Tuesday, July 19, 2011

The Genius Maker #58

The game started on a sour note for me. It is hard to get mad at Jeter, but I get that way mostly because of Girardi. Let me explain…Why is Jeter still leading off against a righty? Girardi needs to wake the heck up and make the move to Gardner. Not only is Gardner swinging the bat well, he is waking up the team with his speed. Jeter is hurting the team and is not deserving of the extra AB in the game. In fact, this was a game where Jeter was up in key spots and cost the Yankees runs. It is hard to expect Jeter to ask to be dropped, but if he is about what is best for the team, he would go to Girardi and let him know that against righties he should bat down low and Gardner should lead off…

Gardner did a great job in this game and took a lot of pitches and still was very productive getting a key 2 out hit, walking a few times and using his speed to help break up a DP hit by Nunez that scored the tying run. Nunez might have beaten it out but it was close; either way Gardner speed was important to rush a throw.

Burnett struggled all game, but the play that was most annoying was after 1st and 3rd with nobody out the Yanks got an excellent play by Teixeira where he fielded a grounder and made it look like he was going to go to 3rd but in one motion threw to 2nd and then back to 1st for a DP. It looked like Burnett would get out of it, but after a chopper went over the mound that he fielded and bounced a throw to Mark that he couldn’t handle TB had a 3-1 lead. It was terrible throw but I would have liked to see Teixeira make that scoop. I said this a few times last year, but does anyone else notice how Mark makes these dramatic sweeps and jumps with his glove that make routine plays look a little more dramatic? I don’t think it is intentional, but I think it makes people overrate his good defense into the great range. One area he does excel in his throwing though, he throws very well for a 1st baseman.

Burnett allowed 14 guys on base in 5.1 innings, but the Yanks got good relief from Noesi (5 outs), Robertson (3 outs) and the Genius Maker to close out the one run save!

With 1st and 2nd and nobody out in the 8th inning Girardi pinch hit for Posada with Andrew Jones. This was of note as Girardi seems to have baby gloves on Jeter, but doesn’t have an issue taking Posada out (against a lefty). I know Posada has been awful against lefties for the year, but I don’t think he has been so bad of late after an atrocious start. Jones didn’t get the job done, but that didn’t make it a good or bad move. I just thought it was interesting that a player like Jeter who has a .671 OPS this (and was only .710 all last year) compared to a .695 of Posada this year (and over .800 last year), yet Jeter leads off while Posada gets pinch hit for? When do you think we will see Girardi pinch hit for Jeter against a righty? As usual, Girardi is just not consistent in his approach and it ticks me off. Oh and before someone writes me and tells me that a manager shouldn’t always do the consistent thing; I recognize this, and in fact agree that every situation needs to be analyzed, but I would like to know the logic string instead of the line of BS Girardi gives us.

OK, back to the nice comeback win. The Yanks walked 9 times including the game winner by Martin who had a good AB.

Boston scored 8 runs in the 8th to win again 15-10 over Baltimore. Is Buck now a good manager or a bad one? Remember who called that out early in the year. My point is not that Buck isn’t a decent manager; my point is that a team with talent will win more than a team with less talent and the manager makes some difference but not THAT much difference.

TB is fading...

2 comments:

  1. Sadly I don't think Jeter will ever be dropped to the bottom of the batting order where he belongs this season. Not even in the post-season. Ugh!

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  2. Girardi can't be this stubborn especially if Gardner continues to play well

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