http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=cnnsi-notmyfault&prov=cnnsi&type=lgns HOUSTON -- The Houston Astros played their first home World Series game in their existence, grinded through the most time-consuming game in World Series history, exhausted their bullpen, tied the game in the eighth inning when they trailed by a run with nobody on base and were down to their final four outs, used everybody on the bench except their backup catcher, and had their starting pitcher for tonight's game throwing hard in the bullpen at a quarter after one in the morning. And what does their manager, Phil Garner, do in the first moments after the White Sox punched them in the gut by beating them in the 14th inning of Game 3, 7-5? He rips his team. Beautiful. Mind you, the guy says nothing to his team after the game. But he does march into the official interview room and drop these bombs for the media: "Absolute rotten hitting.'' "We might have played 40 innings and it didn't look like we were going to get a runner across the bag.'' "It's embarrassing to play like this in front of our hometown.'' "I'm really ticked off.'' Way to bail on your team, Mr. Manager. Not once did he credit the Chicago pitchers, especially the relievers, for holding his hitters to a 1-for-33 showing after Jason Lane hit his home run that wasn't in the fourth inning. (The umpires blew another call. Please label it as evidence No. 463 that the commissioner of baseball needs to conduct a full review of postseason umpire assignments as soon as this World Series is over.) Not once did the manager accept any blame or responsibility himself. But remember, this is a guy who showed up Brad Ausmus in the 10th inning by throwing a public fit when Ausmus flied out on a pitch when Orlando Palmeiro had second base stolen. And it's the same guy who showed up his entire team by flinging a chair against the dugout wall when Geoff Blum hit his game-breaking home run in the 14th. Way to show you're in control, skipper. Remember when the Yankees beat the Mariners in Seattle in two close games in the 2000 ALCS? Then-Seattle manager Lou Piniella went to the interview room and promised the series would come back to Seattle. It didn't, but the manager took the focus off his players and at the same time tried to create a sense of confidence for them. Garner did the exact opposite. He jumped ship. Never can I remember a manager deserting his team with the stakes so high. This just in, Phil: your team has not hit all season. You finished 11th in a bad National League in runs scored this year. The Arizona Diamondbacks scored more runs than your team. Do not be surprised when your team does not hit against the best pitching staff in the American League. (Actually, Skip, your team is scoring more runs per game in the World Series, 4.66, than it did during the regular season, 3.76.) But, hey, enough about the hitting. What about the game the manager of the Astros had? You know your team can't hit, but what did you do when Chris Burke reached third base with one out in the ninth inning? Nothing. No squeeze play. Not with Craig Biggio batting and then not with Willy Taveras batting -- both of whom are excellent bunters. If you are having so much trouble getting a run home with a hit, if you are really so "ticked off" waiting for a hit, why not make something happen with a squeeze attempt? Where was the manager in the fifth inning when Roy Oswalt was allowed to throw a career-high 46 pitches and blow a 4-0 lead? Not once did the manager even come out of the dugout to give the pitcher a breather. Not once did he get the pitcher out of the inning as batter after batter reached base. Where was the manager in the 13th inning, when Jose Vizcaino led off with a walk? Instead of advancing the runner to second with one out and the heart of his lineup coming up, Garner took the bunt off after the first pitch to Biggio and let Biggio swing away. Biggio struck out. And where was the manager in the 14th inning, when, after the home run, he allowed a very shaky Ezequiel Astacio to go single, single, walk, walk -- pushing across a huge insurance run? Astacio faced seven batters and retired one of them, and that on a bullet of grounder snared by third baseman Morgan Ensberg. Only when the game went to 7-5 did Garner get Astacio out of there. Where was the manager in Game 1, when he stubbornly let Jeff Bagwell, a guy who had not started a game since May, into his starting lineup on more sentimental reasons than practical ones? What about letting Mike Lamb, a .179 hitter against lefties, whiff against lefty Neal Cotts in the eighth inning of that game in what stands as the most crucial at-bat of the series? What about letting mop-up man Russ Springer pitch the ninth inning of that game, allowing another huge tack-on run, instead of the much more reliable and rested Dan Wheeler? What about not getting the ball that Jermaine Dye fouled off in Game 2 -- it was ruled a hit-by-pitch -- and insisting on getting a conference of umpires to rethink the call by home plate umpire Jeff Nelson? Funny, but Garner mentioned nothing about the manager in his postgame rant. Silly me. I thought ballclubs won as a team and lost as a team. I thought a team that just invested more time and effort in a losing cause than any team in the history of the World Series and now stands on the brink of elimination could at least count on the support of the person who makes out the lineup card and runs the game. But now I know: it had nothing to do with the manager. The manager wants you to know it was all the hitters' fault. The manager wants you to know that he is really ticked off.
Sure, he's baling on team...cause Garner's just an ass like that. I think it's basically a last-ditch attempt at lighting a fire under these guys asses. Cause let's be honest, it didn't look like it was there last night. And I didn't get this... You'd think the writer would at least try to give an example where the opposite strategy worked. Yeah, Piniella sugar-coated it and then they lost anyway...what the hell does that prove?
I actually agree with most of what that guy says... Garner has made a LOT of mistakes in this series.
I'm bailing on them too, a complete ****ing choke job by the Stros. We should be up three on the Sox. NExt time do us all a favor and and don't bother making it this far if that is how you are going to perform. And if you are going to lose do it in 9 so I can get some sleep. Same old Astros it's just this year they managed to yank our chains for a little longer than they usually do.
One cool thing Garner did was walk out to Burke after Hernandez walked him...He probably didn't even say anything to him, just try to get into El Duque's head...two throws later, Burke's at second...
He also told Carl Everett "Sit down, you fat ****", when Everett started hollering in the 5th that Crede was hit on purpose. That solidified my opinion that CE is a moron. Roy O had given up 5 runs in the inning and he's going to hit a guy on purpose to load the bases. Looks like Carl may be off his medication again. However, Garner should have squeezed with Taveras in the 9th. Everyone in my section thought it was coming. Crede was playing behind 3rd, all we had to do was shoot one to the 3rd base side and Chris Burke could have moonwalked in for the score.
Garner was 100% correct, I am sure he tells these guys to hit behind the runner, and to play smart, but for some reason, they just don't. HOWEVER, the article is also correct in that Garner manages by the seat of his pants, and letting Willy hit away could cost them the world series. Palmero should have been in there pinch hitting...no excuse for it...NONE !! Garner and the Astros have come close, but none of them are getting it done right now.....NONE !! DD
Not defending Garner, but the last 11 innings were a complete choke job by our hitters. Wasn't Lane's 2 hits the only ones after the 4th inning?
There's plenty of blame to throw around. Garner was a moron for putting in Springer in Game 1. Hell, who couldn't see that insurance run coming? He also made a mistake putting Wheeler in for relief in the 7th inning in Game 2 instead of Qualls as he'd done all year long. And not going for the squeeze bunt(or at least pinch-hitting with Palmiero) when Burke was on 3rd with one out was inexcusable. That being said, the hitters and pitchers have also failed to hold up their end of the deal. Garner deserves criticism for his moves in this series, but the players haven't performed either.
You can't be serious? The only reason we aren't ahead 2-1 is the fact that we can't get a FUC&!#G base hit or a sac fly... Give me a break......Garner has been pretty good in his decisions. You can't blame him for Biggio chasing pitches that were outside and down......geez I felt like I had flashed back to the late 90's when Maddox and Schmultz used to eat he and Bags up with those exact same pitches.....
Come on now.. how many times in this series have we got a person on third and either 1 out or no outs? They shouldn't have been swinging away.. I thought they got here by playing small ball... to me it looked like they were hoping for long ball. I am not saying all the blame is on Garner.. but we could have used those at bats to move runners over.. rather than striking out all the time.
One break in each game goes the Astros way, and we're the ones up 3-0 instead of the White Sox. Game 1....if Clemens is healthy and solid, he holds the Sox to <5 runs and the Astros win. Game 2....if Qualls gets Konerko to ground out, we are still up 2 and Podsednik doesn't get a chance to hit his walkoff. Astros win. Game 3....we get a basehit or at least a flyball to the outfield in the bottom of the 9th with men on 1st and 3rd with one out, we score the run. Astros win. Yes, it is true this team has not hit all season. Shows you how great our pitching staff really was in order for us to get to the World Series. BUT.... You must keep in mind that the Astros were not blown out of any of the three games, and like I said, one break in each game goes the Astros way, and we are up 3-0 instead of the White Sox. That's baseball for ya. One little break means one hell of alot.
Garner shouldn't have turned on his players like that. I don't hear the players calling out any of his bad moves.
11 batters at the plate in one inning against oswalt will always be what lost the game for us in my mind and garner not yanking oswalt sure the sox would have made up the runs probably, but maybe the bullpen could of held them off to the tune of 4-3. however, a close second definitely goes to our clutch batting from the 8th inning on (and hell even before the 8th). at the time, I didn't think about pinch hitting for taveras, but when all ya need is a fly ball I thought willy might be capable of at least that (guess not).
