John Perricone, late of Only Baseball Matters, wrote to me on Bruce Bochy‘s use of his relievers in the playoffs:
However, watching these postseason games, and especially, the last two losses by the Giants, I am struck by how Bochy has given away run after run in the sixth inning of the playoffs this season. Coming into the WS, every baseball analyst was going on and on about the edge the Giants have with Bochy. That sentiment ignores reality. He’s repeatedly failed to protect leads, ties, or even one run deficits by allowing obviously mediocre pitchers to take on high leverage situations, throughout the postseason. Even when the Giants have won, it’s been obvious that they’ve gotten lucky.
Please take a look back at just the sixth innings of every playoff game they’ve been in, and you’ll see what I’m talking about. Not using the best possible pitcher for the given situation, over and over. He just gave away two games. Ask yourself this, why the hell is Petit on the roster of not for the sixth inning tonight?
You can see how Giants pitchers performed inning by inning in the 2014 post-season here. The problem is not just the sixth inning, but the seventh as well. In the sixth, the Giants allow the highest OBP of any inning, but in the seventh, they get creamed for home runs.
It should be noted that Ned Yost has a sixth inning problem as well. Royals pitchers allowed a .360/.439/.440 slash line in the sixth, really their only consistently bad inning of the game. Because they give up singles and walks instead of power, they are better able to contain the damage.
The sixth is a tough inning for a manager, especially if your starter has pitched well up to that point. The starter is into the third time through the lineup, and his pitch count may be rising. The best think might be to start with a fresh pitcher in the inning, rather than waiting for trouble. If the starter is doing well, however, it’s tough to pull him. Most would like to hold off going to their big three until the seventh. So the starter gets in trouble, and instead of bringing in a great pitcher, they go to the back of the bullpen, because that’s always the plan. To Yost’s credit, he’s been going to his big three earlier.
Thanks David,
Let’s remember that 5 of those home runs in the late innings are from Strickland. I looked at the game logs of Peavy and Hudson. There has been four separate games where they were left in an inning too long. The Giants lost three of those four, or basically, every loss they’ve had so far. It’s also worth noting that Bumgarner has thrown 38.2 innings out of the 125 total the team has. That’s more than Peavy and Hudson combined.