I had all sorts of comments to make about the game last night, but I will boil this down to the 6th inning and a horrible decision by Girardi that greatly reduced our chances of winning the game.
Phil Hughes started off throwing well (but I had a lot of issues with the pitch selection and it might have been Cervelli or Hughes as Hughes shook him off sometimes) as he threw 94 and had a sharp bite on his curve. They did not use the curve enough and the change-ups he threw were very bad.
First perspective: This game was a huge mismatch with one of the ERA leaders (Beckett) at home going against one of the ERA bottom dwellers (Hughes). Hughes had just allowed 4 runs in the last 3 innings and was throwing only 91-92 at this point. The Yankees offense did a great job and put the team in the lead by scoring 3 runs in the top of the 6th to take a 5-4 lead!
So what does the foolish manager do? He struts Hughes back out for the bottom of the 6th inning! I was furious and it got worse when Hughes started Crawford out 3-0. After throwing a 91 MPH strike down the middle, we got VERY lucky as Crawford pulled a HR foul. I was so sure this was a terrible move that I would have taken him out with a 3-2 count on him that was how sure I was Hughes was done. Hughes then threw another meatball down the middle of the plate, but Crawford flew out to CF. Whew! I wrote in my notes to eat crow and say that I would not have let Hughes pitch but we got an out. After seeing your pitcher have nothing left, I have no idea why Girardi didn’t make a move. He decided to wait for Hughes to walk the next guy and then allow a double before finally taking him out. It was one of those moves you would expect a rookie manager in KC to make. It cost us the game and Girardi should be embarrassed. He is so lucky he has a talented team because he simply is not good enough because he does not have a good feel for a game and does not put the team in the best position to win!
We had a chance to win a game we had no right to win and Girardi blew it…I am really annoyed today and all my other comments will have to wait.
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On Thursday, Girardi, didn't make the same mistake. He pulled Burnett early, and thereby won the game.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if Girdardi was concerned on Wednesday about overusing his best relievers. The combination of Logan, Soriano, Robertson and Mo has been terrific, but they can't pitch every day.
Sure, this is why he doesn't allow them to pitch 3 days in a row...but the question still surrounds the inconsistency he applies his odd rules. Then yesterday, he lets Robertson pitch 30+ pitches and 2 full innings. It is as if he cares more about non Boston games
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