Leyland opens himself to second-guessing after Monday's loss

Baseball managers get paid the big bucks to make tough decisions.  Sometimes, those decisions don’t work out and that’s when fans love to second guess the leader.

Jim Leyland and Octavio Dotel had bad nights last night. 

Prior to the game in Seattle, Leyland publicly announced his closer, Jose Valverde, and his setup man, Joaquin Benoit, would not be available to pitch last night.   

Leyland pulled Doug Fister after seven innings of shutout ball even though the right-hander had thrown just 73 pitches.  Yes, it was Fister’s first start since returning from injury, but since everything had gone so well, it was a surprise to see him lifted at that point.

The eighth inning effort from Phil Coke diffused the immediate situation.  Coke was remarkable – three up, three down with two strikeouts. 

So you trot Coke out there to start the ninth, don’t you? 

Not last night.

Leyland turned to Octavio Dotel and the wheels fell off.

Protecting a 2-0 lead, Dotel couldn’t hit the side of a barn.  He walked the first two batters.    Then a wild pitch.  Then a passed ball to score the Mariners first run.  Jesus Montero doubled home Ichiro Suzuki to tie the score at two.

Tigers fans were left to say, “What the heck just happened?”

Dotel was yanked and Duane Below came in, but the Mariners sacrificed home the winning run over the course of two batters – first a sacrifice bunt, then a walk-off sacrifice fly to end the game.

Seattle, unable to score through the first eight innings, plated three runs in the ninth to steal a win from Detroit.

Leyland’s decisions can be questioned:

Why pull Fister after seven?   “Seven innings for his first outing, that’s enough,” Leyland told reporters after the game.

Why pull Coke for Dotel? "Here’s a guy who was a big league closer and pitched in big pressure situations in the World Series last year.”

As for Dotel, he took the heat, admitting his lack of control lost the game.

Second guessing is a sports in and of itself, and Leyland opened himself to some legitimate beefs after the Tigers lost for the fourth time this year to the Mariners. 

A night that looked so promising ended in tough-to-swallow fashion.