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Blog*Spot ArchivesContactRichard Ceccarelli Josh Mandir |
Wednesday, September 07, 2005Angels 2, Mike Scioscia 3No, not fuming, just busy. It seems to be unanimous - Mike Scioscia played a vital role in last night's loss. From the inexplicable starting lineup to the contact play, last night's game was a total mess. And it was capped by the single worst managerial decision I've ever seen - lifting Robb Quinlan - who's hitting a robust .353/.405/.618 since his August recall - in favor not of Juan Rivera (.313/.380/.458 since August) or Jeff DaVanon (who has quietly clawed his way to top of the team's OBP numbers), but for Steve Finley, who's already anemic line has only gotten worse over recent weeks. As much criticism as I'm willing to throw at Scioscia, there's one place I'm drawing the line. I don't think Scot Shields was the problem. Escobar going for a third inning would have been preferable, yes. But Scioscia would have been forced to make another call out to the bullpen at some point, and Shields would have been the smartest choice. Giving him the ball an inning earlier than required wasn't the best decision, but it wasn't a horrible one, was it? Putting your best reliever out there - and he is that, despite his recent struggles - in the game's most important situation is understandable. I mean, look, Kelvim can't pitch every relief inning over the next 25 games, no matter how we wish it were so. Somebody else has to step-up. Scot Shields and Frankie are those somebodies. If we can't trust either of them to give us one scoreless inning, we might as well send the A's our congratulations on their division championship, because this lead ain't holding up. No, the problem was every other string Mike Scioscia tugged during the course of the game. |
