Saturday, October 8, 2011

How Bad A Job Did Girardi Really Do In The ALDS?

I ask because it seems that from the start of the ALDS through the final game, I seem to be one of the only people who thinks Girardi did an awful job.  There really isn't that much criticism out there for how he managed this series and I just think that's wrong when you look at all the bad calls he made and how some of them affected the game.  Here's the list of bad decisions, as I saw them:

- Brought Luis Ayala into the game in the 9th to finish.  Ayala gave up enough runs to force Mo to have to come in.

- Even had Mo warming up to begin with in Game 1 with a 9-run lead.  Use Hughes, Wade, anybody.

- Left Freddy Garcia in for way too long in the 6th inning of Game 2, allowing 2 more runs to score.

- Brought in Luis Ayala AGAIN in the 9th inning of Game 2 with a 3-run deficit.  Ayala gave up the insurance run and Girardi essentially gave up on the game.

- Didn't pinch run Dickerson for Posada in 9th inning of Game 2.

- Let CC come back out for the 6th inning of Game 3.  CC gave up the insurance run.

- Putting the bunt on with 2 on, 0 out, and Jeter at the plate in the 5th inning of Game 4 (** Never confirmed that it was Joe's call, but would you be surprised if it wasn't, given Joe's track record? **)

- Not using D-Rob a/o Mo in the late innings of Game 4.

- Bringing CC into the game in the 5th inning of Game 5.  CC gave up the insurance run.

I don't know, that just seems like a lot of fuck-ups to me, especially when 4 of the decisions directly led to the eventual winning runs being scored by the Tigers in the 3 games the Yankees lost.  How can nobody else see this?  And how can more people not be calling Girardi out for this?  He was terrible.  Awful.

It was a team loss in the series, because the players screwed up just as much in their execution, but if you're doling out pieces of blame pie for everybody at the pity party, Joe Girardi should be getting a much bigger piece.