Second Guessing Scioscia – What’s up with that?

Welcome to Second Guessing Scioscia, our look back at some of the questionable decisions that Mike Scioscia made in the last week. And, boy, there are some questionable decisions to be reviewed. In the history of this column, we have never once struggled for content. However, we aren’t anti-Scioscia. The official MWAH stance on Scioscia is pro-Scioscia overall. But his in-game tactics need some help and we are here to provide that help by nitpicking incessantly and grading them with our patented SciosciaFace grading system.

This week, we will only be second guessing Scioscia on one facet of his management. For some reason this week, Scioscia decided to repeatedly leave his starter in too long so that he could be repeatedly burned by that decision. What’s up with that?

Overstaying your welcome
A big part of bullpen management is protecting them, not overusing them. That appears to be the root cause of Scioscia’s rotation rampant rotation issues this week.

Offense #1
C.J. Wilson had a great start going in this one. He had cruised through six innings on a pitch count under 70. He totally deserved to keep going and the bullpen deserved to have him soak up another inning or two. However, the team also deserved to actually try to win the game. That’s something they could have been in a position to do had they scored a run in the top of the seventh, which they could have done had Wilson not been allowed to bat with two outs and runners on first and third.

With just seven outs left to break a 1-1 ties, Scioscia prioritized keeping Wilson in the game to suppress runs over taking advantage of a golden opportunity to actually take the lead.

ALL THE FACEPALMS

Offense #2
Scioscia decided to run Hector Santiago out for the fifth inning in a game where the Angels were already trailing 3-1. Santiago was already at 78 pitches entering the inning and had generally looked terrible in the game, getting hit hard the first four innings. This was not a start that was going to end well for Santiago. With his spot in the order due up next, the best Scioscia could hope for was one more inning of Santiago trying not to fall apart. Hector went on to serve up another run to the Giants, but, hey, he saved the bullpen an inning of work. So Scioscia has that going for him.

Offense #3
Again, Scioscia gets done in by a low pitch count. Similar to Wilson before him, Matt Shoemaker had gotten through seven innings on fewer than 70 pitches and had generally pitched quite well. Where it really fell apart for him was in the sixth inning when he served up two cookies that turned into two solo shots.

Some would take that as a sign that Shoemaker was starting to tire and lose effectiveness, but not our Scioscia. He ran Shoe out for the eighth inning to go through the order one more time. He was rewarded with Matt serving up one last cookie to Seth Smith, giving the Mariners an insurance run that would come in handy when the Angels scored once in the ninth but ended up losing by one.

Offense #4
This one didn’t burn Scioscia, but here he sent Garrett Richards out for the seventh inning despite him already being at the 100-pitch mark. Managing to that “magic” number can be a mistake, but there were other indications that this might’ve been a mistake. Garrett had been a bit shaky the inning before, allowing a single, a wild pitch and an HBP during a 26-pitch inning. Richards was also going to be turning over the batting order again. Richards is an ace, so I get the motivation to trust in him, but trusting for trusting’s sake is a fool’s errand.

Overall, we see the same sins committed over and over again here:

• Scioscia treating pitch counts like pitch quotas. Most managers worry about pitchers throwing too many pitches, Scioscia seems overly concerned if his pitchers have thrown enough.
• Ignoring the times through the order penalty. This is an established effect that Scioscia has taken almost no heed of.
• Worrying more about bullpen preservation than actually winning the game. This might be the deadliest sin of all.

VERDICT: