What Is Girardi Doing?
As I write this it is 3-2 heading into the 7th. Normally, I would wait until after the game, but Girardi is managining this like he is drunk, so I felt inclined to post now.
Question 1: Bottom of the fourth, two outs with a runner on third, 8th-place hitter up for the Mets. Don't you walk him and face the pitcher? (He didn't)
Question 2: Bottom of the fifth Gardner on first with one out and Wang batting. Don't you order Wang to take a pitch to let Gardner steal second before trying to bunt him over? The worst case scenario isn't that Wang doesn't get the runner over, it's a double play which Wang bunted into.
Question 3: You pull Wang for Coke to face two lefties (eventhough Coke is better against righties) and then the Mets put in a righty. Two outs in the inning and you go to bring Hughes in. Absoultely fine with that, but why would you double switch? Girardi brought Hughes in and put Damon into left, moved Cabrera to right and took Swisher out of the game. What did that all accomplish? It moved the pitchers spot from the 4th all the way to 6th. So for two lousy lineup spots you lost a good hitter and cost yourself a bat on the bench? If the Yankees go 1-2-3 in the 7th, the pitcher won't get up anyway and what are the chances Hughes is going to pitch more than 1-1/3? You could then have led off the 8th with a pinch hitter anyway. If the pitcher's spot comes up in the 7th you could alway pinch hit then. Plus, if the Yankees do go 1-2-3, the pitcher's spot is going to come up in the 8th, just like it would have.
Maybe Joe is having an off night, but these decisions are weird.
Comments
#1 - it depends on the 8th hitter really. Ideally you pitch to him and get him out to end the inning and get the luxury of the pitcher leading off the next inning.
Posted by: blmeanie![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://yankeesredsox.com/nav-commenters.gif)
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June 29, 2009 06:57 AM
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Totally disagree there. In a 3-1 game with a runner on third, walk the #8 htter, strike out the pitcher and preserve your slim lead.
Posted by: ian![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://yankeesredsox.com/nav-commenters.gif)
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June 29, 2009 01:54 PM
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I disagree with your disagreement.
gotta remember, NL teams, the #8 guy is usually the AL #9 guy, weakest hitter.
As Peter says in initial post, it was the 4th inning, don't really have to worry about pinch hitter coming in yet (if it was 3-2 in the 7th it had to be less or same in 4th). Get the out, start the 5th with the "automatic" pitchers spot.
Besides, the Yankees worrying about giving up a tying run in the 4th against the mets with 15 more outs to go themselves?
Posted by: blmeanie | June 29, 2009 02:01 PM |
Then we shall have to agree to disagree my friend. Why pitch to a major league hitter with a man in scoring position when you have an auto out waiting on deck? Pitching to setup the next inning instead of taking care of the present one and assuming you're going to score more runs seem like bad ideas, especially when a better alternative exists.
Posted by: ian![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://yankeesredsox.com/nav-commenters.gif)
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June 30, 2009 04:55 PM
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