Buck's defense of JJ

[Bigbie03]

"He made a lot of good pitches," Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. "He just kind of painted himself in a corner there and we just couldn't get it done."

Wow!

http://scores.espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=330526114

[333WCamden]

Buck is doing his best Dave Trembley impression.

[tntoriole]

"He made a lot of good pitches," Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. "He just kind of painted himself in a corner there and we just couldn't get it done."

Wow!

http://scores.

espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=330526114

Ridiculous. It reminds me of the scene in Bull Durham. "These are your cliches. Learn them. They are your friends." Baseball managers never get asked hard questions or get called out on BS nonanswers. Disappointing.

[El Gordo]

What would you expect him to say? Put yourself in Bucks place and give me your quote.

[Why Not?]

Why would you expect Buck to throw his closer under the bus?

You only do that if a guy is making mental or lack-of-hustle errors, and even then you do it judiciously. Johnson isn't pitching well. Everybody, including Buck and Johnson, knows it.

[Bigbie03]

How about..."We had a chance to win that ballgame and our pitching let us down. We have to win these ballgames, especially against teams in our own division, and to lose that way is simply unacceptable."

[Bigbie03]

And if Buck knows he's pitching horribly, why make it a point to lie about him making good pitches?

[tntoriole]

Jim's not himself right now. The command is not where it should be. We'll all work hard and try to correct it and get him back on the right track and pitching like we know he can.

Exactly. Rather than just insulting our intelligence by saying his pitches were good.

[eddie83]

I have never understood why this bothers people. I remember when Boller was struggling with the Ravens and Billick wouldn't publicly criticize him. Some people were all bothered by it, as if it would have accomplished anything. What does it accomplish to publicly rip your players, nothing.

[Bigbie03]

It's one thing to stand by your players. I don't have a problem with that. What I DO have a problem with is, getting defensive when reporters bring up any problem with your player, especially if he's a veteran, or one of your favorites, and being snarky with your response, as if..."How DARE you question me?"

That's Buck.

[eddie83]

It's not ripping your players. It's just acknowledging that they didn't play well in that particular game. Buck would have no problem singling out Navarro for a bad play, Oh wait! He pretty much did that last week!

In Navarro's second game he went to his right and couldn't come up with a grounder. It was ruled a hit. Buck went out of his way to say the play should have been ruled an error.

Maybe it is because Jim has earned Buck's trust and Navarro hasn't. JJ helped put us in the playoffs last year, so maybe he does get more of a leash. Comparing a closer who blows games to a misplay in the field in like apples to oranges. How many threads were calling for Navarro's head compared to JJ's? Did people rip him to shreads, no they didn't because he wasn't the guy who blew the game in the 9th.How many times do you see NFL coaches go out of their way to be critical of their QB? You don't handle high pressure guys the same way in the media.

[eddie83]

Fine, I'm not suggesting he rip Johnson. Just acknowledge the obvious, that Johnson is in a bit of a slump right now.

I think we all can see that. Buck is giving us lip service, which is what he should do. Buck doesn't what anymore attention being drawn to it. JJ has been the number one topic of both the fans and media the last two weeks. Buck doesn't what to do anything that could be construed to put gasoline on that fire.

[eddie83]

I know what you are saying but Buck isn't going to do anything even if it is subtle to draw more attention to it. He goes out of his way to praise Jim for a reason. How many times in sports do we hear a vote of confidence and then a week later a manager or coach is fired. I think he knows how important JJ is to the team and is trying to protect a big player even it is hard to swallow what he is saying.

[brianod]

I don't blame Buck. He simply doesn't have enough bullets right now. Our starters are below average and that puts stress on the pen. The pen is imploding. This isn't on the manager, it's on the GM. We need another quality arm or two.

[Moose Milligan]

Fans and the interviewer deserve a little better than "he made a lot of good pitches". You don't have to rip the guy to just state the obvious. He didn't make a lot of good pitches.

So this would accomplish what, exactly? Making you feel better?