Six innings, no hits. 72 pitches, 45 minute rain delay. Greg Maddux exits his LA debut. This was ...
| ... the right thing to do. He's 40! |  52 (39.39%) |
| ... nuts. He was working on a no-no! | 46 (34.85%) |
| ... irrelevant. He won, right? | 34 (25.76%) |
132 votes | 6 featured comments
None of the above.
If a pitcher tightens up after a rain delay, and it is very, very common, you can't send him back out there. I don't care if he's thrown 7 pitches, 17 pitches, 72 pitches, or 772 pitches. Throwing one inning with a dead arm is more likely to wreck a pitcher's career than 100 innings, or even 1000 innings, of normal wear and tear. The Dodgers acquired Maddux to make a run to the postseason, and it would be criminally foolish of them to throw that away to let a guy who can't get his arm loose, chase a no-hitter
772 pitches
That was when Maddux was still in Chicago right? But can you really blame Dusty Baker who wants to bring in Glendon Rusch
45 minutes wasn't that long, but in the end it is 100% what did the pitcher feel. If I was manager I'd ask and if the pitcher is feeling OK he goes back out there. I'd have the pitching coach watch close for anything odd but given Maddux is 40 he should know if he can go or not.
Gamenight had a snippit of Maddux post game, he almost sounded like he
wanted to go back out there and give it a shot, but he towed the
company line.
I don't know, reading between the lines a bit, I think he wanted to go back out there.
I don't know, reading between the lines a bit, I think he wanted to go back out there.
Well, Maddux did actually say a while back "I'm a six-inning pitcher now."
As a manager, you need to make up your mind yourself. You can ask your guy if he wants to go back out, and if he is worth his salt, he'll say "I'm still good, Skip." That doesn't mean he is. Once burned, twice shy. Right, Grady?