Friday, October 5, 2007
Goats
Here are the goat for the Game One loss, in what I consider descending order:
Chien-Ming Wang:
Well, obviously. Wang was terrible, it was the second-worst start of his career (the worst coming this August against Toronto). He had lousy control, he couldn’t get any downward movement on the sinker, and worst of all he was getting the ball up in the zone, allowing it to get crushed.
They say that pitching wins championships, that great pitching beats great hitting, etc., etc. During the broadcast, the commentators kept saying how the Yankees couldn’t win without good pitching. Uh… they would have won without good pitching tonight if they’d gotten OKAY pitching. If Wang had given up 4 runs over 6 innings, we’d probably be recapping a Yankees win right now.
If this series goes 5 games, the Yankees might want to consider using Pettitte instead of Wang—Wang has always been better at home, and he might be better on short rest on Monday at Yankee Stadium. Pettitte would be going on full rest for Game 5 anyway.
You can forget the rest of this list—Wang lost this game, but there were other failures.
Derek Jeter:
In the first, he popped out to second following Damon’s homer. In the third, he struck out swinging, and in the fifth he flew out weakly to right field with the tying runs on base and nobody out. In the bottom of the inning, though nobody mentioned it, Kenny Lofton’s two-out RBI single (that made the score 7-3) was actually on a ground ball that most shortstops would have fielded. Of course, don’t expect much criticism of Jeter’s performance, that’ll be saved for A-Rod’s… well, A-Rod didn’t do anything really bad. He popped up with Abreu on first and two outs, but they probably woudn’t have done anything that inning, walked both times he came up with a chance to change the game, and then went 0-1 in a meaningless at bat late in the game.
Jeter was awful. A-Rod was… okay. A-Rod will get more blame than Jeter in this one, though.
Jorge Posada:
After a spectacular regular season, Posada got off to an awful postseason start. With a chance to break the game open in the first, he struck out swinging. He lined out in the fourth (and would have scored on Cano’s homer had he reached base), and with a chance to tie the game, or even break it open in the fifth, he struck out swinging. It was an awful, awful performance. Probably worse than Jeter’s, as he had more RBI opportunities.
Joe Torre:
He probably should have started Shelley Duncan against the lefty, but his big mistake was staying with Wang too long. There’s times when a pitcher gives up runs because he’s unlucky, but tonight Wang clearly had nothing. If it was September, it’s okay to leave him in there to save the pen and try to get him a “win” because the game is close. This is October, and you shouldn’t wait until the elimination games to use the bullpen early. He probably should have pulled Wang for Hughes in the third, after Cabrera’s homer made it 4-1. At that point the team could no longer risk what might happen if Wang didn’t find it, but they did risk it and lost big.
Then Torre shouldn’t have brought Hughes into the game at all. Hughes should NOT be this team’s mopup man, he should be the guy you bring in early when the starter doesn’t have it but you’re still in the game… like tonight.
Not pulling Wang is a second-guess. Bringing in Hughes? That was just asinine.
Anyway, that’s how it goes. The Yanks need to win Game Two, but losing Game One isn’t a disaster… it’s just a loss. If Cleveland had lost this game they wouldn’t have gone meekly.
There were “positives”. Sabathia didn’t pitch badly, but they were able to handle him pretty well—particularly working the counts (and not just because of the small strike zone, they were good at fouling pitches off, too. They pushed 3 runs across in 5 innings without getting many big hits. You don’t WANT to face him, but he doesn’t seem as scary.
They didn’t use Joba or Mo, so if they get 6 innings out of Pettitte tonight with the lead, they can use Joba for two and Mo for one and likely get the win.
Nobody got hurt.
Listen, I’m not happy they lost. I’m very unhappy. But this isn’t the worst thing to ever happen. I pointed out to Peter Abraham (and he mentioned it on his blog) that the Yanks are 5-0 when they lose Game One of the ALDS since the playoff expansion in ‘95, and 2-5 when they win Game One—and those two wins were in ‘98 and ‘99, when they plowed through EVERYONE. That doesn’t mean they’ll win, but it’s more important to win Game One and Three than it is to win Game One.
Despite the times Andy got knocked around in big games, I still trust Pettitte tonight. I hope he comes through.
Comments
I don’t get how Jeter is a bigger goat than Posada. Posada was 0 for 4 with FIVE men left on base! Matsui at least can claim injury.
I subscribe to the theory of “you should do what the other team does not want you to do,” and right now, you can bet Cleveland is hoping New York keeps Matsui in the lineup and batting sixth.
So come on, Torre, mix things up! DH Giambi and play Duncan at first! Cleveland will NOT want to see that happen.
I love the balance of different styles of writing and philosophy on this site. Sometimes I think “damn, that Larry can be really negative”, but then I realize he mirrors my opinions most accurately most of the time.
Last night’s loss was tough. I’m glad tonight’s game is an earlier start b/c it gives me less time to sit around and panic.
I don’t have a real problem with Hughes pitching last night. If Andy needs long relief tonight, the series is probably over anyway. Getting a little playoff experience in a low leverage situation could help him if he’s needed to bail out Clemens or Mussina, which is more likely than needing to bail out Pettitte.
mad dog russo always yaps about “well if wang were REALLY an ace…”. it’s one of the few things i grudgingly agree with him on. i don’t think he has nerves, but The Sinker’s the one holding the leash, when it’s good it leads us to the promised land, when it’s bad he’s got nothing to turn to. he’s the best pitcher on our staff, but an Ace, even without his best stuff, doesn’t put two men away and then give up three runs. against boston a few weeks ago he got two outs and then, almost impressively, got himself into a jam with the bases loaded. it’s inexplicable and i’d like to think wang will work on not ever doing that again, ever, in a big game.
in the beginning of the year it was guidry who was working on his slider, trying to give him another out pitch. i guess if you want him to strike guys, which i bet he could be pretty good at, out you could do that. but wang has his pitch. and guidry seems to try and teach his slider to everybody he comes across anyhow (remember when mussina was on maladroit leave and YES cameras showed him working with gid in the outfield, gid putting spin on an imaginary ball and mussina standing there with his hands on his hips, nodding respectfully like you do when your grandpa is going on about some shit from his day that no one could possibly care about?). i’m a firm believer that the guys who were terrible players make the best coaches- they don’t want you to be like them. look at kevin long for example. so i guess wang’s problem is something only he can put to rest- and while he contributed MIGHTILY digging us out of our hole this season, more and more he’s getting harder to believe in in those big spots. not because he isn’t great but because it really seems like he can’t make the adjustments he needs to in order to be consistent. you know what they say about the little girl with the curl…
Wang is the “ace” only because the Yanks don’t have anyone better. Of course that’s not his fault. Looking at all the Game 1 starters, I’d probably rank CMW between 6th and 8th - although I haven’t really seen much of Hamels or Francis. The day is coming though - hopefully next year - when Chamberlain and Hughes will be starting games 1 and 2, and Wang will be facing off against the opponent’s 3rd or 4th best starter. At that point the Yankees will have a real advantage, and may even be able to overcome a performance like last night’s. Until then ...... just hope Andy can come up big tonight.
“If Wang had given up 4 runs over 6 innings, we’d probably be recapping a Yankees win right now.”
I am just trying to figure out why you said this. The Yankees only scored 3 runs the whole game. I understand you can make the argument that if Wang gives up 4 runs over 6 innings instead of getting bombed the rest of the game is different, but I don’t know how you can say the Yankees “probably” would have won if Wang gave up more runs in 6 innings than their offense scored in 9.
On the positive side, if the NYY win tonight, they will clearly hold the upper hand over CLE. It’ll be best 2 out of 3 with the Yankees having home field advantage and “momentum.” Win tonight and they probably win the series. Lose and they probably don’t.
posado killed us.
bases loaded one out he starts his at bat 3-0 and then strikes out. that was when we shouldve blown open the game.
Torre killed us.
When Wang doesnt have his stuff in the first 4 innings he shouldve gone to Hughes, Wang isnt a pitcher who can turn things around during an outing.
This game was ours to have…
The Posada ABs were huge. Those killed us, at least offensively. The 3-0 to K AB really hurt, but I don’t think it was a bad AB by Jorge. Sabathia battled back and won, making good pitches. Posada didn’t give it away.
Wang was awful, and it was blatantly obvious he didn’t have it and wasn’t going to get it. I was hoping Torre would pull him after the 4th and bring in Hughes. This did not happen, and the game was blown open. Nevertheless, the Yanks never did score again, so I won’t blame the loss on Torre. It’s on Wang for the most part, with Posada and Matsui next in line.
What I WILL blame Torre for is his inexplicable use of Hughes later in the game. Hughes is late-inning mopup? WTF?
Good things:
1. Shelley Duncan’s first AB. That was a good, solid AB and resulted in a hit, and ultimately the 3rd run. WTG, Lurch!
2. Abreu was good, working walks and with that NICE double to plate Shelley.
3. Cano’s HR off a tough lefty, on a breaking pitch (not the best one, it’s true).
That’s about it.
Does anyone know if Wang’s fingernail is still bothering him? Maybe it’s just my poor anecdotal memory, but in the beginning of the season it seemed like Wang was always good for 8 innings and tons of ground balls. Then there was something about his fingernail and he was more of a 6 innings, 3 runs pitcher.
>>subscribe to the theory of “you should do what the other team does not want you to do,” and right now, you can bet Cleveland is hoping New York keeps Matsui in the lineup and batting sixth.<<
Matsui won’t be batting sixth, he’ll probably be batting fifth instead. Torre is willing to bench anyone, Torre is willing to bat Arod 8th for crying out loud but he is loathe to ever bench Matsui as if that would dishonor him.
As for Wang he’s the best pitcher on the Yankees but he’s not an ace. Hopefully one or two of the young pitchers will be ace(s) next year and the Yankees with Wang and Petitte at 3/4 or 2/3 in the rotation will be way more formidable.
This series was the first playoff series since Atlanta 96 that I was very pessimistic about winning. Maybe that’s a good sign.
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