This is what I get for not checking the news before I head to the ballpark.
CuteSports took Mama CuteSports (also known as Judy Buzzkill) to the game today and we had a great time. We were in the first row of the second deck in right field and we loved the seats. Add dollar hot dogs, some great defense and an offense that didn't just disappear after scoring two runs and it was a great day at the ballpark.
Imagine my surprise, however, when Salomon Torres is entering the game to start the 9th inning. So I called the CuteSportsBoyfriend and he informed me that before the game Ned Yost announced we were closing by committee.
On the plus side, it was Gagne himself who called it out and said he'd been horrible. Not, I'm sure, coincidentally, the day before, the Cardinals' closer, Jason Isringhausen pulled himself from the closer's role.
On the negative side, why was it necessary for Gagne to yank himself?
From The FanHouse:
<a href="http://sports.aol.com/fanhouse/2008/05/11/eric-gagne-does-what-ned-yost-couldnt/">Eric Gagne Does What Ned Yost Couldn't</a>
Our NL Central man-about-town, Pat Lackey, has long voiced every baseball fan's collective wonder: Just how in the name of everything holy is Eric Gagne still closing baseball games? It's been clear for over a year that the man is not the Eric Gagne of old, but Brewers manager Ned Yost seems to be the only one not paying attention. Four or five blown saves later, and Yost still won't take the man out of the ninth inning spot.
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So guess what? Eric Gagne did it himself:
"I don't sit here and make decisions five minutes after a tough loss," Yost said after watching Gagne saddle the Brewers with a defeat that never should have happened.
Minutes later, Gagne took his manager completely off the hook with a pronouncement that was evident to anybody who has watched his work of late. "I don't deserve that ninth inning right now. It's very simple," said Gagne, who surrendered two ninth-inning runs that allowed St. Louis to pull out a 5-3 victory at Miller Park. "It's embarrassing."
Ah, embarassing indeed, but who should be more embarassed? Gagne, whose tools are just clearly not there anymore? Or Yost, whose tools are supposed to involve proper decision-making and talent management? Who's done a worse job?
<a href="http://blogs.jsonline.com/brewers/archive/2008/05/10/gagne-admits-he-doesn-t-deserve-closer-s-role.aspx">JSOnline.com coverage</a>
<a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3390968">ESPN.com article</a>
