In Game 4, Torre lacking in glory

LOS ANGELES - Here's what I believe: The Veterans Committee should vote Joe Torre into the Hall of Fame this winter.

The group has been advised that all of Torre's baseball accomplishments - his long career as a catcher and corner infielder, and a managerial career that produced four World Series titles - should be considered. There's only one conclusion you can draw: Torre belongs in Cooperstown.

But in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series Monday night, Torre didn't manage like a Hall of Famer. He was widely criticized in the Los Angeles area - talk shows, print media - for the manner in which he used his pitching staff.

Derek Lowe, for instance, was pitching on three days' rest. If it were almost any other pitcher, you'd have to baby him, watch him closely, and make sure you weren't injuring him. You don't have to do that with Lowe. He's the only active player in baseball with 10 or more years of service who hasn't been on the disabled list.

Lowe has what you call a rubber arm. He's been a reliever in the past and he can pitch, pitch, pitch. The guy is a physical freak from the standpoint that there may not be a better-conditioned pitcher in the game. Lowe runs up and down the Dodger Stadium steps almost every day.

The point is, even though Lowe was pitching on three days' rest and had a tough first inning in which he surrendered two runs, he settled down and was leading, 3-2, after five innings before being told he was done.

Lowe did not agree with the decision, but Torre went to lefty Clayton Kershaw in the sixth and then Chan Ho Park, who tossed a wild pitch to allow the tying run to score.

Lefty Hong Chih Kuo had it going pretty well, throwing a dominating seventh, but in the eighth, Torre made another curious move, going to rookie righthander Cory Wade, who had pitched two innings in Game 3 the night before.

If anyone was tired, it was Wade, not Lowe, who could still have been pitching at that point. Wade surrendered the tying homer to Shane Victorino, and Torre then brought in his closer, Jonathan Broxton - in the eighth. The first batter, Matt Stairs, took him deep.

"With Derek on short rest, where he was in the 70s pitch count-wise, we were going to send him back out in the inning," said Torre. "We scored big runs in the inning and it became a little longer, and the fact that I was going to bring Kershaw and I just felt better with starting an inning clean with him as opposed to maybe getting in a little trouble if that was going to be the case and bring him in. I knew that was going to be his last inning.

"We got through that one, and then we had it where we wanted it anyway. We had a two-run lead. You had Kuo pitching the seventh and he was obviously electric, the way he pitched the seventh. He went out for the eighth, I watched his first three warm-up pitches and they just looked like he had a tough time getting loose. And then I watched him pitch to [Ryan] Howard. But I don't think the ball was coming out of his hand as easy, and that's why I removed him in that part of the game."

If Kuo had retired Howard, Torre said, he would have left him in for another batter, but he had "no problem" going with Wade.

Torre didn't back off the moves yesterday. He stuck by his decision-making process.

"Yeah, you wish the result was different," he said. "And if we all know results, we certainly say, yeah, maybe I should have done that and done this.

"But with what I had at hand and knowing what I wanted to do, the only thing I'd like to change is the result. I mean, when I think of getting - I have a two-run lead in the seventh inning, and the game's in my court and then the winning home run is hit off my closer, I don't know what I could say to myself that would change what I would do, to be honest with you."

Torre is correct; he had the right people in the game at the end, and they did not do the job. But did he have the right people in the middle?

In a game so important, Lowe should have been allowed to stay in until he actually felt tired. Lowe said after the game that his arm was strong, that he had his legs underneath him. He wanted to keep pitching.

Down in the series, three games to one, Torre gave his team the day off yesterday, opting for a mental health day instead.

"I just thought getting away from it would probably benefit them more than anything else," he said.

Maybe Torre should have done the same.

A legend like him tends to get the benefit of the doubt. He did for a long time in New York, but over the past few seasons, he heard more second-guessing, even from his own boss, Hank Steinbrenner.

Torre is one of the greatest managers at calming his team and knowing the pulse of his players in the clubhouse. But his game strategy is fodder for second-guessers. And this latest one will haunt Torre if he can't lead his Dodgers back from the two-game deficit.

There was excitement in Los Angeles when Torre was named to replace Grady Little. Then there was disappointment for most of the first half of the season as the team fizzled, especially free agent bust Andruw Jones. But the Dodgers did something about it, infusing great energy with Casey Blake and then Manny Ramírez.

The Dodgers know the Ramírez window is potentially small, since he can become a free agent after the season, so they have to win with him now if they can.

If they don't win and they can't re-sign Ramírez, there will be no shortage of anger at Torre, general manager Ned Colletti, and owner Frank McCourt.

This is their chance. But we're afraid the window might have closed, which would be a tough thing for a future Hall of Fame manager to have to chew on this winter after just one season with the team.

Nick Cafardo can be reached at cafardo@globe.com