Bullpen O' Doom

Dave Paisley

The story of Game 1 of the '98 World Series was the inability of the Padres to get from quality starter to foregone conclusion closer. Kevin Brown fought through an early two-run deficit to see his offense quickly tie the game at two runs apiece, then give him a three run lead. However, Brown certainly wasn't at the top of his game, walking three on his way to 6.1 innings pitched.

Welcome back to the AL strike zone, Kevin.

At the time, David Wells' brash promise of a five-game Yankee series win on the Howard Stern show looked rather lame. However, with the Padres in minor trouble in the seventh with two on and only one out, Bruce "can't guess right about pitchers" Bochy elected to go to Donne Wall in the pen. Big mistake. Wall gave up a big three-run, game tying homer, to Chuck Knoblauch of all people.

In came "renowned stopper" Mark Langston. The subsequent unraveling of the Padres culminated with Langston giving up a grand slam to Tino Martinez in the seventh on a 3-2 count. While Langston is used to playing the post-season goat, I have to feel sorry for him here, as on the previous pitch, it sure looked like he had Tino Martinez struck out. The pitch was right over the heart of the plate at the knees, yet the ump saw fit to, presumably, call it low.

So Wells left the game after seven innings with a four-run lead, despite getting royally shellacked and sporting an ERA of 6.53. Sort of his season in microcosm. Lucky as hell all the way.

Kevin Brown will be primed for Game 4, likely facing Andy Pettitte unless the Yanks lose the next two games, in which case they may be tempted to throw David Wells out there again.

My biggest concern for the Padres right now is that Bochy's marked vote of no-confidence for his setup guys in the NLCS has carried over to the Series. Every game from here on out will feature second-guessing galore on his use of the bullpen, and the worst part of that is that the bullpen themselves will be wondering what exactly is going on.

As the game wore on, Bochy pushed every button in reach, whether it made sense or not. But hey, he had those buttons, so why not? But while you're pushing buttons, what about the Randy Myers button? Oh, sorry, we'll wait till we're out of the game to push that one.

Meanwhile, Paul O'Neill, whiner extraordinaire, took a ball, then struck out on three swinging strikes. Still, despite the ump never having to call a strike on him, O'Neill felt obliged to jaw at him on his way out of the batter's box. Definition of the ultimate whiner, I guess. What the hell was the ump doing, making him swing at those three down and away breaking balls?

Based on Game 1, I don't see a lot of hope for the Padres. They wasted a prime opportunity to steal a game from the Yanks and there just won't be that many more. Maybe that Wells prediction will come to pass.

about the author

Dave Paisley is contributing his insights and observations on the World Series. Ask why he doesn't openly root for the Yankees like all the other sports reporters at drdjp@strikethree.com.