Willie's Brain Freeze

OK, so I'm watching Game 2 last night. Critical point in the ballgame. 1 out, tie game, bottom of the 7th. Lo Duca gets a single and then L-Millz smacks a single right behind him. However, while rounding 2nd, Lo Duca comes up lame with a leg injury.

Now Ramon Castro was already on deck and warming up. So I'm thinking, "OK Willie is going to use a pitcher to pinch-run for Lo Duca and then let Castro hit against the lefty Ray King. Easy decision!"

So El Duque comes in to run for the injured Lo Duca. OK, just what I thought.

Then, for some strange reason, Willie decides that instead of letting Castro pinch-hit, he's going to bring in Marlon Anderson, a lefty, to face Ray King.

Willie, I love ya but WTH WERE YOU THINKING!!!!!!!!!!

I literally was in shock.

This was a bad decision for many reasons.

First, the Mets bench was already short since Anderson Hernandez was sent down to make room for Pelfrey and Carlos "The Next Alou" Beltran was unable to play with a strained ab muscle. (Seems like Beltran is either hurt or playing "hurt" all of the time).

So the bench was already short... why waste another bench player when Castro HAD TO come in the game anyway for the injured Lo Duca?

In the words of Willie:

"I was confident in Marlon," he said. "You don't want to use two players there, but you got to go for it."

Okay, so Marlon Anderson was 3 for 5 with a double and a homerun in his career versus King. Pretty good. Is it a good enough sample for Willie to insert him into the game and deplete his entire bench? Hellz to the no. Using 2 players for 1 when you are already short on the bench is a pretty dumb thing to do... unless the pinch hitter you are sending up is Barry Bonds or Albert Pujols. And Marlon Anderson is no Barry Bonds or Albert Pujols. You feel me?

Plus King is the only lefty in the Nats pen. Which means that there was a good chance down the line that Anderson could be used to pinch hit and it would be against a righty.

So of course Marlon Anderson comes in... and pops out. Hovito Reyes comes up next and does the same thing. Rally over. Bench depleted. Brain freeze.

And to make matters worse, of course the Mets come storming back in the 8th bringing the game to 6-5. But in the 9th, after a ground out by Milledge (hottest hitter in the lineup hitting 8th???), up comes pinch hitter TOM GLAVINE. That's right, Tom Glavine had to pinch hit because Willie used 2 players for one back in the 7th. When he didn't have to. Brain freeze.

I wonder if Willie is a big gambler. I mean, he goes with his gut alot, which is fine, but sometimes you have to put your gut in check and do the reasonable thing. Like, for instance, if he was sitting at a poker table with pocket 7s, and the cards on the table were king, king, jack, ace, queen - would Willie put all of his chips on the line against those odds or live to fight another day?

Willie needed to fight another day. Instead he had a brain freeze. Instead of Subway, maybe Willie should be the spokesman for Luigi's Italian Ice. Horrible.

**(Check back next week when I write the exact same blog PRAISING Willie for going with his gut and ditching conventional wisdom. That's the nature of being a fan you know lol.)

Holla back.