The SD Padres have been in the playoffs 5 times in their
NL history, and 4 times the manager was Bruce Bochy.

The players like him... there is almost never turmoil in his
club houses ....he rarely directs the spotlight on himself.

For my money, 2006 was his best job ever .... How he
got a winning record, never mind win the West, with
this merely OK roster is more than I can understand.

Is he perfect? No. He drives me crazy pitching to
Bonds and Pujols. Dick Williams remains my favorite
all-time SD skipper...

But Bochy IS very solid and reliable. His successor
here would almost certainly be a downgrade from his
high standards.

YOUR thoughts?


Hoover

Hoover wrote:

I concur. Bochy didn't lose these playoff games for us, and I
completely agree on nearly every coaching decision he makes. He's a
smart guy, and we could only do worse.

"Hoover" <Hoover@cst.com> wrote in message
news:ji9oi2pqu95fhaefp03jf9sm02upuios8l@4ax.com...

While he has his faults (for one thing, this team has been horrible on
fundamentals for years) he has several good points in his favor.
He does handle the pitching staff well... not overworking the young
pitchers, while allowing the veterans who have proved they can handle the
load to go longer so as not to overwork the bullpen. His tendency to use set
roles in the bullpen is generally a positive, although some of the moves had
me scratching my head.
He does keep the team/clubhouse on an even keel. There have been several
players with reputations as "problems" that thrived here... Rickey
Henderson, for one, never had any problems with either teammates or
management during his tenure here. While it would be nice to see a little
more emotion out of him on occasion, a team that plays totally on emotion is
going to be erratic as hell. I'd rather have the cool-headed approach.

And if he did leave, who would the replacement be?
I'd want to know what we're getting before I dump what's been relatively
successful in the past.