BOBBY COX AFFECT

I Respect Bobby Cox to the fullest. He won many games for the Atlanta Braves and had 14 division titles, a wild card berth and World Series Championship - the only one ever in the city of Atlanta. But I have to be real with myself- in my opinion he was not the best postseason manager. If you look at some of his moves over the years he made some head scratchers. A huge reason why the  Yankees had great success in the  late 1990s was because Joe Torre  made great decisions in big situations in games. Of course they had Rivera which helps them alot. But the difference between the Braves only having 1 championship and the Yankees having 4 under Torre was Torre always seemed to  push the right buttoms when making a subsitution as far has hitting changes in the line up  or pinch hitters,and  he always seemed to make great decisions as far as the bullpen went. What relievers to bring up when and where. To me Bobby Cox in the playoffs sucked at that. Even this year game 3 of the 2010 divison round vs the Giants- the Braves were one strike away from winning the game and Cox takes out   Craig Kimbrel ( who is suppost to be the braves closer  in 2011) and brings in a lefty Mike Dunn who gives up a couple hits and blows the lead. I have nothing against Mike Dunn- but if Kimbrel is suppose to be your closer in waiting why the fuck do you pull him out of the game? I was at the game cursing Bobby Cox out in my head as I saw him make his way to the mound to remove Kimbrel and bring in Dunn- I had a bad feeling about the move even before Dunn threw his 1st pitch. Yeh Kimbrel did walk a batter and give up a hit but he wasnt scared, he wasnt caught up in the moment- I truly believe if Cox left Kimbrel in the game the Braves win that game. It was just a horrible decison to take Kimbrel out in that situation and those little moves right there are so huge in the playoffs. Bobby Cox never managed bullpen decisions well in the playoffs especially and thats a huge reason why I think the Braves only won one championship during there years  of dominating.

 Also why did he never encourage the braves to run more? he was a manager that always seemed to sit back and wait on the 3 run homer? That was ok when you had Justice, Mcgriff, Gant and Klesko and all those home run hitters but as the braves lineup slowly dwindled off why did Cox still try to wait for the big swing to win games? If you look at the teams who are winnin today in baseball they play the ABC part of baseball- GET THEM ON, GET THEM OVER AND GET THEM IN. I love that idea and it always blew my mind why the braves were never aggressive in stealing bases. Yeh Furcal stole some but it seems everytime the Braves braught up a guy who had speed or traded for one who had speed- they never used it. The Braves under Bobby Cox seemed to forget how to play small ball. and in the playoffs teams that can excute small ball mostl often win. In the playoffs you cant sit back and wait for the 3 run home run because most playoff games are pitching duels and good pitching isnt goin to give up big home runs alot. thats why alot of playoff scores are 4-3, 3-2, 2-1 type scores.. all 3 games the Braves lost in the 2010 playoffs to the Giants were one run games and low scoring affairs. Boy could we have used some speed and aggressive base stealers in games like those.

 I will miss seeing Bobby Cox at the games because I grew up to him managing the Braves so hes all I know- but in a way I think the braves will be ok without him because he made so many  bonehead choices over the years.I respect fully what Bobby Cox did and accomplished in his time in Atlanta and I will miss him but sometimes changes is good- I hope Freddi Gonzalez can manage pitching changes better and  is more agressive when it comes to manufactoring runs because nowdays thats whats winning championships takes..