What has been interesting to me is the roster. Two world series runs and the pitching staff is a mess. One year we are using starters as relievers. And this year we don't have a 4th starter. It's always patchwork. And at some point that's either on the GM or Hinch for dicking it up. By the time you get to the post-season you'd like some roles and trust to be well established.
You are forgetting that our 4th starter (Miley) was 13-4 with a 3.04 ERA going into September? Do you really think Hinch or the FO could have predicted his total collapse in Sept/Playoffs? Hell, we had (we thought) the best #4 in the game before September.
Not only that, Sanchez got hurt ending his season. And statistically, Miley was the best number three in the game before Greinke was acquired and better than most twos.
I don’t blame this on Hinch, he did what got them there and that was putting in Harris. And the pitch that Kendricks hit out wasn’t even that bad, it was low away.
People can question his moves in hindsight, but nothing he did lost us the game or the series. We got outplayed and ultimately ran into a hotter team. Simple as that. People were pissed at the Chirinos bunt call, but the call was right and the execution was off. Grienke was on a roll, but he was not executing in the 7th, and Hinch is absolutely in the right to take out a pitcher a batter too early than too late. As we all know, Harris made a helluva pitch and the Howie HR was, for all intents and purposes, a statistical anomaly. The only real head scratcher was leaving in Osuna for 30 pitches, but that’s not where we lost the game or the series. It’s October baseball for crying out loud. Some of our fans clearly are not used to watching it. It’s often a roll of the dice, as much as some fans want to ignore that reality. Honestly, I’m pretty sick of the Hinch hate. We’re lucky to have him. He’s been the best manager in the game for a while now. His ability to lead this team, and this organization, is nothing short of exceptional. It’s sickening to see him made the scapegoat. I’m not saying his managing was perfect—no one outside of Belichick is really perfect. But he’s not the reason we lost this series. Focus your aggression and armchair QBing elsewhere.
I posted a separate thread on this and we'll never know the answer to this but I wonder if Kendrick hits that ball out if he didn't get a chance to face Harris with two men on and two outs in game 4, in a game that Harris had no business even pitching in.
Probably already mentioned but could u imagine if 1st half Pressly for the WS? Would have reduced Hariss' workload and prob brought into the 7th earlier
Good manager? Yeah. In the scheme of managers, I do think Roberts is an above average manager. Great manager? No. But he’s done a pretty good job. I wouldn’t put the Dodgers postseason struggles all on him. He’s one or two lucky bounces (as was Hinch) away from at least 1 World Series title.
Belichick "failed" to win the Super Bowl for 9 straight years with Tom Brady. He lost 2 of the last 4 as well. No one is perfect. Sports comes down to coin flips more often than fans would like to admit.
I agree with your logic overall but I'd argue, as far as managing goes, being able to stay calm and make the rational decision is what separates the greats (Bill, Saban, etc.) from the others. Just think about some of NE's SB wins...the Falcons play calling and game/time management, the Russell Wilson INT from the 1 yard line, etc. I can't recall any situation in a SB where Bill made some ridiculously obvious mistake and he's not afraid of the backlash he may get from benching good players like Malcolm Butler. After this WS, I'm not sure I would categorize Hinch as someone who always makes the rational decision under pressure - regardless of what anyone wants to argue, he made some dumb decisions and they backfired on him. No one is perfect as you said but you don't take out a former CY winner who had CY caliber season after 80 pitches because he struggled against the two guys even Cole struggled to get out and then turn it over to a guy that HE HIMSELF admitted needed a break/rest instead of turning it over to the best pitcher in the world right now. If you're going to pull Greinke, it better be for someone marginally better than him and Will Harris does not fit that description - especially an overused Harris who was pitching in his 5th game in the 7 game series and it's not like he's a lefty specialist getting one out each appearance. He was 100% overused and even Hinch admitted to that PRIOR to game 6 but he ran him out there both games (after he gave up the homer in game 6 it should have been even more of a sign).
Zack wasn't executing in the 7th? You mean the one bad breaking ball he threw to the NL MVP means he wasn't executing? Please do elaborate what you're talking about. Do you mean the 2-1 slider that he got ****ed on by the ump? Once again this has nothing to do with Harris pitch selection but rather Howie was able to game plan or predict that pitch was coming. Grienke was having the game of his life. Hinch had already pre determined in his mind what his angle was. He had already planned on Zack going 6, Harris for 1, Osuna for 1, and Cole with the save. Hinch already admitted to this. Hinch was too stuck in his ways and didnt improvise.
Ridiculous to say that Hinch deserves 100% of the blame. He made some decisions that backfired, but they weren't even horrible decisions. This is a manager that has guided this team to 4 playoff appearances in 5 years, 2 WS in 3 years, 3 ALCS series in a row and 3 consecutive 100 win seasons. Is he partly to blame for the loss, yes, but then so is everyone not named Zack Greinke. I for one am damn glad we have a caliber coach like him driving the Astros. All it takes is to think of who's leading the Texans and Rockets to reaffirm that.