The 2010 MLB All-Star Game was a great showcase of National League pitchers, and the current pitching era we are currently in. With the American League lineup, you would have thought the AL would have scored more than 1 run (thanks to Robinson Cano’s sacrifice). Anyway, the National League won fair and square. It’s a shame Yankees pitcher Phil Hughes was the person who blew it.
"Can I play, coach?"
That being said, the AL had a slight chance of scoring in the 9th inning. Big Papi David Ortiz got a hit, and my first thought was OKAY, can we please get a pinch runner now? It seemed as if manager Joe Girardi was looking for Alex Rodriguez, who was not on camera. After a few moments, A-Rod was shown to be stretching. Announcers Tim McCarver and Joe Buck said that A-Rod was being saved for a pinch hitter, and we’d see him in this inning. Well, A-Rod was not used. Of course, Big Papi made a horrible baserunning play because he’s so slow, and the National League won the game.
So why didn’t Joe Girardi use A-Rod as a pinch runner for David Ortiz or use A-Rod as a pinch hitter, after all he DOES have around 600 homeruns in his career?
Joe Girardi: “If the situation arose, you get extra innings, he probably would be my DH, We were talking about pinch-running him in a situation. We also had a little issue with [third baseman Adrian] Beltre, and we were concerned about his hamstring. So if we get the tying run on, Al was going to pinch-run and then go in.”
That’s what I thought- Girardi was thinking about some future scenario to tie the game instead of keeping Big Papi off the base paths. He was thinking about holding A-Rod for extra innings. He was thinking about some crazy situation where Beltre would get hurt (in one inning?). Well, I believe that Girardi was being too cautious and did too much overthinking. Three pitchers could have been used to pinch-run for Big Papi: Fausto Carmona, Neftali Feliz and Joakim Soria.
I think it’s pretty LaME to leave Alex on the bench the whole game . It’s LaME to have a “secret weapon” yet never use him. It also comes off as a snub to A-Rod.
© DailySkew Baseball | 2010 All Star Game: Why Didn’t Joe Girardi Pinch Run David Ortiz with A-Rod?
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I’m learning about baseball and I have a question. A pinch hitter substitutes for a bad hitter, right? Can they be a main player? If so, they have to go to bat in their normal order? Will it always be the same substitute for the bad hitter? Can they be someone that is specifically hired to bat for the bad hitter? Thanks. :) I’m learning! lol
Yes I played smart on the bases. The only problem was, I only got on base one time. Bad foul ball caught by the third baseman, nice line drive caught by the third baseman, beautiful hit right in the gap (got on), and a pretty pop up that I though could burn the right fielder, but I was wrong.
Good game to everyone and I would like to say good job at throwing to our first and third basemen…….
I must say that A Rod looked very disappointed when he was not chosen to play last night. You could see him talking to someone and mouthing the words: “why wasn’t i picked”? What, here is a man who has so many homers i lost count, and he gets his singles and his doubles. Those factors alone should have put him in the game. I am surprised at Giraldi. To cautious Joe. This was not the world series guy!