Here's the thing: I've been as excited as anyone about this tournament. I've watched a game each night, and have attended both of team USA's games. I was even considering going to the South Africa game on Friday, but I'm through with that. The reason? For all their talk about patriotism and excitement about "representing" their country, it became very apparent in the early innings today--and even during the victory versus Mexico yesterday--that Team USA wasn't taking this seriously. Sure, some players were definitely trying to compete. Junior, in particular, has had a great first couple of games (er...half-games). But the team as a whole is not playing to win.
Some of it comes from players, some of whom clearly did not look like they were giving it their all (I noted ~5 fielding miscues today...none were errors per se, but they were definitely not mistakes you'd expect from this team of elite veterans).
But the biggest blame falls on USA manager Buck Martinez. Unlike all the other managers in this tournament (at least among games I've seen), Martinez is clearly not playing to win. He's treating these games like all-star games, and seems far more worried about giving people their scripted appearances than actually trying to pull out a victory. Cases in point:
- Jake Peavy pitched brilliantly through 3 innings in yesterday's game, was well below the 65-pitch count, and yet he was pulled to start the parade of closers.
- Al Leiter was pitching today (why he's on the team at all is a mystery to me), and wasn't taken out until his pitch count approached the magical number 30...and not before allowing an enormous number of runs. He should only be used as a lefthanded specialist, if anything. With the pitchers Martinez has in his bullpen, Leiter shouldn't be used unless absolutely necessary.
- Ken Griffey Jr. was pulled for pinch runner Jeff Francoeur in the 5th inning today, despite still being down by 7 runs. I'm all for this move in the 8th inning, but when there are several at-bats left for USA's hottest hitter (Griffey) and we're that far down this is a pointless move.
- Jason Varitek, having just hit a grand slam to bring us with 2 runs, was removed in the bottom of the 7th for Schneider. Why on earth would you remove the guy who just pulled you back into the game when you are still down by two runs.
- Derek Jeter was pulled in favor of Chase Utley in the 6th inning. How does that make this team more offensively capable so that they might overcome the final two runs?
- How is it that Vernon Wells was starting in right field today, while Griffey was in center? I love Griff--he's probably my favorite player of all time--but he's not a good defender these days, and shouldn't be in centerfield when there are more capable centerfielders in the lineup. And it cost us; I think most centerfielders would have gotten to the triple hit by Stern, which drove home the second Canadian run. (edited: removed complaint about Teixeira starting at 1B over Derek Lee. As Joel pointed out, both are gifted defenders).
- Matt Holliday started in left field over Johnny Damon. Again, how does this make us better?
Maybe I could deal with this if this tournament wasn't talked up so much by MLB. If this is going to be some glorified series of all-star games, fine. I'll take the games with a grain of salt and will root for South Africa to take out the USA on Friday. But if MLB is going to continue to pitch this tournament "the real thing" (to quote Roger Clemens), at least have the courtesy to play the games like you are trying to actually win. If you still lose, that's fine; at least you could say that you gave it your all. Don't we, the paying fans who are dedicating our time and attention to this new tournament, who are defending it from its critics, who are cheering for our our nations' team...don't we have a right to expect that they'll at least TRY to win?
-JinAZ
Didn't Teixeira win a Gold Glove last year as well? I don't think Martinez could go wrong with starting either of them at first base.
ReplyDeleteI understand the frustration with the All Star game type atmosphere. I imagine this is in part because it is just the first round and the US is fairly confident it can beat South Africa. One would hope that Buck will manage it more like a real game in future rounds - assuming that make it that far.
You're right of course on Teixeira, my mistake. That thought even crossed my mind as I was writing that, but I never went and checked on it.
ReplyDeleteI hope you're right about what he'll do in future rounds, though I don't have much confidence on this. I am reasonably confident that we'll beat South Africa, although that is by no means guaranteed given how well they played against Canada.
Even so, I just don't understand why one would screw around in the first round and then try to pick it up in later rounds. If a game becomes a blow-out, fine--put in the reserves and use your weaker pitchers. But if not, the best possible team should be used. If that's not what is being done, then the US should just bow out now and leave the tournament to the teams who are taking it seriously. Those are the teams I'd rather watch.
-JinAZ