I just don't see it changing. Maybe I am wrong. Hopefully that dumbass Ausmus learns a few things, he's already been brought back for 2017.

Francona is an unusual circumstance, they had a traditional closer and traded for Miller. I wouldn't expect Francona to use Miller like this if they had from game 1.

The opposite, actually. Tony LaRussa is arguably more responsible than anyone else for the advent of the "modern" closer who comes in at the top of the ninth with the lead and at no other time.

Miller also wasn't the closer for the Yankees, either, so he didn't have that magic closer juice. His nontraditional career arc has sort of tricked managers into using him correctly.

Though to Francona's credit, he was the manager who turned him into a reliever.

Yep. Before him teams literally used their best pitcher for the highest leverage spots, even in the 7th inning. They were called firemen, not closers. They even pitched more than an inning at a time without their arms falling off.

Yeah I mean it's pretty great that at its core buck Showalter, man of 15 years mlb managing experience, well respected, the epitome of a baseball guy, insider, knowledgeable guy, just ended his teams season because of a stat essentially made up to inflate salaries of relief pitchers.

And especially since it's not even close to a new issue. Even if you're not into using your closer in the 7th in a tie game with 1 out and 2 on or whatever...there have been countless baseball prospectus articles about extra inning relief pitcher usage. As the game dkgo posted proved, Buck is clearly aware of the dilemma.

I think he just wanted to look like a "genius".

I think he expected less second-guessing this way, and is a coward

No way in hell he would have been second-guessed by a soul if he brought in Britton at any point in the 11th (other than maybe the "why didn't you bring him in earlier" crowd if he gave it up).

Even disregarding the inning, because if it were Pillar or someone maybe you have a case (you don't), the way the lineup played out made it such an obvious move. Who the **** do you want pitching to the reg season RBI leader with men on 1st and 3rd in the bottom of the 11th in a literal must-win game??

I'm just saying what I think he thought

Not what I think would happen

He went "by the book" when it mattered most, because he thought it gave him protection

Would be funny if this got followed up today with a bunch of "WTF is Terry Collins doing bringing in his closer in a tie game? See what happens?" talk. Although that doesn't quite work right with the Mets at home; blowing through your closer whenever when there's no save situation is super standard.

Collins wouldn't have brought in Familia if Showalter didn't get lambasted for leaving Britton on the bench.

Just another confirmation that baseball is a really dumb game.

that's not true

bringing in your closer at home with the game tied in the 9th is super standard, even these idiots can figure out there will never be a save situation at home once it's tied going into the 9th

I don't know, what if Collins got a feeling the game wasn't ending soon?

But Collins is a terrible manager and regularly makes -EV moves. The Mets win despite their **** manager and super-cheap owner.

What exactly have the Mets won?

They really have nobody decent in the bullpen after Reed and Familia, so the alternative is to squeeze one more inning out of Reed despite him throwing a zillion pitches in the 8th. I have a feeling Bum could have gone 10 if it remained scoreless, so they were kinda screwed.

Games.

This is probably low level idiocy, but from tonights game:

1st and 10 at SF 15

(0:39 - 2nd) (Shotgun) B.Gabbert pass incomplete short right to J.Kerley
2nd and 10 at SF 15

(0:32 - 2nd) (No Huddle, Shotgun) C.Hyde up the middle to SF 23 for 8 yards (D.Bucannon)
3rd and 2 at SF 23

(0:11 - 2nd) (No Huddle, Shotgun) C.Hyde up the middle to SF 26 for 3 yards (M.Golden)

HALFTIME

The 49ers had two TOs btw.

What's the logic of running these last two plays? If you're giving up (and running it up the gut is probably the definition), why not just take a knee? Seems like you're freerolling your team for injuries.

terry collins is an idiot as evidenced by the fact that conforto never plays for no real good reason

yeah, iirc someone (barnwell?) wrote a treatise not too long ago about the idiocy of the Halftime Draw Play. like you said, freeroll for fumbles and injuries with zero upside

On that note...

2015: Auburn has 2nd and 10 from their own 26, 16 seconds left in the half. Ole Miss has one timeout. Auburn is inept on offense and the idea of continuing the drive at that point is laughable. So of course Gus Malzahn calls a QB draw. But that's not overthinking things enough, so he pulls his starting QB for the play to put in Jeremy Johnson, who hadn't played yet in the game. Johnson is a lumbering oaf of a QB, with the speed of an offensive lineman, who was benched in the first half of the year for turning the ball over about every third play, including fumbling in the backfield when nobody touched him, just trying to cock his arm to throw.

Go to 1:11:45

its a bad risk-reward play, but there is obviously a non-zero chance of breaking one

You mean breaking the running back's leg?