What the hell was Cecil Cooper thinking?

Cecil Cooper's postgame quote on the subject was: "I don't have a problem with that."

He doesn't have a problem with Hanley Ramirez knocking in a run AFTER the Astros intentionally walked Nick Johnson with a man on second and two out in the sixth to bring up Ramirez? That RBI capped a three-run inning that gave the Marlins a 7-2 lead. What the heck?

I'm not a big fan of second guessing managers. Even when they do something that prompts fans and us in the press box to raise a collective eyebrow, they typically have a darn good reason that's just not abundantly clear. In this situation though, I'm at a loss as to why Cooper would call for the IBB on Johnson with Ramirez and his NL leading .419 average with RISP on deck.

Unless the guys name is Albert Puljos, how do you intentionally walk anyone pitch to H-Ram? I understand that Johnson is a lefty first basemen like you were Coop, but Johnson doesn’t have anywhere near the resume that you did, and even if he did, walking him would still be crazy!

Ramirez figured Cooper just wanted a righty-on-righty match-up. OK, let's look at that...Ramirez is hitting .362 against right-handers compared to Johnson's .280. Sampson is holding right-handers to a .245 average. Lefties are batting 53 points higher off him, but with no homers.

Sampson hadn't faced either Johnson or Ramirez before.

“It was surprising, but I don’t pretend to be the manager," Marlins catcher John Baker said. "Maybe he knows something about the match-up I don’t know. The way Nick has been playing, he probably would have walked anyway.”

No need for the Marlins to ask why. They should just say thank you and move on.

I’m guessing that in today’s game Cooper might walk the pitcher to get to the leadoff hitter……. - Keith A. Baker

Keith A. Baker is a sports agent in Stamford, Connecticut. His goal is to offer a unique insight to the world of sports and Major League Baseball in particular. Comments in his columns are for entertainment purposes only and do not reflect the views and opinions of his firm or his clients.