By ,
Published January 13, 2015
Philadelphia, PA (SportsNetwork.com) - This World Series has definitely been fun to watch, but being lost in all the drama is just how bad some of the decision making has been.
Even before St. Louis' Kolten Wong was picked off at first to end Sunday's Game 4, this has been one of the sloppier World Series in recent memory.
But, Wong's far from alone in the bad baseball department.
In fact, he's been trumped by the two men most important in making decisions in this World Series.
We are starting to see why people in Toronto weren't all that concerned when John Farrell bolted the Blue Jays to take over the Boston Red Sox.
Farrell is going to be named American League Manager of the Year and he was the driving force behind the Red Sox's improbable worst-to-first turnaround, but this series won't be on his personal highlight reel.
How he let Brandon Workman hit in the ninth inning in Game 3 against Trevor Rosenthal with Mike Napoli still on the bench and Koji Uehara ready to go for the ninth will go down as one of the dumbest moves in the history of the World Series.
Yes, that's how bad it was. Workman had never even had an official at-bat, and Napoli drove in 92 runs this past season. Bobby Valentine could have even made that call.
By the way, it's utterly ridiculous the Red Sox were even in that position. But this is not a day to debate the designated hitter. Although, something tells me that day is coming.
Farrell tried to get cute on Sunday and throw John Lackey in the eighth inning. John Lackey? Luckily it worked out for him. He got three outs and was able to get the ball to Uehara, but, really, John Lackey?
Did I miss something? Lackey has had a nice postseason, but he hasn't exactly been Randy Johnson or Pedro Martinez, either. That move could easily have blown up in Farrell's face, especially since a big reason they are even in this position is because of their bullpen!
Just because the move worked out doesn't mean it was right.
Then there's St. Louis skipper Mike Matheny, who seems to have no idea what to do with the unbelievably hot David Ortiz. He pitches to him, Ortiz gets a hit. He walks him, Jonny Gomes makes him pay.
It's hard to blame Matheny, Ortiz is hitting .727 this series. I'll be stunned if he sees anything to hit from here on out. I'd walk him with the bases loaded to minimize the damage. He's been that good.
Ortiz has only made out three times in this series. And one of those outs should have been a grand slam had it not been for Carlos Beltran.
Matheny, though, did bring in double play machine Seth Maness to pitch to Gomes, and, of course, that backfired. In his defense, had he left Lance Lynn in to face Gomes and the outcome had been the same, Matheny would be getting killed for that. He was in a no-win situation.
Farrell seems to be getting away with some of his mistakes, whereas Matheny is seemingly making the right call, but it has been blowing up in his face. It just goes to show you that sometimes managers get too much credit when things go well and they take too much blame when things go wrong.
But, hey, as bad a series the skippers may be having, the two teams are all square with three games to play, despite neither team hitting above .235. The Red Sox are only batting .189, and that's with Ortiz going 8-for-11.
Really, though, how can Wong get himself picked off to end the game? The only reason Wong is on this roster is to play a little defense and run the bases. And with Beltran at the plate, he wasn't even going to be running. Yet he still got picked off.
Unbelievable.
As crazy an ending as that was, it'll never top the way Game 3 ended. But still, as exciting as that walk off obstruction call was, it was a play that never would have happened had Jarrod Saltalamacchia not thrown the ball into left field.
Actually, he shouldn't have thrown the ball period.
That kind of sloppy play has come to define this series. In San Francisco's four-game sweep of the Detroit Tigers in last year's Fall Classic, there were two errors in the whole series.
This year? Well, the teams have combined for 11.
And these were without a doubt the two best teams in baseball.
So let's not get this twisted. Yes, this has been an entertaining series to watch from a fan's standpoint. But is it an all-time great baseball series?
Please, stop.
https://www.foxnews.com/sports/rounding-third-yes-its-been-a-great-series-but