The Giants weren?t as much of a surprise the Nationals, so it?s doubtful Bruce Bochy will get much love in the Manager of the Year award balloting when the results are announced next month.
Now if there were a Postseason Manager of the Year award, there?s no doubt Bochy would claim it in a landslide. It seems Bochy and his giant cranium can do no wrong this month and particularly these last five games.
- He pulled Madison Bumgarner from the rotation in favor of Barry Zito in Game 5 of the NLCS, watched Zito pitch a gem to keep the Giants in the series and then restored Bumgarner to the rotation for Game 2 of the World Series with stellar results.
- He?s seemed to have the knack for knowing exactly when to turn to the bullpen. Of course, it?s a lot easier to look like a genius when both the starters and relievers are pitching like they have been lately.
The way I?ve always looked at it is that, if you?ve already decided you?re going to pull a pitcher after one mistake, you don?t send him back out to make the mistake. Jim Leyland may or may not have done that tonight. He had starter Doug Fister open the seventh, only to remove him after Hunter Pence singled to lead off the inning. Maybe it was Leyland?s plan to pull Fister for the lefty (with back-to-back left-handers coming up) regardless of what happened with Pence, and if so, that?s defensible. ?Still, it should have been Octavio Dotel?s batter all along.
Bochy has handled the pitching changes flawlessly, and he?s continued to play matchups late in games even when it seems one of his relievers is doing well. Not only is he playing the percentages, but it appears that the quick hooks have made his relievers more effective while working for the second day in a row.
- He?s gotten terrific results from Tim Lincecum as a reliever.
- He hasn?t resorted to any foolish small-ball tactics. Bochy could have had Belt try to bunt in the seventh inning tonight, but Belt has very little bunting experience and probably would have struggled to get it down. Bochy let Belt hit and was rewarded with a walk. And then, with a guy up who can bunt, Bochy had Gregor Blanco move the runners along (and even that turned into an unexpected bonus when the bunt failed to roll foul and Blanco reached).
Bochy doesn?t have a great lineup, but he has his players playing to their strengths. He hits and runs with Marco Scutaro because Scutaro is pretty much the ultimate hit-and-run guy. There haven?t been any bad stolen base attempts. He hasn?t tried to force the issue, and he?s not giving away outs.
- He?s also not giving away baserunners. In the second inning of Game 7 against the Cardinals, Matt Cain was pitching with runners on first and third, one out and No. 8 hitter Pete Kozma at the plate. Daniel Descalso went on to steal second. Had Mike Matheny been managing the Giants, there?s a good chance the steal would have led to an intentional walk of Kozma, setting up the double play with the pitcher up. Bochy, though, let Cain face Kozma, got a strikeout and then retired Lohse on a looping liner to short. ?As a result, it was inning over, instead of Jon Jay potentially being up with the bases loaded and two outs.
So, yeah, I like what Bochy is doing this month. And I?m not typically such a big fan of his. It?s also surely worth noting that the starting pitching decisions are hardly his alone; Brian Sabean and company have their say as well. But if the Giants do come through and win this thing, Bochy is going to deserve all of the praise he gets. He?s put the team in the right position to win every time.
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