RAB Live Chat

From the chat:

2:11
[Comment From Yanky]
And why dont we have a big bat off the bench on the roster aka eric hinske?
2:11
[Response by Mike]
Third catcher! Look how important Cervelli has been!

Mike… I’m not going to make the whole argument again, but please see this comment (written prior to ALDS but still applicable now). If you’re going in to a series in which you plan on starting Molina and then pulling him mid-game for Posada, in one game and more likely in two games, are you really not carrying Cervelli on that roster as your backup catcher in those games? I think it’s a lot easier for you to make that statement today, now that the Molina starts have come and gone without incident (i.e. without a situation arising in which Posada had to leave a game after replacing Molina), than it would have been for you to make that statement before the series started.

Listen. It’s pretty simple. Girardi is a fool. A fool who will stop at nothing to try and do things that he (in his foolish way of thinking) will make him look smarter than anyone else on the planet. He is obsessed with putting his mark on every game, as if he himself is still actually playing.

Pinch-running for Alex Rodriguez, no matter what the situation, is 100% the incorrect move. In fact, there is no move in the baseball world that could possibly be more incorrect.

I was sitting in my basement with some people and each one of us was speechless, looking around at each other like we had lost the ability to talk or even reason cognitively. There is no excuse for the way Girardi has handled this team in these playoffs. Examples:

Game 3 ALDS. Taking Pettite out of the game (a game in which he had thrown what…85 pitches and was DEALING) solely on the basis (the remote possibility) that Delmon Young (yes, everybody, Delmon Young) would square up a cutter that got too much of the plate and tie the game with a homer. It didn’t cost the Yanks, but Young lined a double off Joba’s 1st pitch. They got out of it and obviously won the series that night, but it was the first of many blunders from the Yankees “brilliant” manager.

GAME 2 ALCS – too much to get into with his pitching move. But again, it didn’t cost because Arod is playing on a whole nother level than everyone else out there. He is out of control.

GAME 3 ALCS – Who knows what Girardi said to Pettitte and Posada when he came out to the mound in the 6th with Vlad up. But it’s clear he didn’t tell them to drop a breaking ball in the dirt so Vlad would swing over it and strike himself out. Instead the GENIOUS Posada decides to go fastball in. And shockingly Pettitte obliged. Never in my life have I seen a hitter more set up to be spun into the dirt with a breaking pitch. GREAT CALL JORGE. Or Andy. Or Brilliant Joe. Vlad had fouled off two fastballs up (clearly late) then Andy threw a break low which Vlad let go. Then I believe he missed with a fastball. Then he throws over to first. Then he throws over again. Then Joe comes out. Then he throws over again. Now. Okay. If you know about baseball, and/or have player the game, you know that an aging hitter (no matter if he’s Vlad or anybody else) is generally fastball conscience. He has to start the bat sooner and be ready to turn it around. Vlad especially was in that mode and they threw right into his thinking. A curve in the dirt and the Yanks sweep. Pretty simple. But apparently not when you have a stupid (that’s being kind) catcher, who still doesn’t know how to call a game, and a manager who continuously show she has no feel for the game.
Then of course we have Girardi taking out Robertson because (again back to his Game 2 ALDS decision) Girardi was afraid of 1 pitch. The possibility of Howie Kendrick (yes, Howie Kendrick – not Hunter or Morales or even Vlad) hitting a straight fastball away. Kendrick’s a great fastball hitter, but are you seriously that afraid of him? Robertson’s heater gets up to 95 MPH and he had been dealing. Why bring in a guy who throws 90 tops when you’re in the 11th or 12th (whatever it was) and bats are slower. That’s a fact of the game. The later you go, the slower the bats get. That’s why so many extra inning games keep on going. You want your hardest throwers in there. What a goddamn moron this manager is. ANd please, would you put the binder down. Everyone with a brain knows you’re really not even looking at anything in there. He opened it to the first page, then flipped to the second, the back to the first. Who the fuck are you kidding?

GAME 5 ALCS – Again, pitch selection. And again Vlad. Bottom 7. You made him look like a little leaguer swinging at the curve in the dirt. Then he wanna try fastball in? Okay, here it is. First off, Hughes couldn’t spot his fastaball. He fell behind hunter 3-0 throwing the heat. So he clearly was not comfortable throwing that pitch right out of the been. Making that point even more, he throws a nasty 3-0 slider. So then he ends up walking Torii (not the worst thing in the world). And here comes Vlad. A 1-1 curve makes him look dumb, then the dumbo genious Jorge Posada wants to go up and in. Now tell me how that makes any sense? He hadn’t been able to locate the fastball once since he’s been in there. And he might have just broken off the nastiest breaking pitch of the entire game to that point. Vlad doesn’t need to be set up for anything. 2 strikes he’s hacking. You can’t expect (and as a 15 year veteran — posada (idiot) ) Hughes to be able to locate that pitch up and in. What makes you think (from what you had seen the previous 8 pitches) that he’d be able to do that. Go with your strength and stop trying to be so fucking smart. Again, that is a direct result of the manager acting that way.

And the thing is, I’m not all that upset with the pitching changes Girardi made in Game 5. Probably should’ve lifted AJ after the leadoff hit, but it wouldn’t have mattered if Posada had any idea what he was doing behind the plate.

But finally, the pinch running of Alex Rodriguez. Wow.The best player in the game. The man who has finally taken over the entire baseball world. And you wanna take him out of a game. If that doesn’t send out signals to every Yankee fan for how moronically stupid their “supposed” manager is, then nothing will. This guy is so bad, but he will most likely get away with it into the World Series, because his team is so fucking good.

What a fucking moron.