Belated Thoughts On Washington's Game 1 PH Decisions

With two on and one out in the 7th inning of Game 1 of the Series, Tony La Russa removed reliever Fernando Salas so LHP Marc Rzepczynski could pitch to lefty David Murphy. Ron Washington pulled the veteran for relatively untested righty Craig Gentry. After Gentry struck out, Washington replaced the pitcher with righty Esteban German instead of veteran righty Yorvit Torrealba, one of three catchers on the roster. German struck out in an especially foolish manner on three pitches.Fan and media reaction to both moves was mixed at best. Some wanted Murphy to bat despite the wrong-handedness of the matchup. For example:Most were baffled at German's appearance. German has anchored Texas's AAA squad during the past three seasons but has 79 MLB plate appearances in that span and had never swung a bat in the postseason. Based on my scan of the Twitterverse, many fans see him a defensive specialist, which actually couldn't be father from the truth. While nominally capable of playi...