“The Mets aren’t suffering walk-off losses on the road because they need an eighth-inning guy, they’re suffering walk-off losses on the road because they think they need an eighth-inning guy.”
- Ted Berg – TedQuarters.net
Check out and read the entire article over at Ted Berg’s site where he discusses the quote from Manuel where he said,
“All the walk-off losses on the road is indicative of an eighth-inning guy. That’s where an eighth-inning guy pitches. It’s basically that simple. If that eighth-inning guy is the guy, he pitches the tie game on the road. At home, the closer pitches the tie game because you get a chance to bat. That’s just the way that works. I mean, that’s baseball.”
3 comments
njstuckintx
7/2/2010-3:22pm at 3:22 pm (UTC -4)
Having had a chance to read this as I wait for the clock to get closer to “out the door” time, I have to say I agree with Teddy. Jerry will never be confused with being wise regarding the bullpen’s usage.
GravediggerHebner
7/2/2010-3:41pm at 3:41 pm (UTC -4)
I haven’t even read the article but the straw that broke my back on the whole Jerry issue is precisely his repeated statements about the 8th inning and having a “guy” for it.
Yesterday I finally decided to investigate further so I looked it up and the Mets have allowed fewer runs to their opponent in the 8th inning than any other inning 1-9.
This breakdown is the inning itself, the # of times the team has played that inning (rain shortened or opposition not coming up in bottom of 9th for example affect that), and the # of runs they’ve allowed in that inning:
1st – 79 – 37
2nd – 79 – 24
3rd – 79 – 56
4th – 79 – 46
5th – 79 – 41
6th – 78 – 22
7th – 78 – 36
8th – 78 – 21
9th – 64 – 22
So they need a “7th inning guy” or even a “9th inning guy” (let alone a “3rd inning guy”) more than they need an “8th inning guy.” The whole “8th inning guy” thing just sent me over the edge.
njstuckintx
7/2/2010-4:00pm at 4:00 pm (UTC -4)
What killed me was the use of Pedro for the 9th inning against a couple of power hitting righties for the Marlins. For a guy so concerned with splits, you’d think the first thing on his mind would have been “um, Pedro ain’t that good against righties…” But he wanted his quote/unquote man to handle the inning. That frustrated me to no end as I knew they lost that game as soon as it was apparent it was Pedro’s to win/lose.
How many teams have ever had a Mariano/Wetteland combo? Or even a McDowell/Orosco combo. Very few.