Managerial Dilemma

During the top of the 9th inning in yesterday’s ballgame, I told the friend I was watching the game with, “watch out for this Jason Kendall double play — the rally will vanish.” Pinch-hitter Casey McGehee led off the 9th inning with a walk and the tying run was on first with nobody out. Kendall promptly hit into a double play, causing little bit of controversy in Brewerland for not using an awful hitter such as Kendall to bunt McGehee into scoring position. This happened in another game earlier this season when Jody Gerut didn’t drop down the bunt in the 9th to move the runner over and promptly grounded into a killer double play.

With the Brewers down by one bunting with Kendall seems like the smartest play in that scenario. Unfortunately, statistically it’s not supposed to work. On average, teams score more runs with a runner at first and nobody out than a runner at second and one out unless a hitter hits well below the Mendoza line on a regular basis. Since the right strategy right there would have been to play for multiple runs and not just one, having Kendall bat for a hit was definitely the right play. If this was the bottom of the 9th and the game was tied, well, then I’d have a different strategy. But most of the time Kendall won’t ground into a double play, and yesterday just happened to be one of those times where he did.

Little things like that are part of the reason I really respect Ken Macha so far as the manager. He (for the most part) makes good pinch-hitting decisions and short of leaving Manny Parra hung out to dry he’s done a fantastic job with the bullpen. With former manager Ned Yost at the helm it seemed like I took each loss personally because each loss he seemed like he mismanaged the bullpen. With Macha, every time I get the Spidey-sense that a reliever is going to hit the wall or a pitcher, he comes out and makes the most appropriate change. He’s not the loyal-to-a-fault person that Yost was, and it’s nice to have a manager that shares the skepticism of a casual baseball fan. The clubhouse seems much more comfortable.

Another thing that’s impressed me about Macha so far is the way the Brewers have responded from bad stretches. Yost would sit back, trust his players, and tell everyone to calm down while chaos ensued behind him. Macha hasn’t been afraid to use a different lineup here, drop a guy who’s not performing there, and keep people away from extended slumps for a long period of time. After a horrid 4-9 start, the team bounced back nicely and played on fire for a month. After an ugly three-game sweep to the hands of the Twins (2 of the games I paid money to see), they responded with a 4-2 homestand. After losing 3 of 4 to the Marlins, they win 2 of 3 in Atlanta, coming a couple runs from a series sweep. It’s the little things that count, and this year it feels like a three-game losing streak isn’t a harbinger of doom and gloom for two weeks. It’s a bump in the road.

This weekend I’ll be heading down to Milwaukee to catch my first Miller Park game of the year. I’m getting awesome free tickets for Saturday’s game. Should be a blast — it’s nationally televised too. And an afternoon game.