Source: NY Daily News
Darling made the point that during his career Harvey hasn’t been effective after throwing 100 pitches, which is why it was time to go to Jeurys Familia.
Part of it, Darling said, is that “young pitchers don’t know how to finish off games because baseball doesn’t let them anymore.”
Harvey had thrown 102 pitches after eight innings.
Darling made some other points:
Once Harvey got to a 3-2 count against Lorenzo Cain leading off the ninth, he made a terrible mistake walking him on a slider.
“In that situation, with a two-run lead,” said Darling, “the only pitch he can throw there is a fastball.”
Darling also thought Harvey “bullied” his way back into the game by walking the length of the dugout to confront Terry Collins.
“I love that Matt wanted to stay in the game,” he said, “but if I’m on the bench (as a teammate), I would have thought that was over the top. You bitch and moan to the pitching coach about it, but the manager has other things going on.”
Also, Darling questioned Collins’ bullpen decisions, in particular sticking with Tyler Clippard and Addison Reed as opposed to using starters Bartolo Colon more in late-inning situations.
Darling made the point that in the post-season, the best managers go with hot hands rather sticking to a role-based formula.
“I thought Colon and Niese were hotter than Reed and Clippard,” he said.