This may be nitpicking but....
Why did Wedge remove Nixon in favor of Michaels last night in the 7th. To recap, LHP Mahay had loaded the bases on a HBP and two walks. if I'm Ron Washington, I want to take him out and bring in a RHP, but probably won't with Nixon coming up. So what does Wedge do? He helps Washington make that decision by pinch-hitting Michaels. Now you have Michaels vs. a fresh righty when you could have had Nixon vs lefty who can't throw strikes. The only thing I can find in Wedge's defense is if there was another lefty in the Rangers' pen who would've replaced Mahay anyway.
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Re: This may be nitpicking but....
by mikebrowns26 on Apr 26, 2007 9:32 AM EDT reply actions
Re: This may be nitpicking but....
- We assume Washington isn't an idiot.
- He won't leave a guy in who can't throw strikes just because he's a lefty.
- Right-vs-right is less favorable to the pitcher than left-vs-left.
Re: This may be nitpicking but....
Wedge's only defense, I think, is that Nixon is shut down by lefties. But as Ryan says, and as we said in the thread before the first pitch to Michaels, we didn't mind the matchup because Mahay looked lost.
Yes, it's nitpicking, but it's a fair question, looking at a specific decision. It's much better than debating the completeness of his ineptitude.
by dgcambridge on Apr 26, 2007 10:02 AM EDT up reply actions
Re: This may be nitpicking but....
Re: This may be nitpicking but....
To be fair to Wedge, I was much happier with Gardenhire's misuse of the Twins bullpen against the tribe in the extra inning game, by bringing in Nathan way too late.
Re: This may be nitpicking but....
Re: This may be nitpicking but....
+1 - agreed!
I know we debated this last night; I essentially forgot (or didn't know) that Texas had a 2nd lefty (though I don't think Texas was warming him up at the time,) but as was mentioned, either force Washington to burn that 2nd lefty, stay with Mahay, or have the LH Nixon take on RHP Francisco.
Essentially, Wedge lifted him too soon and made Washington's decision easier. Fortunately, no damage was done in terms of us winning the game (thanks to Choo, Martinez, Cabrera, and Peralta.) Hopefully, Wedge will learn from that experience, much like he seems to have learned from JoeBo's blowup in NY (Cabrera WAS warming up when JoeBo was having trouble in the 9th inning, but didn't bring Cabrera in - don't know if he wasn't ready or if Wedge just decided to stay with JoeBo, but it was an improvement in my opinion to see Wedge back up JoeBo with another arm warming in the bullpen, something he didn't do in NY.)
Just my 2 cents. :-)

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