LA Dodgers' Joe Torre Trips Over Himself with Poor Decision in NLCS

Imagine this scenario.

The youngest pitcher to ever start the opening game of a league championship series is on the mound and trailing 3-1.

In the current inning, he has already given up a three-run homer, walked three batters, and tossed three wild pitches, and now there are runners on the corners.

The man coming to the plate drove in 141 runs in the regular season.

You have the best bullpen in baseball and have a reliever ready to come in.

This one is a no brainer; you make the pitching change, right?

Not according to Joe Torre.

This scenario played out on Thursday night as the Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw entered the fifth inning in good shape, having faced little resistance from the potent Phillies' lineup through his first four innings of work.

In fact, the only hit Kershaw had allowed was a broken bat single and he was maintaining a 1-0 advantage at the beginning of the inning, but youth finally caught up to Kershaw in the decisive fifth frame.

Just three batters later, the one-run lead had morphed into a two-run deficit and things were about to get worse.

Kershaw walked pitcher Cole Hamels on four pitches and it became clear that he had completely lost his focus on the mound. Torre needed to give him the hook at this juncture, but he was too worried about keeping his confidence in the youngster.

"As far as I'm concerned, he's going to have to fight his way out of that, that early in the game," Torre said.

Really?

What about when you yanked veteran Randy Wolf in the middle of the fourth inning of Game One of the Divisional Series against the Cardinals?

Not to mention that Torre is usually known for the ridiculous overuse of his bullpen, so why would he break form at such a critical time?

What really gets me is you just knew that Ryan Howard would be successful in the showdown of power vs. power, yet somehow Torre uncharacteristically rode Kershaw into the ground, and in one fell swoop may have destroyed the Dodgers' hopes at a World Championship.

By overextending Kershaw and losing at home, the Dodgers surrendered home field advantage and are forced to steal a game at Citizen’s Bank Park.

As Kershaw stumbled into the Howard at-bat, Rick Honeycutt had already visited the mound prior to the Carlos Ruiz home run, so there was no way for the youngster to be calmed before facing Howard.

There was just no need to let that at-bat happen.

Torre had already displayed immense confidence by starting Kershaw in Game One, and that misguided confidence was the downfall for the Dodgers on Thursday night.

If he had done the right thing and pulled the cord before the Howard at-bat, the Dodgers could have had the chance to escape the inning trailing only 3-1.

Then, Manny Ramirez’s blast in the bottom of the inning would have been the go-ahead tally and the entire dynamic of the series would have been altered.

Instead, the Dodgers were forced to scrap from behind for the rest of the game and now for the rest of the series.

So, while Raul Ibanez’s eighth inning three-run home run may have been the nail in the coffin, the glaringly obvious misstep by Torre in the fifth inning certainly put the hammer within the Phillies' grasp.

Torre's poor decision could have been due in part to his concern over the batting order for the bottom of the inning, as Kershaw was due up second.

This made Torre reluctant to yank him from the game because he would then have to burn an extra pitcher in the process. Whoever came in for Kershaw would be promptly pinch-hit for in the bottom of the inning, therefore taking away an arm from the bullpen.

But what is he saving an arm for?

Torre had Scott Elbert ready to go in the bullpen, and Kershaw never should have been allowed to pitch to Howard because he was becoming visibly rattled in front of 56,000 fans.

He had just hurled a league championship record of three wild pitches in one inning, and he was one flustered kid out there.

Torre ended up burning through the arm he was trying to save anyway, going to the bullpen before the inning ended by bringing in Ramon Troncoso to get the final out.

He could have limited the already-big inning before it got out of hand, but Torre instilled too much confidence in Kershaw and got caught up in over-managing the game.

The decision seems still more ridiculous because, earlier in the day, the Dodgers added left-hander Elbert to the series roster in favor of right-hander Jeff Weaver just for this type of situation.

Elbert was brought on for long relief roles in favor of Weaver because of the lefty-heavy Phillies’ order.

That means Torre had already planned ahead for this situation and had the chance to avoid the costly double by bringing Elbert into the game, but the lapse of judgment by Torre cost the Dodgers the game.

It surprised me—check that, it amazed me—that a manager as experienced as Torre could make such a simple mistake in a crucial situation.

Now, it’s a long series, but in my opinion, Torre’s errant confidence in Kershaw just may have cost this ball club the National League pennant.