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And then, Hillman came out. I told him that I just wanted to know what goes through a manager’s mind in a moment like that. He was not happy with the question.
“I thought you wanted to ask me something else,” he said. “I didn’t know these were game questions.”
Well, I have to admit, that baffled me. I’m not sure if he thought I wanted to ask parenting advice or if he had a pick for the Masters. But anyway, I told him that I just wanted to explain to fans who were certainly baffled why he would pitch Farnsworth there.
“I don’t try to guess what fans think,” he said. I felt bad — I was really just trying to get him to explain why he pitched Farnsworth there, a reason with a little more bite than, “He was throwing strikes.” I was really not trying to trap him: Heck, this is only the first game in a long season. The Royals showed a lot of good signs. They really should be much improved.
“My thought process is you never really know what a relief pitcher is going to give you, especially on the first day,” Hillman said. He explained that’s why he had Juan Cruz and Mahay warming up while Farnsworth pitched. He just wanted to be sure Farnsworth was not wild. Once Hillman determined that Farnsworth was not wild, Cruz and Mahay sat down.
“Did you think about going with a lefty since Thome doesn’t hit lefties nearly as well?” I asked.
“Ron Mahay is not a lefty specialist,” he repeated. “He’s really more effective in the sixth and seventh innings.”
He paused: “I believe in Kyle Fansworth. This time, he got the pitch up. But I believe in him to get the out in that situation.”
I thanked him for the extra explanation. Look: A baseball manager has a hundred decisions to make every game, and he knows countless things about the team that the rest of us don’t know. No, I didn’t think that it made much sense to have Farnsworth pitch to Thome — you probably don’t either — but at the end of the day, we might want to listen to the wisdom of White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen, who was asked why he thought Hillman pitched Farnsworth there.
Guillen said: “I’m not the manager of the Kansas City Royals. Everybody has their way to do it. It’s not fair for me to judge anyone else.”
To reach Joe Posnanski, call 816-234-4361 or send e-mail to jposnanski@kcstar.com. For previous columns, go to KansasCity.com.
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