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Tonight's loss to the Angels has me so frustrated. I had to go to the store to pick up a few things right after the game and the whole time I was there I kept uttering some not so nice things under my breath while shaking my head in disbelief. Tonight's loss was purely on Joe Girardi and his over-managing of the Yankees' bullpen. What he did in the 11th, pulling Robertson for Aceves, made absolutely no sense whatsoever. Even if it worked out it was a horrible move. I think there was only one person out there who thought it made sense and that was Joe Girardi. As soon as the move was made the entire Yankee "Twitterverse" was questioning the move. I got several text messages questioning the move. It made sense to no one. I'm still ticked about it. The guys over at Nomaas had the perfect tweet. It read, "When Tim McCarver actually makes sense, you know you made an idiotic move." If you're familiar with McCarver, you know he's often wrong and makes no sense. Even he questioned the move as soon as it happened. Un-friggin-believable. It was stupid, stupid, stupid.
Girardi said he made the move because he liked the matchup better with Aceves facing Kendrick. Robertson in his career had faced Kendrick twice. Aceves had never faced him. How can you think an Aceves/Kendrick matchup is more favorable than a Robertson/Kendrick matchup when Acevss has never faced him? It doesn't make any sense. Aceves and Robertson are both righties so it's not like there was an advantage of having one over the other. I can see it if Robertson was struggling and had thrown a lot of pitches but he was pitching well and retired the first 2 batters on only 11 pitches. He certainly had some gas left in the tank. It was a very short-sighted move. It was a tie game. The Yankees had lost the DH. If Aceves happens to get out of the inning and then the Yankees don't score, then what? The only RP left was Chad Gaudin. In a situation like that you have to prepare for the long haul. You can't pull RPs like that and leave yourself short-handed. It was stupid, stupid, stupid.
But that wasn't Girardi's only boneheaded move. He brought in Damaso Marte, a lefty, to pitch to one hitter. Marte threw one pitch for the 3rd out of the inning. The Yankees didn't score in their half of the inning and Girardi brought in Phil Coke, a lefty, to start the inning. Why wouldn't they just keep Marte out there since they were both lefties? Instead they burned through a reliever that could have helped them out later. It was stupid, stupid, stupid.
Girardi definitely over-managed this game. If the Angels come back and win the series those boneheaded moves are going to seve as the turning point. Girardi's idiotic moves though weren't the only reasons why the Yankees lost. The offense, despite their 4 solo HRs, was horrible. Mark Teixeira went 0-3 and lowered his postseason average to .077. He's a had a few big hits but he needs to step it up.
The worst though is without a doubt, Nick "The Rally Killer" Swisher. Is there anyone worse than Swisher when it comes to hitting with guys on base? I don't think so. He was horrible in the regular season. He's horrible in the postseason. Here are his regular season numbers in different situations:
- With runners on: .246.
- With RISP: .227.
- With RISP and 2 outs: .163.
- With the bases loaded: .158.
That's pitiful. Here's how he's done in the postseason (I pulled these from the game logs)
- With runners on: 1-7, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 4 K
- With RISP: 0-4, 3 K
- With RISP and 2 outs: 0-1, 1 K
- With the bases loaded: 0-2, 2 K
That's why I call him "The Rally Killer." He's the last guy I want up with runners on base. I'd almost rather see Brett Gardner get a start over Swisher. I'm about 50/50 on that one. I have no faith in Swisher whatsoever.
It would have been nice to steal this game and take a 3-0 lead in the series. It would have been all but over. Now it's 2-1 Yankees and they're still in a good position. CC Sabathia pitches tomorrow on short rest. I'm expecting him to continue with the good pitching. The team is pitching very well and CC's the ace of the staff. He can handle the short rest. CC needs to pitch deep into the game. The longer he pitches the better. It's really the only way to ensure Joe Girardi doesn't make any more stupid moves. He's already cost the team one game. We don't need him to cost them another one. A little offense wouldn't hurt either.
Peace, love and Pinstripes,
J-Boogie
5 comments:
This Red Sox fan actually feels sorry for Yanqui fans after watching Girardi's mental meltdown.
The stupidest: Putting the DH into the game in the outfield, forcing the pitcher to hit and be subject to being pulled for a pinch hitter when he still had something left.
Duh. If you think your DH is better defensively than you left fielder, why on God's green earth isn't the DH in the lineup and the left fielder serving as DH? You make that switch on the basis of a potential throw? When the pitcher is throwing ground balls?
As stupid a managing stint as I have ever seen. And I saw Ralph Houk.
Monumental stupidity.
Mariano should have been pitching the bottom of the 11th, not Robertson or Aceves.
There was no point to pinch hit for him in the top of the inning - there were already two outs, and if Mo strikes out, you open the 12th with Tex, ARod, Matsui.
And, while more debatable, I'm not even sure if the Hairston for Damon move made sense. You're not going to throw out Abreu at the plate anyway. And if you accidentally get out of the inning (which they did), the lineup is a mess.
Nat- Thanks man. These guys definitely need to get called out on it when they do such bineheaded things. His answer to the question about in the postgame interview was pretty weak. It made no sense.
Grady - You've been there so you definitely can feel our pain. The Yankees seem to be a fan of losing the DH spot. Have been since Torre was there. I can see benefits to it at times, but only when winning or in certain key situations. The move definitely weakened the lineup.
Dan- Stupid, stupid, stupid is right. It could end up costing them the series.
Tim- all valid points. It was a total mental meltdown on Girardi's part. One bad move after another. hope it doesn't cost them the series. Good teams hould be able to rise above it, assuming of course the manager stops getting in the way.
Your so right. shame on girardi. he has def made the most stupid pitching change of the post season with Aceves. funny thing is that when they asked him about the move in the conference he tried to change subject and they had to ask him again. he then tried to make light of it. The JERK. hope he has nightmares about it forever.
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