I Am A-Rodacus

It wasn't some horrific dream. I went to bed last night hoping that what I had witnessed earlier would somehow change itself into a Yankee win. I was hoping to hop online and see that the score had magically changed into the Yankee's favor. One can dream, right?
A-Rod. What more is there to say? 2 more A-Bombs. Wow. And both were off of Schilling which made them all the sweeter. I guess great pitching doesn't always beat great hitting. If it did, then Schilling I guess Schilling isn't a great pitcher. A good pitcher? Yes. A great pitcher? Mmm, not so much. A-Rod has been carrying the Yankee offense. Dude is like Spartacus. I think I'll start calling him A-Rodacus. That sounds a little on the perv side, eh? The rest of the Yankee lineup needs to consistently yell out "I am Spartacus" if this team is going to have long-term success. A-Rod can only do so much. And right now what he's doing is insane. I can't even put it into words. And was I the only one who thought that when he hit his 2nd HR, coco Crisp looked like he took a forearm shiver and flipped out of a wrestling ring, WWE style? I'm glad he's OK, but that was amusing.
Pettitte was on his game. He didn't look tremendous. His only mistake was giving up the HR to Varitek. He shut down Manny and Ortiz. He got the DP when he needed it. I didn't see that one coming. What more could we have asked for. He leaves with a 6-2 lead and turns the game over to a solid bullpen that in turn blows the win for him. It kind of reminds me of how the Atlanta Braves bullpen blew so many leads for John Smoltz last year. This is the 3rd game Pettitte has now left with a lead and the Yankee bullpen has failed to do its job. I'm not liking this developing pattern. The bullpen definitely struggled last night with the exception of Proctor. Myers comes in for the sole purpose of getting out Ortiz and he gives up the leadoff double. Vizcaino implodes for the 2nd straight game and Torre calls on Mo to get the Yankees out of the jam. Mo fails to get the job done and Yankee fans are left shaking their heads in bewilderment. This has happened to Mo before. He blew 2 the lead in 2 straight games at the start of the 2005 season, both against Boston. I don't vividly remember the games, but his stat lines weren't too impressive. He'll bounce back he always does. I think he needs to get more work. He definitely needs to get into the game more than once every 5 days. He looked like he had good stuff. He just couldn't locate his pitches. I don't think he pitched poorly. A weak single to Varitek. A weak groundball triple to Crisp, on most days Mientkiewicz makes that play. That would have been a game changer. I saw that ball hit what looked to be inside the batter's box and i thought "groundout." How that ended up a triple is beyond me. He got a little Fenway Park love. I guess the park paid him back for that flip into the bullpen. The Yanks pull the infield in and bloops a single right to where Jeter would normally be. Everything that could have gone wrong that inning did go wrong. But it's baseball. Sometimes the bounces go your way, sometimes they don't.
I made the rounds around the blogosphere last night and a lot of us Yankee fans are wondering the same thing. What the heck is Joe Torre thinking? There were a lot of questionable moves from last night's game that in hindsight have to be second guessed. Why did he pull Proctor? Why did he pinch-run for Giambi? Why was he so quick to go to Mo in the 8th? Why didn't he pinch-hit Phelps for Kevin Thompson? Joe Torre wanted this game. He knew going into the series that this was the one game on paper that was somewhat in the Yankees favor. He did what he thought was needed to secure a Yankee victory. He was wrong. Here's the one issue I have with second guessing coaches in any sport. If the play works out, you never hear about it. If Mo nailed the save, it's a great move. If Myers K's Ortiz, great move. If Thompson raps a double into the gap, great move. You don't hear anything about the moves if they work out, only when they backfire. I won't question the moves, he did what he thought he needed to. He put the pieces into place and the pieces failed to do their job.
I understand why he brought Myers in to face Ortiz. But with a 6-2 lead and with an effective Scott Proctor in the game, was it necessary? Bringing in Myers forced the Yankees to go to Vizcaino if Ortiz got on. He did, and in comes bullpen pitcher number 3. That backfired. Vizcaino came in and walked Manny, induced a ground out, and gave up a weak single to Lowell. Why the quick hook? The Yanks had a 2-run lead with 1 down, runners on the corners, and a pretty weak bottom of the lineup coming up. I can see a little bit why you'd change the arm, but why go to Mo. Why not Bruney? I'm not sure what kind of message this send to the bullpen by calling on Mo for a 5-out save. Torre tried to pull a page from Francona's playbook. It backfired.
We've talked before about pinch-running for Giambi and it coming back to bite the Yankees. Michael Kay mentioned on the postgame show that this is the 3rd time Torre has made this move this year, and this is the 3rd time it came back to hurt the Yankees. Is it necessary to pinch-run for Giambi when you have a 6-2 lead? I know every run counts, but I also know that no lead is safe in Fenway. I think we all would have wanted Giambi up against Okajima then Kevin Thompson. That move backfired. I can't find much fault in allowing Thompson to hit. Wil Nieves was on-deck and the Yankees had a better chance with Phelps batting in that spot. But Thompson K's, so now we question it. The only move of Torre's I have trouble with is pinch-running for Giambi. Stop doing it. I can understand the other moves. Like I said, had they worked out, we'd be singing a different tune.
That game was the one to get. That loss hurts. The Yankees needed to win at least one of these 3 games, and on paper, that was our best chance. The pitching matchups in the last 2 are pretty lopsided so the offense may need to do its thing. We've already knocked around Schilling. We can do the same to Beckett and Dice-K.
I agree with Michael Kay. The Yankees can win these games, easily.
J