Joe Girardi Refuses To Be Outmanaged

With two outs in the eighth inning last night, Joe Girardi gave way too much respect to a bad hitter. It was a lot like calling on Phil Coke to face Brayan Pena back in April, except this time he got away with it.

There were two outs and a man on first base, and the pitcher on the mound was a converted starter, clearly capable of throwing more than 13 pitches in an outing. Instead he went to his 39 year old closer to get yet another four out save.

Why?

I'll tell you why. Ron Gardenhire made a managerial move and Joe Girardi was too scared to stand pat in response. This is the epitome of overmanaging. Making a move for the sake of making a move.

Jose Morales has good numbers in the Majors, but before he got called up, he was hitting .273/.362/.327 in AAA. He has only four extra base hits in 70 MLB plate appearances this year, none of which are home runs. As a matter of fact, he's hit just 6 homers in his last 746 minor league PA's, and 0 in 127 this year. Not exactly a threating presence at the plate.

I love the fact that Rivera isn't coddled like Trevor Hoffman and can get saves that require more than three outs. But let's conserve those for when they are actually needed, not when the opposing manager summons a guy with a career .373 minor league slugging percentage to pinch hit. Girardi has brought Mo into the 8th inning three times in his last 7 outings. Easy there Joe, it's only July.

Notice that I didn't question the move to bring in Phil Coke, which made sense but didn't work out. I'm questioning removing Hughes, which was overkill, and worked out anyway. Hindsight is irrelevant, optimal decision making is about using the information at hand to choose the best alternative at the time. This was unnecessary.

After the game Girardi hinted that Hughes might stay in the bullpen for the rest of the year. how about letting him build up some confidence, instead of essentially telling him you don't think he's capable of getting a big out?

Hughes has pitched 50 1/3 innings to date this season, between starting and coming out of the bullpen. If he stays in the 'pen being used how he is now, how many innings could he possibly pitch? 80? 90? 100 max?

What happens next year if they want to put him back in the starting rotation? The Yanks are going to be in the same spot they were at the beginning of this season; miles away from a reasonable innings limit for a starter.

The way things are going, Chien Ming Wang is far from a lock to hold down one of the spots. Andy Pettitte wanted to pitch in the New Stadium, but as rough as it has been on him so far, it's beginning to look more and more like he isn't going to want to come back. We'd all like to think Joba Chamberlain will get things figured out, but that's not a guarantee either. That leaves the Yanks with two starting pitchers, A.J. Burnett and CC Sabathia, both of whom are fairly significant injury risks.

Do I think having Hughes in the bullpen gives the Yanks the best chance to win in the short term? Sure, but so does calling up J.P. Ricciardi tomorrow and offering him Hughes, Austin Jackson and Jesus Montero for Roy Halladay. The organization has stated multiple times that they see Hughes as a future component of the Yankees' rotation. Why don't they start acting like it?

The Half Century Mark

A.J. Burnett was far from sharp tonight; wild was more like it. He walked four batters while only striking out two and whipped three wild pitches off of the artificial turf past the backhanded stabs of Jorge Posada. But in the end he was good enough.

The first of the wild pitches was erased after Burnett picked Denard Span off of second base in the first inning. His throw hit Robinson Cano's glove right on the bag at ankle level, and caught Span so off guard that he didn't even bother to slide.

In the top of the second, the Yankees loaded the bases with three one out singles by Matsui, Posada and Cano. Nick Swisher drove in a run with a slow chopper back to Anthony Swarzak, bringing up Brett Gardner with two outs. (According to Ken Singleton on the YES broadcast, Gardner came into the game leading all AL Rookies in on-base percentage, batting average, walks, stolen bases and runs scored. Surprising, yes?) He continued his recent hot streak by lofting a single to left, which scored Posada and Cano, making the score 3-0.

Burnett's wildness resurfaced in the third inning, but only after he had recorded two outs. After allowing a single and a stolen base to Denard Span, he walked Brendan Harris, bringing up Joe Mauer. He then threw two consecutive wild pitches, the first moving the runners to second and third and the next allowing Span to score. It might have cost Mauer an RBI because on the following pitch, he ripped an opposite field double to bring the Twins within one.

The Yanks struck again in the 5th, spearheaded by a leadoff double by Derek Jeter. Mark Teixiera followed that up with a one out walk and A-Rod drove Jeter in with a single. That would be the last batter Swarzak would face as he left the game after 4 1/3 IP, surrendering 4 runs on 8 hits.

Burnett settled down after his rocky 3rd inning, working scoreless a scoreless 4th, 5th and 6th. He got Brendan Harris to line out to start the 7th, but with Joe Mauer on deck and 3 for 3 on the night, Joe Girardi elected to call on Phil Coke to match up with the lefty. Burnett couldn't have done much worse, as Mauer took a 3-1 fastball out to the opposite field for a solo homer. Coke then retired Justin Morneau on a slider in the dirt for the second out of the inning. Girardi, again matching up, brought in Phil Hughes to face the righty Michael Cuddyer, who turned the first pitch he saw into a pop out.

Hughes came out for the 8th inning and needed only 7 pitches to take down the first two hitters. With Nick Punto and his abysmal 59 OPS+ coming to the plate, Ron Gardenhire decided to call on switch-hitting backup catcher Jose Morales to pinch hit.

Giradi countered with Mariano Rivera to get a four out save (more on this later), and like the unstoppable force that he is, Mo cut them down in order, including two strikeouts.

It was much more similar to the first four games the teams played against each other this year than the one last night, but the Yanks continued their dominance over the Twins on the season and pulled down win number 50 for 2009.

The Red Sox beat the A's 5-4 to remain one game up in the AL East. The Yanks will make the first move tomorrow, as they have a second weekday matinee of this week at 1:10.

Game 84: On The Run

Almost exactly one month ago, A.J. Burnett tossed a 2 2/3 inning, 5 hit, 5 walk, 5 run clunker against the Red Sox and Josh Beckett. At that point, Burnett had a 4.89 ERA, a 4-3 record and some assurance for his detractors:

"When I do get on that run, it's going to be impressive," he said. "I promise you that."

In his four starts since then, Burnett has notched three wins, with his only loss coming when he threw 6 1/3 innings of one run ball against the Marlins in a game the Yankees lost 2-1. On that run he predicted, A.J. has thrown 27 1/3 innings and given up just three runs, good for a 0.99 ERA, lowering his season mark to 3.83 in the process. He's allowed only 16 hits and walked 12 while striking out 33 and has easily been the Yankees best starter over that time.

A last minute scratch by the Twins swaps Glen Perkins (out with a fever) for rookie Anthony Swarzak, who was originally supposed to be starting tomorrow night. The big 23 year old righty has made five starts in the Majors this year, with his first and last being the most impressive. Against the Brewers on May 23rd, he threw 7 shutout innings en route to the victory, and he equaled that feat against the Cubs on June 13th. He was sent down to Triple A Rochester shortly thereafter, where he has sported a 2.34 ERA over his 10 starts in 2009.

Swarzak's number are much better away from the HHH than at home and he will have to attempt to correct that while facing what is close to the most potent line-up the Yankees have to offer. Jorge Posada will be behind the plate, A-Rod at third, Hideki Matsui in the DH slot and Damon, Gardner and Swisher manning the outfield, from left to right.

After thumping the Twins last night, the Yanks are 5-0 against them this year have have won 17 of their last 23 meetings, dating back to 2006. A win tonight would be the Yankees' 1100th against the Twins franchise, although that record dates all the way back to April 29th, 1901, when the Yankees were still the Baltimore Orioles and the Twins were the Washington Senators.

More relevantly, if Burnett can continue his dominant charge, the Bombers could notch their 50th win of the season tonight. The Yanks aren't in Kansas, but don't forget that the Central Time start pushes the game back til 8.

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