If I were managing a ballclub, I’d want my best reliever in the game in the highest-leverage situation. If that happened to come in the sixth inning, after the starting pitcher grew tired and walked a couple of guys in a tie game, would I be smart to bring in one of the worst pitchers on my staff because I’m reserving a better one for the eighth inning, when he’ll come in with no one on base?
Not trying to be snarky. Wait, yes I am. Seriously though, ugh.
To be fair to Jerry Manuel, Raul Valdes had been pretty dominant coming into Friday’s game. Still, he’s been used a ton of late, and he’s Raul Valdes.
And Manuel had stated before the game that Ryota Igarashi — on the strength of his recent performances — would be the “eighth-inning guy” Friday, implying that Manuel believed Igarashi to be the team’s second-best available reliever. If that was the case, Igarashi probably should have been in the game in the seventh, if not after Oliver Perez tired then certainly after Fernando Nieve loaded the bases.
Tedquarters 
You’re not thinking like a retard.
You can’t understand Jerry Manuel unless you learn how to THINK like a RETARD.
Zack Lee.
Not that it makes it any less painful, but this particular behavior of using relievers inappropriately is undertaken on pretty much a nightly basis by the entire fraternity of major league managers.
Related, while I should say I wasn’t paying strict attention to the post game press conference, I don’t recall a single beat writer or other reporter asking the manager about his reliever choices except in the context of wondering why Feliciano wasn’t used and then learning he was ill. The questioning should’ve gone much deeper than that.
Igarashi, Mejia and Takahashi all would have been superior options to Valdes.
Yeah this, I can understand not bringing in K-rod, even the most progressive managers probably wouldn’t do that, but not going to Igarashi or Tak doesn’t make any sense at all. Especially when Lopez’s splits are virtually even why go with the loogy against a switch hitter?
To be fair, you can’t single out Jerry Manuel here. Every manager in the game seems to operate this same way.
While I agree 100% with Ted, I’m not going to act like it would have been any different had we had some other manager. This is more of a general problem with the widespread thinking in baseball, not something specific to Jerry.
Yeah, but some guys just aren’t smart enough to over-manage.
What about just leaving Nieve in? He had good stuff. Got unlucky with the HBP, and then Holliday worked him well with a quality at bat. We needed a strikeout there (or DP), and Nieve can strike guys out from the pen. But Valdes had no right being in a 1-0 game with the bases loaded. That was as reckless as it was stupid.
As for back patting, we can all pat ourselves on the back for saying that Lopez should have been signed.
Or hell why not leave Ollie in, you let him hit the inning before, he’s pitching a shut out, he got an out, and a weak single that probably should have been an out, and you yank him (to turn to a bullpen that’s already been overused and we don’t have an off day for another week?)
This isn’t fair. Assuming a relief pitcher needs 2 batters to warm up, what are you going to do, warm up your best reliever whenever the other team is within 2 base hits of a rally? Because the Met bullpen isn’t tired enough by August as it is? Seriously, when were you going to warm this guy up? Sorry, but the only efficient way to run a bullpen is to minimize the amount of times you’re going to be warming up your best guys. And the only way to do that is to let them start predetermined innings.
You should have told Jerry this tonight, K-rod warmed up 6 different times.
I agree with you there. I also agree about how strange that they let Ollie hit for himself then took him out after 1 weak single.
Also, according to my eyes, the box score, and the play-by-play… Ollie wasn’t tired.