Somebody Wake Joe Up
and let him know that recent winning trends notwithstanding, his team is not that good right now and he needs to manage accordingly.
1) He's the one who finally said, a couple of weeks ago, that they had to go small ball. Well, the last time I checked that means when you have men on 1st and 2nd nobody out, you bunt. Hd Cano been asked to do that in the second inning Williams' grounder would have brought in a run, one they needed badly. In any event you don't want Williams up there with force possibilities and one out; the chance he'll end the inning with one swing is just too great. Small ball is not always indicated, but if your going to wion by that philosophy, you must always play it when it is indicated, and it clearly was.
2) Your line-up is too weak to carry the ineffectual Miguel Cairo at any time, but when you are down 5 runs in the middle innings and you have the bases loaded and two out, you simply must pinch hit for him. That's why you brought up the minor league reserve infielder, for just those sorts of emergencies. You had Andy Phillips on the bench for the second game in a row. That was the time to use him. Getting nothing in the sixth was a killer; all the more so when you got 4 in the seventh.
3) I wonder if the news about Sheff's surgery hasn't daunted the team a bit. They thought they were grinding on the high wire for a good stretch, but now it looks like the entire season. You have to play Bubba regularly as soon as he returns. He's a high energy player, will save runs in right, and lets you sit Bernie or DH him. Bernie's hitting better than most of us expected so far, but that probably has to do with the various kinds of rest he's been getting throughout the year. If in the absence of Hideki and Sheff, you think you can just slot him in, you will not only be giving runs away left and right (depending on the field you play him in), but you'll have a 240 hitter on your hands in no time.
The good news is the Yanks didn't fade away when Johnson put them deep in the hole; they kept fighting, a habit that, if sustained, could earn nthem a wild card bid even without the corner outfielders. Detroit has started to fade and fade dramatically and noone else, including Toronto, looks all that promising (they just lost Chacin and Oakland lost Harden for months).
The bad news is that Johnson looks to be done, at least as an ace, leaving the Yanks with one fine starter, one decent starter, one bullpen killer (Wright), one model of inconsistency (Chacon) and perhaps the new Kevin Brown. Given the bullpen weakness, getting to the playoffs itself looks pretty moot. At this point, they should part with nothing to make acquisitions, but if this crew manages to stay in the race until the trade deadline, let's say no more than 3 out of a playoff spot, then I think they go looking for a starter.
1) He's the one who finally said, a couple of weeks ago, that they had to go small ball. Well, the last time I checked that means when you have men on 1st and 2nd nobody out, you bunt. Hd Cano been asked to do that in the second inning Williams' grounder would have brought in a run, one they needed badly. In any event you don't want Williams up there with force possibilities and one out; the chance he'll end the inning with one swing is just too great. Small ball is not always indicated, but if your going to wion by that philosophy, you must always play it when it is indicated, and it clearly was.
2) Your line-up is too weak to carry the ineffectual Miguel Cairo at any time, but when you are down 5 runs in the middle innings and you have the bases loaded and two out, you simply must pinch hit for him. That's why you brought up the minor league reserve infielder, for just those sorts of emergencies. You had Andy Phillips on the bench for the second game in a row. That was the time to use him. Getting nothing in the sixth was a killer; all the more so when you got 4 in the seventh.
3) I wonder if the news about Sheff's surgery hasn't daunted the team a bit. They thought they were grinding on the high wire for a good stretch, but now it looks like the entire season. You have to play Bubba regularly as soon as he returns. He's a high energy player, will save runs in right, and lets you sit Bernie or DH him. Bernie's hitting better than most of us expected so far, but that probably has to do with the various kinds of rest he's been getting throughout the year. If in the absence of Hideki and Sheff, you think you can just slot him in, you will not only be giving runs away left and right (depending on the field you play him in), but you'll have a 240 hitter on your hands in no time.
The good news is the Yanks didn't fade away when Johnson put them deep in the hole; they kept fighting, a habit that, if sustained, could earn nthem a wild card bid even without the corner outfielders. Detroit has started to fade and fade dramatically and noone else, including Toronto, looks all that promising (they just lost Chacin and Oakland lost Harden for months).
The bad news is that Johnson looks to be done, at least as an ace, leaving the Yanks with one fine starter, one decent starter, one bullpen killer (Wright), one model of inconsistency (Chacon) and perhaps the new Kevin Brown. Given the bullpen weakness, getting to the playoffs itself looks pretty moot. At this point, they should part with nothing to make acquisitions, but if this crew manages to stay in the race until the trade deadline, let's say no more than 3 out of a playoff spot, then I think they go looking for a starter.
posted by joe valente | 3:05 AM
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