for those who follow baseball, a great article describing how tony la russa is using his bullpen to stop games from getting out of control the moment the risk appears, the way i wish jim would more often. maybe our bullpen isn't as good as st. louis', i don't know, but i do know this: in game 4 the tigers ended up pitching benoit 2 innings & valverde 1+ innings, and coke 2/3 of an inning. if he'd gone to the bullpen right when rick got in trouble in the 6th, had benoit & coke clear the path, valverde would've saved a 3-0 game in the 9th rather than losing in the 11th. the same goes for scherzer in game 2 -- if jim pitches coke in the 7th & benoit in the 8th, valverde ends up saving a 3-2 game. both games ended up going to extra innings & he ended up using the bullpen that much anyway. if he'd just put them in sooner, they would've preserved 2 tigers leads and the bullpen would be resting while the cardinals keep playing.


i hope that maybe jim has been watching what his good friend tony's been up to, and will follow suit. then, if he does and it goes wrong, you can second guess me, and i'll shoulder the blame. i just might be wrong.


jim, just the other day:

"that's a good part about baseball. second-guessing is good. vicious is bad. second-guessing is good."