Fire Lou

[BT]

<!--quoteo-->QUOTE <!--quotec-->BT -- I love that you're able to make a convincing argument and hold your ground, no matter what the position. If Lou brought Zambrano off the bench to pinch hit in that situation, you'd find a way to argue that position. If he left Hill in to execute a suicide squeeze, then that would have been the right move. It takes talent to pull that off.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

That's cheap, condescending and unfair. It's also complete fucking bullshit. I'm not arguing some insane web of circumstances which, in theory, could prove my point. I'm arguing most managers would bring in a lefty to face a right handed pitcher, and most managers would bring in a left hander to face a lineup that is markedly worse against a left hander.

<!--quoteo-->QUOTE <!--quotec-->Pssst. Koyie Hill is a switch hitter. He would have hit lefty in that situation. So, Lou wasn't trying to pull some sort of "handedness" move in this situation. He was just trying to get *a better hitter* to the plate.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

yes, and he brought in a left handed better hitter. which is what virtually every manager on the planet would do.

<!--quoteo-->QUOTE <!--quotec-->So...I could bring in Carlos Zambrano to face the heart of the Phillies order...or John Grabow.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

And most managers, given their performances at that point in time, and given how the heart of the order is worse against lefties, would bring in a lefty. This is not revelatory, or ground breaking or shocking. It's how almost every manager in the world works. If Zambrano had been so great BEFORE May 20, Pinella might have said fuck the percentages and put him in instead of Grabow. However, Zambrano was BAD before May 20, so he didn't. Zambrano's dazzling performance AFTER the fact doesn't mean anything.

<!--quoteo-->QUOTE <!--quotec-->Anyone who can argue putting Grabow in to face the heart of the Phillies' order in the 8th inning of a tie game is rewriting the very definition of "shaky ground."<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

I repeat, bullshit. I'm arguing that it's reasonable to put in a terrible lefty over 2 bad righties to face a lefthanded lineup. To be clear, you are saying that putting a bad right hander in to face 3 very good lefties was CLEARLY the right move. It's not. Again, not reinventing the wheel. Basic baseball.

You can keep mocking my position on the basis that it's my position, or you can take your blinders off and look at it logically. Putting in a lefthanded batter to face a right handed reliever is not a move that costs you the game, regardless of whether or not it "burns" someone. With bases loaded in the 7th you aren't playing for what ifs in the ninth. Putting a lefthanded pitcher in to face lefthanders is not a move that costs you the game, unless you have a clearly better right handed option, which the Cubs didn't have.

I'm right on this butch, and mocking my opinions won't change that. No reasonable unbiased person with baseball knowledge would look at those 2 moves as being so bad as to have cost the team the game. And I would make the same argument if you were mocking a move Dusty Baker made in a Reds game. Not because I love Dusty, but because it's fucking logical.