http://localhost:8080/nationals2014 Senior Fellow, Hillsdale College Churchill Project, Writer and Historian Tue, 12 Mar 2024 16:24:51 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9 http://localhost:8080/nationals2014#comment-9560 Sun, 15 Feb 2015 20:33:25 +0000 http://richardlangworth.com/?p=2910#comment-9560 I remember that team. Amazing! You think we have a good catcher? He can get thrown out on balls hit into the shallow outfield, he’s injury-prone and he drops a lot of pegs. We are hoping he meets with God on the road up from Venezuela this spring.

]]> http://localhost:8080/nationals2014#comment-9558 Sun, 15 Feb 2015 18:58:05 +0000 http://richardlangworth.com/?p=2910#comment-9558 I would like to say something about the Dodgers. They never won until 1955 when they had a new manager Walt Alston. It could be argued that the 1953 team was better. But Alston won by pulling out all the stops such as having Duke Snider sacrifice in a key play. I remember seeing Gil Hodges manage the Mets in 1969. He meant at least 15-20 games for the Mets. He got every possible run and every possible pitching performance out of his players. I will never forget when he took out Gentry in the 1969 playoffs on a 3-2 count after Rico Carty with two men on had hit the ball into the upper deck, foul by a few feet. He then brought in Nolan Ryan who turned on the heat and struck out Carty on one pitch. The Braves rally was stifled and the Mets swept the series and went on to win the World Series (against the Orioles). I have often thought since how rare it is to pull a pitcher when he has a two strike advantage. But that is what I call canny managing. Hodges just sensed that Gary Gentry didn’t have enough on the ball to strike out Carty, a .342 hitter with power. Some managers sit back and do the convention things. Others think and are on the ball. You have to have a good catcher and shortstop to win and you have to have a good manager.

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