RMJ 179 August 13

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 13 ● Houston, vs Florida

This was such a tough game to digest that I have been chewing on it for a week. It is August 19, and I am finally making myself write again.

The games have been excruciating, and my head has been stuffed with gunk. I have been a little achy. I just haven’t felt motivated to do much more than manage the games. I did take some notes, however, and I feel well-enough now to start catching up.

I shouldn’t have written so blithely about second-guessing. After tonight’s game, I was second-guessing myself.

I have been ambivalent from time to time about strategic moves. But in this game, I straddled the fence so often that I should have been wearing a cup. The fact that I was cupless was probably clear to the press corps when they saw my dazed expression after the game.  

The second-guessing part came later in the game. In the beginning, everything was rosy.

 

We scored a pair of unearned runs in the first inning. In the second, Biggio dazzled the crowd by scoring from first on a hit-and-run single. Shane Reynolds was pitching a marvelous game. The Marlins are his nemesis team, but you would never have known it — until the sixth.

The inning started with a clean single to left. Then there was a looping jam-shot single. Moises Alou went for a splitter and bounced it up the middle. I thought it would be a double-play ball, but Bidge didn’t quite get to it and the Marlins were on the board.

To make matters worse, Chuckie tried for the “hero” throw and heaved it all the way over the catcher, allowing the runners to move up to second and third.

They had only hit one ball well, but I started Magnante in the bullpen, just in case.

Jeff Conine is having a bad year, but he is still a good hitter. He stuck out his bat on an ankle-high split and chipped a hit into right to tie the game.  Greg Zaun followed with an infield hit. Actually, he was out by half a step, but Wally Bell did not have a replay to help him. He just blew it, as Zaun went tumbling headfirst into the bag.

This brings up a subject that rankles old-timers. They feel that you get to the first-base bag quicker if you don’t slide. This knowledge has been imparted to every professional ballplayer, and yet they continue to slide into first base.

I’m not sure they aren’t right for the wrong reason — and that the Zaun play proves it. If he had kept running, he would have been called out — no question. The umpire can hear the ball hit the mitt, and see the foot hit the bag. He seldom misses this call. On a slide, he can’t see exactly when the runner touches the bag. It’s like a tag play — a cloud of smoke and a guess.

Reynolds was really flustered, but with the eighth-place hitter and pitcher due, I hoped he could pitch out of it. It turned out that he couldn’t.

The next batter singled, and I brought Magnante into the game to get the last out. At this point, I was tempted to double-switch, but I didn’t want to take Carr or Bogar out of the game. I could have gone back to the six-hole and had Spiers come in at third for Berry. This would allow Magnate to pitch another inning. But Spiers’ elbow was sore, and it was recommended that he not play in the field. So I pinch-hit for Mike, and we failed to score.

José Lima pitched a strong seventh, striking out two of the three hitters he faced. We came up, and Bell and Bagwell hit back-to-back homers to give us a 5-4 lead.

Now I was really on the fence: Lima had pitched so well that I didn’t want to take him out, but his history is that he pitches better if we’re behind.

I wanted to get the game as close to the ninth as possible before I played the Wagner card. And just as I was thinking about this, Spiers came up and said he could play defense, and not to worry about him. So now I had the option to double-switch a new pitcher into the game, putting Spiers in the nine-hole. I teetered on the fence as the next three hitters made out.  I had Springer ready, but I decided to go with Lima and to bring Billy in to play third for Berry.

Lima immediately walked Bobby Bonilla and served up a double to Darren Daulton. With runners on second and third and nobody out, I handed the ball to Russ, knowing I would have to pinch-hit for him and use yet another pitcher.

Well, they not only tied it, they took the lead with two singles off Russ, and two more off Tom Martin.

Every move I made backfired. We scored a meaningless run in the ninth and lost 8-6.

 

Afterward, I admitted to being indecisive and disappointed in my own performance. We could have won the game I had managed the bullpen better. We could also have won it if Zaun had been called out at first base. We could have won if, if, if, if …

But we did not win, and I felt more responsible for the outcome than in any other game this year.

Going into the contest, I did not want Springer to face Gregg Zaun, or Gary Sheffield to face Martin. I got boxed into allowing both of these matchups, and the result was two RBI singles.

 

I didn’t make it home until almost midnight, and everyone was sleeping. I woke up the dogs, because I needed to talk to someone — and I was pretty sure Judy would fail to appreciate the importance of waking up to listen to my complaints.

The dogs were happy to see me. Babe sat and “shaked” many times. Vesta licked my hands. When I finished my cigar, I went inside for a bedtime snack. I was two or three handfuls into a can of cashews when I realized that I hadn’t washed my hands.

It was that kind of night.