YANKS LOSE AGAIN IN DRAMA-FILLED FASHION. FIRE EVERYONE!

Honestly, I don't need to give you a recap tonight. If you have been watching all year and reading our posts....you know what happened. The Yankees failed again. They had opportunities and they couldn't cash in. Same shit...different day.

It started out promising. Chris Young doubled to left in the top of the 2nd and the Ichiro Suzuki singled him home. That is the Yankees offense ladies and gentleman. For the rest of the game the Rays just had timely hits and eventually by the 7th inning I was looking for a white flag to wave. I am so pissed right now, I can't detail it all and quite honestly, I don't want to.

Michael Pineda didn't have his best stuff, the Rays were hitting him all night. He went 5.1 innings, had 4 hits, 2 runs (only one earned) an error trying to take the ball to first base himself and 5 strikeouts. I can't sit here and throw him under the bus when again...the offense takes a nap. Was it a good start? No, but he battled. But there was nothing good about this game.

I have never wanted a do-over more than I do right now. This game was UGLY. As if not hitting again wasn't enough add Derek Jeter getting plunked by Steven Geltz. It was already a 6-1 lead so I really doubt that Geltz was purposely trying to hit him, it would've been pointless. Regardless, Joe Girardi comes out guns blazing and he started arguing with Joe West. I think Casey said it best on Twitter...

Girardi needs to be passionate about important stuff. His teams down 6 to 1. Energerize your club, stop arguing with West. #BYB
— Robert Casey (@BleednYankeeBlu) September 17, 2014

Really Joe? How desperate can you be? That was the most desperate attempt at grasping at straws that I have EVER seen. Why waste your energy by arguing something so pointless? Get your head out of your butt and focus on the team. Yes, I understand that 5 Yankees have been hit in the last 4 games with the Rays but that doesn't change the fact that the Yankees are a BAD TEAM. Why doesn't he cry when it is another team? I have never heard him complain about any other team then the Rays. Joe Girardi looks like he is ready to crack, just like this team. He's getting mad at all of the wrong things. We can't hit, why can't you be mad at that, Joe?

I understand the whole retaliation concept, it's been in the game for years. I love David Phelps....but honestly throwing at Kevin Kiermaier was just ridiculous. It didn't matter! Move on and stop making excuses! Put up or shut up!

I love Phelps, but this hit batter for hit batter shit doesn't matter. The Yankees just need to play ball. Stop making excuses. #BYB
— Robert Casey (@BleednYankeeBlu) September 17, 2014

In the end benches cleared. Sean Rodriguez came out of the dugout barking like a big rabid dog and Francisco Cervelli and Dellin Betances were ready to charge. How big, bold and daring of you. Just win games, dammit! The rest of this is pointless. The isn't Monday Night Raw, fellas.

In the end we had more acting managers then runs scored. Joe Girardi, and Tony Pena were ejected. Now I have always stood by Girardi, but this loss was embarrassing and he made matters worse. What did he accomplish? NOTHING! If based on nothing but principal he needs a swift kick in the rear end. They say the Captain must go down with the ship...and this is no different. Everyone needs to go. Fire Kevin Long, fire Larry Rothschild, fire Girardi and clean house! This was an embarrassment. Losing 5 games on the road is bad enough. Not leading the team and refocusing the energy is unacceptable! That is your job and if you can't do it step aside because someone else will. I am really starting to believe that he just isn't a motivator and a good manager needs to be! Look at what happened to Buck Showalter in 1995. He was fired when we "barely" missed the playoffs. So the Yankees missing the playoffs for 2 years in a row is different? If you tell me that I call bullshit because that is a contradicting message.

This team is a joke. Where is the leadership? Does anyone even want to play anymore? There is no passion, no results. I miss when October meant something and a ring was the ultimate prize. These guys are already dreaming about the golf course. It is unacceptable to sit here and watch this happen. Yankee brass needs to get in and make changes. I don't care that George Steinbrenner is gone. I am not going to be cliché and say "If George was still alive...." because he's not but that doesn't mean that the expectation should be any different.

In case you missed it with the drama tonight the Washington Nationals, and the Baltimore Orioles both clinched their divisions.The Los Angeles Angels are guaranteed some sort of playoff birth, so congrats to all of them. There is no meaningful baseball in September for the Yankees 2 years in a row now. It makes me sick. It makes me angry. It means that for 2 nights in a row now I go to bed angry and pissed off. There is no celebrating tonight....we suck and I am tired of my Miss Hyde persona coming out.

Final Score: Rays 6 - Yankees 1




 
 --Jeana Bellezza, BYB Senior Writer and Editor
Twitter: @NyPrincessJ


  

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HOW THE YANKEES STACK UP: MANAGER

In five years as the New York Yankees manager, Joe Girardi has a .591 winning percentage and his team’s average finish is 1.6.  During that time the team won its 27th world championship and has reached the playoffs four times, winning the AL East three times.  The Yankees have won at least 95 games each of the last four seasons.

Yet Joe Girardi remains the “Jeff Gordon” of the franchise – you either love him or you hate him. The fans that admire Girardi see the leader taking a team criticized for being too old and overrated to the playoffs every year.  The manager of their boys in pinstripes is constantly handed challenges that he overcomes time and again.

They point to last season where the team lost young hurler Michael Pineda – slated to be in the rotation – for the year before he had ever taken the mound in the Bronx.  Then to make matters worse, starting left fielder Brett Gardner was gone for most of the season (starting in April) with injuries to his arm and elbow.

When April turned to May, things only got worse for the Bombers.  Certain Hall of Fame closer Mariano Rivera tore his ACL while shagging fly balls on the warning track before a game against Kansas City and was out for the year.

At the end of June, Girardi was handed more hurdles to clear when CC Sabathia and Andy Pettitte were placed on the DL within hours of each other.  They were the rotation’s only southpaws and arguably the team’s best pitchers. When the smoke cleared and the final game of the regular season completed the Yankees sat atop the AL East with 95 wins – the most in the American League.

Given the constant setbacks of a year ago, it is hard to argue with anyone who says 2012 was one of Joe Girardi’s finest as a manager. However, the Yankees manager does have his detractors.

The Yankee followers that criticize Girardi point out his reliance on statistical matchups during a game.  “Old School” fans dislike the fact that rather than show more of a feel for how a game is flowing, Girardi will refer to a “binder” of computer generated historical comparisons and let that dictate his next move.

One need not look past the first game of 2012 to see their argument.

In the bottom of the first inning of the game against division rival Tampa Bay, Yankees ace CC Sabathia allowed two of the first three batters to reach base before getting a ground ball for the second out.  With runners on second and third and two away, right handed hitter Sean Rodriguez stepped to the plate.  All-or-nothing slugger Carlos Pena, a left-hander, was on deck.  Girardi decided to play the numbers and intentionally walk Rodriguez to get the lefty-lefty matchup with Pena.

The rest is history.

Pena blasted a 3 – 2 pitch into the seats for a grand slam leaving the Yankees manager open for criticism as to why, in the first inning of the first game with two outs he did not let his number one starter work his way out of the frame.  Why would he put added pressure on the pitcher so early in the game and the season by loading the bases for the sake of getting a favorable statistical scenario?

That was just one example out of many through the season which led to some referring to the “Binder” as if it were the team’s manager.

The reality is that Joe Girardi falls somewhere between the two sides of the argument.  Clearly he handles personnel well in adverse situations, and squeezes every ounce of success from the hand he is dealt.

He also lives and dies on what historical data dictates and many times ignores the “big picture” in doing so.

However, there is one thing that cannot be argued with, and that is the results.  In his tenure, no other team in the AL East has finished first more than his, and none of the other managers within the division has won more games.  He’s doing something right.

Here’s who Joe Girardi will be matching wits with in the division this season:

Toronto Blue Jays:  John Gibbons returns for his second stint as manager of the Blue Jays.  During his first run at the helm (from 2004 – 2008) he put together a 305 – 305 record, however he never had the talent that this year’s club provides.  This season will be a good indication of how Gibbons handles high expectations as many have picked his team to win the division

Baltimore Orioles: With every passing season Buck Showalter’s standing among the game’s greatest managers grows.  It seems that every team he commands turns into a winner.  Other than his time with the Texas Rangers (2003 through 2006), Showalter has posted a winning record with every club he has managed (including the Yankees from ’92 to ’95).  The Orioles are no different as he had the young club contending for the division title into the final week of the season in 2012.

Tampa Bay Rays:  Joe Maddon has led the Rays to 90 or more wins in four of the last five seasons.  In that stretch the team has not finished lower than third in the division and has made a World Series appearance (2008).  He is known as a players’ manager and his strategies are often unpredictable, yet successful (the shift for Mark Teixeira is an example).  He is quickly rising to a status among the most respected managers in the game.

Boston Red Sox:  In a unique trade, the Red Sox and the Blue Jays engaged in a deal last October that brought manager John Farrell to Boston.  As manager in Toronto over the previous two seasons, Farrell holds a 154 – 170 record and two fourth-place finishes in the American League East Division.  He inherits a Red Sox team that finished last season on an eight game losing streak, leaving them with a 69 – 93 record – their worst in 18 years.  Only time will tell if Farrell can turn the franchise around.

Here is how we see the managers of the AL East division stacking up:

1. Baltimore – Buck Showalter’s legend will continue to grow as he turns the Orioles into perennial contenders.

2. Tampa Bay – Joe Maddon’s imagination and unpredictability will keep the Rays at, or near the top of the American League.

3. New York – Joe Girardi will need to adapt to a roster with less power and depth to keep his string of playoff appearances intact.

4. Toronto – John Gibbons is on the hot seat as he has been handed a completely new lineup and rotation for 2013.

5. Boston – John Farrell will get the chance to show if he can turn a struggling organization around.

Let us know what you think!

  
--Steve Skinner, BYB Guest Writer
Twitter: @oswegos1

 

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WHY IT WAS A YANKEES BUZZ KILL

You gotta admit, even though the Yankees lost this one in the ninth inning 7-6 (Read HERE) with Mariano Rivera giving up the tying and winning run, it was still a great game overall; lots of ups and downs and highs and lows on Opening Day at Tropicana Field.

In the bottom of the first inning, the Rays had runners on 2nd and 3rd with two out with Sean Rodriguez at the plate. Joe Girardi decided he wanted CC Sabathia to intentionally walk him to load the bases for Carlos Pena. Keep in mind; it’s the first inning of the first game of the season. Pena then promptly destroyed the ball for a grand slam; Rays up 4-0. Girardi’s decision to walk the light hitting Sean Rodriguez in favor of the power hitting Carlos Pena was definitely a head scratcher.The Yankees offense was resilient in this one, however, following Pena’s slam. The Yanks manufactured two runs in the second with Raul Ibanez driving in a run on a ground out, and Mark Teixeira scoring on a wild pitch. Then, in the third, the Yanks took the lead by scoring four runs; three coming off the bat of Ibanez on a three run blast. I’ll admit that I didn’t like the Ibanez signing, and so far he’s making me eat crow…And I like it.

There was only run scored until the bottom of the ninth after Ibanez’s bomb, and that came off the bat of Evan Longoria when he launched a homer off CC in the third. Following Longo’s homer, CC settled down the final three innings and finished with a pitching line of 6 innings, five runs, eight hits, seven strikeouts, three walks, and two homers. The opposing starter, James Shields, allowed six runs in 5 innings.
The Yanks went into the bottom of the eighth with a 6-5 lead and David Robertson had a typical David Robertson inning; allow runners to reach first and third with no one out, strike out the side to end the inning. Ho-hum! That's 3 strikeouts on the David Robertson's strikeout counter. Remember be sure to buy a BYB shirt too and Bleeding Yankee Blue will also donate a dollar of that purchase to David and Erin's foundation. Do it, you’ll feel a lot better inside.

Anyway... let me get back on track. The Yanks then went into the bottom of the ninth, still holding onto their one run lead, and Mariano Rivera was most likely making his final Opening Day appearance in his career. Unfortunately, it did not go that well, as he allowed a booming triple to Ben Zobrist following a single to Desmond Jennings to tie the game at 6. Mo then intentionally walked the next two batters to load the bases with no one out before striking out Sean Rodriguez and allowing a walk off long single to Carlos Pena to lose the game 7-6. What a shame.

Another thing you can point to that hurt the Yankees in this game was their inability to hit with RISP. The Yanks hit 2-for-11 with RISP today and left 12 runners on base. Though scoring six runs should be good enough to win a game against a team whose cleanup hitter is Jeff Keppinger, it certainly would have been nice if they got an extra hit or three with RISP.

With all of this said, you have to move onto the next day. The great thing about baseball is that when you lose a tough game like this you get to go right back at it in the near future, and that’s tomorrow night. Hiroki Kuroda will make his Yankee regular season debut against David Price. Go Yanks!



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

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