Last game of the year!

Not only did we win the division but we ended up with the best record in the AL!!!  That is a nice accomplishment.  Of course, it means very little unless we leverage it into at the minimum a 1^st round victory.

I want to go back to last night’s game (Tuesday).  It is very easy to get on Girardi for all the inconsistent and sometimes head scratching decisions, but I thought he made the right move in starting Phelps over Nova and I liked the lineup with Nunez in there.  I would have batted Tex after the hot Cano, but I agree with batting Ichiro down against the lefty.  Further, I thought Girardi timed his move to take out Phelps at the right time and I thought he used all his pitchers well with one exception and that is I would have let Robertson go another batter or 2 in the 9^th knowing that the game was probably in extra innings.  This in turn made him stick with Soriano for more pitches than I was comfortable with.  But, I would let him throw a lot in the postseason and in many ways it was a postseason game.  I also said to my son in the 9^th that this was the perfect spot for Ibanez to come in as we needed a HR.  Bailey obliged by grooving a pitch and Ibanez did the rest with a clutch line drive 2 run HR.  That was an enormous hit.  I wanted us to end the game in that 9^th but it was not to be.  I also thought ARod ended when he crushed the ball to LC but the heavy air and rain kept the ball in the park and Ellsbury made a terrific catch covering a ton of ground.

Going back to 1^st inning, Jeter was very heads up on a fly ball to RF where he tagged up and went to 2^nd, but unfortunately got left there after Tex started his horrific game by hitting into his 1^st of two double play grounders with 1^st and 3^rd and 1 out.  Later on with bases loaded and one out he popped up to shallow center on a broken bat where he actually got jammed on a pitch over the plate (Cone and Singleton called that wrong)

Say what you want, but Girardi had a good game Tuesday.

Wednesday had Granderson hit a towering fly ball that had underspin and carried for a 3 run HR to give us an early lead and Cano and the yanks never looked back.  Cano had a monster game adding to a great finish that saw him end the year with a .929 OPS! 

Kuroda also did a nice job against a fairly weak lineup.

OK, we now wait until Texas and the O’s play and then we travel to one of their places for 2 games and then come home for 3.  A lot of people are making a big deal out of this but I would always want the extra home game and I am fine going on the road twice too come home for 3.  It isn’t as much an advantage as 2-2-1, but they have to play another game and I am fine with it.  I would rather play Baltimore as the travel is easier and I feel we can beat them.  I was worried about Detroit and they still scare me and I think they are the favorite to win the AL pennant so I will be rooting against them.  We finished up in a good spot!

I will post on our rosters next, but the key questions are who is our 4^th starter, Phelps or Hughes and who do we keep on the PS roster out of Lowe, Garcia, Nova or Eppley?  It may depend on the team we play and I want to look at this.  I actually think the answer is Eppley or Lowe.    I would absolutely keep Gardner as our best lineup may be Gardner in LF and Ichiro in RF with Swish DHing and ARod playing 3^rd (Maybe Chavez with a very tough righty?)  I love the OF of Gardner, Granderson and Ichiro defensively.  Again, who we play matters and I will look up what I would go with.

Enjoy the moment folks!  I am not that confident in our team, but I feel much better after Texas lost all those games and even Baltimore lost their last two…at least in the first round.  The playoffs are a bit of a crapshoot so we have a shot!