Dodgers Due for a Bullpen Meltdown, Don’t Blame Joe Torre

Joe Torre seems to be getting a lot of crap today for how he handled the pitching last night.  Give me a break. I’ll admit, I’m a Joe Torre Kool-Aid drinker but let’s look at the circumstances of his pitching staff and of last night’s game.

Torre didn’t make a mistake by pulling Derek Lowe too early.  Torre pulled Lowe because of Lowe’s impending nervous breakdown on the pitchers mound.  Or as Torre diplomatically said, Lowe was “battling his emotions” the entire game.    It wasn’t much of a battle, after the first inning, when Lowe stormed off the field and ripped his jersey off his body, it was clear that his emotions had won. Lowe then spent the rest of the game huffing and puffing as he tried to get his sinker down.  Torre knew that aside from the usual big-game post-season pressure there was the added pressure of Lowe’s impending free agency.  Not only was Lowe struggling , but Lowe was struggling on national television in front of in front of every GM in baseball.  Every bad pitch was costing Lowe money, which only seemed to frustrate him more.  A mid-game implosion was brewing and Torre knew it.

Torre also made the right move by giving the ball to Kershaw. Yes, it was a calculated risk, but Kershaw has the most raw talent of any young pitcher in the game.   Torre had to balance that against the fact that the guy is only 20 years old, has not spent a full season in the majors, and was going up against Ryan Howard and Pat Burrell.

Wade and Broxton should not be faulted either.   Remember that Wade was a call-up from AA, he’s pitched great for us all year. He finished the season with a .93 WHIP (walks and hits per inning pitched), as the Philadelphia Daily News points out, that’s lower than un-hittable robo-closer Brad Lidge, who finished the year with a 1.23 WHIP.

Broxton stepped into the closer role brilliantly during the regular season when Saito went on the  DL. When Saito looked shaky against the Cubs and Torre declared that he “lost his command”, everybody agreed that Broxton was looking unbeatable and needed to be the NLCS closer.   Sure giving up a home run to nine- hundred-year-old Matt Stairs is embarrassing, but statistically, it’s going to happen. It was just bad timing.

Overall the Dodgers have played well throughout the NLCS. We lost last night’s game by two bad pitches, we lost game 2 because Blake’s drive to center wasn’t an inch higher, and we lost game 1 because of Furcal’s one bad throw to first.  Oh and let’s not forget Chase Utley’s what-the-hell-was-that unassisted double play last night.

All season long, Torre held the Dodgers together with toothpicks and hot glue. Torre got the team this far despite the Andruw Jones disaster and a DL that read like an all-star team roster. Remember when we were so short on decent players that Russell Martin had to play 3rd base?

The Dodgers are loaded with talent and exciting to watch, but they’re a young team.   They were unlikely to get this far and we all know that Torre (and of course Manny…and yes, even Casey Blake) got them there.  And ask yourself this, even with Manny, do you think we’d be watching the Dodgers in October if Grady Little was still calling the shots?

Whether we win or not, it should be clear to everyone that the Dodgers are one starting pitcher short of greatness, which is why I’m against re-signing Manny for anything longer than a 2 year deal (which he won’t take…so I guess I’m against re-signing Manny). I know the Billy Beane gospel says “never spend money on a starting pitcher”, but we’re seeing what happens when we don’t have a true #1 starter. More on that later. Right now, the only thing that matters is Wednesday.