Mike Matheny, Cardinals manager, showed that he, like every other manager, doesn’t understand game situations. He made a number of very questionable decisions in the critical Game 3 of a World Series that was tied 1-1.
1. The Cardinals, up 2-0, had bases loaded, no outs, in the bottom of the 4th inning, with the eighth, ninth, and leadoff hitters due up. Since the bottom of the order was up, the chances of scoring were much less. In addition, if they don’t score, the momentum change significantly increases the chances of the Red Sox scoring. Does Matheny squeeze, even with one out and the pitcher up? No, and they don’t score. As a result of the momentum change, the Red Sox scored the next inning, and tied it the inning after that. In addition, the inning after the Cardinals failed to score saw the Cardinal pitcher struggle and throw a lot of pitches as a result of the momentum change.
2. In the bottom of the 7th, the Cardinals were up 4-2, and had a man on third, with no outs. The fifth run is huge in this situation, as the Red Sox only have two more at-bats, and a three-run lead is much different than a 2-run lead. In addition, if they don’t score, the chances would increase that the Red Sox would score, although not as much as usual since the Cardinals had already scored that inning. The Red Sox have a tough pitcher in the game. Does Matheny squeeze? No, they strand the runner, and the Red Sox score two runs the next inning to tie. All of the Boston runs followed Cardinal failures to get runners in from third with less than two outs.
3. In the bottom of the ninth in a 4-4 game, the Cardinals had second and third, one out. They had already failed twice to score runners from third with less than two outs. The Red Sox had their best reliever in the game, and he is probably the hottest reliever in baseball. The Cardinals didn’t squeeze again, the batter hit a ground ball to second, and the runner was thrown out at the plate for the second out. If not for the wild throw to third by the catcher that followed, allowing the winning run to score, there would have been a good chance that the Cardinals wouldn’t have scored that inning, and they would have gone into extra innings having already used their closer, with the momentum having shifted to Boston.
4. Allen Craig, who isn’t playing due to an injured foot, was on second base after a pinch-hit double, resulting in the situation in Point 3 above. If Matheny would have left him in the game had they not scored, I understand him leaving him on second when he could hardly run due to his injury, but if he would have taken him out of the game, Matheny should have put in a pitcher to pinch run. Craig ended up being the winning run, and he could hardly run the bases.