Saturday night in Houston has caused a lot of discussion on various sites about how Coach Jewett left France in too long; that “coach lost the game” and that the game was “supremely mismanaged.” I, for one, don’t believe any of that.
Entering the bottom of the 7th inning, France, who had gone at least 7 innings in 6 of his previous 9 starts, had retired 12 of the previous 13 batters and had thrown only 87 pitches. He was looking strong. He allowed a single on the second pitch of the inning and then struck out the next batter. Was anyone ready to pull him then? Of course not, especially considering who was in the bullpen—Solesky, who had been hit hard in almost all of his recent appearances.
On the next pitch France allowed a ground ball single that had it been a few feet one way or another would have provided a potential double play and the end of the inning. Do you take him out now when with runners on first and third and a three run lead, a double play will still get us out? Is Solesky ready? How’s he look in the bullpen? Anyway, two pitches latter, a triple plated two runs. That was the point at which the first “on-line” comment was made about getting France out. There had only been three pitches since the strikeout; not much time to make a decision. And, virtually all of the damage had now been done. Immediately after the triple was probably the first time a reasonable man would consider taking France out. Two runs were already in; they had a man on third, and one out. The chances of the guy on third scoring were probably pretty high regardless of who was pitching. Coach delayed for three more batters, a double, an out, and a walk before talking France out—probably too long in my view. But, in truth, it didn’t matter. The damage was done before those last three batters and we still had a 7-6 lead going into the eighth. That we went six up and six down the rest of the way on offense and our infield defense fell apart is why we lost the game, not, in my opinion, because the coach waited too long to take France out.
Roll Wave!!!
Entering the bottom of the 7th inning, France, who had gone at least 7 innings in 6 of his previous 9 starts, had retired 12 of the previous 13 batters and had thrown only 87 pitches. He was looking strong. He allowed a single on the second pitch of the inning and then struck out the next batter. Was anyone ready to pull him then? Of course not, especially considering who was in the bullpen—Solesky, who had been hit hard in almost all of his recent appearances.
On the next pitch France allowed a ground ball single that had it been a few feet one way or another would have provided a potential double play and the end of the inning. Do you take him out now when with runners on first and third and a three run lead, a double play will still get us out? Is Solesky ready? How’s he look in the bullpen? Anyway, two pitches latter, a triple plated two runs. That was the point at which the first “on-line” comment was made about getting France out. There had only been three pitches since the strikeout; not much time to make a decision. And, virtually all of the damage had now been done. Immediately after the triple was probably the first time a reasonable man would consider taking France out. Two runs were already in; they had a man on third, and one out. The chances of the guy on third scoring were probably pretty high regardless of who was pitching. Coach delayed for three more batters, a double, an out, and a walk before talking France out—probably too long in my view. But, in truth, it didn’t matter. The damage was done before those last three batters and we still had a 7-6 lead going into the eighth. That we went six up and six down the rest of the way on offense and our infield defense fell apart is why we lost the game, not, in my opinion, because the coach waited too long to take France out.
Roll Wave!!!