in my previous post on this thread i included a excerpt from an article on joe girardi. i thought it might give perspective on a difficult job outside of the same repetitive insular arguments i read on this board about the current reds manager. here's another excerpt (below) you may, or may not, find thought provoking about the 'job.' draw your own conclusions about success, providence, and -more precisely- the evolution of baseball in the last 30 years.
"If you had the best club, you had a chance to beat him; if he had the best club, you had no chance; if the clubs were even, he had the advantage. I managed against him for a long time. I always had the better teams.(Gene) Mauchwasn't aloof (a common accusation), he was only intense." -Sparky Andersonin The Man in the Dugout (2000)
Moses could win 1750 games if he managed 162 games a year for the last 30 years. Dustmop is no genius and anybody that thinks that is dilussional. To many gaffes and too many baseball 101 mistakes to ever be considered a great manager. Dustmop gets no more than a C grade in my book. His handling of the pitching staff and batting order is reason enough to go down to the hardware store and find that special hexagon screw that Dusteromus is missing from his armor. As a player, some of the crap I have seen, I would have blown up and beat Dustmop's ass for not knowing better.
Best talent doesn't win every game, but overwhelmingly does the longer the sample size gets. Dusty winning against inferior competition says nothing about his managerial skill, but losing so regularly against equal talent does. It's tough to determine better talent in playoff scenarios- so I typically regard post season teams as equal talent, unless injury makes a team far less.
I don't credit the manager a lot for what hitters do hitting away. Plays requiring signals ( or situations that require one but don't get one from the dugout) reflect a managers doing. As do lineups, substitutions, etc. IMO, a managers impact IS dependant on the teams talent, but there are managers that get the most out if what he has, and those that don't... not just talking motivation here, I'm talking about use or misuse of talent...fundamental execution requires attempts in fundamentally sound sutuations, and refraining fron suicide by stupidity in bad odds situations. Dusty frequently doesn't give his team the best chance to win with his calls.
Robinson leads off an inning and stands on first base while the next three guys hit. I don't know if Robinson could steal second base off Kazmir, but if he doesn't try ... Dusty's stand-and-wait offense is absolutely disgusting at times.
Dusty never learns. 6/3 v Rockies 1b open, 2 on 1 out #8 hitter at the plate
, pitcher on deck. Dusty DOESN'T walk him( just like his game 3 NLDS gaffe except it wasn't the 8th inning with the closer on deck)...AND pulls the D IN... a 4 hop bleeder that would have been an out playing back goes for a 2 run double. The pitcher hits a GB that would have been a inning ending DP next, but instead is only the 2nd out, allowing an add-on run to be scored by the leadoff man. Dusty's gaffe cost 3 runs in a 5-4 loss.
Here is what I KNOW ... the Cardinals have 3 or 4 hitters who are NOT better than the guys the Reds put out there ... but the Cardinals get runners on 2nd and 3rd inning almost every inning. They score runs. They make the defense move, shift, guard the line, play in ... play back ... the outfield is always trying to line up a catch to keep somebody from advancing on a fly ball. Their offense churns and Matt Carpenter is, IMHO, the Most Valuable Player in the National League this year. His OBP is sick.
And I watch Reds hitter after Reds hitter ... get to first base, maybe to second base ... with 2 outs, only to have Cesar Izturis in a game-breaker at-bat ...
Yeah, whatever. Nothing like having Homer Bailey hit with 2 outs, nobody on.
As a manager / coach I always wanted to try to make the opposition do things they didn't want to do, as often as possible, letting pitchers hit in inning ending DP situations with runners in scoring position primary among them.
Dusty repeatedly passes up opportunites for his own team, while gives opportunities to the opposition by placing his own team at longer than required odds. If this is a rare occurance under special circumstances, suprize may work in your favor... but Dusty routinely snubbs sound fundamentals, and it works against him more often than not...and he just NEVER corrects his mistakes, he only repeats them. In a game where you score 7 runs or throw a 1 hitter, a manager isn't needed much, and Dusty's won 90% of those games. It's precisely WHEN a manager IS needed that he becomes a losaholic by making NO move when one is needed, or the wrong move at critical times.
Not walking the 8 hitter with the pitcher on deck with 1 out, ESPCIALLY early in the game when a pinch hitter is unlikely, to set up an inning ending DP or higher probability of a K, then a subsequent 2 out at bat (where MLB is about .200), is negligence at the most elementary levels of sound fundamental play.
It's just one of many examples that the Reds aren't often aided by Dusty, but are frequently harmed by him. Chemistry? IMO, happy is a downstream byproduct of winning, not the other way around. Players personalities determine chemistry, and the GM signs them. A managers job is to give them the best opportunity to WIN.
Dusty has no business on a team that has Championship caliber goals, unless they can score enough to make up for his mistakes. It's why his post season record is what it is...it's an unrealistic expectation for any team.
Why, in Gods green earth, would you let a guy pitch to Cargo after 1) he hit an opposite field shot earlier, 2) gave another HR up 3) walked the 8 hitter 4) walked another batter 5)then gave up a hammered single. So now you are gonna let him pitch to CARGO? That is incredibly STUPID. What a retarded move. Never ceases to amaze me how DUSTMOP the retard still has a job. I got a feeling after the month of June--the heat will rise.
Ok Reds fans, you got another view last night of why management needs to fire Dustmop and his merry band of idiots: 1) SpierOgyro, coaching 3rd base, gagged a big inning by standing at 3rd like a retard and not telling Votto to slide 2) Dustmop pulls Arroyo after 84 pitches and PH's for him with nobody on and 2 out with a 2 run lead 3) Dustmop brings in Chapman and he pitches 12 pitches in the 9th and is removed for a PH. These gaffes led to this loss. The Reds should never lose a 2 run lead in a game but last night we did it twice and the dugout played a big role. Therefore, I am awarding loss #3 of the year for Dusteromus. I can't wait to they run this bum and these idiots he has as Coaches the fuck out of town!
I don't know if the hideous relief pitching in this "shutdown bullpen" is all Dusty's fault but there needs to be a restructuring of who is on the staff.
Cardinals will hammer teams to death and that is the result of pitching that doesn't know how to get people out. Molina owns the Reds. Beltran owns the Reds. Jay owns the Reds.
A half-dozen balls this weekend were almost in the seats. Broxton is pointless. Nobody needs to take 2 minutes to throw 2 pitches. It cripples the defense.
The third base coaching is atrocious. ZERO excuses for that.
I won't concede 2nd place but there's no way we catch the Birds at this rate. Even if we do, do you really think Dustbucket can manage his way through the playoffs?
As I reluctantly and repeatedly have stated, it's no coincidence Dusty can't seem to play .500 against others that do. IMO it isn't talent on the field, it's execution that is the difference...and winning teams don't just win via multiple gaffes from inferior teams, but usually do when presented with the opportunity... and Dusty & Staff always seem to be reliably and repeatedly charitable against better teams.
It frustrates me to see the Reds media blame Joey Votto for not sliding when 38,000 fans in the seats and many more in TV watched the 3b coach mislead Votto into believing there would be no lay on him. It's just one of a dozen such mistakes costing Reds runs and wins over the course of a season. Yep, Hoover gets the loss, but it's Dusty's call to remove Chapman after 12 pitches, or to bring him in to face the bottom if the order in the ties 9th inning, instead of the teeth of the order in the 10th. It was Dusty electing to pitch to the 8 hitter without a force, twice in the past week. How long did it take to recognize that a switch hitting .300 Robinson made more sense as a 2 hitter than .240 hitting Cozart, and how long before he goes back to that failed formula ? Dusty doesn't learn, and the Reds media isn't allowed to call him out for it. It's not a situation likely to change until the dugout staff does.
St.Louis is a good team, but not to the degree their W-L over the Reds would indicate. They've had more injuries, worse defense and pitching. They dominate the Reds by putting the ball in play and taking advantage of the Reds fundamental flaws.
A shame.
The good news is, the Reds go to play the hapless Cubs next. Where they can be graded on the curve, again... where errors and walks and inferior talent can add a couple of runs a game to our earned total. Our Reds may indeed make the playoffs by beating inferior talent, but unless they show some signs of correcting the reasons they lose against likely playoff opponents, in not looking for much beyond the first round again. Unfortunately, a manager sometimes has a longer life than the roster talent available. This team better make a move soon.