Tuesday, July 20, 2004
Expos 6 Pittsburgh 2 : It's all about the bullpen
Solid outing from the boys in gray, blue, red, and white. The performance of Biddle was especially heartening. Really I just ask he keeps the 'Spos in the game and he did. Everyone on the team except Batista got a hit last night all seemingly in the same inning, lot of key 2 out hits.
The real story for me though was the use of the bullpen. Last night you had the dream team of Tucker, Horgan, Ayala, and Cordero come in. And what happened? The Pirates were shut down 3 hits no runs in the last 4 innings. It seems reasonable to me to think that if the bullpen is handled in combinations of these 4 as much as possible, the Expos will rarely be out of a ballgame. This is what good teams do, identify their best bullpen men and ride them. With 4 reliable guys, there should be no reason to trot out anyone else except for mop-up duty or the occasional rest for one of the 4. I imagine a long relief guy is necessary (Rauch?) but come on F-Rob, show me you know what you're doing.
Fantastic Four
Ayala 3 IP 3 H 0 BB 2 K 0.00 ERA
Cordero 2 IP 2 H 1 BB 2 K 4.50 ERA
Horgan 3 IP 0 H 0 BB 1 K 0.00 ERA
Tucker 3.1IP 5 H 1 BB 3 K 0.00 ERA
Might be working on the edge a little...
The real story for me though was the use of the bullpen. Last night you had the dream team of Tucker, Horgan, Ayala, and Cordero come in. And what happened? The Pirates were shut down 3 hits no runs in the last 4 innings. It seems reasonable to me to think that if the bullpen is handled in combinations of these 4 as much as possible, the Expos will rarely be out of a ballgame. This is what good teams do, identify their best bullpen men and ride them. With 4 reliable guys, there should be no reason to trot out anyone else except for mop-up duty or the occasional rest for one of the 4. I imagine a long relief guy is necessary (Rauch?) but come on F-Rob, show me you know what you're doing.
Fantastic Four
Ayala 3 IP 3 H 0 BB 2 K 0.00 ERA
Cordero 2 IP 2 H 1 BB 2 K 4.50 ERA
Horgan 3 IP 0 H 0 BB 1 K 0.00 ERA
Tucker 3.1IP 5 H 1 BB 3 K 0.00 ERA
Might be working on the edge a little...
