A baseball team cannot blow eighth inning leads three games in a row and expect to win the majority of those games. It cannot.
If CC Sabathia pitches your team seven innings of one run ball, and your team has scored five runs, there is utterly no reason that that game should be lost.
You can argue whether or not Cervelli should have bunted (he shouldn’t), whether Winn should have been pinch hit for (not a possibility because Posada and Swisher are still too hurt), or the merits of Thames playing in the outfield (he shouldn’t, but again, not really any other option), but tonight’s game came down to one thing:
Joba failed.
A set-up man handed a 5-1 lead in the eighth inning needs to leave that inning with the lead. End of story.
However, tonight, the second time in three games, Chamberlain could not get the job done. You can argue that Girardi should have removed Chamberlain earlier, but with the bullpen, in Girardi’s words, “a mess”, Chamberlain really did need to get the job done. He did not.
You can argue the leverage argument–that once the game got to 5-4, Rivera should have made an appearance, but rushing Rivera to get ready on a rainy night in the forties in May is also not necessarily the best course of action.
@leokitty kindly offers us this clue as to maybe why Chamberlain could not get the job done tonight.
I’m no pitching expert, so I can’t tell you what he should have thrown, but half of the pitching battle is (supposedly) that the hitters don’t actually know what’s coming. With Joba, you don’t necessarily have to guess.
So yes, once the ninth inning played out as it did, Marcus Thames should have caught the baseball, the umpires should have called a strike, Cervelli should have not bunted because Robbie Canó was already at second base and Cisco’s got some great RISP numbers, and Randy Winn swung at ball four twice, but NONE of that matters if the Yankees actually manage to hang onto a four run lead in the ninth inning.
Last year, we made fun of the Phillies (and the year before, the Mets) for bullpens that weren’t getting the job done. I know the Yankee bullpen has been overworked, but when Sabathia gives you seven and your two best relievers are available, you have to find a way to win that game.
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14 Responses to This one's on Joba
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TIQ IQ
That game honestly made me sick.
You are so right on this one Rebecca, Joba failed in his last two outings, our BP is in some trouble right now, luckily there are plenty of games left for them to get their act together
This one is on the moron of a manager! He stinks! Fire Joe now please I’m begging you Cash!
So for the entire season thus far and last year too Girardi makes Demaso Marte his David Ortiz go-to pitcher. Marte throw’s 30 pitches on Monday, Ortiz steps to the plate on Tuesday with 2nd and 3rd, 1 out in the 8th and Girardi doesn’t want to put Marte in the game to face Ortiz because “its a long season”?
How many wins is Girardi’s bullpen management going to cost us? He has a terrible feel for how to play the matchups, coupled with his overly-controlling micro-management style and bam…costs us another W.
Everything is all good when we are in 1st place and Tampa and Boston are 5 games back, but we can’t be throwing away W’s when Tampa is playing ball like this.
If Joba wants to know why he didn’t win the 5th starter spot it’s because he has bad fastball command. The guy can’t throw his fastball for strikes unless it’s right down the middle.
When you’re right, you’re right.
lol so now everyone doesn’t like joba again interesting
Joba just gave away two sure wins with 8th inning blowups in successive appearances (Twins & Sox). Let me say it another way—-He was the main one responsible for turning two sure Yankee wins into losses. I watched every pitch of both games and hold Joba mainly responsible for it.
With the Rays running away on Cloud 9 this is serious. It sure changes the complexion of this short series with the Rays.
Yes, it’s early. Joba is young. There may be other stuff (small injury?) going on. etc. etc. I am a big fan of his, and want him to succeed.
But results are results, and people have reason to be concerned, and definitely have the authority to be critical of his performances.
being critical is not the problem because it’s no secret that his last two outings haven’t been good. I have no problem with him being criticized because as you said the results speak for themselves. What I’m referring to is him being booed last night in the stadium. What I’m referring to is him getting killed over various boards/blogs since he blew the lead last night. My problem is the same ppl killing him were smiling ear to ear when he struck out the side on friday stating things such as joba is back. They can’t have it both ways. Some ways want him traded or released thats dumb on so many levels.
Yea, I understand and agree with what you are saying. I don’t want him off the team. The NY crowd is a tough master. I’ve never been a boo-er. I’m a analyzer and a cheer-er. Sometimes our crowd over-reacts to our detriment. But, he was hard to watch last night, and against the Twins, too.
oh yea he was hard to watch last night…there is no doubt about that. I was completely shocked that he imploded on the mound. I didn’t see that coming at all
I love Joba. I think he’s a serious talent that has been handled about as poorly as possible. That being said, everything Rebecca says in her post is correct. Joba, and Mariano for that matter, have stunk lately and they need to make it stop.
Agree with everything. Also starting to think that Joba maybe will never regain his 2007 form on a consistent ongoing basis. He is starting to be as inconsistent as a reliever, as he was last yr as a starter.
One can argue if this is due to his never fully recovering from that shoulder injury (2008?), the attempt to make him a starter with the innings limatation, his early success giving him an inflated view of himself, some basic maturity or character flaws, or if he was never really going to be That Good”.
The net result is that the Yankees better be looking for a 8th inning guy, and a sucessor to Mariano, from somewhere else.
I am not giving up on Joba (as he is still young, and maybe needs to wander in the wilderness for some time before putting it together), just starting to question if he is the one we need.
“Also starting to think that Joba maybe will never regain his 2007 form on a consistent ongoing basis. ”
thats the problem right there