[Marcellus]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

No - he had ONE guy that was maybe a better option. Maybe.

You can't send Flaherty or Hudson out there - you just can't. That's the same shit Matheny did with Wacha and was justifiably barbecued for it. Those are 'clean inning' pitchers who need to know well in advance when they're going in. Those are guys who have started literally their entire careers - you can't just have them hot in a single batter.

Whitley was the one guy who was a better option. Oh, and by the way, Whitley had a 6 ERA in the first half. It was Shildt who got him back on the horse, worked him back into shape through lower leverage spots to rehab his confidence and then ultimately moved him into high leverage roles. But/for the work of Shildt to get Whitley back into form, you'd have even less to complain about.

Shildt was a victim of his own success in the post-season. It's no different than dipshit Philly fans who blamed Reid for not winning a SB with McNabb - the only reason he had that kind of show was the excellent work he did in making McNabb appear better than he was.

No, I'm not going to pretend that a guy who averaged a 91 win/season clip with a roster that was about 40% wasted payroll is a terrible manager because he went to a high-strikeout reliever in the 9th after he made the right call in going to Gallegos in the 8th only to see him get hurt (and he STILL made that into a smart decision by sending Gallegos out there knowing he wouldn't pitch to get LAD to burn Lux off the bench).

Shildt is a damn good manager. I've laid out a myriad of reasons why and in response I get one pitching decision and a whopping 14 games started in the 2nd half of the season from Matt Carpenter. Nevermind the fact that Carpenter starting wasn't a Shildt problem - it was a result of the fact that Carpenter was somehow the best LH alternative Shildt had available. "BUT HE BATTED CARPENTER CLEANUP!!" - 4 times. 16 ABs from the cleanup spot over the entire damn season. Oh, and Carpenter had a .438 OBP in those situations, for what that's worth.

But yeah - terrible manager. Counsel made a more egregious decision w/ the early hook for Woodruff and bizarre reliance on a gassed Ashby to lose their series against a team that was half as good as the Dodgers - guess it's time to fire him. Kapler lost game 5 with a dude who was in the minors with a 7.59 ERA in August on the bump - guess we gotta fire his ass, too. MIKE TAUCHMANN BATTED CLEANUP THAT ONE TIME!! HE HAD A .178 BATTING AVERAGE!! TOMMY LASTELLA GOT 240 PLATE APPEARANCES WITH A .308 OBP - FIRE KAPLER.

Just rank ignorance.

He could have used Lester, Happ, or anyone but Reyes FFS. "You just can't" isn't a valid excuse. You know who you just cant send into that situation? Alex ****ing Ryes. The excuses about the bullpen in that situation are just that, excuses. They had 2 days off before the game and would have had 2 after the game. There weren't only 2 options. Who closed the game for LA last night? Was it a bullpen guy? No it was Scherzer.

Carpenter had 207 at bats this season playing worse than last season when he had fewer so stop with your downplaying it. And Schildt was batting him in the middle of the goddamn lineup. That's firing territory alone just for being a goddman dumbass.

And it sounds like you should be impressed with Albert since the offense is the only thing that woke up in September.

Schildt is the Alex Smith of managers. And yea Mo should be gone too.