Friday, October 7, 2016

Yes, Joe, there is another way to use your closer

Last night, when Indian manager Terry Francona summoned closer Andrew Miller in the fifth to face the gruesome heart of the Redsocks order, you could imagine Joe Girardi at home, vaulting from his bean chair and screaming, "YOU CAN'T DO THAT!"

Such insanity: Using your stopper - aka best pitcher - to neutralize your opponent's toughest hitters and preserve a lead! What in the name of Larry Rothschild is going on? Good grief, last May, when the Yankees had three closers, Joe steadfastly refused to call on any of them until the seventh - positioning them like bowling pins - and only then if the Yankees held a lead. (Which wasn't often.)

Thus, as games flew out the window - and the division race with it - Joe didn't bother the Zen meditations of his dream trio. Bases loaded, need two strikeouts? Don't rouse El Chapo from his sleep. Just send in Nick Goody - or wait, Kirby Yates! The big guns were too valuable to use in a loss. (BTW, thanks to the recent Wild Card debacle, Buck Showalter will now be questioned about such a strategy for the rest of his career.) The Big Three had roles, and nobody was supposed to deviate from them. That's what rules are for, gadammit. And the first rule of the Yankee rules is this: OBEY ALL RULES!

Well... the owner has another rule: Wrangle every last thin dime from a contract. The Yankees have one more year on Girardi's papers, so let's face it: He isn't going anywhere. Considering Dellin Betances's collapse last month, it's clear we'll need to fortify our bullpen. I wonder if Girardi was watching last night and pondering options, because 2016 was a long, long season, and if you look at our pitching staff, dear God, you realize 2017 could be even longer.

6 comments:

Parson Tom said...

Ralph Houk, God bless him, would bring Sparky Lyle in for 2.3 innings starting in the 5th. If the other side was mounting a threat, bring in our best and crush it, the Major seemed to be saying. Now those teams were not particularly successful but they were fun.

Girardi seems to be one of those guys who throws a shit fit if his favorite coffee cup isn't where he expects it.Lovely man, but a bit too rigid, perhaps.

Anonymous said...

YES! YES! YES! YES! YES!!!! ....NOW THAT IS MANAGING!!!....FRANCONA SAW THE GAME GETTING AWAY RIGHT THEN WITH FRAUD PAPI AND THE GANG COMING UP, AND HE SLAMMED THE BRAKES. I WAS SAYING THE SAME THING TO MYSELF LAST NIGHT THAT OUR MANAGER WOULDN'T MAKE THAT MOVE IN A MILLION YEARS!..... WHO WOULD HAVE COME IN FOR US IN THAT SITUATION?..... TOMMY LAYNE, THEN AFTER ONE BATTER, BLAKE PARKER...GAME OVER, WE LOSE....OVER AND OVER AGAIN.

Rufus T. Firefly said...

off topic, but loved seeing that the fighting francona's f'd the townie racist assholes again tonight.

there is a god somewhere.

KD said...

Buck will be looking for a new job soon. In a lose and go home situation he saves his best reliever for what exactly?

Anonymous said...

I ALWAYS LIKED BUCK....BUT THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO DEFENSE FOR NOT USING BRITTON IN THAT GAME....NONE..... HE SCREWED UP, AND ROYALLY.

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