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Saturday, October 18, 2008

Rogers: Joe Maddon errs in assuming Rays will be in Series

Butch asks…“In Maddon we trust?”

Joe Maddon has made few missteps this fall. But the Tampa Bay Rays’ manager made a doozy in the aftermath of the Boston Red Sox’s late-inning resurrection Thursday night at Fenway Park. In his defense, he must have been shellshocked.

“Of course, if we had won it, we’d be in the World Series by now,” Maddon said. “We’ll just have to wait one more day, hopefully, to get that done.”

He meant one more game, as Friday was a travel day. And he did add an important qualifier with the word “hopefully.” But still …

When your team gets as close to the World Series as the Rays were—seven outs away, seven-run lead—and then unravels, the task ahead is about a lot more than waiting “one more day.”

...That’s what Maddon is hoping. But the history of series after such dramatic reversals says the Red Sox have moved into a commanding lead, two games to three.

Repoz Posted: October 18, 2008 at 10:14 PM | 10 comment(s) Login to Bookmark
Tags: rays, red sox

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1. 1k5v3L

Posted: October 18, 2008 at 10:22 PM (#2986454)

Maddon erred when he left Balfour to face Ortiz and (even more outrageously) when he left Wheeler to pitch to Drew--despite having both Howell and Price available in the pen. That was just stupid bullpen management.

2. alskor Posted: October 18, 2008 at 10:31 PM (#2986457)

Maddon erred when he left Balfour to face Ortiz and (even more outrageously) when he left Wheeler to pitch to Drew--despite having both Howell and Price available in the pen. That was just stupid bullpen management.

Im hardly the first one to say it, but... although I didnt like him staying with Balfour... if your bullpen cant hold a 7 run lead with 9 outs left... how much can you really blame the manager? Maddon may have let a spark fall on the fire, but three guys doused it in gasoline. In a case like this I think you have to point the fingers at the three guys.

I do think it is very questionable managing to talk about the World Series like he did... that kind of stuff tends to anger the Baseball Gods. I understand he's trying to keep his team's spirits up... but that is dangerous talk. There's a difference between not being superstitious and openly taunting the Baseball Gods.

3. 1k5v3L

Posted: October 18, 2008 at 10:38 PM (#2986458)

how much can you really blame the manager?

A lot. Balfour was erratic. With 2 on and the Sox showing a pulse, you have to bring in a lefty to face Ortiz. And leaving Wheeler and his junk in to face Drew was awful. I'm shocked Wheeler was allowed to pitch any meaningful innings in the game. The guy's a gas can. Of course, I fully expect Maddon to bring in Wheeler tonight in a meaningful situation, and Wheeler to suck.

4. covelli chris p Posted: October 18, 2008 at 10:48 PM (#2986462)

Im hardly the first one to say it, but... although I didnt like him staying with Balfour... if your bullpen cant hold a 7 run lead with 9 outs left... how much can you really blame the manager?

well, the flip side to that argument is that when you blow a 7 run lead with 9 outs left, there's plenty of blame to go around.

5. Mr Dashwood Posted: October 18, 2008 at 10:50 PM (#2986464)

But the history of series after such dramatic reversals says the Red Sox have moved into a commanding lead, two games to three.

I'm not sure there's any history of such commanding reversals. I took a look at bb-ref's list of walk-off postseason hits. The parameters I set were, losing team had to have scored at least 5 runs, winning team had to be down by at least 5 runs and shut-out through 6. There are no matches. The closest I found are:

Game 3, 1986 NLCS, Mets down 4-0 in the bottom of the 6th, won 6-5 and won series 3-2.
Game 7, 2003 ALCS, Yankees down 4-1 in the bottom of the 7th, won 6-5 and won series 4-3.
Game 4, 2005 NLCS, Astros down 6-1 in the bottom of the 8th, won 7-6 and won series 4-0, but it took 18 innings and most of those were unmemorable extra innings, as I remember watching this.

So, one would think the Red Sox can enter this game with hopes, but that was quite a comeback, historically.

6. Crispix Attacksel Rios Posted: October 18, 2008 at 11:16 PM (#2986468)

Sheesh. Just by saying "Hopefully" in that sentence, Maddon indicated he wasn't actually assuming at all. Does Rogers think he should have removed even more of his team's confidence by saying that the series was up for grabs?

7. scareduck Posted: October 18, 2008 at 11:34 PM (#2986482)

More Sox-stroking, from a newspaper not even in their market. Sheesh.

8. Der Komminsk-sar Posted: October 19, 2008 at 12:24 AM (#2986625)

balfour: they had a big lead, balfour has been a big part of their success, but was struggling and they need him near 100% for the WS, so they may have wanted him to leave on a high note. i can see why they stuck with him.

stupid article.

9. Kyle S at work Posted: October 19, 2008 at 12:34 AM (#2986714)

Did anyone else get Steve Harveyed for the first inning? What was up with that?

10. jwb Posted: October 19, 2008 at 06:02 AM (#2987840)

TBS router problems.

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Saturday, October 18, 2008

Rogers: Joe Maddon errs in assuming Rays will be in Series

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