Question For Joe Girardi: WTF????

Alright. I'm getting a little tired of the strings that Joe Girardi has been pulling lately. Nothing seems to work and he made back-to-back moves tonight that totally made no sense. It all started last night when he left Damaso Marte in to pitch to Marlon Byrd. Marte had walked the bases loaded had thrown 30 pitches in the 9th inning alone. Result: game winning walk-off grand slam. But the moves he made tonight in the 7th inning make were by far a million times worse. Let me recreate the scenario:

Top of the 7th. Texas 5 Yankees 1. Jason Giambi is up with 1 out and runners on 2nd and 3rd. Justin Christian is on deck. Giambi walks. Girardi sends in a pinch runner. That pinch runner is....Pudge Rodriguez? Ok, odd move. Oh wait, here comes a pinch hitter....Melky Cabrera? And Melky, predictably, pops out to short. The rally is now pretty much killed. Those 2 moves made absolutely no sense whatsoever. It's as if Girardi messed up and sent each guy to the wrong place. It would have made more sense to have Melky pinch run and to have Pudge pinch hit. Melky is obviously the faster runner. Pudge is obviously the better hitter. I'm sure Giradi didn't mess it up. I'm sure he put Melky into pinch hit over Pudge because Melky, being a switch hitter, could bat from the left side of the plate against Rupe, a righty. I've never been a fan of trying to play the lefty/righty match-up. The question I want answered is can the guy hit righties? Let's look at the stats:

In 2008, Melky is hitting .253 against RHPs, with an OBP of .301 and a SLG of .655. 265 ABs.
In 2008, Pudge is hitting .293 against RHPs, with an OBP of .332 and a SLG of .435. 239 ABs.

Career: Melky is hitting .272 against RHPs, with an OBP of .331 and a SLG of .391. 1009 ABs.
Career: Pudge is hitting .299 against RHPs, with an OBP of .332 and a SLG of .474. 6428 ABs.

It's pretty clear cut that Pudge hits RHPs better than Melky, wouldn't you say? Am I the only one that thinks Girardi made the wrong move here? No brainer. Justin Christian started over Melky for a reason? And it has nothing to do with the Rangers' starter being a lefty. It's because Melky sucks right now. How the heck did Joe Girardi win the Manager Of The Year Award? Aargh! WTF?

I started typing this post during the bottom of the 7th. When the inning started it was 5-2 Texas. Brian Bruney came in and it was quickly 8-2. But Richie Sexson just went yard. Grand Salami style. 8-6 Rangers. That makes Girardi's moves a little easier to swallow, but he's still horrible. Thatta boy Richie. If anybody heard John Sterling's HR call, let me know what it was. I'm dying to know. I'm pulling for "Richie Sexson. Sexson time! It's niiiice." Done of course in the voice of Borat. Yeah, doubt that happened. No doubt it's something really dumb.

Melky's up. Gee I wonder what's going to happen? Wow. Hit by the pitch. Didn't see that coming. He still sucks. Damon just missed tying up the game by a few feet. So close. Jeter leads off the 9th unless Girardi decides that putting in a pitcher to pinch hit is a better option. It wouldn't surprise me. Hey, at least Jeter can't ground into a DP.

The Yankee pitching staff has been less than stellar lately. For the most part, they've been awful. Except of course for my boy Moose. He's the man. I didn't think Pettitte pitched horribly, but he was far from good. Really far. That makes 2 straight cruddy outings for AP. Can't remember the last time I used the word "cruddy." But that's what AP was. AP has to be better than that. Especially with Joba's status up in the air. Andy has always been a better 2nd half pitcher. So far, not so good. He was on a tear there for a while but has digressed over his last 2 outings. In his last 2 outings, 10.1 IPs, 17 hits, 14 ER, ERA about 12.20.

The bullpen has also been cruddy lately. They were absolutely lights out until they ran into the Orioles. Counting tonight, in their last 9 games, collectively the bullpen has throw 29.2 IPs, has given up 32 hits, yielded 21 walks, and allowed 26 earned runs, ERA about 7.89. And it's been a different culprit every night too. They've got to turn it around. They're better than this. We've seen it.

Leadoff walk by Jeter. Abreu gets caught looking on a full count. The pitch looked pretty darn good to me. You have to swing if it's close. Who does Bobby Abreu think he is? Carlos Beltran? A-Rod is now battling, down 1-2 and has fouled off a few pitches. Come on Alex. And it's 5-4-3 around the horn DP. How fitting. The 4th DP the Yankees offense hit into tonight. Man they blew this game.

And it all starts with the skipper. WTF Joe? WTF?

Sox won. Rays won. What a cruddy night.

I'll be back tomorrow with more.

J-Boogie