Idiots Write About Sports

Let us say you are Oakland A’s manager Ken Macha. Let us further suppose your team is clinging to a 2-0 lead over Baltimore in the midst of a hot and heavy pennant race. And, just for the sake of argument, let’s say that your starter, who we’ll hypothetically name Barry Zito, has run into a spot of trouble after cruising through the first six innings. There are runners at the corners, there is but one out, and Zito has just responded to an 0-2 count by plunking Javy Lopez in the head.

I’m no expert, but I’d say that suggests your pitcher has begun to lose control of the game.

A double play will get you out of trouble, you say? True that, but let’s remember this hypothetical Barry Zito like pitcher does not possess the sort of two-seam fastball that results in a lot of ground ball outs.

So the question before the panel is this: do you leave your pitcher in to extricate himself from a mess of his own making, or do you turn to a pitcher in your bullpen who might be better suited for inducing the ground ball that will let you escape with your lead intact.

I say go to the ‘pen. But then again, I am not an idgit. In this regard, I have a definitive advantage over Mr. Ken Macha.

Indeed, this exact scenario has just played out before me, curiously enough, with Macha leaving Zito in to face Sammy Sosa in a bases loaded, one-out situation. Miracle of miracles, Zito did get Sosa to hit a ground ball, a miserable little tapper up the third base line that should usually result in the 1-2 force-out. Sadly, Barry Zito isn’t what you might call a solid fielding pitcher, and he misplayed the ball into a run-scoring error.

(Don’t feel bad if you didn’t realize that Zito is only marginally acceptable at fielding his position. That’s the sort of inside dope available only to people like big league managers.)

Zito then walks the immortal Alejandro Freire to plate the tying run — on four pitches, no less. Pull him now? Of course not. Zito’s hung out to dry for another batter — Jay Gibbons who hits a grounder to short that Bobby Crosby dutifully launches into right field — and by the time, Macha finally snaps out of his stupor to go to the ‘pen, it’s 4-2.

Maybe a reliever gets the double-play ground out from Sosa; maybe, the same comedy of errors plays out. But from the moment Zito plunked Lopez in the head, it was clear he wasn’t going to get the job done — well, clear to everyone but Ken Macha. And all it’s going to cost Oakland is another game in the playoff race.

I'm extremely thankful that I didn't see this game. Macha's been dead to me ever since he made the exact same grievous error in game five against Boston in 2003 -- with the same pitcher (throwing on three freaking days' rest), no less.

I realize things could be worse; we could have Dusty Baker forcing Rich Harden to throw 135 pitches, after all. But Macha's steadfast refusal to lift his starters when they're clearly gassed is a habitual deficiency that leaves me anxious to see him sent packing this offseason.

Or you could have Bruce Bochy who, after 11 years of working with Trevor Hoffman, still can not seem to fathom that you do not put Hoffman in a game in a non-save situation unless you have at least six insurance runs to throw away.

11 years!

Rumors of Bochy's efficacy as a manager have been greatly exaggerated.

Yes, Steve, but I understand Bochy's nascent mayoral campaign is gaining momentum every day.

http://www.bochyformayor.com/

Yes, but that's only because the alternative is this thing:

http://www.donnafryeformayor.com/2005/photos/images/archive/df_01.jpg

Aieeeeeee!

The fact that Bochy's not in bed with the players' union gives him a leg up, too.

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