It's a natural inclination to want to continue with something that is working than to stop what is working and go with something different while hoping it continues to work. Yea, I said that. Cooper will take the heat regardless in this situation. If he leaves Chacon in and Chacon blows it the same way (which he would have never really had a chance to because we know Cooper would have yanked him at the first sign of trouble...according to "the book"), he gets pissed on for "why did he leave Chacon in? surely, he knew Chacon was tired and needed to come out by then". However, I think there would have been fewer people second-guessing Cooper on letting Chacon continue into the 9th...if we did end up still losing. It's kind of a "damned if you do...damned if you don't" scenario. The problem with substituting pitchers in any situation, in my opinion, is you never know how the pitcher coming in is going to perform...regardless of how he feels warming up or how he did the night before. It may be a godsend for the other team. Or, it may their worst nightmare. Regardless, I will always be a believer in that if a guy goes 8 innings and is extremely solid...he should be given the opportunity to finish the game for a complete game unless a situation presents itself for him to be removed, like a scoring opportunity to pinch hit for him...which with no men on...I didn't see a viable scoring opportunity. Aside from following what you should do according to some established "book" or whatever, I would like to see some calls that rely more on a manager's gut decision-making based on a feeling and how a player is performing prior to that...versus something methodical because it's always been done this way. Then, it just falls into the "he's our closer. i will go to him every time no matter what." line of thinking. That's great...but it's not really adaptive IMO. Suppose Valve would blow the game again tonite in a similar scenario. Would you then stick to the same formula and go with him the next night in a 1-0 game...even though you know he's pretty much given up at least one run in each of his prior outings? It seems to me we did that often enough last season with Lidge...and it cost us quite a few ballgames before we ultimately took him out of the closer role. I'm not going to pretend to have all the answers...but I don't believe in following one simple formula night in and night out as far as when to substitute and in what scenario. That may very well work out to be the best statistical approach to the game. However, does that mean that is how it should always be done regardless? It's a difficult situation regardless. I would have felt a lot better about the move had Valve been pitching well but he has not been. But, it seems we discount that and go with him anyway just because it is the formulaic way to proceed. I'm not sure I can buy into that line of reasoning as a constant. Surely, there are managers who make decisions based on a gut feeling at times...even if it doesn't always work out?
i dont understand the point of this quote. if it's to defend cecil cooper (which i suspect was your intention), then i don't think you interpreted it correctly.
"People who don't know when they should bunt and when they should pitch out and when they should make a pitching change are managers of the Astros." --cardpire
Maybe the gut reaction was "hey, I have a closer that needs to gain confidence, and I have a 3-run lead. I also have a pitcher that hasn't pitched too many innings the last several years, and has thrown 110 pitches already. This is a perfect time to get my closer a relatively easy save opportunity so he'll have confidence when we have a 1 run game". Weird, given that Lidge lost his closer's job after 1 game last year. And once he regained it, he never lost it again.
Maybe so... . That game just was a knockout punch. He struggled much before that...and in the season before (2006)...when he also temporarily lost his job as well. It's a continuation in my mind. Of course, one could argue Lidge was never the same after the Pujols blast...which noone can deny.
I think this team has a shot at winning the division if Bourn plays well. We have enough offense, our pitching closer is suspect but our starters are good.
Sabbathia had another horrible outing. 4 IP, 9 ER, 5 BB, 1 K Last year's AL Cy Young winner now has a 13.50 ERA and is about to pick up his 3rd straight loss of the season.
I wonder though...if Wright is in now in the 8th...and the lead holds...will Cooper bring in Brocail in the ninth instead of Valverde? I'm thinkin prob not, but it is interesting considering Brocail has pitched well and usually pitches the 8th and didn't pitch last night.
