</font><blockquote><font class="small">Quote:</font><hr />
Absolutely agreed. I believe that, as significant as a coach/manager is, his impact is still highly overrated.
<hr /></blockquote><font class="post">
Not in this case. The manager should be held accountable when the team is not playing sound fundamental baseball and makes tons of mental errors.
Examples:
Jimenez getting picked off twice in a game.
Olivo running the team out of innings by making the 3rd out at 3rd base, a cardinal sin. That bonehead tried to go 2nd to 3rd on a ground ball to 3rd recently. The 3rd baseman was so surprised he had to pull back his throw to 1st and make a diving tag. Little leaguers do not make such base-running blunders. Piniella would have benched him.
Crede's sissy "excuse me" non-tag on Mientkiewicz in a big game against the Twinks.
And let's not forget the countless times that the Sox have been unable to move the runner from 2nd to 3rd with no outs. Big problem for a team that is having trouble scoring.
You have to wonder what the hell the Sox did in spring training.
And let's not forget Manuel's terrible bullpen management. Sure Koch has struggled some but he is not going to right himself if Jerry keeps putting in Flash Gordon.
I am not a "fire the manager" guy and realize that the manager can't take the field. But I have seen almost every Sox game this year and if there was ever a manager that deserved to be fired it is Jerry Manuel.

When Bill Melton says that this is the worst Sox offense he has ever seen that is saying something. It is not just the slumping bats, it is that they are running themselves out of innings and cannot advance the runner. When you are slumping it is the manager's job to help manufacture runs. And it has become obvious that Manuel is not up to the job.
Comment