Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
April 17, 2008
Wild Thing

The Blue Jays set a team record in their fourteen inning loss to Texas last night, using nine pitchers. A.J. Burnett pitched the last inning, as Toronto had gone to the bullpen early and used their relievers one inning at a time. The Rangers were ready for him:

Gerald Laird greeted Burnett with a single and went to third on Catalanotto's one-out double just inside the first-base line.

With the infield in, Laird tried to score on Michael Young's grounder and was thrown out at the plate. Catalanotto moved to third on the play and scored one pitch later when Burnett threw a pitch through catcher Gregg Zaun's legs.

Catalanotto said third base coach Matt Walbeck warned him to look out for a ball in the dirt.

"Two seconds before it happened he said, 'Cat, be ready for a wild pitch,'" Catalanotto said. "I got an extra five feet and I was ready for it. Once it got by I knew I had a chance to score.

"[Burnett] throws a pretty nasty curveball so you've got to be ready at all times when he's on the mound," he added.

Whatever happened to the long man? Litsch burned out after five innings and 94 pitches. Where's Lindy McDaniel to come in and finish the game, or at least get the team to the closer. Before he became a closer, Bob Stanley filled this role for the Red Sox, long reliever who can actually pitch. This should be Joba Chamberlain's role on the Yankees when they transition him from the pen to the rotation. He comes on in the sixth and finishes the game. In a seven man bullpen, you would think there would be room for a pitcher like that.


Posted by David Pinto at 08:31 AM | Games | TrackBack (0)
Comments

There aren't many long men left. Most teams would rather have a deep, flexible bullpen with lots of one-inning arms. (Otherwise, guys like Kyle Snyder would have major-league jobs.)

Tactically, I can see why: it gives you maximum flexibility. There may also be health benefits -- maybe relievers are less stressed if they only pitch one inning at a time. But there are two definite problems:

-- If you're using 4, 5, or 6 pitchers, you run a greater risk of using a guy who's just having an off night.

-- You just plain run out of guys if the game goes into extra innings.

There is also a lineup flexibility problem created when you don't have a long man, and you wind up carrying 12 pitchers instead of 10 or 11. It becomes tougher to platoon, pinch-hit or pinch-run. But most teams have decided they'd rather have flexibility in the bullpen than in the lineup. (Aside from "long man," two other endangered species are the fifth outfielder/pinch runner, and third catcher.)

Posted by: jvwalt at April 17, 2008 10:49 AM

It was a weird game all around. Normally Tallet or Downs would come in and throw 2 or 3 innings. Last night Tallet couldn't throw strikes and we were down by 2 when Downs was pulled out. Jessee Carlson went 3 scoreless innings as well. The thing is, the Jays were down by 2 until the bottom of the 8th and Gibby was working on keeping the lead as it is. He wasn't managing like he was expecting a 14 inning game, he was managing to win.

I expect to see David Purcey called up to spell AJ for his next start. Purcey and Burnett are on the same rest schedule and he's doing quite well in AAA this year.

Posted by: Andrew at April 17, 2008 12:15 PM
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