Joe Girardi will probably have to double, triple, maybe even quadruple check his lineup cards from here on out.
Last night, the Phillies manager made a mistake you don’t see too often — bringing a player into a game who is not on the gameday roster!
In the top of the seventh, Enyel De Los Santos trotted out of the pen to replace Aaron Nola. De Los Santos was called up just hours before the game and, apparently, was not on the umpires’ lineup card — meaning he can’t enter the game.
Welp.
Instead, David Hale came out of the pen. Luckily, the Phillies found a way to hold off the Brewers for a 6-5 win.
So how the hell does this even happen? Girardi said he submits his lineup to MLB every day and didn’t notice the new team addition was not on the automated lineup card.
“Ultimately it falls on me because I didn’t catch it,” said Girardi, who once was named manager of the year back in 2006 leading the Marlins (and was subsequently fired).
MLB has a new way of submitting game rosters this year. Teams used to manually submit lineup cards to umpires before every game. Now, automated lineups go to the MLB then the umps.
“We made the move and that goes through Major League Baseball,” Girardi continued. “But it’s ultimately my fault and I’m livid with myself.” The Phillies and Brewers both had De Los Santos on their cards… but the umps didn’t.
But Girardi is not alone when it comes to somehow screwing up the lineup. The opposing manager at Citizens Bank Park knows how that feels, too.
Brewers manager Craig Counsell took heat for almost the exact same roster issue a few weeks ago. That mix-up delayed Angel Perdomo’s 2021 debut.
“Honestly, I kind of thought that the system needed to change a little bit because, you know, we actually had the correct card but somehow the umpires didn’t,” Counsell said after last night’s game. “It seems like there’s a better system that probably could be put in place.”
Probably. Until then, Girardi and Counsell will try not to make the same mistake twice.
“It’s no excuse” Girardi concluded, “you know, just stupid on my part.”
Yep.