The Genius Maker 5-23

A couple of quick notes on last night’s game:

·        Pettitte did not have near the cutter he had in game 2 for him and this shows what I would expect and that is inconsistent stuff game to game.  However, he has been consistent in throwing strikes, throwing over 70% strikes.

·        I didn’t understand why Girardi had the 39 year old lefty come out for the 8^th inning with an 8-2 lead? I know the pitch count was 93 but why push Pettitte at that point when it doesn’t matter?  Just another silly move that could only hurt the player and if nothing else wears him down.  A left was up, but what are you trying to accomplish?  He ended up walking him, but that was just the outcome.

·        While on Girardi, after I was complimenting him for dropping Tex to the 7^th spot, Girardi moves him back up against a lefty to the 3^rd spot???  This year His OPS against both sides is about the same and if anything he has been a tiny bit better against righties…why drop Cano down to the 5^th spot when he has been ripping line drives?  Another head scratcher.  BTW, Tex walked 3 times in 5 AB’s so he was productive moving the line and Cano was 0-4, but that was one of the best 0-4’s you will ever see has Cano was smoking line drives every time up and was robbed on at least one of the plays with a full out dive right up the middle where they had him played perfectly.

·        I made fun of ARod’s slug % and he and Long worked on opening his stance a little wider and ARod said after the last game he felt he was ready to bust out.  He surely did with 2 HR’s (albeit off of a rookie lefty making his first start of his career in Yankee stadium) and it was good to see some production from him.

·        I have spoken about bunting a bunch of times and I want to clarify my statements (if anyone cares).  I am not a big fan of the sacrifice bunt unless there are two guys on base (you get double the value) or if the situation really dictates it such as score tied and your worst hitter is up with nobody out.  However, I am in favor of bunting for a hit when a sacrifice might be the outcome if it is not successful.  For example, Jeter was up with a guy on 1^st base on nobody out and he bunted for a hit and he put down a perfect bunt; even if he were thrown out he would have still had a sac.  As it turned out the ball was thrown away and it ended up being 2^nd and 3^rd with nobody out.  But the error might happen just about the same amount of time as a failed bunt (meaning a popup or even a DP) would happen so it is a wash for these purposes.  Tex needs to learn this.  Tex did make a tremendous defensive play that had 3 really good plays in it (diving stop, accurate throw from his knees and getting back to first base in time)