John Maine pitched a game of his life today.

[K-Met57]

i could not be any more happy for this kid....if he can continue to get better no doubt in my mind he would make a great back of the rotation starter for years to come.......

and a very special thank you to the baltimore orioles who wouldnt know a good pitcher if one fell on them.

[FloridaJet]

Yup and Willie almost over managed the game. Stupid taking Hielman out when the first two batters in ninth were right handed who promptly got hits off Wagner......

[JetBidi]

Maine pitched a hell of a game. Congrats to him and thank you. The 6th game magical tradition continues.

Wagner scares the hell outta me. I went from extremely happy to completely flipping out. He better get it together.

[jpoppy7]

Originally Posted by FloridaJet

Yup and Willie almost over managed the game. Stupid taking Hielman out when the first two batters in ninth were right handed who promptly got hits off Wagner......

Willie managed a great game. Knew how long to keep Maine in, let him hit in bottom of fifth and pitch into the 6th but he was starting to get wild, went to Bradford to get the DP. Bradford has been excellent this series, so many big outs. And then going to Mota instead of Feliciano to face Duncan, wasn't by the book but worked. Walking Pujols with 1st base open. And having Tucker and Reyes run in the 7th leading to two runs.
As for brining in Wagner, you have to do that, he's the closer, he pitches the 9th, Wagner is not someone you bring in based on righty/lefty matchups. Unfortunately he hasn't inspired much confidence recently, but he did his job tonight, wasn't comfortable but I don't care as long as he got it done. Wagner hadn't pitched since Fri night so had some rust, better to lose that tonight than tomorrow.
Maine - what more can be said, amazing performance, getting out of trouble in the 1st inning was HUGE, give up runs there and who knows what happens.

[49ersJetsfan]

there was really no need to bring in Wagner at all.

We were up 4 runs, let Heilman just finish it out and save Wagner in case we need a save in game 7 or if Heiman fell apart in the 9th this game. Now Wagner is pretty much shot for tomorrow (regardless of his pitching performance).

[jpoppy7]

Originally Posted by 49ersJetsfan

there was really no need to bring in Wagner at all.

We were up 4 runs, let Heilman just finish it out and save Wagner in case we need a save in game 7 or if Heiman fell apart in the 9th this game. Now Wagner is pretty much shot for tomorrow (regardless of his pitching performance).

To the contrary, Wagner hadn't pitched since Friday, I like his chances of getting it done tomorrow better pitching tonight than if he hadn't pitched at all, got a chance to shake off the rust.
Look, Wagner's sucked recently, but at the end of the day he gets it done more often than not. He's the closer and when you're playing a must win game, you bring him in to start the 9th inning with a 4 run lead.