Within the space of 24 hours, two managers took a great deal of heat for bullpen decisions that probably cost them victories. These days, with almost everybody getting along and three-man, largely non-functional benches all the rage, having a bullpen-related decision go wrong is about the only bad thing that can happen to a manager.
And boy, did it happen to both Brad Ausmus and Terry Collins. Both made essentially the same decision -- eschewing a four-out save from their closer -- and wound up with the same result; about all that was different were their explanations afterward.
Tuesday night in Detroit, the Tigers took an 8-6 lead over the Mariners into the eighth inning. Having already run through most of his bullpen, Ausmus summoned Neftali Feliz from the bullpen. Here's what happened next:
Franklin Gutierrez's grand slam made the score 11-8. The Tigers scored once in the bottom of the eighth, but would get no closer.
The question for Ausmus after the game was, why not call upon closer Joakim Soria, whether after the bases-loading single or the wild pitch?
We'll get to Ausmus' answer a bit later...
Wednesday afternoon in the District of Columbia, the Mets took a 3-1 lead over the Nationals into the bottom of the eighth inning. Terry Collins summoned Bobby Parnell, who's pitched quite well since coming off the DL five weeks ago. Here's what happened next:
Parnell was on the mound for all of that, throwing 27 pitches. The question for Collins after the game was, why not call upon closer Jeurys Familia, who's been quite good this season, after the lineout or the wild pitch?
Actually, I've mentioned the wild pitch as a possible call to action in both games, but of course managers almost never replace a pitcher in the middle of an at-bat. Maybe they should consider this occasionally; I just read a book about a minor-league manager who occasionally inserted a great control artist when there was a full count on a batter in a key situation. But it's hard to imagine anyone doing that now.
Anyway, they asked Collins what happened out there...
"That's all on me," Collins said. "That's not on Bobby."The blame game, depending on who plays it, settles on how the Mets used their bullpen in that eighth inning. Collins said afterward that he should have found a way to get closer Jeurys Familia into the game. That he should have manufactured enough delay to let Familia warm up and enter for a key batter.
If not for Michael Taylor, who supplied the game-tying two run single off Parnell, then at least for Danny Espinosa, who knocked in the game-winning run as the next batter.
"I could have delayed it," Collins said. "You could always send the catcher out and do some other things. I could have Jeurys get ready in plenty of time. That's my fault. He's just been pitching so good I had all the confidence in the world we'd get out of it."
I don't know, man. But I suspect this is mostly about Collins either going way out of his way to protect Parnell, or being intensely self-critical. And if he's that self-critical, he probably wouldn't have lasted this long as a big-league manager.
Anyway, the damage was done by Taylor's single, which came right after the wild pitch that ran the count full. Which was only Parnell's 19th pitch. Hardly any real cause for worry, even after Taylor smacked Pitch No. 20 for the game-tying single.
And even if Collins had lifted Parnell then, the score was already tied and the Nationals, with a runner aboard and playing at home, were by then odds-on favorites to win the game (55-percent favorites, according to one measure).
Collins' mea culpa might have made sense if Parnell were just another guy and Familia something like automatic. But they've actually pitched about the same this season, looking just at the stuff they can control. And the fact that Parnell had made a few bad pitches didn't mean he was going to make more of them. It just came out that way.
Now, here's Ausmus answering the questions:
"We can get into the second-guessing based on results, but the truth is, I would do nothing different at all in that game," Ausmus said after the loss.The Tigers had other relievers available in the bullpen at the time Feliz served up the game-changing grand slam, namely Alex Wilson and closer Joakim Soria.
But Ausmus elected to stick with Feliz -- even after the 27-year-old gave up a two-out single to Robinson Cano to load the bases.
"He was still throwing good," Ausmus said.
Considering it was a high-leverage situation, Ausmus was asked if he considered bringing in Soria with the bases loaded to try and convert a four-out save.
"No," he said. "We were running short on pitchers as it was."
--snip--
According to Ausmus, Feliz, who joined the team on July 11 after refusing a minor league assignment from Texas, was the Tigers' best option given the situation.
The reason?
"Well, he's pitched well since he's gotten here," Ausmus said. "He's been a closer, he's used to high-pressure situations."
I like Brad Ausmus. Handsome fella. Helluva pitch-framer. Pretty good sport. But I've got a different take on Neftali Feliz.
For all of Feliz's once-considerable talents, the Rangers recently decided he wasn't talented enough for a spot in their seven- or eight-man bullpen. When Ausmus says that Feliz has "pitched well" since joining the Tigers, he was talking about the grand total of 2 2/3 innings. With one strikeout.
Five years ago, Feliz racked up 40 saves and was Rookie of the Year. Since then, he's got a 4.21 FIP and he's not managed to strike out twice as many batters as he's walked.
I think the best thing you can say about preferring Feliz to a four-out save from Soria is that Soria had given up eight home runs in 36 2/3 innings this season. So maybe Gutierrez would have touched him up, too. Then again, if Ausmus doesn't trust Soria, why is Soria still closing out games?
Of course, Ausmus might have just been protecting Feliz, but in a different way than Collins protected Parnell. When managers say things that don't seem to make a lot of sense, it's good to remember that "honesty with the media" isn't tippy-top on the list of managerial priorities. Maybe Ausmus had exactly the same feelings as Collins, but a completely different public face on them.
Bottom line? Collins has better relief pitchers at his disposal than Ausmus. But you can blow a lead either way, and it's always going to hurt. No matter what you say.
