Baseball’s Sisyphus

At some point I’m going to stop acknowledging the silly things the Royals do. Today is not that point. Over the weekend, the Royals had the lead entering the eighth three times; which is to say they had the lead in each game with six outs to go. They trailed entering the ninth in each of those games. That’s not the reason for confusion, the fact that Joakim Soria failed to throw a single pitch is.

Soria did not pitch in the All-Star game, but did pitch last Sunday. That means he’s received an entire week’s worth of rest. Being cautious with an important arm is fine, but this is the same organization that rushed Gil Meche back into a 120-pitch outing shortly after returning from ‘dead arm’. This isn’t about ensuring health or taking precautionary measures. It’s about being stuck in the 1990s way of thinking. If this series has taught me anything, it is that apparently the only inning the Royals are going to use their best reliever is the ninth. Look at these three viable entry points for Soria during the series:

On Friday, Juan Cruz retired two batters quickly, then allowed a single and homerun to back-to-back batters. This is the most acceptable example of Trey Hillman sitting on Soria.

On Saturday, John Bale entered in the 8th, walked a batter, recorded a groundout, and then was lifted for a righty with the tying run on second. Rather than call upon Soria, he called upon Cruz again. A pair of doubles later Roman Colon enters a one run game. Colon walks a pair and allows a single, giving the Royals a nice two-run deficit to work out of. They don’t, and there goes the series.

Sunday, with a chance to salvage one win, Hillman again refuses to use Soria. Instead he throws Jamey Wright and Colon at the fire. Again, the Royals blow the lead. To Hillman’s credit, he did have Soria warm up during the eighth. With the game tied and the bases loaded, Hillman decided this was not an ideal situation to use his best pen arm, and instead turned to Colon. A walk later, and the Royals are on the receiving end of a broom.

Rany Jazayerli mocked the situation by saying Soria will miss the rest of the season because he is “too rested” to pitch. Meanwhile Will McDonald called the Royals baseball philistines.

It’s beyond me how can any manager willingly sit by and allow each of those three games to slip away because of the save metric. Hillman might be a very intelligent person — I don’t know him and probably never will – so he has to realize that if the ownership group starts grumbling about a team that some, including ESPN, mislabeled as potential contenders this year, then there’s a good chance he’s the first one to go. With that in mind, doesn’t he have to start using Soria in some unconventional situations to pad this staying power? I guess he’s not managing for his job.

Too bad I’m not sure he realizes that managing is his job.