By the time Edwantsacracker and I got back from the Bronx Sunday night, I was too wiped to write a decent post, and then the ol' 9-5 slowed me down last night.
I'm starting to strongly dislike Joe Girardi.
I'm starting to strongly dislike Joe Girardi.
- I agree with anaconda, he's been shuffling the lineup too much. Unless there's a situation like Giambi's foot last season that we don't know about (remember all those 6th inning pinch runs?), I think he should take Arod's return as a chance to run the same lineup out there for a week.
It can't result in fewer runs, right?
- He over manages the hitters. I don't have a stat to back this up, but I feel like he puts on a ton of hit and runs. I watched Melky swing at a pitch at his eyes last night because Cano was running from first. There were a couple other times yesterday when it looked like there were plays on.
Joe shows some understanding of numbers, so he must understand that psychologically and statistically, forcing a batter to swing at a ball to protect the runner takes away whatever advantage the hitter might have.
This is not to say there is no situation that merits a hit and run- but those situations come around far less often than the amount the play is used.
As I said to Ed at the stadium Sunday, I'm fine with a run and hit, but unless the baserunner feels he has a decent shot at making it on his own, I don't want the batter to have to alter his approach. Hitting is hard enough already.
- Sunday night, Joe Girardi committed the cardinal sin. He lifted Wang, then brought in a fresh pitcher to intentionally walk a batter.
I'm not saying Olendorf would have come out of the bullpen throwing strikes- but he was never even given the chance to. How many freakin' times do you have to see this before realizing that these guys aren't machines? The come in from the pen in the mindset to throw strikes, then the first thing you do is have them walk a guy, and then you're surprised when he can't relocate the strike zone.