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Showing posts from October, 2011

Coaching: Sticking with the Game Plan?

Tonight's Game 2 of the 2011 World  Series between the Texas Rangers and St. Louis Cardinals was a close and exciting game.  After 6 1/2 scoreless innings, the Cardinals took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the 7th inning.  Yet, the Rangers overcame the 1-0 deficit in the 9th inning to win 2-1.  All 3 runs were scored after pitching changes, in which the nature of the substitutions was particularly interesting. In the 7th inning, Rangers manager Ron Washington had an interesting decision to make.  The Cardinals were preparing to use Allen Craig to pinch hit for starting pitcher Jaime Garcia.  As Rangers starter Colby Lewis had thrown close to 100 pitches, coach Washington was looking to turn to his bullpen.  His top choice to face Craig was pitcher Alexi Ogando, who held right-handed hitters to an impressively low .202 batting average during the regular season.  While Ogando served mainly as a starting pitcher during the regular season, he has becom...