Buck Showalter Discusses Wild Card Criticism

[Redskins Rick]

Yep, a curious move for a guy I generally consider to be one of the best if not the best. Over thinking it is the best I can come up with.

Some of my buddies think the world of Bochy and claim he is better than Madden.

IMO, they are really close as the best of the best, but Bochy does have more WS trophies in his resume.

[atomic]

I want to hear the totality of the thinking. For example, I didn't want to pitch Britton because Liriano looked really good. My thinking was that it was going to go far into extra innings and we really needed Ubaldo to provide us with some length given that all we had left in the bullpen was Britton and Bundy.

Then I would want an explanation as to why not Bundy closing.

Your thinking doesn't make sense. Britton could pitch 2 innings and Ubaldo could come in at that point.

[Il BuonO]

Some of my buddies think the world of Bochy and claim he is better than Madden.

IMO, they are really close as the best of the best, but Bochy does have more WS trophies in his resume.

Bochy is no doubt a very good manager, but I remember that one time....

[Redskins Rick]

Bochy is no doubt a very good manager, but I remember that one time....

Exactly, and he only wins WS on ODD years. If he was better manager, he would win it every year. LOL

[ExileAngelos]

Unfortunately for Buck these playoffs have made him look much worse. Britton clearly should have come into that game much earlier and stayed in for at least 3 innings.

[Hallas]

I understand why Buck brought Ubaldo to start the inning, don't understand why he didn't bring Britton in with 1st and 3rd and 1 out.

Going strictly by WPA, going into the bottom of an inning up by a run is a higher leverage situation than going into it with a tie. However, first and third one out is exactly where you bring in Britton to bail your team out. 5.01 leverage index, and the potential WPA for a clean 2 outs is greater than 1-run save situation. 35% change in WPA if Britton can get out of it. A 1-run save gets you 20% in WPA.

[dabirds]

One thing I don't see mentioned is the roster construction. Why would you need 15 position players for one game??? That boggles my mind. Wouldn't you stack the roster with pitchers for this exact scenario? This is the American League, how many pinch hitters do you need for one game?

[pastorfan]

His comment that "This game will humble you to your knees" was all I needed to hear - eloquent and true.

Yes, this is a revolutionary comment that explains all we need to know. This clears everything up.

[pastorfan]

Unfortunately for Buck these playoffs have made him look much worse. Britton clearly should have come into that game much earlier and stayed in for at least 3 innings.

No way. I mean, that has not worked out for Francona

[Ruzious]

Yes, this is a revolutionary comment that explains all we need to know. This clears everything up.

Your comment, otoh, was extremely stupid. Kudos.

[Redskins Rick]

So the Tribe was up 3-1 and lost the WS. WOW

Can you image the firestorm here in OH, if that had happened here?

[George]

So the Tribe was up 3-1 and lost the WS. WOW

Can you image the firestorm here in OH, if that had happened here?

The O's lost the 1979 WS after being ahead 3 games to 1. Lost the last two at home in Memorial Stadium.

[George]

Blaming Buck and the pitching for the O's playoff loss is missing the main point. The O's didn't score many runs. The reason the O's were in the one game playoff was because the team didn't score runs during the last part of the season while the pitching was very good. Hope the O's can put together a team that can lead the AL in runs scored even if the team doesn't lead the majors in HRs.

[Redskins Rick]

The O's lost the 1979 WS after being ahead 3 games to 1. Lost the last two at home in Memorial Stadium.

I remember, and cant image to think how it would have been dissected in OH, if the internet had been around back then.

[MDtransplant757]

I remember, and cant image to think how it would have been dissected in OH, if the internet had been around back then.