I love Joe Torre. I really do. I just never want him to manage a bullpen or set a lineup. He can hang out in the locker room, hug the players and cry when the Yankees win. He makes a far better mascot than manager. You know, kinda like Cuba Gooding Jr.'s character in that movie, Radio. A lovable retarded dude.
Last night is a perfect example. And while I usually consider Rob Neyer to be "the David Broder of baseball writers", his blog entry (subscription req'd) from today contains the salient bit. Predictably, it's not actually from Neyer, but a friend who emailed him regarding Scott Proctor walking in the winning run in Baltimore.
It's just insane. There is no logical reason why, facing a situtation WHERE YOU CANNOT GIVE UP A RUN, OR YOU LOSE (and fall two games under .500), you would choose Proctor over Rivera. This is managing to a statistic -- the save -- rather than to win. According to Torre's logic, you use Proctor when you simply can't give up a run, and you use Rivera when you can. Absurd.
Further more, checkout Scott Proctor's stats for this year. 22 Walks in 41 2/3 innings. There was every reason to expect that Proctor would do what he did, especially since he threw 4 straight balls to the previous hitter to load the bases.
But Sleepy Joe Torre has his ideas of how things should work. "Guys Should Know Their Roles" and "He shows a lot of moxie" loom larger to Joe than common sense. He's got to go.
UPDATED (9/28): In a classic Torre move, Mo was able to pitch last night. Please note, that unlike a tie game, the Yankees were already down by 4 in the ninth. It was the first time Rivera had pitched in five days.
