Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
October 14, 2008
The Lowe Down

Ken Rosenthal criticizes Joe Torre for lifting Derek Lowe too soon:

Five innings, 74 pitches, Lowe coming off his first 1-2-3 inning.

Yes, Lowe was working on three days rest. Yes, the Dodgers had just taken a 3-2 lead. Yes, Torre could deplete his bullpen with a day off on Tuesday.

But in hindsight, Torre acted too soon.

It seemed Torre was expecting Lowe to fail soon, when there was little evidence of that. Yes, he was giving up hits, but apart from the first he wasn't giving up runs. He was in control, walking just one batter and throwing strikes twice as often as balls. He looked to me that he had found a groove and seemed to have two innings left. There's no use saving him for game seven, since he'll have regular rest anyway.

Now, the Dodgers bullpen is among the best in the business. Torre, however, starts with the inexperienced Kershaw and follows with the unreliable Park. Why not go with Kuo in that spot? He's left-handed and a long reliever. Let him get through the heart of the order, then bring in Kershaw to face the weaker 7-8-9 hitters in the seventh.

Torre left himself with a long road to Broxton. Maybe he should have had someone ready, and pull Lowe at the first sign of trouble. If Derek pitches into the seventh, Joe avoids the back of the pen, and maybe the Dodgers win that game. The more pitchers a manager brings into a game, they more likely he is to bring in one having a bad day.


Posted by David Pinto at 08:04 AM | League Championship Series | TrackBack (0)
Comments

Now do people start to understand why a lot of Yankees fans got tired of Torre's bullpen management?

Posted by: Adam B. at October 14, 2008 09:04 AM

Did we already forget that Broxton was the guy who gave up that moon shot to Stairs?

Posted by: robustyoungsoul at October 14, 2008 09:15 AM
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