Except for Wayne Franklin. Whatever shall Torre do tonight if he needs to get a lefthanded batter out?
Sure, lefthanded batters are batting .556 off Franklin, but that's a small sample size.
Hank Blalock is a lefty and Wayne Franklin is a lefty. Don't you know anything about platooning?
Tom Gordon was going to pitch the ninth and get three outs. How can he be expected to get four outs? Especially since Hank Blalock is a lefty and Tom Gordon is a righty?
But the Yankees got the best possible outcome. Sure, they lost the game, but Gordon didn't even have to pitch in the bottom of ninth inning, because there was no bottom of the ninth. As a result, Gordon is even more well-rested.
4 comments:
Felz,
OK, I understand Torre wanted to rest Sturtze and Rivera. Here's what I don't get. Why not plan to rest those guys tonight with Small pitching? Small is not likely to keep the Yanks in the game with Texas' offense. Chances are, Rivera, Gordon, and Sturtze will not be needed tonight. Instead, last night was a game they could have, should have won, and needed to win since Mussina gave them a good game. Instead, now they are probably going to lose 2 in a row. But Rivera, Gordon, and Sturtze will be rested. Thank God for that!
At least Small came up big last night ... get it? "Small" is his name and it's also an adjective. Then, I made the reference even funnier, by using "big," which is the opposite of "small."
1) Even if Sturtze and Rivera are unavailable on Tues. night, why does everybody have to know? If Suzyn Waldman knows, then Buck Showalter knows.
2) Wayne Franklin is not a lefthanded specialist, no matter how much Torre tries to make him a lefthanded specialist. (Reference Chris Hammond and many others.)
3) Gordon has to pitch to Blalock with two outs in the 8th. I don't even care who pitches the 9th. This is not just 20/20 hindsight. It's identifying the situation. Sometimes, the most important inning is before the ninth.
4) Use Wayne Franklin on Thursday, with a 5-run lead instead of on Wednesday with a 1-run lead. Torre wants to test Franklin? Go right ahead, but he's going to fail every test. He's not a solution to David Ortiz and Rafael Palmeiro.
5) Torre is a good bullpen manager anytime his team scores 8 runs or more.
So here's another question...
If Torre is so worried about resting the bullpen, why are Sturtze, Gordon, and Rivera all pitching in a game where the Yanks have a 4+ run lead like last night? And Rivera is used in the 9th with a 4 run lead. Last time I checked, that's not a save situation. I just don't get it.
It is arguable that the Yankees lost two of their last three games because Torre didn't want his starter to pitch into the 7th inning. Mussina was begging to go back in and I'm not buying the Randy Johnson back "tweak."
Torre is willing to lose a few battles so he can win the war. But the problem is, this time he is losing the war.
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