Bucky wrote:

CFP wrote:This is very likely the worst article you will ever read

http://crashburnalley.com/2015/09/21/on ... teps-back/

it is absolutely not the worst article i will ever read

When Bowie defeated Reading 7-2 in Game 5 at Prince George's Stadium Saturday night, it was an example of the sometimes awkward collision between competing and developing.

Wathan worried about the latter and had no regrets about how he played it.

"I'm confident in what we did," he said as Bowie's celebration was ongoing. "I'm confident in all the decisions we made."

Wathan chose not to start Zach Eflin, one of Philadelphia's top pitching prospects, on three days' rest. Reinier Roibal, a hard-throwing, talented reliever, was pressed into emergency duty instead.

Roibal, a Cuba native who was signed as a minor league free agent, pitched well. He allowed two runs in 41/3 innings despite taking a line drive off his right leg in the first.

The rest of Reading's bullpen struggled and the pitching staff as a whole allowed six earned runs on 10 hits.

Bowie went the other route. It used Joe Gunkel and Nick Additon, the starters from Games 1 and 2, on short rest. Gunkel threw 72 pitches and Additon threw 50. Both pitchers worked four innings. Additon was only two days removed from his Game 2 start.

They combined to hold Reading's talented lineup to two runs on six hits. The win-at-all-costs strategy resulted in Bowie holding the trophy.
While the Baysox were in a dogpile on the field, Eflin wasn't even in uniform. Wathan never seriously considered using him or Game 3 starter Jake Thompson.

"Nothing against those guys over there," Wathan said, referring to Bowie, "but we have two 21-year-old guys who are pitchers. I'm not going to jeopardize a guy's career to win an Eastern League title. As nice as it would be to win, we got everybody out of here healthy and we competed."

Wathan, who has been in Reading for four seasons and managed some teams that were thin on talent, was more interested in protecting his players than adding a line to his resume

"There was never really a thought of throwing Thompson or Eflin in a game like this," Wathan said. "They're up in the 150-160 innings range. They've never thrown that many pitches in their life. We're not going to risk it at this point. The goal is a little higher than here."

Woody wrote:His points about gender issues and phobia/violence are fine (the dressing rookies up like girls thing is pretty stupid at this point), but you've got to pick your battles. Mackanin was wrong for saying that Herrera needs to "act like a man?" (instead of the gender-neutral "adult")

I mean come the #$!&@ on. Have we really reached the point where correct pronoun usage is now considered gender shaming?

Woody wrote:His points about gender issues and phobia/violence are fine (the dressing rookies up like girls thing is pretty stupid at this point), but you've got to pick your battles. Mackanin was wrong for saying that Herrera needs to "act like a man?" (instead of the gender-neutral "adult")

I mean come the fuck on. Have we really reached the point where correct pronoun usage is now considered gender shaming?

BIGPHILLY wrote:Sigh. I can't believe that guy exists. He needs to be a man and write like a man and take off his pink panties.

Shore wrote:

Bucky wrote:

CFP wrote:This is very likely the worst article you will ever read

http://crashburnalley.com/2015/09/21/on ... teps-back/

it is absolutely not the worst article i will ever read

Me, either. It's one of the worst articles that I won't read, at least in its entirety.

momadance wrote:Bet you Crashburn got pissed on a lot as kid at the urinal.

"The implied second half of “be a man” is “don’t be a woman”. "

Mackanin criticized Herrera by saying, “You’ve got to play like a man.” He said, “Boys play Little League and men play Major League Baseball.”

Knapp put himself in some elite company, too, displaying one of the best swings ever seen in "Baseballtown." In 55 games after coming up from Clearwater, he batted .360 with 11 HRs and 56 RBIs. His OPS of 1.050 ranks a shade better than Luzinski, Howard and Scott Rolen and is topped only by Pat Burrell, Randy Ruiz and Matt Rizzotti. He may well be the best switch-hitter in club history.

pacino wrote:

Knapp put himself in some elite company, too, displaying one of the best swings ever seen in "Baseballtown." In 55 games after coming up from Clearwater, he batted .360 with 11 HRs and 56 RBIs. His OPS of 1.050 ranks a shade better than Luzinski, Howard and Scott Rolen and is topped only by Pat Burrell, Randy Ruiz and Matt Rizzotti. He may well be the best switch-hitter in club history.

Phred wrote:

pacino wrote:

Knapp put himself in some elite company, too, displaying one of the best swings ever seen in "Baseballtown." In 55 games after coming up from Clearwater, he batted .360 with 11 HRs and 56 RBIs. His OPS of 1.050 ranks a shade better than Luzinski, Howard and Scott Rolen and is topped only by Pat Burrell, Randy Ruiz and Matt Rizzotti. He may well be the best switch-hitter in club history.

I was excited until I got to the word "Randy".