Okay so I know I'm a couple days late so I apologize but I've been meaning to give my two cents on what I consider one of the biggest postseason manager blunders in history.
My first point is this: I believe Buck Showalter is an incredible manager. He was hired in 2010 when the Orioles were 32-73 and hadn't been to the postseason since 1997. That's unbelievably terrible. Many Orioles fans, my extended family included, had begun to give up on following the Orioles altogether. The Ravens were playing well so why would we want to pay attention to a consistently horrible team? The Orioles had a couple big name players over the years, i.e. Melvin Mora, Miguel Tejada, Brian Roberts, but their pitching was consistently deplorable (it still is but more on that another time). Buck then led the Orioles to a 34-23 finish and some baseball people began paying attention. To make sure you understand how big a deal this was, the Orioles had 34 wins in 57 games under Showalter that year and 32 in 105 before he got there. He managed them to more wins in a little over half the games. That's absolutely incredible. Since then, he's casually navigated them to playoff appearances in 2012, 2014, and 2016 in what I believe has consistently been the toughest division in baseball. He even won that division in 2014. He's one of the best managers in baseball and I don't think anyone questions that and they (and you) still shouldn't/don't. So now into his decision:
He messed up. Big time. Let's start with his defense after the game: he claimed no one has been pitching better than Ubaldo recently. Well let's first assume that he's correct. If that was true, why didn't he bring him in earlier? Can you imagine the Dodgers saving Kershaw for extra innings in a do-or-die game? According to Buck, that's exactly what he did. That would be inexcusable. Let's break down his argument a bit further though. Was anyone pitching better than Ubaldo recently? The short answer: heck no. Here's why.
His season stats are so bad, he would've been released had it not been for his contract. His ERA was 5.44 and he walked 72 batters in just over 142 innings. That's more than one every two innings. That's inexcusable. But wait, didn't Buck say "recently"? Yes he did, so let's look into that. In August, he had a 3.92 ERA in 5 games (2 starts) and a shade under 21 innings. Okay that's not bad. In September, he really picked it up. He went 3-1 with a 2.31 ERA in 5 starts, going 35 innings. That's 7 innings a start, giving up about 2 runs. That's very good. Okay but how did Zach Britton do? Overall, his ERA was 0.54 with a 0.84 WHIP and went a perfect 47/47 in saves. I'm sure you all know that. How about his stats by month? In August, his ERA was 0.96 in 9.1 innings and in September his ERA was a perfect 0 in 11.1 innings. So, no, Ubaldo was not pitching better than Britton and although he's been good, it's really not even close. So we've completely dispelled Buck's argument. Let's look a bit into some other arguments.
He was saving Britton for later in the game during a save situation. Okay this argument is just ridiculous because there is no "later in the game" when it's extra innings. You have to play inning-by-inning, especially in the playoffs, or else you blink and open your eyes just in time to see an Encarnacion homer sail into the Toronto night (I know, too soon. I'm sorry). If this is what Buck was thinking, then he's just a terrible manager. Like I've pointed out before, I don't think he is so I don't think this is what was going through his head. So this argument can be squashed and thrown away and I hope never ever ever brought up again by any fan watching a playoff game. Last argument:
Britton was hurt. Buck said he wasn't, so it'd be weird to deny it, but if he was this explains it. Nothing in Britton's last few appearances showed anything about him being hurt but he could've just tweaked something in warmups, a bullpen, etc. It happens. And if he's hurt, obviously he's unavailable and keeping that information hidden from your opponent gives your team a strategic advantage so I'd understand why Buck would hide that pregame. Postgame, I have no idea why he'd hide it especially since it'd save him a lot of negative press (such as this blog post) but maybe he was protecting Britton by not telling the press. In which case, he probably sees hiding it as a good managerial move as now his players will trust him even more. This I think is the most telling argument and I pray it's the truth.
So there's my first real post. This is the format and depth I'll be providing in most of my posts. I hope this was of some help to you all and I hope all Orioles fans (myself included) can get some much needed closure soon. Now onto the Nats. Win today. No excuses.
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