June 22, 2004
Gagne With a Spoon
When the ninth inning began last night with Guillermo Mota on the mound rather than Eric Gagne, I began to shout at the TV. Well, that’s not fair. I was shouting about Gagne coming in before the Dodgers even tied the game.
Here’s the thing: You’re the Dodgers, on the road in a tie. If your pitchers allow any runs to score, the game is over immediately. This is the most important relief pitching situation you could possibly have. So use your best pitcher in that situation. Give yourself an inning or two two play for a run; if your relief ace is pooped out, then you go to the next best guy, and so on.
But no. Apparently Jim Tracy, using the conventional wisdom favored by managers today, opted for Mota because it wasn’t a save situation. In other words, he preferred to risk using Mota over Gagne, with a potentially game-ending outcome, rather than bring in Gagne and dare to be forced to use Mota for the save if the Dodgers scored while Gagne was gassed.
In the paper today, Tracy was apparently asked why he didn’t bring in Gagne with men on base. That’s just silly. In a tie game, extra-innings situation you can’t waste relievers like that. The real issue is, why wasn’t Gagne in there to begin with? Go with your strength first off — otherwise you might not get a chance to use him at all.
Dumb, dumb, dumb.
