Sure, there were other factors in the 5-2 loss last night to the Pittsburgh Pirates, but the hanger thrown by Seth Maness to Ike Davis in the 8th inning was the deciding factor in another close contest and a decision that painfully sticks out to me. Â This may sound mean so pardon me Best Fans in Baseball while I rant a little…
The intention of Maness was to get Davis out and keep the game tied. Ike had other plans and launched his 9th home run into the dark of night. It was a poorly conceived matchup to begin with and one Mike Matheny took heat(justified) for after the game.
My theory is simple. Why go with Maness, who allows LH batters to hit him to the tune of .307 this season, face a hitter who mashes righthanded pitching? I don’t care how Maness has looked the past three months. One bad matchup can paint a sad face in black, just like Johnny Gomes’ three run blast did off Maness in last year’s World Series(I think that ball is still carrying to left). Maness should have never faced Davis.
Matheny has a specialist down there in Randy Choate, and also had Sam Freeman throw a low amount of pitches in the 7th inning. Tyler Lyons is down in the pen as well. If you want a RHP to face Davis, go with Pat Neshek. Go with your best RHP if you are going to walk on the wild side. Â Or you could go with Lyons or Choate, because Davis only hits .197 off lefties for his career.
Don’t worry about tomorrow’s game or this weekend either. Win the game at hand. Win the game being played. This is where Tony La Russa’s take it one game at a time mantra stuck with me. If you set up for tomorrow’s game, the one being played may be lost in the shuffle.
If Clint Hurdle and the Pirates counter with a RH pinch hitter, Choate or Lyons can deal with that. Chris Stewart and Jordy Mercer don’t make pitchers look long into the night.
Matheny had choices last night and didn’t go to them. I understand Maness hadn’t allowed a run in 9 straight appearances. Well, that’s gone now. If Matheny likes to get all pitching matchup happy and change pitchers like socks, do it right there.
The Cards batted back and tied the game at 2 in the seventh, and seemed poised to steal the game and go to 13 games over .500. The Brewers would fall to the Padres later, so this was another chance lost.
These bad decisions are ones that can cost a team fighting for a playoff spot. They can’t be made right now. It’s almost September. The NL Central Division race is wound tight. Matheny has to start LEARNING how to manage his bullpen. If I can find Davis’ work against lefties from the couch, I would hope Derek Lilliquist and Matheny can from the dugout. This is where a pitching coach can give his manager a nudge. I imagine Dave Duncan gave La Russa  couple of pushes back in the day. As a good friend of mine said, Lilliquist isn’t the dynamic pitching mind Duncan was. As we are seeing with Justin Masterson, he can’t turn twisted metal into a skyscraper. Derek is more of an oil change and tire rotation coach. Last night, I wonder if he advised Matheny to seek out a lefty.
There were other factors. The Cards swung at horrible pitches all night, but the Pirates pitch well and Gerrit Cole is a good arm. This was a tough nail biter. Lance Lynn pitched very well and out of trouble. The Cards got him off the hook but couldn’t pull out a win.
In close games, a decision or two loom large for me. In the game last night, it was allowing Maness to face Davis with the game on the line.
Rant over.
2 comments
That’s something that drives me CRAZY about Matheny. He regularly plays the percentages (as do many managers) but then in a high leverage situation with multiple options he inexplicably *doesn’t* and it costs him the game. I don’t think he has a clue how to best use his pitching staff, which shocks me considering what a good catcher he was.
Clearly a mistake by the manager last night, it is getting very late in the season to be making this type of blunder. A world of playoff difference between winning your division and playing in as a wild card. Milwaukee continues to offer the Cards the division but we won’t take it. Has to change.
Comments are closed.