Inside Felipe's Head

Situation: The Giants are beating the Phillies 5-0 at home in the top of the 9th.  Noah Lowry has been cruising through the game (minus the 7th inning).  To start the 9th he strikes out Jimmy Rollins then gets Jason Michaels to fly out to center.  He's thrown 123 pitches when Bobby Abreu walks to the dish.  Lowry goes 2-2 on Abreu before Abreu hits a ground ball behind 2nd base that he beats out for infield single despite a nice play by Omar Vizquel.  Giants manager, Felipe Alou, then has the gall to take out his stellar young pitcher who has thrown a magnificent game.

Can somebody tell me what Alou was thinking?  Why would he take out a pitcher who has been  dominating and rely on one of the worst bullpens in baseball to finish the job?  It's not like this was a 1-run or 2-run game and Lowry was in danger of getting the loss.  San Francisco had a 5-run margin.  If someone hits a grand slam off of Lowry with two outs in the 9th then take him out (yes, that's a slight exaggeration).  But until someone finds a way to hit a 5-run homer then you have to leave him in.  Yes, Felipe, you have to leave him in even with a runner on first and two outs.

I realize that Lowry was close to 130 pitches for the night, but what I also realize is that Lowry struck out Rollins and had Abreu on the ropes in the 9th inning.  He clearly was not tired.  Not to mention the two guys up next went a combined 0 for 5 with two strikeouts against Lowry earlier in the game.  You're telling me he can't end this game within the next two batters?

Alou's decision was an utter disgrace.  He showed a lack of confidence in a young pitcher who did every single thing he could.  (Lowry not only pitched extremely well but he also had a sacrifice bunt and an RBI sacrifice fly.)  Instead Alou trusted a faulty bullpen that would blow a lead to a minor league team.  I've quietly questioned Alou's decision-making all year but this latest gaffe has pushed my patience with him past its limit.  Maybe he should quit worrying so much about a talk show host's flippant generalizations and start worrying more about the game of baseball and how it should be played.