Mr. Randolph brings in lefty pitcher to face lefty batters.

"With the Mets holding a 2-1 lead, Randolph felt it was wrong to bring in Looper to start the ninth, even though such practice has become something of an ironclad rule in baseball over the last 20 years - or since Tony LaRussa and Dennis Eckersley turned the role of closer into a one-inning job.

With three lefthanded hitters due up for the Reds, Randolph thought it was best to go with the lefthander, Koo. It was a risk at least partly because Koo is still largely unproven as a late-inning commodity against major-league hitters.

...

The fact that it nearly cost the Mets a ninth-inning lead, as Randolph bypassed closer Braden Looper for Dae-Sung Koo, isn't the point. It's that he had the nerve to try it."

Let me start by saying that Mr. Harper should not refer to Dae-Sung Koo as "Koo." It's "Mr. Koo," even for members of the big, bad media. If Fran Healy can call him Mr. Koo, then so can you!


I can not believe this managerial move by Mr. Randolph is garnering so much attention and so much praise. It's not as if Mr. Randolph bypassed Grover Cleveland Alexander; he bypassed Braden Looper.

The Eckersley Rule is not ironclad by any means. It's only ironclad if you have a closer like Mr. Eckersley.

The Mets won the game, but Mr. Koo was removed from the game with only one out and two runners on base. That may not be Mr. Randolph's fault, but it still put Mr. Looper in quite a bind. It also made me wonder what the press reaction will be when Mr. Randolph makes a managerial decision that actually works.