Strange moves.
I’m a bit of a loss to explain some of the moves in the middle innings of tonight’s game.
First off, when Moyer came out after only 4 innings I figured that was a situation calling for the long man, so I was expecting to see JA Happ coming in. Nope, Condrey instead, and now we’re going to the parade of short relievers. The only thing I can think of is that they might be considering using Happ to start the game tomorrow if they can’t come back today.
Second, the double switch baffles me. Oops, no it doesn’t. TBS’ coverage confused me. They had it Jenkins replacing Werth without mentioning that Werth went to left and replaced Burrell. That makes far more sense.
October 4th, 2008 at 11:41 pm
I don’t think it hurt them much, but Charlie’s movies didn’t help at all. I would not have hit Stairs for Moyer, I probably would have used Bruntlett or even Taguchi. You needed a base hit there, not necessarily a home run. Turn the lineup over and have two on, one out for the top of the order and make something happen.
Condrey came in because the Brewers lineup is so overwhelming right-handed that the lefties (Happ, Eyre, and Romero) are less useful as general relievers (oh wait, is that Eyre going more than an inning?). But when Condrey only went one and Durbin went two-thirds, he’s forced to use Eyre for not just Prince, and to double-switch to keep from having to get pinch-hit for too soon. The double switch was unfortunate, because it was clear Burrell was getting another at bat and Jenkins hasn’t exactly been tearing the cover off the ball. And it risks not being able to use Dobbs for the pitcher when it comes around again because a lefty might be in to face Utley and Howard.
I think the makeup of the roster and the uncertainty about tomorrow’s pitcher really hurt them tonight. There aren’t enough right-handed pitchers in the bullpen to deal with this team for more than three or four innings unless you use Blanton as a long man, but he might or might not be starting tomorrow (I heard Hamels, I saw Blanton listed online, I still don’t know). Also, the bench isn’t very good. The only right-handed power threat you have on the bench can’t come in because he’s the backup catcher, and he’s been ice-cold for the last month or two anyway. You’ve got two weak hitters in Taguchi and Bruntlett, an all-or-nothing guy in Stairs, and Dobbs, who’s all-world as a pinch hitter. Oh, and Jenkins, who’s terrible.
Ugh. Two years in a row now this offense has come up small in October. This year the pitching has been better, and they had two lucky innings, which were enough to win them two games. They need to find some offensive consistency if they’re going to threaten the Dodgers, who are a very beatable team, if they even escape this series (they should).