More Proof of Jerry Manuel's Ineptitude

As if there weren't enough proof out there already, let's look at Jerry's big move of the night.

With one out in the 8th and a man on second (pitcher Adam Wainwright hit a double off Toni Stoner), Jerry brought in Pedro Feliciano to face a lefty, Skip Schumaker.

Tony Larussa countered with switch-hitting Felipe Lopez, who battled before striking out.

This brought up righthanded hitting Ryan Ludwick and Jerry's big decision.

Now most managers would have all of the numbers at their disposal to make the choice:  do I leave Feliciano in, or do I bring in a righty?

And what exactly are those numbers?

For his career Ludwick bats .286 against righthanders and .241 against lefthanders.  Now that's interesting, but wait, there's more.

In 2010 Ludwick is hitting .235 against lefty's...yup, 4 for 17...he has a .278 OBP against them.

Against righty's?  A solid .296...8 for 27 with a .345 OBP.

It would appear to be a simple decision--keep Feliciano in the game.

Jerry's call?  Bring in the righty.

This is very typical of the problem with Jerry Manuel...he only thinks in terms of righty vs righty and lefty vs lefty.  He doesn't appear to have the capacity to think past the basic left-right matchup to use statistics and pure fact.

We see this when he constructs his lineup...he desperately pencils in names to go lefty, righty, lefty, right regardless of starting pitcher vs player tendencies, actual performance, and historical matchup.

Look, I beat up on Jerry as much as the next guy, but when the numbers give you an advantage, you take them.

In this case the numbers clearly favored keeping in Feliciano, but as we know, Jerry is not a "numbers guy".

So we wind up with another Mets loss, and another pin for the voodoo doll.