A Tease
That one hurt, but the Yankees still have a 3-2 lead and Pettitte and Sabathia backing them up while they head home. Anyway, it's late and here are my thoughts.
A.J. showed up as "Mr. Hyde" in the first and I hope that dispells the notion that Molina has to catch him. It certainly didn't help tonight.
If you killed Girardi for pulling Robertson on Monday (like me) you can't kill him now for sticking with Burnett in the 7th. A.J. looked great after the first and had only thrown 80 pitches. Plus, Aybar hits better against lefties than righties, so would pulling A.J. after the first batter to put in Joba make a lot of sense?
Where you can question Girardi is the 8th. Why wasn't warming up the minute Rivera doubled? It didn't matter in the end, but it could have.
Another move I didn't like that also didn't matter was lifting A-Rod in the ninth for Guzman. Alex is fast enough and unless you are going to order Guzman to steal that base (he obviously didn't) do you really gain much of an advantage? Plus, if the game is tied up you have now lost your best hitter by far and you have to bring in someone (Hairston) to play third.
Finally, Nick Swisher looks lost right now. This is where Hinske would be a nice choice off the bench. Facing a lefty in Game 6, I can't imagine the Yankees going to Gardner in center and Melky in right, but it wouldn't be a terrible idea. Nick is 3-33 in the postseason with 10 K's and has that look A-Rod used to.
More tomorrow
Comments
Swisher. Agreed. I love the pitch counts but a 7 pitch out with the bases loaded in the 9th doesn't do us a heck of alot of good. I'm sitting there hoping he's able to work a walk. He's lost. I just knew Burnett wouldn't get through that 7th inning. Hughes and Joba aren't getting it done. I'm more confident with Robertson on the mound at this point. Same old same old, no bridge to Rivera.
Posted by: tim | October 23, 2009 01:04 AM |
Peter, I think that Swisher is frozen solid at the plate (read: cold at the plate) and pulling him for Gardner would be an upgrade in the OF and at the plate.
Joba needs to be swapped with Bruney when we get to the WS. Joba's stuff is breaking early and minimally - in other words, he's fooling no one.
Posted by: Mitchell![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://yankeesredsox.com/nav-commenters.gif)
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October 23, 2009 09:17 AM
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Bringing Burnett in for the 7th wasnt a good idea, whether he breezed through it or not. I distinctly remember saying something about throwing my TV out the window when he walked out for the 7th. He managed to get through 6 innings, sure, but he never looked good to me, never looked in control. Much better to be grateful for the 5 scoreless and put in D-Rob than try and milk more tight-wire act from Burnett. Ugh. Theres a second game I think we really could have won with better game management.
Posted by: ian![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://yankeesredsox.com/nav-commenters.gif)
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October 23, 2009 10:22 AM
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Mitchell- Interesting idea to swap Bruney in. Not against it, but need to think about it. Personally, I would have kept Duncan down in Tampa too and put him on a World Series roster.
Ian- I can certainly see the argument against and I think you raise a good issue, where is Robertson? The guy has pitched well (when used) why not trust him more?
Posted by: Peter![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://yankeesredsox.com/nav-commenters.gif)
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October 24, 2009 11:36 AM
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