Over-Managing Dooms Angels

With their season on the line Angel’s manager Mike Scosia tried to do what his team has done all year long, manufacture a run. The problem is, this time there was one major difference, Mike didn’t let his players execute as they had for the past six months.

The Angels won 100 games this season by moving runners over, hitting behind baserunners and getting timely hits. All series long the middle of the Angels order has wrecked havoc on the Boston defense and pitching staff. Torri Hunter himself had five hits with runners in scoring position. But when the rest of the order had their chance, the results were less than inspiring. So after tying Game Four in the 8^th inning, Kendry Morales led off the 9^th with a double off the Monster. After a sacrifice bunt by Howie Kendrick, Erick Aybar came to the plate with the go-ahead run on third base. The same Erick Aybar who won Game Three with a single up the middle. This time, however, Soscia asks him to bunt and after failing to execute and watching Reggie Willits get tagged out at third base, Aybar grounded out to first and swung all the momentum in the Red Sox favor.

Now, I know if Aybar had just executed his bunt we might not be having this conversation, but the simple fact remains that it was a move that did not need to be made. With one out and a runner on third there was multiple ways the run could have come across. Delcarmen had just thrown two pitches that almost hit Aybar, so the 2-0 count was strongly in his favor. He was sure to get a fastball that he could have hit with decent power to the outfield.

Even if he failed to launch the 2-0 pitch, the Red Sox had just been crossed up on signs the inning before, which allowed Vlad Guerrero to move up and then score on the Hunter base hit. A similar cross up could have won the Angels the game. A sacrifice fly would also have worked and with Ellsbury and Bay both having average arms, anything with reasonable depth would have scored the speedy Willits. Then there is a simple base hit. Aybar executed one the night before, so why did his manager think he couldn’t do it this time?

People always say the game of baseball is played between the lines. Managers are vital in game preparation and honing the skills of the players, but once the game starts their role takes a backseat. A hit and run sign here, a bunt sign there, changing a pitcher, pinch hitting, control the running game if you’re an experienced catcher like Soscia is, but that’s about it. Most of the speedy runners in the big leagues have the green light, so even steal signs are hard to come by. You can try and trick a team every now and again, but once the first pitch has been thrown it’s up the players to execute the pitches, swings and throws that will win a ball game.

The simple fact is that the more active a manager is during a game, the more likely he is to lose games for his team than win them. In this case, Soscia lost a big one for the Angels.

Sponsored by EnterTo.com the first REAL spam free email

Click Below to discover and share content from anywhere on the web