Girardi's Biggest Mistake

Joe Girardi has made some questionable decisions throughout this season and they've occurred at a much higher rate during the postseason. There were several short essays written about his tendencies yesterday over here. Most of of the debate focused on pitching changes and other substitutions, but his (and Brian Cashman's) biggest error may have come in roster construction:

sbarro philly foot sausage 8:31 am
I mentioned this yesterday, but I am still intrigued to hear what everyone thinks.
I have a question: do you all think that maybe Girardi made a mistake in not adding Cody Ransom to the roster?

I had an idea last night, that Cody could potentially be inserted as a pinch runner who could steal home or score in a squeeze play at the plate.

Here’s my thinking: the man can jump from a standing position atop a 60 inch box. When the throw reaches the catcher, the catcher would be in a squatted reach position to tag the runner, in this case, Cody Ransom. But Cody could simply take the catcher by surprise, jump over him and touch the plate.

What do you guys think? I think it would work, and could be one of the most spectacular plays since the 2001 Jeter shovel pass to Posada in the ALDS

The only appropriate response is this.

Thirsty Thursday

Honestly, I've been enjoying these Thursday off nights as of late. When the Yanks don't play, it means that I don't have to stay up late to write a recap of the game and instead can get a head start on content for the morning. Or not and just get drunk. Which is probably what I am going to do tonight since I have secured about a dozen different kinds of Oktoberfests, Autumn and Pumpkin ales. Possible review in the morning, but no promises.

In any event, this Thursday doesn't have a whole lot to offer. Had the Twins won last night, there might have been an intriguing baseball game to watch. But they didn't. (Damn you, Carl Pavano!) It would be nice if there was an entertaining college football game on TV, but Colorado vs. West Virginia most certainly isn't. It would be nice if I was a hockey fan, since the season begins tonight with a doubleheader on Versus, but I'm not. If I lived in Brooklyn I might go to the Joe Posnanski book signing at JLA Studios, but I don't.

A few more items from the "not so much" department:

OMG, Kate Hudson is pregnant! Except if she isn't. Her publicist denies said rumors but that doesn't stop the Post from reporting those two things in the same headline.

OMG, Joe Mauer is stealing signs! The Twins say he wasn't, but they obviously aren't going to cop to being nabbed by some couch vigilante. What I found enjoyable were some of the things the conspiracy theorist who uploaded the video to YouTube was trying to infer (1:54):

Very ironic statement by Bert about trusting your catcher... talking about Mauer?"

Yes, Bert Blyleven is dropping hints about sign stealing so cryptic that only you can pick up! Makes for a hell of a broadcast if you're listening from the Grassy Knoll. Rolemodel2008 also talks from the omnisicent viewpoint, dropping gems such as (3:30):

Verlander is pissed off and pretty much everyone IN the game knows what's happening...

and (4:00)...

You can tell the Twins know this happened... Cuddyer knows about it... Leyland knows about it...

I mean, do they really? You can tell by looking at the screen?

The guy seems to be going a bit overboard with his "insight", yet this has been addressed by everyone from Deadspin to the Bats blog on the New York Times' website. Did anyone bother to look at the last time Mauer was on second base? It's happened a lot of times this year, you know. Am I the only one with the MLB.tv package?

The clip is interesting, but I think the allegations merit further investigation, which no one (to my knowledge) has bothered to do. Welcome to the internet, where we just link and comment.

/dismounts soapbox

Okay, some other links...

More alleged cheating, but these accusations come without much evidence.

Mirror, Mirror, on the wall, who has the clutchiest bullpen, of them all?

Attendance is down at Yankee Stadium this year, but by how much?

The MLB Postseason announcing pairs have been, well, announced. Courtesy of, um, Awful Announcing.

A marathon interview with Joe Posnanski.

And we're probably the last Yankee blog to link to this, but here is Tom Verducci's piece on Mariano Rivera from the upcoming Sports Illustrated.

Good night and good luck. I'm out.

Only Cody Ransom...

For those who don't have Google Reader (you should really set one up), this is what individual posts look like, regardless of what blog they come from. You can subscribe to all your favorite blogs, Google Alerts, newspaper topics (i.e. Star-Ledger Yankees) and so forth. It keeps them all in one place and lets you know how many unread items you have, keeps stats on your reading habits and allows you to save posts by starring them. It's probably not as many as some people, but it lets me read over 5,000 posts a month, a number which is probably higher than most everyone who doesn't have an RSS reader of some sort. It will change the way you read things on the internet forever, in a good way, especially since you can use it with an iPhone.

The program also has this function that pretty much no one uses by which you can indicate if you "liked" a post. This one happens to be from MLB Trade Rumors, a feed which has over 3,000 subscribers (we have 89 at last count, woot!) and it was the first post on that feed I can remember seeing that anyone has "liked".

I don't really know what it is about Cody Ransom that made him a Twitter cult legend and a Yankee blog favorite (or anti-favorite?). At the age of 33, he's obviously by no means a prospect and Maybe it was the four homers he hit in 43 at bats last year. More likely it was his ridiculous YouTube jumping video. Either way, Cody Ransom is one of those fringe players that hardcore fans find interesting for whatever reason but the casual observer might not recognize by number.

Something tells me this isn't the last we see of the utility man. If the Mets don't claim him off waivers, he'll be back around soon enough.

Herm Edwards Fired [Breaking News]

In Scott Pioli's first move as GM of the Kansas City Chiefs, head coach Herm Edwards has been fired.

While Herm "Plays to Win the Game," he wasn't very good at it. In 3 seasons with the franchise, he was 15-33. Pretty mediocre.

Maybe Gilbride will replace him. Giants fans can only hope. Or perhaps "Chucky" Gruden. I think Atlanta Offensive Coordinator Mike Mularkey will also be a candidate (although in my first season ever as a Falcons fan I was not too impressed with him). Here's to hoping that con-artist, ex-BC coach Jeff Jagodzinski does not get it.