Sunday, October 11, 2015

Thoughts on Bad Calls and Bad Managing

The bottom of the 7'th inning of last night's NLDS game between the Mets and Dodgers was a comedy of errors by Mets manager Terry Collins and the Replay Umpires, whoever they are.  The inning started with the Mets leading 2-1.  Mets starter Noah Syndergaard who had been brilliant, but also pitched out of a jam or two, was nudging his pitch count above 100.  He started the inning by striking out Yasmani Grandal, but then walked Enrique Hernandez.  The TV camera panned to the Mets bullpen where Collins had two RHP's, Bartolo Colon and Addison Reed, warming up.  I figured the Mets must not have any LHP's in their bullpen, otherwise, why would you have two righties warming up?  When Chase Utley was announced as a PH, 3 of the next 4 Dodgers hitters would be left-handed.

Syndergaard had been excruciatingly slow to home plate with runners on and the one thing Collins did not want was a successful SB by Hernandez who is not exactly a speed merchant.  He could have brought in Colon at that point, who is almost certainly quicker to home plate than Syndergaard.  Syndergaard stayed in and Hernandez stole 2B.  Utley followed with a single over the outstretched glove of 2B, Daniel Murphy putting runners at first and 3'rd with 1 out.  Collins now brought in Colon to face Howie Kendrick and all hell broke loose.

Kendrick hit a bouncer up the middle that was fielded by Murphy.  He fed the ball to SS Ruben Tejada who tried to make a spectacular DP, but was upended by a Utley who came in late and high and clearly was not aiming for the bag.  There was a violent collision between the jumping, twisting Tejada's legs and Utley's head.  The Ump called Utley out, the run scored and Tejada lay face down on the ground in obvious severe pain.  Tejada was eventually carted off the field with an inflatable immobilizer on his right leg and was eventually diagnosed with a fractured fibula.  Utley was apparently no worse for the wear.  Then, the Mets appealed the out call at 2B.

The Replay clearly showed that Tejada missed the bag by maybe 1 inch at the most.  Utley, who had never touched 2B during the play and then run off the field, was called safe and allowed to go back to 2B.  The explanation from MLB was that the "vicinity" rule was not in effect because the feed from Murphy was offline.  Utley could be ruled safe despite not touching 2B because the ump had erroneously called him out on the play.  So, we ended up with a situation where 1. Utley clearly made no attempt to touch 2B while taking out the SS who was the relay man on the DP attempt.  2.  A "vicinity" rule that was not allowed despite the relay man clearly attempting to complete a DP.  3.  A runner called safe despite having never touched the base or even trying to touch the base. 4. A SS with a broken leg and Chase Utley standing at 2B with just 1 out instead of 2.

I suppose there are reasonable arguments to be made on both sides, but I am personally much more comfortable with the call the ump made on the field than what was eventually ruled by the Replay Umpires.  Replayed calls are supposed to be overturned only if there is clear evidence of a wrong call.  Yes, Tejada's foot was clearly off the bag, but Utley still could have been reasonably called out for his clear takeout intent, for the "vicinity" rule and, well, because he never touched the base!  I like Instant Replay up to a point, but I have to say I am increasingly uncomfortable with calls being overturned when to my eye, the video is inconclusive.  Instant Replay has progressed from making calls more correct to fairly drastically changing the way the game is played.  I think that is something MLB is going to have to look at this offseason.  Oh, and this play also confirms that the Dodgers are an evil, despicable organization well deserving of the fear, loathing and hatred we all give them!  I mean, any organization that can make a New York team seem like the Good Guys is a truly evil organization!

Now, back to Terry Collins.  He took Bartolo Colon out of the game and replaced him with Addison Reed, a pitcher us Giants fans came to know and love as a gas can for the Arizona D'Backs.  Reed somehow managed to get the left-handed batting Corey Seager out on a soft flyball to LF, but you just knew he would not fare so well against Adrian Gonzalez.  Sure enough, AGone doubled down the RF line to drive in the go-ahead run plus an insurance run.  Justin Turner followed with an RBI double and the game was essentially over.  Collins took Reed out of the game and brought in……..Jonathan Niese?  You mean to tell me Collins had a pretty good LHP in his bullpen all this time when 3 of the previous 4 batters were left-handed?  What in the name of Bruce Bochy is going on here?  I mean, there is a darn good reason why the Giants have insisted on keeping at least 2 LHP's in their bullpen and paid a premium price to do it all these years!  It was just horrible bullpen management by Terry Collins who somehow managed to make Don Mattingly look like a managing genius by comparison!

8 comments:

  1. Dodgers are adept at breaking bones of top performers ... see Aoki getting plunked this season. Come on Mets!

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    1. P.S. The Utley take-out of Tejada reminds me of the Posey home plate crash. Expect MLB to take up this issue in the off-season: whether to regulate second base take-outs...

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  2. When they brought in Colon I thought what were they doing? It's the 7th inning,they still had legit relievers that were used to pitching in that role in high leverage situations.On top of the fact that you point out the number of left-handers coming up. Terrible choice.

    I also don't understand baseball can rule out collisions at the plate where at least one of the participants has body armor on but in the name of "good old fashion baseball" let a player basically tackle a guy who is exposed like Tejeda was at second base. They really don't even need to change the rule, just enforce the one they have and had that done that, it would have been a double play ball. Another terrible decision.

    And yes, another reason why to hate the Dodgers!

    Billy Baseball

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  3. If I was a Mets player, you can be sure I'd use every opportunity to retaliate. There's playing hard and playing dirty. And that slide was dirty. He clearly had every intention of taking out the Mets' short-stop and no intention of arriving at the bag safely.

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    1. On the one hand I can admire Utley - the Dodgers' season was on the line and he delivered a clutch hit and then slid hard to break up the DP. On the other hand I think he was over-zealous and the slide was not intended for the runner to reach the bag but to slide-tackle the second baseman. So it was a Fail and yes, I agree, a dirty play.

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    2. utley has done this before. nothing to admire...he is a dirty player...he knew exactly what he was doing...his purpose was to destroy tejada

      and this being a short series...dont look for the mets to retaliate

      but something will happen when the dodgers visit the mets next season

      bacci

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  4. Suspended... for the moment. http://www.latimes.com/sports/dodgers/la-sp-1012-dodgers-chase-utley-20151012-story.html

    Barn door? Utley has always been a bit... bush league. Going to go watch my 2010 tape before monday night for old time sake. Timmy L 2008 = deGrom 2015???

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  5. i was shocked by collins bad management....too many of today's managers dont seem to understand the diff between reg season and the post

    and it seems to me that neither the officials on the field, nor the idiots sitting in ny (winter meetings need to adress the insanity of not having a replay official at each park), know the slide rule

    that wasnt a slide, it was an illegal tackle...it looked exactly like a chop block

    and that knee jerk suspension made after torre came out and said the slide was legal (he must go...as an mlb official, he is bad for the game) wont be upheld, because the mlbpa cant make an appeal)

    the mlb needs to get its act together, sooner than later

    bacci

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