Let's just look at the last three games. Wednesday night against Milwaukee. The Brewers are getting call after call off the plate, leading to13 Bucco strikeouts. Hitting coach Don Long began to chirp at the umpires while JR was dosing off in the corner. Why doesn't Russell raise his voice? I'm not asking for temper tantrums like Earl Weaver or Lou Pinella, I'm asking him to stick up for his players. God forbid he ever raise his voice, maybe teams won't get calls a foot off the plate. Why would he do that though? He's only the damn manager.
Then Thursday the Bucs get pasted 20-0. Did one Brewer get knocked down? No, of course not. Why send a message? We only play them 15 more times. You can bet Llyod McClendon wouldn't have let his team get run over without sending a message. What does that say to the ballclub? That their manager is a gutless, quitter.
Even better, Mr. Mumbles as I like to call him could have sent a message in his press conference, but did he raise his voice or call out his team? Of course not. Instead he let everyone know that 20-0 games happen sometimes. Really, JR? The last time I checked, they've only happened like five times in the last 115 years.
You can check out Mr. Mumbles feeble attempt at explaining a 20-0 loss by clicking HERE.
Then tonight, not as bad , but how does he not walk Carlos Lee with first base open? They guy has only killed the Pirates for the last three seasons. Granted he's struggling right now, but I about jumped out of my seat when they pitched to him. That likely ended up costing this team a win.
Pirates fans deserve better than this guy. Granted nobody wants the job with an owner that won't spend money, but the guy is a lousy manager. How many times in three years have his in-game decisions helped the team win a game? Likely, you can count them on one hand.
I have always believed a team takes on the personality of it's manager. There are some teams who's players will run through a wall for their manager. This team has taken on a lazy personna and it starts with Russell. You can bet they would be playing alot harder for a guy like McClendon. He wasn't a bad manager, he just had crap for players. Give him this group and I guarentee they would be much better.
I'm not saying fire Russell and hire McClendon back though. I have a guy in mind that would be a good fit here and that's Phil Garner. They need a guy to come in and say "This isn't the way we play here." They need a guy to light a fire under this team and challenge them until they succeed, Scrap Iron is that guy for me. He's gotten teams to the playoffs and took the Astros to the World Series. Even as a part time fix, a guy like Garner would have this team in much better shape than a guy like JR.
Neil Huntington, make a move and make it soon. I don't think I can take this guy any longer.
