The Genius Maker Blog #2

Game 1 is in the books and the outcome was not what we hoped. Things looked promising after Posada and Granderson hit back to back homers and the Yanks ended up with a 5-1 lead going into the bottom of the 5th.

CC struggled with his command all night and could not work his changeup effectively. In the bottom of the 5th he struggled, but got out of the inning with only his 2nd run allowed and I felt, in game 1 of the year, I would have taken him out. I believe is pitch total was just about 90 and I would have turned it over to a very deep and rested bullpen. As it turned out, Joe left him out there to start the 6th and after walking Pedrioa I would have most certainly taken him out. If I had targeted a number of pitches at the start of the game 90 would have been my number. I was very surprised CC stayed in to allow another double and triple after the walk and also to throw 104 pitches in game 1 of the year. You can ride your horse, but why push it in game 1?

Now the outcome of the game may not have changed as the bullpen was ineffective at almost every turn, but perhaps things would have been different if Robertson started the inning?

A couple of other notes:

• Posada did a poor job defensively which contributed to the go ahead run. He was a hitting star though.
• I like having 2 lefties out of the pen. I can’t say I know how good Boone Logan is, but the threat can be important.
• Boston used Showenweis (Kind of like their Boone Logan as he was the last guy to make their team) against Granderson with 2 guys on and 2 outs and Granderson struck out. Granderson did work out a walk against Okajima later, but did not look good in doing so (0-1 with a walk against lefties)
• Gardner had an errant throw, but had a very good game offensively while stealing home. Man, he is blazing
• Chan Ho Park was the big goat though as he allowed 3 hits, including the bog blow the 2 run HR to Pedroia. I thought the ump missed a breaking ball to Dustin which made him come in with a fastball that was deposited over the fence, but either way a poor job.
• Marte didn’t do the job either (with some help from Posada). Marte is really a key guy for us in the pen. I hope his shoulder holds up.
• Nick Johnson will fit in perfectly into this team. He hit the ball well twice (for outs) and worked 2 walks.

It is only game 1 and doesn’t mean too much, but when you are up 5-1 with your best pitcher on the mound and a rested bullpen, you should win the game!