God knows we get on Gibby for...everything, lately. But consider his decision today to pitch B.J. Ryan in the eighth and Jesse Carlson in the ninth:
1) Ryan needed work and Gibbons didn't wait for a ninth-inning situation that could have never happened (if KC took the lead and the Jays didn't tie it).
2) Ryan only threw nine pitches and could have pitched the ninth, presumably, but Gibbons decided the ninth wasn't important enough to send Ryan back out. Then again you could mark this up to "riding the hot hand" (Carlson) and "only three outs for the closer."
3) Up by one in the 8th is more crucial, I'm assuming, than up by one in the ninth (the likely state of the game given what we knew after seven innings).
4) Most importantly, someone else got a save when Ryan was available to pitch.
While I'm here, I am also a big fan of any lineup with Eckstein not leading off. More, please.
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3 comments:
Damn straight, Rob. That was real good bullpenage by Gibby. As always, any grumblings from the peanut gallery about Gibby's firing should be accompanied by an explanation of who should replace him...
I disagree on Eckstein - I'm happy to leave him the leadoff man. Leading off is hard; given that, he does it quite well.
So how do you react to the news that Eckstein will bat second (Rios leading off). Or do you react at all?
I react with pained indifference, which is increasingly how I am viewing these Jays. I do like Rios hitting leadoff because he'll see fastballs, but if you're going to think like that, why not Vernon?
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