Claudio Vargas is saving the bullpen tonight. He's thrown just 40 pitches in 3.2 innings and hasn't been scored upon. Randolph has to let him go at least five innings, maybe more, and have him save the bullpen as much as humanly possible. Vargas is obviously losing his spot when Pedro returns tomorrow (woo hoo!), so there's no reason not to give him five or six or even seven relief innings. When I wake up in the morning, I'll see if Willie did right by the bullpen.
EDIT: In the time it took me to write one paragraph and copy the link, Vargas picked up a strikeout and two flyouts. And ... that's it. He throws 4.2 innings of relief and just 47 pitches, but Willie has Nick Evans pinch hitting to lead off the top of the sixth. That leaves at least three more innings for the bullpen to cover. Well, it's a debatable move, but not an awful one. I guess you figure that if you're only down four runs and you have four more chances to try and score, you should take one more shot to put runs on the board.
Evans struck out, an entirely unsurprising development. It will become a bad move if Willie doesn't a) double-switch here and b) let Muniz throw multiple innings when he comes on in relief. I'll have a second edit in the morning when I see how this plays out.
DOUBLE EDIT: Well, Muniz was a disaster - eight baserunners in 1.2 innings. I guess Willie could've left him out there the rest of the way, but it might've turned a 10-2 game into a 15-2 game. The move didn't work out, but I'm not entirely sure that Randolph is somehow to blame.
1 comment:
I think Muniz would have gone the distance if he didn't cough up four runs. Vargas may have nailed down that long-man spot, putting Muniz on the block. Vargas was exceptional last night, I wish he starte and Perez stayed in the hotel. I mean, did he Pedro throw a party the other night down by the warf while the team was playing Sunday night?
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