These Are The Times That Try Managers’ Souls

Every manager understands the prime directive of postseason baseball, which is, "Whatever you do, it's wrong. We'll let you know when." Don Mattingly knows this, having danced the dance for nearly a decade now. In his eagerness to get to the ninth inning Tuesday, the Philadelphia Phillies manager summoned his closer Jhoan Duran to begin the seventh for what could have ended up being the white elephant of a three-inning save. That he never got past two was the wrong part, naturally. After a clean sheet in the seventh, Duran allowed a two-out infield single, a hit batsman, and a 100-mph fastball to pass dangerously within Austin Riley's line of sight, and boom, the manager's an idiot, and the Phillies are a game from elimination. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKoMwf53Xg8

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