We, here in the Jay's Blogosphere, are pretty quick to jump all over Cito Gaston when he does something we don't agree with, which does happen quite a bit. And really I'm not apologizing for any of my part of it (well maybe the odd gratuitous shot, I'd take back), but that doesn't mean he doesn't some things right. So I thought it was only fair to point out when he does something right.
Continued after the Jump...
In today's game, Ricky Romero threw a 'wild pitch' that cost him a run, a wild pitch that his catcher really should have blocked for him, but that's a different rant. And really, isn't it stupid that score keepers should be deciding that some things are wild pitches and some are passed balls. Most of the time the call could go either way. The scorekeepers job should be to report what happens not make judgments. I know occasionally they have to make a judgment on errors but most of those are fairly easy calls. On wild pitch or passed ball the ball goes by the catcher and runners move up. The scorekeeper flips a coin, assigns blame to catcher or pitcher. It doesn't see right. Let the scorer report, let the fans assign blame. But I digress....
After the wild pitch, Romero was more than a little pissed off (whether pissed at himself or pissed at his catcher is an open question) and gave up a walk right after. Normally if Cito comes out it means a pitching change, but this time he went just to settle down his pitcher. Cito is good at showing and instilling confidence in his players when he wants to.
Or course later in the game, Jason Frasor with two out, one on, Cito comes out. Frasor had to be thinking he's coming out of the game, with lefty Josh Hamilton up and Downs warming in the pen. Cito tells him "Just don't let this guy beat you". Hey thanks. I was planning to serve up a gopher ball, but now I'll get him out. One wild pitch later, he gets the ground out to end the game.
From Richard Griffin:
"It's big for him," Gaston said. "I think he thought I was coming out to take him out ... but we talk about tearing people apart. (That would have.) Back-to-back saves is really big for him."
Baseball is a rough game, guys get torn apart a lot.
So having talked about what Cito does well, how in the world does he decide to pitch hit John Buck in Jose Molina's spot in the ninth, when Randy Ruiz is sitting on the bench? I don't understand it at all. If you aren't going to use Ruiz there, when is he going to get an at bat? I was hoping Ruiz would get the 250 at bat Kevin Millar had last year. Now I'm wondering if the over/under is more like 100 at bats.
Buck Martinez leaves us for game on the weekend so Sam Cosentino will be doing some play-by-play. It should be interesting.
Jack Cust made it through waivers and will accept assignment to Triple-A.
A year ago today Angel pitcher Nick Adenhart was killed by a drunk driver. Here is a link to Halos Heaven's story from that day.