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Okay, it's bad enough that John Henry basically helped fuck over two franchises two winters ago (one still managed to win the World Series a year later, in spite of his best efforts). Now he's just fucked over a third one. Firing Grady Little is the dumbest concept I've heard since, well, since a bunch of Cub fans decided that they lost the playoffs because of a foul ball that was in the stands.
Look, the guy fucked up. He left Pedro in the game for one inning too many. Fine.
But you know what? Almost any other manager, with his future HoF ace on the mound saying that he still had his best stuff, and no contradictions from his top-notch pitching coach, would have done the same thing. If Pedro had pitched out of the inning, no one would have anything bad to say about it, any more than they'd have had anything bad to say about Tom Kelly letting Jack Morris go 10 innings in 1991.
And in the meantime, Little got his team 93 wins last year, and 95 this year. He got a team filled with egos (more than the Yankees and Braves, even) to game 7 of the ALCS. He did this with players like Bill fucking Mueller. Mueller winning the AL batting title caused an actual rift in the space-time continuum, it was that unexpected and improbable. He turned Kevin Millar into a fucking power hitter. He pushed this team, and fucking made them win 95 games.
This is a Steinbrenner-level firing. Then again, Henry is a Steinbrenner-esque owner.
Look, the guy fucked up. He left Pedro in the game for one inning too many. Fine.
But you know what? Almost any other manager, with his future HoF ace on the mound saying that he still had his best stuff, and no contradictions from his top-notch pitching coach, would have done the same thing. If Pedro had pitched out of the inning, no one would have anything bad to say about it, any more than they'd have had anything bad to say about Tom Kelly letting Jack Morris go 10 innings in 1991.
And in the meantime, Little got his team 93 wins last year, and 95 this year. He got a team filled with egos (more than the Yankees and Braves, even) to game 7 of the ALCS. He did this with players like Bill fucking Mueller. Mueller winning the AL batting title caused an actual rift in the space-time continuum, it was that unexpected and improbable. He turned Kevin Millar into a fucking power hitter. He pushed this team, and fucking made them win 95 games.
This is a Steinbrenner-level firing. Then again, Henry is a Steinbrenner-esque owner.
