I know the players and media like Jerry Manuel, but he showed yesterday (once again), that he does not know how to handle a pitching staff. Its no surprise their staff had so many arm problems last year.
Yesterday's game should not have been that close; as it turned out they were very fortunate to win. Ahead 6-3 with the bases loaded, he brings in Marte, a LH sidearmer, to face Olerud. Good move. He gets Olerud looking. Marte wasn't going to make the Pirates opening day roster and everyone knows mediocre LH sidearmers like him or Felix Heredia should NEVER face a RH hitter. The RH hitters have no problem picking up the ball from the delivery. So Manuel leaves him in to face a RH hitter. 2 run double; its a 6-5 game. Now with runners on 2nd and 3rd and 2 out in the eighth, Manuel has several options: 1) Bring in Keith Foulke now and let him pitch the 9th. The advantage here is you give Howry a day off, or you have him available for extra innings, should the M's tie the game. Choice 2: Bring in Howry now and let him close it. Same point as above, but you save Foulke. Of course this would be going against the unwritten rule that "your closer MUST pitch the 9th inning". Choice 3: Bring Howry in for 1/3 of an inning, have Foulke pitch the 9th. Worst choice. He could've had either a 100% fresh pitcher for today, or had one of the two available had the Ms tied the game and it went into extra innings. I wonder how many pitchers Manuel will burn out this season.
