Jack Morris was a lot of things over his 18-year career in the majors, the bulk of which came in Detroit. Talented. Hot-tempered. Tough. But most of all he was competitive. Morris eclipsed 200 innings in 11 different seasons. (He nearly threw 300 in 1983.) He recorded at least one complete game in every season except one, and 175 overall.
And that's not counting the playoffs. Morris threw two complete games for the Tigers in the 1984 World Series, back before number of pitches was an official stat. He booked himself for Cooperstown when he took the mound for the Twins in Game 7 of the 1991 World Series -- on short rest, at age 36 -- and fired 126 pitches in a 10-inning shutout.
So you can imagine what Morris was thinking, exactly 29 years after his signature performance, when Rays manager Kevin Cash yanked Blake Snell in the sixth inning of an October masterpiece and ultimately cost the Rays the game and a shot at their first World Series title. Snell had thrown just 73 pitches and surrendered two hits when his manager called on the bullpen.
“Blake Snell was throwing better tonight than anyone I’ve ever seen in the World Series. These analytics guys we have now think numbers are more important than having an ace at his best on the hill," Morris told longtime Star-Tribune sportswriter Patrick Reusse.
Morris said he can only imagine what he would have done had former Twins manager Tom Kelly tried to take him off the mound in 1991.
“I don’t know what would’ve happened. It wouldn’t have good; it might’ve been real bad," Morris said.
It wasn't just that Snell was cruising, as Morris and many others pointed out. It was that the next three batters in the Dodgers' order, including two lefties, hadn't even touched him: six at-bats, six strikeouts.
Cash went to the bullpen anyway, and Mookie Betts hit a double on the third pitch he saw to spark the Dodgers' rally.
"We keep seeing it," Morris said. "But taking out a guy who already had struck out Mookie twice ... this was unbelievable for me."
Morris was a trending name on Twitter Tuesday night as the sports world reacted to one of the biggest managerial blunders in World Series history.