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We can keep saying it, but it's obvious at this point, no matter what is said, no matter how many wrong decisions Joe Maddon makes, he will continue to make the same stubborn choices again and again, and that winning isn't as high on his priority list as is being stubborn. Maddon has mis-managed his bullpen the past month, and has clearly knocked the Rays out of the playoff race, and possibly made them an under .500 team. I know the pitchers in the bullpen continue to implode, and aren't getting the job done, but why do you keep going to the same pitchers time and time again when they simply don't get it done.
Tonight, Jeff Niemann had gone 7 innings, was leading 2-0, yet Joe decided to leave him out there and let him give up a single, then pulled Niemann. Why can't Maddon either pull Niemann and let a reliever have a fresh start of an inning, or let Niemann finish the game, since the bullpen is imploding on a nightly basis. Then after Cormier and Shouse started the new rally loss, sure enough Grant Balfour comes in the game to seal the loss once again, and made Niemann a non-winner in a game he left with the lead, for the 4th time in the past month. Not only did the Rays lose again, but Balfour blew the lead as he has done so many times this year, by giving up a 3 run home run to a pinch hitter.
How many times can Maddon keep doing the same thing over and over and not be held accountable. Everyone understands that it is the players not performing, but let's be honest here. The manager knows they aren't performing, and continues to run them out there night after night, and let's a great job by a starting pitcher go to waste. 4 wins stolen from Niemann in just the last month. That's not the most important fact however. The fact that the Rays have now lost 8 games in a row, and are on the verge of possibly finishing under .500 this year, just shows how poorly Joe Maddon has done at managing this team. It's time for Rays management to wake up and make some changes and stop having your lead man continue to act non chalant, and as if it's ok to lose game after game, and then state it's just one game. It's every game lately Joe, and was the same situation in April and May, but then your excuse was it's early. It isn't early anymore, and the Rays have played just like Maddon manages. No sense of urgency to win in April/May, and once again in August/September. So much for trying to force the fanbase to cater to the Rays demands for a new stadium. The Rays fans see how Maddon doesn't care about winning, so the Rays fans won't care about attending games. It's becoming more and more evident each game. Joe Maddon needs a wake up call from the Rays management and front office, an he needs it ASAP, before he loses control of the locker room.
Updated list of Maddon's 2009 Blunders and mis-managed games
Leslie Anderson — Good Stats, But….
6 hours ago
3 comments:
Agree with everything you said about Maddon. But this is just as much the fault of management. While making all the right moves last season, they have made all the wrong moves this year. Every bullpen move has failed, as well as every position player move. Obviously, the stocks are failing, making every move financially motivated. So overpaying Kazmir & Burrell are disasters, which cannot be overcome, and which lead to other bad, but necessary moves like trading Kazmir. Which leads to bringing in one year wonders to the pen like Nelson, Shouse, & others, who have no track record of long term success. So ownership has to share the blame of the bullpen with Maddon, who definitely mismanages it. But this does not even compare with Maddon's blunder with Upton, first keeping him lead-off through part of August, and now making brainless excuses for him now. But once again management blew it, by not arranging a Delmon Young type trade for him earlier, while he still had trade value. A trade for a good set-up man would have been possible even a couple of months ago. Now they will be stuck with him. And the worst move was falling for the one good year by Navarro, and not drafting Posey, who would already be their starting catcher. So a management sucks also blog would be most appropriate.
You think the pitching and micro-managing is bad
where has the hitting gone? (not that it was any great shakes) My favorite .. take two down the middle (probably fastballs) swing at a slider in the other batter's box. Incredible number of SO's
with runners on base.
Agree that the hitting has gone south for most of the season, even though they score alot of runs, they seem to score them all in a handful of games, and not many in the games they lose. That's another whole different story to bring up, and may very well lead to alot of the coaching staff being let go after the season.
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