TORRE COSTS DODGERS WIN

Hey, can’t knock Joe Torre too much this year. The guys has been steering the ship for the best team in baseball and actually has gotten his charges playing better since losing Manny Ramirez to a controversial 50-game suspension. High marks for Torre, who seems to thrive in the midst of controversy.

But I think that he thrives in a crisis because he’s asleep most of the time.

It’s not an altogether novel joke, but one that my friends and I like to kick around when Joe T. appears on screen – it always looks like Torre is taking a nap in the dugout. He’s been blessed with great players and great teams so he can just kind of put it on auto pilot and catch some Zzzz’s. Well, it is a joke but there are definitely times when it’s true. See, Torre is a great clubhouse guy and sets the tone of calm, assurance, and success for a team. But when it comes to X’s and O’s and in-game adjustments he freezes up and does some ridiculous things sometimes.

Perfect example: last night’s game against Arizona. In the top of the second inning Hiroki Kuroda was laboring through the middle and bottom of the D-Backs order. He had walked a pair with just one out before striking out Chris Young for out No. 2. Now, the No. 8 hitter, call-up first baseman Josh Whitesell was at the plate. Granted, this kid was hitting about .180. But the obvious solution to this situation is to walk the kid and go after the pitcher, Billy Buckner, to get out of the inning. Kuroda didn’t. He went after the kid. And even after falling behind 2-1 and then 3-2 Kuroda was still firing fastballs. Naturally, Whitesell turned on a 3-2 fastball for a two-run double.

Now, you can definitely blame this on Kuroda and catcher Russell Martin. But in the end, wasn’t this whole situation a decision for Torre and manager Rick Honeycutt? Where were they? The obvious answer: asleep.

The Dodgers lost 3-2. Those two runs were the difference between another Dodgers win and a loss. And while in the end it’s not like Arizona is going to make a run at the Dodgers, it was still a game given away because of a ridiculous non-decision by Torre.