More questionable bullpen decisions

"And the struggles continue for Matt Wise."

The sentence uttered by Brian Anderson as the winning run for the Astros crossed home plate in extra innings tonight illustrates quite plainly why the ball should never have been put in Matt Wise's hands in such a clutch situation.

The kid's had issues since he hit the batter and I can understand that he needs time to put that behind him, but the 10th inning in the second to last week of the season isn't the time for him to be figuring them out. Besides, I'm certain the statute of limitations on that excuse expired weeks ago. If, in fact, he is that messed up in his head about it - after this long, it's going to take more than a few "good" outings to right him. If he's messed up, that sucks - but let's get him the help he needs and let's not try and do it at the expense of the rest of the team.

I'm feel like I'm starting to sound like a broken record in which you could have a fill-in-the-blank for the pitchers name and say that ____________ isn't able to handle the pressure and never should have been used in such a clutch situation.

There isn't a game, an inning, an out or a strike that isn't clutch at this point. Every single play, every single decision is important and I just don't feel like Ned Yost is making the decisions we need to win this game.

At this point, what I'm saying isn't even about Monday morning quarterbacking - it's common knowledge. And you can bet that if a 26 year old woman in Milwaukee can make these observations, the clubs we're facing knew them long ago.

Case in point:

It's a known fact that Derrick Turnbow CANNOT handle inherited runners. I would assume it's a mental issue and I won't presume to know the exact cause or reasons, but clearly the nerves and the pressure are too much. I wish I had the stats at hand, but I would lay some money down saying that DBow has not had a game where he stranded all of his inherited runners.

The problem in tonight's game was not the putting of Turnbow in the game, but the leaving of Shouse in the game. I actually don't question putting Derrick in, I just think he should have been put in for the whole inning. He frankly couldn't have done worse than Shouse and I just don't see how Ned can overlook Turnbow's history with inherited runners. When Shouse goes in and puts guys on the base, Ned needs to get someone else up in the pen and someone other than DBow needs to take the mound.

All facetiousness aside, I'm pretty sure you could have put a pitcher at the plate and Derrick would have given up a hit (and consequently, a run). You have only to look to his inattention to the base runners to see that his head is not all in it when he has the pressure of those inherited runners. The man on second all but walked to third base. He took off from the bag a good three counts before Derrick went into his stretch and Derrick didn't have a clue.