It was no surprise to this long time (57 yrs.) Brewers’
fan that the Tampa Bay Rays jumped for joy too soon following the shocking Brewers'
4-3, loss to the Rays at Tropicana Field on Tuesday night, Oct. 27. The Rays (and their fans) really needed to
process that the 12th inning collapse was a fluke, set up by Brewers’
manager Pat Murphy - over thinking his choice of relief pitcher for the Rays half
of the 12th.
No kidding. True, this was a bloody hard
loss, almost as bad as the game 7 Brewer loss to the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1982 Series, after taking a 3-1
lead into the 6th inning. Without the relief power of Rollie Fingers
– out from a pitching arm injury – the Brew Crew lost 6-3 to the %#$!* Cards.
The pain stayed with Brewers’ fans for 44 years.
So yeah, we know how it is when a World
Series championship is dangled in front of you, only to be snatched away. The
sad and of this game truly was champagne showers fading into cold
showers. But Rays’ fans needed to grasp why their Game 4 win was a fluke.
For one thing, the reliever – Shane Drohan-
was a raw rookie. And obviously not the optimum choice to get the 3 outs to
close the game. In fact I winced as the guy gave up 4 consecutive singles, to
say he was not sharp is an understatement. Indeed, Drohan had pitched only
once in the past month.
The guy to put in there was therefore ‘the
Miz’ (Jacob Misiorowski )– to nail those
last three outs with a Brewer lead. But Murphy told a Milwaukee reporter after
the game:
“You can’t blow that type of situation on a
one-run lead on the road. If we were in the 13th inning and had a three-run
lead, it might be a little different.”
Are you f-ing kidding me? You blew the situation by opting to use a raw, rusty rook out of his depth! Then, before that move, using relief ace Trevor Megill for only one out to complete the eighth inning. He ought to have used him at least for another full inning before going to Aaron Ashby.
With the Megill mess-up and Ashby’s speed
below 95 mph, Miz was the obvious next choice using his 100+ mph heaters to
shut the last 3 Rays down. But for some odd reason pitching his ace with a
one-run lead in the 12th inning was not a risk Murphy was willing to take. So
instead he opted for the risk of a rookie reliever in Drohan whose history of
bad pitches were known. To wit, Drohan got to two strikes on each of the first
three Rays hitters he faced, but then couldn’t generate the final 3rd
strike swings and misses. Instead leaning heavily on his sinker, which
opponents hit .364 and slugged .568 against.
The whole sad ending was totally predictable,
and using Miz would have been a 180 degree different outcome. I was sure of it.
But hey, Miz was left to finish the job in Game Five and he did, hurling 5 2/3 shutout innings. The Brew Crew offense also came through to support him with timely hits, staking him to a 2-0 lead early, then 4-0 three innings later.
The backstory of the lousing relief needs to be mentioned for
the benefit of the Rays and their fans, namely that Tuesday night’s win was purely
a delusion. Also Series’ history. 25 teams have taken a 3-0 lead in the World
Series and 21 finished with a sweep. But the remaining 4 needed only an extra game
to reach the championship – like the Brewers did last night.
Lastly, as a long time (72 year) Milwaukee baseball fan, as I’ve been waiting 69 years since the Milwaukee Braves beat the NY Yankees in the 1957 Series, 4 game to 3. Pitcher Lew Burdette beating the Yanks 3 times. See e.g.
1957
WS Gm7: Braves defeat Yankees to win 1957 WS | 10/10/1957 | MLB.com
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