ESPN's Keith Law on pitching changes (re: brewers and cubs)

[goirish2107]

"One night after Ned Yost mishandled his bullpen and cost the Brewers a game in which they held a two-run lead after six innings, Lou Piniella went in the opposite direction and saw a close game turn into a blowout. The difference in the two moves was in their logic.

Yost let Jeff Suppan hit in the top of the seventh on Tuesday night with his team up 3-1 and Suppan well under 100 pitches. Suppan went 0-2 on Cliff Floyd to start the bottom of the seventh, and then hit Floyd on the next pitch, at which point Yost's knee jerked him all the way out to the mound. Yost brought in Scott Linebrink, who hasn't been effective since the Brewers gave up three minor league arms to acquire him a month ago. Linebrink proceeded to give up a four-spot, allowing the go-ahead run to score when he muffed a comebacker.

Yost's mistake, of course, was working without a plan. He said afterward that he intended to have Linebrink pitch the seventh, Derrick Turnbow the eighth and Francisco Cordero the ninth. This is a ridiculous compartmentalization of his relievers, putting relievers into little boxes by inning rather than using the best arms to get the most difficult or critical outs. Yet if that was Yost's plan, why not pinch hit for Suppan in the top of the seventh? Why let him face one batter and then yank him? And why replace him at all in the seventh when he had been pitching well all game?

Contrast that with Piniella's non-move in the seventh inning on Wednesday night, a move that didn't work out, but made some sense. The jam Carlos Zambrano was in was only partly of his own making, as Ryan Theriot failed to get even one out on a routine ground ball that could have led to a double play. But more importantly, the next hitter due up was Ryan Braun, who had struck out twice against Zambrano and looked bad in doing so. The Cubs had right-handed reliever Kerry Wood warmed up, but Zambrano was a better bet to get the next out than Wood, especially since Wood (who came into the game in the next inning) takes a few pitches to really get going. As it turns out, Braun knocked home two runs, and two more scored after Zambrano left the game, but Piniella was on target in leaving his starter in, especially since that starter had thrown well all night."



--seeing law's reaction to the 'ridiculous compartmentalization' of our bullpen makes me wonder where he was the whole season, hasn't he noticed this before? or was this the first brewer game he's watched this year?

[bigkurty]

I don't care that it has taken this long to see it. I just care that it has been noticed. Say we somehow squeak into the playoffs. Unless we magically win the whole damn thing, Ned has got to go. I never realized how bad he was before this year and maybe it is because we never expected to be good anyway but now that we are pretty good and have some decent talent, I am much more critical and I spend more time analyzing Yost. Sparky actually brought this up on his show how he has been saying Yost sucked since last year and I guess I wish I would have listened and started paying attention last year. He is horrible. Like the other night when he did bring Linebrink in. Why didn't he make the pitching change to McClung when we were still tied at least? It was quite obvious Linebrink was sucking bad.

FU Yost, Thanks for helping to ruin a perfectly good season.

[Ayt]

Pitchers get confused if you don't pitch them in specific innings.

[MickeyDavis]

I could never figure that out either. Coco in the 9th? Yes, that makes sense. But the rest of the pen should be brought in depending on the situation and the batters they are facing.

[GYBE]

Law's an idiot. It wasn't just Kerry Wood warming up, Carlos Marmol was ready to go as well. And I'd like to see him argue a 115+ pitch Z was a better bet to get the out than one of the best relievers in baseball.

Even before the hit, Cub fans wanted Z gone. The only one who could think it was the right move is someone disconnected from the team.

[livestrong4ever]

Dont you want your best bullpen pitchers up at the end of the game. Turnbow and Coco makes sense to me.,

[goirish2107]

there's a difference between having guys ready to go in specific innings and putting them in those innings no matter what. i remember earlier in the year shouse came in the 8th instead of tbow, since we had a slightly larger lead, and then him and tbow blew it. ever since yost's been afraid to go with guys in certain situations and instead putting them in for one specific inning. i happen to disagree with that

[trwi7]

Dont you want your best bullpen pitchers up at the end of the game. Turnbow and Coco makes sense to me.,

I want my best pitchers pitching in the toughest spots. Like if you're in a bases loaded one out jam in the 7th inning I want my best reliever being used there, usually it's not because of the stupid saves stat but whatever.