During last night’s game, Jerry Manuel asked John Maine to stay on the mound, until his replacement, Joe Smith arrived. Then, he asked Maine to personally hand the ball to Smith.
Part of Manuel’s reasoning was to allow Maine to calm down, before he headed to the dugout, since he seemed frustrated, and may have had comments for the home plate umpire.
Maine, in his post-game press conference with reporters, said about staying out on the mound until Smith’s arrival, “I like it. It’s a face-to-face with the pitcher, and he’s out there bailing me out, so, I want to give him the best of luck.”
When asked what he said to Joe Smith, “Come on man, go get him.”
I like it, too. The departing pitcher should have the opportunity to offer some motivation to the incoming pitcher, and the two pitchers could even quickly talk strategy.
2 comments:
I was going to write something about this today. I saw this last night, and although Manuel wans't my first choice to lead the Mets, he has done more in three games to bring this team together and show who is in charge than Randolph did in three plus years running this team. This was old school baseball, and I couldn't agree with it more. When I saw this last night, I said to myself, this guy is going to straighten these players out. Great job Jerry!
Its nice to see Jerry be his own man in ways Willie could never be. Kudos.
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