Why?
Who said this?
I realize he’s in the later stages of his career, but I don’t think his ability dropped that much.
The call on Halladay’s bunt was ridiculously, inexcusably bad, though, even if the end result of the play was exactly what the Phillies wanted to happen.
With all the rain that’s forecast for Arlington this weekend, I wonder if Girardi would consider replacing Pettitte for Game 7 with a 3-day rested Sabathia. It would be a tough decision.
**Hawkeyeop **said it in Post 375, and **RickJay **in Post 383.
100% agreed… I can understand missing the “bang-bang” plays that occur split-second, but between the ball dribbling off the side of the plate, and the non-balk call on Bumgarner (who was essentially standing in a balk position while he threw to 1st), the Umps appear to be snoozing on the job…
Why? Isn’t Pettitte more of a ground ball pitcher than Sabathia? (I’m just guessing, based on memory, not stats…) Or did you have a different reason?
I would rather have my season and game 7 be Pettitte than the CC of this post season and maybe in general. He gives us a good chance to win. Also he does induce the most double plays of the Yankee starters as Southern Yankee mentioned and he is the toughest pitcher in baseball to run on.
For one thing, I think that we can reasonably assume that if Game 7 was somehow postponed until Monday, CC would definitely pitch (on regular rest). He is the best pitcher on the team and our ace. It’s the 3-day rest thing that would make it a tough decision.
Now that I’ve thought about it some more, I now think that Girardi would have no choice but to start CC. CC would insist that he could pitch and I’m sure that it would get out to the media. How would Girardi look if Lee beats Pettitte, with his $24M/yr star ace keeping the bullpen bench warm?
While Pettitte has pitched well, he is capable of the occasional blow-up inning. CC, from I’m hearing, will actually be available out of the bullpen tonight (since it’s his throwing day).
Girardi did say CC was in Bullpen tonight. With a rain delay of two days? Or did you mean Sunday?
Since it’s very rare for even a single playoff game to be rained out, this is obviously a big hypothetical. But if there was non-stop rain in TX on Saturday and Sunday, and Game 7 had to be moved to Monday, there would be no question that CC would pitch it. But a 1-day delay (with Game 7 being played on Sunday) would make the decision tough, since CC on 3-days rest is more of a hit/miss. Upon further reflection, I think CC pitches Game 7 even with a 1-day postponement.
Over the course of the season, it probably was; the argument is that the Phillies with Oswalt are a much better team.
Of course, the Giants in the postseason also aren’t starting Barry Zito, which is as valuable a thing as getting Roy Oswalt.
I consulted the numbers in more detail and truth be told I really don’t think there’s a lot of difference between the two teams at all. WHile the Phillies won a few more games, they were slightly lucky, while the Giants were slightly unlucky; the Phillies’ Pythagorean projection was 95-67, while the Giants’ was 94-68. One game doesn’t mean anything.
And while it’s true the Phillies now have Oswalt, it’s also true the Giants don’t have to start Zito. Plus, they have Buster Posey every day instead of just two thirds of the time. They’re pretty evenly matched, all in all.
Conversely, I stand by my assessment of the Yankees as a better team than the Rangers, but they have certainly not played up to their abilities this past week.
Half an inning in and already a blown call.
My dad and I just replayed that at 1/4 speed a couple times and we still can’t agree on whether he was safe or not. I think he was safe, Dad thinks he was out. Tough call.
Hughes has Molina down 0-2 with 2 out and he’s more obsessed with Kinsler at first than he is without just throwing a damned pitch to the notoriously free-swinging batter.
Drove me nuts. Almost as nuts as the lack of Yankee Hits
Well I feel better suddenly.
How do you feel now? 
Jorge Posada paints his fingernails, presumably to make the signs easier to see at night. I don’t watch a lot of Yankees games, is this something he does regularly? I don’t recall seeing this before from any catcher.
NO
yes
Nolan Ryan looks like he’s ready to go out and give 'em an inning if necessary. 'Course, he’d walk two, hit one, throw a wild pitch, and have Molina be charged with a passed ball on a third strike, but still . . . he looks ready. 