Close your notebooks, everyone. There'll be no lesson, just a snap quiz. You're still at the helm of the Jays for this one.
It's late May, and everything is going pretty much swimmingly. The team sits at 27-18, a game up on the Yankees and Red Sox, as the Yankees come to visit Toronto for the first of a four game weekend set. The Rogers Centre is sold out on a Thursday night as Randy Johnson, eager for revenge for the tough loss you pinned on him a couple of weeks prior, starts for the Yanks against Ted Lilly. You have Burnett (in his fourth start of the season), Halladay and Chacin as your scheduled starters for the remainder of the series.
At 2 p.m, you allow yourself a few minutes to think about the season so far. Everyone has performed about the same as last year, except for Russ Adams, Aaron Hill and Alex Rios who have all made small but noticeable improvements. You had planned to platoon Rios with Eric Hinske, but early on Eric broke a bone in his hand when he was hit by a pitch and was out for six weeks. Hinske returned a week ago, and has made 3 starts (one when Catalanotto was sick six days ago and the other 2 to give Hillenbrand and Rios a rare day off). He seems to have made a complete recovery from his injury. Rios on the other hand took full advantage of his opportunity by hitting well, and perhaps more importantly, has shown signs of maturity by playing hard at all times.
Burnett has had an up and down recovery from his elbow troubles, but threw six solid innings in his last start. Aside from the injuries to Burnett and Hinske, the team has been healthy. You count your blessings and knock on wood.
You then revert to full "game-preparation mode". The lineup is set:
Adams
Johnson
Wells
Glaus
Overbay
Hillenbrand
Molina
Hill
Rios
The bullpen is in pretty good shape for the series. Halladay and Chacin threw rare back-to-back complete games on Monday and Tuesday (the fact that the Royals were the opposition played no role in it, you chuckle to yourself). Yesterday, Josh Towers had his first rough outing. He was gone in the second inning, but Pete Walker came on and carried the team through six. The team made a game of it, and Schoeneweis, Chulk and Frasor each pitched an inning. Scott Downs rejoined the pen after Burnett returned to the rotation, and is well rested.
The game starts and Johnson is unhittable. The Yanks strike first on a 3 run homer by A-Rod in the 4th inning, but Ted Lilly settles in and holds the Yanks to those 3 runs through 8 innings. Johnson has a shutout, but starts to tire in the bottom of the eighth. Molina and Hill take him deep into counts, strike out (that makes 12 for the Unit on the night), but Rios walks and Adams follows it up with a homer to right, and suddenly we have a ballgame. Johnson (Randy) retires Johnson (Reed) and the game moves to the ninth.
You bring on B.J. Ryan (who has not thrown in five days) for the ninth. He retires the bottom of the Yankee order in order, and sets the stage for the bottom of the ninth, with the Jays down 3-2. The Rogers Centre is rocking.
Enter Sandman. Mariano Rivera comes on. Vernon Wells jumps on the first pitch and laces a double over the third base bag. Troy Glaus walks; two on, nobody out and up comes Lyle Overbay. The infield is set at double play depth with Giambi holding on Glaus and A-Rod about even with the bag at third.
Your first question:
Do you call for a bunt from Overbay? Do you make any other moves?
Whatever you chose, the result is the same, the runners advance to second and third and Overbay is out. This leads to our next questions. Hillenbrand's up. Rivera's pitching, 1 out, runners on 2nd and 3rd. You have Catalanotto, Hinske, Zaun and McDonald on your bench.
Do you pinch-hit for Shea?
Would the answer have been different if Overbay had popped up (either a bunt or swinging away), leaving runners at 1st and 2nd, rather than 2nd and 3rd?
Whatever you chose, your team scores a single run off Rivera and the game heads to extras. The water cooler in the Yankee dugout takes blows (with the feet) from Rivera and Johnson. In the tenth, the Yanks have Damon, Jeter and A-Rod up, with Sheffield to follow. Ryan has thrown more than an inning twice so far this season, each time coming on to successfully retire a left-handed hitter with two out in the eighth and following it up with an uneventful ninth. Your final question is:
Who comes out to pitch for the top of the tenth?
Do you leave Ryan in there, or call for somebody else? What is your pitching plan for the top of the tenth?
You have 30 seconds to make each of these decisions, and 10 minutes to write each of them up. Good luck!
Next time, we'll see how Bauxites handle National League managing an unfamiliar team.
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20060326102821148