Commentary

1. Ian Cerveny

   04.2323.2008 9:29 am

   I was at the game last night, and Hurdle put him in top of the 7th inning. It ended up being a good move because the first batter for Philly drove it to his left and Tulo made a good play on the ball and a great throw to first for the out. You could tell Troy was juiced, focused, whatever. Good move holding him out for two thirds of a game.

   Unfortunately, Hurdle should have worked Tulo in as a pinch hitter in the bottom of the 6th (Francis led off the inning) instead of wasting the first out of an inning and letting Francis get himself into trouble in the 7th with the Rocks nursing a one-run lead.

   Also unfortunate was that this wasn’t Clint’s last mistake, or the costliest. Top of the 9th inning with one out and men on 2nd and 3rd (due to a dumb throw to third by Willy Taveras) Hurdle decides to walk .190 hitting Ryan Howard in order to face… .357 hitting Pat Burrell. Not trusting your pitcher is one thing, putting the double play ball on is another, but loading the bases for the opposition’s most prolific hitter to date is just *#@$% stupid.

   For the record, that’s three games Clint Hurdle has mismanaged for a loss. He only lost us five (by my conservative count) last season, and I thought he had gotten over the managerial hump in terms of making sound decisions in-game. Wrong.

   But there is a solution! Send Clint Hurdle to the minors! I know it sounds outlandish, but if a player made three game-losing errors in the first twenty games of a season you better believe he’d be in triple A by dawn the next day. Spread the word. Hurdle to the minors.

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