(in case you’re wondering, this is not the same photograph of Hernandez that appeared earlier today.)
I never thought I’d write these words….but perhaps Danny Graves could’ve stayed in the game a bit longer.
Then again, his 6 pitch 8th inning must’ve taken a huge toll.
In Hernandez’ defense, you’ve gotta be a special kind of reliever to have a shot at blowing 3 saves in 3 days.
I can understand why Jose Santiago might not be the first or even second choice late in a close game such as this, but given the condition (and recent performances) of Hernandez and Looper, any decision besides giving the former the ball would’ve been acceptable, unless no other pictchers were left.
Carlos Beltran’s inability to come up with J.J. Hardy’s bases loaded line drive in the 6th looms large in Thurday’s disaster, but if Hernandez (or anyone else) had shut the door in the ninth, we’d not think about it nearly as much.
Mike Piazza was 3-5 with with 5 RBI’s and a HR (his third in the past week). Cameron, Beltran, Wright and Piazza are getting the sort of hits in bunches the team sorely needed in the Houston series, shame the ‘pen can’t get the job done.
Next volume of that Harold Reynolds DVD series : Bunting With Lyle Overbay.
Educated guess at Willie’s order of preference of relievers in a close game:
Hernandez/Looper
Heilman
Padilla
Santiago
Koo
Graves
If Looper was unavailable, and Hernandez was fine to pitch another inning after throwing a complete games worth of pitches in the previous 3 games, why was Heilman pitching in a 6-6 game in the sixth inning?
I didn’t physically watch the game, but rather followed along the gamecast at work – so maybe there’s a logical answer why Benson was bunting a runner over in the bottom of the fifth, and sitting on the bench to start the sixth?
Seriously, if Heilman is your 3rd favorite reliever to use – why have him pitch the 6th?
I know that the 6th-8th weren’t where the game was lost – but wasn’t it? Actually, can’t we pin this loss on Ishii since he got the ND on Monday, and royally f’ed up the bullpen for the last 2 games?
Was yesterday the first time Graves has been given the ball since giving up that GS in Pittsburgh? He’s had his struggles, but if he’s going to continue to maintain paperweight status in the ‘pen, why have him on your roster at all? He should have pitched the 9th.
H.C.,
I’m assuming that Willie figured that by having Benson bunt before being yanked, he wouldn’t risk losing another pinch hitter that he’d need later on after the relievers had blown the lead again.
Under any other circumstances, I wouldn’t want Danny Graves on the mound in the 9th inning with anything less than an 8 run lead (or a deficit nearly as large). But these weren’t ordinary circumstances. After the prior two games in this series, Looper and Hernandez both should’ve been considered unavailable, unless or until there was no one left to use.
CSTB – agreed, it makes sense to save your pinch hitter in that case. But I’m curious – perhaps someone remembers seeing whether Willie had someone with a batting helmet on? If Offerman hadn’t doubled, was Willie going to let Benson hit for himself then?
I guess what I’m getting at is – I often feel like Willie’s surprised by game situations. He said yesterday post-game that he didn’t think he needed pitch counts from the past few days to decide if a reliever was available for a game, he relied on whether or not the pitcher told Rick Peterson that he would be available.
I’m not saying that Willie is making un-informed, under-prepared decisions by the seat of his pants all game – but doesn’t using your 3rd best reliever in the 6th inning of a tie game seem short-sighted? How did he intend to get from Benson to the end of the game? Heilman-Padilla-Koo-Graves-Hernandez was his plan for up to a 2-run lead when the 5th inning ended? He wanted to do that? He planned it that way?