Buck stacked the deck against Matusz today

[mrpennybags]

This was a 'house money' game; win the first two games of a series and then for the third game hand out days off to regulars. Joe Torre used to do this all the time. I'm not sure it matters that much if you give your regulars days off all at once or spaced out, especially since we have a relatively good bench.

[SteveA]

Palmer said Reimold had a sore/tender hamstring. Hardy it was his knee/knees. And Weiters - well its Sunday and the backup plays on a lot of Sundays.

Besides, its early in the season and guys are all getting a chance to play some.

OK, well, obviously if that was the explanation given, so I have to retract some of my initial comment. I watched the whole game and didn't hear Palmer say those things, but I can't say I didn't leave the room a few times to prepare a meal, move laundry from the washer to the dryer, or answer the call of nature. I obviously must have missed those comments by Palmer.

[Dagger420]

Gregg is on the roster.

That's your problem right there...

[Tuam]

Gregg is the "Bullpen Terrorist", when he comes in everything blows up!

You can say what you want but the Birds gave away this game today and they can't afford to do that! They need to win every game they can especially those within the division. You don't give guys a rest when they're stinging the ball but when they're in a slump. What a way to run a ball club!

[Dagger420]

This was a 'house money' game; win the first two games of a series and then for the third game hand out days off to regulars. Joe Torre used to do this all the time. I'm not sure it matters that much if you give your regulars days off all at once or spaced out, especially since we have a relatively good bench.

This team isn't good enough to have these types of games. They need to get any victory they can.

[Can_of_corn]

What are you talking about. Reimold played some 1B in AAA last year and wasn't any good. He's not a 1B. If he hits, you can live with his defense in LF but his best position is probably DH.

They were talking about Reynolds, not Reimold.

I don't think he actually did that well at first but that isn't the issue.

[speckle69]

I believe everyone needs a day off sometime; just don't give everybody off the same day. Matusz needs to be used in positive situations to build his confidence. You could tell that in his post game interview. He is really insecure right now and that is a feeling you don't need in your starting pitcher. He needs to have a killer instinct. Bringing Gregg in to bail him out was ridiculous. Brian should have been lifted after 5 innings, and the game turned over to a long reliever. Oh thats right , we don't have one!

This is Buck for you.

Reimold should have played. Hardy should have played. Matt needs the rest from catching, don't wear our his legs. He could have DH'ed though.

Chavez and Johnson have done nothing to earn time so far. Not like it's been a long hard season, it's only the beginning. Players are fresh right now. Maybe Buck was just "content" to win 2 out of 3 and get out of Toronto. Who knows.

[Sports Guy]

Wieters should have been catching BMat.

Paulino should have done a better recognizing that he was overthrowing his fastball in the 6th and called for more off speed stuff, especially in the Davis at bat.

That being said, Wieters may have called it the same way, so who knows if that helped or hurt.

Either way, I would have preferred the better catcher calling the game for BMat as opposed to doing it for the vet Hammel.

I also agree that Buck needs to do a better job of spacing out the off days.

[Sports Guy]

That's ridiculous. Please don't blame Paulino for the bad pitches or choice of pitches. Wieters is the same guy who called the Strop slider that everyone had a big problem with. He's no genius back there. You act like Matusz is a rookie.

It's ridiculous to want the gg catcher catching arguably the most important player on the team in an early but important start?

[ccbird]

I would have DH or rested Wieters yesterday and had him catch today, but as much as I want Matusz to succeed and I consider myself to still be optimistic about him longterm, I'm also not going to make excuses for him either. I missed the game today, apparently he was a little better, but just looking at his line and the play by play it seems to me he's still struggling a good bit. I thought he earned his rotation spot this spring but if Buck chose to send him down I really feel like I couldn't protest too much.

[jjnono]

It's ridiculous to want the gg catcher catching arguably the most important player on the team in an early but important start?

There'd be nothing ridiculous about it if Matusz has indicated he'd prefer Wieters back there, because then yes, you might be shaking his confidence by putting Paulino behind the dish. But the GG has nothing to do with calling games. it's not an intelligence award, nor is it a confidence award (I mean, if it was, how did Wieters win by catching the staff with the worst ERA in the AL??). And wild pitches aren't Matusz's problem. Unless you're trying to make the point that Matusz was up in the zone today because he was afraid to be down in the zone (and in the dirt) because he didn't have confidence in Paulino's blocking abilities, which maybe you are...

[CA-ORIOLE]

It's ridiculous to want the gg catcher catching arguably the most important player on the team in an early but important start?

Yeah, it's another lame excuse among many other lame excuses. Matusz is the one that has to execute his pitches. He pitched well enough to earn another start imo. Aside from Betemit's error (which didn't cost anything) the defense played well behind him.

[allstar1579]

Yeah, it's another lame excuse among many other lame excuses. Matusz is the one that has to execute his pitches. He pitched well enough to earn another start imo. Aside from Betemit's error (which didn't cost anything) the defense played well behind him.

On most other teams the RP gets some outs and his line looks much better than it ended up being. Without Gregg being Gregg we wouldn't be having this conversation and would be saying he's improving, and still has some work to do but it's much better than last year.

[CA-ORIOLE]

On most other teams the RP gets some outs and his line looks much better than it ended up being. Without Gregg being Gregg we wouldn't be having this conversation and would be saying he's improving, and still has some work to do but it's much better than last year.

I can put aside the inherited runners that scored from the RP. That's really not that much of a consideration for me other than he did put those and a lot of other runners on base, and was frequently behind in the count. The other thing that some people have pointed out is how spent Matusz looked, even in the 4th. I guess it was pretty humid there, the sweat was pouring off of him. Drabek didn't appear to be nearly as affected.

edit: I did indicate he looked improved over his last start and there were some nice takeaways today.

[allstar1579]

I agree that Matusz shows the potential to put it together. At the same time, if he had showed something, he would have forced Davis (after a 1-2), a pretty weak hitter, to beat him with a hit instead of walking him on three straight high fastballs, and his line would have looked a lot cleaner. Gregg made it look worse but Matusz didn't end the inning.

Yeah I agree with you, he could have taken it in his own hands and put him away with his best pitches instead of trying to blow FB by him and overthrowing and missing the zone. That's just one of the things he's gotta keep working on. People know to lay off his FB and make him throw too many CB/CH raising his pitch count. It's the same problem he had in the minors, he's gotta get better control with the FB. Without that and guys being worried about him getting them looking at a FB while they are sitting CV/CH he's got himself into a 50/50 problem with hitters. He's in less than favorable counts with guys knowing one of two pitches is coming.