Say It Ain't So, Joe

Ladies and Gentlemen, The Joe Torre Era officially has me concerned. Do these comments regarding Juan Pierre make any sense to you? This is a Manager who, for better or for worse, stands by his Veterans, which is great when you have Vets who are good but not so great when you have young players that are superior in just about every single aspect of the game. Case in point for anyone who stuck with last night’s heart wrenching loss: why bring in The Journey Man Jason Johnson (please note his lack of a yahoo! player picture and also the fact he threw almost 90 uninspiring pitches as a starter on Sunday) to pitch to Pujols, Ludwick, et al when Big John Brox was available out of the pen? Broxton is roughly 100 times better than Johnson, who spent last season mopping up for the gosh-damn Seibu Lions. I was talking with G Slim on the phone when Ludwick predictably mashed Johnson’s pitch over the center field fence for a nice little walk-off number and neither of us registered even one iota of surprise over the outcome, we were both more concerned with Torre’s decision. Jon Weisman agrees. It’s easy to criticize the decision in hindsight but come on, live by the Vets, die by the Vets.

To make matters doubly troubling last night, the Blue had not one but TWO chances to get my newly signed fantasy acquisition Cory Wade (look at that nice little 181 ERA+) a much-needed Win. But no.