Neds gonna bring KC a World Series victory. Royals vs Dodgers. Royals win in 7. Come back to this in October...

Revisionist History..

Ned magically started making guys like Butler hit??

Keith Law was ripping on Ned on the radio today.

Ned's usually standing by Eiland. I wonder if he's helping him with some of the decisions this year

I wasn't a fan of bringing Crow or Frasor into the game today. But we won, so whatever.

Had No Idea Ned had that power .... its his job to make Butler Hit? ... What's Belly's Job? Please Go be a Niner/Giants fan and evacuate this ****ing board.

If Ned isn't responsible for Butlers hot surge, he's not responsible for the terrible start Butler had either. That was easy

Ned. Neeeeeeeddddd.

Eiland has been a great addition to the Royals, IMHO.

Can't tell if serious?!? Ned is the recipient of players taking responsibility. Trace our fine winning streak back to a player's only meeting where the soft-spoken Alex Gordon told everyone to look in the mirror.

Truth is, if Ned didn't have his head up his a$$ as a tactician on the field and culture-setter in the clubhouse, this team would have been in the playoffs LAST YEAR. Francona would have managed these guys to the Wild Card at the least, last year.

So again...why should I celebrate the guy that's management style was finally overcome by his players taking responsibility for themselves? Teams can win in spite of their managers. Unfortunately, they can also under-perform because of their managers as well. Responsibility is still on the players to overcome, but a manager can either manage them to overcoming or enable and under-performing culture.

I would LOVE that. And Ned would still be a terrible manager and a forgettable one, eventually.

Ned seems to be a great guy and keeps the clubhouse happy.

A happy clubhouse is an important thing.


still doesn't mean that he's a good field manager though

barely average

I think what we are finding out is that a Manager in Baseball doesn't really buy you much in the way of wins and losses.

I had lunch with a former colleague the other day, who was in town to cover the series with the A's for his pub (introduced him to LC's. He was very pleased).

He summed up Yost pretty well: A pretty bad tactical manager who you hope can make up for it by keeping the team loose, and have them being relaxed pay off with good performance.

I don't have much more to add to that.

I will point out one moment from yesterday's game as an EXCELLENT example of Yost making a really shitty tactical decision and having the players cover it up for him: The 7th inning.

With one out, Kratz hits that single. Down 1 in the 7th, lumbering catcher on 1B. Yost decides to not pinch run for him, which means his only chance of scoring is on two hits OR a home run. But I understand not pinch running there, as he's your catcher, you're trying to get your starter a day off, and you still have two more cracks with the top of your lineup still due up.

Then Christian Colon rips that double to left, leaving Kratz at 3B (Cain would have scored from first on that play). NOW Ned Yost pinch runs. NOW.

Jarrod Dyson comes through with a single (after Bob Melvin curiously went to his pen and brought in a RHP to face Dyson), the Royals go on to score two more, and it ends up not being a problem.

But if the A's go to Abbad, he gets Dyson without letting the run score, and retires Aoki, the Royals leave the inning still trailing. And that really poor tactical management pops out much more easily.