Plenty of decisions to second
Baker
Certainly  Game 3 of the National League Division Series  won  2-1  by the Chicago Cubs over the Washington Nationals  was a kind of paradise for second-guessing. In fact  some might say the final score was: Decisions that blew up on Dusty Baker (2) over Decision that blew up on Joe Maddon (1).
Asked whether he’d heard Rizzo yelling  Baker said  “Nah  I don’t care. I’d have screamed  too.”
Soon  it was Baker’s turn. In the seventh inning with one out  Ben Zobrist broke up what had been a marvelous  downright gallant no-hit bid by Max Scherzer  who had spent the last nine days wondering whether the next time he pitched full-bore he might blow out his tight right hamstring and be done for the year. Before this game  Scherzer said he figured he would be good for maybe 100 pitches. He was at 98.
 Baker  called for Solis. The Cubs countered with the dangerous Albert Almora Jr.  who hit .342 against southpaws this year. Almora singled home the tying run on a change-up that stayed — up.
Finally  in the brutal eighth  in a decision and a moment that may be the most painful of the Nationals’ season if they do not rebound from this deficit   Baker  decided not to intentionally walk Rizzo  the Cubs’ top RBI man — by miles — and instead bring in lefty specialist Perez to cope with him. It was a journeyman-with-a-specialty against a superstar.
 Baker  had options.  He  could have walked Rizzo and let Brandon Kintzler  an all-star closer this year for the Minnesota Twins  pitch to Cubs cleanup man Willson Contreras  who is powerful but strikeout prone.  He  could even have (perhaps) overmanaged and brought in  his  best pure-stuff right-hander  Ryan Madson  to face Contreras to try to overpower  him .
Instead   Baker  believed in Perez. And  since this is baseball  Perez won the battle but lost the game. Perez jammed Rizzo  forcing that weak  sickly blooper into left field. That  anyway  is how it was described by  several Nats  including Baker . To the Cubs  it was a perfectly placed clutch hit.
For the record  as they say  with perfect hindsight  I think that  the Nats  may have managed as if the playoffs were different from the regular season — which is a current vogue. If this game had been played in August  I suspect there would have been little complexity.
And better options might have been chosen — ones that did not end up with  the Nats  losing a huge game in which neither of their two best relievers  Madson or Sean Doolittle  ever appeared.
Could that all have worked out so simply? Kintzler in the seventh  Madson in the eighth and Doolittle in the ninth to put the Nats one win from the National League Championship Series? For what it’s worth  not one Nat  and I asked several  had any problem with any Baker move. One veteran said  “We are a solid team — in every area. It’s not like we have a couple of good relievers and nobody else we trust. Our bullpen is good all the way through now. Nobody’s second-guessing those decisions.”
Certainly  Game 3 of the National League Division Series  won  2-1  by the Chicago Cubs over the Washington Nationals  was a kind of paradise for second-guessing. In fact  some might say the final score was: Decisions that blew up on [TGT] (2) over Decision that blew up on Joe Maddon (1).
Asked whether he’d heard Rizzo yelling  [TGT] said  “Nah  I don’t care. I’d have screamed  too.”
Soon  it was Baker’s turn. In the seventh inning with one out  Ben Zobrist broke up what had been a marvelous  downright gallant no-hit bid by Max Scherzer  who had spent the last nine days wondering whether the next time he pitched full-bore he might blow out his tight right hamstring and be done for the year. Before this game  Scherzer said he figured he would be good for maybe 100 pitches. He was at 98.
 [TGT]called for Solis. The Cubs countered with the dangerous Albert Almora Jr.  who hit .342 against southpaws this year. Almora singled home the tying run on a change-up that stayed — up.
Finally  in the brutal eighth  in a decision and a moment that may be the most painful of the Nationals’ season if they do not rebound from this deficit   [TGT]  decided not to intentionally walk Rizzo  the Cubs’ top RBI man — by miles — and instead bring in lefty specialist Perez to cope with him. It was a journeyman-with-a-specialty against a superstar.
 [TGT]had options.  [TGT]  could have walked Rizzo and let Brandon Kintzler  an all-star closer this year for the Minnesota Twins  pitch to Cubs cleanup man Willson Contreras  who is powerful but strikeout prone.  [TGT]  could even have (perhaps) overmanaged and brought in  [TGT]  best pure-stuff right-hander  Ryan Madson  to face Contreras to try to overpower  him .
Instead   [TGT]believed in Perez. And  since this is baseball  Perez won the battle but lost the game. Perez jammed Rizzo  forcing that weak  sickly blooper into left field. That  anyway  is how it was described by [TGT] . To the Cubs  it was a perfectly placed clutch hit.
For the record  as they say  with perfect hindsight  I think that  [TGT]may have managed as if the playoffs were different from the regular season — which is a current vogue. If this game had been played in August  I suspect there would have been little complexity.
And better options might have been chosen — ones that did not end up with  [TGT]losing a huge game in which neither of their two best relievers  Madson or Sean Doolittle  ever appeared.
Could that all have worked out so simply? Kintzler in the seventh  Madson in the eighth and Doolittle in the ninth to put the Nats one win from the National League Championship Series? For what it’s worth  not one Nat  and I asked several  had any problem with any Baker move. One veteran said  “We are a solid team — in every area. It’s not like we have a couple of good relievers and nobody else we trust. Our bullpen is good all the way through now. Nobody’s second-guessing those decisions.”