I said before that he waited as long as he did because our bullpen has been working alot latley. And if they have to come in and pitch anther 6 inningshere its going to be pretty much kill our bullpen for the next few games. and for what?
Did you really want to see Gallardo come out and pitch here, a man who has never pitched out of the bullpen ever come in . a pretty much dead game already.
First of all, I have to point out that I tried to make it very clear in my post that my problem wasn't with Yost leaving Gallardo on the bench (although Mickey is right to point out that bringing in YoGo once the Brewers pulled even may very well have changed the outcome of the game, and at the time that option deserved some thought).
What I instead complain about is that Yost, after watching Suppan give up 5 runs on a walk and 6 hits (and a hit batter) in three innings, decided to let him continue to pitch when it seemed obvious that Suppan just didn't have it. As for your claim that there was nothing that could be done because we were short in the pen, I would ask you why Yost could not have relieved Suppan with Spurling in the 3rd and then have Spurling pitch 2 or 3 innings? Would that not be better than leaving a wild Suppan in?
Look, I know what you're thinking, you're probably saying to yourself, "Yeah, right, this guy says that the best move would have been to bring in Cappy or Chris in the third, but if either of those guys had come in then and would have proceeded to give up a couple of runs after that he would have been the first guy to complain that Yost brought in a shaky reliever when Suppan was still only around 50 pitches".
To that I would first say that you sure don't give me a lot of credit, and, second, that I promise that you will never catch me second-guessing a manager for pulling a starter (or any pitcher) too early if that pitcher showed signs that he didn't have his accuracy on that particular outing (which I think should be pretty clear in this case from the 25 balls, the hit batter, and the 6 hits surrendered through 3 innings by Suppan), because I have never done it and would never do it.
Knowing Yost, there was never any question in his mind of when to remove Suppan, and there is almost no doubt in my mind now about what transpired in this instance. Suppan looked a little rocky in the 1st, and Yost understandably shrugged it off. He then saw Suppan getting hit and looking rattled in the 3rd, so he asked Mad Dog for the pitch count and, because it was still in the forties, he shrugged it off again. This fits in exactly with my diagnosis of Yost, which is that his problem is that he will continue to do what he had planned on doing regardless of changing circumstances on the field, especially with regard to the pitching staff.
Ned Yost did eventually remove Suppan, but only once his pitch count was at 96. This is my point. Suppan was not coming out of that damn game, no matter what he looked like or how badly he pitched, until his pitch count was close to 100. See what I'm getting at?
Ned Yost is like the Hold'em player who always plays his aces to the river no matter what comes out on the flop or what is raised by others in the hand after the flop, turn, or river. Anyone who has played poker has played against guys like that; the type that gets good pocket cards and has a really hard time laying them down even if the situation is such that it makes sense to do so. Managers, like poker players, must try to get their best read on the situation and then make the most logical play, and there seems to me to be no getting around the fact that Yost has trouble doing just that.
