The Genius Maker #120

Let's celebrate a very good offensive performance and an exciting finish on a tremendous throw by Golson and a very good catch and tag by ARod. Just as Gardner's play was a bad one getting thrown out stealing 3rd base with 2 outs last night, this was also a bad play by Crawford for the same reason. Golson should have gotten himself in a little better position so he didn't have to throw flat footed, but he made a very strong and extremely accurate throw to nail Crawford and win the game!

Now, onto what is really bothering me.

Girardi has officially become a manager I am extremely unhappy with. He is just so inconsistent it drives me crazy. This game was important and after Jeter K'd with the bases loaded and the Yanks up 6-0, I was happy, but felt we should have been able to really blow open this game...

Nova starts getting in trouble (EVERY hit was a on a fastball) in the bottom of the 5th as he allowed a leadoff HR and then a double but then got a K. After a single making it 6-2 (on another fastball) he gets a ground out and the score is 6-2 with a man on 1st and 2 outs. Nova then walks the next guy. Obviously, he has lost his stuff, but Girardi decides to let him go one batter and try and get out Longoria. This is risky, but for some reason Girardi sat down Robertson so then it didn't make sense to bring in Logan to face Longoria. TB has 3 lefties in a row so it makes sense to bring in Logan to get in some pinch hitters and force TB's hand-after Longoria. Nova starts out Longoria with a great curve and I am telling the friend I am talking with that he needs to throw all curves. Cervelli, not listening, calls for a fastball and Longoria rips a single up the middle and now the score is 6-3 and they have 1st and 2nd and 2 outs (all with 2 outs and on fastballs). Logan must now get the lefties...but wait... Girardi inexplicably lets Nova face the lefty Joyce??? I am sorry, Girardi has been a moron of late; but this takes the cake and makes NO sense. Girardi has shown that he will take a guy out before getting a win (pitching 5) if it will cost the game and Nova has now allowed 3 runs in the 5th inning and has 2 runners on...the tying run is coming to the plate for crying out loud. To make it worse, Joyce is almost a 100% platoon guy so at the worst you are forcing a move and at the best you get a guy who is 1-20 against lefties for the year. Later in the game their lefties in the lineup would be gone and we would have our
all” righties pen get them out...but no, Girardi lets Nova go after Joyce (BTW, Nova had an OPS against lefties of .819 compared to .651 against righties coming into the game), who hits a fastball for a single and now the score is 6-4 with 2 guys on and we bring in Logan to face the lefty who gets pinch hit for Aybar. Aybar hits a 3 run HR and now we are down by one. Yes, you can say Logan didn't do the job, but you don't know what would have happened in the AB prior and while they probably would have pinch hit for Joyce, that uses a big move for them and makes them more vulnerable later. People say the manager doesn't make much of a difference...well they are wrong at times like this because it was a huge difference and this was an AWFUL job by Girardi. Let him go to Chicago if he is going to manage this poorly.

Fortunately the Yankees rallied to tie and Posada hit an absolute bomb as a pinch hitter to give us a 1 run lead in the 10th and Rivera was able to get out of the 10th with a little help by Golson.

Big win, but that bottom of the 5th was disgusting.

BTW, Granderson had a couple of doubles and made a fantastic catch in CF fully diving for a ball. Cano had a big day as well with a few hits and an HR. On the negative side Kearns has been awful (he is really mediocre and this is why I was not in favor of the signing...even if he does add some value as the team is constructed now...I would have signed/traded for someone else though. Also Colin Curtis can't get a hit for us and Miranda hasn't been much better. It would be nice if someone from our minors could hit.

Finally, I have to say great job by Joba, Wood and Robertson each pitching a shut out inning. Joba was really impressive sporting a great curve. The fun AB was watching Joba to pitch to Longoria. They started him off with a sharp curve that was a little low. But then came back with the slider and Longoria was a little out in front for a swinging strike. Now, the batter has no idea what is coming and Joba nails a 97 MPH fastball on the outer upper part of the strike zone (looking). With the count 1-2, what would you throw? This is why starting him off this way gives you so many options. What I loved was he came back with the pitch I had talked about earlier in the season; the fastball over the plate but a little up just above the strike zone. This is harder to lay off than the one inside or outside at the same height. What made it even more impressive was that it was clocked at 98!!! That was great!

The expanded rosters are pretty silly right now if you ask me. The key pennant games and you can slice and dice any way you want, doesn't make sense. The only thing that makes less sense is that we don't have a 2nd lefty in the pen right now.

Back in first despite our manager.