From what I've experienced, the manager hook works fine... Except when a pitcher hasn't given up any runs. I was actually playing a game last night where I gave up 7 runs by the 2nd inning, and the opposing pitcher was shutting me out, although I was putting up a fight and had worked his pitch count to 104 after the 6th inning. Bear in mind, this was an AA game so overall pitcher's stamina is much lower, so he literally had zero stamina going into the 7th. Anyway, he comes back out for the 7th and I promptly get two hits to lead off the inning. There are a couple things wrong with this situation - The first is the starting pitcher coming back out with 100+ pitches in the 7th inning of a blowout. The second is the manager leaving him in not only after the first hit, but the second hit as well, and by that time he had over 115 pitches. My next batter hits a dinger after a seven pitch at-bat, which finally prompts the manager to pull the starter.
The issue here is that If would've scored at least 1 run earlier in the game, the SP would not have seen the 7th inning. The logic when a shutout is in progress is far too strong IMO.
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