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Politics : Sioux Nation -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: altair19 who wrote (150440)	10/29/2008 10:00:30 PM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 361614

It was a good game...Congrats to the Phillies - they outplayed the Rays...and Manuel outmanaged Maddon in this last few innings (David Price should have pitched for the Rays earlier and the Rays paid a price as the Phillies' closer is so good he has never blown a save all season long).

To: altair19 who wrote (150440)	10/29/2008 11:28:53 PM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 361614

World Series Game 6: Grady Maddon’s Decision Cost Tampa Bay A Chance To Extend Series sox1fan.com October 29, 2008 I know that Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon doesn’t throw pitches or step into the batter’s box, but it is my considered opinion that he is one of the primary reasons his team lost tonight’s deciding game in the World Series. Because of a pair of critical decisions he made in the seventh inning, the Philadelphia Phillies prevailed, 4-3, and in the process captured the franchise’s first world championship since 1980 (it is only the second World Series title in history for the Phillies). Like Grady Little in 2003, Maddon’s decision will almost assuredly be discussed by baseball fans for many years to come. It is indisputable that the manager’s responsibility is to put his players in a position to succeed. In 2003, Little put Pedro Martinez in a position to fail… putting a tired pitcher in the game when the world (including Petey himself) assumed he would be taken out of the game in favor of a reliever. Grady then compounded his mistake by leaving Pedro in the game to take his lumps and surrender the late-inning lead in a game the NY Yankees eventually won. Earlier this week, Maddon said repeatedly that he would make use of rookie phenom David Price in this game — that he would rely on him in a critical situation because there would be no more games to play unless this game was put into the win column. And then, with the game on the line and with the opportunity to do just that, Maddon choked on his own words. And so his ballclub heads back to Florida without another game to play. After his team tied the ballgame, 3-3, on a Rocco Baldelli home run in the top of the seventh inning, the conventional wisdom called for him to bring his rookie fireballer into the game to face the middle third of the Phillies lineup. After all, you wouldn’t leave the kid who closed out Game Seven of the ALCS on the bench only to see your opponent score the series-clinching run in the late innings… would you? So with right-handed hitting Pat Burrell at the plate to lead off the bottom of the seventh inning, and with Grant Balfour already out of the game, who did Maddon send out to the mound? The young gun, Price? Nope. Sinkerballer Chad Bradford? Uh-uh. Righty set-up man Dan Wheeler? Try again. How about J P Howell… And not only that, Maddon let Howell bat in the top of the seventh inning with the potential go-ahead run at first base… and had him lay down a sac bunt for the SECOND out of the inning! Argh! Now don’t get me wrong, Howell had a EXCELLENT season for the Rays in 2008. The southpaw held hitters to a .194 batting average during the regular season (righties hit only .197 against him)… but the bottom line is this: you don’t lose the World Series while your best relief pitcher picks splinters out of his rear end sitting on the bullpen bench. YOU JUST DON’T DO IT! But GRADY Maddon did just that tonight… he left the future ace of the franchise on the bench as he allowed another lefty pitcher on the mound to pitch to Burrell. And then to compound his mistake, once the potential game-winning run was at second base with no one out, he left his strikeout pitcher (Price) in the bullpen and brought in ground ball specialist Chad Bradford to pitch the rest of the inning. The situation called for a strikeout pitcher, but Maddon called on Bradford. The sinkerballer did his job — getting four ground balls. Unfortunately, the first ground ball advanced the baserunner to third base… and the second of the grounders shot past the drawn-in infield to allow the series-winning run to score. Game… set… match. No one can say how the game would have played out had Maddon made different decisions… after all, the game was tied as the bottom of the seventh inning started. But, in my opinion, it is a FACT that Maddon’s decisions did not put his players in a position to win… and so they lost.