Joe Girardi’s Idiocy Costs New York Yankees One Game… and Counting
April 6, 2011 · Larry Barnes · Jump to comments
Article Source: Bleacher Report - New York Yankees
It was all but in the books. Another win for the New York Yankees, who led the Minnesota Twins 4-0 heading into the top of the eighth inning.
Then Joe Girardi had to make a decision and everything quickly fell apart, leading to a gut-wrenching, 5-4 loss.
The Yankees manager opted to use the known-to-be-temperamental Rafael Soriano in a non-save, non-hold situation a day after the closer-turned-setup-man threw 19 pitches to protect a 1-run lead.
The questionable (to be kind) move could not have backfired any worse than it did. Soriano was not sharp, walking three batters for the first time in his career as a reliever—including Joe Mauer with the bases loaded—and was finally removed from the game after throwing more than 30 pitches.
Then Girardi made another more-than-odd decision. With the bases still loaded and the game on the line, the Yankee manager handed the ball to David Robertson, who has been little more than a mop-up man at the beginning of the season.
Think about the situation for a moment. Girardi found himself needing two things to escape with a win in a game the Yankees appeared to have locked up just moments before.
1) He needed somebody to escape the bases-loaded, two-out jam with the then 4-1 lead intact.
2) He needs somebody to pitch to the bottom of the Twins’ order in the ninth and nobody on base.
Rather than use the greatest closer of all time to accomplish the first and far more difficult task, Girardi chose Robertson. The job, of course, did not get done, and the Yankees eventually lost 5-4 in 10 innings, thanks first and foremost to the compounding layers of idiocy from one Joe Girardi.
And the good news doesn’t stop there. Not only does New York suffer the heartbreak of blowing a game they had in the bag, but they also give the Twins a big mental boost, and they will now almost certainly be without BOTH Soriano and Mariano Rivera (who pitched a scoreless ninth to briefly maintain a tie) for Wednesday’s game.
Think of it as a gift that just keeps on giving… From Joe Girardi, with love, to the Minnesota Twins.
Is it possible there is some baseball law that none of us knows about, REQUIRING to the Yankees to have a manager named Joe who has no earthly idea how to handle a bullpen?
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