5 down...
to go...
That was insane! Weird to see a walk-off error, but I'll take it! It was cold as heck and that rain was annoying, and the game kept getting longer and longer cause we couldn't convert. And damn if we must've seen the most mound conferences ever...but AROD...seriously how good is this guy. Already 3 game tying home runs in 5 postseason games and 8 RBI.
typical Kim Jones' questions:
"Alex, did it feel good to hit that HR in that spot?" (no not really Kim)
"Mariano, how big are these games you're playing right now?" (eh, you win some you lose some)
"Derek, does it feel good knowing you're going into Anaheim with a 2-0 lead?" (feels OK i guess)
can we please bring in Sweeney Murti to conduct these post game interviews & just let Kimberly Jones handle the pre-game updates?
Posted by TMS:
typical Kim Jones' questions:
"Alex, did it feel good to hit that HR in that spot?" (no not really Kim)
"Mariano, how big are these games you're playing right now?" (eh, you win some you lose some)
"Derek, does it feel good knowing you're going into Anaheim with a 2-0 lead?" (feels OK i guess)
can we please bring in Sweeney Murti to conduct these post game interviews & just let Kimberly Jones handle the pre-game updates?
lol, I love Kim Jones.
Angels have been making dumb ass errors for both games. 5 hours in the cold and rain makes you tired and mistake prone.
Is Girardi this good or just arrogant enough that it works from time to time?
Seems like he got the good toys and wants to play with them all!
Home advantage in the playoffs is huge!
Is it me or is Joba starting to look like Tony Soprano? (Gandalfini)
first rule of managing in the postseason, u manage to win today's game & worry about tomorrow's game tomorrow (or in this case, game 4)... we already knew CC was slated to go on 3 days' rest in game 4 so why does it matter if Gaudin potentially gets used last nite? i don't understand the problem u guys have with how Girardi chose to use the bullpen... Joba's control was not all there last night, his fastball was not being located, he was throwing all sliders & alot of them were flat at that... yeah he got the K to get out of the 7th but he was way too amped up last night, u could see it even in his warm up tosses.
& Hughes has been shaky at best in the ALDS u don't wanna mess around in the 8th inning with 2 outs & a tie score when u have the best postseason pitcher of alltime in the bullpen ready to come in & shut the door with home field advantage & our lineup that's been winning games in walkoff fashion like it was going out of style all year long... Mo threw 1 pitch & got the last out in the 8th inning... was Girardi supposed to save Mariano for the 11th or 12th inning instead? so what he used Mo for 2 innings? who else would u guys rather have on the mound in a tie ballgame in the 9th & 10th? in the 8th inning with 2 outs in a tie ballgame, a manager isn't supposed to worry about saving his closer for the 12th or 13th innings guys.
it was a 5+ hour, 13 inning game & Girardi got contributions from every player he used last night, including Damaso Marte who most of us including myself believed didn't belong on the ALCS roster... big deal, he used up Aceves for an inning & a third, he still had Gaudin in the bullpen who could give him 5 innings if the game went that long & Robertson came in & did a nice job for an inning & a third & could have probably given us at least another inning besides w/the offday coming up... & Aceves can still act as a longman in future games if Gaudin has to come in last nite & pitch extended innings anyway.... besides, how many games go into 18 innings in postseason play that you know of?
as for pinch running Guzman for Matsui, why is that a bad move late in the game, u want a speedy runner to end up in scoring position there, it's a no brainer move... yeah, ok he COULD have had Guzman steal... instead Girardi called a hit & run w/Gardner & Guzman ended up at 3B... so we had men on 1st & 3rd with 2 out with 1 of our best hitters at the plate but Cano ended up hitting a weak nubber in front of the plate to end the inning... how is that not putting ur players in a position to succeed? Cano failed to do his job, that's not Girardi's fault whatsoever, i'm sorry.
as for not pinch hitting Hairston for Guzman, if u were watching carefully u'd have seen Hairston was going to pinch hit for Guzman but Joe called him back after ARod had hit the HR to tie up the game in the 11th. my guess is Girardi was hoping ARod could get on base & then he'd pinch hit Hairston there to move him over or drive him in, but after ARod had hit the HR he decided to leave in the speedier Guzman to try to work himself on base & get himself into a position to score the winning run, & possibly save Hairston to use in place of Gardner who was up next to try & drive him in... i don't see the big deal there.
i think Girardi did a good job of using his players last night personally.
I thought Girardi overmanaged a little bit last night, especially with regard to the pen (though it worked out in the end). Using Joba/Coke/Phil etc. for less than an inning leaves you vulnerable in a game last night. Yanks were down to Gaudin and could've been forced to use Pettitte. I just think we need to be careful in the future...right now, there's not a lot of difference between Hughes/Joba's role so its not always necessary to use both in the same game.
I think in terms of the pinchrnning, he had to do what he had to do. I dont think they needed to pinch run for Swisher, but definitely needed to do so with matsui. Matsui can't move at all on the basepaths and that was definitely the play to make there. I might've saved a pinch runner later for Posada....it sucked a little when he led off the inning with a hit and you couldn't run for him...he ended up getting thrown at 2nd on a force where a faster runner may have beaten it out. Anyway not a big deal...I think it makes sense to use those bullets on your bench especially when you have a guy like Matsui in the lineup that absolutely cannot run right now.
TMS has it right on not pinch hitting for Guzman. Once the bases were empty you want the speedy leadoff type out there. In any event its not like Hairston is such a great hitter that you're crazy to not use him in that spot. If he had Hinske on the bench its a different story.
By the way, the Yanks are opening up the stadium tommorow for people to watch the game on the jumbotron.
I gotta tell you, I can't say enough how impressed by that place I was. Its one thing when you watch on TV and the field looks the same, but that place is night and day from the old place and as modern and feature filled as it gets. The seats in the upper deck have 100% better views and are more comfortable. The lines are shorter for everything. Its bright. There's lounges/bars/concessions everywhere, and the Bleachers are a completely different experience. If you haven't gone its a nice opportunity to go.
just some interesting footnotes on the unbelievable postseason ARod is having:
http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/news/arti...In five postseason games this season, Rodriguez is now hitting .368 with three home runs and eight RBIs. He became the first player in the Yankees' stories postseason history to drive in a run in the first five games of a postseason. And all eight of the RBIs have come on hits that have either tied a game or put the Yankees ahead. Not to mention that Saturday's shot was his second game-tying homer in the ninth inning or later.
Rodriguez is the third player in postseason history to hit a game-tying extra-inning homer, joining Houston's Billy Hatcher (1986 NLCS, Game 6) and Cleveland's Albert Belle (1995 ALDS, Game 1).
And he's the fourth player with two or more game-tying or go-ahead homers in the ninth inning or later in one postseason, joining Boston's David Ortiz (2004) and Dave Henderson (1986) and the Dodgers' Kirk Gibson (1988).
In fact, each of A-Rod's homers has come in the seventh inning or later and has either erased a deficit, broken a tie or put the Yankees in the lead. According to Elias, the only other player that has hit three such home runs in a single postseason was Troy Glaus with the Angels in 2002.
And all that, lest anyone forget, from a player who barely a week ago was widely considered a postseason goat.
"I know you guys are probably looking for something profound," Rodriguez said. "I'm just in a good place. I'm seeing the ball and I'm hitting it. That's about it."
i think this footnote is the most interesting cuz all of these guys are widely portrayed to have had some of the most clutch postseason hits of alltime:
And he's the fourth player with two or more game-tying or go-ahead homers in the ninth inning or later in one postseason, joining Boston's David Ortiz (2004) and Dave Henderson (1986) and the Dodgers' Kirk Gibson (1988).
[Edited by - TMS on 10-18-2009 11:12 PM]
Posted by TMS:
first rule of managing in the postseason, u manage to win today's game & worry about tomorrow's game tomorrow (or in this case, game 4)... we already knew CC was slated to go on 3 days' rest in game 4 so why does it matter if Gaudin potentially gets used last nite? i don't understand the problem u guys have with how Girardi chose to use the bullpen... Joba's control was not all there last night, his fastball was not being located, he was throwing all sliders & alot of them were flat at that... yeah he got the K to get out of the 7th but he was way too amped up last night, u could see it even in his warm up tosses.
& Hughes has been shaky at best in the ALDS u don't wanna mess around in the 8th inning with 2 outs & a tie score when u have the best postseason pitcher of alltime in the bullpen ready to come in & shut the door with home field advantage & our lineup that's been winning games in walkoff fashion like it was going out of style all year long... Mo threw 1 pitch & got the last out in the 8th inning... was Girardi supposed to save Mariano for the 11th or 12th inning instead? so what he used Mo for 2 innings? who else would u guys rather have on the mound in a tie ballgame in the 9th & 10th? in the 8th inning with 2 outs in a tie ballgame, a manager isn't supposed to worry about saving his closer for the 12th or 13th innings guys.
it was a 5+ hour, 13 inning game & Girardi got contributions from every player he used last night, including Damaso Marte who most of us including myself believed didn't belong on the ALCS roster... big deal, he used up Aceves for an inning & a third, he still had Gaudin in the bullpen who could give him 5 innings if the game went that long & Robertson came in & did a nice job for an inning & a third & could have probably given us at least another inning besides w/the offday coming up... & Aceves can still act as a longman in future games if Gaudin has to come in last nite & pitch extended innings anyway.... besides, how many games go into 18 innings in postseason play that you know of?
as for pinch running Guzman for Matsui, why is that a bad move late in the game, u want a speedy runner to end up in scoring position there, it's a no brainer move... yeah, ok he COULD have had Guzman steal... instead Girardi called a hit & run w/Gardner & Guzman ended up at 3B... so we had men on 1st & 3rd with 2 out with 1 of our best hitters at the plate but Cano ended up hitting a weak nubber in front of the plate to end the inning... how is that not putting ur players in a position to succeed? Cano failed to do his job, that's not Girardi's fault whatsoever, i'm sorry.
as for not pinch hitting Hairston for Guzman, if u were watching carefully u'd have seen Hairston was going to pinch hit for Guzman but Joe called him back after ARod had hit the HR to tie up the game in the 11th. my guess is Girardi was hoping ARod could get on base & then he'd pinch hit Hairston there to move him over or drive him in, but after ARod had hit the HR he decided to leave in the speedier Guzman to try to work himself on base & get himself into a position to score the winning run, & possibly save Hairston to use in place of Gardner who was up next to try & drive him in... i don't see the big deal there.
i think Girardi did a good job of using his players last night personally.
That's cool. Respect your opinion and you make some good points here. I just don't feel he used the bullpen properly and I said so at the time. Look, Girardi's done a fine job with this club. On a whole, I haven't had a big problem with him the entire year. I think he's been very solid. Even so far in the playoffs, I've had no real problem with his decisions -- I didn't have a problem when he yanked Pettitte after 6 & 1/3 in game 3 of the ALDS - from what I remember, he let Andy stay in and get the big out against the lefty there and then removed him for Joba who immediately came in a did his job. Thought that was the right move.. And most recently I agreed with his decision to add Guzman to the ALCS roster instead of Hinske... However there's no denying that he went through his bullpen a little too quick the other night against the Angels. Our top quality guys right now out of the pen are Joba, Hughes and Mo, in that order. Two of those guys, Joba and Phil, were capable of going more than a third of an inning and two-thirds repectively imho, esp. with the off-day Sunday. Hey we won the game and I'm ready to move on but to me, he burned through the higher quality portion of our bullpen way too quickly when he should've been thinking about getting a little more length there. I mean to me with the weather, our hitters under-performing, the stellar performance of the Angels' underrated bullpen right before Fuentes serves up that HR to A-Rod (I mean we really should've lost that game - A-Rod's been amazing)... Before Izturis' error, that game had extra inning marathon written all over it. You could feel it watching it unfold..
I don't want to belabor the point, we won that game and Joe's 5-0 in the playoffs so far after winning over a hundred games during the regular season. He's done a fantastic job. But there's a flip side to the coin regarding the way he managed his bullpen the other night. All I'm sayin'... Here's a clip of Jeff Nelson, who's apparently doing pre & post-game commentary for the MLB network this series, talking about it after the game. I agree with what he had to say here:
http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/media/vid...
Where is Joba with respect to his innings limit? It may be why he is only coming in for one or two batters per night. He's thrown 159.1 so far. If they need him for a start later in the playoffs they may be trying to limit his bullpen work a little.
Not saying its an excuse, but it may be why they are using him in that manner.
i don't see Joba going back into the rotation for the rest of the postseason... he's in the bullpen the rest of the way.
Jeter is unbelievable... 1-0 Yanks =)
A-Rod is inhuman... 2-0 Yanks
Big pickoff of Hunter by Andy
Johnny be GOOD! 3-0 Yanks =)))
Credit Weaver for giving them up with no one on. All solo shots...Still waiting for this offense to put up the big inning with runners on base...All good so far though...3-0.
