Cecil Cooper was not happy after today's loss to the Diamondbacks. The thing is, the blame sits pretty squarely on his shoulders. Perhaps it wasn't the best idea to take out Wesley Wright, who we've already noted as being a incredibly hard-nosed pitcher when it counts in favor of Dave Borkowski, who had logged 3 consecutive outings totaling 3 innings in three days from the 26th-28th, the last being a 1.2 inning affair. You have to know he's not going to be sharp, so why do it? Wright went an inning on Monday night, but it was a very quick outing, needing less than 10 pitches to get through it. Further, he's actually been more effective against Right-Handed hitters this year too (.167 BA against Righties with a 1.13 WHIP vs. .182 BA and 1.33 WHIP against lefties). Why take out Wright especially as Coop obviously thought that Owings wasn't a threat, as evidenced by his media rant, "'We can't get the stinking pitcher out, we're in trouble'". Coop goes on to denigrate just about everyone on the team, yet never considers that his shoddy managerial skills set his players up for failures. I'm not saying that he's entirely to blame for our loss, but I have tried to point out several times this season that he's made a lot of questionable calls this year. Some of them turned out alright, some not so good. Managers will make some bad calls during the course of the season, it's understandable. However, Coop's made a lot in a month's time and ranting and raving about how your players blew the game isn't the best managerial tactic either. I would have loved to hear a "the buck stops here" admission instead.
***On a separate, unrelated note: Does anyone think that the salsa music that FSN is incessantly playing during Miggy at bats is just a law suit waiting to happen?***
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Coop Points Finger In the Wrong Direction
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2 comments:
This post is spot-on, Stephen. Borkowski had made three appearances in the last four days coming in. Plus, dude has a penchant for cracking under pressure. He should RARELY be in the game late if it is even relatively close...particularly in the rubber game on the road against arguably the best team in the NL. Apparently, everyone in Major League Baseball knows to take Owings seriously except Cooper.
My official stance regarding Cooper has been that it was too early to get on the guy. It appears I was wrong.
Thanks Joe. I guess we could some how chalk this up to it being his first year, but that's just hogwash because he was the bench coach and has spent his whole life around this game. It's disappointing to look at our record and know that there are few games out there that should have gone the other way. Borkowski has blown two games for us so far this year by not pitching well in crucial situations. However, Borkowski is not on this team to pitch well in late game, crucial situations. That Coop threw Borkowski under the bus yesterday should infuriate just about everyone in that club house. It's ridiculous.
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