Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory

by Travis G on Apr 12, 2009 5:06 PM EDT in Game Recap

That's what Jose Veras, Phil Coke and Joe Girardi accomplished today in a frustrating 6-4 loss.

Jose: You cannot walk the one hitter you're in the game to retire.

Phil: Maybe you just can't be trusted against righties.

Joe: I know Mariano is 39, but he's still quite capable of getting four outs. It's not like he pitched yesterday.

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I put it squarely on Girardi

Yes, the relievers need to execute. But the job of a manager is to put his players in the best situation to win, and Joe G did not do that in the 8th. All his so called “mixing and matching” was too much.

Neither Veras no Coke are situational guys. Yes Veras walked the guy he faced, but there was two outs and only one runner on at point- leave him for him to clean it up. I don’t Coke is best used bringing him in the middle of the inning. And he wound up throwing a lot of pitches, so what if we need to innings out of him tomorrow?

And I know they want to use Marte against lefties, but come on- two outs, nobody on and the guy was throwing well. Just leave him in. Or if you are going to pull him, it better be for Mo. He could defintely have thrown four outs today.

So yes, Coke and Veras didn’t do their jobs- but Girardi takes the fall in book, as I don’t think it was necessary for eaither one of them to have been called in.

by NumberSeven on Apr 12, 2009 5:53 PM EDT reply actions

agree

I completely agree about just leaving Marte in there. Managers are over thinking themselves. If the lefty gets the first two outs….leave him in!

by whiskybravo on Apr 12, 2009 8:16 PM EDT up reply actions

Specialization

There is way, way too much of it when it comes to use of relief pitchers. Put a guy in and let him go.

by Ed Valentine on Apr 12, 2009 8:20 PM EDT up reply actions

What about Bruney?

I completely agree that Mariano should’ve came in for the last 4 outs, but we shouldn’t forget that Brian Bruney pitched a fantastic 7th inning. Maybe it’s just me, but why didn’t they leave him in for the 8th as well, then hand the ball to Rivera. I think it’s ironic that the text-in question of the game was ‘who is th best reliever to hand the ball to Rivera in the 9th?’ The selection by the fans was Bruney. I am not knocking Coke, Marse, or Veras… they just didn’t have it today.

Thoughts?

by Pooser7 on Apr 12, 2009 6:34 PM EDT reply actions

bruney

has been perfect for the Yanks.
he needs to be the set up man

and marte/ edwar as our 7th inning guy

by CCArvin on Apr 12, 2009 7:03 PM EDT up reply actions

This needed to be Mo

If they were gonna take Veras out, then it had to be Mo there.

Marte was not the problem. Actually I like Marte as a setup guy, but he shoud stay in there. Screw the frickin left righty crap, let him stay in there. He could have walked the guy so what’s the difference.

Veras also wasn’t the problem tho, he wasn’t a bad idea to come in IF your gonna change pitchers.

Phil Coke was a horrible idea. THis guy should not be pitching in the 8th inning.

So yea, If they are gonna take out Veras, Mo needed to come in. Girardi messed this up.

by FreeBradshaw on Apr 12, 2009 6:44 PM EDT reply actions

Why couldn’t Marte finish the inning? Righties only hit .235 against him from over the last three years. He’s clearly not as dominant as he is against lefties but still gets the job done.

Girardi would rather have Phil Coke facing righties in the 8th than Marte. Awful decision.

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by John B on Apr 12, 2009 7:00 PM EDT reply actions

+1

by CCArvin on Apr 12, 2009 7:03 PM EDT up reply actions

Girardi got too cute....

I totally agree with the assessment here. Girardi could have reasonably left Bruney in or Marte, but never should have lifted Veras for Coke. Coke, no matter how good his stuff is, still lacks experience. The 8th inning of a one run game is not the best place for him. Mo should have come in if Veras needed to be lifted. That late in a one run game, the other team should ALWAYS have to beat your best!

by dwalker on Apr 12, 2009 7:18 PM EDT reply actions

Girardi sucks

Why was Coke in there? You got Bruny, Marte and even Mo. Bringing in Veras wasn’t that dumb but Phil Coke? My god no wonder this can’t hold a lead! Girardi got’s no clue when it comes to managing. We need a real manager.

by Blazer Fan From Ohio on Apr 12, 2009 7:42 PM EDT reply actions

You know Blazer

Second guessing Girardi on this one is fine, he deserves it. But you really just come across as a troll.

by HappyLuckyGoldenDragonNumber1! on Apr 12, 2009 11:31 PM EDT up reply actions

I wonder if Donnie Baseball still wants the job?

by jimwarren on Apr 12, 2009 7:47 PM EDT reply actions

I think

I am glad I was not around to see this one.

by Ed Valentine on Apr 12, 2009 7:48 PM EDT reply actions

beyond frustrating

girardi drove me nuts today…micro managing the game like that won’t work at this level. it’s like yesterday when he took out CC with one out remaining in the 8th. at least he isn’t as anal about avoiding the lefty pitcher/ lefty hitter combo like he was last year.

i wish he wouldn’t worry so much about the lefty/righty advantages – it’s not like he was a great hitter who was really affected by the difference

i wonder what pena and the other coaches thought about girardi’s annoying theatrics today

by goyanks69 on Apr 12, 2009 8:27 PM EDT reply actions

Like I said

Glad I didn’t see it. I hate manager over-thinking games, and pulling guys who are doing well just because they want a righty or a left or whatever. How about trusting a big-league pitcher to pitch a full inning or two and get guys out? If they can’t do that they don’t belong in the big leagues.

by Ed Valentine on Apr 12, 2009 9:01 PM EDT up reply actions

first tough loss of the year

this one hurt like those bad ones hurt….but as far as girardi’s moves with his bullpen, we are at the beginning of the season and he is trying to establish what roles certain pitchers will have and the only way to do that is to put them in various situations and see how they perform…the hindsight 20/20 critics should calm down a bit

by Ozone on Apr 12, 2009 9:00 PM EDT reply actions

Sometimes it seems

like Girardi just can’t leave things alone, he has a tendency to overthink situations where he should rely solely on his instincts. Today was a classic example.

by FrankDiscussion on Apr 12, 2009 9:04 PM EDT reply actions

Ransom

has flat out sucked, how bout Pena at third tomorrow with Wang out there? no worries about the pen they will bounce back.

Cano is a Pimp

by yankeechaser on Apr 12, 2009 9:09 PM EDT reply actions

I think

things like this is a retrospect problem, if Veras and/or Coke got the job done we’d all be praising him anyway.

I think he overmanaged, but it’s hard to get too worked up about a loss where half the plays saw fielders slipping around the field as if they were playing on ice.

by RollingWave on Apr 12, 2009 9:59 PM EDT reply actions

Girardi

I completely agree with sentiment that Joe was overthinking. Hopefully Joe is smart enough to see the error of his way, hopefully Eiland is smart enough to help gently correct Joe. This loss is Girardi’s to swallow. Now with that said everyone needs to chill. The Yankees took the series, the first series loss was nobodies fault other than the starting pitchers. Big picture here, AJ looked great, Pettite looked great, CC looked great, Joba looked a little green but his stuff was good enough to only give up 1 run (sorry those other two were unearned in my book).

by HappyLuckyGoldenDragonNumber1! on Apr 12, 2009 11:35 PM EDT reply actions