Game 12: BoSox beat Yanks: Girardi and Mussina mistake

April 13, 2008

By DailySkew

It had the makings to be an ugly game, after all it was on FOX at 4:00PM, so Tim McCarver and Joe Buck were announcing under the threat of a rain delay. (I’ll blog about FOX’s coverage another time.)

Mike Mussina and Josh Beckett had a bit of a pitching duel until the 6th, where, with two outs, the Boston Red Sox had runners on 2nd and 3rd and Manny Ramirez was coming to the plate. Manny had previously taken Moose very deep with a homerun.

There was a conference at the mound and I found out that Moose didn’t want to face the on-deck batter Kevin Youklis with the bases loaded, so Girardi told Moose to Pitch Around (copyright DMB) Manny. Moose made a mistake pitch and the Sox scored a couple. The dependable Brian Bruney quickly replaced Moose, and promptly made a mistake pitch to Youklis, ultimately resulting in the final score of a 4-3 Red Sox victory (it was 4-2). Bruney settled in, and even LaTroy Hawkins had a perfect 9th against the heart of the Sox lineup.

Since I don’t believe in second guessing, I want to say for the record that I recommended to Belle that Moose needs to walk Manny and load them up.

I can see the reason why the MEDIA is ripping Joe Girardi, although in reality it was Moose’s stubbornness in wanting to Pitch Around Manny coupled with his fear of Youklis that cost the Yankees the game. Girardi had given every player a clean slate to be fair and honest. However, I do believe Girardi should consider last year’s stats DO mean something- more than a “clean slate”. And last year’s stats would have revealed that Moose is a 5-6 inning pitcher and needs to be taken out of tough situations like that.

I’d also like Girardi to consider that Joba could have gotten out of that 6th inning jam with a strikeout.

Anyway, believe it or not, I’m not angry or upset at Girardi or with Moose. In fact, I’m inclined to give Girardi a Free Pass ™ for this year and the next two years with the Yanks…just because sometimes even when you tell a pitcher to Pitch Around, the pitcher can still make a mistake pitch.

I’m more upset that A-Rod struck out against Jonathan Papelbon at a two-hour rain delay. The Yankees still have problem scoring: it doesn’t matter if it’s against Tampa, KC, or the Red Sox.