Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
February 26, 2003
Macha Man?

Glenn Dickey of the SF Chronicle thinks that Ken Macha won't be intimidated by Beane the way Howe was:


Art Howe definitely was. Howe came to the A's with a philosophy from his playing days in the '70s in the National League, heavy on bunting, the hit-and- run, hitting to the right side to advance the runner, playing for one run. Little ball, in other words.

That was exactly the wrong philosophy for managing an American League club in the '90s, when offense had exploded for a variety of reasons: smaller parks, a livelier ball, wretched pitching. Giving up outs to score one run made no sense in games which were more often decided by 10-8 scores than 3-2 scores.

Beane hammered that point home to Howe so thoroughly that Howe forgot there were times when little ball still made sense. The A's became a station-to- station team, and remained one, even when they acquired some speed, such as Ray Durham and Mark Ellis.

Beane's philosophy is not original with him. When Earl Weaver managed the Baltimore Orioles in the '70s and '80s, he preached the virtue of the three- run homer and disparaged base stealers. Sandy Alderson, Beane's predecessor as A's GM, emphasized the importance of on-base percentage, combining hits and walks, as opposed to the outmoded measure of pure batting average.

It's a sound philosophy for the 162-game regular season. The exceptions to the rule aren't important because, even if they make the difference in one game or even a series, that's a very small part of a season.

But in the postseason, events get compressed and the opponents change. What works in the regular season against weaker teams doesn't work in the postseason against teams that match up physically.


Dickey thinks that in the post-season, you need to adapt your strategy. He's right. But I think he's wrong about Beane trying to intimidate Macha. My feeling is that Macha already has the respect of Beane. My guess is that they will work together very well.


Posted by David Pinto at 08:55 PM | Baseball