In between the Pinstripes #19

In between the Pinstripes_19: Overthinking in Pittsburgh

Days like today just make me scratch my head with the moves that Joe Girardi makes in the middle of games. Today, the master mind that is Joe Girardi wasted his entire bench in a span of 3 innings. It started with Chris Carter pinch hitting for Jordan Montgomery in the top of the 7^th. Carter would take over in the bottom half, putting the pitchers spot now 6^th in the order. Then, in the top of the 7^th, things get crazy. Aaron Hicks pinch hits for Higashioka (which is automatically a two player move, Romine has to now go in and catch), and Hicks pops out. Carter than comes up and laces a single to left. Following a Gardner walk, Girardi pinch runs for Carter at second with Pete Kozma. The Pirates pitch out of the inning—getting Starlin to chase on a high pitch to end the inning. Keep that in mind…

Moving to the bottom of the 8^th, because Kozma pinch ran for Carter, Headley moves to 1^st, Kozma to short and Torreyes moves to third. Romine comes in and catches, with Hicks moving to left to take over for Gardner. Mitchell stays in to pitch a 1-2-3 bottom of the 8^th and is due up 3^rd in the top of the 9^th. Ellsbury lines out to Jaso at first, Judge singles, which brings up Mitchell (who Holiday pinch hits for). You must waste Holiday in this spot because the tying run is on base. BUT, you have nobody left on the bench in chase of a tie or a needed pinch hit scenario. Holiday would work a walk, Torreyes would reach on an error that should have ended the game, and Hicks strikes out on 3 pitches. Now, Pete Kozma is at the plate with the bases loaded with 2 outs. In a normal situation, you would pinch hit for Kozma but you can’t because with the moves in the past two innings that exhausted the bench. What doesn’t make sense; why does Girardi use the entire bench in this situation.

 I get Higashioka hasn’t had a hit all season, but he was the last attempt batter of the inning with 2 outs, so why waste two players with the move? Pinch hitting Carter makes sense, even putting him at first makes some sort of sense. However, that back fires when you pinch run for him with Kozma the next inning. Now, Headley has to take over at first—which is a defensively liability to say the least. On top of it, Kozma is not the best hitter in the world, and not having the ability to pinch hit for him comes back to bite the Yankees in the backside. I’m putting this loss on the shoulders of Girardi because of how poorly he managed the game late. If you just pinch hit Carter for Montgomery and pinch run for him, you would have the choice of who you want to pinch hit for Kozma when his spot comes up in the order.

Getting to the actual game, it was a good game to watch until Girardi got trigger happy with his moves. Jordan Montgomery didn’t have his “A-stuff” this afternoon, but he pitched well enough to keep the Yankees in the game. Montgomery’s final line is: 6 innings, 7 hits, 2 runs, 2 walks, and 5 strike outs. Bryan Mitchell almost let Pittsburgh widen the lead—loading the bases in the bottom of the 7^th. Mitchell would pitch himself out of it with no damage and would go on to pitch an aformentioned 1-2-3 bottom of the 8^th. The only bright spot for the bombers today is a solo shot by Jacoby Ellsbury that would trim the Pirate lead to 2-1 in the 7^th. Ellsbury would also add a single; going 2-4 with that homer—making him the Focus Player of the Day. In a game of madness late, Ellsbury proves yet again that he is the Yankees lineup swiss army knife, being able to bat anywhere in the order.

Moving onto the next game on the schedule; the Yanks go into Bean Town on Tuesday for the first Red Sox-Yankee series of the year. The bombers and their fans need a break after today’s game. The pitching matchup on Tuesday in Boston is Luis Severino against the reining Cy Young award winner Rick Porcello. Porcello is coming off a tough 7 inning loss where he gave up 6 hits and 3 runs over those 7 innings. Severino is coming the toughest loss you can possibly think of; shutting down the White Sox for 8 innings, only letting up 3 hits (one mistake a 3-run homer), 4 runs, but striking out 10. Miguel Gonzalez just out pitched Severino that day in the Bronx. Porcello in his career against the bombers is 7-5 with a 3.28 ERA and an opponent average of .258. Hopefully the Yankees can get back to their winning ways against their arch rival in Boston. The Yankees did loss the series in Pittsburgh, but look forward to Yankee-Red Sox baseball on Tuesday, it should be fun.

Sources:(mlb.com, baseballreference.com)

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