ANAHEIM, Calif. - Decisions, decisions. It must be incredibly stressful to be a postseason manager.
In yesterday’s Game 3 of the American League Championship Series, Yankees manager Joe Girardi had to take ace reliever Mariano Rivera out after one inning because he had pitched 2 1/3 innings in Saturday’s extra-inning game. Rivera got out of a bases-loaded jam in the 10th thanks to some magic at first base by Mark Teixeira.
But in the 11th, after Dave Robertson had quickly retired the first two Angels, Girardi yanked him for Alfredo Aceves with Howie Kendrick coming up. Yankee-killer Kendrick singled and backup catcher Jeff Mathis doubled to left-center, driving in the winning run in a 5-4 triumph and trimming the Yankees’ lead in the series to two games to one.
“We thought we had Mo for an inning, we didn’t think we could stretch him out any further than that in that situation because of what we did the other day with him,’’ said Girardi. “So he had that inning and that was it. Now if that’s a save situation and we get a run before that, it may be a different story. As for Robertson, we liked the matchup with [Aceves against Kendrick] better, and it didn’t work.’’
Why Aceves against Mathis?
“It’s just different kind of stuff against those hitters, and we have all the matchups, and all the scouting reports, and we felt that it was a better matchup for us,’’ Girardi said.
Can you say over-managing (although Kendrick had faced Robertson twice and was 1 for 2)?
Managers always say they won’t change what they did in the regular season just because it’s the playoffs, but Girardi has gone a little overboard with the pitching changes. He even yanked Johnny Damon from left field in the 10th with the bases loaded and one out with the feeling that if there was a play to left Jerry Hairston Jr. would have a better chance to throw the runner out at the plate.
We all know Damon has a poor arm, but if there’s a ball hit to the outfield, the likelihood is it’s going to get the run in.
Rivera got out of the 10th, and in the top of the 11th, third catcher Francisco Cervelli swung and missed to end the inning. That was Damon’s spot in the order; he’d already hit a fifth-inning homer.
While Damon didn’t say he was embarrassed about being lifted, it sure looked it.
“Well, you have to put yourself in a situation where if the ball is hit directly at the left fielder you give yourself a better chance to throw out the runner,’’ he said. “Jerry does have a better arm than I do. I can’t disagree.
“Unfortunately in the 11th we just couldn’t get that third out. Obviously I would have liked to have had another opportunity in the top half of the 11th, but sometimes you have to go with your gut feeling.
“There were guys coming up for Anaheim [in the 10th], Torii Hunter and Vlad Guerrero, who are pretty good candidates to hit the ball into the outfield. If it had been hit to his left, Jerry would have had a better opportunity.’’
Was he surprised he was lifted?
“I kind of saw them doing it and I kind of turned away to pretend I wasn’t seeing it,’’ Damon said. “It didn’t work.’’
Hunter noted of the Yankee moves, “They wanted to win. It was like spring training. Felt like we was in spring training. Joe pulled all the tricks out today. That lets you know how much they wanted it. Never give up. Even though they were up, 2-0, these guys, man, they tried to pull every trick in the book. I commend them on that.’’
Yankees fans likely were beside themselves when Robertson came out and when Cervelli batted instead of Damon, who is known for dramatic moments in the postseason.
Ahead, 3-0, behind Andy Pettitte before Guerrero tied the score at 3-3 with his two-run homer in the sixth, Damon thought, “You can never count [the Angels] out because they always compete and always find a way to make it close.
“We had our chances but we didn’t get it done today. They’re not going to roll over for us. They have a very good team.’’
The Yankees have gone 0 for their last 20 with runners in scoring position. Other than bashing homers - four of them, from Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Damon, and Jorge Posada - the Yankees keep coming up short when they have the chance to score runs.
“That’s what’s going to happen in the postseason; you’re not going to hit as well with runners in scoring position in the postseason,’’ Damon said. “You’re going up against pitchers who are not going to give in. I don’t think anyone here is frustrated. Granted, we’d like to get the job done and we’d like to be up, 3-0. We’re not frustrated. We’re still up in this series.’’
Posada reasoned, “We haven’t done as well as we need to with our offense, but you’ve got to give some credit to the Angels pitching staff. They have a lot to do with it.’’
Winning manager Mike Scioscia did his thing, too.
He walked Rodriguez with nobody on and two outs in the ninth against Brian Fuentes. Scioscia wanted no part of Fuentes hanging a pitch in A-Rod’s zone as he did Saturday night to blow a save and send the game into extra innings. Scioscia knew that with Hideki Matsui lifted for a pinch runner that Hairston would be pinch hitting in that spot. So why not make sure A-Rod doesn’t beat you when you know you can get Hairston (who struck out)?
That one worked. Girardi’s didn’t.
Stressful decisions. So stressful.
