{"id":6647,"date":"2013-05-13T10:06:29","date_gmt":"2013-05-13T14:06:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=6647"},"modified":"2013-05-13T10:15:08","modified_gmt":"2013-05-13T14:15:08","slug":"davey-johnson-over-manager","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=6647","title":{"rendered":"Davey Johnson: Over Manager"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

If I'm Gonzalez today I'm having a serious conversation with my manager. Photo Joy Absalon\/US Presswire via usatoday.com<\/p><\/div>\n

A quote from MLB’s game recap of yesterday’s Nats 2-1 loss<\/a> to the Cubs:<\/p>\n

“It’s just the way I manage<\/em>,” Davey Johnson<\/strong> said of his decision [to remove Gio Gonzalez<\/strong> for a pinch hitter in the 7th]. “You can chalk it up to me. You don’t like it, chalk it up to me. It didn’t work out.<\/em>“<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Well, this post is going to criticize that decision, because not for the first time this season Johnson removed a highly effective starter on a relatively low pitch count only to watch lesser pitchers blow the game.<\/p>\n

If I was Gonzalez (or Ross Detwiler<\/strong>, whom Johnson did this too earlier in the season against the Braves and which I commented on in this space in mid April<\/a>, or Stephen Strasburg<\/strong>, who got yanked on opening day after throwing just 80 pitches; a decision I defended at the time but now see as the start of a pattern), I’d be really pissed, and I’d be demanding a change. \u00a0Gonzalez was perfect through 6 innings, and was through 7 complete on just 85 pitches.\u00a0 He had 7-8-9 coming up in the eighth inning.\u00a0 What POSSIBLE reason was there to remove him from the game??<\/p>\n

Johnson intimated that the reason he pinch hit for Gonzalez was because he “sensed an opportunity” to break open a close game. \u00a0What opportunity was that? \u00a0To bring up a cold, ineffective pinch hitter (as is most of the Nats bench right now) to feebly wave at 3 pitches instead of allowing Gonzalez to hit? \u00a0I can defend pinch hitting for your pitcher there … IF you have guys on base and if there’s a real scoring opportunity. \u00a0To lead-off an inning against a new, fireballing reliever?? \u00a0No way.<\/p>\n

Johnson’s job is to WIN GAMES. \u00a0Not to worry about whether the bullpen is getting enough work. \u00a0Hey bullpen guys; you want work? \u00a0Be better pitchers and become starters. \u00a0Or go play for a team with lesser starting pitching. \u00a0Otherwise sit in the outfield and wait your turn.<\/p>\n

I’m tired of watching our crummy bullpen throw away golden starts, and i’m sure the starters are as well. \u00a0Yeah there was an error thrown in there. \u00a0Yeah there were bloop hits and some unlucky seeing-eye singles. \u00a0Doesn’t matter. \u00a0Johnson helped turn a W into an L. \u00a0That may not sound like much, but its only mid May and this has already happened more than once. \u00a0It only takes one extra loss to cost a playoff spot.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A quote from MLB’s game recap of yesterday’s Nats 2-1 loss to the Cubs: “It’s just the way I manage,” Davey Johnson said of his decision [to remove Gio Gonzalez for a pinch hitter in the 7th]. “You can chalk it up to me. You don’t like it, chalk it up to me. It didn’t […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[137,385,51,38],"class_list":["post-6647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mlbpitching","tag-davey-johnson","tag-gio-gonzalez","tag-ross-detwiler","tag-stephen-strasburg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6647"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6647\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6651,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6647\/revisions\/6651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}