Results tagged ‘ Joba Chaimberlain ’
Bill Madden is an Idiot
Today, Bill Madden wrote and article about Joba’s terrible injury and said it was his own fault. He went on to compare it to the career ending shoulder injury suffered by Brien Taylor in a bar fight. What an idiot. Joba was playing with his son, not out drinking with his brother. I can not understand how some of these guys continue to hold jobs with major publications and media outlets, when they obviously have no clue. Madden continually writes idiotic articles and they continue to pay him big money to do it. Too bad we all couldn’t find a gig like that.
Joe Girardi manages like an engineer
A lot has been made over the years about how Joe Girardi is very smart and that he has an engineering degree from Northwestern. Well gues what? He manages just like an engineer. Engineers use statistical analyses to predict success or failure. Girardi does exactly the same thing. He goes with the numbers 100% of the time and plays matchups based on statistics. Guess what else? It doesn’t work. I have pointed out several times that a manager needs to have a feel for the game and sometimes has to play hunches and go with his gut. Girardi absolutely never does this and it has cost his team many games the past two seasons. Now it has cost him two games in the ALCS. First, it was clear that Burnett was losing it in the sixth inning. He had Joba ready and for some inexplicable reason decided to leave Burnett in. We all saw how that worked out. Next, for the second straight game, he had a very manageble two run deficit late in the game and let his propensity for playing matchups instead of bringing in someone with the best ability to get hitters out cost him the game. Billy Martin wouldn’t know a statistic if it bit him in the rear end, but he had a great feel for the game and was a master tactician. This is what Girardi lacks and what will prevent him from becoming a great manager unless he develops it.
To be perfectly honest, I had my doubts about this team heading into the post season. They have been hot and cold all season, both offensively and with their bullpen and starting pitching. Looks like they picked the wrong time to go cold. Texas has flat out beat them and if not for a late rally in game one, this series would already be over.
This won’t do
A lot will be written today about Joba Chaimberlain blowing the save, but the story of this game lies with the 15 strikeouts by the Yankees and the 18 men left on base. I watched this one and the Yankees just couldn’t put it away. They had numerous chances and could not come through with a hit to increase that one run lead. When they went up 5-3 it was by means of a bases loaded walk and then A-Rod promptly struck out. That was just one of many instances where they just couldn’t get a clutch hit and they paid for it. They over worked their bullpen by mixing and matching from the 6th inning on of a 13 inning game and that is why they had Gaudin pithcing in the 13th. Terrible loss and my guess is that they will pay for it the rest of this series. They have got to find ways to win games like this down the stretch if they are going to have sucess. Not expecting much from them the rest of this series as this was a huge win for Texas and like I said the bullpen is now shot. Let’s hope that they can find a way to bounce back today.
Girardi snatches defeat from the jaws of victory
In a classic case of over managing, Joe Girardi managed to turn a 10-4 lead into a 12-10 deficit in the 7th inning today. You can’t fault him for the first move as Robertson got hurt, so he had to bring in someone. However, if you’re going to bring in Mitre are you really only going to let him throw 2 pitches because Russel Branyan was pinch hitting? Guess so, because he brought in Marte to face Branyan and Marte got him out. After this is where he blew it. Instead of leaving Marte in to get one more out, he just couldn’t resist showing how smart he was by bringing in Joba to face the righty. That move was one too many and it blew up in his face. He deserved it, but the team didn’t. There was absolutely no need to bring in Chaimberlain in that situation and he clearly wasn’t ready. This loss goes to Griradi and it will hurt them in the standings at a time when they can ill afford to be beaten after having a 10-4 lead in the seventh inning. Griradi needs to stop trying to show how smart he is and just let the game unfold sometimes. This one really will hurt this team. I am expecting them to bounce back tomorrow, but there are no gurarantees and when you have that big of a lead, there is no need to match up for every hitter. Bad managing and it cost them the game.
5th Starter debate
Today almost all the NY newspapers and Yankees blogs have stories about who will win the Yankees 5th starter spot. Almost all have annointed Phil Hughes as the winner with Joba going to the bullpen. I guess I will be the lone voice of dissent on this one. I am not convinced that Hughes can succeed as a starter. He was great in the bullpen last year because he could cut loose and only had to throw his fastball and curve, which is really all he has. He is a two pitch pitcher who is working on developing a changeup. I for one, feel like he will be exposed as a full time starter and not be able to consistently get people out with just those two pitches although both are plus pitches.
Joba on the other hand has four solid pitches and has proven he can get through a lineup more than once. He needs to work on his location and consistency, but remember, we are not asking him to be an ace, just the fifth starter on a very good team. Personally, I think he is much better suited to succeed as a starter than Hughes. Either could be good in the bullpen, but in my mind it is Hughes that belongs there. Time will tell, but these are my thoughts as of now. Regardless, it is a pretty sure bet that whoever fills the role of fifth starter will not make all of the starts out of that slot this year. Can’t wait for opening day.
Rule 5 Draft
Well, it’s official. The Yankees have selected OF Jamie Hoffmann from the Dodgers. Don’t know much about him, but from what I have read, he could stick as an extra outfielder. Looks like he has a nice combination of speed and power and a solid arm from CF or RF. For the $50,000 price tag, he looks like a safe pick. We’ll see how it all pans out. On another note, Andy Pettitte resigned yesterday for 1 year and 11.5 million. Glad to have him back in the fold, but I expect the Yankees are still looking for a solid number four. Last year’s playoffs proved that they are not comfortable with either Hughes or Joba as a number four. Today is day four of the winter meetings, so we’ll see if anything new develops. Overall, it has been a productive three days as they have picked up Granderson, re-signed Pettitte, traded Bruney and picked up Hoffman. Stay tuned for more.
Welcome Back
Well it took until the eighth inning of game two against Toronto, but the Yankees finally awoke from their hangover from the Boston series. Luckily they did it in time to win this game, so their brief slumber only cost them one game. I expect that they will be fine from here on out and will win again today for a series win. Happy Birthday to Melky Cabrera. Sometimes when we watch these guys it’s easy to forget how young some of them are. Melky is now only 25 and Joba, who I’m sure would like to have that third inning back is only 23 years old. Hopefully the Yankees will continue to stand by some of these young players as I believe that they have lots of young guys in the system who could turn out to be pretty good players. Remember they almost traded away Ron Guidry and Bernie Williams and both of those guys turned out to be pretty good players. With guys like Jesus Montero, Austin Jackson, Ian Kennedy among others in the system, I hope that the team remains patient. I believe it is possible to win now and still develop the young guys until you can plug them into the big club. Atlanta was the model for this for years. Let’s hope the Yankees take this approach.
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