Humdinger
Paul Quantrill would have loved playing for Joe Girardi. Ditto that for Scott Proctor and all the other relievers who blew out their arms in the Joe Torre years. Girardi was not going to use Robertson and Joba tonight and it almost cost him the game.
Don't view that as a critique of Girardi, I actually admire him for seeing the big picture in this case. If you want to criticize Girardi tonight, you should knock him for sticking with Hughes for too long and sticking with Park for too long. The Hughes decision is understandable, he was trying to get his starter a win. His Park decision was also understandable, he was trying to preserve his bullpen and it didn't work. In the long run, both decisions are justifiable. We can debate how big a psychological impact a loss tonight would have been, but Girardi rolled the dice and came up with a huge win.
I posted earlier tonight about why skipping Vazquez made sense. Look at the bullpen situation tonight. When Javy came in, he represented the last line of defense before Mariano. The Yankees needed a long man tonight and it worked out better than they could have hoped. Also, Vazquez has to feel more confident based on what he did tonight.
We may have a game tomorrow, we may not based on the forecast. Either way, expect a post sometime tomorrow afternoon.
Comments
You could see Hughes trying to find just a few more deep breaths to get him through the inning. Girardi left him out there about 10 or 15 pitches too long. And the moment I saw Park, I knew the game was going to "flip sides", CHP does not impress me, at all. He throws a wide assortment of cookies. Bullpen is starting to look as thin as the bench. Marte, Park and Logan seem weaker than we need.
Nice to see Javy get a W with just 4 pitches - sort of a consolation prize for not getting a W on his last outing, which was his best of the season.
Swisher & Posada unavailable. Aceves and Granderson on the DL, Johnson done for a few months. Yep, a little thin ...
Posted by: Mitchell![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://yankeesredsox.com/nav-commenters.gif)
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May 18, 2010 08:01 AM
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Let me rephrase myself: at this point, I'd rather see Nova or Melancon on the mound than Park. Am I wrong? Maybe, but I do know that Park not only "pitches to contact", he pithces to hard contact. This is not good when you've got MLB hitters at the plate.
Posted by: Mitchell![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://yankeesredsox.com/nav-commenters.gif)
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May 18, 2010 01:26 PM
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Mitchell- I don't think you are wrong at all. I thought the Chan Ho Park experiment would last about two months. Since he missed a month, I imagine we will get to "enjoy" him until June when the Yankees will cut their losses.
Melancon would be my pick over Park. He would also be my pick over Logan right now. If Robertson's recent success is for real, then I feel ok about the bullpen. Otherwise, they will need to change something.
Posted by: Peter![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://yankeesredsox.com/nav-commenters.gif)
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May 18, 2010 01:34 PM
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