The Unwritten Rule
Grant Brisbee of SB Nation astutely pointed out that while it makes lots of sense for the losing team to save ‘real pitchers’ in lost games – it makes an equal amount of sense for winning teams to do the same. But this just doesn’t happen.
Why? He hypothesizes it has to do with a concern for the feelings of the players on the losing team. It’s just rubbing salt in the wound to throw a position player on the mound if a team is the instigator of a blowout. Even with the sabermetric-led Enlightenment of recent years, baseball remains famous for its sensitivity to shaming and honor.
The Diamondbacks beat the Padres 20-5 on Saturday in a classic position player pitching game. They led 15-4 after just 4 innings and their starter, Robbie Ray, didn’t make it through the 5th. They used 3 relievers – 2 for more than one inning – to get through the final 4.2 meaningless innings.
While it may have hurt the Padres feelings, had they thrown in Jeff Mathis or Daniel Descalso to mop up the 8th and/or 9th – it may have also prevented them from having to do so the next day. There was no need to tax the valuable arm of a professional pitcher with a 15-run lead, it was only good manners. And it may have cost them the game Sunday.