Tuesday, November 3, 2009

WS Game 5 - Has Girardi Blown This World Series?

Joe Girardi roled the dice and decided to start AJ Burnett on 3 days rest - terrible move, Joe. Up 3-1 in the Series, Girardi tried to go for the kill, but instead he might have killed the Yanks chances at a 27th championship. Burnett got lit up for 5 runs in 2+ innings, and was down 3-1 after before recording an out. In a word, he was horrendous. Chad Gaudin easily could have given the Yankees that same performance, and nobody would have thought any less of Girardi.

Apparently, Girardi didn't write a list of pros and cons before deciding on Burnett on short rest. I'll do it for him.

Pros: AJ asked for the ball; go for the kill and end the Series quickly; AJ's past record on short rest
Cons: AJ is horrendous on the road; by starting AJ on the road, the Yanks lineup had Swisher batting 5th and Jose Molina in the lineup without Posada and Matsui; that lineup was facing Cliff Lee, who dominated the Yanks in Game 1; how about the fact that they were facing Cliff Lee, thus making their chances to win slim in the first place? And last but not least, if AJ lost, which he did, it now impacts Game 6 and 7 because Andy Pettitte and CC Sabathia are going on short rest, as well.

Hey Joe - that Cons list is pretty long. Now the Yanks must entrust their season on the shoulders of Andy Pettitte, who historically does not have great numbers on short rest, and most important of all, is a 37-year old man who hasn't done it in 3 years.

Thoughts on Game 5:

- Everyone of Utley's HRs have come on a pitch right down the pipe - how do the Yankee pitchers keep missing so badly?

- AJ, great job hitting Shane Victorino - couldn't you have hit Utley?

- Has anyone seen Mark Teixeira and Robinson Cano? Absolutely horrendous performance in the World Series. At least Tex looks like he cares out there. Cano looks like he's playing in the Dominican Winter Leagues without a care in the world.

- Phil Coke, just go home. We won't need you the rest of the series.

- If Tex got on in the 9th inning, there was no way they were pitching to ARod. Introducing your 5th place hitter - Nick Swisher. Game over anyway.

- With 2 batters, the Phillies tied 2 records: Utley tied for the most HRs in a WS with 5 and Ryan Howard tied the record for most strikeouts in a Series with 12. When does the Yankee staff and coaches wake up and realize maybe they should pitch around Utley and go after Howard?

Yankees Postseason Record: 10-4
World Series: Yankees up, 3-2

No comments:

Post a Comment