Mussina Upset About Girardi’s Call

From Newsday:

Mussina did what he was told and walked Jay Bruce, a lefthanded hitter with 90 big-league at-bats. But the next batter, righthanded-hitting Jolbert Cabrera, laced Mussina’s first pitch for a double down the leftfield line, driving in two runs. And the next batter, Ken Griffey Jr., singled to right to drive in another run on a disputed, but correct, call at the plate.

The Yankees could not overcome the three-run inning and lost to the Reds, 4-2, Friday night at Yankee Stadium. Their winning streak was snapped at seven in Cincinnati’s first visit to the Bronx since the Reds swept the 1976 World Series.

Mussina did not rip Girardi after the game, but after an extra-long time in the trainer’s room, he made it clear how he felt about the failed strategy.

Would he have walked phenom Bruce, who was batting .322, to pitch to journeyman Cabrera, who was 2-for-2 at the time but had only 16 at-bats all season?

“Well, I didn’t get to choose,” Mussina said. “That was the path we chose. That was it.”

Later, asked if he would be able to put this one behind him, he said: “Maybe tomorrow. Tomorrow or the day after … The fifth inning bothers me.”

What exactly?

“Probably a couple things,” he said. “But I’m not going to elaborate on it.”

The decision to walk Bruce?

“You saw what I saw,” he said. “That’s it. Hold up four fingers, I throw four balls . . . I’m not talking about it.”

Girardi and Mussina have been through this before – in reverse. Girardi’s decision – with Mussina’s input – to not walk Manny Ramirez on April 12 is the most-second-guessed moment of Girardi’s short Yankees tenure, especially given that Ramirez smashed a two-run double in a 4-3 Red Sox win.

This time Girardi made the call without Mussina’s input.

“Bruce has had some success in those situations,” Girardi said. “We liked the matchup against Cabrera and unfortunately it didn’t work out.”

Now, Mike Mussina doesn’t like to walk people, in general, BUT, I think he has a right to be upset about that call (plus, you walk Bruce but don’t walk Manny?). What success is Girardi talking about here? Granted, with RISP Bruce is hitting .368, however, Bruce got off to a fast start in May (.579 AVG) and has since cooled off considerably. In fact, in the past 4 series he’s played in, he only has 1 RBI off of a solo HR. I mean, this isn’t Manny Ramirez, this is a rookie who could have easily been fooled by Mussina’s veteran trickery yet was walked for what reason? I don’t really see how Cabrera looked like an easier out. Maybe if you were judging the situation strictly by the papers before you (Cabrera is a .282 hitter with RISP), but that would be idiotic if you didn’t take in the context that was involved (a slumping rookie versus a veteran who is pitching well). As a manger, I assume that it would be your job to know that nuanced information (guess not).

Sometimes Joe Girardi tries to hard and other times it’s as if he’s not even trying. I know that in-game decisions have to be made quickly, but you don’t need that much time to know that you don’t walk Bruce in the 5th inning. Of course, it’s easy for me to say that in retrospect and it was still Mussina’s job to execute on a pitch to Cabrera (which he did not), so I give Girardi that. Either way, I still don’t know what to make of Joe, but as a fan I’ve definitely been slightly disappointed by some of his in-game decisions.

(Props to WW for the link).

Waste Those Starts Boys

The Yanks wasted a nice start today, one that was from an unexpected place. Giese threw 6.2 strong innings, striking out 5, yet his start unraveled thanks to his own error and a questionable defensive play by Alex Rodriguez. From there on, Jose Veras showed that he’s still a work-in-progress and Billy Traber showed us why he got sent down to the minors in the first place. The Yankee bats, which seemed so mighty a few days ago, appear to be sputtering during this series (only 2 R scored in 18 innings). Eh, this is a tough loss to the Yanks as the Reds, a pretty bad team, are on the verge of sweeping them. Hopefully the Sox and the Rays have some tough games today which would ease the pain a bit.

The Yanks can’t afford to waste these quality starts. They’ve done it with Darrell Rasner and Mike Mussina throughout the year and with Wang out, you cannot lose when Giese pitches so well. Thompson seems like a solid pitcher and all, but he should have been touched for something. It’ll be up to Andy Pettitte tomorrow to deliver and be a stopper for the Yanks. He’s always up for it, and he’s been great in his recent performances, so we’re all expecting him to come through.

Pat Venditte Confusing Everyone

Everyone has been talking about Pat Venditte, the switch-pitcher drafted by the Yanks. He actually had a problem the other night (he’s on the Staten Island Yankees) when facing the Cyclones, as he was up against a switch-hitter and he and the hitter kept switching sides. The umpires and managers had a conference but there hasn’t been a definitive ruling really and in the game they basically told the batter to pick a side and that allowed Venditte to pick an arm. Here’s a video thanks to RAB and you’ll like the end. It appears as though the MLB is going to have to create a Venditte type rule in order to help the umpires and the players figure out what is acceptable.

Wrapping Up The Day

Hey everyone, I’ve been a bit under the weather today so I apologize for the lack of posts. I did manage to watch the Yanks game though and it was certainly the pitcher’s duel that I thought it would be (until some shoddy managing got in the way).

Mike Mussina pitched well yet Edinson Volquez demonstrated why he’ll probably win the Cy Young this year as he begins what will likely be an illustrious career in the majors. Mussina had one rough patch that began with what should have been an catch by Johnny Damon (an error which was ruled a double) and then, for some reason, Joe Girardi decided to walk Jay Bruce (the leadoff hitter) who is slumping hard in order to face Jolbert Cabrera who had already gone 2-for-2 against Mussina. Cabrera made Mussina pay and from there things unraveled a bit but Moose limited the damage and ending up pitching 8 solid innings of 4-run ball. In the end, the Yanks couldn’t mount anything against the Reds ‘pen (surprise, surprise?), snapping a 7-game winning streak that will hopefully restart tomorrow.

Tomorrow, Dan Giese will get the call as he faces Daryl Thompson. The Yankees should be able to take this series and let’s hope that Giese gives them a solid start as I’m sure the offense can do some damage against Thompson who was only playing in A-ball last year.