Game 1
Ok, my quick thoughts to spur discussion:
1) Obviously Jeter is the heart and soul of this team and he proved it again tonight. Going 5-5 was a magnificent performance. He is a tremendous ballpayer and we should always recognize that without Jeter, we don't talk baseball in October.
2) Wang threw a solid game. For a young guy to pitch so well in a pressure situation is impressive. Thank you, Wang!
3) Speaking of Wang, let's analyze Torre's decision to yank our starter in the 7th inning. With two outs and nobody on (and with Wang in a good groove) Torre makes a move to the bullpen to bring in Mike Myers. Myers gives up a HR and its shifted the game's momentum. Against a better team, this is a critical error by Torre. Yes, we escaped disaster, but Torre must recognize the potential disaster he almost created by being trigger-happy.
4) And as for our bullpen, Farnsworth was shaky. Bruney may need to get some innings logged in if Farns is unable to a) throw strikes and b) throw that 98 mph fastball we all know he has in his arsenal. Farnsworth topped out at 96, and he struggled miserably. As a side note, for Torre to announce Mariano Rivera is only going to be used for 3-outs tops is a silly thing too. Why telegraph that? And even then, why let hitters think Mo is vulnerable? I don't get it.
5) Jason Giambi was hit twice by pitches. Giambi hit a 2-run HR. Giambi also stole second base.
6) Bob Abreu is smiling constantly. He should be.
Discuss.
1) Obviously Jeter is the heart and soul of this team and he proved it again tonight. Going 5-5 was a magnificent performance. He is a tremendous ballpayer and we should always recognize that without Jeter, we don't talk baseball in October.
2) Wang threw a solid game. For a young guy to pitch so well in a pressure situation is impressive. Thank you, Wang!
3) Speaking of Wang, let's analyze Torre's decision to yank our starter in the 7th inning. With two outs and nobody on (and with Wang in a good groove) Torre makes a move to the bullpen to bring in Mike Myers. Myers gives up a HR and its shifted the game's momentum. Against a better team, this is a critical error by Torre. Yes, we escaped disaster, but Torre must recognize the potential disaster he almost created by being trigger-happy.
4) And as for our bullpen, Farnsworth was shaky. Bruney may need to get some innings logged in if Farns is unable to a) throw strikes and b) throw that 98 mph fastball we all know he has in his arsenal. Farnsworth topped out at 96, and he struggled miserably. As a side note, for Torre to announce Mariano Rivera is only going to be used for 3-outs tops is a silly thing too. Why telegraph that? And even then, why let hitters think Mo is vulnerable? I don't get it.
5) Jason Giambi was hit twice by pitches. Giambi hit a 2-run HR. Giambi also stole second base.
6) Bob Abreu is smiling constantly. He should be.
Discuss.
posted by TheJackSack at 12:17 AM
11 Comments:
Glad to see you made it home safe -- despite the old lady yelling. Here's to Sun Monkey to MN in the morning
I agree with all of it except the Mo thing. If he's really not going to throw Mo in the 8th, better let the bullpen know that they aren't going to get bailed out. Plus, it covers Torre's but when the press is asking why he didn't go to Mo. Finally, he can always change his mind and it will have the opposite psychological effect on the opposition. So that doesn't bother me.
But I agree that Joe should have left Wang in. And otherwise, ditto.
Joe often thinks a game ahead, and perhaps he wanted to get Myers, Proctor and Co. past the playoff jitters, so he thought he'd bring them into a game that was in hand. And it was pretty much in hand at the time. I don't know about you, but I never really thought Detroit was going to beat us yesterday.
Another intersting thing that my brother and I noticed was how the stadium was already clearning out in the 7th inning. The corporate fans had seen enough and were bailing out. That's not a good sign.
That's just... inexcusable. I know these games start an hour and a half later, but come on!
Tell me about it.
Verlander tonight, the Greatest Pitcher Ever on Friday. This series if far from over. Tonight is pretty close to a must win. This Yankee team has shown three or four times over the past five seasons that it can win the first game and still lose the series.
I'm not sure why Yankee fans are worried.
Yes, Farnsworth has been shakey all season long. Villone had an awful late August and September.
But the Yanks still have Mo, Proctor, and surprisingly, Bruney. And although inconsistent, Farnsworth will help more than hurt.
They will look to their offense to carry them. And I just don't see how that lineup can fail. Amazing.
Mr. Steiner, you said, "I don't know about you, but I never really thought Detroit was going to beat us yesterday."
This says a great deal. All of Yankee-Land should have that type of confidence.
-OG
Ordinary Guy, are you a Yankee fan?
What a bullshit rainout -- first rainout without the rain. Now I won't see tomorrow's game dammit.
Mr. Steiner was correct in his earlier analysis--direct from Yankees.com: Torre hopes that getting the first game out of the way for the three pitchers will help settle them down the next time they take the mound.
"As much as you'd like everybody to be robotic, there's still the emotion that goes along with playing in the postseason," Torre said. "You sort of have to shake the butterflies out. Hopefully that helped."
They could have gotten that game in no problem if they started it at 8pm. Ah well, maybe those corporate weenies don't get to go tomorrow during the day, right?
Thanks, Critch.
As for yesterday's rainout, that was no fun. I drove an hour to watch the game with my blood, and all I got out of it were a couple of slices of pizza. Is that justice?
I feel like we also lose a little momentum. I think today is a must win. If Mike can keep the ball in the park, we should be in good shape.
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