The Brewers are not a championship team, and they do not have a championship manager. Today, after Sheets pitched well enough and the Brewers blew the lead, the Brewers' owner gave Yost a vote of confidence. Why?
Surely the two misplays in the outfield (Gross and Hall) were not Yost's fault. Nor was the poor baserunning by Johnny Estrada, who appears to be eyeing the "slowest man in MLB" title from Bengie Molina. Watching Estrada huff it to third today, I thought "He is the fattest man I've ever seen play baseball." Fatter than Kruk, Joey Meyer, Terry Forster and Sid Fernandez.
Where Yost should be castigated is managing the bullpen, because he is playing by some stupid rule that developed with the save stat, which says you only use your closer in the 9th. He brings in Turnbow in the 8th, which is fine, since he is the setup guy. But when Turnbow can't get the job done, Yost looks first to Brian Shouse, who gets the lefty, and then to journeymen Greg Aquino and Chris Spurling, who proceed to lose the game for Milwaukee.
Ned, aren't you trying to WIN? This is a pennant race. Are you going to miss the playoffs because you pitched Aquino and Spurling, when Cordero -- your bona fide closer with 39 saves -- sits on his ass? Maybe Frankie wouldn't have gotten the necessary outs, but you'd be going down with your best, not a couple of retread middle relievers.
