Again with the mismanagment (21-43)

JR is trying to make a case against himself. He really is. The Pirates have a big lead and the bullpen cannot close it. Granted Duke struggled. He was lucky to get out of 5.1 with only 4 runs scored. Chan Ho Park failed in his job. Sean Gallagher put a runner on in the 7th after getting them out of the 6th. But JR is still the most to blame. The situation is this. The Pirates are up 7-4 with a runner on first in the 7th inning. Prince Fielder is up, and already has one homer in the game. JR wants a lefty to face left handed fielder. Okay, I get it. Good idea. The choices are Wilfredo Ledezma and Brian Burres. Only one of these two has real experience coming out of the pen. Ledezma is the current left handed specialist. Burres came out maybe twice earlier this year for the Pirates and did it once for AAA Indianapolis. Who does JR get in this all important moment in the game? Who does JR go to only two outs away from the dealy 8th and 9th combo of Meek and Hanrahan? You got it. Burres. Burres hangs a slider and the Pirates are only up one, which Park cannot hold and that is all you need to know.

But just in case you are worried I might be wrong about JR. Putting Burres in followed by Park (who gives up the tying run), who was then pinch hit for in the next inning (this pinch hit was the right decision). The bullpen in a tie game was now left to Hanrahan, Ledezma, Resop, and Meek. Hanrahan pitched the 8th. Now still a tie game you pitch Resop in the 9th. What happens if you need to go into extra innings? Do you try to milk a second inning out of Resop? Do you bring in Ledezma and Meek in the 10th and 11th and hope it is over by then? You no longer have a long pitcher to protect against this thing. I guess you have Daniel McCutchen, but he just pitched a start a few days ago. The Pirates bullpen was dead as soon as Burres was removed from the game.

I wrote the above paragraphs in the 9th inning. So, what happened you ask? Ledezma was the one forced to go multiple innings (10th and 11th), and in his second inning, he lost the game on a walk off single. I don’t see how JR can escape blame for yet another mismanaged bullpen.

This loss over shadows a rather good game by Walker (two hits including a solo HR), Tabata (multi hit game including a HR), and Alvarez (2 hit game).