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Tom Lawless leaves pitcher hanging after making double switch

Houston Astros' interim manager Tom Lawless got his first taste of National League ball from the managerial side on Friday night in New York. Lawless spent six of his eight seasons as a player in the NL, but obviously there's a big difference between facing live pitching and planning strategy two or three batters ahead.

Overall, Lawless' night went pretty well. Houston defeated the Mets 3-1 to reach 70 wins for the first time since 2010. However, there was one noticeable bump in the road as Lawless attempted to pull off his first-ever double switch.

It started out innocently enough. With two outs in the fifth inning, Lawless went to home-plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt to inform him that reliever Kevin Chapman would be replacing starting pitcher Brad Peacock, and that Gregorio Petit would be taking over at shortstop for Jonathan Villar while moving into Peacocks' No. 9 spot in the order.

That is the proper method for initiating a double-switch, and once the proper information was dispersed, Petit ran out to take his position. The only problem, rather than next going to the mound to inform his pitcher of the change, Lawless casually strolled back to the dugout. That left Peacock standing awkwardly on the mound, while Chapman was forced to assume that he'd been summoned without Lawless making the official gesture.

It wasn't exactly a smooth impression to leave on Astros' management. After all, Lawless is a candidate to take over the full-time managerial gig. However, he would right his wrong. After realizing his error, Lawless jogged out to take the ball from Peacock and send him on his way properly.

(MLB.TV)
(MLB.TV)

It seemed everyone got a good chuckle out of it, including the umpires. But it was Lawless who laughed last. His big moves ended up paying off for Houston. Petit singled leading off the sixth, which started Houston's decisive three-run rally, while Chapman got a couple big outs and picked up the win.

See, he knew what he was doing all along. Next time he just might need a road map to get from Point A to Point B to Point C.

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Mark Townsend

is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at bigleaguestew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!