Cash's bullpen blunder joins Little, others in playoff lore

Rays manager Kevin Cash stepped out of the dugout, and Blake Snell turned his head to curse.

So too, no doubt, did fans watching on TV back in Tampa, Florida.

Cash pulled Snell after 73 pitches and 5 1/3 sterling innings Tuesday night, turning Game 6 of the World Series over to his vaunted bullpen — a move that backfired immediately as the Los Angeles Dodgers rallied for a 3-1 victory to wrap up their first championship in 32 years.

“I guess I regret it because it didn’t work out,” Cash said, later adding, “personally, I thought Blake had done his job and then some.”

Cash was immediately criticized — by fans, broadcasters and players around the majors.

“So who gets to pull the manager?” Mets pitcher Noah Syndergaard tweeted.

The decision, driven by advanced analytics, could come to define Cash, just as past pitching moves have followed other managers when they didn’t work out. A look back at other October mishaps:

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1951 NL PENNANT PLAYOFF GAME 3

Who knows? Bobby Thomson’s famed “Shot Heard ‘Round the World” might never have happened without a bounced curveball in the bullpen.

The New York Giants, having trailed the bitter-rival Dodgers by 13 1/2 games in mid-August, closed fast and forced a best-of-three National League playoff. They split the first two games, and Brooklyn starter Don Newcombe took a 4-1 lead into the bottom of the ninth in Game 3 at the Polo Grounds.

After Whitey Lockman’s RBI double with one out made it 4-2 and put runners at second and third with Thomson coming up, Brooklyn manager Charlie Dressen pulled Newcombe.

Dressen picked Ralph Branca, who’d given up a homer to Thomson in Game 1 and faded down the stretch. Carl Erskine was warming up, too — he’d won 16 games in the regular season. But a coach saw...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/Cash-s-bullpen-blunder-joins-Little-others-in-15680369.php