Buck Showalter is roundly considered one of the best managers in MLB at using his bullpen. On Saturday night though, he pushed the wrong buttons and a 4-2 O’s lead turned into an 8-4 loss.
Press play or read the transcript below for more:
While there are no doubt some dissenters, players, scouts, fans, and his peers are generally in agreement: Buck Showalter is the best in the business at managing his bullpen. He doesn’t like to warm guys up then not bring them in, he tries to let them pitch a full inning where appropriate, instead of coming in for a batter or two at a time, and he doesn’t have them pitch multiple games in a row.
Buck has even criticized his fellow managers at times over their own bullpen use, as he did to the Marlins’ Dan Jennings last year.
“They used what, three guys three days in a row out of the bullpen to get it done? We’ll see how that works out down the road.”
When it comes to using his bullpen, Buck is always balancing winning today’s game with looking ahead to the next game and even the next series. It’s an art, and he’s become a maestro at conducting the symphony of arms here in Baltimore.
However, on Saturday night, he got it wrong. Buck allowed Yovani Gallardo to start the seventh inning in Arlington with the Birds holding a 4-2 lead. Many fans had been ecstatic to see Gallardo even finish the sixth, and with the starter at 96 pitches, we expected Mychal Givens or Brad Brach to enter the game. Instead, Gallardo issued a four-pitch walk to the number nine batter, then a double, before leaving. He was unable to record what would have been his first out in the seventh inning in his last 20 starts.
The rest is, of course, history. T.J. McFarland and Givens were unable to stiffarm the Rangers, who exploded for a six-run inning en route to an 8-4 win.
At the heights of their greatness, even the best weren’t perfect. Michael Jordan missed open jumpers. Tiger Woods rimmed out gimme putts. Wayne Gretzky fanned on open breakaways, and Peyton Manning threw right to a waiting DB.
Buck is still the best, but nobody is perfect.
