04-23-2007, 07:20 PM
Randolph has been great and all, but I can really do without the overmanaging of the bullpen. Sure you have 2 late inning lefties, but that doesn't mean you need to use them in every single opportunity. Yesterday Burgos relieved Glavine in the 7th and retired the first 2 batters with relative ease. Then Jew Green loses the fly ball that should have been the third out. Then Schoeneweis is bought in and he walks Johnson to set up the tying Renteria homer. You're going to have to trust Burgos to get out lefties at some point this season. He's been a closer in the past so he's got experience getting out left handed batters. And it's not like Chipper Jones or a Bonds or Ortiz type of power hitter was coming up; it was Kelly fucking Johnson, a young inexperienced hitter that had seen Glavine for 6 innings, now seeing a hard throwing righty. Make him beat you. Make him prove he can adjust to big league pitching. He looked awful against Perez Saturday, but that had more to do with Perez' stuff that day than Johnson's (in)ability to hit lefties. Playing matchups has its place, but sometimes it’s just overkill and ends up unnecessarily taxing the bullpen.