Is Art Howe Dumber Than a Doorknob?
I rarely write about sports but I am moved to discuss how strikingly bad a manager Art Howe is. The only reason he won in Oakland was because Billy Beane kept him on a very tight leash and wouldn't let him do stupid things. Had the Mets simply read Michael Lewis's book, "Moneyball" they would have discovered this and might have thought twice about hiring him for many millions of dollars.
The reason I raise this now is because of Howe's handling of Barry Bonds this past weekend. Barry Bonds is certainly the greatest baseball player of the generation. The year he is having in 2004 is statistically almost beyond belief. He has 286 official at bats and has walked a mind-boggling 176 times. He has 35 home runs (about once every 8 official at bats), 79 RBI, his OBS is .612!!, his slugging percentage is .822, his OPS is 1434 and (Ben knows his NOPS). He has struck out only 24 times.
Virtually every other team in the Major Leagues has decided to pitch around Bonds. Many have decided to walk him intentionally (or semi-intentionally) in virtually every situation, even when there is no one else on base and even when he represents the tying or go-ahead run. These teams believe that it is not a good idea to let the best player in baseball beat you. They would rather take their chances with the rest of the San Francisco Giants, none of whom compares with Bonds.
But not Art Howe. He knows better. He's macho. So, he decided to pitch to Bonds during the three games series. In the first two games all Bonds did was get 7 hits out of 8 official at bats. He also walked twice so he was on base 9 of ten times. Although he did not homer, he smacked four balls, each of which hit a different wall in his home park.
This was not enough to convince Howe of the error of his ways. On Sunday, he decided to pitch to Bonds again with a runner on base in the first inning. Result: two-run homer. Result. Mets lose by two runs.
When asked whether the weekend results would change his view on pitching to Bonds, Howe replied: "I don't know".
Ich kenesht.
I rarely write about sports but I am moved to discuss how strikingly bad a manager Art Howe is. The only reason he won in Oakland was because Billy Beane kept him on a very tight leash and wouldn't let him do stupid things. Had the Mets simply read Michael Lewis's book, "Moneyball" they would have discovered this and might have thought twice about hiring him for many millions of dollars.
The reason I raise this now is because of Howe's handling of Barry Bonds this past weekend. Barry Bonds is certainly the greatest baseball player of the generation. The year he is having in 2004 is statistically almost beyond belief. He has 286 official at bats and has walked a mind-boggling 176 times. He has 35 home runs (about once every 8 official at bats), 79 RBI, his OBS is .612!!, his slugging percentage is .822, his OPS is 1434 and (Ben knows his NOPS). He has struck out only 24 times.
Virtually every other team in the Major Leagues has decided to pitch around Bonds. Many have decided to walk him intentionally (or semi-intentionally) in virtually every situation, even when there is no one else on base and even when he represents the tying or go-ahead run. These teams believe that it is not a good idea to let the best player in baseball beat you. They would rather take their chances with the rest of the San Francisco Giants, none of whom compares with Bonds.
But not Art Howe. He knows better. He's macho. So, he decided to pitch to Bonds during the three games series. In the first two games all Bonds did was get 7 hits out of 8 official at bats. He also walked twice so he was on base 9 of ten times. Although he did not homer, he smacked four balls, each of which hit a different wall in his home park.
This was not enough to convince Howe of the error of his ways. On Sunday, he decided to pitch to Bonds again with a runner on base in the first inning. Result: two-run homer. Result. Mets lose by two runs.
When asked whether the weekend results would change his view on pitching to Bonds, Howe replied: "I don't know".
Ich kenesht.
posted by MoChassid @ 11:22 AM
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