Jim Tracy
By Joe Starkey
PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, April 27, 2007
Some managers would have blindly backed their hand-picked closer and left him out there. Others might have stayed put for fear of damaging the pitcher's confidence.
Jim Tracy did otherwise.
Tracy put aside everything but the will to win -- and to do it by any means necessary -- Thursday when, for the second consecutive game, he pulled Salomon Torres in the middle of the ninth inning.
No, Torres isn't finished as the Pirates' closer, but it might be time to re-define his role as something like this: starting closer.
Which is to say, Tracy won't hesitate to make that ninth-inning walk again.
"We'll do what's necessary to win the game," Tracy said, after John Grabow cleaned up a big Torres mess to save a 5-3 victory over the Houston Astros and complete a three-game sweep.
Grabow, coming off an injury rehab assignment in the minors, wasn't even supposed to pitch yesterday because he had relieved the 35-year-old Torres the night before.
Torres had never begun a season as a closer and doesn't look like a great bet to finish the year there. He might not finish April, the way he's going.
In his past seven appearances, Torres' line looks like this: blown save, loss (on a ninth-inning home run), save, blown save, save, blown save and really, really close to a blown save.
The Pirates entered the ninth with a 5-1 lead yesterday.
Torres retired the first batter before he went 3-0 on Chris Burke and walked him. Mark Loretta singled, and Lance Berkman walked to load the bases.
Salomon Torres
After Carlos Lee's sacrifice fly, Tracy took the ball, so Grabow could face lefty Mike Lamb, who singled in a run.
After walking Morgan Ensberg to put the go-ahead run at first, Grabow induced Adam Everett to ground into a fielder's choice to end the game.
Torres left PNC Park without speaking to reporters.
Tracy didn't sugarcoat Torres' recent problems, saying the pitcher has failed to attack hitters aggressively. Tracy also said a "conversation is necessary" with Torres and that the recent problems could be attributed to over-thinking and flawed mechanics.
Torres' three blown saves led the league heading into last night's games and were three more than Mike Gonzalez had all of last season. Should Tracy decide to pull the plug on the Torres experiment, the Pirates have an enticing option in Matt Capps.
"I think there's a little bit mechanically that (Torres) needs to put in place because his pitches are not sharp right now," Tracy said.
When asked if it's fair to say the Pirates are officially in closer-by-committee mode, Tracy reiterated that he would do whatever it takes to win but added, "To suggest that I'm taking something away from (Torres), I'm not doing that, OK? I'm not doing that. Not right now. He'll get it straightened out."
There's some evidence to support that notion.
Torres, after all, converted 12-of-13 save opportunities when Gonzalez was hurt late last season. And in Wednesday's game, he was more a victim of bad luck than anything else.
On the other hand, there's a big difference between closing games for a team that is light years out of contention and one that still has hope in April and is playing games that matter.
"We've seen (Torres close well) before," Tracy said. "We saw it for five weeks last year, and it was awesome. That same guy is still wearing that uniform."
That might be the problem.
Torres doesn't deserve a complete demotion just yet. A partial one already has occurred.
Joe Starkey is a sports writer for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. He can be reached at jstarkey@tribweb.com
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