Did Eric Wedge wake up yet?
Posted by: Peter Abraham - Posted in Misc on Apr 19, 2007 
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I understand Cleveland is more concerned with LeBron. But how does Eric Wedge keep his job?
You HAVE to walk Alex Rodriguez in that spot. Have to. First base is open and having the bases loaded doesn’t matter. You lose on a hit anyway.
In Wedge’s defense, Jason Giambi is 3 for 5 against Joe Borowski with two home runs. But with how Alex is swinging the bat, you can’t let him hit there.
Cleveland is one of those teams you think should be good and then you watch them play and realize they aren’t.
either walk AROD and bring in a lefty, or pitch to AROD and go to the pen, borowski was completely lost out there
No, man, walking Alex wasn’t the right thing to do either. So then you have the bases loaded with Giambi up, a lefty, against righty Borowski, with the bases loaded. Giambi, who has the best eye in the Yankee lineup, would probably walk to tie the game. You had to pitch to A-Rod. And that’s the beauty of protection.
Its the primacy and recency theory at work Pete. Wedge just looks at what Giambi did today (2B and HR) and completely blows it by not walking ARod.
I agree, you walk ARod in that situation. However, because Giambi’s day is what’s fresh in Wedge’s mind, he makes the cardinal mistake in that situation and it costs him the game.
I agree I said the same thing to my brother when I was on the phone with him. You have to walk Arod in that situation, his run means nothing you get a force at each base, face the “lesser of two evils” in Giambi. I can here the phone ringing in Buck Sholwalter’s office.
Loading the bases is meaningless in that situation. The only runs that matter are the guys that are on third and second.
It doesn’t matter how good Giambi’s eye is, you don’t pitch to the hottest guy in baseball with a base open. How do you know Giambi is going to walk? Just because he has a good eye?
With the way ARod is going right now, what is more likely to happen? ARod gets a hit in that situation or Giambi walks?
Its a no brainer, he should have walked ARod. Thankfully, he didn’t.
THANK YOU. I said the same thing earlier.
“Cleveland is one of those teams you think should be good and then you watch them play and realize they aren’t.”
LMAO.
BTW does anyone know how Mad Dog reacted? I heard he was PISSED.
A-Rod wasn’t hitting today. Giambi was.
Regardless, leaving Borowski in there was inexcusable.
This is what I mean when I write about how Abeu and Giambi mean so much to Rodriguez. When Sheff and Matsui went down last season, it changed a lot in that lineup and Alex fell into some bad habits and wild swings.
Now he he gets pitches and he hammers them. Obviously he’s doing the job but who hits in front of and behind a player means a lot.
Agreed. You cannot let A-Rod beat you in that spot. Of course, I’m very happy that he did!
He should have at least not given arod anything to hit. If i remember correctly, the ball was right in arod’s wheelhouse.
Lets face it, If they did walk arod and Giambi walked or got a hit, would we have 2nd guessed walking arod? My vote is no.
can we get some arod audio
It’s a no brainer to walk A Rod. The bottom line is that you are better off not pitching to the hottest player in the game. Sure you hate to have to pitch to Giambi but its a much better scenario than pitching to A Rod.
Peter –
I think the injuries to Sheffield and Matsui set Alex up for his stressing out, possibly thinking that he had to be Superman. Now he relaxes, and actually does super things because he is more relaxed. As he said on Michael Kay’s ESPN show (listened on the car radio), “see the ball and hit it”, instead of thinking too much. A lot of us make the same mistake in life.
Giambi was having a more productive game at bat, at that point, and that may have been what Wedge was thinking about. But Alex is clearly the hottest hitter in baseball to date, even if he was hitless in the game. Also, he should have taken Borowski out at that point. He was torched, and just trying to get the ball over the plate. A perfect situation for Alex to just “see the ball, hit the ball.”
WOW I just heard Sterlings call. I thought he was gonna collapse. And I LOOOOVE when Francessa gloats LOL
LC, where did you hear sterling’s call? I definitely need to catch up to that
Peter –
How much do you attribute the thinking Cleveland is a good team when they aren’t to Wedge? He seems like such a book guy, i.e. Giambi having a good game so pitch to A-Rod. They didn’t get much pitching the first two nights but they didn’t do much to make their own luck either, even today. That sixth inning rally died, in part, because they weren’t aggressive on the basepaths and Skinner almost did the same thing in the seventh.
I’m going to play devil’s advocate here, and say that pitching to A-Rod would have allowed Borowski to try to get him to chase more pitches off the plate, without having to worry about walking in the winning run.
Unfortunately, Borowski wasn’t doing well enough to really warrant that approach, but it makes some sense, at least.
Meant to say tying run, not winning run.
Edit button please?
“Cleveland is one of those teams you think should be good and then you watch them play and realize they aren’t.”
Quote of the season!!!!! Pete you do have a way with words.
Leaving Borowski in there was like channeling Grady Little.
“Cleveland is one of those teams you think should be good and then you watch them play and realize they aren’t.�
I predicted them to finish at .500 (if I may quote myself). They have good hitters, but their line-up isn’t so spectacular as to overcome their overrated pitching. Detroit and Chicago have stronger rotations, and perhaps even Minnesota.
Enjoy A-Rod. You know he is gonna walk after this year. Funny how on his “walk” year he is starting this hot and is relaxed, and is having fun. What a phony.
Why should Wedge lose his job? Torre still has his, year after year making the same mistakes…
A-Rod’s walk-offs are hiding the fact that clueless is using his bullpen more than any other team in the major leagues. Why did he pull Rasner in the fifth? Did he really need to use 5 relievers and have Rivera throwing in the bullpen? Why can’t Posada get a full day off??
Bit of advice, feel free to ignore it, but you should really activate html, so people can use italics or create hyperlinks so they don’t stretch the blog (or don’t look crazy, like I did when I tried to link to this http://chrisv82.blogspot.com/2.....tions.html)
In the 7th inning – I said this:
sunny615 April 19th, 2007 at 3:43 pm
time for another walk off.
I think I should get a booby prize or something!
(http://yankees.lhblogs.com/200...../#comments)
stewman,
On Mike and the Mad Dog.
A-Rod is just hot. I don’t care who is in front or behind him. He is the king!
I am going to start my keep Arod in NY and no opting out website soon if this keeps up.
Wedge certainly deserves his job, he’s one of the best in the game.
Bad call pitching to A-Rod though.
What a GREAT ninth inning, it made my day.
GO YANKEES
Yankees Encore begins at 7 p.m. tonight. The game lasted 3 hours and 36 minutes, so probably around 10 p.m. would be a good time to tune in for the final inning. Maybe a bit before, if they do any cutting. (I know when they replay the game in the morning, they edit if the game is too long.)
Congratulations Yankee fans, what a classic comeback. I had the pleasure of listening to it in the car driving home from work. Best part was Mike and the Mad Dog were watching too and the reactions were great. For the record, they said they should take out Borowski and even if they didn’t walk A Rod. Man that was great. Now on to Beantown.
Doreen, I think they always edit the game down to around 2.5 hours.
We also can’t forget Bruney’s big inning – getting out of a basesloaded no out jam. that was BIG.
I sometimes have to question the literacy of certain people when they continue to make such absurd allegations.
I’ve been a reader of Pete’s blog for a year and I don’t recall Pete ever spitting venom at A-Rod or dissing his talent on the field.
The only thing I recall Pete stating is that A-Rod can be a very strange individual at times because he says a lot of odd things to make you shake your head and tends to rub fans the wrong way.
I don’t consider that ripping the guy’s talent and A-Rod is notorious for saying odd things during interviews. That isn’t any new revelation.
And secondly, just because Pete is a Patriots fan, that doesn’t make him a Red Sox fan too.
Its pick your poison in that spot for Wedge. Giambi and A Rod are both hot hitters and Giambi absolutely shreds Borowski.
Tough to blame Wedge for having his closer blow a 4 run, 2 out lead.
Lost in all this is that Sean Henn got the win, his first win in the majors. When was the last time a team or the Yankees had 3 straight rookies get their first wins? Peter, anyone?
Anaconda: Thanks for your post. It’s very weird how the success of the team brings out the hatred in some people. As I’ve said, and you’ve said, it’s just baseball and it should be fun. people take it so personally.
The good news is that several bizarre posts with obscenities were blocked. The new filter seems to be working.
Cleveland is (was) #1 on ESPN’s Power Rankings too….Ha!!
Regardless if Arod opts out I think the Yankees need to pay him if he ends up with MVP numbers at the end of the year and extend his contract. Who knew? He looks so relaxed and seems like a different person. Granted this start helps.
Good for him, I grew tired of his fake quotes but he seems to be just letting it fly and being himself. Its working
When I left the house the Yankees were down 5-2. On the way home our espnradio affiliate was carrying the Giants/Cardinals game. (speaking of-how bad do the Cardinals suck? they got swept in SF)
So the commentator’s doing the out of town scoreboard. Starts with, “Yankees have a roaring bottom of the 9th scoring 6 to beat Cleveland after being down 6-2. The last 3 of those came on a homerun by…(he pauses for effect)…Alex Rodriguez. Who was the commentator? None other than Yankee hater, Hall of Famer John Miller. I loved it!! Of course I was shocked that they won, and more shocked that A-rod did it yet again. What a way to roll into Boston.
I think it was the right thing to pitch to A-Rod in that situation. A-Rod didn’t look that good at the plate in his first 4 AB’s while Giambi already hit a HR today and every one of his AB’s of the past few days has been a good one. Also Giambi has great stats against Borowski and Cleveland had already used there lone lefty.
Going righty/righty was the right thing to do here in my opinion.
What Wedge maybe should’ve done was take out Borowski for Hernandez after the walk to Damon.
Pete,
Don’t let it bother you. Some Yankee fans, like with most teams, are the most pathetic human beings on the face of the planet. Nothing is good enough and they hate every player and manager accept those they think are “real Yankees”.
They are worthless and not worth the time to worry about.
” First base is open and having the bases loaded doesn’t matter. You lose on a hit anyway.”
wrong.
what about a walk to Giambi?
you can argue it either way.
pitching to A-Rod with 1st base open was debatable. but you pitch him CAREFULLY. you don’t throw an 88 MPH fastball (look at the big screen in center field on the replay of the HR) down the middle.
you try to get him to chase something. and if you walk him, you walk him.
but to me what was inexcusable was not bringing in another pithcer. HR, 1B, BB, 1B, 1B…do you think Borowski was done??
Question is, did Wedge have anybody else? His bullpen logged a lot of innings in this series and (I don’t have his roster handy right now), he may not have had anybody else.
Off the top of my head, I think only Roberto Hernandez could have been available today. I think the other guys were either used or gassed from the last two nights.
Al you guys stop dissin Pete.
Without him we ain’t bloggin out here.
Jeff NJ: Great point!
SJ44: Thanks. But we’re working out OK here. I think most of the sociopaths have figured out they’re not welcome here with the adults. I find it funny that some people celebrate Alex hitting a home run by giving me a hard time. Just enjoy your team. The funny part is that every time I ask somebody to call me or take it up with me personally, I never hear from them again.
Just part of the job I guess.
Pete,
Its always the way it is. Sadly, while the internet is a great communicative tool (this blog is living proof of it), it does breed a sector of cyberspace “tough guys”.
They will never take you up on a personal meeting because that would take a level of courage and character you can’t find in cyberspace.
As hot as A Rod is teams have been making him beat them and now hes doing it.
kasey
April 19th, 2007 at 4:42 pm
nah. abreu flies out.
kasey
April 19th, 2007 at 4:43 pm
or abreu single.
how big is that unearned run in the top of the 9th now
Kasey: Great musician, not so good fan… I am SOOOO glad you were wrong by a million miles…
“but to me what was inexcusable was not bringing in another pithcer. HR, 1B, BB, 1B, 1B…do you think Borowski was done??”
exactly.
i’m a fan of the guy, but with an era over 5 so far and the inning going the way it was, can you really put that much faith into him?
I know it’s early in the year. But, I seem to be the only guy pumped up in Ohio
So Peter, Who would you rather have Borowski or (The cardiac closer)Wickman in that roll? My point, Cleveland has done nothing to address the closer roll. Wedge in my opinion is over his head. He is like a buddy to his players not a Manager. The only time he steps up is when the papers say his job is in trouble.
You are right Peter they look pretty good on paper and then you see them play…
personally, i think (and hope) borowski’s just off to a slow start.
and not that it’s much, but they did try to bring in foulke this season before he announced retirement…
Nice!
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