Monday, April 12, 2010
Putting Your Money Where Your Mouth Is
Was Girardi really going to pull Sabathia on the verge of a no-hitter? Girardi has been preaching a team-first philosophy since last year, emphasizing that the Yankees are not about individual accomplishments. It obviously is a moot point after what happened in the game, but Girardi's insistence that Sabathia was not going to face another batter after Shoppach in order to protect Sabathia for the long haul is completely in line with Girardi's team-first emphasis. It may have made for bad press for a couple days, but Girardi's right that if we then lost Sabathia for a month or so because he let him throw 130 pitches in the second start of the season, we'd all hate Girardi for not showing more sense. It's a bit of a tough pill to swallow, but you're either about championships first or you're not. The Yankees, and Girardi, are.
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3 comments:
I can just imagine the headlines and photos if Girardi had pulled CC with a no-no on the line. Something like "CC WAHBATHIA" with a picture of CC as a baby with a pacifier; the byline would be "Girardi babies ace, ruins no-hitter."
The article would point out that CC has thrown a near-infinite number of innings over the past two seasons and can easily throw 200 pitches in a game without ill-effect.
I'm completely torn on whether Girardi should have pulled CC had he gotten Shoppach out. I probably would have let him start the ninth and pulled him if anyone reached base, including by a walk.
I think the fact that it was his second start of the season made Girardi's intention correct. He's just not stretched out enough to throw that many pitches at this stage. He's thrown a lot the last two seasons, and he's signed for one million more years, so we might as well protect him now.
He wasn't gonna pull him.
Just more media games.
Joe
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