Message #1149003

[imref]

Zuck on Davey's bullpen use:

2. DAVEY JOHNSON'S BULLPEN USE
Johnson spent all week talking about how he wasn't going to change anything about the way he managed his team in the postseason, insisting the manner -- and the players -- that produced 98 wins in the regular season could also win in October.

But in the Nationals' final two games of the year, the veteran skipper contradicted himself with his bullpen usage, staying away from several relievers who helped him get to this point and instead turning to two struggling starters in unfamiliar roles.

The gamble worked in Game 4 with Jordan Zimmermann striking out the side. It did not work in Game 5, with Edwin Jackson laboring through the seventh inning and giving up a run that put the Cardinals in better position to mount their final rally.

"I just felt like Jackson was the best choice I had to get through that part of that lineup," Johnson said. "He did the job for me. He gave up a run, but he did what we needed to, to get to the people we needed to get to."

The most curious absence from Game 5 might well have been Ryan Mattheus, the right-hander who was so effective all season escaping jams and who authored the greatest two-pitch relief appearance in history in Game 1. Mattheus never did warm up last night.

Some will also question the fact Johnson used Storen in the 8-0 Game 3 blowout, in the process forcing the young right-hander to pitch on three consecutive days. Storen wound up throwing 70 pitches in three days. He had actually been used back-to-back-to-back in September, so this wasn't a first-time challenge. Though in that previous instance (Sept. 10-12) he threw a total of only 22 pitches.