Girardi overmanages his way to a Game Three loss
By Mike AxisaI wrote about the similarities between the ALDS and the ALCS in this afternoon’s game thread, and those similarities continued today. The Yankees won both Game Ones thanks to CC Sabathia’s dominance, then prevailed in extras in both Game Twos thanks to Alex Rodriguez’s homerun heroics. Game Three against the Angels played out similar to Game Three against the Twins, in that the Yanks relied on the long ball and the work of their pitching staff to stay in the game.
The game started off about as well the Yankees could have asked it too. Jered Weaver’s first two pitches to leadoff hitter Derek Jeter were off the plate away, but the third was a 2-0 fastball right in the Captain’s wheelhouse. Jeter pulled the ball into the leftfield seats – something we don’t see him do often – for a quick 1-0 lead. Hideki Matsui started off the second with nine-pitch at-bat resulting in a single to right, and Jorge Posada followed that up with a six-pitch walk. Robbie Cano, not exactly a guy with a nose for RBI spots, bounced a double play ball but beat out the throw. Nick Swisher followed by flying out to left, but not deep enough to score the run. Melky Cabrera grounded out weakly to second to end the threat. An eerily similar rally played out in the fourth, when the 7-8-9 hitters again couldn’t bring Matsui and/or Posada in with no out. Weaver was at 79 pitches after just four innings, but he did a good job wiggling out of jams.
Yankee pitchers were able to avoid the long ball in their first five playoff games, but Pettitte wasn’t able to extend the streak this afternoon. After the amazing Alex Rodriguez and Johnny Damon chipped in solo homers to give the Yanks a three run lead, Howie Kendrick took Pettitte deep in the fifth to cut the Yanks lead to two. Just an inning later Vlad Guerrero broke out of his postseason slump in a big way, drilling Andy’s two-strike pitch deep into left, almost to the exact same spot Kendrick hit his. The problem with Vladdy’s homer is that Bobby Abreu picked up his first hit of a series two batters earlier, so it was a two-run shot that tied the game at three.
Andy’s final line was damn close to what I predicted in this afternoon’s chat, seven hits and three runs in six and third innings of work. He’s wasn’t great, allowing at least one hit in every full inning he pitched, but on most nights it would have been good enough to win. Pettitte gave way to Joba Chamberlain, who was greeted rather rudely when Kendrick launched his first pitch off the right field wall for a triple. Two pitches later the Angels had the lead on a Maicer Izturis sac fly. Joba would go on to give up a double to Erick Aybar, but Damaso Marte came in to retire Chone Figgins on one pitch to kill the rally.
Like they’ve done so many times this postseason, the Yankees came right back and answered immediately after the opponent scored. Matsui worked his second walk of the game to leadoff the eighth, and was immediately replaced by pinch runner Brett Gardner. Unlike Game Two, when Gardner pinch ran but never did the running part, he took off for second but was gunned down on a pitch out. Posada picked up Gardner by homering to dead center – the Yanks fourth jack of the game – to knot the game up at four. Another battle of the bullpens was in place, and any Yankee fan would take it.
After Marte reached his pitch count of one, Phil Coke came in to face Abreu, the first of two questionable pitching moves. Abreu doubled to dead center but the Yanks caught a break when he got too greedy and was caught wandering too far off second. The Yanks caught another break in a postseason that has been full of them, however they never seemed to be able to get that big hit in this game.
The score remained tied into the 10th, when Phil Hughes, entering his second full inning of work, served up a leadoff double to backup catcher Jeff Mathis and was immediately lifted for the Hammer of God. Erick Aybar attempted to give himself up to move the runner to third, but Mo fielded the ball and flung it towards third to get the lead runner, except the ball ended up in left. Instead of a runner on third with one out, the Angels had runners on the corner with zero away.
Every Yankee fan feels comfortable when Mariano is on the mound, but I admit I had already accepted this game as a loss at this point. Instead, Mo did exactly what he does best – he bailed the Yankees out. Figgins grounded the first, and Tex touched the bag for the first out after looking the runner back to third. After an intentional walk to Abreu to load the bases and put the force at any base, Torii Hunter dug himself into a hole and tapped another grounder to first. Tex fielded and threw home for the force, although no return throw was made and the Angels still had the bases juiced for Vlad, who homered earlier.
At this point, I had shifted from accepting defeat to holding out hope that somehow Mo could escape the jam. His first pitch to Vlad was inside for a ball, and the second was fouled off for strike one. The third pitch, a nasty cutter down and away, was grounded weakly to Tex, who scooped it up and raced to the bag for the third out. The Yanks had a second lease on life, but it would be short lived.
With the score still tied in the 11th, Girardi turned to David Robertson, who made quick work of Juan Rivera and Kendry Morales. On a night when he already replace a lefty specialist who had thrown all of one pitch with another lefty specialist, Girardi got cute and took out K-Rob in favor of Al Aceves. Inevitably, Kendrick picked up a hit anyway, and two pitches later Mathis lined a double into the gap for the win. The Yanks lost for the first time this postseason, on a pitching move that was never necessary in the first place.
In the end, the Yankees inability to hit with runners in scoring position was every bit the goat as Girardi’s overmanaging. They went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position as a team, and the bottom three hitters in the order were a particularly dreadful 0-for-7. They had chances in the 2nd, 4th, and 8th innings, but didn’t bring anyone home. That said, the game of baseball just isn’t as hard as Joe Girardi makes it.
The Yankees still lead the best-of-seven series 2-1, and are still sending CC Sabathia to the mound tomorrow. Things could certainly be worse.
Any thoughts on letting Rivera stand there and take an out instead of putting Cervelli in? Granted, in hindsight, Cervelli resulted in a strikeout anyways, but when they put him in I was wondering if there was any consideration to conceding the inning and letting Rivera try and pitch the next one, with the heart of the Yankee order coming up.
Apologies ahead of time if that sounds stupid, I was just wondering that was plausible/logical, or if you always go with a batter in that situation because you “never know what’s going to happen.”
very plausible in my opinion.
Absolutely…Cervelli wasn’t going to do squat against that right-hander.
Had we scored before Mariano’s spot, he would have let Mariano hit and pitch the bottom half
Here’s why I don’t think you do that:
If Rivera pitches the 11th, the best he can do is preserve the tie, which means that someone else is going to have to close the game anyway. On top of that, you probably (definitely) can’t pitch Rivera tomorrow night because of the innings today.
At least, in this situation, Rivera can pitch in Game 4 (I assume). I know it’s not much of a consolation, but if the situation arises, we’ll be glad he’s there.
That makes sense, but I think at that point you throw Rivera out there and get the win today if you can. I wouldn’t have pushed him more than two innings, though. Robertson also did a fine job, so I share everyone’s frustration with Girardi over-managing there.
I just thought that, with the heart of the Yankee order coming up (theoretically), you take a chance with Rivera and let A-Rod take a shot…
Alas, my lucky cap that ensured Yankees wins in the playoffs is now no longer lucky (apparently), and I’ll be in a grad seminar tomorrow night during the game. Fail.
The problem is Rivera may be needed tomorrow night so Girardi was painted into a corner. The ridiculous decision was removing Robertson for Aceves (I have very little confidence in Aceves).
I think it is time to make the bridge to Mo- Robertson and Hughes. How has Joba earned that spot… his shaky pitching thus far finally came back to bite him.
i agree – JOBA HAS BECOME USELESS AS A STARTER AND RELIEVER. I GUESS HE ALSO THINKS HE’S EARNED THE RIGHT TO PUSH THE NO BEARD RULE (SOUL PATCH). ANYONE ELSE SEE JERE”ME”Y SHOCKEY ALL OVER AGAIN !!!
I agree. I wanted Mo to hit and (I swear) I said it at the time. I bet the WPA from letting Cervelli hit (who has little power) with two outs needing another hit from Tex who hasn’t hit at all over Mo hitting, is less than the WPA lost from losing Mo for a full inning. Even if Mo makes out there, odds are he gets through the eleventh allowing the Yanks to send 3-4-5 out in the top of the next inning. I understand the “at best Mo can preserve the tie argument,” but I think letting Mo preserve the tie was a better strategy then trying to get two or three things to go correctly to win immediately. And hey, you never know – Mo had some good swings in Atlanta this year.
What bugs me is that the Yanks haven’t gotten a hit with RISP since the 6th inning of Game 1. You can’t expect to win playoff games like that. Hopefully they turn that around starting tomorrow.
Exactly, a few timely hits and we’re not fussin with this extra innings bullshit.
And today we didn’t even need a hit, just a sac fly, and we blew 2 opportunities for that
Agreed. Some of the Yankees really have to come up bigger at the plate. Teixiera’s defense is stellar, but he’s come up empty this LCS at the plate…Melky has looked lost, Swisher and Cano are confuzzled. It’s hard to overlook this with Jeter, A-Rod, Matsui, and even Damon coming on of late, but it needs to change ASAP.
Girardi has got to get control of himself before he overmanages the Yankees right out of the postseason. Molina for Posada when AJ pitches, fine. If he wants to start Gardner over Melky for a game, fine. He manages the pitching staff like this is an all star game (everybody has to get into the game). In the bottom ofthe 11th we were left with one viable pitcher in the pen (after Andy went 6and a third). Makes no sense.
Totally agree.
PITCHING AND DEFENSE WINS GAMES – REPLACING YOUR BEST ARM IN THE OUTFIELD WITH A PINCH RUNNER THAT DOESN’T RUN MOST OF THE TIME AND GETS CAUGHT WHEN HE DOES MAKES NO SENSE EVEN THOUGH MELKY’S NOT HITTING. IF THERE WAS A BETTER OPTION MAYBE BUT GARDIE IS ANOTHER WEAK ARM AND WEAK BAT. YOU CANT STEAL FIRST BASE. YOUR RIGHT ABOUT OVERMANAGING AND USING EVERY PITCHER EVERY NITE. RIDICULOUS. GIRARDI NEEDED TO STEP UP TO THE PODIUM AND SAY THIS ONES ON ME. OF COURSE THE WEASEL DIDNT. THE PLAYERS KNOW WHO LOST THIS GAME FOR THEM. I JUST HOPE IT WAS JUST THE GAME GIRARDI LOST AND NOT THE SERIES.
Please stop the all caps
Couldn’t agree more with the write-up, Mike. Extremely tough loss to take, but CC will get ‘em tomorrow.
Agree with you that would be the last win they will get in 2009! And Joe should let Tony Pena manage the team!
Joe Girardi overmanages so much clearly this team would be undefeated without him.
I’m not for letting him off the hook(and i doubt you are either, i just decided to respond here) but I don’t put full blame on him. There were plenty of times the Yankees should of scored and didn’t. Just sucks to get stomped on like that, we all wanted to see Teix and ARod come up for those 2 at bats.
The pen has been great this postseason, I can’t complain. Just wish we had a time machine.
All very true. It really really was a questionable and almost indefensible move by Girardi. My problem is that I’m the guy sitting at home drinking beer watching the games on TV. Joe Girardi is the Ex-Manager of the Year and current manager of the New York Yankees. I can’t sit around and act like a douche and call him an asshole because of a decision. I guarantee there is at least 50 things to consider when making that decision that we have no idea about. Maybe he saw something in D-Robbs mechanics that meant his arm was hurting, there’s so much shit we don’t know. That’s why I for one, am pretty much always loyal to a Manager because he knows 100x more than I or anybody else bitching on an internet message board. To me, it’s just retarded for people go get up on here and cry and complain and say dumb shit like “Fire Girardi” when he;s in the driver seat of the best team in baseball. To sum everything up I hate douchebags.
Agreed.
I’m the guy adjusting my couch cushion because my back is starting to hurt, and I’m going to bitch about managerial decisions constantly? Hell no.
How many times do you see comments on here saying who should bring in or take out, etc. when they’re wrong, we don’t harp on them.
Simply as you put it: Girardi and his staff know more than us, and they lead our favorite team to 103 wins in the regular season. One bad move isn’t going to change my confidence in this team.
Bad moves happen to all managers, no matter how smart or well-prepared they are. And us armchair bench coaches are wrong more often than not.
However, this move is so inexplicable that it shakes my faith in Girardi a little bit. Maybe something comes out in the next few days, and we learn he had a reason other than “Aceves matches up better”, or saving Robertson for Game 4. But until then, I’m perturbed. Not calling for Girardi’s head, or Torre’s return, but my confidence in Girardi has decreased. I can’t think of any move he made in the regular season that made me feel this way — maybe one of the bunts.
Agreed! From one Pat to another, we’re on the same page. Girardi has made a lot of BRILLIANT moves so far, and his job over the season on molding the bullpen into the juggernaut that it is now, is simply AMAZING.
He wanted Aceves in there because he throws better offspeed stuff than D-Rob, and Kendrick is a great fastball hitter. I’m actually fine with it. It didn’t work out, OK, but this BRILLIANT move to throw CC on 3 days rest tonight will recapture all you fairweather fans tonight.
Great balls of shit!
The guy is checking out a looseleaf binder in the 11th inning of the ALCS championship series, and you’re calling him BRILLIANT, AMAZING, and BRILLIANT again????
So in other words, if Rivera was in the game, he’d have been lifted as well for Aceves, because he too does not throw a slew of offspeed stuff?
Did you see what Mathis did to that offspeed stuff? What’s his scouting report say?
Joe lost this game for the Yanks! Damn move pulling Roberston and replace him with shaky Aceves!
No, I think the Yankees offense lost this game. They had opportunities to tack on runs throughout the game, but just could not capitalize with runners on base. I will never, ever complain about home runs – solo or not – but there’s no reason why the Yankees cannot hit balls hard while there are runners on base.
Of course Girardi did not necessarily do his team any favors when he lifted Robertson for Aceves, but either pitcher should be able to get Jeff Mathis out.
“In the end, the Yankees inability to hit with runners in scoring position was every bit the goat as Girardi’s overmanaging.
‘Nuff said.
Exactly.
“That said, the game of baseball just isn’t as hard as Joe Girardi makes it.”
Well said, sir.
Saying it again:
let’s just put it behind us, take a deep breath, and let CC do his thing tomorrow night.
How many times you going to post this?
You know people are allowed to be upset and vent about it. Let them.
Embarrassing
Your post?
So true.
I would be lying if I said I wasn’t just a wee-bit microscope needing to see concerned. CC just has to go out there tomorrow and do his thing to be up 3-1. Sucks that we got 4 home runs and didn’t win the game, but such is life. Move on.
Then with 2 games left at the stadium, I am full of confidence.
Mo was just masterful though, like wow, really? You just have to appreciate that.
All of this.
I love ya, Pop.
You too buddy. But if they lose tomorrow.
I’m taking the easy way out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....re=related
Haha, wonderful.
thats hilarious
Agreed 100 and 50 %. We own this series. The guys just don’t want another 7 day layoff.
Pettitte made a big mistake to Vlad, but the offense has to produce with runners on.
As much as you want to win with your best arms, I’m not sure pulling Marte for Coke to get Abreu is necessary.
Mo is clearly not human.
straight to the yankeeography with that inning
“That said, the game of baseball just isn’t as hard as Joe Girardi makes it.”
Damn right how about taking your eyes off the damn charts for a minute and looking at what your pitchers is doing on the mound.
But I agree with Mike it was more than just Girardi.
They will get them tomorrow.
Absolutely indefensible decision by Girardi. Hopefully he learns from it. Today it seemed like he needed an experienced bench coach to keep him from out out-thinking himself.
I also don’t understand what Joba did to earn a spot as a high leverage reliever.
I still think the Yanks will win the series, but this hurts a bit. They let the Angels off the ropes today.
Yeah, I haven’t been thrilled with Relief Joba(tm). The velocity’s been there, but he hasn’t looked sharp at all. Perhaps Robertson gets first call tomorrow, if necessary.
Agreed. I do not care what anyone says about Joba. He is not the old Joba and has done nothing to deserve being a high leverage reliever.
KRob has been the Yankees 2nd best reliever the entire postseason. He needs to be the 7th inning guy. Hell, he needs to be the 11th inning guy at least.
The Yankees really should be down 2-1 right now and a lot of that is on Girardi. He has gotten bailed out by Mo twice going 2 1/3 the other night as well as AROD
The Yankees really should be down 2-1 right now and a lot of that is on Girardi. He has gotten bailed out by Mo twice going 2 1/3 the other night as well as AROD
not sure i understand this, his trigger finger was a little quick on Saturday but if A-Rod doesn’t homer, that loss is not on Girardi. it would be b/c the offense scored 2 runs in 11 innings.
kendrick is a dead fastball hitter. he has spent time in the minors this year because of an inability to adjust to off speed pitches and ace throws the kitchen sink at you. Letting up a single to kendrick wasnt the issue its letting jeff mathis slam 2 double off os us. whats the book on him?
The book on Mathis is that he sucks. That’s all on Aceves.
exactly.
Yeah, a pitch high in the zone down the middle has HIT ME written all over it.
I remember when Girardi did this all year and people were like, “Who cares, they won,” or “Who cares, they have X wins.”
This is why you care. He wasn’t going to stop doing this all of a sudden because the playoff started.
Who cares, we’re up 2-1?
Hahah, according to Tony we should hold Girardi accountable for “bad decisions” that end up working out favorably.
He hasn’t made a single move all year as bad as this one. All of the other moves at least have some justification. The only one I can come up with is trying to save Robertson for tomorrow, which I don’t like at all. You play to win the game.
I really don’t know how the Yankees survived Girardi this season. I mean, winning the division, having the best record in baseball, and sweeping the ALDS…pure bush league. If he doesn’t stop soon, he might manage them to the World Series…
Wait…what were we talking about?
+1
Why use results as a barometer? Oh wait, that’s what you’re doing now. Hmm, I’m confused.
Interesting parallel to your brilliant idea that’s ok for Melky to overthrow every cutoff man he has ever seen because Jeter happened to save his ass today.
Say what you want. If Melky had thrown to Cano, Bobby would have been on 3rd with no outs and the game may have ended earlier. Again, the play was at third until Bobby saw the throw coming on a line towards third and had to turn around.
It’s funny you argue that the result doesn’t matter(Abreu out). Yet the result does matter with Ace(Mathis double).
With Ace the decision and result both sucked, so I don’t know where you’re going with that one.
Not so sure I agree Drew. I realize you might not be back through the comments and see this, but thought I’d comment quickly.
Cano wasn’t that far away from Jeter. Cano was more north of the 2nd base bag while Jeter was over north of the shortstop position. If Cano ends up with the ball after Melky throws a bullet to him, I think Cano’s got a good chance to fire to A-Rod or turn and flip to 2nd for a tag.
But what about on the winning run? Melky’s throw, while it got there, had lost a lot of steam by the time it got to Posada. I think his hitting Jeter as the cutoff man would have helped the relay as Jeter could have thrown a strike to the plate. I’m not saying he would have gotten Kendrick, but I think that by hitting the cutoff man, Melky could have given the Yanks a *chance* for a play at the plate.
Yeah, not sure where he was going there. I think he was arguing that DESPITE the fact that the Yanks won 103 games and went 5-0 in the playoffs up to tonight, it’s still wrong.
Sort of the ‘THE ONE TIME IT DOESN’T WORK WILL DISPROVE THE 108 TIMES THAT IT DID’ theory.
There is some lingering fear from this move that I have. Girardi’s quick hook had worked up until this point, but today it burned him. Hopefully, he doesn’t now go too long with guys.
I actually felt he played with fire re: Pettitte today (especially after the quick hook in Minnesota). Andy, I felt, was losing his location in the 6th, so I was surprised to see him in the 7th, even for an out. Girardi is an intriguing dude, because it’s difficult to identify a method to his maneuvering. He likes to talk about “gut” moves, but also appears married to the numbers at times.
http://www.halosheaven.com/200.....wie-kendri
thats why girardi went to ace
Except Robertson has a great curve.
He threw one curve out of 11 pitches, albeit a nasty one.
There is a reason Joe went to Ace and it wasn’t so Ace could fall behind 3-1.
It was a dumb reason. Robertson was going great, Ace had given up a run yesterday. Plus we’re running out of pitchers. Horrible managing.
But Robertson appeared to be cruising, and you’re running out of pitchers. Sure, if there’s a running in scoring position, go to Aceves. Hell, if there’s a runner on first, go to Aceves. But Robertson had just easily retired two very good hitters on few pitches, so why go to a long reliever to matchup with someone who’s not a home run hitter?
Of course, if Aceves/Cano makes a great play, it’s on to the 11th. Or if Aceves doesn’t give up a shot to Jeff freakin’ Mathis.
Right. I’m not even saying the move was the right one. I’m just saying I think I know why Joe did it.
Yea, true but that’s all. You can’t just throw him that one pitch. Kendrick hits fastballs well. Ace has more off-speed pitches.
It’s not like the move backfired. Aceves got Kendrick to ground up the middle. That could easily have been an out – if it were a foot to the left or right.
CC is going to have to carry us this series and I think he is up to the challenge. I don’t think there is one other pitcher in baseball I would rather have on my team in a situation like this.
I’m still confused to why these shitty hitters like Kendrick and Mathis kill em all the time. I hope Ace gets his game back because he is sucking. Also, can someone pleas get a fuckin hit with RISP? TSwish needs to get himself going. As does Tex. This bullpen managing wouldn’t be necessary if someone drove that fuckin run in 3rd with less than 2 outs.
Kendrick and Jeff fuckin Mathis? Ugh
/Rant over.
Kendrick at least hits rockets, is a former great prospect, and makes lots of hard contact.
Mathis just sucks.
Kendrick is the opposite of a shitty hitter, Salty.
Yea, I guess your right. He is just an average hitter (100 OPS+). But against us, he’s A-rod. .426/.496/.556/1.051 and that’s not including playoffs.
Im still at work. I had a meeting and came back to my desk just in time for the inevitable Aceves implosion. What in the heck was Joe thinking? Has he not been paying attention? Robertson is clearly in a better place right now than Aceves and he had just gotten out two very good hitters without breaking much of a sweat.
If he made that move because Kendrick is 1 for 2 lifetime against Robertson, I think my head would explode. To call that a small sample size would be an insult to small sample sizes everywhere. I think I saw another thread that Joe may have made the move because Kendrick is awesome against fastballs and struggles with breaking pitches. Aceves is a junk-baller, so go with him over Robertson. Question: Isn’t Robertson’s curveball the best off-speed pitch that anyone in our bullpen currently has?
Just a mind boggling decision. People have been saying it all year: Joe has done a great job with team comraderie, has often pushed the right lineup buttons, and done a great job getting people rest when they need it; but his bullpen over-management is going to cost us a game in the playoffs. Well, we just witnessed that game. (OK, I know that we don’t know what would have happened; but I like my chances with D-Rob v. Kendrick and Tex & A-Rod were leading off the twelfth).
Hopefully, we still win the Series. The odds remain overwhelmingly in our favor. The good news is, I think Joe learned a valuable lesson. I think a manager need only get burned that hardcore on a decision to never repeat that mistake again. If we survive the ALCS, (BIG “if,” I know) this game VASTLY improves the chances we won’t see Joe over-manage in the World Series.
Another sign you have over managed: You need to pinch hit your third catcher for your closer in an American league game. Probably used to many players there, if you get to that point. Just a thought.
I don’t think anyone’s arguing Girardi’s the sole reason the Yanks lost today. But, presumably, the Yankees at SOME point will get hitting again. Whereas GIrardi’s overmanaging likely won’t be going away anytime soon, which is perhaps why this loss strikes such a nerve with many of us. I had sort of reconciled myself to the loss and was pissed at the Yankees RISP anemia, but this last touch of joe G lifts it out of the arena of a team battling a mini-slump and moves it squarely into the realm of an existential problem.
“I don’t think anyone’s arguing Girardi’s the sole reason the Yanks lost today.
Not true. RISP has a lot to do with it. You can’t blame one bullpen move in the 11th for the loss of the game.
That’s what I’m saying.
Girardi managed the 10th so brilliantly, it’s a damn shame the 11th went as it did.
http://twitter.com/ed_price/status/5006696570
Should we not trust Girardi? I know our gut told us Robertson but man, I’m all for the better matchup. IF he really did have something where they thought it was a better matchup, I’m all for it.
Plus, what Marc posted above was interesting:
http://riveraveblues.com/2009/.....ent-638023
Except that Robertson was pitching well, Ace was pitching poorly, both were righthanders, and we were running out of pitchers, not to mention the smaple size was ridiculously limited.
But Ace basically did his job with Kendrick. He got a groundball. If that ball was a foot left or right, then it’s an out.
Eh, Kendrick hit it pretty freaking hard. I wouldn’t say he did his job, even though they could have retired Kendrick.
Of course, he pitched Kendrick better than Coke pitched Abreu.
Aceves had no zip on the handful of pitches he threw today. Only way he sees the mound tomorrow is gonna be in a laugher , either way.
would people here think girardi over managed if the yank score and mo isnt there to save it?
no, of course not.
bringing in mo there was a great move.
it’s unfortunate that Joe temporarily lost his mind in the 11th.
Yup, bringing in Mo in the late innings is hardly ever a bad move. Hughes is good, but wouldn’t you rather have Mo pitching to avoid the walkoff?
We need only 2 more wins. Hopefully CC gets one tomorrow. I’m kinda worried about our offense they’ve struggled against Kazmir but they’re overdue for some RISP correction.
lifting Robertson was a horrible, horrible decision.
and now that Aceves has given up TWO leads in extras this series, let’s hope that is the end of that nonsense.
a really bad decision, but….Nick Swisher, how about a sac fly??
has anyone seen comments on why he took out robertson?
http://twitter.com/ed_price
Read down.
Because Joe likes the matchup of Ace and Kendrick. It’s really as simple as that.
That 0-0 career line was too much to ignore.
It had little to do with results that did not exist. It was a “matchup” issue. Ace’s stuff versus Howie Kendrick.
Except that Robertson was pitching well, Ace was pitching poorly, both were righthanders, and we were running out of pitchers, not to mention the smaple size was nonexistent.
Kendrick is a dead fastball hitter. Robertson throws a (very good) fastball which would be playing to Kendrick’s strength. I’m much more inclined to trust scouting reports like this about matchups than worrying about a handful of at bats against a given pitcher.
If Girardi likes that matchup, he needs to have his head examined. Aceves is a long reliever / mop up guy who looked overmatched in Game 2. If Girardi can’t see that, he needs to hand his managers credentials over to someone who can.
I love how after a couple bad games Ace is now a mop-up/long reliever.
http://www.baseball-reference......al01.shtml
Send me all the mop-up pitchers you have that post a full season with a WHIP of 1.01 and an ERA+ of 126 in the AL East. More ovaltine plz.
Better than Jobaltine.
Aceves has been great this year, but he’s on the roster as the long reliever. He shouldn’t be relieving anyone in the middle of an inning in extras, unless that pitcher has lost it.
Girardi obviously had his reasons, but they don’t seem to be very good ones.
Gaudin is the long reliever.
You clearly don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.
IETC.
Agree.
Thank you. I understand some of the Girardi bashing around here is over the top, but that move was nothing short of awful. I don’t think people should be taken to task (sarcastically so) for ripping Joe on this one. I’m also not singlehandedly blaming Girardi for the loss (too many stranded baserunners), but that decision was brutal.
god that game made me angry
however, there is tomorrow
It made me kinda angry but it mostly made me hungry. I was famished after it was over.
Being at the Stadium for the game (along with TSJC) was an experience in itself
http://www.puristbleedspinstri.....adium.html
great game. Did you two get moat seats? Those things are damn comfy.
He’s not quite as manic in person as he is on the site, huh?
Wasn’t the hit off Hughes a leadoff double, not single?
About 40 minutes ago I was seriously fucking pissed. Now that I’ve had some time to cool down, I am feeling way better. Yanks are still up 2-1….A-Rod is still the man and Mo is a God. Go get ‘em tomorrow CC.
same, im slowly calming down the irrational fan in me lol its taking a while though
well.. at least they can clinch at home now
not if they win the next 2.
Nope, not only can they still clinch in Anaheim, I’d rather they do that there. Burn the Rally Monkey at the stake.
Can’t they run over him a few times with the team bus first?
In a sick sort of way, that was funny.
Nope, we have 2 more games there.
haha woops, whatever just as long as we clinch
Let’s just dust ourselves off and look towards to the future.
Yanks need to just out right crush those pesky Angels. These close scoring affairs is taking days and months off everyone’s life.
It’d be nice it Robbie, Swish, and Melky can make themselves useful tomorrow.
I’m sorta giving a pass to Tex, due to his clutch hitting in Game 2 of the DS, but he’s gotta wake up as well.
Don’t forget Tex’s pants creaming mind blowing crazy stupid amazing defense.
anyone else get the stubhub email about great seats available for Mets playoff games?
Girardi should have never taken out DRob, and probably should have left mo in there to look at 3 pitches and pitch the next inning.
ok and my last point tonight. charlie manuel went and brought in chan ho park with a 1 run lead. CHAN HO PARK! and the phillies lost a brutal game… how did they respond? Cliff went out and shut out the dodgers and offense laid down 11 runs. Thats what i expect my yanks to do.
hope CC will shut them down tomorrow!!!
Hells yeah.
great teams. championship caliber teams, shake these off and take care of the next game. So we will see what kind of team we are watching. The mighty mighty angels came back to beat the yanks tonight after a brutal loss where there closer threw an 0-2 fastball to the playoff version of god. lets see how much fight this team really has. you wanna win a championship then face some adversity and over come it. plsu we all know if this loss came tomorrow after us winning today would make us all feel like its 2004 all over again.
Girardi’s a dumbass. The sample sizes are incredible small. This isn’t taking a pitcher out whos given up 5 homers but someone whos only faced the other guy twice. The Andy pull for Joba was also questionable. He’s made some stupid moves this year but I can’t think of any that unquestionably lost the game for us. We should of won this. Girardi f’d it up.
Yea, he forced Alfredo to stink and Swish (and Melky and Robbie) to fail with RISP. That Girardi, forcing our players to suck.
agree that pulling Robertson was terrible, but i think Andy was pulled at an appropriate time.
he made an awful, awful pitch to Vlad.
PeteAbe seemed happy as he said that Girardi’s overmanagaging in the playoffs will cost us a game a while back. (Then he added this: Love the Philly Phanatic destroying the Dodgers helmet to tune of “I Love LA.” Best mascot in baseball outside of George Steinbrenner) Fucker.
Yeah, that’s uncalled for. Steinbrenner’s a sick old guy who hasn’t been in the forefront in years. But whatever.
and Pete’s a fat bully
Not sure what you’re referring to, Amalie Benjamen has been doing the ALCS. Pete is doing the Phillies/Dodgers.
http://www.boston.com/sports/b.....ang_1.html
His Twitter feed.
http://twitter.com/PeteAbe
No big surprise. It was pretty obvious from his LoHud posts that he didn’t care for Girardi. He jumped all over things that he thought were huge that were no big deal to anyone but him.
He is obviously feeling a little more open in criticizing the Yanks considering he will be covering the Sox next year.
The fact that Girardi wouldn’t elaborate on why he “liked the matchup with Ace better,” AND considering the non-existent sample size he had to choose from, this looks more and more like a pure “gut” move that just didn’t work. I don’t know if that frustrates me more or less.
From LoHud:
Completely freakin’ clueless.
unbelievable
effing incredible
I think he’s probably too embarrassed to just say, “It was a gut move.”
Why does everyone have such an issue with a manager “going with his gut” or “choosing a matchup?” Isn’t that what managing is all about? Baseball isn’t played on paper, Joe just went with his gut. It didn’t work out today.
I have a problem because he was looking at his stupid binder before the matchup.
Also, 2 outs, no one on does not call for a gut move.
heh.. No one on, 2 outs. Yeah, it’s not like Kendrick hadn’t crushed the ball to right in his previous two AB’s.
So we criticize ‘old baseball guys’ when they dont pay attention to advance numbers and stuff, but when they do we criticize them too?
Repost:
Except that Robertson was pitching well, Ace was pitching poorly, both were righthanders, and we were running out of pitchers, not to mention the smaple size was nonexistent.
You didn’t need to repost, I read it the first time.
I haven’t once said it was the right or wrong move. I said I understand why he did it.
You telling me you like D-Rob vs Kendrick is almost the same as Joe telling me he likes Ace vs Kendrick. The slight difference is that Joe is a Professional Manager and former MLB catcher.
Not, it’s not. There is substantial, logical evidence backing this up. Not mention several MLB players and managers, in fact every single one I’ve heard, all thought it was a ridiculous move.
Sorry, I thought it was dumb.
Where is this substantial evidence man? “Thinking” that someone was pitching well and “thinking” someone was pitching poorly is not substantial logical evidence.
I’m not “thinking” he looks better. Robertson had just struck out a batter and gotten another batter out on a weak ground ball. The Yanks were running out of pitchers. Yesterday Robertson had pitched a scoreless inning (technically 2/3 but Robbie mad an error) and Ace allowed a run. There’s a nonexistent sample size. Both are righthanded. But because Ace throws a couple more curveballs that nullifies all the other evidence? It’s a defensible decision, but still bad.
There are scouting reports about the pitchers and hitters. That was the evidence supporting the move. And it’s not just curveballs. Ace throws curveballs, changeups, and cutters. That’s a pretty good arsenal to go after a fastball hitter with. A curveball is not.
The scouting should have more credence than how the two have actually pitched?
I at least don’t think so.
The scouting reports are based on how well they’ve actually pitched. Aceves lives on his off-speed stuff. The same stuff that Kendrick struggles with.
Pete Abe is a fuck.
I’ve lost more and more respect for him the more I’ve read his posts, both from lohud and from the Globe. He acts like he’s King Shit and uses his platform to bash people.
Not to mention, there actually IS a reason. A bad one, but at least a defensible one.
I never had a real problem with him. But he basically told me I’m an idiot in a personal message on twitter.
Defamation suit baby.
I never had an issue with him either. I used to repect him. But the more I read what he writes the more I realize what a jackass he’s been. Once someone posted that he thought he was biased against A-Rod, and his answer was that he would insult him but it would be such a horrible insult he’d have to ban himself from his own blog.
Shitter.
that’s not a defamation suit. though I wish it was. I do not like that guy.
I was in the group of “Crack addicts” who were dumb enough to believe that the Yanks were going to sign Tex. I lost most of my respect for Pete Abe after he let himself off the hook for ridiculing those who thought Cash was playing possum.
No mea culpas from Pete, just a quick blurb that he’ll never believe Cash again.
He’s a talented writer and probably a pretty smart guy and less naive than most, but I was getting tired of the way he was conveying alot of his info – he was getting pretty full of himself – all JMO.
My Giants Rangers and Yankees put in poor performances the last 2 days.
Positives:
-Jeter, Damon, A-Rod, and Posada are still the balls. Matsui is good too.
- Pettitte pitched a decent game.
- Mo is GOD
- Today should prove to people (especially B-Jobbers) that moving a pitcher into the bullpen does not make them better. It all still comes down to location. Velocity doesn’t do shit and it was evident with Joba today. Joba must still pitch and not just throw. It doesn’t matter if he’s relieveing or starting, he has to locate.
I predicted before this series that Mo would win MVP. My prediction stays the same.
Hopefully CC wins the MVP. Because if CC does not win it, this is going to be one tight series.
Eh, not necessarily.
If they had won tonight, I would have bet on a Mo MVP.
+1
why is tex swinging at cano and swisher type pitches?
the robertson move is the bad move, inexcusable and i thought it at the time.. he uses 8 pitchers but they throw 10 pitches each. the angels threw 40 more pitches then the yanks today……….
Even though it did not result in a win, you have to give Teix a mention for some perfect defense. He had a ton of opportunities and he made every play. You can’t say it enough, what a pick up this guy was.
Anyone know if they are gonna let people watch the game at the stadium tomorrow or if that was just a one time thing?
Homer Bailey is back, huh?
http://www.baseball-intellect......er-bailey/
Just when we all forgot about him.
Too much use of the Bullpen smells of Panic.Why use guys to face only one batter.If the game went any further the only one left would be Gaudin.
You know what smells of panic? 3 out of every 4 posts in this thread, and the last spillover thread. You guys are the only ones panicking. Girardi has manged this way all year.
All year everyone bitched about how quick his hook was with Hughes, and now that he’s doing it in the playoffs people are overreacting to what he’s done all year. Which is how he managed us to 103 wins, the most in baseball.
+100000000000000027
Heh.
http://twitpic.com/m74j7 (safe)
So when he says “I’m in a good place right now” he means Derek Jeter’s ass?
Heh, I saw that happening in the game and laughed.
LMAO
The Yankees have all the best ass.
thank god we play tomorrow
i predict an offensive explosion
what’s up with joba?
Bret Gardner this year:
9th Inning: .412BA/.444OBP in 37 PA.
Man on 1st, .368/.400OBLP in 38 PA.
Tie Game, .347/.411 in 49 PA.
When Girardi put in Hairston to bat instead of Bret, well, I didn’t understand that at all. Seem to be another sign of over-thinking to me.
I think that would be a sign of under-thinking.
Hairston is easily thought to be a better hitter than Gardy.
Don’t let his fanboys catch you typing such heresy.
Sort of like when he under-managed and let Hughes go out for the 10th, only to give up a double?
Where are all the people who were screaming for him to go longer with Joba and Hughes tonight? Because every other playoff game when he pulled them out, he was “over managing”.
Also, I’d like for someone to give me a hard and fast definiton of “over managing” because the rules seem to change on a nightly basis, and almost always made up after the fact.
over managing – when you make a lot of moves and lose the game.
But wait, if you make a lot of moves and win the game?
To be fair they called it overmanaging when they won too.
Making moves that don’t have to be made, just for the sake of making a move.
When has Girardi done that? Every move he’s made has been based on having a better pitcher available or better match up.
BTW-I’ll give you the lefty for lefty tonight. I think he just screwed up there. But you guys say this every time he goes to the bullpen.
So he should have just left Pettitte in? There’s never a move that NEEDS to be made.
Oh yes there are, you know there are. Don’t be so literal. I’m talking about lifting a lefty who threw one pitch for another lefty. Or pulling Robertson, who has been far better than Aceves lately, because the guy at the plate likes fastballs.
If it’s that much of a concern, pitch around Kendrick and go after the backup catcher. If he beats you, tip your cap.
+100000
I explained it pretty well the other day.
http://riveraveblues.com/2009/.....ent-634769
That’s talent right there.
I’ve heard that said, but what I see comparing the 2 for 2009 at Baseball-Reference doesn’t really support that.
So what do people who imagine that they are thinking about it just the right amount point to as their reason for why Hairston is a better hitter? Certainly not this year’s stats.
BG http://www.baseball-reference......09&t=b
JH jr http://www.baseball-reference......je02.shtml
It’s quite simple actually. In a tie game Joe didn’t want to lose Damon’s bat until he absolutely had to (bases loaded 1 out).
Wait, I’m not mistaken, am I? Hairy didn’t come in for Damon until Mo had loaded the bases. At that point Grit had already PR for the DH spot.
Hairston was put in for defense with the game on the line. A short pop fly to Damon would have ended the game with his arm.
He should have moved Jeter to left. We all know Jeter would be a better LF than a SS.
in 2012.
Some words for the Yanks tomorrow:
Turn your wounds into wisdom – Oprah Winfrey
We must embrace pain and burn it as fuel for our journey – Kenji Miyazawa
You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you – Walt Disney
The problem is not that there are problems. The problem is expecting otherwise and thinking that having problems is a problem – Theodore Rubin
Every path hath a puddle – George Herbert
There are some defeats more triumphant than victories – Michel de Montaigne
Defeat may serve as well as victory to shake the soul and let the glory out – Edwin Markham
Win one for the Gipper.
[/ronald Reagan voice
No more quotes from old Walt, please, his corporation used to own the enemy.
OK, my bad. Ignore the Disney quote.
Just messin’ with ya. I liked the last three.
Mike, when Girardi wins the World Series this year, I want to see this headline:
“Girardi overmanages his way to a World Series Championship”
How about “Yanks win in spite of their over managing manager”
how bout Girardi overthinks the regular season, stumbles into championship
Girardi is not why we lost. This is why:
http://www.brooksbaseball.net/.....p;s_type=3
That’s as much as a meatball as one can throw.
Making a player accountable! Preposterous. How dare a manager have faith in a man that pitched well for over 80 innings this year.
It’s Aceves’ fault for making bad pitches to Kendrick and a horseshit hitter like Mathis.
It’s Girardi’s fault he was in the game in the first place.
Even if Aceves gets one of the two, and the Yankees go on to win the game (not a given, the way the lineup had been ravaged), it’s a move that deserves to be second guessed.
“In play, run(s)”
Man, I miss seeing that from the Yankees with two outs.
Decision is getting killed on other sites, including non-Yankee sites (like BBTF). Ugh.
That’s two straight games Girardi left Arod without protection after pulling Matsui for a pinch runner. Scioscia took advantage of it today. Hopefully Posada and Matsui switch places in the batting order tomorrow so the intentional walk is not there tomorrow. Scioscia will think twice about walking Arod if Jorge follows as compared to Hairston (or Gardner or Guzman).
OK haters, I have a question for you.
Define ‘over managing’. You guys use the word so much, I’m sure you must have a firm grip on its definition.
Define it for me.
Making a move that doesn’t have to be made.
Exactly.
Okay but Mike, when do you ever really “have” to make a move? I mean yeah some moves are obvious, guys are way over 100 pitches and getting smacked around. But really, if you only made the moves when they are that obvious then anyone could manage and that is just not the case.
Anyone will an understanding of the game could manage. I absolutely could manage a team on the field. In the clubhouse, forget it, I’d be way over my head. But filling out a lineup and changing pitchers based on the information available to me, yeah I could do that easy.
Maybe I’m being cocky, but I believe it.
It’s always easier to judge someone elses decisions than to make the decisions yourself.
That being said, inducing a groundball from Kendrick didn’t seem that bad a result, so it’s not like the move completely backfired.
Robertson didn’t have to be pulled. His performance tonight dictated as much. In the 11th inning , Girardi should’ve stayed with Robertson another batter. Introducing Aceves against a hot hitter was a mistake. Its really clear.
Whether you like it or not; “Girardi should’ve stayed with Robertson another batter,” is an opinion. It seems like everyone values their own opinion over the opinion of our manager.
You’re wrong, Drew, I undervalue my opinion. This is also why I still live with my parents.
Which according to many on the site is
-Every time he takes out Joba
-Every time he takes out Hughes
-Every time he puts in a pinch runner
-Every time he bunts
-Every time he catches Molina
and it’s funny, but we didn’t hear the ‘over managing’ charge for Joba and Phil tonight. Actually, he WENT FURTHER with both of them as all of YOU GUYS WANTED him to do and got burned for doing so. Yet had he pulled him out in the 10th, he would have been over managing again. Gotcha. Everyone’s a genius after the fact.
Don’t even.
The only reason I complain about some of the pitching moves is because he’s often lifting guys for inferior pitchers, like he did tonight. I have no problem lifting Hughes for Mo in the middle of an inning. When you lift Robertson (one of the team’s most effective relievers in the playoffs) for Aceves (arguably their least effective) to face one of the other team’s hottest hitters, yeah, we should all have a problem with that.
Don’t even get me started with bunts. They had the best offense in baseball this year, and it wasn’t because they played for one run at a time. It’s because they swung the damn bats.
And just for the record, I had no problem with how he used Joba or Hughes tonight. Joba had to be taken out because he was awful.
The more pitchers Girardi uses in a game, the more likely it is that he bring one in that’s just not going to have a good game. That’s what happened twice tonight.
If it were a lefty due up and he brought in Coke to face hI’m would you also consider that overmanaging? Robertson is better than Coke, but the matchup is better with Coke. The same could be said with Aceves.
That’s different because platoon advantages are much more tangible. Bringing in a righty to replace another righty because one righty throws more breaking stuff? That’s asinine.
If it was such a big deal, Robertson could have fed Kendrick a steady diet of curveballs. Phil Hughes managed to get Kendrick out with a fastball, it can be done.
Your opinion that it was asinine is clouded by the results of the game.
Per fangraphs:
Kendrick is 1 run above average per 100 fastballs. He’s above average .3 runs/100 curveballs, and negative for other offspeed pitches. Robertson is above average for his fastball (1.03 runs) and below average for his curveball (-1.43). Aceves is below average for his fastball (-.06) and above average for his offspeed stuff (CT: .99, CB: 1.42, CH: 3.42). That seems like solid logic for making the change.
Oh, and Hughes got Kendrick with a cutter, not a fastball.
Aceves threw Kendrick four fastballs and a changeup (not in that order). Zero breaking balls.
A cutter is a fastball with just a bit of extra movement. If Girardi’s basing decisions on how a hitter does against cutters compared to fastballs, then we’re all screwed. The difference should be negligible when you’re talking about going from an effective pitcher like Robertson to one that hasn’t been effective like Aceves.
Aceves threw Kendrick four fastballs and a changeup (not in that order). Zero breaking balls.
Then the complaint should be Posada’s bad game calling, or Girardi not saying to Aceves “don’t throw any fastballs.” (of course, that didn’t work so well with Pettitte/Vlad)
A cutter is a fastball with just a bit of extra movement. If Girardi’s basing decisions on how a hitter does against cutters compared to fastballs, then we’re all screwed. The difference should be negligible when you’re talking about going from an effective pitcher like Robertson to one that hasn’t been effective like Aceves.
What Hughes threw probably had no bearing on the decision. It was based on the scouting reports and history of the pitchers/batter that I cited above. Is there something wrong with bringing in a new pitcher that provides a better matchup?
exactly
i dont think girardi is an idiot, and i don’t completely blame this loss on him. i also have complete faith in this team going forward and winning the series.
however, this does not mean i’m ok with bad decisions made by the manager. as mike said, robertson is simply the better pitcher(not to mention K-pitcher vs. contact hitter). he has to realize he doesnt need to put his imprint on every bit situation
Yup, last game it was why do you pull Joba after 0.1 IP, today it’s why is Joba pitching in a high-leverage spot.
Girardi cant win no matter what he does, and thankfully he knows that he’s not going Ozzie or whoever and fighting with the media. He gives his reasons, if the media/fans dont like it then it doesnt matter because if it was something else they’d criticize him for that too.
I had no issue with bringing Joba in when he did tonight. I actually thought he should have started the inning.
Didnt mean it towards you, just other comments I’ve read on here.
Just like a week ago people didnt even want Marte on the roster, tonight its why didnt Girardi let him pitch more.
Fact is, you cant please everyone as the manager of the Yankees. You win because the 200m team bails you out, and every loss he’s going to get blamed some way or another.
There’s lots of complaining and quibbling about bullpen moves — no denying that. Some of it is informed, some of it is complaining just to complain. Some of it is both.
However, pulling Robertson for Aceves (with no one on, in extra innings, and only Gaudin left in the pen) is about as indefensible of a move as Girardi can make. Like I said somewhere upthread, maybe information comes out in the next few days, and we find Robertson was pulled for a reason other than “Aceves matches up well with Kendrick”, such as saving him for Game 4 (which I don’t like either, but it’s better than the given reason). I’ll reserve judgment, but as of now, it looks like an awful move.
Even if the Yankees had won this game, it’d have been an odd move.
I posted this above but since you asked again. Here it is. It’s quite simple actually.
http://riveraveblues.com/2009/.....ent-634769
How any of you can defend what Girardi did today is laughable.
Listen to what this man has to say.
How dare you! This is untoward. This is not toward!
Why did Girardi put Aceves in?
Girardi liked the matchup of Ace and Kendrick.
All of this shit is moot if Cano, Swisher or Melky get a fucking hit in the 2nd and especially the 4th. 3-0 is much different than 5 or 6-0. We had Weaver reling and took the foot off the throat.
This team is 5-1 thus far with an overall horrid offensive performace (save Jeter, Arod, Jorge)… Tex needs to pick it up ASAP. He didn’t do much in LA all year so he needs to start tomorrow.
+27
“just different kind of stuff against those hitters”? WHAT?!
NY will turn on Girardi so fast if he screws another game up.
For anyone interested, here’s the post game from YES
http://web.yesnetwork.com/medi.....id=6504248
Has the Girardi clips around 1:40, explaining the bullpen moves.
Meh. Here’s why I’m not worried…according to 4 out 5 posts on here Girardi beat us..not the Angels. So until the ANGELS beat us, or Girardi strikes out with a RISP, my confidences stays at +27.
Also, I almost forgot…MO is GOD.
Anyone think Robertson should be pitching in the 7th rather than extra innings. I think Robertson has earned it. Joba has been shaky in the pen. He just can’t rely on Gaudin every time, at some point you should go to him.
It should rain this Saturday at the stadium, great. and Teixeira is not hitting…whY?!
Even if the matchup of Aceves was better with Kendrick he still has no reason to take Robertson out of the game.
The game was in extra innings, tied, on the road! What is the point in wasting bullets when you don’t need to? Thats over managing. Thats Girardi.
It finally came back to bite us in the arse.
Now he’ll really be asking for it tomorrow if he lets Melky start with the at bats hes had the past 6 games.
You always want the best matchup. You don’t save pitchers just so you can be prepared for a 15 or 16 inning game.
But Kendrick isn’t the sort of hitter you need to yank someone who’s pitching well for. If they were so worried about Kendrick, they could have given him the old unintentional intentional walk, and hope he gets himself out. Kendrick isn’t exactly known for his strike zone discipline.
So you walk Kendrick, and Mathis comes up with 2 outs a runner on first. How is that an improvement?
Mathis had a 55 OPS+ this year, and you’d have the superior pitcher in Robertson facing him.
Kendrick already had a homer and a triple in the game. You manage based on him, not based on the next batter who happens to be crappy.
Right, and managing based on him could mean pitching around him and going after the inferior hitter. The Angels did this with A-Rod, why couldn’t the Yankees?
So you would advocate putting the winning run on base in the 11th inning? Would you have supported Girardi if he had done that and then Mathis hits a double to win the game?
Oh no, absolutely not. You could pitch around him and still possibly get Kendrick out. He’s not exactly a disciplined hitter.
If he walks or whatever, then you have one of your most effective relievers facing the other team’s worst hitter. If he beats you, then what can you do?
The entire concept of bringing in a lesser pitcher because of a non-platoon matchup is what I have a problem with.
You keep bringing up the platoon advantage. The league average for a platoon split is 50-60 OPS points for both RH and LH (about .730 vs 780-790). Kendrick has a .799 OPS vs power pitchers and .710 vs finesse pitchers – so his split is roughly twice as large as the average platoon split.
Well, for starters, Kendrick’s strike zone judgment isn’t exactly stellar, so maybe he rolls over a curve in the dirt for a 1-3 putout.
Or maybe he hits a groundball up the middle that would be an out if it were a foot or so to the left or right.
Reason Yanks lost the game
1. Offense not doing anything with runners in scoring position. I think there was only 1 back to back hit. Also the Yanks right now are a HR team or single team. Have they hit a double in this series? The only extra base hit that I recall is Cano’s double.
2. Bad pitch execution to Vlad. I don’t mind the pitch, Andy just didn’t get it inside enough. It happens, your not going to be sharp every pitch out of 100 unless it’s just one of those nights. I don’t think Andy had his A game. I only recall a handful of curves and 2 change ups. Andy down the stretch in the 2nd half was mixing his pitches it and throwing more changes and curves.
3. Swisher. Not for the Offensive stuff, that everyone knows. The play I’m thinking is when he tried to go up the wall to get Kendricks ball. I think if he is playing it off the wall that the Yanks might have gotten out of that inning without giving up a run.
It would also be real nice for someone to actually you know get a hit with a runner on base. It’s a novel concept. Maybe Swisher can get that memo.
They are making Oliver and Jepson look like studs.
The Jepsen who gave up the game tying home run? That Jepsen?
I have Swish’s direct line. you should tell him, cause you know, it’s easy to do. I’ll e-mail it to you right now.
Yeah this Jepson kid is wild.
http://www.maxpreps.com/athlet.....jepson.htm
Completely stupid managing
To elaborate: Why take Rivera out, it is the post season, you manage to win the game you are in, not tomorrow. Tomorrow you could get blown out or blow the other team out, so there is no sense in saving anyone.
Robertson should have finished the inning. Horrible call to pull him and insert Ace. Just stupid, awful.
He pulled Andy too early too.
That being said, there were too many missed opportunities. The homers all came with bases empty.
Disgusting that a team with this payroll has a manager with no postseason experience at all. No shocker that stupid calls were made. Torre wasn’t a bad manager and should have been kept. I doubt he would have made such stupid calls.
What was said when Vlad was up? I would like to know what Girardi told Jorge.
Girardi is about one step away from a player-manager. If the team stalls in the postseason then he should be canned. He looks like a little league coach.
If Torre is still here, we probably don’t see Mo in this game. Yeah.
Torre also has a few rings, so he can’t hear your criticism over all that bling.
Look, I love Torre as much as the next Yankee fan, but after 2003 and 2004, when his decisions arguably cost the team a World Series win and a pennant, he’s no longer immune from criticism. In fact, after 2006 and 2007, I was ok with him not being brought back. It sure looked like he’d lost his edge.
Girardi made a big mistake but Girardi is far from a dumb manager. EVERY manager will make it’s share of dumb moves. EX Scioscia squeeze play last year was god awful, but he’s not an awful manager. Shit happens.
Torre was great no doubt but from 03-07 his managerial decisions were pretty below average.
I love Torre but he should have been fired after all his poor decisions in ‘04.
‘04 was freakish all the way around. I don;t think managing can blow a 3-0 lead
To elaborate: Why take Rivera out, it is the post season, you manage to win the game you are in, not tomorrow.
JEFF F’ING WEAVER. end of story.
can’t believe you bring up Torre after writing this about Mo.
you’re full of crap.
Yes, the rally murdering trio of Swisher-Cano-Cabrera had a much greater impact on the outcome. The 0 for 8 with RISP was a bigger deal. And yes, Andy’s awful awful two strike pitch to Vlad had a bigger impact.
BUT, you can’t control all of that. You can’t DECIDE to get big hits. You can’t decide to locate every pitch perfectly. A manager however does have complete control over pitching decisions. He can do whatever, whenever he wants.
Overall just a terrible loss with plenty of blame to go around.
Hopefully Yankees can pull out a win tomorrow, and seize control of the series. A loss, and plenty of Yankee fans are gonna be stressed out.
Bottom of the order was horrible, no doubt – Swish especially has had a very bad offensive postseason (save a double).
I’m surprised GGBG doesn’t get any heat – getting thrown out before Posada jacks one was devastating. His main role is pinch runner – he’s 0-2.
Look on the bright side. This offense is bound to break out sooner or later. It has been horrendous besides Jeter and A-Rod for 6 games here. That won’t continue.
Maybe a few 8-2 games would make Mr Over Manager relax and take a deep breath.
“Look on the bright side”
“Look on the bright side”
“Look on the bright side”
“Look on the bright side”
Stop the internet, those words just came from Lanny.
Don’t get me worn, I’m not saying we should be 3-0, but stupid decisions can’t be explained away in the ALCS. The Angels practically gave us game 2, and we gave them game 3. We need a win tomorrow or Thursday and a win in game 6.
Please no game 7….I think I’ll puke if it’s like the first 3 games.
Game 6? There won’t be a game 6.
At the end of the day, yanks didn’t play well, didn’t manage well and lost, but bigger picture, yanks have the lead and pressure is still on the Angels. Not to mention CC is pitching, and the yanks will eventually hit in RISP.
Can’t wait for game 4 and win game 4.
Sure would have been nice to have Hinske to PH off the bench today…
Yea, but not really. We blew our RISP chances and the pen blew it.
I’m just saying instead of Frankie PH, having a real bat would have been nice (for me at least)
I think Girardi has a bullpen rotation in his head long before the game. He went to Marte and everyone was freaking out. I think he never doesn’t use a guy who isn’t doing well, he expects them all to perform and doesn’t get jittery about some of the shakiness of the day before. This isn’t a stick up for girardi post but no one in the bullpen is having their arm fall off because he keeps them moving. Maybe sometimes too much and other times not enough, but I think he tries to get everyone in the game in their “spots.”
I’m really more upset that this game ever got to the 11th inning when we had a 3-0 lead for a while. And that some guys are just not performing offensively (not Tex, his D is great).
The moves I really dont understa