but I worry that every pitcher from here on out is on short rest. If Gaudin is in, we have AJ on normal rest and CC on short rest, but Andy is also ready to come in and be a reliable pitcher out of the pen if need be.

go right after it tonight end it in philly. right infront of there fans… remember who better to close out game 6 then andy….. plus i wouldent be shocked to see aj outduel lee, aj has got fire and i love it….. he can be hit or miss but couldent have signed a better guy then him…. they really brought in the right guys this year. aj swish, cc, these cats wanna win…..

but I just don’t think its fair to ask Gaudin to start this game. He hasn’t thrown a pitch under duress in at least a month. You might be setting him up for failure. Lee is a great pitcher but I think AJ gives us the best option to win tonight. I wish Gaudin was a viable option but he hasn’t pitched in so long I just can’t see putting him in tonight.

There are two reasonable points of view.

Mine is that we are trying to maximize the probability of winning the series. That means maximizing the probability of winning one more game. I think throwing Gaudin (and/or Aceves) makes sense because it makes the Yankees big favorites in each of the two games in New York. If Burnett loses to Lee tonight, all of a sudden, the two games in New York are much closer to toss-ups (Pedro on full rest vs. Andy on 3 and Hamels on full rest vs. CC on 3 for the second time in a row).

However, I understand the “end it now” mentality. We don’t have to worry about games 6 and 7 if we win tonight, and the probability of doing that is greater if Burnett pitches. The point about Gaudin’s staleness is also an important one. I lean toward the Gaudin option because I think even with AJ, we are underdogs tonight, putting games 6 and 7 in play.

The real question is whether AJ Burnett pitching on 3-days rest gives the Yankees a better chance to win than Chad Gaudin does on 14-days rest. Or to put it another way, is Burnett pitching at perhaps 90% strength still better than Gaudin at 100%?

I think the answer to both questions is “yes”.

You don’t concede games in the World Series. Never. Ever. I don’t care if you’re up three games to none. After Thursday, or perhaps sooner, Burnett, Pettitte, and Sabathia won’t have to throw another pitch until early March.

I’m not sure that there is any medical or scientific explanation as to why a veteran pitcher like Burnett “needs” 4 days of rest, as opposed to 3, in between starts. But, as if often the case in life, when people do something often enough, for long enough, it’s difficult to go against the grain.

Cliff Lee is a good pitcher, but he still makes mistakes. After giving up exactly one or zero runs in his first six starts with Philadelphia, he proceeded to give up 6, 6, 4, 0, 1, and 7 runs in his next six starts.

This is the last start for all of these pitchers, no reason to hold anything back. I think giving one of the bullpen guys ( Aceved, Gaudin) a start in a close out game after they haven’t pitched in a real game in how long in crazy. A.J. is going to leave it all out there, and you just have to hope Mr. Lee isn’t as precise as he was in Game 1 with the pressure he has ( win or go home). The defending champs have to be a little tight going into the game.

 Just a side thought I had last night when Joba gave up the homer. IF, the Yanks lost last night, and Lee wins tonight to put the Phils UP 3-2 going back to NY, Pedro would have had a chance to pitch a close out game against the Yankees at the Stadium. How ugly would that scenario have been?!!

You don’t play to win the Game…you play to win the Series!!! Usually, these things are the same. But not always.

We could have pitched Mo 2 innings last night to finish off Game 4. Why didn’t we? Because we knew we might need him in Game 5. That’s playing to win the Series, even if it weakens us in one game.

We are up 3-1. We have to win one more game, and have 2 shots at home. A fully rested AJ is at least a toss-up against Pedro, and if all else fails Hamels will implode on the road against CC.

But by putting AJ in tonight and forcing Andy to go on 3 days if that fails, we haven’t helped ourselves for Game 5, we’ve weakened ourselves for Game 6, and Game 7 is in our favor but far from certain (and the noose starts to get tight if we go from 3-1 to 3-3).

Put Gaudin in tonight for 3 innings, then Ace for 3 innings, then Joba for 1. If Cliff Lee turns out to be human, bring in Mo for 2 to finish it off. But if Lee is “on,” it doesn’t matter who is on that mound against him.

With this move Joe is managing like he’s down 1-3, not up 3-1.

about AJ and Pettite going on short rest either, but starting Gaudin tonight means AJ would start Game 6 in New York and then Pettite instead of Sabathia? The idea I believe was to get Sabathia out there as often as possible. If you start Gaudin and then Burnett, is it Pettite’s job to be the first out of the bullpen in the event CC does not have it or is it simply nice to have a pitcher with 4-days rest available in a game he WON’T EVEN BE starting It only benefits Pettite if Pettite pitches Game 7, but I can’t see any way the yanks would entrust the biggest gaae of the season to anyone other than CC. Our best hope for everyone to get their full rest is a rainout on Wednesday. That puts Pettite and Sabathia back to working on normal rest. This is the price we pay for going with three men but I’m confident that had Girardi not used CC last night we’d have lost. Gaudin would not have pitched better and the bullpen would have been taxed even more. Would you rather be tied 2-2 with three rested pitchers or ahead 3-1 with pitchers who are just sligthly more tired? What counts is the Game that’s being played today. Your logic is valid but we just don’t have viable options to put it into place.

I am still on the fence.. I can see points for both. I was leaning towards pulling AJ last night and then back to AJ for today and now I am back for pulling AJ. It comes down to A) Have the Yankees made the adjustments to get to Lee (if there are any to be made, he throws a shedload of strikes), B) Is Lee going to be the dominant pitcher tonight or is he going to miss spots and get lit up. Whoever said, “you play for the series, not the game” is correct but this game IS the series if they win. I think it’s an awful gamble beacuse if AJ does not win tonight, I can see this going 7 games.

AJ is in a different class of pitcher from Gaudin, and is the Yanks BEST chance of winning tonight.

The forecast for the possible return to Yankee Stadium is a cold, wet, and possibly snowy one which will potentially give a postponement to one of the games and that will give us in a worst case scenario a fully rested CC in game 7

What if, we have AJ start tonight, and then Gaudin pitch in Game 6 (if necessary).

Now, before you throw in your comments about not trusting Pettite, that isn’t true. I do. But pushing Pettite on 3-days rest? I’m not so hot about that. CC, fine, he’s done it before and he’s done a hell of a job. AJ? He’s fairly young, and seems like he’d be able to manage. But Pettite’s pretty old, and rushing him back for Game 6 might not be beneficial to our cause? What if we threw in a spot start for Gaudin for Game 6, keep him on a fairly short leash, and try to mix-and-match the bullpen? You pretty much KNOW what you’ll get out of CC in Game 7, plus Pettite could chip in then too, if necessary.

What do you guys think?

No more 3-day-rest starts for AJ…