Not much relief in Yankees bullpen
Posted by: Sam Borden - Posted in Misc on Oct 29, 2009 
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There were lots of questions for pitching coach Dave Eiland after last night’s game, many of them having to do with assorted Yankees relievers. Who pitches when has become a hot topic, but the truth is that few of the Yankees top arms – other than Mariano Rivera and, amazingly, Damaso Marte – have been consistently good.
Phil Hughes, in particular, has struggled and Hughes seemed to be upset with plate ump Gerry Davis as he walked off the mound. “I think he was trying to be too fine,” Eiland said of Hughes. “Instead of just attacking, he was trying to be too fine. Instead of being in attack mode, he was pitching maybe – I’ll stop short of timid – but he was trying to be too fine.”
Later, Eiland did use the word “timidness” in describing how several of his young relievers may have been handling their first World Series appearances. With one game down, let’s take a quick look at the state of the Yankees bullpen:
Chad Gaudin: Unavailable yesterday (and possibly tonight) after being stretched out Tuesday.
Alfredo Aceves: Has allowed four hits and three earned runs in 2 1/3 postseason innings.
Brian Bruney: Didn’t play in first two rounds; allowed three hits and two runs in 1/3 of an inning last night.
Phil Coke: Two hits, one walk, two strikeouts in two total postseason innings.
Damaso Marte: Has not allowed hit or walk to last six batters faced.
Dave Robertston:3 1/3 innings, three hits, one un-intentional walk this postseason.
Joba Chamberlain: Has given up hits to seven of 17 batters faced this postseason.
Phil Hughes: Has allowed five runs, nine hits and four walks in 4 2/3 playoff innings this year.
Mariano Rivera: Still the greatest of all time.
Girardi might need to take a closer look at Robertson in the 8th inning. There’s no time to let a pitcher work his way out of a funk in the playoffs.
Damaso Marte, second best Yankee reliever right now. Whoda thunk it? I’m sure he still isn’t trusted, but who is right now? It’s almost at the point of praying for the starter to go 7 or 7+ with the lead, and give it to Mariano.
But, looking at Marte, with a good hard fastball, nice breaking pitch, and a delivery that looks a little deceptive, at least, it is hard to see why he isn’t more effective than he is. It seems like, even as a veteran, he keeps getting chances based on what people think he should be, instead of what he actually produces. That said, he could end up being crucial in this series with Hughes and the others struggling, and key outs that will be needed against the Philly lefties.
7th: Coke/Marte & Joba
8th: Robertson
9th: Mo
Many of the bullpen guys are very young and inexperienced. Hopefully last night gets some of the jitters out of the way. Hughes will be fine if he goes back to attack mode. They all need to remember they have a great defense behind them.
Mark you’re absolutely right. The bullpen was supposed to be one of our biggest strengths coming into the post season. They’ve failed miserably. We need our starters to go at least 7 and hope we can bridge a SMALL gap to Rivera.
These WHIPs are NOT good.
P Hughes 2.79
J Chamberlain 2.10
D Robertson 1.80
A Aceves 3.00
P Coke 1.50
D Marte 1.00
B Bruney 9.00
I would guess that each step along the post-season way is responsible for a new set of jitters.
Bottom line: Yankees need to hit with RISP…..Do you start Gardner in center tonight, and bench Swish?
Girardi will lose more games with his inept handling of the bullpen…..Marte was pitching fine – why take him out – Phil Hughes should not see another batter in the post-season – he’s been terrible – why would you bring Robertson in with men on base when he hasn’t pitched in forever???? and Bruney – not sure if he will EVER be capable again….kudos to Lee for last night – if the offense took the bats off their shoulders and swung at the 1st pitch strikes Lee was throwing, they might have had some hits…and somebody better watch what the tendency is of the Philly pitchers – if they’re going to come after the “vaunted” Yankee offense, the offense better start swinging at the strikes…..
Robbykid
October 29th, 2009 at 9:41 am
Bottom line: Yankees need to hit with RISP
***********
That wasn’t the problem last night as there were no runners in scoring position until the 9th inning.
“Do you start Gardner in center tonight, and bench Swish?”
If he is going to get a start, tonight is the night. He won’t start against the lefties, and Blanton is the type of pitcher Swisher should do well against. Against, Pedro, however, Swisher has nearly no chance. Pedro will give him nothing to pull, I think, and at this stage he seems to be looking to jerk one out to get going. Maybe Gardner bunting once or twice to make Pedro move around can be a good thing.
People forget that Marte was a very good closer with the Pirates. I know that there is a big difference between the AL and the NL, but nevertheless Marte is no stiff despite his struggles with the Yankees.
Swisher has to sit tonight. His bat is dead, and the result is either a strikeout or popup at best. I would love to see Hinskie in there against Pedro tonight.
The Yankees will bounce back tonight. This team has come through all year long in must win situations.
Hope everyone has had a good nights sleep and the ledge and bridge jumpers are off the edge. The Yankees a great team. The Phillies are WS Champs. They are going to make the Yankees earn the WS Championship. We will come back. If we don’t well we met a great team that also got very hot. No-one choked last night. Girardi didn’t mismanage. Things just didn’t go our way.
Let’s hope tonight is a different story. Remember this is a team that came from behind all season long!
Comet
Erin
What about Jeter’s double with 2 outs?
Here’s a positive stat:
The last two teams to have a player with a multi-homer Game 1 against the Yankees in the WS ended up losing it (Vaughn ’98, Jones ’96)
“Mission 427 you are very mistaken if you think the Phillies won’t pitch Lee in 3 games. My guess is they go Pedro, Hamels, Lee, ?, ?, Lee”
You think so? The impression I’ve gotten is that they will use a fourth starter. I think the pitching coach indicated that in an interview for the Baseball Today podcast. Obviously that can change, but with Lee having never started on short rest (or so I’ve heard) I just question them lining him to start twice on short rest.
Mark in Tampa, Hairston is 10 for 27 in his career against Pedro. I’d hazard to guess that Joe’s book is screaming at him to start Hairston in right.
Robbykid
October 29th, 2009 at 9:46 am
Erin
What about Jeter’s double with 2 outs?
******
You’re right-my bad. I totally forgot about that!
The fact that Manuel left Lee in the game with a 6-0 lead and finished with 122 pitches tells me two things: He is scared to death of his bullpen, and any chance of Lee going on 3 days rest is out of the question.
Ya know, I’m not entirely worried about last night on the whole. This is the world series. You are going to run up against the other best team in baseballs ace and if you are gunna loose a game, thats gunna be the one. I just have a feeling the Yanks will be able to handle Hamels and Pedro because both are essentially national league pitchers. Lee is an American League talent in the NL. What did worry me was how easily the Phils dug into the Yankees bullpen. Hopefully these guys can bounce back into mid-season form. If they keep putting up performances like last night, we’re going to need to score a lot of runs to make up for it.
Ghost,
That is a definite possibility also.
Stop blaming Girardi! Marte was in to face the 2 lefties. Robertson was in to face Werth. He walked him and had to face Ibaneaz. Nothing wrong with Girardi’s decision. Everyone’s darling, Robertson, just didn’t deliver.
Mark in Tampa:
I think Manuel left Lee in the game so he could net a World Series complete game shut-out.
I expect to see Lee back on short rest.
Robbykid October 29th, 2009 at 9:41 am
Bottom line: Yankees need to hit with RISP…..Do you start Gardner in center tonight, and bench Swish?
—-
Although I’d like to see Gardner I think it will be Hairston who is 10/27 career against pedro… I think Hairston will be starting somewhere so unless it’s at 2B he’ll most likely be in left. I’d like to see Gardner Hairston and Hinske in over Cabrera Cano and Swisher.
Keep on believing people.
When you win games in the post-season, you tend to overlook bad performances. When you lose, you have to make adjustments.
If you don’t, you lose series.
Girardi has to get Swisher out of the lineup. He has hit 6 balls out of the infield the entire post-season.
Don’t give me the “small sample size” argument.
The post-season is all about small sample sizes.
The fact is, you can’t have a guy that lost at the plate in the lineup everyday.
Tonight is the night to play Gardner in CF and Melky in RF.
Hughes? He hasn’t pitched well the entire post-season.
Probably a combination of fatigue and nerves.
Meaning, you pull him from the 8th inning role.
This is the World Series and you are facing the defending champs. A VERY good team, despite the pleas otherwise from the cheerleaders on this blog.
Make adjustments or do down quickly in this series. That’s Girardi’s challenge this evening.
The Ghost October 29th, 2009 at 9:48 am
Here’s a positive stat:
The last two teams to have a player with a multi-homer Game 1 against the Yankees in the WS ended up losing it (Vaughn ‘98, Jones ‘96)
—
Yankees also won that Game 1 in 1998, they swept.
Doreen, I disagree about Phil not facing the media. It’s not ok to face them when things are going well, but avoid them when they aren’t. He’s normally very mature and poised and always accountable, but now he’s acting extremely immature. I’m disappointed in him – he needs to man up and face the music no matter how badly he’s pitching. He will not earn any points with fans, the media or his teammates if he isn’t accountable.
This offense is MIA and I don’t know if they will come back (by the way, Tex is not getting any heat and he’s had a BAD post-season – I find that odd).
I still blame the AJ/Molina thing on Joe. AJ pitches fine to Jorge, but Joe is extremely stubborn. Once he gets something in his mind (that AJ needs a crutch, in this case), he won’t let go (even though this lineup desperately needs Jorge).
Robertson delivered a good pitch. Ibanez just found a hole. That’s good hitting.
Hughes walking the first 2 guys in the inning was the killer.
That can’t happen and Girardi can’t risk using him in that situation again in this series.
Like I said, make adjustments or lose. That’s what the post-season is all about.
The Phillies, unlike the Angels and Twins, aren’t going to make the kind of mistakes that blow games.
They are rock solid in the makeup department, which makes them a very challenging team.
Alex wrote: Stop blaming Girardi! Marte was in to face the 2 lefties. Robertson was in to face Werth. He walked him and had to face Ibaneaz. Nothing wrong with Girardi’s decision. Everyone’s darling, Robertson, just didn’t deliver.
—
What he said.
I love reading SJ’s posts. He seems to be one of the few people on these boards that actually understand the game of baseball.
quote:
These WHIPs are NOT good.
P Hughes 2.79
J Chamberlain 2.10
D Robertson 1.80
A Aceves 3.00
P Coke 1.50
D Marte 1.00
B Bruney 9.00
_______________________
Ouch, those are indeed brutal, and especially shocking given how well most of those guys pitched during the season.
Question: is it all the days off? Regular relievers must become rusty under this crazy schedule.
“(even though this lineup desperately needs Jorge).”
What has Jorge done this post-season? All I’m seeing from that guy are double plays and boneheaded baserunning.
sucks to lose game one, but you have to respect the way Lee threw the ball last night. Same goes for CC. CC was obviously off from the start but he battled through only giving up 2 runs. Most nights that would be enough with our lineup, but with Lee being so dominant we had no shot. Hopefully our guys have short memories and come ready to play tonight…sulking and feeling sorry for ourselves will only make the game tonight harder. hopefully good AJ will show up and bad Pedro will show up…
9 hours and 54 minutes until Game 2!!!!
Betsy -
I can’t remember another time when he’s ditched. I know he faced the media after his last sub-par outing. I just think that one gives a guy the benefit of the doubt a couple of times. I stand by my thought that what does anyone really expect him to say? And perhaps he was steamed at the umpire and didn’t want to answer that question, and I can’t say I blame him – it’s a no-win situation, that question – and you know it would be asked.
I always watch the post-game interviews, win or lose. Nothing of much substance ever gets asked or answered on camera, anyway. And in a loss, I’m always flinching for the guys. It’s not as if they fail on purpose, but they’re expected to face the cameras and talk about what they did wrong and how sorry they were they couldn’t get the job done; and if they don’t do that, if they think they were good overall but simply made a couple of bad pitches and have the nerve to voice that, no one is satisfied with that at all. People want apologies. And I gather sometimes a player may not feel he has anything to apologize for. Again, it comes down to visible results (not good) versus invisible effort (we can’t ever know for sure, but I assume it’s mostly there). And sometimes maybe they’re just too upset with themselves to want to put themselves out there.
I understand Swisher is struggling, but we can’t have Molina and Gardner in the same line up tho
Robertson delivered a good pitch. Ibanez just found a hole. That’s good hitting.
Hughes walking the first 2 guys in the inning was the killer.
———————–
For once, I agree.. Hughes was rushing his pitches and was overthrowing.. and he looks like a guy with no confidence out there.. Like the previous outing, his fastballs were out of the zone and his curve ball were the ones he threw for strikes.. If you cannot control your fast ball, it means trouble all the time..
Robertson on the otherhand got squeezed a bit, but came back well and threw some good pitches.. Sometimes the hitter gets the better of you and thats what happened..
Joe
October 29th, 2009 at 10:07 am
I understand Swisher is struggling, but we can’t have Molina and Gardner in the same line up tho
———————————
Molina is not starting today.. If molina starts today and yanks lose, Joe will get shelled… The offense has been putrid and if you are manager who plays matchups, you better start posada who has good numbers off martinez..
This series just has that “feel” of a Phillies victory in five games.
If you look at the postseason objectively, the Yanks were simply lucky to have the Twins and Angels hand them 2 games in each series. The Phillies aren’t going to give away anything. I just hope the Yankees don’t embarrass themselves too badly.
SJ, regarding Robertson, walking Werth was the mistake.
“9 hours and 54 minutes until Game 2!!!!”
Oh Goody! I’m really looking forward to watching a flat Yankee team that can’t hit.
Alex October 29th, 2009 at 9:53 am
Stop blaming Girardi! Marte was in to face the 2 lefties. Robertson was in to face Werth. He walked him and had to face Ibaneaz. Nothing wrong with Girardi’s decision. Everyone’s darling, Robertson, just didn’t deliver.
________________________
It was an important spot in the game.. 2 outs down 2-0. Why not bring Coke in to face Raul? Isn’t that why we have 2 left handers in the pen? This was the spot to use the other one.
Betsy -
As far as AJ/Molina/Posada goes, I’m kind with Randy l on this one. Now that the die has been cast, I’m not sure it can or should be changed. But only Girardi knows what he’ll do. I prefer Jorge in the lineup, and I prefer that the Jorge/AJ “relationship” and been nurtured a little better down the stretch, but a couple of things conspired against that – scheduling and Jorge’s having to miss a few games. Once AJ got on a roll with Molina, I can’t say as I blame Girardi a whole lot for going with it. Pitching is the name of the game in the playoffs, and if your pitcher needs a good luck charm, you go with it.
It will be dealt with in spring training, I’m sure.
And more than likey, Molina will not be back.
If Gardner is in and Molina is in, our lineup looks like this:
Jeter
Damon
Tex
ARod
Matsui
Melky
Cano
Molina
Gardner
I hope 1-5 produce because that is a pretty ugly bottom of the order.
Jack, do us all a favor and jump already.
Jack
October 29th, 2009 at 10:11 am
“9 hours and 54 minutes until Game 2!!!!”
Oh Goody! I’m really looking forward to watching a flat Yankee team that can’t hit.
=========================================================
Good pitching beats good hitting. Great pitching makes good hitting look lethargic. Last night was not about our offense. Lee would have shut out an All Star team last night. He was that great.
If the Phillies are only going to pitch Lee twice Games 1 and 5, then a win tonight relieves a lot of angst.
With the day off tomorrow before Game 3, I would not hesitate to use Mo for 2 innings tonight. The pitching matcup in Game 3 favors the Yankes because Andy has been so clutch lately and Hamels is struggling.
If Manuel is going to hold off Lee until Game 5, then the Yankees come back with CC on short rest in Game 4 against Blanton … there is still plenty of reason for optimism … but it has to start with AJ tonight. He needs to come up big and manage the game like he did in his Game 2 starts the previous 2 rounds.
Even if the Yankees dont score a ton of Pedro, they know enough to keep taking pitches and get his pitch count up. Hopefully, he is gone by the 7th and the Yankees can attack the Phillies bullpen which is equally suspect as ours right now.
But we have Mo locked and loaded tonight.
How many more times could Eiland have fit the phrase “trying to be too fine” into a single paragraph?
We just need any 2 or 3 of Damon/Tex/Matsui/Arod/Cano to get hot and the entire nature of the series could swing. Last night 2-1 seemed as impossible as 6-1 to come back from. As far as I’m concerned CC gave them a chance and the hitters squandered it. If they can’t find a way against Pedro they don’t deserve the rings.
Blackaccord October 29th, 2009 at 10:08 am
Molina is not starting today.. If molina starts today and yanks lose, Joe will get shelled… The offense has been putrid and if you are manager who plays matchups, you better start posada who has good numbers off martinez..
—
if you consider 11/60 (.183) 4 HR 33K good
still I’d start him
Hit the road, Jack! And doncha come back no more no more.
(Well somebody had to say it.)
Marte was one of the best LH setup pitchers in the NL last yr. when the Yankees got him from Pittsburgh.
In fact he was really the one they wanted, getting Nady added to the deal was really an afterthought. Yanks had wanted Marte for sometime.
He did well when he first got here, but Giraldi over-used him & used him for multiple innings. He became ineffective & eventually hurt his arm.
Joe misused him last season & it affected him into this season. He is not a multiple innings guy.
However, if used as a situational set-up guy and not for more than 1 inning. Marte can be one of the best LH relievers in the game. Better than Okanawa with the Sox.
Did anybody else hear this from our favorite announcer last night?- “With 2 strikes, the left fielder needs to play way in on Damon. He won’t hit with power that way. He may pull the ball with power, but THE LEFT FIELDER is not really responsible for a ball hit DOWN THE RIGHT FIELD LINE”
Really?!? He gets paid for that? Again, no questioning from Buck. Maybe he was as speechless as I was.
Doreen, Randy is placing a large part of the blame on AJ….when I don’t agree with that. AJ pitched very well to Jorge during the season and he pitched fine in game 5 of the ALCS (he pitched much worse to Molina). I really don’t buy that it’s too late….there is no reason whatsoever to remain with Molina. Whatever aura Girardi thought Molina brought to his games with AJ was destroyed in that Angels game…….I never thought there was anything to that anyway.
As to Phil, we can agree to disagree. Right now, I’ve no clue how he lost his command and confidence in the span of a couple of weeks. I hope he’s not scared, because if he is, he’s not got a great future in NY
Jon Locke, in retrospect that is easy to say. It was the 6th inning and Coke is the only LH left in the pen. You need him to face Utley and Howard later in the game. Just sayin that Girardi is not making crazy decisions out there.
Mark in Tampa
October 29th, 2009 at 10:18 am
Did anybody else hear this from our favorite announcer last night?- “With 2 strikes, the left fielder needs to play way in on Damon. He won’t hit with power that way. He may pull the ball with power, but THE LEFT FIELDER is not really responsible for a ball hit DOWN THE RIGHT FIELD LINE”
Really?!? He gets paid for that? Again, no questioning from Buck. Maybe he was as speechless as I was.
************
LOL. What a joke. I think it was smart of Buck not to say anything. What could he possibly say to that?
Mark in Tampa
October 29th, 2009 at 10:18 am
Really?!? He gets paid for that? Again, no questioning from Buck. Maybe he was as speechless as I was.
—
maybe his mouth was full
Jack
October 29th, 2009 at 10:11 am
“9 hours and 54 minutes until Game 2!!!!”
Oh Goody! I’m really looking forward to watching a flat Yankee team that can’t hit.
******
Ewwww. If you have such disdain and venom for your team… don’t watch
It’s not easy to say.. I was screaming it from the bleachers last night. Why save Coke to face Utley and Howard later on? Who cares about later on if you are already down by 4 with Cy Lee on the mound? The game wasn’t lost there but that mini rally in the 9th might have played differently if we were still down 2-0 as opposed to 6-0.
Mark in Tampa
October 29th, 2009 at 10:18 am
Did anybody else hear this from our favorite announcer last night?- “With 2 strikes, the left fielder needs to play way in on Damon. He won’t hit with power that way. He may pull the ball with power, but THE LEFT FIELDER is not really responsible for a ball hit DOWN THE RIGHT FIELD LINE”
Really?!? He gets paid for that? Again, no questioning from Buck. Maybe he was as speechless as I was.
*******
I tune out dumb and dumber as much as possible
They make no attempt to even sound impartial.
Betsy -
In the continuing saga of AJ/JoPo/Jose, I don’t blame anyone. Circumstances evolved. Girardi went with what was working at the time and a hunch, I guess. AJ is a pitcher, though, who you never really know what you’re going to get, but when he’s hot he’s hot and he happened to be hot with Molina in September (or hot-ish, anyway). I agree he can pitch to anyone (or not –
)
On Phil, yeah, we’ll have difference of opinion there, but I don’t think he’s afraid. I think maybe it’s been a long season? He needs one good outing and he’ll be on track, I think.
John Locke, my bad it was the 8th inning. He could have brought in Coke but he hasn’t exactly been lights out either.
You have to catch Jorge tonight IMO. Aj actually pitched better to him than Molina last time out which should give him some confidence going in to tonight.
I think AJ is a crap shoot either way, he might go 7 scoreless or give up 7 no matter who he pitches to.
Jorge has tons of ABs against Pedro and I think we’ll need all the offense we can get tonight.
I noticed even CC was always behind in the count.He like his relief pitchers threw a lot of balls.The 1st 2 pitches were routinely balls.
Lee didn’t get the shutout.In fact he allowed 1 run in 9 inning,CC only gave up 2 runs in 7 innings.
The glaring problem was lack of hits,and the bull pen meltdown.
I’m hoping the Yankees come out swinging and give AJ some run support.
Because even if the pen held it to the 2 runs CC allowed, the bats were silent and the score would’ve been 2-1 anyway.
The name of the game is called; the first to four…wins.
As such, Cliff Lee cannot pitch four games in this series and to pitch three games he will have to do it on short rest the rest of the way if the schedule stays on track.
So if the Yankees cannot beat the likes of the 2009 versions of Pedro, Hammels, and the electric Joe Blanton or if the bullpen turns into the April version that had Veras, Edwar, Albei…they don’t deserve to be World Series champs.
So, I’m having the bedroom painted today, and I just found out my painter is a Phillies fan. The person who installed our HDTV was a Phillies fan, too. My house has been invaded!!!
Lets rant the confidence that we have in the bullpen members. Heres mine…
1. Rivera
5. Robertson
6. Joba
7. Hughes (i guess)
8. Marte
9. Coke
10. Aceves
11. Bruney
12. Swisher
I put Robertson at #5 because I wanted to illustrate the drastic dropoff from Mo.
If you consider 11/60 (.183) 4 HR 33K good
still I’d start him
——————————
Posada had poor numbers against Pedro till 2001.. Since 2002, he has hit pedro well.. His 4 homeruns came in the 03,04 during pedro’s last seasons with the sox…
Lee didn’t walk anyone, either.
October 29th, 2009 at 10:30 am
“My only worry is how AJ is gonna get Utley and Howard out. Howard murders pitchers like AJ.”
blake-
flip a coin because the yankees have two starters tonight – good burnett and bad burnett.
if good burnett shows up, he can get anyone out. if bad burnett shows up, anyone can hit him.
one problem that has been masked by the yankees winning most of their postseason games is that burnett should be a third starter where his inconsistency isn’t as much of a problem in a short series.
that’s why i’m saying that this postseason team is a “starter” postseason team for the yankees. they’ll get better as they add experience and a real #2 starter.
on a positive note, it’s 50/50 which burnett will show up tonight. we have a chance.
if there’s ever a time for his two hit untouchable nasty stuff tonight is the time.
if bad burnett shows up and the yankees are down 2-0 girardi needs to start pettitte on 3 days rest in a game 6 and run out a spring training type game with gaudin starting game 5 with the kitchen sink following.
add burnett to the bullpen from game 4 onward and have a nasty strikeout guy out there who is ticked off because he’s been removed from the rotation .
hey, down 2-0, it’d be time to get creative .
even if the yankees go down 2-0. pettitte and sabathia can win two games in a row.
win or lose tonight , with the right moves the yankees can still win the series.
burnett of course can make a case for himself tonight that he’s a pitcher to be counted on.
that’s the best scenario.
Erica – always OPPC
October 29th, 2009 at 10:27 am
Mark in Tampa
October 29th, 2009 at 10:18 am
Did anybody else hear this from our favorite announcer last night?- “With 2 strikes, the left fielder needs to play way in on Damon. He won’t hit with power that way. He may pull the ball with power, but THE LEFT FIELDER is not really responsible for a ball hit DOWN THE RIGHT FIELD LINE”
Really?!? He gets paid for that? Again, no questioning from Buck. Maybe he was as speechless as I was.
*******
I tune out dumb and dumber as much as possible
They make no attempt to even sound impartial.
—————————————————
Actually Joe Buck is not that bad.. He tries to atleast play impartial… Tim Mccarver is god awful.. He has gone from bad to worse to worst… Where is Orel Hershisher or Ron Darling ??
The problem is that our team is playing with 33% of a lineup. You have Jeter, Alex & Posada hitting throughout the playoffs. Damon & Matsui have fleeting moments but look pretty awful at the plate most of these playoffs. Matsui just does not look right at the plate swinging at horrible pitches straight from the Swisher school of hitting.. Cano, Swisher & Teixera are pretty much automatic outs right now. At least Tex is contributing with his glove but as our #3 hitter, he is a giant auto out right now.
You can’t win a World Series with 3 guys hitting and 3 good pitchers (CC, Andy, Mo)
Joe G. has not trusted his pen throughout the playoffs.
He used Joba over Hughes, which hurt his confidence, and Marte over Coke.
He brings guys in mid-inning. Pulls Robertson for Aceves.
His moves are opposite to what he did all season.
The game was lost on the Ibanez hit. Perfect opportunity to use Coke. He wasn’t even up.
His lack of trust has undermined the pen.
McCarver was downright giddy when Lee caught that pop up so nonchalantly. It was disgusting.
He said something else that made no sense last night, but I can’t remember what it was. He’s just an irritant right now.
Betsy:
“Doreen, I disagree about Phil not facing the media. It’s not ok to face them when things are going well, but avoid them when they aren’t. He’s normally very mature and poised and always accountable, but now he’s acting extremely immature. I’m disappointed in him – he needs to man up and face the music no matter how badly he’s pitching. He will not earn any points with fans, the media or his teammates if he isn’t accountable.
This offense is MIA and I don’t know if they will come back (by the way, Tex is not getting any heat and he’s had a BAD post-season – I find that odd).
I still blame the AJ/Molina thing on Joe. AJ pitches fine to Jorge, but Joe is extremely stubborn. Once he gets something in his mind (that AJ needs a crutch, in this case), he won’t let go (even though this lineup desperately needs Jorge).”
ex
I agree 100% with everything you said….Tex getting no heat, the AJ/Molina thing and most of all, how STUBBORN Girardi is – this team won this year IN SPITE of him, not because of him, but he’s going to blow this post-season with his ridiculous decisions….
I think it is good AJ pitches tonight. AJ usually pitches better at home. Early in the season, when CC struggled, AJ was the stopper. If AJ loses, I would rather have the more experienced, less flappable Adny on the mound, esp on the road. Hopefully the Yankees score a lot of runs early.
My Anxiety level cannot be any higher, I’ve already had two coffees today. Until they start game 2 I can’t get over game 1. Let’s go AJ beat the curls outta Pedro
Randy, the thing with this being a “starter postseason” is that the window that Jeter, arod, rivera, posada, etc are going to be the players they currently are is closing.
There are no guarantees that the Veterans will ever play the way they have this year again. We have catching talent on the horizon but Jeter and Rivera can’t keep doing this forever, or can they?
This is no time for patience. Remove Swisher for Hinske or Hairston. Be aggressive against Pedro. See the ball – hit the ball and get into the Philly bullpen early.
I think we are in real trouble tonight.. AJ has not allowed a run in only 4 of his starts this season.. 2 of those vs the Mets! The others were a game in Tex and that 2-0 classic vs Boston that Alex won in the 15th..
Plus he got crushed against this Phillies lineup in our park already once this season..
Bottom line is we need to hit, score some runs and actually have a lead for once in this postseason.. Or we are going to Philly to watch them celebrate b2b championships.
this just in: the phillies are good! anybody who thought the champs were just gonna roll over for the great new york yankees didnt know anything about these phillies.
the heat is on AJ tonight, if he spits the bit, the yankees are in a big hole they may not be able to get out of. i say he comes up big tonite!
Let’s Go Yankees!!!!!
“Randy is placing a large part of the blame on AJ….when I don’t agree with that.”
betsy-
i place accountability on aj.
where else should it be?
he’s the one pitching who’s had an inconsistent career.
he can be grate and he can be horrible.
because of his rotational type delivery he gets nasty inconsistent stuff because he has trouble controlling his release point.
aj is pretty much who he is. i’ll be a bit disappointed in him if he can’t be 50/50 in big games. at least give us the gem every couple of games like he does in the regular season.
i’m kind of hard core about living and dying with decisions so the waters aren’t muddied.
that’s why i want girardi to continue what he started with molina starting with burnett.
if burnett fails , i want it all on the decision and thinking that produced it months ago.
leave posada out of it now. girardi had the conviction to give burnett his own personal catcher. fine.
show some strength of conviction and ride it out.
like i said , the yankees can still win the series even if good burnett doesn’t show up.
I think you stick with Swisher for one more game anyway. He showed signs of life in game 6 against the Angels and I don’t think you can hold last night against him (nobody hit). Let him hit lefty against Pedro and hope he gets a knock or two, as cold as he’s been, we all know he can get just as hot..
Blackaccord October 29th, 2009 at 10:34 am
Posada had poor numbers against Pedro till 2001.. Since 2002, he has hit pedro well.. His 4 homeruns came in the 03,04 during pedro’s last seasons with the sox…
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I thought I remembered him doing well, that’s why I was surprised by those career numbers. I feel better now.
Speaking of rock solid in the makeup department, Pedro has got nothing to lose tonight.
“Who’s your Daddy” was 5 years ago and he seemed to enjoy the attention.
AJ is literally pitching the biggest game of his career so far and contrary to popular belief, he pitched horribly in game 5. 6 runs in 6 innings stinks no matter which way you cut it.
The fact that Marte has been the second best arm coming out of the pen shouldn’t be that much of a surprise. He is a veteran and he’s getting paid handsomely to do his job. I would have left him in to face Werth and then Ibanez. Hasn’t Joe always said the Marte can get righties out too?
Regardless, it wouldn’t have made a difference if they held the Phillies to 2 runs there as Utley did all the damage that was necessary.
I can’t see Manuel pitching Lee in game 4 unless the Yankees win the next 2. Then? maybe.
Just remember guys…It’s a LOT easier to pitch through the NL than the AL.
The Yankees are the best line-up in the AL.
Cliff Lee is an AL talent pitcher…do you honestly think Pedro (old and a history of post-season woes against the yanks) and Hamels (struggled in the NL this season) cannt be handled by the Yanks?
And then Joe Blanton?
Lets have some faith guys. We only lost 2 games the entire playoffs so far against AL pitching.
Jon Locke October 29th, 2009 at 10:38 am
The problem is that our team is playing with 33% of a lineup…
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you don’t mention Cabrera… and it takes a lot of horrid play from him before anyone really does. Is he really going under the radar when he is awful? What is so great about him that he goes unnoticed?
“I thought I remembered him doing well, that’s why I was surprised by those career numbers. I feel better now.”
you have to catch posada tonight IMO. The whole Molina experiment needs to be over. AJ did fine with Jorge last time out and Jorge may run in to one…
Cabrera? Cabrera? Sigh.
Cabrera has more hits than Teixeira.
Alex
October 29th, 2009 at 10:10 am
SJ, regarding Robertson, walking Werth was the mistake.
I disagree, Werth is a dangerous hitter and they had a base open. Not to mention Robertson got squeezed on the outside corner. Every pitch he threw to him could have been called a strike.
Or rather 3 games if you count last night.
“Randy, the thing with this being a “starter postseason” is that the window that Jeter, arod, rivera, posada, etc are going to be the players they currently are is closing.”
blake-
they were all pretty good this year and i think jeter, alex , and mo have a couple more good years together. posada is really old for a catcher. it’s absolutely amazing how good he is at his age for a catcher. i don’t know how long he can keep it up.pettitte may be near the end too. hope they win it for him this year with him playing a big part.
hughes, joba, robertson, melky, cano, teixeira,gardner, cervelli, etc are all getting seasoned for the postseason.
i think the yankee will be even better next year. they need to get a # 2 starter for the 2010 postseason though .
hey, the yankees have a starter auditioning for that role tonight.
we’ll see how he does.
I love that there are still people on this board trying to make it seem like Girardi once again lost us the game by taking Marte out and putting Robertson in.
Half the time, it just seems like you guys are trying to find something to complain about with Girardi. If he leaves a guy in, that was the wrong move. If he takes a guy out, that was the wrong move. If he doesn’t remove Robertson (one of the pitchers we have thats actually been effective) for Coke (because, ya know, Girardi hasn’t been accused of ‘over managing’ any of these games..) he’s a moron.
We lost the game cause our bats went cold and we seemed ready to pack in by around 10pm. If Arod was having the type of postseason that Tex is having, you’d all be calling for a trade. Meanwhile, all anyone on here is concerned with is Nick Swisher. A guy who, while he has certainly played awful, isnt really supposed to be the one who makes or breaks whether or not we’re an offensive threat. WHERE HAS TEX GONE??????
randy l., I agree. If something were to go wrong with A.J. tonight, if Jorge is the catcher, it will undoubtedly be blamed on Posada.
However, the Yankees do not or should not play for the “what if” scenarios and “how am I going to to explain this to the media” questions.
Posada gives the best offensive chance to win. A.J. Burnett has always been including this year and hopefully will not always be A.J. Burnett.
I have more confidence in Jose Molina at the plate than Posada…. to get out on 1 pitch. I love Jose Molina, and the idea that he is a good defensive catcher and all around good guy, but when you go up to the plate down 4-0 like he did against the Angels, already thinking that could be his final AB of the game, and he swings at the first pitch like a guy in there to get his hacks, it’s disgraceful.
Phil Hughes, I am sure, has accountability with his own team. There is no need for Phil to “face the music”, as one poster put it, to the media. Who are the media? It’s like the famous “Who is Karim Garcia?” The media is Karim Garcia. You do not answer to Karim Garcia. You answer to CC and Jeter and Al and Mo and your 20 other teammates.
I agree that walking Werth wasn’t that bad. He got squeezed bad in that AB and you don’t wanna groove Werth one with a base open. Robertson got a weak groundball that found a hole. That happens in baseball, Ibanez hits it 5 feet over to the left and Cano catches it.
I can’t remember the last time I seen someone so confident on the mound as Cliff Lee last night. The guy was so relaxed and comfortable it was pathetic. Not one Yankee made him work. The hardest thing was the fact that he was leaving balls out over the plate and the Yanks just looked at them. He was in complete command.
Heh,
Everytime Tex gets up I keep convincing myself he’s gunna put one out and crack this slump.
Just gotta keep talking myself into that to carry on…
1234
thank god the yankees dont beat themselves up like people on here do. im sure they all left thinking, ‘we’ll get em tomoorrow’ ate a good dinner and got a good night’s sleep (except for maybe phil).
today’s a new day and a new pitcher and the yankees have a long habit of beating pitchers they are familiar with.
sometimes you just have to give the other guys credit for being good, too.
Player AB H
Melky Cabrera 5 1
Robinson Canó 12 0
Johnny Damon 25 5
J Hairston Jr. 27 10
Eric Hinske 30 8
Derek Jeter 86 22
Hideki Matsui 28 4
José Molina 8 1
Jorge Posada 60 11
Álex Rodríguez 55 16
Nick Swisher 2 0
Mark Teixeira 6 1
thank god the yankees dont beat themselves up like people on here do. im sure they all left thinking, ‘we’ll get em tomoorrow’ ate a good dinner and got a good night’s sleep (except for maybe phil).
today’s a new day and a new pitcher and the yankees have a long habit of beating pitchers they are familiar with.
sometimes you just have to give the other guys credit for being good, too.
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I concur. Cliff Lee is the reigning cy young winner in the better league. He is very good and has been very good Phils. CC was very good last night also, Lee was just better. On top of that CC got beat by Chase Utley, also a VERY good player. Did all of you really think this was just going to be a sweep? New Flash: The Phillies are good. We weren’t going to just walk all over them. We play 7 games for a reason.
Lets root ‘em on tonight no matter who is out there.
AJ/Molina is an inflated controversy, especially since Posada has been pretty much cold at the plate. I may be misremembering, but didn’t Pettite prefer Posada back when Girardi was the regular catcher.
DB,
Lee was absolutely in complete command. He has a pretty basic formula, too… get ahead with the fastball, then go to the breaking ball or changeup.
My guess is the Yanks jump on more first and second pitches next time they meet. They have to, otherwise it’ll be another dominant performance.
Last night, Lee reminded me of Josh Beckett in game 6, 2003 WS. Completely dominating, a 2 run deficit might as well be a 20 run deficit.
He was pretty interesting – he doesn’t have tremendous “stuff” or great velocity, but he throws strikes, moves the ball around, and commands his pitches to both sides of the plate.
He dominated. CC was also very good. Made a couple of mistakes to Utley, that should’ve been hit out.
The most troubling part of everything was the way the bullpen looked so afraid to throw strikes. Hughes and Bruney failed to impress, again. K-Rob got squeezed. Marte has always been tough on lefties, and still is.
If there’s another game as well pitched as Lee’s this series for the Phils, then the Yanks are in some trouble.
The postseason is about clutch performers. Last night Cliff Lee stepped up big for them. Cool as a cucumber. If there is one thing you see from the guy is he exhibits confidence and believes and trusts in his stuff. Honestly it was fun to watch him, even though I’m a Yankee fan.
The Yankees have to battle tonight. Put together some good at bats and find a way to get it done. Going down 0-2 at your home park is recipe for disaster.
The bullpen is not the bullpen we thought it was going to be. Joe must make adjustments, although if it is not written in his book, I wouldn’t count on it happening. As we know he never makes a move on instinct or “gut” feeling. Every move he makes is calculated by numbers.
This team is far from dead. No jumping yet!
Ladies and Gentleman, the most OPTIMISTIC Yankee Fan in the Whole Wide World!
I hope everyone will gradually cool their jets this fine day. Everything is not lost. If you’re a fan of baseball, tip your cap to Cliff Lee for an amazing outing and maintain faith in the Yankees TEAM.
Look, we all know that getting to the World Series is hard enough, but winning it all is that much harder. The Phillies are the defending World Champions. They’ve been there, done that.
Hopefully everyone on the Yankees has a short memory and puts yesterday’s game behind them. Today we must start anew, win the game, and take 2 of 3 in Philly. Simple as that.
We can try to point fingers at a number of Yankees but the fact of the matter is that the team lost and that is no fault of any one individual. That’s the beauty about baseball…its a team sport.
We’re getting backed into a corner, now we have to fight our way out in Round 2.
Go Yankees!!!
doreen-
i was equally as surprised as mccarver was with the nonchalance of lee in his first world series games.
i made a joke of it when i wondered out loud on the blog about beta blockers with lee.
read the article below to see how prevalent they are used by other stressfull performance professions:
http://www.usnews.com/articles.....l?PageNr=2
no sour grapes if he’s using them, but i do wonder on a side note if they are illegal in baseball and if they are tested for.
if lee is totally natural and that calm in the biggest game of his life just wow, he’s an off the charts amazing guy.
i’ve played around with what i perceived to be healthy performance enhancers to push athletic performance and there are things that impact your performance.
kava for example really slows you down and helps your putting in golf. it doesn’t do much for the rest of your game though because you feel like lying down and smelling the roses.
caffeine helps when you’re trying to swing fast. not so good for putting.
you get the idea.
i do wonder about lee because his career seems to have taken a u turn and he’s very dominant now when he wasn’t before.
How many relievers do you think we had on the roster back in the 77 and 78 World Series? NINE relievers in 2009? And most of them not reliable? What a strange circumstance baseball has gotten itself into. And we’ll need SOMEONE to step up tonight that’s for sure.
77 WS – Yanks used 3 relievers – Tidrow, Clay, Lyle
78 WS – Yanks used 4 relievers – Tidrow, Clay, Lindblad, Gossage
Where has specialization gotten us? Of note, 5 of the 12 games in those series were complete games.
In other words – AJ – we need something better than 100 pitches through 5 innings!
Cliff Lee pitched as well last night as I’ve ever seen anyone pitch in the WS (well, actually, I technically saw Don Larson thow the perfect game back in 1956 but I can’t really claim to remember it). CC threw hittable fastballs to Utley and that was really the game. He seemed to be more affected by the long layoff more than Lee did. I can’t blame our hitters.
Don’t forget the Yanks lost 12-1 to John Smoltz in Game 1 of the 1996 WS, and won the series anyway.
The bullpen worries me, though. If Hughes is not on his game, there’s really no work-around for it. The Yanks really started clicking during the season when Hughes emerged in the pen. We don’t really have anyone out there who can replace him.
Gardner in CF October 29th, 2009 at 10:53 am
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you don’t mention Cabrera… and it takes a lot of horrid play from him before anyone really does. Is he really going under the radar when he is awful? What is so great about him that he goes unnoticed?
____________
I didnt mention him because
a)he is batting .289
b)has a hit in every playoff game but 2
c)is our #9 hitter
“show some strength of conviction and ride it out.”
If Mr. Girardi thinks that an AJ/Molina pairing gives the team the best chance to win tonight, the yes, ride it out.
But being the manager and the leader means, you know, managing and leading. It’s a failure of Girardi’s that we got to this point with AJ to begin with.
So I disagree with Girardi having to ride it out now — if he thinks Posada would give the team the best chance to win, show some leadership and backbone and make the change. It’s not like it would be some radical experiment.
Most likely it’s going to be Molina; I just hope Girardi makes the choice for the right reason.
“I may be misremembering, but didn’t Pettite prefer Posada back when Girardi was the regular catcher.”
He actually threw mostly to Girardi in those years.
In ’96, he pitched predominantly to Leyritz, however.
96 – girardi 10 games, leyritz 27 games caught
97 – girardi 29, posada 6
98 – girardi 29, posada 5
99 – girardi 27, posada 4(!)
Wave Your Hat,
Great point about Smoltz. This series has only just begun, far from mover, and both teams know it.
Nick,
Elk Grove today eh? Nice…you’re but 20 minutes south of me! Go to Vince’s Italian food for lunch and order the Gnocchi…its delicious.
How about if a clubbie grinds up a Xanax bar in AJ’s Gatorade tonight?
Let’s face it Hughs has been pitching scared the whole playoffs. For the most part Joba too.
The crowd was very, very quiet last night. Fans started piling out of the stadium starting in the 7th inning. I was shocked by this considering it was a playoff game, and with baseball, you never know what can happen.
Then when I saw Girardi bring in Bruney, I figured he had thrown in the white flag. The scoreboard said he hadn’t pitched in a game since Oct 2nd or so. Prior to the game, the figured we would only see Bruney in a blow out game, didnt think he would throw him out there so soon.
Overall, it was disappointing for a World Series game, but you have to tip your hat to Cliff Lee who had a stellar outing last night. As Tyler Kepner stated, the bridge to Mariano is cracking. Phil Hughes was so dominant this season, but it seems the nerves are really getting to him in the postseason.
Blake and DB, ok granted Robertson’s #s against LH are pretty good, loading the bases with Werth on 4 pitches to get to Ibanaez, don’t think was the idea. You can blame the ump, blame Girardi, whatever. I think Robertson just didn’t make his pitches. The pitch to Ibanaez may have not been hit hard but it wasn’t a good pitch. It was a hanging breaking ball down the heart of the plate. It clearly looked like a mistake.
posada should catch aj’s feelings and stupidity at this point do not matter. sit swisher for gardner for 1 game, maybe gardner porduces he is not homer bush. gardner can hit…..
I still think the yankees will win this in 6 or 7 (as long as Cliff Lee doesn’t start 2 of the next 6 games)but…
everyone keeps talking about how good cashman is – but like i’ve said 1,000 times already its easy to spend uncle steiny’s millions when signing free agents…its the trades you make when time is running out that define how good a GM is…its the willingness to trade MINOR LEAGUERS for bonafide stars that show how much cojones you’ve got..the yankees aren’t the kansas city royals or pittsburgh pirates losing isn’t an option or a stepping stone for the future..
cashman has zero, zilch, nada cojones…. cliff lee was traded for basically 4 average to above average MINOR LEAGUERS….and he still has a year left on a pretty reasonable contract….yeah lets hold on to hughes, joba, romine, ajax and montero because we all know in 5 years when we don’t have rivera, arod (this years arod anyway) or jeter anymore those guys will more than make up for the drop in talent…simply dumb GM’ing and even dumber vision…
cliff lee on the yankees eliminates joba and hughes (big deal) and makes the phillies a really average team…it also forces them to trade for halladay which would deplete their farm system and gets halladay out of the AL east…VISION….
the yankees now have to hope Lee doesn’t start 2 more games AND have to count on AJ Bleepin Burnett to pitch a great game tonight…so dumb….
hughes poor performance has been the killer..
the pen was not great it became very good when hughes was pitching great because the use of the other guys was reduced……….
hughes where have you gone??????????????
Went to the Stadium last night for my first ever World Series game. It was a great experience. The lights, the crowds, the excitement. Everything was great except for the fact that the Yankees were on the wrong end of a great pitching performance.
It’s no accident that Cliff Lee has a ERA of 0.5 or something this post-season. Last year with Cleveland, he started off the season the same way, just shutting down everybody he faced. His performance last night reminded me of Josh Beckett in Game 6, 2003, when he beat Andy 2-0. CC suffered the same fate as Andy that day – pitched well enough to win under most circumstances, just not then.
Fortunately, Lee’s turn doesn’t come ’round again for another few days, and I don’t think Pedro and Hamels are going to be up to what was seen last night. This is where the Yankees have to get it done. They can afford to lose to Lee once or twice, as long as they beat the other guys.
Baseball is a game of redemption, and there’s another game in, what is it Erica, 8 1/2 hours or so? Can’t wait.
Thanks for the tip, Mad Prince. Doubt I’ll be able to take advantage, but I’ll keep it in mind.
vin: Thank you, I did misremember! Sad. I wonder who it was I was thinking of.
Per 1050, regarding Pedro’s view of the Zimmer incident: Zim says Pedro is “full of crap.”
The crowd was very, very quiet last night. Fans started piling out of the stadium starting in the 7th inning. I was shocked by this considering it was a playoff game, and with baseball, you never know what can happen.
______________
I was there in the bleachers, crowd wasn’t that quiet considering we were never really in the game..Maybe from the 5th inning on they were. Plus the weather was nasty and cold.. And for those of us who drive from the Island, leaving early with the team down 4-0 is a better alternative than staying, watching bruney pitch, them losing & then sitting in the parking lot for an hour trying to get out..If you just take the subway, there really is no reason to leave early. Driving with work early the next morning? Understandable.
It sucks for those who arent season ticket holders & paid $400+ to go.. But I’ll be back tonight for more..
Alex, I didn’t say they were trying to walk Werth but that AB had nothing to do with what happened in the inning. The guys in before Robertson allowed runners to get to 2nd and 3rd.
As I said you can pitch carefully to Werth in that Situation because 1) hes hit 5 HR’s in the playoffs 2) a base is open and walking him gives you a force out at any base.
Plain and simple guys don’t center many pitches off Robertson and he doesn’t seem afraid to throw strikes.
randy l -
Did you hear Paul O’Neill talk about how he ran into Cliff Lee at 6:15 last evening, and he was just then getting to the park and he was calm as anything?
Hey, when I used to audition, I tried using Xanax and also my inhaler (I have very minor asthma triggered by overexposure to animals/dust (as in theaters)/chemicals), with good results. Gave me control of my breathing, of the situation. After I got more experienced and comfortable in the process, and I learned how to prepare myself best, I no longer used them as a crutch.
Catching that pop up he sure looked like he was just playing catch in his own backyard! I could see why McCarver was amused, just not “giddy,” you know?
(I tried watching the game without the game thread last night. I couldn’t believe how much more relaxed I was watching.)
Governer Mike Paterson was on WFAN today morning and he was asking the same question a lot of fans are asking here..
Why not let Marte pitch.. He got two good lefties out.. He was out there throwing with command.. Why bring in a cold arm to get the 3rd out.. Even if Marte walked Werth, he could have gone after Ibanez.. His questioning was if Joe was playing matchups, why wasn’t Coke facing Ibanez..
To me those 2 runs were crucial than the 2 runs in the top of the 9th.. If yanks didn’t give up those 2 runs in the 8th, bruney is not coming in the 9th..
like your attitude joe in long island.
you’ve watched a few of these world series haven’t you?
OK, everyone, you realize Cliff Lee threw a CG with 10ks right?
Stop blaming any one person. How many times did ARod and Teix strike out? We had 6 hits and 1 run.
I get that Hughes hasn’t been as stellar as he was in the regular season, but its his first significant year in the majors and playoffs and quite frankly he’s probably running out of gas. You all can’t expect Joba to just magically shift back to that 8th inning guy he was in 2007, don’t be naive. Bottom line is you can’t give up on them.
Let’s have some faith in the team in put Game 1 behind us and make it rain in Game 2.
I am w/ you Mad Prince…its only one game, against a pitcher that has been lights out in the post season. Each time the Yankees lost to the Angels they came back w/ a win, no reason to think they wont do that against the Phillies.
All I have to say is, if the “bridge to Mariano is cracking,” we are down 1-0 in the series and we have a day off tomorrow, Mariano better be available for 2 or 2+ innings tonight depending on the situation. He last pitched 40 pitches on Sunday. That is 3 days off.
I think Hughes is showing his age and immaturity. He’s not taking responsibility for his awful performance by blowing off the media after the game.
Has Mariano ever done that?
If Girardi doesn’t get someone out there in the bullpen who can get him to Mo, then the Yankees don’t stand a chance.
Each time the Yankees lost to the Angels they came back w/ a win, no reason to think they wont do that against the Phillies.
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Not to be pessimistic here, but they each time the yanks lost, they didn’t have AJ going the next day..:) That’s what scares a lot of ppl around here..
Ok Aj give us 5 innings tonight, then we get Mo in the 6th for a 4 innings save.
PLEASE take Swisher out of the lineup tonight. He is a complete scrub who hasn’t done a thing to earn the right to play in the postseason. He definitely doesn’t deserve to be ahead of Cabrera in the lineup. I would feel better with Hairston or Gardner in there, and that’s pretty sad for Swisher.
Seriously, he’s like 3 for 41 in the playoffs. Come on Girardi. How long is it going to take for you to grow a pair and pull this guy out? The last thing we need is another huge choker in the lineup.
Joe from Long Island,
THAT’S what I’m talking about man!!!
That’s the right attitude.
Tip your cap to Lee and get ready to unload on Pedro. We CAN do it, everyone knows this.
Patient at bats tonight are going to be crucial. Wear Pedro down, get into the pen, manufacture runs, and play good defense.
I am excited about AJ on the bump tonight…should be a nice ying to CC’s yang.
I think the Yanks can do well against Pedro tonight, I’m not too worried about the offense yet, although at some point Girardi’s gotta sit Swisher. Nobody outside Jeter looked decent last night, but if Swish has another clunker tonight, bench him for a game.
What worries me more is AJ. Not sure which AJ will be pitching tonight. Hopefully he won’t get too freaked out on the mound.
The bullpen?? They freakin’ need to step up.
“Lee was absolutely in complete command. He has a pretty basic formula, too… get ahead with the fastball, then go to the breaking ball or changeup.
My guess is the Yanks jump on more first and second pitches next time they meet. They have to, otherwise it’ll be another dominant performance.”
Vin – you are absolutely right, but my question last night and also other times during this past season, is WHY doesn’t the coaching staff see what the other pitcher is doing and have the hitters adjust……Lee threw tons of 1st pitch strikes and our guys watched them go right by…
Randy, I agree with you about AJ being responsible for his pitching…….which is why the catching issue is ridiculous. I think Joe has gone way overboard in trying to placate a pitcher I don’t necessarily think needs placating (that is, I don’t think AJ is the one who’s made a stink of this. Joe has his ideas and he is stubborn about them). AJ will be who he is regardless of who’s catching and Joe should know that. Then again, that’s how it is with all pitchers, not just AJ. It is always on the pitcher…….and if Joe makes the decision to catch Molina because he, Joe, thinks the catcher makes a huge difference, I blame Joe for that. Jorge Posada should not be sitting……..period. However, should Molina catch AJ, then Posada needs to be in the lineup. I don’t get why Matsui plays over Po, I really don’t.
Mccarver and Joe Buck were giddy and excited all night. Why? Because they are both Yankee hating perverts.
Joe From Long Island: in your learned estimation, was it a smart move for the team doctor to gave the squad flu shots right before they took the field last night?
lol @ cashman’s gotta go! u are kidding, right?
I can’t believe Girardi let Utley hit 2 HRs. I mean you gotta blame the MGR. That’s what Yankee fans do !!!!!!!!
Offense offense offense !!
These are both great hitting teams and its going to take ALOT to shut the entire line ups down. Our starters will give up runs but we need to score more than they do.
It took an improbably start from Lee last ngiht to shut down this booming offense.
Look for the big guns to break out tonight and put a little spark in their step. Show them how we do it tonight !!
8 hours and 24 minutes until Game 2!!!!
I tip my cap to Lee, but again keep in mind this offense has been cold most of the post-season, even against relatively mediocre pitching. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Yankees killed Pedro, but I don’t expect it…
At least we’re not blaking A-Rod anymore.
C’mon people. it was only 1 game!
GO YANKS!
Blackaccord:
It’s called ‘Monday Morning Quarterbacking’. It’s the favorite pastime of most fans. If Marte stays in and gives up a hit to Werth it’s totally indefensible.
The blaming of every bad outcome in a baseball game on the manager is ridiculous.
There are several hundred comments on this blog about the Yankee bullpen in last night’s game. They are all irrelevant. Their loss can be chalked up in two words: Cliff Lee. Everything else is noise.
Hughes was more than accountable in his last outing w/ the media. He took all the blame for the loss, when it was really AJ’s fault. What more could he say this time? He knows what is expected, and that he didn’t execute. Phil needs to answer to his manager, coach and team mates, not the media.
Ham Fighters,
Just ignore cashman’s gotta go…he’s the type that wants to blame one guy for a loss. Senseless.
Time for the Yankees to get out this slump !.. ENOUGH is ENOUGH !..
We’ve come too far to get bounced out.
Alex, good points, but Robertson was hardly the real problem last night. You can forgive a guy for not giving in to throwing it down the middle when you have a base open with Werth. On Ibanez, it looked like he was trying to get a curve ball over for a strike. He did have a pitch to play with but the bases were loaded. He probably thought he could freeze him with a curveball over the plate. It was down in the zone and Ibanez was out in front of it and as another poster said, 5 feet to the left and it is an inning ending out.
I’d trust Robertson for the 8th from this point on. Actually, trust him for the 7th and Mo for the 8th and 9th.
to any of you here today playing “the blame game,” just know that I am sitting here laughing at you…seriously, a co-worker just checked to make sure I’m ok in here. if you feel the need to blame someone today, then “blame” Cliff Lee (in other words, give the guy some credit). None of our guys felt comfortable against him in the box last night and it’s simply because he was throwing every pitch well, not because they weren’t prepared and not because Joe used one reliever over another. Great pitching wins playoff games, as you all certainly know by now. CC pitched very good, but Lee pitched very GREAT! we were out-pitched, plain and simple…again, not because some Yankee screwed up, but because Lee was just top notch.
Damon-LF
Jeter-SS
Tex-1B
A-Rod-3B
Matsui-DH
Posada-C (no Molina-please Joe)
Cano-2b
Hinskie-RF (gotta get Swisher out of there)
Melky-CF
Nick in SF–what’s this about flu shots?
Nick – that isn’t true about flu shots is it?
joe b
are you sure it isn’t Posada’s fault? Didn’t he put down the HR sign?
Gardner in CF, SJ44 seems like you’re in love with Gardner and we are too, but his usefulness is situational. Swisher would be off the lineup tonight because of the slump he’s in–gardner in Center with melky over in right would not resolve the issue, you’re not improving the lineup offensively. Gardner not only has never seen Pedro before, but just isn’t strong offensively. His strength is his running game, and that is more valuable late in the game when its close and we end up with Posada, Matsui, or Molina on base. So its not even a Melky vs Gardner thing, Brett just doesn’t have the offense to back up the argument. Also Melky’s performance is also relative, he gets to fly under the radar because he’s the number 9 hitter and was NEVER expected to perform at a .300+, 30HR level. I’ll take a #9 hitter like Melky any time together with his defense, he may look a little clumsy out there from time to time, but he gets the job done.
The Yankees need to take care of business tonight and beat Pedro! Then game 3 is Pettite vs. Hamels and as a Yankee fan you got to like that matchup. Just like that it will be 2-1 Yankees. Game 4 CC goes on three days rest vs. Blanton. The reason I say Blanton and not Lee on 3 is Cliff Lee HAS NEVER STARTED ON 3 DAYS REST IN HIS CAREER. Manuel is not going to experiment because if Lee is inneffective on 3 days rest he would not be available to start again on full rest. Lets go YANKEES get this win tonight!!!!!
Oh man, I expect the Yanks to break out tonight big time. You know they’re chomping at the bit.
I am more concerned about the offense and bullpen than AJ tonight.
If this team can’t hit an 87-year-old Pedro, then they aren’t hitting anyone.
But, if the team does get a lead, I don’t have much confidence in the bullpen to hold it.
The offense has to step it up, relying on A-Rod to bail them out everytime is a not a good strategy. Someone in the bullpen other than Mo and Marte needs to shut the Phillies down.
Hokiehill: you’re right. I’m done with the blame game and I’m moving on to Hungry Hungry Hippo.
46Fan, I hate to always contradict everyone, but Lee did not throw consistent 1st pitch strikes last night. He mixed it up pretty well. Saw the # somewhere, something like 16 out of 32 first pitch strikes. He kept us guessing.
Scared of the Wall: 87 year old pitcher – ROTFLMAO…..
I think you’re a little bit crazy Mr. October. Assuming we are fortunate to be up 2-1 (awfully optimistic) do you really think Charlie Manuel is insane enough to risk going down 3-1 by starting Blanton against CC?
People who are saying that Gardner isn’t an upgrade to Swisher at the moment…. is honestly just… well let keep quiet.
Swisher is hitting .114 in the post season. That’s 1 hit every 10 at bats. That’s approximately 1 every THREE games.
Gardner can bunt. He can run plays out. He walks, the pitcher at least has to think about it. With Swisher, it’s an automatic out, and everyone knows it.
So really, just stop saying Gardner is worse than Swisher, because you’re wrong.
If you were in Charlie Manuels shoes would you start Lee on 3 days rest in game 4 if
a) the yankees are up 2-1
b) the phillies are up 2-1
c) the phillies are up 3-0
CLIFF LEE HAS NEVER STARTED ON THREE DAYS REST IN HIS CAREER
Whats everyones thoughts on this?
We have to stay postive. Way to much negativity..
No one said this was going to be easy ! its one loss.
as for slumping bats in the World Series, its not uncommon:
1949 joe dimaggio .111 ba,1 hr, 2 rbi, .278 slg
1951 yogi berra .261 ba,0 hr, 0 rbi, .304 slg
1662 mickey mantle .120 ba 0 hr, 0 rbi, .160 slg
1999 bernie williams .231 ba 0 hr, 0 rbi, .231 slg
and what did these world series performances have in common?
What should the Yanks outfield look like tonight?
A-Damon, Melky, Swish
B-Damon, Gardner, Melky
C-Damon,Melky, Hinske
D-Damon,Gardner,Hinske
E-Melky, Gardner,Hinske
c
I would start Lee on 3 days rest…..
alex, it wasn’t so much first pitch strikes as early strikes. He was ahead all night and the Yankee hitters took a lot of good pitches.
Yes he mixed it up well but he was able to do so because everyone but Jeter took the best pitches they saw.
I’m afraid all the people expecting a rout tonight against “87 year old” Pedro might be in for a little disappointment.
I am more concerned with the HP umpire. If Pedro gets all the calls the way he used to, it might be a difficult hitting night. Vice Versa, if A.J. is getting squeezed, then it might be a difficult night for him.
Pedro: “I am not a violent man.” Noooo, you only threw at people’s heads every chance you got.
“If you were in Charlie Manuels shoes would you start Lee on 3 days rest in game 4 if
a) the yankees are up 2-1
b) the phillies are up 2-1
c) the phillies are up 3-0
CLIFF LEE HAS NEVER STARTED ON THREE DAYS REST IN HIS CAREER
Whats everyones thoughts on this?”
Honestly, I think you roll the dice at this point.
Lee is by far the best pitcher on the Phillies, and if this series goes 7 I would think Manuel would want him lined up for Game 7.
Hopefully, whatever he does, it blows up in his face.
You are never as good as you look when you win nor as bad as you look when you lose. Cliff Lee played great and even had a horseshoe or two to boot. It happens!
I personally thought Hughes pitches were strikes! Even McCarver said wow, that was a strike. He also said it one other time when a Yankee was called for swinging at a pitch and he clearly didn’t.
I’m no McCarver supporter mind you, but he didn’t say Damon was a weak hitter with two strikes, what he did say was with two strikes Damon likes to go the other way (down the left field line.) He said most AL teams know this & the Phillie LF was shading way too much to CF on Damon. He is right about that!
I believe Hairston needs to start in RF for Swisher. Swish looks clueless at the plate. That said, quite a few regulars did last night. I just think Hairston needs to be given a shot here tonight. That way, you’d still have Gardner for a PR if needed.
I like AJ tonight with Posada. I believe AJ will do great tonight.
F-Hairston, Hairston, Hairston
Time for AJ to earn his contract.
Pedro will give up 5 runs in 5 innings (or less) tonight.
Definitely gotta stay positive. Lee was superhuman last night, that was one of the most overwhelming pitching performances I’ve ever seen. He got ahead of batters and then had the opportunity to throw any pitch he wanted. He was fooling with our lineup.
That said, it was only one game and AJ’s gotta come up big tonight. We need early and timely hitting. I think Swisher needs to be sat tonight in favor of Gardner or Hinske. He just can’t be up there, it’s an automatic out right now. And Jorge has to catch tonight, if Girardi starts Molina he will get destroyed.
if the Yankees are in take good pitches and swing at bad pitches mode again then yea they will have a tough time with Pedro because thats what he does now, he gets ahead and then makes you chase that changeup.
I’m confident the Yankees will learn from last night though, they haven’t had bad nights back to back much this year…
Darrin-
Truthfully I have no idea if he would start Lee on 3 days. Its a huge risk to take. Not everyone is as effective on 3 as normal 4 days rest. If Lee isnt effective he is no longer available to start Game 7. I always try to stay optimistic with this Yankee team because they play so well when playing from behind. I really like our chances against Pedro and then we match up Pettite with Hamels. (also like our chances) As far as Lee its a tough call for Manuel. What would you do?
Basically, the Yankees are in a series as if they do not have home field advantage. 1 win in Philly and they have Home Field advantage back. Not too bad.
1949 joe dimaggio .111 ba,1 hr, 2 rbi, .278 slg
1951 yogi berra .261 ba,0 hr, 0 rbi, .304 slg
1662 mickey mantle .120 ba 0 hr, 0 rbi, .160 slg
1999 bernie williams .231 ba 0 hr, 0 rbi, .231 slg
and what did these world series performances have in common?
…the yankees won all 4 of these WS!
Great Stat Ham Fighters !
playballnyy
–
as much as I’d like to see Gardner 8 and Melky 9 tonight I think it’ll be Melky 8 Hairston 9. Anyone in over Swisher would certainly improve the lineup right now. Melky has been scary in center on balls to the gaps all postseason and Swisher has been scary on balls to Swisher. Moving Gardner to CF and Melky to RF would definitely give us an upgrade on defense.
People are really underrating Gardner’s offensive abilities. It’s not like he’s Bubba Crosby (who even got postseason starts in ’05) or Dave Roberts at the plate.
Ham, mind pulling the stats for the rest of the offense for those teams, as well? :rolleyes:
Ham Fighters
I didn’t realize there was a 1662 World Series. Who’d they play, the Indians?
sorry, I know it was awful on a few levels
At least all this makes GTLU a bit more interesting tonight.
And I’m proud to say that I am among (If not) the first to be eliminated from Trisha’s guess the # of games pool.
Let’s not give Lee more credit than he deserves. He was not superhuman. The Yankees took a lot of hittable pitches and swung at a lot of bad ones. That is what happens when you are a notorious guess lineup.
Despite the difference in games (World Series and meaningless regular season), the Yankees have been 1-hit by Daniel Cabrera, no hit by 6 houston astros in one game. The Yankees can get shut down by anybody.
Jon Locke
I was there in the bleachers, crowd wasn’t that quiet considering we were never really in the game..Maybe from the 5th inning on they were. Plus the weather was nasty and cold.. And for those of us who drive from the Island, leaving early with the team down 4-0 is a better alternative than staying, watching bruney pitch, them losing & then sitting in the parking lot for an hour trying to get out..If you just take the subway, there really is no reason to leave early. Driving with work early the next morning? Understandable.
—-
Sure it is understandable. I just can’t see spending all that money and leaving in the 7th. The odds of them coming back were slim, but at that point the game wasn’t out of control. I mean its the World Series!
For me personally, I drove 3 hours each way for the game and had to be into work at 7:30. Though if it wasn’t for so many people leaving early, I would have been stuck in the parking lot for about 2 hours as opposed to the 30 minutes I spent. Getting home at 3 wasn’t fun but its a once in a lifetime thing.
What if the Yankees did come back? They have had their share of comebacks this year. How lame would you feel having left so early?
nemo, i closed all those windows but i did find it intersting that both dimaggio and berra both had terrible 1949 WS and the yankees still won.
just wanted to point out that the gods of gotham didnt rake every time they were in the WS and the pinstripes somehow still managed to pull out another championship.
Erica-
Here’s my lineup which I hope happens but won’t:
Jeter SS
Damon LF
Teixeira 1B
A-Rod 3B
Posada C
Hinske DH
Cano 2B
Cabrera RF
Gardner CF
Matsui is a ground ball machine lately.
Swisher a strikeout pop-up machine.
Hope AJ, who can be tough on leftys with his curve on the hands, brings it tonight, and pitches at least 8 innings with a very big lead. Then I can trust anyone in our overated bullpen to come in and pitch an inning.
Gardner in CF
October 29th, 2009 at 11:56 am
Ham Fighters
I didn’t realize there was a 1662 World Series. Who’d they play, the Indians?
sorry, I know it was awful on a few levels
*************
LOL!!
Agree with everyone here that Girardi has to grow a pair and sit Swisher. As SJ said, adjustments need to be made on the fly, with no regard to “sample sizes” and “he’s due, especially after such a long dry spell”. Something not working out, you change it!
And also, it is extremely important to make Pedro work and get him to a high pitch count. That way, he is out in 4 or 5 and we can get to their weakness. But if they start hacking at first pitches trying to get it out of the park, we will be playing right into their hands.
Regarding AJ, well your guess is as good as mine. He can be good, he can be bad. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde…
I hope the Yanks do not do what they did last night and swing at a bunch of pitches in the dirt and out of the strike zone. I love how Bruny wasnt good enough to be on the roster the first two rounds, and I agree with that, but he is good enough to get into last nights game and completely let the game get away so that theres no chance for the yanks to come back
Ham Fighters
October 29th, 2009 at 11:33 am
lol @ cashman’s gotta go! u are kidding, right?
======================================================
Ham no i’m not….you make trades at the trade deadline for the rest of the season but really for the playoffs…chad gaudin is the guy cashman got at the deadline (actually he sat on his fat behind with his finger in his nose, ala joe torre, at the deadline he traded for gaudin in august)and he’s pitched in exactly 1 inning in 10 games….cliff lee on the other hand has a 0.50 era in about 32 innings in the postseason…in july everyone and their mother knew the yankees needed at least one more bonafide starter and a few relievers…cashman traded exactly for none of these…choosing instead to hold on to his minor leaguers so he can be stacked in 2015…and the sad part is these minor leaguers aren’t even THAT good…
as i said i still think the yankees will win in 6 or 7 but that doesn’t minimize the fact that if he didn’t have 400 million dollars to spend he isn’t very good at evaluating minor league talent and knowing when to pull the trigger on necessary trades….the same issues they had in july (not enough “good” starting pitching and a few arms short in the bullpen) are the same issues that are showing their ugly heads now…
before you go commenting look at the situation and make an informed intelligent comment….
Blake, we are in agreement about the early strike thing and pitching from ahead. A tried and true formula for pitching success. But my response was to 46fan who said Lee thru tons of 1st pitch strikes. Only 1/2 were 1st pitch strikes, which isn’t a particularly high %
Jeff Nelson was at the dugout last night. What a cool guy. You can tell that he really enjoys the New York fans. Any chance we can dress him in Bruneys uniform and get some innings out of him?
I actually like Randy’s perspective on all of this, from the catcher to the young arms in the bullpen. Sometimes being practical trumps the need to be overly creative or the need to overthink the situation.
I was at opening day, when the Yankees lost to the Indians 10-2. Cliff Lee was pitching for the Tribe, CC for the Yanks. Maybe there’s something to that matchup. That day was like watching paint dry. Last night felt the same way.
Bill Reynolds in the projo called the Yankees making it to the world series the frosting on the cake. I agree with that. Making it there was huge and put a lot of demons to rest. Hopefully the Yanks will seal the deal.
Ham Fighters, while I see the point you’re trying to make, it just doesn’t compare. I would be willing to bet the rest of those team were able to get on base and get hits.
If Swish was the only one not hitting, it wouldn’t be a big deal. But 6/9 of our line up is not hitting, and he’s simply not contributing, AT ALL. We have available upgrades on the bench that Girardi refuses to use.
Oh, and Swisher isn’t a Mantle, Berra, Dimaggio, or a Berni. Not even close.
so cashman’s gotta go b/c the yankees are going to win the WS but not by a sweep?
kid, u need to step away from the ledge!
Its too early for Guess the Line Up folks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
new thread
What is up fellas. I couldnt watch the game last night and was wondering if it was Lee pitching effective or the Yanks offense flat?
How long can we stick with Swisher this post season. With us having to use a pitcher at their home. I cant immagine having more dead wood in the lineup than need be.
I’m sorry to say, but my faith in Swisher is waning. I wouldn’t be suprised to see Gardner in there tonight. Also, the fact that Girardi is sleeping on what catcher to use leads me to believe he’ll make the right decision on that too.
We are going to see how special this team is over the next few days. I picked the Yanks in 7 and it still is early. Until they are knocked out, that prediction still holds.
nemo, i was refering to tex not hitting not swisher, the guys i pointed out were all 3,4,5 hitters, not #8 hitters.
people losing thier minds about the #8 hitter really need something more important to worry about.
lmfao @ “cashman’s gotta go”
Pettitte’s outcome in the 3rd game will depend if the ump is giving him the corner calls, because Utley and Ibanez’ #’s are both better against lefty pitching, in both average and slugging stats.
As far as an earlier comment about Cashman’s failure to get Cliff Lee, we had a much better package to offer without Hughes or Joba than what Philly gave up, but I think Shapiro wanted Lee out of the AL. If Lee and Francisco had been traded to NY we’d be playing the Dodgers right now in the WS, with a potential 4 game sweep definitely possible.
NTimes is reporting that,the Phillies may be tempted to start Lee in game 4,they have 2 day to decide.Lidge seems to want to let it go,and see how things play out.
They are waiting to see how the game goes tonight.If the Yankees drop 2 you bet Lee’s coming in on short rest.
Would Lee be as un-hittable on short rest,as he was last night?
CC has figured out how to do it,Lee hasn’t done it yet!
Ham Fighters October 29th, 2009 at 11:52 am
1949 joe dimaggio .111 ba,1 hr, 2 rbi, .278 slg
1951 yogi berra .261 ba,0 hr, 0 rbi, .304 slg
1662 mickey mantle .120 ba 0 hr, 0 rbi, .160 slg
1999 bernie williams .231 ba 0 hr, 0 rbi, .231 slg
and what did these world series performances have in common?
…the yankees won all 4 of these WS!
===================
Didn’t realize they had the World Series in 1662.
You wonder why Mantle left the Yanks for all those years.
Well Ham, we don’t have a replacement for Tex, do we? Plus he’s irreplaceable on the field, so he gets a pass for not hitting. I think everyone will agree with me and nobody is complaining about Tex not hitting (though he should be, and we should complain)
Keeping Swisher in the line up, though… is unacceptable.
s.o.s., Lee pitched well, got ahead in counts, some pitches were nasty. But by no means was he dominating as FOX would have you believe. Our offense contributed to his performance as did the HP umpire for the first few innings. The 3rd base umpire also made his mark on a 1-1 check swing that he called a strike to change the complexion of the AB. Then, when Rollins catches Cano’s ball, the 2nd base umpire does not rule Cano out on the catch, rather they rule Matsui out at 2nd and Cano safe at 1st. So because of their inept call, Matsui does not go back to 1st base, and when the play is discussed, they decide that the ball was caught and Matsui is out for not going back to 1st. But that will not be mentioned by ESPN as one of the 100 bad umpire calls this postseason. “They made the right call. They deserve credit” Says the media. They deserve credit alright, for screwing the Yankees out of one of their few opportunities.
yanks should have been good for 2-3 runs last night. Yank bullpen needs to step up.
regarding Rollins/MAtsui/Cano play, the umpire should have told Rollins who appealed the play that if Rollins caught the ball as he claimed afterwards why did he step on first and throw to first to complete a groundball double play. The ump at second base late call on the catch made Matsui pause
whats the talk of Gardner? Do you guys forget that Hinske is on the roster? Hinske for Swish tonight, its a no brainer.. Swish is lost
Swisher is killing us at the plate
game was incredibly boring, cept for Phillies fans I guess
upstate kate
October 29th, 2009 at 11:37 am
Hughes was more than accountable in his last outing w/ the media. He took all the blame for the loss, when it was really AJ’s fault. What more could he say this time? He knows what is expected, and that he didn’t execute. Phil needs to answer to his manager, coach and team mates, not the media.
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I disagree. I was extremely disappointed in how Hughes handled himself last night. First, instead of taking accountability for walking a guy with a sub .300 OBP he starts yelling at the ump. Next, for I believe the 2nd time this postseason, he ducks out and hides from the media. This level of immaturity is to be expected from a young pitcher.
HOWEVER, I am a firm believer that if you are going to relish in all the greatness fans and the media are proclaiming on you when things are going well, you better face the criticism when things are not going well.
All season people have been saying how great Hughes is and how he has been so Mariano like on the mound. Well, that is pretty easy when you are dominating. The second the kid has faced some adversity and tough times he reverts back to his old immature self refusing to take accountability. If Mo has a bad game you certainly do not see him barking at the ump and certainly do not see him fleeing the clubhouse.
It just goes to show you, no one will ever be like Mo. You learn a lot more about a player when things are going poorly than when things are going great.
So all the praise for this “change” in Hughes demeanor was much too premature.
Ham….
VISION dude….thats why your mommy tells you to wear clean underwear everyday…you gotta be ready for the things that MAY happen…
just because I think they will win doesn’t guarantee anything and if charlie manuel is smart enough to pitch lee 2 more times then the yankess need to be 100% perfect in the other 4 games..
how sad that a 200 million team has really only 2 good starters going in the WS? and they are struggling with the idea that they may have to pitch both and an erratic AJ on 3 days rest 3 games in a row..if they get that far…
i’m not a bridge jumper – i love the yankees but my life won’t end if they lose (i’m actually now used to it – and following them since 1973 i’m actually used to them being bad more than them being good)i just think the nerd cashman needs to grow a pair and make some trades and not think that everyone in the minors (and a few on the major league staff…hughes and joba cough cough)are Tim Lincecum and Albert Pujols..
look at theo – he traded nomar for god’s sake…nomar was equivalent to jeter for the redsox fans….and he won..he traded hanley for beckett – the yankees don’t have a hanley ramirez anywhere in their minors…..cashman just spends billions of dollars and doesn’t try to trade any decent minor leaguer for a bonafide players…that the mark of a very bad GM…
Joe was right about one thing he was quoted as saying,Lee can’t pitch every game!!
Also Lee has 265 innings and rising pitched,it’s bound to show up somewhere. Pedro,Hammel,Blanton and Happ don’t worry me AT ALL.YANKEES NEED TO GET BACK IN THIS SERIES TONIGHT.
If there is a weakness of Cashman,it’s pitching.He went to see Pedro pitch and said no thanks.He said he almost got Pavanno but didn’t think the player’s or the ownership would take kindly to it.
While it’s ok both were passed over,both are on teams in
postseason facing the Yankees.What did the other GM SEE,that Cashman didn’t?
cashman’s gotta go
stop already with the hating on Cash….it’s silly he’s done a tremendous job with the whole team the last 3 years and the team is set up to contend tonight and for the next ten years thanks to Cash’s “vision”.
also your point about the Yanks having to face Lee twice more possibly in the series….OK….but is it written in stone that he’s throwing complete game shutouts every time we see him? the Yanks have actually hit him pretty good in the past and i’ve got a funny feeling things may be a lil different come game 4
you also clearly know very little about the Yanks minor league players and what they have in the system.
and if you’re really a Yanks fan since ’73 how could you possibly be more used to them being bad than good? in the 37 years that you’vr been following them they’ve been a contending/playoff/championship team 80% of the time.
Yankee Trader
October 29th, 2009 at 12:08 pm
Pettitte’s outcome in the 3rd game will depend if the ump is giving him the corner calls, because Utley and Ibanez’ #’s are both better against lefty pitching, in both average and slugging stats.
As far as an earlier comment about Cashman’s failure to get Cliff Lee, we had a much better package to offer without Hughes or Joba than what Philly gave up, but I think Shapiro wanted Lee out of the AL. If Lee and Francisco had been traded to NY we’d be playing the Dodgers right now in the WS, with a potential 4 game sweep definitely possible.
**********************************************************
you’re wrong about the offer for Lee being better than what the Phils gave up….
The Phillies gave Cleveland 4 of their top 7 prospects in the deal and in fact to start the season Carrasco and Marson represented 2 of the top 4 prospects in the Phils organization.
As we clearly were not going to trade Austin Jackson nor Jesus Montero for Lee(nor Hughes/Joba) we would have been offering an inferior package…
the only one that’s gotta go is you ‘bro….you clearly deranged….your comment about our YOUNG kids-Hughes/Joba/DRob etc. not being good is distorted..
you are aware that Cliff Koufax Lee was DEMOTED to the minors by the Indians in ’07 at the age of 28 after having been in their rotation for three years because he was terrible!
Hughes(23)Joba(24)and DRob(24) are puppies that are getting invaluble experience and lessons that will serve them for the rest of their brilliant careers!
get a grip of get a clue but get something ‘bro…
Wow – someone actually is lamenting the fact that Cashman passed on Pavano and Pedro?
The team gets to the WS, lose a game, and the complaining begins. I swear most of the Yankees’ fans on the Internet didn’t watch the team until 1993 at the earliest.
cashman’s gotta go
October 29th, 2009 at 11:22 am
I still think the yankees will win this in 6 or 7 (as long as Cliff Lee doesn’t start 2 of the next 6 games)but…
everyone keeps talking about how good cashman is – but like i’ve said 1,000 times already its easy to spend uncle steiny’s millions when signing free agents…its the trades you make when time is running out that define how good a GM is…its the willingness to trade MINOR LEAGUERS for bonafide stars that show how much cojones you’ve got..the yankees aren’t the kansas city royals or pittsburgh pirates losing isn’t an option or a stepping stone for the future..
cashman has zero, zilch, nada cojones…. cliff lee was traded for basically 4 average to above average MINOR LEAGUERS….and he still has a year left on a pretty reasonable contract….yeah lets hold on to hughes, joba, romine, ajax and montero because we all know in 5 years when we don’t have rivera, arod (this years arod anyway) or jeter anymore those guys will more than make up for the drop in talent…simply dumb GM’ing and even dumber vision…
cliff lee on the yankees eliminates joba and hughes (big deal) and makes the phillies a really average team…it also forces them to trade for halladay which would deplete their farm system and gets halladay out of the AL east…VISION….
the yankees now have to hope Lee doesn’t start 2 more games AND have to count on AJ Bleepin Burnett to pitch a great game tonight…so dumb….
I agree 100%. I kept saying to anyone that would listen on the trade deadline that it was completely unacceptable for Cash to sit there and do nothing. Why is everyone such a prospect hugger? The time to win is now! If they had made the trade for Lee or even Halladay, the Yankees could’ve won 2 or 3 WS titles in a row.
I still think they’ll win this series, but it’s alot more uncertain having to rely on AJ tonight. I’d much rather Cash had stacked the deck for both this year and the next couple of years.