TwitterIt’s A Mystery
19 May 2010
Corey and Mitchell commented on it and I am still fuming over it, how on Earth can the Yankees send down an outfielder last night knowing that Swisher and Posada were hurt? I get the need to protect the pitching staff from burnout, but there are many creative things the Yankees could have done last night.
For instance, why not let Andy Pettitte pitch an inning of relief since it was probably his day to throw anyway? Plus, they had Vazquez available and if he pitched and couldn’t start Friday, they would have been able to go with Mitre again. It’s not optimal, but it would have allowed them to have more than one guy available off the bench.
And the amazing thing is, they are making the same mistake tonight. They are going to keep 13 pitchers on the team with Posada and Swisher banged up. That means the Yankees have to start Thames in right, the only other choice would be Ramiro Pena!
I really don’t know what else Marcus Thames has to do to convince the Yankees his glove is for emergency purposes only. I like the guy, he is fun to watch with the bat, but I close my eyes when the ball is hit his way. I’m also not sure why they have him in right instead of left. Randy Winn had five assists last season, Marcus Thames has 9 (yes 9!) in his entire career. That, plus what I have seen with my eyes tells me that Winn has the better arm, so shouldn’t he be in right? I remember watching a Mets game in the mid-80′s that went 20 something innings and they ended up with a pitcher in the outfield and they shuttled him between right and left depending on whether a righty or a lefty was up. Maybe the Yankees can look into that with Thames and Winn?
Insanity is sometimes defined as doing the same thing over and over again but expecting a different result. The Yankees got burned carrying 13 pitchers last night, tonight they are going to try it again. Perhaps they are just crazy?
UPDATE 9:20pm- Something tells me that they are going to get an outfielder added to the roster now. I’m no doctor, but that looked like Marcus Thames rolled his ankle at the very least. LoHud is reporting Thames sprained the ankle. Now appearing in right is Ramiro Pena. Yikes, this is getting really bad.
May 19, 2010 @ 21:23:31
AJ is bouncing fastballs all over the place tonight – this one is going to be ugly. Guy has filthy stuff, yep, fa sure – it’s just that no one knows where it’s going to land. I feel sorry for Cevelli on a night like this. He’ll be black and blue tomorrow, no doubt.
And yep, Girardi is amazingly prone to sticking with something too long – who knows, maybe it’s Cashman who is calling the shots for callups and stints on the DL?
May 20, 2010 @ 00:06:10
why is winn still on this team ..experiment over.. leave one of the kids up.. posada out …lets get montero..he may get a rush up here. back up cerv. and dh..thames is he also dl bound. big problem with grandy..tough to come back from groin injury, prone for it to happen again..
May 20, 2010 @ 08:34:45
Begin Rant –
Thames needs to be limited to the batter’s box. Can’t field the ball and now can’t be trusted to run safely to first base withouth tripping over his own bat. C’mon Marcus, that’s the sort of stuff you learn about in Cal Ripken ball when you’re about 12.
Once again, Jorge will be out for at least a month. Time to get a bit younger at that postion. Will they be brave enough to do that?
Pena in the OF? OK, that’s a big hint that 13 pitchers might be a bit overkill; perhaps 11 or 12 of the RIGHT arms might be a better way to go than solving the problem with sheer numbers?
And Jeter, I suspect, is doing his “I’m fine” routine. He’s struggling and I wonder if he’s playing hurt after getting hit on the hand (again) a while back. He’s not looking as young as he used to …
- End Rant