Torre’s faith in Damon, Matsui rewarded
Posted by: Peter Abraham - Posted in Misc on Oct 08, 2007 
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The officials in Tampa either don’t notice – or don’t care – about such things. But did you see which two Yankees combined for six hits, four runs scored and four RBI tonight?
Johnny Damon and Hideki Matsui.
The same Johnny Damon who looked finished in May. But Joe Torre kept him involved as the DH then made him a semi-regular left fielder. Damon hit .313/.358/.475 in September and put them on his back tonight.
Matsui is the same guy everybody in the world (including me) wanted benched because of his 15-of-88 slump. But Torre stayed with him and Matsui was on base four times tonight and scored three runs.
People can – and will – discount how a manager handles the personalities on his team. But there are times when it pays to have somebody like Torre in charge.
Don’t think Damon (or anybody else making $13 million) would just happily sit the bench if they’re discarded. That’s not how it works. Juggling all these guys and all their ego is not easy.
Some good A-Rod audio coming soon.
Good work by Clueless Joe handling the Rocket tonight. He took him out at just the right time, I think, and made the right move going to the Franchise.
I disagree with how he’s used Matsui this series. He shouldn’t have played against CC. I like playing him tonight against Westbrook. Hopefully now he’s back on track.
And Damon has been a regular for months, no one thinks he should sit.
Yankees OBLITERATE Byrd AND the Injun bullpen tomorrow…setting up Andy in game 5 against CC, who we WILL drive up his pitch count AND jump on him with some runs early…Yankees win series 3-2 and then bring on the BoChumps !
Phil Hughes Video ( 15 secs.)
http://tinyurl.com/35glkx
Phil thanks YOU, the HEREOS, for showering him support!
Great win. I’m worried about the pen tommorow. I assume no Joba, so joes gonna have to put faith in somebody. Likely, thats Viz for 2 innings.
I hope thats all the innings we need. Come on CMW.
I think we’re all going to realize we took a lot for granted once Joe Torre is gone. Baseball is a game where, from a coaching perspective, strategy often takes a backseat to managing personalities and egos in the clubhouse, and Torre has been among the best at that aspect of managing since he arrived in New York.
I was thinking Torre may pinch hit with Duncan instead of Minky, but the bunt made sense. I also thought he’d pinch run Posada in the eighth with Sardinha, then use Molina in the ninth. All worked out for the Yanks, though.
Pete — Please keep this blog going as much as possible in the offseason. It has been a staple of mine on a daily basis since spring training. I hope you stay a Yanks beat writer for a long time.
Joe Torre Clip (3 mins)
http://tinyurl.com/3e44mz
On Steinbrenner’s insensitive, the ENGERY of the Baby Bombers, and Phil’s _HUGE_ outing.
Over and over this year people on this board called Damon garbage and called Torre an idiot for playing him. Damon was front and center evidence for how stupid Torre is, how he’ll only play veterans, how only the players in his “circle of trust” get on the field.
There must have been hundreds and hundreds of outraged posts saying Damon was over the hill and done and had to be traded.
Same thing recently for Matsui. Many people said Matsui shouldn’t be playing because he was clearly hurt. Because Masuit was hurt and Giambi healthy matsui needed to be benched. Amazing that they know more about Matsui’s health than the Manager and the coaching staff. Yet somehow many, many yankee fans have access to Matsui’s medical records.
Matsui legs didn’t look look too injured tonight did they?
It was clear to so many people at different times during the year that Phelps, Giambi, Wilson Betemit, Shelley Duncan, Brian Bruney, Edwar, etc were clearly, absolutely positively clearly the better options than the guy being played but Torre was just too stupid or set in his ways to see that.
Regardless of what happens, tonights game was a testament to patience and calm. Most managers and teams would have crumbled tonight given the pressure and circus atmosphere. But this team didn’t.
Where are all of the people who wanted Damon traded or benched now? I bet they’re hanging out with all of the people who were demanding ARod be traded after last year’s playoff loss to the tigers.
Johnny D (2:30)
http://tinyurl.com/3c77fl
On fight’n for Torre’s job, responding with our backs on the wall, ARod opening up, and on *The Pride Of The Yankees*
I thought Matsui should have been lifted in the 5th for Giambi with the bases loaded of Game 1 after Posada struck out. Other than that, no complaints with Joe’s use of him. I think Giambi should have played in Game 2 over Doug Alphabet Soup. I was OK with pinch hitting for Big G tonight, I wouldn’t have done it, but no big deal.
Using Joba tonight for 2 was inexcusable and indefensible.
Maybe tomorrow A-Rod will get a bomb (or two) off Byrd? It’s a nice thought, anyways, isn’t it?!
i was at the game tonight – bleachers behind the yankee bullpen – and i’ve got to say, the place was exactly as insane as has been described. this was the first time i’ve ever been to a playoff game at the stadium, so maybe that’s commonplace, but it was unlike any other sporting event i’ve ever attended.
hughes came up huge. joba ran out of steam and shouldn’t, under ANY circumstances, pitch tomorrow.
i know that eight runs makes it seem like the offense finally woke up, but jeter, arod and posada all still look terrible at the plate and need to step it up if they’re going to take this series back to cleveland.
here’s hoping wang is better than he was in game one. then again, i guess he really couldn’t be any worse. scrary feeling when you pin your hopes on wang and/or mussina right now, but it is what it is. if torre matters so much to these guys, then they’ll go out and win tomorrow.
A-Rod had a good night tonight. I think it’s safe to get off the A-Rod hate train and start prodding Jeter and Posada. They don’t get off because they’re our boys.
Bob:
Yeah, I was confused with pinch hitting Doug for Giambi. I thought Duncan made more sense vs. the lefty, but Torre wanted the bunt and Doug’s a good bunter. It made sense.
The yankee bullpen has been the weakness of this team all year. It stinks besides mariano and joba. Viz has a dead arm.
Tonight they won an elimiation game in which they were behind by 3 runs and the bullpen needed to get 19 outs. That’s a remarkable win. Despite that so many people are just making outlandish second guesses because they think they are smarter than the manager.
If you take out Joba and put in Viz or Farnsworth there is a high likelihood of them getting into trouble and needing to bring in mariano early. Farnsworth is just awful and Viz has been very bad in September.
Once Joba comes out of the game there is no one other than mariano who is trustworthy.
Mariano threw 34 pitches his last outing. If he has to throw 30-40 pitches tonight how will be feeling tomorrow?
When you’re down 2-0 you play one game at a time and you win that game.
Hopefully tomorrow they go out and destroy Byrd and wang throws 7-8 strong innings.
Its hard to get over how bitter and how much venom so many yankee fans have. Its a great win and great performance and they hate Torre so much all they can do is second guess moves for which there are no clear right or wrong answers.
The bullpen stinks. That’s the problem. They won an elimation game in which clemens had nothing. Be thankful that they are even playing tomorrow.
Well, Matsui did come through tonight, so I was wrong about that. Now let’s see him come through CONSISTENTLY.
But he has to play Matsui or Damon, so he had no choice but to have faith in one of them.
The problem with Damon is that the Yankees didn’t force him to be on the DL in April. They paid dearly for that mistake for months. No one should take credit for that.
We won today, we can win tomorrow.
LET’S GO YANKEES!
I thought that once the Yanks got those 3 extra runs in the 6th that Torre would send Hughes out there and try to get another inning out of him in the 7th. If it stayed 5-3 Joba was the right move but with the extra runs I thought Hughes could of gave them 1 more. He had only thrown 60 something pithes. Then Joba would of only had to throw 1 inning and be ready for tomorrow. Joba was clearly gassed in the 8th..he had nothing left. So if they need him tomorrow he probably wont have anything. Viz has an arm injury but he would probably be the 1st reliever out in the early inning. Farns has always been a nut in play off games in his career and I dont think Torre trusts him anyway. But hopefully Wang can rebound tomorrow and give them a good game because they should be able to hit Byrd. Arod looked alot better today and more patient. Jeter had no patience and swung at alot of bad pitches but hopefully they will all have confidence tomorrow knowing that they hit well tonight.
Who was the guy back the the day that said “we play today, we win today, da’s it”?
That was Mariano Duncan, right? I can’t remember for sure! I can see his face but i can’t remember for sure if that was him!
Hughes pitched 2 full innings in game 1.
He’s never been a reliever in his life and threw over 50 pitches tonight. Phil has said he has literally never thrown an inning of relief in his career.
How do people know that he could have even pitched another inning?
People criticized using Phil in game 1 given how far down they were but it paid dividends tonight. He got into a playoff game and got his feet wet.
The fundamental problem is that with Viz’s dead arm the bullpen is very, very short.
There are no clear cut right and wrong moves when you have a three man pen and have to play a five game series.
They need Kennedy. Let’s hope he’s healthy and not rusty.
Andrea – yes, mariano duncan. 1996.
Mariano was like the pre-Scott Brosius. He’d been decent enough for most of his career and then was awesome for us.
I agree with you Pete. Perhaps The Yankees would be able to find a manager with a better handle on inning-to-inning strategy (even though I personally think he’s an adequate in-game manager — he did win four World Series after all), but at this level, in this town, and in the American League with the DH, I would much rather have someone like Gentleman Joe who knows how to manage personalities and deflect attention from his players.
The point about Torre’s ability to manage egos is a really good one. How many guys with impressive careers have come thru that clubhouse over the years and accepted a limited role? How many other managers could manage that? For the most storied franchise in this game, in the media capital of the world? the next manager will have his hands full before the game starts.
His bullpen management and in game managing drives many of us nuts. I think it’s time for him to go. I would just like to see him go out with a WS championship and tell George, “thanks for the job offer but no thanks. I’m outta here.”
Yes, Damon and Matsui came up big, but they weren’t the story tonight, to my mind.
The story tonight was the kids: Robinson Cano, Melky Cabrera, Phil Hughes, and Joba Chamberlain.
Hey, I was just glad to see Torre have Jeter bunt (even though he ended up not bunting ,but he showed bunt).
and then Minky just laid one down perfect! we haven’t seen Joe do that in quite a while esp. with a lead!
i bet they come out tonite and just pepper Byrd, pour it on…then they’ll be so scared by Game 5, even with CC – we will have all the momentum!
wonder if CLE fans are pissed Wedge is starting Byrd instead of CC on short rest…anyone know?
I think CC is very averse to pitching on 3 days rest. he did it one time in his life, against the Bosox in the 2001 playoffs and got shelled. And he pitched a full Game 1 of 115 pitches, unlike Wang who is a sinerballer anyway.
He probably also took some comfort that Westbrook helpd the Yankees at bay for the first 3 innings, and he isn’t much better than Byrd. Wit a rested middle relief corps, he is probably just hoping for the same tonight and figuring Byrd isn’t any more of a wildcard than CC on short rest.
Regrading Matsui, I think he is fine against the slopballers but still has no chance and should be benched aganst CC or Carmona.