Wednesday, May 2, 2007

Lou brings in Eyre to face one batter in six-run ballgame

With a left-handed batter coming up with two outs in the ninth inning, manager Lou Piniella decided to go get his right-handed pitcher, calling for Scott Eyre.

That kind of a headline would make you think it was a one- or two-run ballgame. But, it wasn't.

The score was 7-1 and the Pirates had the bases empty with two outs, when Eyre came on to face the struggling Adam LaRoche. Piniella was catching some flak for that decision; many thought that he was unncessarily delaying the game. In most cases, he would've been. In today's case, it was a good move.

I wasn't worried about losing the ballgame and neither was Lou. But, Scott Eyre is such an integral part of the ballclub and we needed him to get things turned around. What better way to do it then to put Eyre in a situation where he was bound to succeed so he can gain some confidence and momentum?

The stage was set. The game was out of reach and there was only one out to get. Adam LaRoche, a left-handed batter, a struggling left-handed batter at that, came up to the plate. It was a good decision. Too bad Eyre almost made it backfire as LaRoche flied to the warning track out in center field to end the game.

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