Fredi Gonzalez is the worst manager I've ever seen

[jhay610]

Acquisition of Bourn helps mask Fredi's inability to choose an appropriate leadoff hitter -- I'm sure everyone 'feels' Bourn should bat first.

[coachx]

How does a guy (Jose Constanza) go from not good enough to be on the roster to your leadoff hitter??

Your other 2 CFs get hurt at the same time on a roster without anything close to a leadoff hitter.

He went 3-5 in his 1st ever ML start as a CF batting leadoff and scored the teams only run. I hope we see alot more of him. Freddie is already talking about getting Bourn and Constanza on the field together and Wren is talking about drafting players with speed and building the club around speed for the future.

Congratulations to the young man for stepping up when given the oppurtunity.

Edited August 1, 2011 by coachx

[APE]

Constanza produced did he not ? He went 3-5 in his 1st ever ML start as a CF batting leadoff and scored the teams only run.

Congratulations to the young man for stepping up when given the oppurtunity.

Your other 2 CFs get hurt at the same time on a roster without anything close to a leadoff hitter.

He went 3-5 in his 1st ever ML start as a CF batting leadoff and scored the teams only run. I hope we see alot more of him. Freddie is already talking about getting Bourn and Constanza on the field together and Wren is talking about drafting players with speed and building the club around speed for the future.

Congratulations to the young man for stepping up when given the oppurtunity.

Hopefully he stays and Proctor is sent somewhere else since Varvaro isn't any worse.

[jhay610]

Your other 2 CFs get hurt at the same time on a roster without anything close to a leadoff hitter.

He went 3-5 in his 1st ever ML start as a CF batting leadoff and scored the teams only run. I hope we see alot more of him. Freddie is already talking about getting Bourn and Constanza on the field together and Wren is talking about drafting players with speed and building the club around speed for the future.

Congratulations to the young man for stepping up when given the oppurtunity.

Actually he went 0-4 in his first start as leadoff hitter and then went 3-5 on Sunday. He went 2-3 last night.

The result of the play is beside my argument that it was incorrect. To have a guy who has never seen major league pitching come up and bat leadoff is a tactical mistake. I am of course happy that he seems to be seizing his opportunity and I hope it continues.

Interesting that Fredi put him in the 9-hole last night and had Jurrjens batting 8th.

[coachx]

Interesting that Fredi put him in the 9-hole last night and had Jurrjens batting 8th.

The last manager I recall doing this on a regular basis was Jim Leyland when he was in the NL managing those 90's Pirates with Bonds, VanSlyke, and Bonilla.

Actually he went 0-4 in his first start as leadoff hitter and then went 3-5 on Sunday. He went 2-3 last night.

We may both be wrong. I see he went 1-4 with an RBI on Friday too.

Edited August 2, 2011 by coachx

[jhay610]

You're right -- he went 1-4 on Fri and 0-4 on Sat.

Tony La Russa has also been known for batting the pitcher in the 8th spot in the past.

[jhay610]

Let's get two guys fresh off the DL into crucial spots in the game -- McCann in the three hole and Linestink relieving Beachy with a 3 run lead and a runner on 1st. I can't get my head around why Sherrill wasnt brought in to face the lefty Colvin after it was obvious that Linestink stunk.

[coachx]

Let's get two guys fresh off the DL into crucial spots in the game -- McCann in the three hole and Linestink relieving Beachy with a 3 run lead and a runner on 1st. I can't get my head around why Sherrill wasnt brought in to face the lefty Colvin after it was obvious that Linestink stunk.

I have no problem with McCann in the 3 hole. He has been the most consistent hitter on the team this season.

It was nice to see Hudson give the Braves 8 innings last nice to rest the bullpen. The Braves used 6 pitchers the night before.

Its should be obvious to see why a manager does not want to bring in a 3rd pitcher as early in a game as the 5th inning with no outs.

[jhay610]

I have no problem with McCann in the 3 hole. He has been the most consistent hitter on the team this season.

Obviously McCann can bat 3rd, but after an extended stint on the DL there is room for argument that he should have been penciled in a bit further down the card to get his sea legs back under him.

Its should be obvious to see why a manager does not want to bring in a 3rd pitcher as early in a game as the 5th inning with no outs.

No need for the condescension.

Also, the comment is off base as the inning was the 6th, not the 5th, and he had to use the 3rd pitcher anyway when Linebrink was ineffective. If Fredi was worried about burning through pitchers he should not have brought in Linebrink straight off the disabled list to throw gasoline on a few metaphorical coals (4-1 game, runner on 1st with one out), particularly when it could be argued Beachy still had enough juice to finish the inning (Beach himself said that he didn't want to come out of the game). If he was so concerned about saving his bullpen he should have left him in there after a sac fly out. In any case, Linebrink was not the guy.

After Linebrink gave up two line drive hits to put the tying runs on base and bring the go ahead run to the plate, the focus should have been getting out of the inning with minimal damage in a high leverage situation. The correct choice was to bring on a lefty to pitch to weak-hitting Tyler Colvin, but instead Fredi assumed that Linebrink could retire him after he had given no indication against the first two batters that this was a reasonable expectation.

It was an odd sequence of events -- Beachy gives up two hits, and Fredi lets him pitch on, then induces the sac fly, at which point Fredi removes him in favor of a guy who has been largely ineffective and was pitching in his first live action in a couple of weeks (no rehab assignment after DL). Linebrink gives up a couple of line drives straight away and yet Fredi leaves him to face the lefty, THEN takes him out for another RHP after 3 runs were in.

The only thing that is obvious to me is that Fredi is left wide open for second-guessing after this sequence.

Edited August 18, 2011 by jhay610

[coachx]

The only thing that is obvious to me is that Fredi is left wide open for second-guessing after this sequence.

That is true for any manager in baseball when a decision does not go there way. The 2nd guessing of Fredi seems at an all time high on this site.

[jhay610]

The emergence of Vizcaino as a viable RHP middle to late innings option out of the bullpen is huge for this team.

Linebrink would normally have been put in that spot behind Lowe (last night) and the outcome would have very likely been ugly.

Edited August 20, 2011 by jhay610