Swisher's Failed Bunt Attempt

Despite my good fortune of having access to last night's Yankees/Rangers game on My9, I didn't get to watch it. Turns out that the suite the fam and I had wasn't conducive to staying up and watching TV while the kids were in bed. There just wasn't enough room. I got see a couple of the early-mid innings. You know, the ones where Joba and Chad Gaudin looked awful. I didn't get to see the 9th inning comeback but did see the highlights, or should I say lowlights, on TV this morning. I would have loved to have seen that ending but it's probably a good thing I didn't. I would have woken up the fam for sure.

I checked out my fave Yankee blogs this afternoon and saw a lot of comments about Swisher's attempted bunt in the 9th inning. More people were against the bunt attempt that I thought. Personally, I had no problem with it. I definitely see the merits for both viewpoints. But here's what I think. Nick Swisher is a major leaguer. Every major leaguer, regardless of who they are, should be able to drop down a bunt. It's something that should be very easy to do. Swisher should have been able to keep it on the ground. Assuming Swisher gets the bunt down, the Yankees probably have the tying run on 3rd and the winning run on 2nd with 1 out. Conventional wisdom says that the Rangers would have issued a free pass to Melky Cabrera, loading the bases with 1 down and Derek Jeter at the plate. If you're a Yankee fan is there anyone else you'd rather have up in that position? Not me. I'll take Jeter every time. Now let's say they didn't walk Melky, which would have been a good possibility because it's Melky. Who knows what happens there? Texas would likely pull the infield in, making the chances of a double play very slim. Let's say Melky fails in his attempt to bring a runner home. Derek Jeter steps in and gets a shot. I'd be happy with that. Unfortunately, it didn't work out that way and the worst possible outcome happened. Swisher popped out and Melky lined into a game-ending DP lineout.

Again though, I do see the other side of it also. Swisher is very adept at getting on base. He could have worked a walk and loaded the bases with no outs. He's also a .sub-250 hitter with the propensity to strikeout. If you're a betting man, the odds are that Swisher doesn't deliver. A 1 in 4 chance he gets a hit and a 37% chance he gets on base. I have to side with Girardi on this one, assuming he made the call and Swisher didn't do it on his own. Either way, I liked trying to put the winning run on 2nd with 1 out. Swisher apparently needs some bunting practice.

Yanks are currently up 9-2 in the 8th. I think this one is in the bag.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie