Game 22

 Very tough loss last night.  Another very long game that we couldn’t win in extra innings.  I think we need to mandate SB’s from Gardner and Ellsbury in late innings.  Obviously, you can’t run just to get caught, but you need to at least do a hit and run.  They each were on and neither one ran with a ton of opportunities (sometimes the situation ends up being only a few pitches – but not last night).  Also, in the bottom of the 12^th Beltran singled (about time as he has been killing us) and Gardner correctly pinch ran for him.  Tampa had the shift on for Headley and for the life of me I don’t know why we didn’t either bunt and run or just have Headley bunt down the 3^rd base line as the 3^rd baseman was playing SS?  It was the perfect time.  Further, if done correctly Gardner may be able to get around to 3^rd base.

For the losing play if Drew comes up clean and throws home I think we get the runner.  He didn’t come up clean, double clutched and then “faked” the throw and then eventually threw very late. 

Didi looked good defensively yesterday flashing a serious play in the hole where he slid and backhanded the ball and then got rid of it lightning fast with a very strong arm.  He got the runner by more than a step.  That was very good to see as I can put up with him struggling at the plate if his defense is what it was reported to be.

I was right when I said Petit would be the first to get sent down to the minors and it would happen pretty quickly…of course he was recalled when Tanaka went on the DL.  This is not good, but as long as he comes back healthy in a month we can get through it.

A few other comments:

·      ARod killed us yesterday.  He was up 6 times and made 7 outs!  Even though I mentioned about him guessing less than the announcers were stating he looked like he was guessing yesterday, taking strike 3 down the middle

·      Girardi has done a good job so far this year and I have agreed with his decisions.  One I slightly questioned yesterday (and I have brought this up before) was going into the 8^th of a tie score Carpenter pitched only 7 very effective pitches the inning before and he took him out for Betances.  Veterans of this blog know I think managers should anticipate extra innings more often when the situation dictates it (such as letting a pitcher who looks effective and only threw 7 pitches get a few more outs).  Betances was then awesome for only 11 pitches and then he was taken out.  We then had to use Miller for 2 innings (which was the correct move), but we probably could have gotten at the minimum one more inning and probably two out of Carpenter and Betances (with a day off today). 

·      While on the situation of trying to get the most out pitchers in a tight game if the situation dictates.  Girardi took out Pineda with only 94 or so pitches and then pitches Justin Wilson for 2 pitches to get out of the inning.  Wilson has shown that he is pretty equal against both lefties and righties so why not get a little more out of him than 2 pitches as well?

·      Martin continues to do well; I am very impressed with his control of his fastball.  He really spots it extremely well.

·      I can’t get too annoyed with Shreve, but you can’t walk 3 guys in 2 innings.

·      I can’t remember another time where we had so many hard throwers out of the pen?  Like I said, our pitching should make us very competitive; hopefully Tanaka is healthy after this stint.
·      I think we will need to trade for a 2^nd baseman if nobody in the minors can step up.

The umpires behind home plate have been very good this year in my opinion.  While I have not agreed with every call, I think they have been good, although it is hard to tell with the ESPN strike zone as I don't like that because they don't change the up and down for players and it is annoying.  I would rather it to the right instead of my viewing area of the strike zone.

BTW, I changed the font to make it a little larger by request.  I will do so whenever I can, but sometimes I write from different places.