Quote:
Originally Posted by frazod
Hey, in hindsight it was fine. But one run crosses and we're maybe going into another extra inning game with no bullpen. I really don't want to see Mather pitching again, do you?
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Yeah, but that's that 'managing to win tomorrow' crap that LaRussa too often gets into. How 'bout you just put your guys in the best position to keep that run from scoring and not worry about it? That's exactly what he did.
Over-managing would've been to leave Reyes out there to walk the bases loaded so he can face Heyward (with Reyes' notoriously spotty command and Heyward's excellent plate discipline). Over-managing would've been putting your team in a worse position in real-time in order to plan against the contingency of an extra inning game. Franklin wasn't available, had it gone extras we were probably boned anyway. He knew we had a short bullpen and knew that we needed to win this thing in regulation. He managed with a sense of urgency I rarely see from LaRussa in a regular season game and I loved it.
All LaRussa can do is put his guys in the best position to win the game and that's exactly what he did. No hindsight to it - had it gone to extras, I'd have defended his use there as well.
The best way to manage extra innings is to stay out of them. The moves he made were expressly designed to do just that.
Like I said - what would you have done?