Comments on: ALCS Game 5: Yankees at Angels (Part III)

By: Ororo

Ororo — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 12:36:52 +0000

Girardi is a complete failure in these playoffs.

By: fenway

fenway — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 10:53:25 +0000

You fans should leave your swisher alone. He made a scrapbook at the start of the year didn’t he?
And he smiles.
Those are intangibles.

By: Bo Knows

Bo Knows — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 07:07:09 +0000

The idea with PR for Alex is to tie the game first. You leave Guzman at first because they were holding him on. With a Lefty hitting, it opens up RF. Girardi made good moves all game. Everyone was squawking for Hughes – they got Hughes, they squawked for Joba – they got Joba, etc ad infinitum, ad nauseum. Swisher has been swinging for the fences all playoffs, looking for FBs and looking bad. He finally got a FB and overswung again. All he needs is a dinkum single and Mo is waiting. Sciosca gave us the runs by pulling his starter and that was great for us. No one is calling him an idiot. These are two well matched teams.

Yankee fans eh? Frankly I doubt it.

By: Clipper

Clipper — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 06:00:58 +0000

I am Sorry but Joe Girardi is the main reason the team Blew it! Here’s my points.

- 7th inning, you don’t send AJ back to the mound after almost 30 minutes [without stretching - Did you see CC stretching a few times while waiting on Tuesday? - Well, AJ did nothing] getting Stiff.

- Game on the line, 9 outs away from getting to the WS…. Please surprise and SHOCK the world bringing MO in the 7th. I can guarantee that would ended up killing them [that is streategy] Let MO get the 7th & 8th and watch the pitch count if he’s around 20 bring him back to finish the game, if he’s @ 30 bring back to close the game Dave Robertson.

- Neither Phil Hughes or Joba are having a good Postseason, please Stop using them in key situations, they looked completely in PANIC!

- DO NOT PINCH RUN FOR A-ROD!!! What are you doing? besides that, Guzman did not even try to steal second, so what’s the logic to that substitution?

- Last but not least, please, please, please PINCH HIT FOR SWISHER, Jerry Hairston was more suitable to hit a line drive 10 times, before Swish gets a hit. I am Sorry, but with the game on the line and having already Swish missed in the 7th, you just have to remove him.

Overall, very, very, very poor managing by Joe Girardi. He just don’t have a feeling for what the game calls for, and that is hurting the team so bad.

Also, where’s the bench coach??? Tony Peña is not even near Girardi when he has to take critical decisions, only Eiland is right next to him. Please Somebody Slap Girardi and tell him to wake up!

By: lil' m

lil' m — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 05:03:21 +0000

bodhisattva: It’s strange, because in the dynasty days, Joe T used Mo for 2 innings without hesitation because he was (and is) the best pitcher in the pen if not the game. And who can forget game 7 of the 2003 ALCS when Mo went three scoreless innings before Aaron Boone did his thing? I’ll bet Casey Stengel, about whom I admittedly don’t know a whole lot, would have put Mo in as soon as they got the lead and slammed the door shut on the Angels. Who knows, he might even have had Mo go three to close out the game. To paraphrase a line from the movie “Bulworth”, you find an edge, you gotta exploit it. I’m not into sports other than baseball, but if there’s any greater edge in American sports than Mariano Rivera in the postseason, I’ve never heard of it. One day maybe someone will be brave enough to make that move and win. In the meantime, we’d all best pray that the Yankees lay the smackdown on the Angels this Saturday. Wipe that smile right off their faces and move on to dethrone the defending world champs lol.

By: The Ghost

The Ghost — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 04:45:29 +0000

one other thing about the 7th – the place is an absolute mad-house at that point – hardened veterans have folded under that kind of heat – all the more reason to bring the coolest pitcher on earth to face down the pressure against the heart of the lineup.

By: The Ghost

The Ghost — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 04:42:22 +0000

migs wrote:

I almost threw something at the TV when he brought in Mo in the 8th with 2 guys on and the Yankees already down a run. It was too late at that point!

———–

don’t you just love how managers do this? Do you know why? Because no one ever second guesses that move. Just once I’d like to see a manager go to his closer with the game on the line in the 7th. You use your best pitcher when the game is on the line, it shouldn’t matter if it’s the 7th 8th or 9th. It boggles my mind how many games could be saved in this fashion yet no one in baseball will even attempt it. Not even teams that are out of the race in September.

By: bodhisattva - Destiny Wears Pinstripes

bodhisattva - Destiny Wears Pinstripes — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 04:40:54 +0000

lil’ m,

The closer-in-the-9th indoctrination just can’t be overcome.

Again, those people screaming about Mo needs to be saved for the 9th?

Where did they go?

And where did the 9th go?

Both seem to have disappeared…

By: lil' m

lil' m — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 04:37:31 +0000

One more thing: bodhisattva, AGREED about bringing in Mo in when it started to unravel in the 7th. Hold the lead for 2 and maybe the offense even gives a cushion to D-Rob or whoever they bring in the ninth. Or not, but still, you’ve got a 2 run lead and maybe Phil or Robertson could have held that. It’s the postseason, if you have to go outside the box, go for it. Easy for me to say, of course, but the Yankees had a chance to step on the neck of a demoralized opponent from whom they had stolen a lead, win the game and move on to the World Series. The worst that could have happened would have been a loss. After all, don’t they always say if you’re going to get beaten, you want it to be with your best pitch or your best pitcher? If it had been one inning later when this happened, wouldn’t Joe have gone straight to Mo?

By: bodhisattva - Destiny Wears Pinstripes

bodhisattva - Destiny Wears Pinstripes — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 04:35:27 +0000

Wave Your Hat
October 23rd, 2009 at 12:29 am
bodh and miggs-
Outside of a game 7, you just aren’t going to see Mo coming into the seventh. I know that’s the approved move under the most modern baseball theory, but managers who would do it are few and far between.
====

You’re right Wave – right that managers who would do it are few and far between.

Here, it made ultimate sense. Coming off the off day, and looking at five days rest until the WS.

And it doesn’t mean Mo has to pitch through the ninth, not that he couldn’t, but we might have tacked on and Girardi could have worked backwards.

I know formula rules the day – I just emphatically don’t agree with it.