Much of the post-ALCS buzz has centered around Joe Girardi. He is taking criticism from all corners about his managing during the ALCS, as many have placed a large portion of the blame for the 6 game loss to the Rangers on his shoulders. While much of the complaining is driven by hindsight, some of the criticism is certainly deserved. In particular, his inability to keep his starting pitchers on the sort of short leash required when every game is incredibly vital hurt the team in Games 4 and 6. However, it seems obvious from the way the team played that no matter what Joe had done, the Yankees were unlikely to win the ALCS.
The Yankees hit .201/.300/.370 in the series (stats from Yankeeist’s excellent wrap-up), while the Rangers put up an amazing .304/.378/.512. To put that in perspective, The Yankees hit about as well as Kurt Suzuki or Melky Cabrera did this year, while the Rangers lineup may as well have had 9 Ryan Zimmermans or Aubrey Huffs.
On the pitching side, the team had an ERA of 6.58 and a WHIP of 1.67. CC Sabathia had the second best ERA among the starters at 6.30. Conversely, the Texas pitchers put up an ERA of 3.06 to go with a WHIP of 1.19. To play our little comparison game again, the Yankees pitched like…well…there are no qualified pitchers who pitched THAT poorly. You need to look at people like Ryan Rowland-Smith to find performance that bad over a full season. Meanwhile, the Rangers as a team pitched like Cole Hamels or Jonathan Sanchez.
Yes, Girardi made a number of poor decisions in the ALCS that were fairly important in the context of the individual games. But this ship was likely going down no matter what Joe did. A team of Melkys and Rowland-Smiths is not going to beat the Zimmerman/Hamels tandem very often. The Yankees simply played too poorly to win, and it was a team-wide failure that makes it difficult to blame one man. Even if Joe had made vastly different decisions, it likely would have been about as effective as rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic: to no avail.
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10 Responses to Rearranging The Deckchairs
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TIQ IQ
I agree and disagree with the slack you’re giving Joe.
Look at it this way. Part of the starters’ high ERA is a result of moves Joe made (or didn’t make). If you pull Burnett before that 3 run bomb like you should have, that lowers the starters’ ERA. Next, if you pull Hughes in Game 6 like you should have, that, too, lowers the starters’ ERA.
Not putting in Mo in Game 3 to keep it at 2-0 with Lee around 120+ pitches was also a bad decision because Lee’s effectiveness is grossly diminished once he surpasses 100 pitches.
Even if we still lose Game 3, if AJ is pulled in Game 4 and we win, the series is 2-2. CC pitches a solid Game 5, and it’s 3-2 Yankees, poor hitting notwithstanding.
Joe conceded Game 4 by putting Mitre out there. 4 runs in the 9th is no easy task, but with the Yankees and their history of comebacks, it’s not impossible either.
Robertson in Game 6 with the series on the line after he’d been the Rangers’ punching bag?
Walking Hamilton after the Molina HR a few nights prior was downright stupid. But, Joe was “going by the numbers” as always. How about the numbers on Guerrero, say the fact he can hit any ball thrown within 8 feet of the batter’s box?
I’m missing several mistakes as well.
Yes, the Yanks underperformed and were unlikely to win no matter what Joe did. But in the playoffs, you have to put your team in the best position to win and Joe simply didn’t do that the entire series. Game after game, Joe made calls that arguably cost us the game. You can’t predict what would’ve happened in the following games if the series was in our favor. Perhaps the added pressure helps us and hurts the Rangers. Perhaps not. We’ll never know. All we do know is, Joe made very costly mistakes, and I’d argue they may have cost us the series.
I like Joe, I don’t love him. He always leaves starters in too long and thinks “we went by the book and it didn’t work out” is the answer to every mistake. Rather than learn from past mistakes (can you say intentional walks?), Joe just points to his numbers and says he made the right move. Well, not everything needs to be by the book or we’d always be able to predict the outcome of baseball games. It’s that instinct a good manager has that determines what the call should be. I personally would like to see a change in management.
Robertson hadn’t been the Rangers punching bag. He had one bad inning. I absolutely had no issue with going to Robertson there.
And yes, Joe could have put them in a better position. As I said, he made mistakes. But from the way the two teams played, I find it quite unlikely that they win the series no matter who was managing them.
Fair enough. It was one inning, but it was not a “bad” inning, it was an “awful” inning. 5 runs in 1/3 of an inning does not inspire confidence if I’m going to put the guy out there with the series on the line. You go with your best. You put in CC or Kerry Wood. Not David Robertson who, while good overall, has his big ups and downs.
I still think if Burnett was pulled after 5 like he should’ve been, we’re looking at a very different series.
I still can’t believe people are bitching about walking Hamilton…
The guy did nothing but hit HRs in big spots the whole series I don’t want Burnett pitching to Hamilton their either and Logan hadn’t been able to give up anything less than a double to him from the begining.
The mistake he made was not bringing in the fresh Joba to face Molina and even then you are putting faith in Joba Chamberlain who is just as likely to give up a HR and then you all bitch that he took out Burnett too soon.
What series were you watching? Burnett walked MURPHY to get to MOLINA, not HAMILTON. Hard to take your comments seriously when you don’t even have the facts straight.
As poorly as the team played they weren’t helped by the manager.
And as poorly as they played you can say that if a few decisions were made they still may have won the series. If he pulls Burnett after 5. If he pulls Hughes after walking Hamilton. If he goes to Wood instead of Robertson. If he sat Cervelli instead of appeasing Burnett. If he put Mo in top top of the 9th of Game 3.
The team played bad. But the manager didnt help things.
It’s possible. But it sure didnt look like it. Wood loaded the bases later. The Yankee bullpen after Burnett got crushed. Cervelli got what, 2 at-bats? And putting Mo in likely does nothing. Yes, it’s possible these things could have changed things. But I saw nothing in the performance of the players to suggest it.
A: In an elimination game wouldnt you want to go to your best in that spot? Robertson clearly wasn’t the best. In Woods defense he loaded the bases when they were already down 5-1. 1-1 changes the game completely. You have to manage with some sense of urgency. Saw nothing of that. He should have treated Game 4 like that. Knowing he had CC in 4 he could have emptied the pen. Burnett giving 5 was more than he could have asked for. All he needed was 12 outs and 9 could have been safely manuevered with Wood/Rivera.
B: Cervelli’s had a huge ab in that game with runners on. And he struck out. And even having him in the lineup for 6 innings changes the lineup considerably and forces Posada to run in the later innings if need be.
C: And 2-0 going to the btm of the 9th in a game where Lee had thrown 120+ pitches already isnt anything to sneeze at. Even if he finishes the game he’ll burn thru 135+ and may just may be less effective in a possible Game 7.
You are guaranteeing 12 outs from a bullpen that had been hit and miss all post-season and Wood who was most unpredictable of all would have had to go 2 innings against a very good offense.
It is really hard to see that team not scoring off our bullpen with 4 innings to do so.
The lack of hitting and overall bad performance by the players did us in… at time Joe didn’t help but they played uninspired and old slow looking baseball.