Saturday night's debacle

I went to Saturday night's debacle and up until Shea Hillenclank, Papa
Grande and Oscar botched everything, it was shaping up to be a great
night. We booed David Wells quite lustily in our section, although I
think the overall effect wasn't so strong.

BTW: Is it my imagination, or is Finley playing even better defensively
this season than he has the last two years? He was awesome on Saturday
night.

I was surprised to see that Brenly didn't take the opportunity to
double-switch when he brought in Koplove. By then, the lead was in
serious jeopardy, and even if they had managed to hold the lead, it's
always nice to have an opportunity to score more runs. I'd have yanked
Hillenclank and put in Tracy. Even with the stories about Tracy's
defensive liabilities, he can't be any worse than Shea. Or better yet,
he could have pulled Hilly and moved Kata to third and put Baerga in at
second.

Gee, ain't second-guessing managers fun?

--Paul
** Note "removemunged" in email address and remove to reply. **

"Paul Wylie" <paul.DeleteThis@teamwylie.removemunged.org> wrote in message
news:c6jlr9$sq7$1@reader2.panix.com...
> I went to Saturday night's debacle and up until Shea Hillenclank, Papa
> Grande and Oscar botched everything, it was shaping up to be a great
> night. We booed David Wells quite lustily in our section, although I
> think the overall effect wasn't so strong.
>
> BTW: Is it my imagination, or is Finley playing even better defensively
> this season than he has the last two years? He was awesome on Saturday
> night.

He's definitely shading to left more than ever, and he's had a couple of
stumbles trying to cover back toward the gap in right-center as a result,
but he's easily been the best defensive starting CF in his division.

Which, in a division where the lackadaisical Milton Bradley and the
increasingly-creaky Marquis Grissom represent the main challenges to
Finley's supremacy, isn't exactly saying much, I suppose.....

> I was surprised to see that Brenly didn't take the opportunity to
> double-switch when he brought in Koplove. By then, the lead was in
> serious jeopardy, and even if they had managed to hold the lead, it's
> always nice to have an opportunity to score more runs. I'd have yanked
> Hillenclank and put in Tracy. Even with the stories about Tracy's
> defensive liabilities, he can't be any worse than Shea.

PCL coaches named Tracy the league's best defensive 3B last season. He may
have "defensive liabilities" in the outfield (hey, he's only played a
handful of games there at any stage in his development) and he was, IIRC,
shaky as a middle infielder, but there's no question he's got the glove for
the corner.

> Or better yet,
> he could have pulled Hilly and moved Kata to third and put Baerga in at
> second.

How much defense has Baerga played so far, either in-season or during the
spring? Yes, he needs to see an awful lot more action as a starter, both to
get his glove oiled and to get him some desperately-needed ABs, but the late
innings of a close game against what appears to be a serious division rival
is not the best place to get Baerga into the field.

> Gee, ain't second-guessing managers fun?
>
> --Paul
> ** Note "removemunged" in email address and remove to reply. **

--
_____

Simeon Rice, Class Act

"Someone who wasn't overly impressed with Pat Tillman's call to duty was
Simeon Rice, a former Cardinals teammate who now is with the Tampa Bay
Buccaneers. Earlier this year, on Jim Rome's national radio show, Rice said
Tillman 'wasn't that good, not really.' He went on to imply that Tillman
probably wasn't going to be around the NFL much longer anyway, so joining
the Army was no big deal."

"Only after Rome gave him repeated opportunities to amend his comments did
Rice finally say, 'I think it's very admirable, actually.' He added of
Tillman's motivation: 'Maybe it was the Rambo movies? Maybe it's Sylvester
Stallone and Rocky?'"

-- Mark Emmons, San Jose Mercury News, 15 Jul 2003
_____