Let Me Count the Ways
that was the ugliest loss of the year. Well it was Boston for starters.
Then you throw in slow Joe's atrocious handling of his pitchers. In the 6th Wright began by giving Ramirez an absolute meatball to hit and Manny got so excited he overswung and missed it. Wright proceeded to walk him despite having him down 0-2 in the count. Then Nixon singles. At this point a sharp manager begins thinking it might be time for a change. But when Varitek singles, even a mediocre manager recognizes he's got to get Wright out. I'm sure all of us at home were saying take him out; Joe Morgan was saying he was losing it, and when your thought processes aren't keeping up with Joe Morgan, you really are a slow Joe. Then Torre takes him out only to satisfy his Scott Proctor addiction. After a couple of decent outings and with the odd exception, this guy has been growing steadily worse again as attested by his steadily balooning ERA. Proctor of course let's the game go totally out of hand by giving up a dinger to the second worst bat on the team. And Scott Erickson? Can somebody tell me why this mook with a plus 8 era is even in the major leagues?
The offense reverted to its homer or nothing ways, which in a lineup lacking both Matsui and Sheffield can be really deadly. I've said I think the Yankees can win without them by reinventing their approach and I still think that's the case, but over the long term 2 things have to happen. They need to be at as full strength as possible. Torre can't be yanking Phillips on a night he doesn't have Jeter either, and, as BGW has pointed out, AROD and Giambi have to supply real muscle in the middle of the line-up. AROD looked flat out lost at the plate last night. Jeez, he came up in completely meaningless situations twice and still couldn't get the ball out of the infield. If you can't count on Alex when it doesn't count you know he's going bad. And Giambi simply has to bunt that shift out of existence; he lost one hit maybe two to the shift last night and the frustration involved is increasing his self-defeating tendency to just look for the walk. They have to have him bunt and bunt and bunt untill the shift is taken off. With a little swing bunt action, he could be getting doubles down the 3rd base line. That he doesn't is merely evidence that Torre remains even more clueless about offensive strategy than about handling pitchers. And that is saying something. All I can say at this point is Ocatavio Dotel ahd better be good! If not, this bullpen is almost sure to cost them the playoffs, particularly since slow Joe refuses to try Villone as his main middleman, which means he doesn't have one worhty of the name.
Then you throw in slow Joe's atrocious handling of his pitchers. In the 6th Wright began by giving Ramirez an absolute meatball to hit and Manny got so excited he overswung and missed it. Wright proceeded to walk him despite having him down 0-2 in the count. Then Nixon singles. At this point a sharp manager begins thinking it might be time for a change. But when Varitek singles, even a mediocre manager recognizes he's got to get Wright out. I'm sure all of us at home were saying take him out; Joe Morgan was saying he was losing it, and when your thought processes aren't keeping up with Joe Morgan, you really are a slow Joe. Then Torre takes him out only to satisfy his Scott Proctor addiction. After a couple of decent outings and with the odd exception, this guy has been growing steadily worse again as attested by his steadily balooning ERA. Proctor of course let's the game go totally out of hand by giving up a dinger to the second worst bat on the team. And Scott Erickson? Can somebody tell me why this mook with a plus 8 era is even in the major leagues?
The offense reverted to its homer or nothing ways, which in a lineup lacking both Matsui and Sheffield can be really deadly. I've said I think the Yankees can win without them by reinventing their approach and I still think that's the case, but over the long term 2 things have to happen. They need to be at as full strength as possible. Torre can't be yanking Phillips on a night he doesn't have Jeter either, and, as BGW has pointed out, AROD and Giambi have to supply real muscle in the middle of the line-up. AROD looked flat out lost at the plate last night. Jeez, he came up in completely meaningless situations twice and still couldn't get the ball out of the infield. If you can't count on Alex when it doesn't count you know he's going bad. And Giambi simply has to bunt that shift out of existence; he lost one hit maybe two to the shift last night and the frustration involved is increasing his self-defeating tendency to just look for the walk. They have to have him bunt and bunt and bunt untill the shift is taken off. With a little swing bunt action, he could be getting doubles down the 3rd base line. That he doesn't is merely evidence that Torre remains even more clueless about offensive strategy than about handling pitchers. And that is saying something. All I can say at this point is Ocatavio Dotel ahd better be good! If not, this bullpen is almost sure to cost them the playoffs, particularly since slow Joe refuses to try Villone as his main middleman, which means he doesn't have one worhty of the name.
posted by joe valente | 1:32 PM
1 Comments:
Ugh! That must have been tough; I don't really like watching baseball with chowderheads even when the Yankees are winning; actually, even when neither the Yankees nor Red Sox are playing.
You're right of course the loss to the Royals had to be the "worst" in some sense because you're blowing a game to a team that specializes in blowing games. It's just that when you have a 2 run lead mid-game on the Sox you reallt should be able to sustain a competitive finish, even if you do lose. To get blown out in a game like that is just plain ugly.
As for Dotel, if Farnsworth were pushed back to the 7th inning guy and Dotel were the set up man he was three years ago, then the bull pen begins to look pretty solid, especially if Torre would use Villone in the sixth, relegate Proctor to mop-up and long guy, and of course waive Erickson, who is just an embarassment (though the plunking of Youkillis was a nice touch).
I don't think AROD was ever Grimsley's teammate or I'd wonder the same thing.
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