Buck Stuff

[HokieOs]

Yet we have people here saying, aw shucks, Buck tried his best but the bats didn't come through

To completely dismiss the fact that our bats were dead is just absurd. No, tonight was not Buck's finest hour managing. Yes, I would have played Britton at some point. Yes, I definitely would have pulled Ubaldo after the first two hits. But to completely dismiss FOUR HITS IN ELEVEN INNINGS as the real reason for the loss is completely absurd.

[MDK02]

Yet we have people here saying, aw shucks, Buck tried his best but the bats didn't come through

You always extend the game as long as you can. With our offense, alls it took is one swing of the bat and we have the lead but we don't get to that point without stopping them. Buck did not use his best asset to extend the game for a puncher's chance. Pretty much as simple as that.

[Malike]

I'm embarrassed for you guys.

Winner.

[HokieOs]

Britton said before the game he could go multiple innings.

Go ahead, give another reason.

Bringing in Britton would have been too easy and therefore not respectable. Buck is a strong guy who appreciates a challenge, he lost this one but the team is stronger for having tried to win without their best player.

EVERY athlete says they can go a little longer. That there's more in the tank. That doesn't always make it true.

[tinamodotti]

Talk about ingratitude. Have we become this spoiled?

We're ingrates for wanting the best player to play?

Buck could have benched Cal in August '95 and people here would be defending it

[kelsey59]

The sad part is people finding Jay's threads to throw in our face.

[tinamodotti]

I'm embarrassed for you guys.

I'm embarrassed for those who are willing to let something this egregious slide.

And I mean no offense, I think you are a good poster.

[HokieOs]

We're ingrates for wanting the best player to play?

Buck could have benched Cal in August '95 and people here would be defending it

So you want to fire the guy who has brought us the best 5 year run we've had in decades over one egregiously bad decision (and I don't think the decision is as egregiously bad as it is being made out to be)?

Guess what, one of the biggest reasons we were in this game tonight and not sitting home after a 75-78 win season was the management of Buck Showalter. One bad game that we wouldn't have even sniffed without him is not a reason to fire him.

[TINSTAAPP]

We're ingrates for wanting the best player to play?

Buck could have benched Cal in August '95 and people here would be defending it

Somebody mentioned this on Twitter but Buck actually pulled this exact same move 21 years ago with the Yankees. In Game 5 of the ALDS, he had his closer John Wetteland available and ready to go in extra innings. What does Buck do? He went Jack McDowell, a SP pitching on one day rest who had NEVER pitched out of the bullpen during his entire career up to that point. Not surprisingly, McDowell ended up giving the game-winning hit while his closer never got in the game. Buck is just incapable of learning from his mistakes.

[tinamodotti]

This about this:

If suddenly in the bottom of the 11th inning the BlueJays owner had his mind switched into Buck's body, like Freaky Friday, he would have done EXACTLY WHAT BUCK ACTUALLY DID!!!!

Think about that!!!! That's how horrifying this is!

[birdcrazy]

I know this much. If I am gonna lose a winner take all playoff game, I would feel much better with Ubaldo not being used then Britton.

[TINSTAAPP]

With full awareness of that trend, I will say this: Buck Showalter just made the stupidest managerial decision I've ever seen.

The closer for the Orioles is Zach Britton. This season, the 28-year-old lefty fired 67 innings, struck out 74 batters, allowed just 38 hits, and posted a 0.53 ERA -- the lowest by any pitcher in major league history with that many innings pitched. In 58 appearances since the start of May, he'd held opposing batters to a line of .160/.222/.195, with one earned run allowed in 57 innings -- netting an ERA of 0.16. He might win the Cy Young award this year, and he'll get some MVP votes too.

For decades, countless managers have made similarly dunderheaded decisions. We've even seen skippers send in inferior pitchers with the game on the line during the playoffs, on the theory that closers should be held back until they get a traditional save situation, up one-to-three runs and in the ninth inning only.

But given all the circumstances in play here -- not one, two, or three but six other relievers getting the call, in a win-or-go-home game, with a reliever putting up historical numbers passed over for a mediocre starter, against the meat of a powerful lineup -- we can say it: Either Showalter and Britton are covering a vast injury conspiracy with KGB levels of stealth, or we just witnessed the baseball blunder to end all baseball blunders.

Centuries from now, when humans are living in a utopia in which war and poverty have ended, everyone's nice to each other, ice cream sundaes are good for you, and baseball managers no longer manage based on the preposterous vagaries of the ridiculous save rule, we'll remember this night.

http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/why-buck-showalter-made-the-stupidest-managerial-decision-ive-ever-seen/

[HokieOs]

This about this:

If suddenly in the bottom of the 11th inning the BlueJays owner had his mind switched into Buck's body, like Freaky Friday, he would have done EXACTLY WHAT BUCK ACTUALLY DID!!!!

Think about that!!!! That's how horrifying this is!

Think about this... if John Gibbons had switched his mind into Buck's body, the Baltimore Orioles would have been a below .500 baseball team this year wondering who we can acquire that can get us to the playoffs. Or wishing we had a manager who didn't suck.

[kelsey59]

Since Jonah Keri never managed a baseball team his opinion means as much as toad.

[tinamodotti]

Since Jonah Keri never managed a baseball team his opinion means as much as toad.

I guess that means the same for your opinion!

Dismissing people is easy!