[Amazin69]

Originally Posted by chucksabr

Just because Davey Johnson botched a double switch once doesn't mean it's rocket science. It's not.

Well, he "botched" it (we did win the game, after all) multiple times in one particular game. It's likely that this wasn't the only time he screwed that pooch in 15 or so years of managing. I spotlighted it because it was a famous game, that's all.

It's a pushbutton decision any fan with average or above baseball intelligence can easily make.

Really? Okay, then, let's go! You get to be Davey Johnson for a Day!

Reset: Top of the 8th inning, Game 6 of the World Series, your team trails 3-2 in the game, and 3-2 in the series as well. Boston has the bases loaded, two out, and a lefty (Bill Buckner) at the plate. The pitcher's spot will be leading off the bottom of the 8th, and Calvin Schiraldi is probably coming into the game for Boston.

Do you

a) Leave Roger McDowell in the game, pinch-hit for McDowell leading off the bottom of the inning, and save Jesse Orosco for the 9th? But McDowell is trying to finish out his second inning, that walk to Marty Barrett to load the bases (after the IBB to Boggs) doesn't look good, and if you bring in Orosco you get the platoon advantage. (But what if McNamara then pinch-hits Don Baylor for Buckner?)

or

b) Bring Orosco in the game, bat him 9th, knowing that you'll have to pinch-hit for him leading off the next inning? Meaning that your best reliever works 1/3 inning, tops, and you're putting Rick Aguilera out there for the 9th…and possibly, beyond.

or

c) Bring in Orosco, bat him 8th (replacing Kevin Elster) and put Howard Johnson in the 9th spot to play SS? Hojo isn't exactly a whiz with the glove, though, and you'd rather use Lee Mazzilli to start the bottom of the inning, all other things being equal.

OR

d) Bring in Orosco, bat him 7th (replacing Mookie Wilson) and put Mazzilli in the 9th spot to lead off the 8th? That solves most of your problems, but what if we don't score in the 8th? That means any "last chance" rally in the 9th would likely bring up Orosco's spot and it's one thing to have take out Elster, a rookie back-up, and have to pinch-hit for the spot, but I'd hate to have the game come around to Mookie's spot and have Mookie (a consistent veteran hitter with good game intelligence and speed) be out of there, if I could have kept him in before this.

Come on, "Davey", the clock is ticking! You've got four options here, and the ump is going to want your decision right now…I mean, this is "a pushbutton decision any fan with average or above baseball intelligence can easily make", so what's taking you so long? Manager of the Year, my ass!

(Spoiler: Davey chose "b". And Mazzilli started the tying rally, and Darryl Strawberry, batting in the 5th spot, made the last out. So now what?

Do you

B1) Bring in Aguilera and put him in Darryl's spot? This means he won't have to hit in the bottom of the 9th, but I'd hate to lose the Series because the order comes around in extra innings and you took Darryl Strawberry, future Hall of Famer (hey, he looked like it!) out of the game, and didn't have him when you needed him. For example, down 5-3 in the 10th, two out, one on, the #5 spot coming up…

or

B2) Bring Aguilera in and bat him 9th, replacing Mazzilli. This keeps Darryl in the game and the order in order, but now there's a pretty good chance Aggy will bat in the bottom of the 9th. Are you going to let him hit, which probably won't help if you have a rally going, or are you going to hit for him and keep running through your bullpen so that if the game goes long enough, you'll end up with Doug Sisk on the mound?

or

B3) Bring Aguilera in, and bat him leadoff, replacing Len Dykstra? Well, this way we get 4 batters up in the 9th before Aguilera is due up, not 3, so hopefully we can win the game before his batting is even an issue. But you're only saving one spot and Dykstra (the hero of Game 3) is a way better hitter than Mazzilli…is it enough of a risk/reward equation to sacrifice that much offense to save one lousy spot in the order?

Well, Davey? What do you want to do? What do you want to do? Come on, already! Oh, come on, we only have three options now, not four, this one is easy! Sheesh…)

The only way pitchers are going to hit better is for them to work on their hitting, and that is not going to happen. A pitcher makes all his money, every last penny, pitching, and he is not going to give up any of the time he spends working on his pitching to work on hitting, because in a super competitive environment in which a couple of bad outings in a row can cost him his career, he is not going to risk losing one bit of his edge so he can learn how to ground out instead of strike out.

Your hyperbolic attempts to state your opinion as fact don't make it so.

• Pitchers will work on their hitting when the manager tells them to work on their hitting. Your whole argument here is off point.

• Most pitchers LOVE to hit and want to do it more. They have little contests among the pitchers for who gets the most hits over the course of a season. A good-hitting pitcher, be he Doc Gooden or Jacob deGrom, takes pride in how he's an all-around athlete and helps the team. Did you see Doc on Olbermann, getting wistful about his 8 career home runs?

• The idea that a pitcher's time is so tightly budgeted he can't possibly spare 15 minutes to work in his hitting is a complete joke. I hate to break it to you, but pitchers do all sorts of things at the ballpark. They eat, they go to the bathroom, they get dressed. They talk to fans, they talk to reporters, they sit and think. They do crossword puzzles, they answer fan mail, they sometimes sneak a smoke. They run sprints in the outfield, they shag fly balls, sometimes they just stand around and shoot the sh*t. Squeezing in 15 minutes every now and then to work on hitting is not going "take away from the time he spends on pitching", not in a million years.

And if it would, the manager can have the pitchers come to the park 15 minutes earlier. I mean, come on now.

You can hope against hope, or pray to the deity of your choice if you prefer, until you turn blue, but leagues around the world dropping the DH en masse simply is never going to happen. Pitchers learning to hit will never happen. Your only hope is that the National League remains on the wrong side of history. Anything more than that is nothing more, nothing less, than wishful thinking.

You can make overblown, absolutist, declarative statement after statement about what's going to happen in the future, until you turn blue, or you can pray to the deity of your choice, but you still don't know what's going to happen in the future. Any more than you knew the defensive shifts would happen, or the steroids would happen, or 33% of the teams making the "playoffs" would happen, or anything else that changes the shape of the game. All you have is "nothing more, nothing less" than your opinion, and opinions are like a-holes, everybody's got one.

And I'm not the one yelling. You are.

Interesting that my version of "yelling" doesn't involve absolutist statements ("never going to happen"), slanted analyses ("wrong side of history") or condescending remarks like 'wishful thinking", over and over again. It's a little annoying, which is why I mentioned it to begin with. Tone it down, please. Thank you.