by Treyomo » Thu Apr 06, 2006 12:35 am
I agree, bernie. HAL did the only thing it could do once it went to the bullpen, since Bennett is the only RP rated pitcher who would not have been fatigued. In this case, its bullpen management worked perfectly once it got into the pen. Its SP management is the only question, because it pulled a non-fatigued RHSP and brought in a 9L to face a string of 6 of 7 RH hitters.
Had this been a S7 pitcher, I would have zero complaint. I did not have McLain on slow hook, but my understanding of the conservative bullpen usage is that a SP who is not fatigued due to excessive baserunners in the previous inning and has not reached his IP/pitch count limit would be allowed to continue with a 2-1 lead, especially if there was nothing in the offensive side of the inning that called for a PH. I don't expect HAL to look in my bullpen, see nothing but dead arms, and allow the SP to go beyond his rating/endurance. But I would expect HAL to allow a successful, non-fatigued SP (under a team strategy conservative relief setting) to at least pitch to his endurance limit assuming there is not a situation on offense where a PH for the pitcher could generate insurance runs.
Thanks for looking into this, though.