sports: I started contemplating this article around this time last week. I decided to hold off on it until the weekend in pro sports played itself out, and I couldn't be more glad that I did. Last weekend saw one cities sports hopes fall and the rise in such an intense way centered around two different teams in two different sports. That city was Washington D.C. Never have I seen such drama centered around teams from different sports in one city that were seemingly so greatly impacted by the young centerpieces of those teams and the injuries they have suffered. Also seeing them handled by their respective organizations in such diametrically opposed results that were equally puzzling was fascinating.
On Friday night the Nationals played game five of the divisional series at home. After jumping out to a 6-0 lead early, that lead slowly faded. Then, down 7-5 in the ninth inning, the Cardinals made that lead disappear and ended up winning the game 9-7. It was a remarkable comeback by St. Louis. But the questions after the game surround the Nationals. They surround their benched ace Stephen Strasburg. It has been well documented now that the Nationals shelved their ace in early September after giving him an innings limit for the year to keep his arm healthy coming off of Tommy John surgery. They did this in order to ensure that Strasburg would be able to be their ace well into the future on the kind of quality team that Washington had this year. It was said best in a podcast on the Grantland Network that baseball is "iterate". Everything is cause and effect. This is not to say that the Nationals lost because they benched Strasburg, but to say that you can draw a cause and effect line from that decision to the end of their season. The decision is made back in April to put this innings count the young ace. He pitches healthily and brilliantly through the first nine months of the season leading the Nats to the best record in baseball only to be shelved. The team then has to reorder their starting rotation. Gio Gonzalez, who is one on of the leading Cy Young candidates in the National League is now moved up to the pressured filled scenario of being an ace instead of his cozy lived in home as the best number two starter in baseball. That pressure is put to the ultimate test in the playoffs where he loses the first game of the series and is off the hook for the second loss as he allowed the team to begin to squander their huge lead to a Cardinals team that has been as resilient as any in all of sports over the past two years(especially in the playoffs; ie: the 2011 World Series game six). One can argue over the wisdom of benching Strasburg to preserve him for the future, but two things are certain. One is that the Nationals organization did exactly what people thought they had done, which was to hurt their legitimate opportunity for greatness in the present for an opportunity at greatness in a very uncertain future where they hope to return to this moment many times with Strasburg as their ace - world championships are too hard to project. The other thing we know is that they mismanaged Strasburg. Research done for Baseball Prospectus has shown that innings counts have little effect on pitchers. What they need limited are pitch counts. Detrimental injuries to starting pitchers have greatly reduced over the past ten years as opposed to the previous ten due to pitch counts being implemented as a standard of managing. Typically, starting pitchers want to average no more than 110 pitches per game based on the research available. According to baseball-reference.com, Strasburg only threw more than 110 pitches in a game once. In that game he threw 112 . Limiting him was certainly the right idea, but based on the information available, the Nationals organization chose to limit him based on the wrong parameters
The other D.C. team in the headlines this weekend was the Redskins. After coming off of a loss in which Robert Griffin III was concussed against the Atlanta Falcons, the Skins were now facing the Minnesota Twins, who much to most peoples surprise seem to be much better than was thought. Despite the NFL's emphasis on head injuries and the unbelievably huge investment Dan Snyder, the owner of the Redskins made in Griffin (which you can read my feelings about here: http://robpoppost.blogspot.com/2012/03/rgiii-and-skins.html), he was allowed to play without a single weeks rest. Griffin played brilliantly He passed for over 300 years. He had an eighty yard touchdown run that is being called the best play for the Redskins in the past twenty years. He never took more than a minor hit, let alone anyone coming near his head. And he won. Thanks to Griffin, by the end of the weekend, the city of Washington D.C. and its sports fans went from sorrow to elation. And in the process no one questioned the reckless nature of this team that won. Dan Snyder put this young man out there with no time off after being concussed and asked him to win a week six game in early October in his rookie season. He did this with seemingly no consideration for the player of which this was asked or of the franchise he was asking him to do this for. After giving up five draft picks in the first two rounds of upcoming drafts plus the swap of this past drafts first round picks with the Rams, giving his team a hard road to build around Griffin, he then asked this coveted player to go out and play in a game that won't be remembered with a head injury that is currently costing the NFL millions in lawsuits.
I don't think could have imagined a more unique weekend for a city in sports; where a cities sporting opportunities seemed to revolve around the injuries of young star players and the decisions on how to handle them by their owners. The amazing thing is how they were handled and their results. The Nationals erred on the side of caution, though in a misguided way, and were rewarded with heartbreaking loss. The Redskins, on the other hand, acted in a cavalier, if not reckless manor, and were rewarded with a win and performance from their young star that brought the downtrodden hearts of that baseball loss back to joy and hope for their cities sports.
One can only wonder how these decisions will effect the long term plans of these franchises. The Nationals are young enough and good enough to do good on the promise of having someone as great as Strasburg as their ace for years to come. The Redskins could continue to see Griffin break tackles for blazing touchdown runs and throw from the pocket with laser accuracy. But if both teams continue to act in the manner they have, we just may never see that moment.
No comments:
Post a Comment