Managers minds are constipated.

Geez, give these guys a brain laxative.  Their thinking is all clogged up.

Sunday, July 21, 2013
Mariano Rivera's use in Saturday's Yankee game shows the absurdity of the closer role.

Heading to the bottom of the 8th the Yankees led 4-2.  Boston had the top of its batting order coming up.  That's the situation in which a manager should use his team's best relief pitcher (Mariano Rivera)...

Yankee manager Joe Girardi, no risk taker, used David Robertson in the 8th.  (Rivera in the 9th)
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In last night's Yankee game in Texas, Rangers manager Ron Washington did the same thing that Girardi had done: he held his "closer" Joe Nathan until the 9th.  Nathan blew both the save and the game but that's beside the point.

Washington brought in lefty Neal Cotts to face Yankee batters 1, 2, 3 in the 8th, which is when one would reasonably expect the Yankees would have their best opportunity to overcome a 4-3 deficit.  OK, there was the mitigating factor that the first four Yankee batters are lefty but the first three can hit lefty pitchers: Brett Gardner, Ichiro Suzuki, Robinson Cano.

That seems to be be universally true.  If you're trailing late, hope that your best hitters happen to come up before the 9th.  They will definitely face someone other your opponent's best relief pitcher.

A little icing on this cake.  When the Yankees rallied in the 9th against Nathan, Girardi got his bullpen up.  BOTH his 8th inning setup guy David Roberson AND 9th inning closer Mariano Rivera.  BOTH at the same time.  As soon as the Yankees took the lead, Robertson sat down.  Had the game remained tied, I'm sure Rivera would have sat down.  Rivera pitched the 9th and "saved" the game.

You can't make up stuff like this.  These managers can't think for themselves.  They just follow the formula.  They're not needed during the game.  They're robots.