From Zuckerman:
10:20 p.m. -- Make it 4-1 as Balester is getting crushed in his third inning of relief. By the way, there are still six available pitchers in the bullpen who have not been used tonight: Gorzelanny, Severino, Slaten, Clippard, Maya and Stammen. Plus, in an emergency, Livo.
From Kilgore's post game:
Ballester had already delivered two hitless, scoreless innings — following scoreless frames by Henry Rodriguez, Todd Coffey, Drew Storen and Sean Burnett — when Manager Davey Johnson sent him back out for a third. There was no one warming up, despite the presence of six other relievers on the expanded September roster. Tyler Clippard was unavailable after a heavy week of use. Some relievers were being held in reserve for Sunday.
What if we lose by 10 runs tomorrow? What was accomplished by "saving them"? This is the biggest bunch of nonsense!!!
If ever there was a night that reaffirmed that Davey Johnson is a clueless old man, this was it!
EDIT: On second thought, I wouldn't have mattered who was on the mound and for how long. This offense was not going to score, period. That's the most pathetic part of this. Making your pitchers go inning after inning after inning after inning without giving up any runs because your offense is dead.
