How can you say 1973 is among the worst and 1963 the best when THEY ARE IDENTICAL. Change the colors, bam! Same ring. I don't see what is so bad about 2003. It has the logo. I like the logo. I guess you like boring pieces of shit and I like good craftsmanship.
1)I think Gaudin would've pitched better last night. 2)Pitching Burnett on full rest at home doesn't assure you of a good start, but it's putting him in a better position. You can never assure yourself of anything, but you can put your players in a position to succeed. Starting Burnett on short rest on the road and Pettitte on short rest at home doesn't do that. How is that a good argument? He might've pitched badly in Game 6, therefore start him in Game 5? As Cappy mentioned, Pettitte also would've been left available to come out of the bullpen in Games 6 and 7, if necessary. Just as it's misleading to mention Burnett's current postseason record and ERA, it's also misleading to claim Gaudin's had "29 days of rest" or that "he hasn't pitched in a month." The point is that people should try and be accurate. Gaudin was not the ideal option for a fourth starter, but he's not a bad pitcher and it's preferable to forcing everyone to go on short rest, especially when it puts them in bad home/road situations. I don't really get it either. Sabathia is the only pitcher of the three I'd feel comfortable with on short rest. If he'd pitch Gaudin 3-0, I think he should've also pitched him 3-1.
I agree, but you haven't really addressed the home/road splits, either. Which is ANOTHER argument in favor of using him in Game 6. At home, you at least have Matsui at DH, which compensates somewhat for having Molina bat instead of Posada. To have Molina, Gardner AND a pitcher all in the lineup at the same time is pretty brutal.
Here ya go...this guy will make any MLB replica WS ring that you want.... The replicas that are already made, that I found on a quick search were $40+ to $70+.....folks are selling in a bad economy! http://www.excellseries.com/10.html
The Yankees signed AJ Burnett to a big contract to pitch in October. That's what they expected him to do on Tuesday. He failed. He could just as easily have been held back until tonight, still failed, and it would have followed a failure by Gaudin, which makes this a 3-3 series. I like Andy in this game. Fuck rest. Fuck all this bullshit that he might have less success at home. He has to do his job tonight. AJ might be asked to do it as well. If they don't, they'll lose. But that will be on the players, not Girardi. This is the final series of the season. No one should be that tired that they can't give you a normal performance. They can empty the tank now. It makes perfect sense to pitch Gaudin up 3-0 (which is something I said before the series even started) but not pitch him up 3-1. When you're up 3-0, the series is all but over. We blew it once, but that is so ridiculously rare in sports that any reasonable person would ignore the possibility of it happening here. 3-1 is a completely different story. It's still a series, and that's still a home game for the opposition. You don't give up games you can win. I've always argued that you put your players in the best position to succeed, but Girardi mostly did that on Tuesday night. A ridiculously inconsistent strike zone, coupled with a lack of control by Burnett on his offspeed pitches led to getting an early deficit. They still could have won if not for a bad outing by Coke, or a clutch Teixeira at-bat. Hell, based on the pitching performance the Phillies got on Tuesday night, had Burnett pitched like he did in game 2, we wouldn't even be having this conversation. The Yankees failed on Tuesday night. Not Joe Girardi. Go get 'em Andy.
I really don't want this to go to game 7 and be depending on Sabathia pitching good enough 2 games in a row on 3 days rest. Hopefully Giardi is smart enough to play this game like it IS game 7 tonight.
What the fuck is up with Kruk? Is he the biggest Yankee hater on ESPN? Picked Phils to beat Yanks in 6 and 7
Again, that's not much of an argument. Burnett might have pitched badly in a better situation, so let's put him in a bad situation and see what happens? They signed him to pitch in October, but that doesn't mean they have to use him on short rest on the road when they're up three games to one.
That's the thing, I don't see putting him in to pitch the clincher game as putting him in a bad position. If he had done his job, we wouldn't be having this conversation. If Phil Coke had done his job, we wouldn't be having this conversation. If Mark Teixeira had done his job, we wouldn't be having this conversation. Player failure lost the game. Not probabilities. Not poor decision making. The players did not execute in the situation they were given. When you're paid a huge sum of money to sign with a team to be a difference maker in the postseason, you're expected to do so. AJ didn't. Hindsight is 20/20. I'll repeat that over and over because it's completely relevant here. I'll repeat again that Randy Johnson threw 7 innings one night, and the next night another 1.1, both times getting the win in the World Series against the Yankees. No rest needed there. Either a player does his job or he doesn't. That's all that matters.
It's not bullshit, and it's not that he "might" have less success at home. Pettitte - for whatever reason - actually has had much less success pitching at Yankee Stadium. ETA: You like to accuse me of not looking at the human side of the game or whatever. But you're doing the same thing right now. Some players prefer pitching at home. Some on the road. It can get in their head. It's why managers bench slumping players and ride "hot streaks" even though it all amounts to variation. Girardi put Burnett in a situation where - for whatever reason - he has had far less success throughout his career. You say he should be able to "do it" because that's what the Yanks paid him to do. But that just ignores the issue. I mean, you can tell a shy person to stop being shy at a party. Hell, you can even pay a shy person to stop being shy. But they're probably not going to be comfortable becoming an extrovert just because you paid them. That's not really how it works, though. And I think the entire point of the disagreement is that - when looking at projections for these games - it is incorrect to say that Burnett could have failed "just as easily" in Game 6 as he did in Game 5. The home/road splits indicate that - for whatever reason - he fails more easily on the road.
I thought the same thing, in a big game I would want one of the clutchest post season pitcher's ever Andy Petitte...
That's what managers want to hear. Absolution for their moves. Because whatever decision they make, it's still up to the players to perform.
