"NOTHING STRANDS RUNNERS LIKE A WOMACK
Monday night's game: Yankees trail 5-0 in the bottom of the eighth. Robinson Cano singles to open the inning. Derek Jeter moves him to second with another base hit. First and second no outs. Tony Womack is up. You be the manager. In this situation you:
(A) Let Tony Womack, last among American League starters in slugging percentage, last in the league in RBIs per baserunner (11 out of 155), last in the league in marginal lineup value, second-least productive hitter in the league as per VORP (trailing Aaron Boone); the fourth-worst in on-base percentage (trailing Boone, Juan Uribe, and Omar Infante) hit away.
(B) Pinch hit with Ruben Sierra.
(C) Pinch hit with Russ Johnson.
(D) Pinch hit with John Flaherty.
(E) Pinch hit with Bubba Crosby.
(F) Pinch hit with Grandma.
If you picked A, congratulations! You have a long career before you as a commentator on ESPN's 'Baseball Tonight.'
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In the event, Womack fouled out. The Yankees did pick up four runs in the frame thanks to Gary Sheffield's single and Hideki Matsui's home run (break that guy's other ankle; he might hit .550), but it would have been nice to have back the extra out.
It has been said here before but it's worth repeating: as long as Womack is allowed to soak up outs at the top of the order and otherwise, the Yankees aren't serious about trying to come back in this race.
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After a season of these Womackcentric diatribes, it may seem like the point has been scored and the team should be allowed to fester in peace. Not so. This season the Yankees have allowed 4.8 runs a game and scored 5.3. This isn't enough of a differential for them to rise above .500 for very long. Either the pitching has to get much better, which is not likely, or the offense can get just a little better, which could be achieved easily enough if the team would be smart enough to stop perpetuating mistakes like this one.
We must keep singing this song until the tune changes."
In the ninth inning, with John Sterling anticipating the pinch-hitting appearance of Ruben Sierra for Robinson Cano, Torre was obviously saving Sierra for Womack's spot. After Jeter's ground out ended the game, the Yankees never got to Womack's spot.
Torre bats Womack second because of his speed and his supposed small ball skills. I can't recall too many occasions when it has paid off at all, much less in the first inning. On the rare occasion that Womack gets on base, he will not clog up the basepaths, I'll give him that much.
But over the course of the season, the man who bats second in your lineup gets the second-most at-bats. So even if Torre dreams of Speedy Womack sparking rallies in the first inning, he's continually killing rallies later on in the game.
Hey, Torre, the 8th inning counts, too.
Stop trying to fit a square peg into a round hole just because you still think it's the 1950s and the National League.
1 comment:
Cashman deserves blame for acquiring Womack in the first place, especially after Cairo's fine season in '04. But the rest is on Torre (and, of course, Womack himself). Cashman does not dictate where Womack bats or how often he plays.
Torre often praises Womack's speed. "The Yankees haven't had speed in a long time."
They haven't? Soriano wasn't speedy? Knoblauch wasn't speedy? ARod and Jeter didn't steal 25 bases last year?
The Yankees steal 100 bases every year, but Torre wants them to be the 1985 Cardinals.
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