Friday, April 20, 2007

Torre Gift Wraps Round 1 To The Sox

There's no way to sugar coat game 1 of this first series.

Joe Torre managed himself, and the team right out of the win.
  • He pulled Pettitte too soon.
  • He pinch ran for Giambi at a time of no strategic importance, thus, having Kevin Thompson up to bat in the 9th, with one man on.
  • Just as he gave up on the starter too soon, he gave up on the relief too soon. The result was bringing in Mo, who you could see from second he stepped on the field he did not want to be put in that situation. Mo is Superman -except against Boston, in Boston. It has been proven too many times over the years that Fenway and the Sox has his number, yet Torre called on him again.
  • No pinch hitting Phelps for Thompson. Phelps, who is batting over .300, and just hit a HR in the 9th to help a comeback situation should have been the batter with two outs. Why have this guy on the roster, why send down Philips, if you're not going to give this guy a shot when it counts?
  • Just like he did in game 7 of the '01 Series, Torre called for the infield to move in when Mo is on the mound. The vast majority of outs by Mo, are small pop ups. So, just like what happened in game 7, what would have been a routine pop out to the infield was a game winning RBI - the guy just doesn't learn from the past.
A-Rod's big night of production goes to waste, Pettitte watched for the 2nd time a quality start and the win disappear, and the Yanks lose any momentum they had from sweeping the Tribe. - Joe, you've been doing this for a long time - get better.

On Deck: On paper, it would appear that the Sox have the starting rotation advantage for the next two games. Beckett, 3-0 with a 1.50 ERA goes for them tonight, while Karstens makes his debut for the 2007 season.


Post Script: Why is it, that Jason Varitek will hit sub .200 against the rest of the league, yet seems to go 3 for 4 and multiple RBIs every freaking time he plays the Yankees??

Post, Post Script: Glad to see that David Wright's fake hitting streak came to an end. A real hitting streak is not pieced meal over multiple seasons. You get it done in one season, like a man, or you don't do it at all. Glad its over, and glad there's another reason to bury the Mets even further in the sports pages.

Post, Post, Post Script: What a surprise, the Mets lost to the Braves again.

9 comments:

57 said...

Enter "Sand-box"

Anonymous said...

I think the Sox are showing that they are a better team right now. Karstens sucks.

Anonymous said...

Listen, the game got away.....simple as that. Mo blew a save. It happens. Your criticism of Torre is misguided and unfair.

Point 1: Pettitte had thrown over a hundred pitches. If Joe had left him in and he blew out an elbow, you would be the first to kill him for "over-using" an aging and fragile starter. This is a marathon...not a sprint. Not only a good move taking Andy out, but the ONLY move.

Point 2: When he pinch ran for Giambi I believe the score was 6-2. He's trying to tack on another run there and with how well the bullpen has performed this year, it was a wise decision. He's not a psychic....he's a manager.

Point 3: He went to Mo because Mo is the best closer in the history of baseball. Joe went to his "ace" and the ace had a rough night. I applaud the move. And as for Mo not wanting to be in there, I'm not buying it. If he didn't want to be on the mound in that situation then he should retire.

Point 4: He didn't pinch hit for Thomson because Phelps was needed to bat for Minky. Joe felt that he had a better chance to get the tying run in by going with Thomson/Phelps than going with Phelps/Minky (or Cairo). You could argue against the strategy but there are just as many arguments to be made that this was the right move.

Point 5: When the go ahead run is on third base in the bottom of the eighth, you play the infield in. Case closed. You would have lost your head if he left the infield back and the go ahead run scored on a grounder to shortstop. This complaint is simply ridiculous. I mean have you EVER played this game?

The bottom line Mid is that you have taken Monday Morning Quarterbacking to a new level. Your blog is best when you don't talk game strategy...because that is obviously your weakness

Anonymous said...

Scoot - I completely disagree with your excuses for Torre's poor decision making Friday night.

1 - Pettitte looked strong, was getting stronger, and he even insinuated that he was taken out too soon the post game.

2 - He's either treating Giambi like a piece of china in that he'll break with any tension, or he was simply trying to get a kid a taste of the bigs. I will side with the Baseball tonight crew on this one.

3 - Mo is Mo. Yes, greatest closer of all time and all that good stuff - against the rest of the league anyway. To me, and I don't have the numbers, but I would guess they back me up on this - Mo is Superman, Fenway is Kryptonite (spelling on that?). His numbers are awful at that ball park.

- we'll just have to agree to disagree on it, I thought it was a poorly managed game (so did Michael K., John Flaherty, Susan Oldman, Buster Onley, and the former GM of the Mets who now works for ESPN don't remember his name).

Anonymous said...

Hope Wright surprises on the upside tonight -

I think I read that Matsui returns Monday night??

Anonymous said...

1 more thing - just read on Yankees.com that Damon's ham string is acting up.

Can't remember who made the point first, but it is looking truer by the day. Look to see a job opening in the classifides for a new strength and conditioning coach!

Anonymous said...

I love Johnny Damon just as much as anyone, but I'll be damned if it doesn't seem like he is ALWAYS nursing some type of injury.

Think they will spend the money on Andrew Jones, next year?

Anonymous said...

They might trade for Jones this year - give atlanta Cabrera and one pitchers - Wright, Rassner or Karstens.


4 HRs in a row - I hate boston

old professor said...

Yanks hit Curt hard and did well against Dice-K. Bullpen overused and tired and they showed it. Desperation again as Pettitte has to come in a give Joe an inning in relief.

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