Quote Originally Posted by BaseballNutz View Post
Kershaw in the end did fail for sure. But Mattingly is the manager. And if he can't figure our when his ace needs to be relieved, then who?
If Kershaw composes himself and gets the next couple of batters out, he gets credit for being a tough, gritty competitor, and Mattingly gets credit for staying calm and showing faith in his ace.

If Kershaw fails, as he did, then Mattingly is blamed for, basically, not being able to see into the future.

Here in Minnesota, Tom Kelly, who won the Series in both 1987 and 1991, is considered the best manager we've ever had, largely because he had a calming influence on his teams. When asked why he stuck with Jack Morris through 10 innings of Game 7 of the 1991 World Series, he shrugged his shoulders and said, "Why not, it's only a game."

I'll take the manager who stays calm and has confidence in his superstar players to be the leaders they are being paid to be, over the managers who panic and think it's their job to personally win games by putting reliever after reliever into the game like chess pieces.

Gene Mauch, one of my least favorite managers of all time, was the latter. He considered it HIS job to win games, and over-managed his way through a very long, pennantless career. When you have good players, sit back and let THEM win the game for you.

Again, if I've got a 4 run lead and my ace on the hill, I let him take care of business (unless of course he gets injured or the pitching coach tells me he detects something wrong with his motion.)