eMailbag: Manuel’s Decisions Last Night

by Matthew Cerrone on April 29th, 2009 at 9:07 am

Long-time MetsBlog reader Richard G sent in the following e-mail, about last night’s loss to the Marlins:

“Last night is all on Jerry Manuel.  He has done a terrible job managing this team… I was at the game last night and we were going nuts when he took Livan Hernandez out… What is the ONE thing Livan Hernandez is good for at this point in his career?  INNINGS EATER!  The guy has a rubber arm if nothing else so he’ll save your bullpen.  So, last night, you have a rare chance to have a pitcher go seven innings… He has two outs in the sixth, one man on, and he’s at 91 pitches.  So Manuel takes him out?!?!… Parnell lets in a run… Sean Green comes in to pitch the seventh and the rest is history.”

I believe Manuel is doing what Willie Randolph did, and what lots of other managers do, in that he makes what seem to be odd choices early in the season in an effort to assess talent, learn about a player, and get them work in certain situations, so, later in the year, when the ‘chips are down,’ the team knows who can be counted on.  In April, sometimes these moves back fire, but it’s all for the good of the overall season.

This is fine, normally, but, given the way the last two seasons ended, I believe every game matters – and there is no time to experiment.

I’m growing very tired of saying, ‘It’s early,’ and, ‘There is plenty of baseball left to play.’  I’m the pragmatic one, and I get criticized for it, yet even I am having a hard to buying in to that rhetoric.

I agree with Manuel when he says he would rather not leave Livan Hernandez in to face the lineup for a third time through the order.  I get that.  Plus, though he did give up a run, Robert Parnell has been outstanding this season.

However, I do not understand why Manuel left in Sean Green to face the left-handed hitting John Baker, after he already gave up a single, a walk and the lead, only to then intentionally walk Baker, which was followed by a three-run home run by Jorge Cantu – meanwhile, Pedro Feliciano, who is on the roster to pitch to lefties, is warming up in the bullpen.

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