Game one of this three-game series went well.
Alan Roden isn’t in the lineup again today. It is exactly the wrong way to use a prospect. When he finally does get into a game, he will think he has to go 4 for 4 if he wants to play again. He’ll end up putting so much pressure on himself. But then he’s unlikely to get into a game.
We did this in the Gibby/Cito days: Have a good prospect up, sit him. Play him once. If he doesn’t hit, play Mench/Wilkerson for the next two weeks, play him again. And then we write him off as a failure. Sometimes managers are so afraid to fail that they won’t try a new guy.
I get that there is a lot of pressure on John Schneider. If we don’t make the playoffs, there is no chance he’ll be back next year, so he’s managing scared. “If I use the young guy, he might lose the game.’
Oh well….today’s lineup: