"I can get this guy"
Orioles manager Dave Trembley went to the mound with two outs in the eighth inning. The Red Sox had a runner on first base and two outs. Trembley was prepared to remove Brad Bergesen with J.D. Drew at the plate.
Bergesen convinced Trembley that he wasn't finished by saying, "I can get this guy." And he did, retiring Drew on one pitch to preserve a 5-1 lead.
Brad Bergesen talks with the media about coming out of the game after 8 innings
With Bergesen's count at 103, Trembley brought in Jim Johnson for the ninth. And George Sherrill. Nothing worked.
Trembley figured that Bergesen had done enough, that the tank was empty after Drew's fly ball.
Asked if he reconsidered after the Orioles were retired in the bottom of the eighth, Trembley said, "No, no. I would dare say that, before the game, if anyone had said he'd get through eight innings today and give up one run, everybody would have been real content with that against that lineup."
I sensed that Trembley wanted to say more, but he cut himself off a few times before turning the page on that topic.
"To expect that he's going to go back out there in the ninth with his pitches where he was... You could see from the fifth inning on... I told him... It was the right thing to do to get him out of there. I'm not going to... That's it."
It must be exhausting to explain every decision you make every single day and night, but we live to second-guess. We demand explanations. Trembley knows it comes with the territory.
So the debate becomes, does "I can get this guy" mean one more batter and he's done? Were there other signs that pointed to a pitching change? Is it asking too much for the bullpen to get the last three outs with a four-run lead?
Coming up: What Bergesen said.
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Categories (click for archive)Roch Kubatko | Roch Kubatko Orioles |
Talk about taking the wind out of their sails. Bergy should have been left in until HE got into trouble. As much of a stud JJ is, and with the recent improvement of flat breezy, I can understand why DT went to those guys but Bergy has been the staff ace and deserved to go the distance (again). The loss hurts, but I especially feel bad for Bergy because he worked his ass off and wound up with nothing to show for it.
I would've done exactly what DT did. Bringing in JJ was the right call. I am surprised he yanked him after the Youklis HR but I wasn't there and couldn't see if he was having control problems.
God that was just so normal for the Orioles. All my happy thoughts brought down to earth. They are like the first girl you got serious with. Tease, tease, tease but just no "Satisfaction"
I may be wrong, because when you're watching on TV, you don't have the panorama of the stadium that you do when you're there, but the balls hit by Ellsbury and Baldelli in the ninth, when they came off the bat, looked semi-routine to me. But again, I can't say for sure because I wasn't there. Andino had to be playing way deep in the hole, unless that ball was hit a lot harder than it looked.
Roch, any perspective on either of the hits?
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Baldelli's looked like trouble when it left the bat because it was headed up the middle, but then it seemed to take forever to get through and I thought Andino might be able to knock it down. - Roch
Well, at least we now know that in baseball, momentum doesn't have a very long shelf life.
This is one of the most disgusting losses we've had in a long time.All the Trembly apologists are out in force.Should have left Bergy in until he gave up a run. If nothing else he should have had Baez ready for Baldelli.
Amazing to read all of the hindsight managers postings. Wouldn't it be nice, just once, to see a post prior to a situation occurring saying what DT should do.... For instance, I'm leaving Bergesen in until they score a couple runs or I'm going out to the mound and tell him that this is his last batter no matter what. Trembley has to make a judgment call as situations unfold and the hindsight managers just sit back and wag the dog.
DT made the right decision. It was a tough loss against a tough team. Maybe if Belanger had been playing SS... but maybes are flying turtles.
I thought Trembley's decision to lift Bergesen would cost us the game as soon as he did it. It is a clear example of managing by rote rather than reading the circumstances. Bergesen was dominating a tough Red Sox line up which none of our other pitchers has shown the ability to do.
In my view, it was a stupid decision to lift Bergesen and Trembley should be called to account for it. My sense is the Bergesen was tip-toeing in his post-game comments to avoid showing up Trembley and possibly seeming to dump on his ineffective relief.
I believe that if Bergesen had been allowed to pitch the 9th the O's would have won. Trembley blew it.
TOMC13 said:
I may be wrong, because when you're watching on TV, you don't have the panorama of the stadium that you do when you're there, but the balls hit by Ellsbury and Baldelli in the ninth, when they came off the bat, looked semi-routine to me. But again, I can't say for sure because I wasn't there. Andino had to be playing way deep in the hole, unless that ball was hit a lot harder than it looked.
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Yeah, I thought so too and also also thought Sherrill got the strikeout on that 3-2 curve. That made the loss tough. I thought it was over THREE times.
Gotta love baseball though.
Thisgame reminds me of the Mother's day one two years a go. Horrible. I hate pitch count. So if he threw 95 pitches he could stay in and since he has 103 he should come out? No sense. What if that last batter took 13 pitches. Would he have came out half way through? 13 pitches is like one inning for berggy. Keep him in next time. Dave, didn't you know that got Sam fired the last time? Thats about 3-4 games you blew this year Dave. That game we won yesterday means nothing. Horrible.
Bottom of the 8th, Trembley to Bergesen: "I need one more inning out of you."
That's all that needed to be said. It scares me that Trembley is content with 8 innings and 1 ER out of his starting pitcher. The goal should always be 9 and a win. If you expect anything less than a win, that's what you'll get.