What was Joe Torre thinking? As I watched the ninth inning meltdown by the L.A. Dodger closer last night, I wondered why he was allowed to self- combust, costing his team a game and hurting his psyche if not his arm.
In an era where everything is tied to pitch counts, how do you let your pitcher throw 48 pitches in ONE INNING, especially the night after throwing 19 pitches. As they say in baseball, he "had nothing left in the tank". And yet Torre remained planted firmly to his seat in the dugout as the disaster unfolded.
We all spent over a decade watching Torre protect the arm of maybe the greatest closer in baseball history. We all managed along side him every day. When had he ever let Mariano twist in the wind like this? I can't recall a time where he mistreated Rivera the way he mishandled his player and the situation yesterday.
Maybe it is being in L.A. that has dulled Torre's managerial senses. Who knows. I just want to thank him, as a long time die hard Yankee fan, for his failure to grasp the obvious. Could you imagine if this happened when he was in New York, in the days when George Steinbrenner ruled over his team with an iron hand? It is almost too painful to contemplate.
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1 comment:
During all his years with the Yankees, Joe became spoiled like the rest of us. Because he almost never had to "protect" Mariano, he has forgotten that managerial thinking is required after inserting the closer.
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