Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics

by jscape2000 on Aug 24, 2008 7:08 PM EDT in New York Yankees Analysis

Exhibit A via LoHud:

Pre-game question to Joe Girardi: “Marte has thrown 12 pitches in the last nine days, you haven’t used him much. Is he OK physically?”

Answer: “Oh, he’s fine. I had him up last night. Physically he’s OK.”

Question: “It seems strange because he hasn’t pitched much.”

Answer: “No, no. It’s just when the situation presents itself.”

Question to Marte after the game: “You had a few days off, did you feel strong today?”

Answer: “I did. For the last week I’ve had inflammation in my elbow. That has been bothering me. I needed a break.”

Is it possible that Joe G thinks his life is a sitcom? Does he pause after saying things like this to wait for the laughtrack?

Exhibit B:

Tigers Thoughts projects the Elias rankings.

Pudge is on the cutoff from A to B, so he'd need a strong finish to net a pair of draft picks. Abreu is a lock for an A, but a weak finish by Giambi could drop him out of B status.

Exhibit C:

The Yankees are on pace to score 784 runs, down 184 from last season.

They're on pace to allow 726 runs, down only 51 from last season.

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Comments

Girardi

with the media is Bill Belichick, minus all the winning.

Kepner is kind of sick of Girardi’s crap too:

http://bats.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/24/what-to-do-about-joba-phil-and-ian/#more-1568

Not that there’s a clear better option (sadly), but they can’t let Rasner pitch again can they?

We’ll see what happens Wednesday night, but I’m annoyed the Yankees didn’t at least block Boston from getting Paul Byrd. He has made two good starts for them, and while he isn’t Josh Beckett obviously, he has helped them. I will be very surprised if Ponson outpitches him Wednesday.

The Yanks could use a guy like him, and they could have had him for zero. Dumb.

"Well, that kind of puts a damper on even a Yankees win."
-- Phil Rizzuto after hearing about the Pope's death

by matthaggs on Aug 24, 2008 8:34 PM EDT reply actions

Fortunately

being honest isn’t a requirement for a manager. Sometimes you don’t want to tip your hand to the opposition about injuries. Marte should know better, he’s a vet.

by runbrettrun on Aug 24, 2008 9:58 PM EDT reply actions

Joey Joey Joey...

I don’t know what to say. Maybe he’s just trying to keep it on the low. :/

by Fluke on Aug 24, 2008 10:21 PM EDT reply actions

runbrettrun is right

There is an advantage to the opposition, and considering we are about to play in a important series with the Red Sox, not a great idea to let his little arm problem slip to the media.

"Hey Derek do you actually drive the Edge?","I don't drive that piece of crap!"

by Da Shiz on Aug 24, 2008 11:40 PM EDT reply actions

No.

If yesterday’s performance (his first good one in a long while) and comments are any indication, Marte was talking about an arm problem he no longer has. There’s no harm in talking about why you were unavailable for games that have already been played.

If Girardi is going to act this way about stuff like this, he should mention to his player – in this case Marte – what he said to the media so that Marte doesn’t make him look like an ass when the media comes looking for him later.

As Pete Abe said, it’s comical.

"Well, that kind of puts a damper on even a Yankees win."
-- Phil Rizzuto after hearing about the Pope's death

by matthaggs on Aug 25, 2008 8:18 AM EDT up reply actions

I disagree

b/c there’s no need for anyone to know, past/present/future. The more you get in the habit of talking about it to the media, the more likely you are to disadvantage yourself.

Agreed that Joe should let the team know that they shouldn’t talk about injuries at all…but it should be obvious, especially to the veterans. As an example, take Jeet. It’s always, “I’m fine, no problem,” whenever he’s asked about any potential injury he has. That’s the way to go.

by runbrettrun on Aug 25, 2008 7:47 PM EDT up reply actions

In this day and age

everyone MUST know everything. The media, the fans all seem to have this chip on their shoulder that becuase the information is out there, THEY MUST HAVE IT!!

I agree the Yanks front office/ coaching staff should be on the page as it’s players, but to bash Girardi for what amounts to spin control?? It seems a little ridiculous. I haven’t been a huge Girardi fan this year- but this is hardly something to harp on.

The Jayfiss Report ...one fan's rants

by NumberSeven on Aug 25, 2008 3:34 PM EDT reply actions