TAJT and Farnsworth
As much as I love--nay, worship--Joe Torre, there has always been one aspect of his managing style that I don't care for. He obviously plays favorites, and once he does, it's very difficult to get out of his doghouse. There have been many examples over the years of the front office bringing in players and after some early season failures Joe never gave them another opportunity to get in a groove. This season, he obviously does not care for Farnsworth to the point where he's running Proctor, Vizcaino, and Bruney into the ground. In his defense, the entire bullpen is overworked, and Kyle has pitched in 8 games. But going to Proctor, Vizcaino and Mo in the 8th inning on Friday seemed like a sleight to me. And we're absolutely going to need Farnsworth to pitch well this season.
Of course, I could be way off. Perhaps Farnsworth just can't pitch two days in a row (he had pitched Thursday), and I know Farnsworth has said publicly that he doesn't not like to pitch beyond one inning. So Torre is right to question his mettle, but I hope Joe doesn't give up on him, because I think we'll see a self-fulfilling prophecy. I know some of you guys are more into the shame game to motivate, but I think Farnsworth, like Pavano, is a guy whose psyche is fragile and needs a vote of confidence, especially because he's struggling.
To change the subject, I do not have a working television, so I listen to all my games on XM radio. Tonight the game was on ESPN radio, and the broadcast team of Dave Campbell and Dan Shulman are simply excellent. Shulman is just a terrific play by play guy. His excitement at a crucial moment is palpable, and it comes across as completely genuine.
As for Campbell, he's a straight shooter (e.g. tonight he was talking about Manny's reputation as a flake) as maybe because he's not a former player, he doesn't use any of the hackneyed cliches.
Anyway, I just wanted to give those guys some credit.
Of course, I could be way off. Perhaps Farnsworth just can't pitch two days in a row (he had pitched Thursday), and I know Farnsworth has said publicly that he doesn't not like to pitch beyond one inning. So Torre is right to question his mettle, but I hope Joe doesn't give up on him, because I think we'll see a self-fulfilling prophecy. I know some of you guys are more into the shame game to motivate, but I think Farnsworth, like Pavano, is a guy whose psyche is fragile and needs a vote of confidence, especially because he's struggling.
To change the subject, I do not have a working television, so I listen to all my games on XM radio. Tonight the game was on ESPN radio, and the broadcast team of Dave Campbell and Dan Shulman are simply excellent. Shulman is just a terrific play by play guy. His excitement at a crucial moment is palpable, and it comes across as completely genuine.
As for Campbell, he's a straight shooter (e.g. tonight he was talking about Manny's reputation as a flake) as maybe because he's not a former player, he doesn't use any of the hackneyed cliches.
Anyway, I just wanted to give those guys some credit.
posted by Anthony at 11:21 PM
6 Comments:
Yankees need a State Of The Team and now.
3 leads to the Red Sox. 3 loses.
Pettitte comes out of the bullpen again? The staff is over worked. Once Wang, Mussina, Pavano, the kitchen sink comeback they should be eased into working longer into the game. That means more bullpen work on top of being used early anyway.
The bullpen was supposed to be good this year but they'll all be overworked by June. I don't think anyone can expect 3-4 pitchers every game to be good enough to not give up some runs. How often can that work though? In an age where 6 innings is good, that means 4 pitchers have be on that game - every game.
At this pace, I don't see the Yankees making the playoffs with an overworked bullpen.
Farnsworth has pitched in 8 games, the Yanks have played 17. He's pitched in back to back games only once during those 17 games. Maybe he doesn't like to pitch on consecutive days. Maybe Torre plays favorites.
I don't think Torre likes him, so I'd probably say that's why he doesn't get as many appearances as Proctor. But isn't he the setup man? Doesn't that show that Torre counts on him in big situations? I dunno.
Anyways, let's look at Proctor. He's pitched in 12 games. If my calculations are correct, at this rate he'll throw in 114! 31 more than what he throw in last year! He'll be dead by midseason.
I love Soup! I miss him when he used to call co-anchor Baseball Tonight. That fat-necked moron they have now is just wretched.
Not to be a know-it-all, but from ESPN's website: "Dave Campbell, who was a major-league infielder for eight seasons (1967-74), is an analyst for ESPN's "Baseball Tonight" and ESPN Radio."
Interesting...I always just thought he was a Gammons type.
Most of the guys torre has "doghoused" are pieces of turd like buddy groom. If you pitch well, TAJT will use you. He certaibnly didn't like wells and that worked out great.
That said, we'll need farnsworth because our starters blow. That boston series was agonizing.
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