Wedge Thoughts

This post is a little overdue, but what the heck – here goes. I don’t know about other Yankee fans, but I was more than a little perturbed by the “managerial genius” of Cleveland Indians skipper Eric Wedge last week during the Tribe’s stay in Boston. Wedge single-handedly turned a four game sweep by his Indians into a 2-2 split with the Sox thus depriving the Yanks of a couple of extra games cushion in the standings.

Let’s review the pivotal moments of the two games that Wedge gifted to Boston. In the first game of the series last Monday, the Indians entered the bottom of the ninth with a lead of 8-6. At this point in the Indians’ season, no one in the bullpen had registered a save since the departure of Bob Wickman, so maybe we should cut Wedge some slack in terms of his pitching selection. He doesn’t have many tools in the shed. Regardless, the pivotal moment arrived when David Ortiz stepped to the plate with two men on base.

We all know that Manny Ramirez bats behind David Ortiz and conventional thinking tells us that you don’t walk the bases loaded to get to Manny Ramirez. Or do you when the potentially greatest clutch hitter of all-time steps to the plate? No doubt it is a tough decision and it’s compounded by the fact that a 22 year-old rookie named Fausto Carmona is on the mound. However, there is sufficient evidence available that suggests not letting Ortiz beat you in this situation. Unfortunately, Wedge appears to be a slave to conventional thinking. Not only did he choose to pitch to Ortiz and subsequently lose the game, he said later that he would do it all over again if he were in the same position. No, no, no, no, no!

Conventional wisdom shouldn’t be a barrier to learning and creativity, yet Eric Wedge isn’t bright enough to understand that. He’s not doing his job if he can’t think creatively. Just ask Devil Rays manager Joe Maddon who was in a similar situation on Sunday with Ortiz at the plate. Maddon might be on the extreme end of non-conventional thinking, but he had the guts to do what Wedge did not; he walked Ortiz to get to Manny and it paid off. Tampa Bay escaped with no damage and then won the game in the bottom half of the inning. That’s good stuff from the D-Rays!

Wedge’s second gaffe of the week versus the Red Sox occurred last Wednesday and again it was in the bottom of the ninth. Once again, Fausto Carmona was on the mound and I had a flashback to the 2001 World Series when Arizona Diamondbacks manager Bob Brenley sent closer Byung-Hyun Kim out to the mound on consecutive evenings to finish games versus the Yankees only to see it all go wrong. Kim hasn’t been the same since and I fear that Carmona may not be either. Granted, the circumstances were far different – World Series vs. run-in-the-mill regular season game – but the trauma of such losses could be devastating for a young pitcher.

Carmona appeared as if he was going to escape the game with his first save when he started having control problems. He walked a batter and hit two others, and was clearly melting down. Only when the bases were loaded did Wedge think to get another pitcher to warm-up. By then, it was too late. Carmona was allowed to pitch to Mark Loretta and Loretta delivered the game winning hit. The fact that Carmona was losing his mind on the mound was so obvious that it was shocking to me that Wedge left him in there to face the Sox second baseman. Perhaps he did it for the kid’s development – I don’t know. Whatever the reasoning, I’m not sure Wedge is managing his team to win, and maybe that’s fine for the Indians, but it isn’t so great for teams competing with the Indians’ opponents for potential playoff spots.

If Wedge hadn’t salvaged two games for the Sox, Boston might be in a complete freefall. After the Indians series, they subsequently lost 2 out of 3 to Tampa and then were swept in three games by the mighty Kansas City Royals. Red Sox fans have to be worried as their club was expected to feast on these bottom feeders before going into next weekend’s epic encounter with the Yanks. Instead, the 2004 champs are in some danger of playing themselves out of the race.

Random Thought

The Tampa Bay Devil Rays are officially my second favorite club after they “tweaked” the Red Sox a few times this week. First, after their victory over the Sox on Sunday, they started to play “Sweet Caroline” over the PA system at Tropicana Field which was followed by a turntable needle scratch sound effect and then the playing of Bruce Springsteen’s “Better Days”. That was a nice touch as the Sox departed for the weekend.

On Tuesday, it was reported that the D-Rays blocked the transfer of Adam Stern to the Orioles to complete the Javy Lopez deal. That move seemed to be some form of retaliation for Tampa’s perception of the Red Sox conduct during the Julio Lugo trade talks. The two teams have had a history of conflict with their beanball wars over the last few seasons and stuff like this ensures that the animosity will continue. Now, if only the D-Rays could become consistently competitive. Then we would really have something to watch with these clubs.