Ok, I’ve refrained from being a bandwagon basher all season. I’ve tried to keep my frustration at manageable levels and I was desperate to not be one of those over-the-top fans that calls for this after their team goes on one losing streak ---- in May.
But the time has come to say the words: Fire Ned Yost and Mike Maddux.
As far as I’m concerned, there are no excuses for what happened today. You can explain away pitching difficulties all season, but today, to me, is symbolic of all the times Yost left pitchers in too long this season.
Every time he’s done so, we’ve all let it go. We, as fans, have deferred to his judgment and in our heads though “there’s plenty of time.”
But time’s running out. There are 17 games left in the season.
I just can’t wrap my mind around it. You’re Ned Yost and your team blew a large division lead. You are now fighting tooth and nail for every win and every game up in the division standings. Your team came from behind to tie the game in the 8th inning. You put in a reliever who can be described as unreliable and spotty, at best. He gets an out. He walks a man.
I honestly believe that this is where Turnbow should have been pulled. I can’t understand why he would have any kind of leash at this point in the season. Each game is entirely too important to take any risks. You have a full bullpen and a day of rest tomorrow. I brook no arguments, this is where you pull him.
But hypothetically, let’s say you leave him in. He walks the next guy. Whatever excuse you had for leaving him in after the first walk is now gone.
So why isn’t he pulled now?
He gives up a hit the next batter and the bases are now loaded with one out. You are a coach that believes in averages and matchups and past situations. The past has proven that Turnbow CANNOT handle the pressure of having guys on the bases.
Yet you leave him in. He throws two straight balls. The count’s 2-0.
WHY DON’T YOU PULL HIM HERE?
At my count that’s 4 different times that Yost could have and should have pulled Turnbow before he gives up the 3 RBI hit that puts the game completely out of reach.
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This whole thing is so incredibly frustrating for me because I have tried my best to not be a Brewer Basher all season long. I know that all us fans have gone through years of disappointment and many of us just love to hear ourselves complain. We like to armchair QB and we like to second guess.
But at this point, I think Doug Melvin and Mark Attanasio have a lot to answer for.
Coming into this season, there as nothing but hype surrounding the pitching staff and they have more than failed to meet the expectations.
Besides the obvious disappointment of Chris Capuano and the instability of Derrick Turnbow and Matt Wise. I think the Ben Sheets question has to be raised.
Nothing tells the story better than looking at the team’s record when Sheets was in the rotation vs. when he was not.
So great, he’s crucial to our success and to our lineup. The problem is, he’s perpetually injured. In order to be crucial to the lineup, he actually has to BE in the lineup. The Man of Glass has missed portions of the past however many seasons due to injury.
So I ask, what goods an ace who can’t stay healthy for more than a few months?
So is Mike Maddux to blame? I can’t imagine how the pitching coach’s head isn’t on the block when his staff performs like our pitchers have this season.
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If I’m a field player on this team, I would be up to my eyeballs in frustration, disappointment and aggravation. Certainly, at times, the hitting and fielding have been to blame for losses. But too many losses this year can be hung at the door of the pitching.
How incredibly pissy it must make the rest of the team to go out there and do everything they are meant to do, only to have the control of the game taken out of their hands by horrendous pitching and mismanagement.
Never forget that we’re talking about a team with an MVP candidate and a guy who’s a shoo-in for Rookie of the Year. Prince leads the NL in homeruns and slugging % and is near the top in RBIs and extra base hits. Corey Hart should finish the season hitting above .300.
With a talent level like this team possesses and the lack of depth the rest of the division has, this season should have been a given. I’m not saying we should have taken the cake, no problems, no questions ask. But no one else has the team we have. We got out to an amazing start and we should have been able to never look back. At two points this season we were 14 games above .500.
So our incredibly talented team that was mostly untouched by injury failed to meet the expectations laid our for them this season.
Who else is there to blame but the coach?
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Don't you just love it when managers manage a game to a statistic? Tied game, so he can't put Cordero in because who would be there to get a save if, God forbid, the Brewers happen to get out of the 8th with the lead? Yes, that's right. We'll save our best reliever for only when we are ahead in the late innings and not when the score is tied and the next run is all important.
Yost isn't the only manager who does this, but he has lost 2 or 3 games this season because of this. And with the way the race is shaping up, those 2 or 3 games could prove costly (and if that happens, here's hoping he loses his job).
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