YANKEES OUT MANAGED IN BAD LOSS TO ORIOLES

It seems like most fans of the New York Yankees do not like Joe Girardi as manager of their favorite team. I, for one, am not one of those fans. I think he’s a solid, above average manager. However, in a rough 8-3 loss to the Baltimore Orioles in the rubber game of their three game set, Girardi looked the exact opposite of an above-average manager. Let’s recap without bashing the skipper too much…

Phil Hughes started, and he was effective early on, but he simply ran out of gas in the sixth. The Yanks manufactured (more on that later) a run in the bottom of the fifth to make it a 3-1 game. Hughes immediately walked Nate McLouth to lead off the sixth before allowing sharp singles to Adam Jones and Matt Wieters. He was clearly done as his fastball velocity was steadily declining and his breaking stuff didn’t seem as sharp as it was early on.

Hughes was left in to face Mark Reynolds, who hit a mammoth homer in his last at-bat, and predictably Reynolds went deep for a back-breaking three-run bomb. I simply do not understand why Hughes was left in the game there. Cody Eppley had been warming and Hughes was running on fumes. In total, Hughes went 5+, allowed five runs on eight hits while punching out six and walking just one.

Anyway, in the inning prior, the Yanks had a two-run lead against Randy Wolf, who came in to replace the injured Chris Tillman, but decided to play for just one run. After Chris Dickerson (more on him in a bit) worked a walk, Jayson Nix, who is pretty good against lefties, sacrificed him to second. The Yanks ended up scoring the run, though, so I guess it’s mission accomplished even though they could have done a lot more.

Speaking of Wolf; we know he’s left handed, so it would be wise to pinch-hit the right handed bats off for the weaker left handed bats that were originally in the lineup to face the righty Chris Tillman, right? Well, Girardi decided to only pinch-hit Andruw Jones for Chris Dickerson, who hit a two-run homer earlier in the game, when he could have done so earlier for Raul Ibanez, Eric Chavez, or Ichiro, who are all underwhelming against left handed pitching. Wolf, who got cut by the Brewers not too long ago, pitched 3.1 innings while allowing just one run against the starting Yankee lineup that struggles against left handed pitching. Go figure.

It was 6-3 in the eighth and the mix-and-match bullpen roulette came in to make matters worse. Five different pitchers (Joba, Justin Thomas, Derek Lowe, Boone Logan, and Cory Wade) combined to allow two runs on three hits and two walks. Thomas retired the only man he faced while Wade retired all five men he faced (including three in the ninth). The bullpen is pretty damn thin after Rafael Soriano and David Robertson. Wade looked pretty good today, so could he help solve some of the bullpen woes? I sure hope so, because the Yanks really need it.

Some quick positives; Chris Dickerson played a pretty damn good game today. He hit a two-run homer off Tillman in the second while drawing a walk against Wolf in the fifth. He also made two great catches. One of those came in the fourth on a nice running grab in left center field. The other came in the seventh to rob Adam Jones of at least extra bases, if not a home run. Well done, Chris, well done.

The Final, again, was Orioles 8- Yankees 3. 

The Yanks’ division lead is now cut to 2 games, and they have to travel down to Tampa to take on the Rays. It’s a three-game series and game one is a Labor Day matinee as CC Sabathia (13-4, 3.40 ERA) faces James Shields (12-8, 3.91 ERA). Hopefully CC can give us a big start and a big win to build some momentum. We sure need it.



--Jesse Schindler, BYB Lead Staff Writer
Follow me on Twitter @SchindlerJesse



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