What Was He Doing?

If anyone was as unfortunate as me last night to have watched through the Cubs game, then maybe you were wondering the same thing I was in the 8th inning. The Cubs were up by one run and Carlos Mamol was brought in. In Marmol's 2/3 inning of work he allowed 3 walks and hit one batter. One of those walks brought in the game tying run.

Ok, I know. Carlos Marmol is continuously struggling with his command. But what about Lou Piniella's struggles of being a manager. It wasn't until the bases were loaded, from 2 walks and a hit batsman with Ryan Howard coming to the plate mind you, that Piniella started to get Grabow warmed up in the bullpen. Guess what? Marmol walked Howard to tie the game and that is when Piniella finally went in there and put Grabow into the game.

What was he waiting for? Obviously Marmol did not have it. You could see that from the 3 men he put on. Why wouldn't Piniella have had someone warming up after Marmol walked two? You know Marmol has been struggling. Why not have a backup plan available?

You know what angers me the most. At one point during that inning, the camera zoomed in on Piniella in the dugout. I'm making my own assumptions here from what I saw, but it looked like someone was asking Piniella if someone should get ready in the bullpen. Piniella, looking frustrated, said something like, "just leave him out there". Like he was punishing Marmol for doing a bad job. Well Lou, not only did you punish Marmol, but you punished yourself, your team, and all the Cub fans out there for leaving Marmol out there for a batter or two too long.

Congratulations. You proved your point to Marmol. He had a bad game. Do you think he doesn't know he is struggling? That is some effective managing. Maybe you should get back to reading those "Managing for Dummies" books you were talking about in spring training.