Up 4-3 in the bottom of the eighth inning with two outs, Damaso Marte gets pulled from the game for Jose Veras. He walks his batter only to be pulled for Phil Coke who gives up three runs and loses the game.
Why are managers so concerned with the lefty and righty match-ups? It makes absolutely no sense to continually do it. I know, I play baseball and I bat left-handed, and yes, it does make it harder to see the ball—but a big league hitter better be able to hit it!
The fact is, a major league pitcher should be able to get anyone out no matter what side of the plate they're on. Same goes for hitters.
So when your lefty specialist just got two outs in a row, why would you pull him? He's still a pitcher and he's in a groove. Marte could have easily gotten the third out and finished the inning to send it to the ninth.
But no, a lefty can't face a righty, not in this game. What's the point? Right after Veras walks someone on a wet mound, he's pulled when the match-up is no issue—they have a righty on the bench. At this point why isn't Veras given a chance to get used to the mound and get his next batter?
Why not just carry eight starters and more pitchers so you can match up all through the game if it's really that important?
Why isn't Pat Venditte in the majors if it's really that important?
Why isn't everyone switch-pitching and switch-hitting if it's really that important?
Another important fact to point out is that the more pitchers you let on the mound, the more chance of one of them having an off-night, that's what we saw going from Bruney in the seventh to Marte, Veras, Coke in the eighth.
Close game management reminds me of an autistic child that has to obsessively match everything up, green to green, red to red, lefty to lefty and righty to righty.
I know a lot of you may disagree with me, but by my logic is that this style of management needs to be done away with.
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