Disclaimer: I love Dave, and I think he is the manager for our immediate future. I'm simply venting here while trying to get your input.
OK, we lose another via playing bad baseball. I've already been picking on Freddie ... and will continue to do so ... but having read a couple recaps on the game, I'm wondering about Trembly's role in all this.
Normally I'd say he did the right thing in the 7th: pull the guy while you have a 4 run lead. He had walked 4 and given up 6 hits to that point. HOWEVER ... his pitch count had only just hit 100. He had a very solid 5th and 6th, and the tying run was not due up. Here's what Daniel had to say:
"I was supposed to get out of that inning," he said of the eventful seventh, which allowed the Blue Jays to erase Baltimore's lead and put them in position to win the game in their last at-bat. "I felt great by that point, but you know, I don't make that decision. That's the manager's decision. And whatever decision he makes, I agree with him."
Now Trembley: "I thought he worked way too hard tonight," he said. "He might've been 50-50 or less than 50-50 with balls [and] strikes. His tempo early in the game was very deliberate and very slow. I think he rubbed up the ball on every pitch in between [batters]. He just didn't seem to get in any kind of rhythm early. ... Cabrera being who he is, he competes. I thought we were fortunate to get him through the sixth, [but] he had a couple easy innings before that. And they kind of let him off the hook."
Huh? Is Dave really putting him down there? Those comments just seem strange to me. It's no wonder Cabrera stared into his locker for awhile after the game.
.....Now Ok, let's say that he did make the right move and pull Daniel. We've had a piss poor last 8 game stretch, and everyone was rested after the off day ... so we go to Sarfate? Why, just because he was recently 'appointed' the 7th inning go-to guy? Come on - why not just go to Johnson, and let Sarfate pitch the 8th if the game is still at 4 runs. I know this sounds backwards, but my thinking is that Johnson is there to get us out of the late inning jams, not Sarfate.
So ... did Trembley, along with Bynum, botch this one? Or was he really doing what was right and necessary?
I'll say this as well: I'm not going to apologize for our young, rebuilding team, when in the course of 10 days and 9 contests, we blow 5 games. These were all games that were basically in the bag: 1 vs. DC, 2 vs, KC, 1 vs. Tex, and 1 vs. Tor. I have been following the O's for 25+ years and of course know that these kinds of things will happen, but I can't but help lament the fact that we could, very easily, be going into tonight's game 49-39 and tied with Boston in the loss column for the Wild Card. Any way you slice it, we've been playing some pretty bad baseball (sandwiched with some great pitching and steady offense) which is unacceptable whether you're rebuilding or not.
