2008 MLB All-Star Game Thread

But you're managing the same way. Using a certain guy in a certain spot. If Wagner just got hit, maybe Hurdle felt Dempster gave them the best chance to get through the ninth and send it to the 10th. Just because a guy can throw two or three innings, doesn't mean they're the right guy to do it that particular night.

Here's a link to the rosters and box score from the 1967 all-star game (the last to go 15 innings). I know they didn't take as many pitchers back then, but if you look you'll see the NL had one guy left in the pen. Does that mean Walter Alston didn't know how to run a bullpen? If he'd have had to plan to play a doubleheader he might have planned differently, too.
http://www.baseball-almanac.com/asgbox/yr1967as.shtml

 

That's the difference though -- the 1967 NL team had eight pitchers total for 15 innings. Hurdle had 11 pitchers at his disposal, not counting Lincecum, although I guess if Kerry Wood had to pitch, he could have.

And to be fair to Alston, he used only two pitchers for the first six innings. Compare that to Francona, who used five in the first six last night.

 

I don't think, even if he was up for it, Wood would have been allowed to pitch. His roster spot was taken.

 

Well since Lincecum was in the hospital, they could have worked it so they could have allowed it.

 

Yep. By Marmol.

 

Wood was out, replaced by Marmol (who pitched the 14th). Was he even there?
If Francona made one big mistake, it was using all of his starters early. The first four guys he used (Lee, Saunders, Halladay and Santana) were all the inning-eaters he had. After that, he was stuck with the pitchers who couldn't go but one or two innings.
Looking at the NL pitch counts, the only "wasted" pitchers were Wilson and Wagner. Everyone else was in that 20-30 pitch range that you're looking for in a two or three inning stint.
On the AL side, Halladay certainly could've gone another inning or two, and even Francona admitted he screwed up with K-Rod in trying to get Rivera into the game in the ninth. And Nathan only threw eight pitches. He could've gone one more.
All of that doesn't change my main point -- when you play 15 innings, you're past the point where you get angry if you run out of arms. It's a unique situation. Get pissed if this happens in a 10 or 11 inning game, not a 15-inning marathon.

 

My guess is they would have had to declare that before the game. Since it "Counts" I doubt Francona would have been ok with being told "By the way, we just activated Kerry Wood a few minutes ago."

 

I don't think MLB would have allowed it, not with Wood actually pulling out of the game. It seems pretty bush league.

 

Piniella probably would have choked Hurdle if he tried.

 

It'd be a great moment, though. There'd be the hushed crowd, then Kerry Wood's theme music hits and he sprints out of the stands to the mound as Bob Shepperd booms over the PA, "Kerry Wood! Kerry Wood! Kerry Wood!"

 

But that's irrelevant, at least for hotel/airline logistics that we keep citing.

You still don't know whether you have to book for Boston or Cleveland, three days before the Series begins. What does it matter whether you have to wait for just those two cities ... or whether you have to wait for Phoenix and Denver, too? You're still having to book flights/rooms potentially three days before the Series.

So that argument really doesn't wash, does it?

As for Shotty's point earlier, just because MLB doesn't change the way they do things doesn't mean it makes sense. "The way we've always done it" is their default setting.

 

That's a great point. Hurdle'd have to go into hiding.