Rather than interpret what manager Willie Randolph had to say about not pulling Oliver Perez for a pinch hitter with the bases loaded in the sixth inning on Friday, I'll just give you the lengthy explanation he provided earlier today.
"I take it to individuals. I break it down to Oliver and dealing with him," Randolph said. "And yeah, part of how I coach and how I manage is not to concern myself with all this second guessing and ----. Just doing what I feel is best for the long term wealth of him, the team, and winning the game. When you challenge kids to do a job for you and go out and pitch hard for you, you don’t want them to feel like they go out there and leave their guts out there and you are going to pull the rug out from them because you’re worried about a run or two.
"I have confidence in my team totally overall. Last night we had opportunities. It’s funny, in that situation I was just hoping he would strike out or hit a fly ball, so I’d have Jose [Reyes] up there with the bases loaded, one of my best hitters. You put a pinch-hitter in there, he might pop up to the shortstop, you know, and Jose might still strikeout. And you take a pitcher out of the game who leaves it feeling like, 'I had a chance to win this game. Maybe the manager didn’t have confidence in me.’ I don’t want him to feel like I don’t have confidence in him. That’s what it’s all about with guys like him -- confidence. The team is doing pretty well. We’re not going to win all our games obviously. I feel like it was a big game for him to win after the last outing, feed off that a little bit, keep the momentum going. Outside of the one bad pitch he made in the first inning I thought he did a hell of a job for us and I wanted to show him I appreciate that, try to get him the win."