Speechless

Wow what a horrible way to make a statement that you want to win the Central. Go out and hand 2 games to the Cardinals. Great starting pitching wasted by the bullpen, defense, and virtually no hitting except for Sammy Sosa. After 2 straight games of Farnsworth getting batted around like a dummy this is what Baker had to say.....

"I may have to reconsider things," Baker said Thursday......

"That eighth inning is killing us," Baker said. "They've outscored us 88 to 50-something in the eighth. My experience is you lose more games in the eighth than the ninth. That being said, I may have to go with Remlinger, right or left, and Alfonseca. Those guys have been in that situation late in the game many, many times down the stretch so I may have to go with experience."

See if you havent already caught on. Youth = losing, veterans = winners. Baker may never come out and directly say it, but thats what he does and what he believes. While i may agree Farnsworth is horrible along with Dusty, but Remlinger and Alfonseca are WORSE. It hasnt been Farnsworth giving up 88 runs in the 8th mostly its been Remlinger and Alfonseca. But to come out and say i need to depend on 2 of our worst pitchers down the stretch because they have experience is dumb. That experience is just as good at serving up game winning HR's has Farnsworth is to WP's in the dirt that score game winning runs. Case in point the last 2 games.

But then again what can Dusty do? You have had a horrible pen since July, no one was brought up from the minors to replace the poor performing ones, and i think its a tad late to start breaking in arms from AAA. But really can it be much worse?

But as Baker goes for stupidiest manager of the year this is what he says about his boy Alfonseca.......

Alfonseca did do his job Wednesday, even though he gave up a single to the National League's leading hitter, Albert Pujols, to start the inning.

"If we were playing up the middle more, that's an out," Baker said of the ball that snaked past shortstop Alex Gonzalez.

"He got a ground ball -- they just hit it in the perfect spot," Miller said. "(Alfonseca) got the ground ball he wanted against the best hitter in the league and it went downhill after that. What are you going to do?

"You can make all the right decisions in the world. This game is odd the way it works sometimes."

Ohh yeah Alfonseca did his job. What pipe dream is Dusty smoking? What is it with Baker and not putting blame on the people that need to be blamed. He is quick to yank Choi, Hill, Cruz, Farnsworth. But yet if your Lenny Harris, Shawn Estes, Antonio Alfonseca its always something else to blame?

If your in the veteran category no matter how terrible you are this is Bakers response...

"Well he pitched well, his velocity was good, the other team just did some great hitting, i mean what can you do? He was making great pitches."

"Well he is an exp veteran, he has been in these spots before, back in 1942 he was part of a championship team so he knows how to win, plus he has a great personality"

If your a rookie or young player these are Bakers responses.....

"Well i think we need to make a change, his last couple of outings have been rough, we need to more veteran exp, they just arent ready."

"Well the hitter has a few holes in his swing, besides you seen this other guy hit in BP? WOW! We really need the veteran exp, they just arent ready."

I really cant wait till this off-season and see what veterans Baker gets to put us over the top. Since he loves Alfonseca, can we expect his return? Estes is the next Loaiza so can we expect his return? Grudz did well, will we bank on another mediocre season from an aging veteran again? Maybe Jeffrey Hammonds is available to shore up the OF and we can get Mike Williams to be our closer to secure the bullpen.