[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by SCUDSBROTHER

I don't understand how that's up to him. That's going to be determined by his starters. Sometimes, the starter just can't locate. You can do what Joe did Friday, and wait until the game is out of reach, or you can go to the pen. Neither option is good, but in the post, I think you have to get Billygoat out, because he has a history of showing up to pitch without any ability to locate like a major league pitcher(as I said, he did exactly the same thing in Pittsburgh last month.) This is nothing unexpected with this pitcher. I've seen him do it many times, an obviously Joe has too. Well, I have only watched this manager for one year, and IMO his main fault is he waits too long to yank starters(especially in situations like Billygoats the other day.) It's not Like Lowe hasn't done exactly what he did the other night.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=280806124

If you saw that game, you'd of been begging Joe to take Lowe out after that 1st home run Thursday Night. Joe repeated this mistake. Didn't learn his lesson from this game against St. Louis. Yes, I'd of yanked him in both games (after the 1st home run.) Then, last month Billygoat put up this incredibly bad effort:

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/boxscore?gameId=280917123

He gave up 6 earned runs in 4 innings, but Joe ignored that this last Friday, and sat there while the guy repeated it. Don't get me wrong. They aren't playing well. It's not the manager's fault that Lowe threw batting practice in the 6th inning, or that Furcal choked a throw so very badly. It's not his fault that Billygoat could do no locating after the 1st inning on Friday. I'm just saying that he has seen this before, and he repeated the same mistake of leaving them in too long. He's a "pitcher's manager." Pitchers like to stay in there no matter how badly they are pitching. Then, they feel just as bad (or worse) later when they have given up 6 earned runs. They are gunna feel bad either way(you yank them earlier than they want, or wait until after they've bombed.) There are times when Billygoat is throwing walks, and has a high pitch count, but can keep getting out of trouble. A manager gets paid to be able to distinguish that from a total lack of location. You can't just sit there when somebody is throwing stuff down the center against a good team.

He killed Proctor in 2006. 81 games and 102 innings. 2 times pitched in both ends of a double header, 19 times on no rest, 36 times on one day and 17 on 2 days rest. Any wonder why he imploded this year? He falls in love with guys and just rides them till they are dead. Honestly he didnt do a bad job with the bullpen this year considering Saito got hurt. Having Rivera seemed to be a luxury he depended everything else on in NY. As long as he had him he didnt seem to care if he burned out the rest of the pen. Then he would also under utilize guys he lost faith in where they were never sharp from inactivity. He obviously is a good manager but his pitching decisions are seemingly his weakest link.