matchup in order to prevent using the bullpen, he not only lost his gamble but used the bullpen in addition.
I think Randolph otherwise managed the game fine, but that this was a major blunder.
adam seems right to me, but I haven't heard eric's rebuttal.
Jon Papelbon is clearly more attractive now.
Post a Comment
<< Home