Sports

Published on Monday, October 27, 2008
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The Rant: Strange Moves


By JERRY BURNES
Last updated on 00/00/0000 at 12:00 a.m.

Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon went old school on the Phillies – real old school.

Maddon may have even dipped beyond the years of 45-year-old Jamie Moyer, when Maddon brought out the five-man infield in Saturday’s World Series Game 3.

This was do-or-die strategy for the Rays. Even though the shift didn’t come into play with a small dribbler down the third base line, it was still a pretty genius move by Maddon.

Of course, if Carlos Ruiz had dropped one into the empty right field, Maddon would have looked like an idiot. But if the Rays had forced ground outs, gotten out of the inning and eventually went on to win the game, well, Maddon would be the toast of baseball.

So here’s to good, old-fashioned ingenuity and actual managing instead of simply changing pitchers and making lineups. That’s what champions are made of.

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