that was a somewhat odd top of the 4th.

good to get out of it without any damage.

i'm putting that loss on manuel. he had both madson and bastardo loose in the pen, but still stuck with halladay even after the first 2 batters in the 9th reached base. it truly sucks to lose a game because lyle overbay had 3 hits.


i can understand that, though. roy halladay is the best pitcher in the world, so it's perfectly understandable to trust him, even though the matchups would not seem to be in his favor.


what really pissed me off, though, was that he used mayberry as a pinch runner in the bottom of the 9th and then used ross gload to pinch hit that very same AB. to say that that was a poor application of resources would be the tamest expression of my utter disbelief. that just cannot happen. your best pinch hitter needs to actually be used as a pinch hitter.


also, ross gload needs to go. he can't play the field. he can't run. and really, at this point in his career, he can't even hit.

they have pete orr in AAA. the guy's not great, nor is he even really good, but he can hit .250 as a LH hitter, put an XBH into the gap every once in a while, play acceptable defense at 2nd and 3rd, and most importantly, he can be used as a pinch runner so that you don't lose a game in the bottom of the 9th with your best bench player used as a damn pinch runner.