Glad you're not manager then. Seriously, maybe over Mlicki any day, but Borbon and Cruz have been just as good, if not better, for us this year as Carlos has been.
Even if there is a chance that Carlos may still be injured or is at a greater risk of reinjuring himself by leaving him out there?
After he came on during a 6-1 game last night and promptly gave up 3 hits and 1 run.....can there be any more doubt. Milicki stinks !! DD
I found it hard to believe that Mlicki came in last night. Every game is important and HAS to be won. Mlicki is a big inning waiting to happen. Personally, I would have given Oswalt one more inning (he was only at 82 pitches), and then closed it off with Dotel, Gordon or Wagner, or let Oswalt finish it depending on the 8th inning.
But the score was only 3-1 at the time he was pinch hit for, with two men on. We needed a hit in that situation, and Ward delivered.
Most managers do not remove great pitchers who have a 3-1 lead and have only thrown 82 pitches regardless of the offensive situation. You are correct that the hit certainly helped, but all things considered last night, I'd rather see Oswalt pitching with a 3-1 lead than Mlicki with a 6-1 lead. Johnson and Schilling would have remained in to bat in a meaningful game.
Terrible, terrible, terrible decision on the managers part. Oswalt has been ABSOLUTELY on fire the last 10 or so games. A 3-1 game going into the 8th, and struggling to keep pace with the division lead in hand, and giving the ball to the club pitching clown is a matter of making several wrong moves in a matter of moments. Dierker might of made some questionable calls (Lugo in the playoffs), but this is about as stupid as stupid got last night. Terrible decision. The man only had 82 pitches in.
Most managers do not remove great pitchers who have a 3-1 lead and have only thrown 82 pitches regardless of the offensive situation. Sure they do, depending on the circumstances. Oswalt's never pitched this many innings before in his life. He's talked about arm strength recently. He went through a bit of a dead-arm period earlier in the year. We have the best back-end bullpen in baseball (Gordon, Dotel, Wagner). They can certainly handle two innings. There's no reason to push him any more than necessary. Dotel pitched because he had warmed up already, and if it remained close, Wagner would have been in. As it was, we had a *5* run lead with one inning to go. They tried to save Wagner by throwing a scrub out there (Mlicki). Didn't work, so you bring in Wagner in save situation. I don't see the big deal. If Wagner can't hold a 4 run lead with 1 out to go, we don't deserve to win anyway.
At this point, I agree that he shouldn't be pitching in meaningful situations right now. But I consider a 5-run lead with 1 inning to go to be reasonable for him to pitch. We're not going to get through September without some of the other bullpen guys (Mlicki, Cruz, Stone) stepping it up. With Saarloos, Hernandez, and Munro all sketchy / 5-6 inning type guys, some of those bullpen guys are going to have to pitch well, and the only way they'll get there is to have a chance to work out their problems in live game situations.
