The San Francisco Giants won the NL pennant on Thursday night, and Mike Matheny once again managed to the save stat and not the in-game situation.
Matheny, when asked about not using closer T. Rosenthal in 9th: "We can't bring him in, in a tie-game situation. We're on the road.”
— Bernie Miklasz (@miklasz) October 17, 2014
Tie game, bottom of the ninth, one run ends your season…so Matheny goes with Michael Wacha, who hadn’t pitched since September 26th.
Yeah, Trevor Rosenthal struggled in the Postseason (4.91 ERA over four games, but three saves recorded), but if you’re not going to use your Proven Closer in a situation where your seasons hangs in the balance…what’s the point, really?
On the bright side for the Cardinals, Rosenthal will be as fresh in 2015 as Craig Kimbrel was for the Braves in 2014 after sitting in the bullpen as the Dodgers rallied late to eliminate Atlanta from the 2013 NLDS.
