Baseball Jeremiad

MLB Trade Rumors says that the Phillies’ talks with Jayson Werth are at an impasse. Two things can happen here, it seems: the Phillies re-sign worth and he continues to kill the Mets; or, the Mets sign Werth and he becomes a poor man’s Pat Burrell.

The Joy of Sox tells us that Red Sox keep playing one-run games. My baseball instincts tell me that doesn’t speak well for the team’s future.

Filed under: Uncategorized, brad lidge, dodgers, good ollie/bad ollie, Jerry Manuel, joe posananski, jon heyman, links, meaningful games, Mets, omar minaya, Phillies

April 19, 2010 • 10:42 pm 1

LaRussa the Odd

I know that there are two perfectly valid responses to this but I’m going to say it anyway.* Tony LaRussa was unwise on Saturday and didn’t catch any flak for it, at least not that I saw.

*(The responses are “But it’s Tony LaRussa!” and “They’re going to win the division by 10 games anyway, so what does it matter?”)

In the 18^th inning of Saturday’s marathon against the Mets, Tony brought Felipe Lopez, a third baseman, in to pitch. In the 19^th, Tony brought Joe Mather in to pitch, who had replaced Lopez at third after playing in center field previously. In the 20^th, Mather lost the game.

Now, when Tony brought in the position players to pitch he was out of relievers and the score was 0-0. This raises a couple questions in my mind. Sure, you don’t know how long a 0-0 tie will last, but once you’re down to two relievers I think you’d start stretching them out a little bit, right? Especially when apparently you would rather pitch a position player than pitch one of your starters, although you would stick one of your starters in left field (Tony sent Kyle Lohse out there in the 18^th). I know it’s only one game, but pitching a position player is almost like giving up*, and every game counts.

*Although it is the Mets and Felipe Lopez did get through his inning in 4 batters.

If Jerry Manuel had pulled that move those buzzards Jersey Matt keeps mentioning would have had a field day today. Fortunately for the buzzards there are plenty of other reasons to keep an eye on Jerry. During that game on Saturday, K-Rod got up in the pen nine times and reportedly threw over 100 pitches before entering the game. He ended up blowing the save, of course, because his arm was dead dead dead. That is how you mess up the arm of your overpriced closer. That is why Jerry Manuel, as Jersey Matt promises, may not make it to Memorial Day.

One last thing on the mismanagement of the Mets: they insisted they weren’t going to rush Ike Davis to the bigs. Insisted! Well, here he comes* to take Mike Jacobs’ place. I think it was generally accepted that it was going to happen eventually because Mike Jacob’s is generally not very good, but Mike Jacobs has had 24 at-bats this season. So much for not rushing.

*He had two hits tonight in a win against the Cubbies.

Meanwhile, the Yankees look like they’re going to win 115 games and the Red Sox look like they’re going to win 75. Of course those teams will both level out but at the moment they’re going in opposite directions. The Yankees have a +25 run differential and the Red Sox have scored 15 fewer runs than the Nationals (but 2 more than the Mets).

DC is a-buzz about the Nationals’ and their blazing 7-6 start. They beat the Rockies tonight; before the game, today was the latest in the season they were at .500 since they finished 2005 81-81. They lost their last 3 games of that season, so this is the latest they’ve been above .500 since September 28, 2005, if I’m not mistaken. Hoo-rah. Pudge is hitting .450 in 40 ABs. I’m sure that will last.

Filed under: Uncategorized, Jerry Manuel, Mets, Nationals, Pudge, Red Sox, Tony LaRussa, Yankees