Just A Little

I am glad to see that Grady Little has been given a second chance, but I have to say that I always thought he got a bum rap for his one bad call in the 2003 ALCS. Of course, if you agree to take a job with the Boston Red Sox, you have to accept that you could easily be subjected to years of scorn for one mistake; that fan base is always ready to find a new scapegoat to blame all their miseries on.

I will admit that Little’s decision was a bad move. He sent mixed messages to Pedro Martinez late in Game 7, first giving the indication that he was taking him out, and then deciding to send him back to the mound. Managers shouldn’t second-guess their own decisions, but more importantly, they need to know when their pitchers are out of gas without having to ask them.

What makes this unfair is that the Sox front office didn’t give Grady a chance to redeem himself, instead giving Terry Francona a team ready-made for a championship. Many managers make similar decisions and either get away with them, or are at least given the benefit of coming back the next year to try again. I will never forget the numerous mistakes Bob Brenly made in the 2001 World Series – but I also remember that his team won. Something tells me though that if the Diamondbacks had lost to the Yankees that year, Brenly would have kept his job despite leaving Shilling in too long in Game 7 and giving B.Y. Kim every chance he could to blow their leads. Only is Boston so irrational to practically blacklist an otherwise great manager for one decision.

Good luck, Grady. The Los Angeles Dodgers are in need of talent like yours.