Thank you for pulling the collective arses of Jerry Manuel, Johan
Santana, Pedro Feliciano and Eddie "Nothing But A Bunch Of" Kunz out of the fire last night.
(Manager Manuel, you will recall, pinch hit for Santana after 94 pitches in the 8th with the bases loaded so that Brian Schneider could strike out in his stead and further that the bullpen, namely Feliciano in the instant case, could try and ho-ho-ho hee-hee-hee ha-ha-ha, hold a 1 run lead.)
Unbelievably, you took mercy on both Manuel for either a)making the right decision in a crapshoot called Russian Roulette Relievers b) guessing c) making a desperate choice when utterly out of reasonable options.
Sure, if Schneider had turned around and hit a grand slam it could have rightly been hailed, similarly to the choice of relievers, as either incredible luck or a decision bordering on genius, the difference being primarily that based on probability alone, Schneider probably had a better chance of hitting a pinch hit grand slam than the bullpen did of saving the game but that's all water under the table dear, sweat Je$u$, for whatever reason, you spared him and Feliciano both the incredible ridicule that was almost certain to follow and instead, turned them into temporary folk heroes in a way.
You spared Santana the humiliation of losing another reasonably pitched game that he couldn't or didn't finish and accordingly, was forced to watch the bullpen choke it up like a hair ball - not that he deserved it necessarily - having watched the games of his own and his colleagues turned into contests of unfathonable ineptitude he almost deserved to see another victory yanked from his maw for failing to finish.
And you spared Kunz well, being the goat for a day a day or two early.
Jerry knew as well as the rest of us that if Kunz went in there he was going to gag on the bit and hinted as much when he made some absurdist argument about why Feliciano was a better choice pitching to batters he would usually not be allowed to pitch to simply because he didn't think Kunz would be able to handle it.
Well, his exact words were "I did not want to start Eddie with a guy that I didn't think was a swinger," but frankly, that justification makes little sense due to the double negatives and intentional obfuscation of the decision process. The truth is probably closer to wild guess or gut instinct than Jerry would lead on.
Hey, what's HE doing? Isn't it the Mets' bullpen who is supposed to throw
games away on hit batsmen??
The other theory is that you just hate the Nats more than the Mets. I mean look at what you've turned that franchise into historically. That city's baseball history reads like a tragicomedy whereas you appear more inclined to tantalise Mets fan before yanking the chair out from under them. Fair play. If it gets us and the pen a long-awaited win then I'm sure nobody in Queens is going to complain.
What do you mean it hit Easley? The pitch was this far over his aura...
In any event, there it is - you appear to be a great believer in miracles and the bullpen appears to be the beneficiary for a night.
Can't wait until tomorrow night to see which reliever is the bullet.
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2 comments:
Thank God I do not fret over these games any more. When the bullpen shows signs of implosion I nod knowingly and feel strangely warm inside. I am a lifelong Mets fan--the life of the Mets, I mean. I actually rooted for the Brooklyn Dodgers when I was very, very little. I love the Mets. I just cannot warm up to this bunch. They are soft. I hate soft teams. I prefer bad teams to soft teams. By the way, I would not bat Schneider for anybody---even himself.
I wonder if they are soft or if they simply have come to believe, after 2006 and half of 07 perhaps that things came easily, without much effort. They seem surprised by their struggles with consistency but psychologically whilst they may well be soft, their egos seem to suggest to them sotto voce that they don't really have to try that hard. Not ALL the time.
And yes, getting Schneider an at-bat in exchange for giving the game up to the bullpen was not something I'd have gone for either yet the bench is starting for the most part and if he'd let Santana hit for himself there'd have been second guessers about that as well, especially if Santana didn't rock the side out in the 9th. But it all seems rather silly. To spend so much on a team and not structure it in a way that an integral piece, like the pen, isn't a complete black hole of need when the pennant race commences in earnest seems almost negligent. Yes, Omar finds gems but one wonders if his theory about building a team isn't flawed to begin with.
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