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WPCNR VIEW FROM THE UPPER DECK. By John Baseball Bailey. October 9, 2006: As The Bronx wallows in the gloom of the Yankee failure this last week, and reports of Joe Torre being fired after managing the Yankees to the most successful decade in their history, it is time to put things in perspective.
A different Game. Photo, WPCNR Sports.
Yankee Stadium, 2003 World Series. Photo, WPCNR Sports
Good pitching always beats great hitting. Great hitting kills lousy pitching. Let’s face it, the Yankee rotation was not reliable this year. When your number 1 starter just happens to turn up and take over the number 1 spot because he’s the only consistent starter, (C.M. Wang), when two over-the-hill pitchers (Randy Johnson and Mike Mussina) are relied on, and your only consistent pitcher pitches one inning a game (Manuel Rivera), you do not have a pitching staff.
You certainly do not have five strong starters which is what the Yankees ran into this last week against Detroit. Every Tiger starter pitched a strong six innings or more. Three of the four Yankee starters did not. And that’s what kills you in the 5-game division series. Since the games are played 5 in 6 days…you’re only as good as your 4th and 5th starters. The Yankees have not had that all year. They never had a stopper except for Wang. Who inexplicably does not pitch on three days rest Saturday! You needed that game before you played the 5th game.
And, let’s be fair – the Yankee infield is not a strong fielding infield. They have A-Rod at third who has no range – and has strange mental lapses – like failing to play close to the line in the lates. They have a shaky first base position which forces Robbie Cano to play two positions. Over a regular season, the bats fatten up and can win you 2 of every 3, but in a short 5-game series, your pitching has to be solid, and you have to scout the opposition well.
Moreover, you cannot let games get out of hand. Perhaps Joe Torre’s greatest flaw is his management of pitching in big games. How can you pitch Jared Wright in the biggest game of the season? How can you leave him in to choke up four runs?????
Then compound the felony by bringing in mop-up guys in a game you have to have?????
But, hey – Wang should have started – what was Joe saving him for? Then of course there was the leaving Mussina in to cough up the lead in Thursday afternoon’s turnkey game. Johnson getting hammered Friday night was no surprise. The Yankee middle relief the last two years has no ability to get out of jams. Johnson has not won a big game for us since he got here. The soft under belly of the Yankee pitching staff – inconsistent all season – was not equal to the task.
You have got to bring back Wang to start Saturday’s game. He had three days rest! You got to win Saturday before he gets to pitch Sunday – then roll Mussina and Johnson in for Game 5 on Sunday. Torre is incredibly uncreative when the wheels come off. He has confidence in all his players to a fault. But occasionally his pitching moves mystify.
He lost the Marlin World Series in 2003 when he conceded the fourth game in the 12th inning by inexplicably bringing in Jeff Weaver in the 12th instead of Rivera. I remember that game, too.
When the Yankee rotation gets discombobulated, Torre is slow to adjust. In the infamous Boston 4-game sweep, Torre could not stabilize his pitching after Boston beat the Yankees in 14 innings in the 5th game. But, how do you start Kevin Brown twice in that series?
Sadly, the Torre managing job this last week recalls the managing of Casey Stengel in the 1960 World Series which cost Casey his job. Casey’s Yankees killed Pittsburgh three games, and Pittsburgh edged the Yankees in three going into Game 7.
The Yankees rallied in the 8th to go ahead of the Bucs 7-4 with Little Bobby Shantz of the Yankees having pitched 5 innings of terrific relief into the 8th. Gino Cimoli singled off Bobby to start the bottom of the 8th. Next Virdon hit a smash to short that hit a stone and bad-hopped Tony Kubek in the throat putting runners at first and second. Next Dick Groat singled, scoring Cimoli. 7-5 NY. And Casey’s out of the dugout. Now, mind you Shantz has not been hit hard. But Casey brings in Jim Coates – a starting pitcher without relief experience most of the season. He could have brought in Ryne Duren, Duke Maas or Luis Arroyo – all experienced firemen. But, nooooooo, he brings in Coates.
He throws gasoline on the fire. Coates induces Bob Skinner to sacrifice and the runners move up. 2nd and 3rd one out. Rocky Nelson flies to right. 2 out. Instead of walking Roberto Clemente, Casey and Coates pitch to him. The Great Roberto, as Bob Prince used to call him, chops a ball to first and beats it out for a hit and it is 7-6. Still Casey leaves Coates in. He has the flamethrower Duren in the pen. The nasty sinker artist Arroyo in the pen, and still he leaves Coates in. Coates hangs one to Hal Smith and Smitty hits it over the left field wall for a three-run homer. 9-7, Pittsburgh. Then Stengel brings in Ralph Terry who closes the inning.
But the Yankees rally. Tie it in the 9th. Who comes out to pitch the bottom of the 9th. Ralph Terry – a pitcher prone to the homerun ball. Mind you Casey could have brought the experience reliever Maas or the experienced reliever Duren, or the left hander Arroyo. He elects to leave Terry in who gives up a series winning homer to Bill Mazeroski on his third pitch.
Stengel also outsmarted himself in this series by starting off the series with Art Ditmar instead of Whitey Ford. Ditmar lost two games in the series. Ford won two. Just a quibble.
Stengel was fired at age 70. Something I never thought should have happened. Now today we hear rumors that Lou Piniella is going to take over for Joe Torre. I hope not. The Yankees have to go back to the winning formula of 4 starting pitchers who are consistently good. Remember Pettite, Rogers, Key, Gooden and Cone of 1996 – and Pettitte, Clemens, Hernandez in 2000 – and reaching back in time – how about Figueroa, Hunter, Ellis, Alexander and Hotlzman in 1976 – and Guidry, Figueroa, Gullet, Torrez and Tidrow in 1977. You have to have five solid starters.
The Yankees overestimated their pitching this year. But against the Tigers, the starters fell apart – early.
If Torre is fired Monday, GM Brian Cashman needs to go with him. Cashman had to know his pitching was weak and he did not deal for a big pitcher to shore up the Yankee staff down the stretch! He made the Abreu deal – but that was not what the Yanks needed. But perhaps he was prevented from doing that.
That is a trademark of previous Yankee pennant winning drives of the past. You do not need hitting in the shorts – you need pitching.
And speaking of managers who should go—How can Grady Little bring in an unknown quantity pitcher in Penny in the 7th of game one with the 5-4 lead? You don’t experiment when you have the lead, Grady. So what happens, Penny with the questionable back walks two Mets. Grady still leaves him in. You can’t hope for outs! You gotta make a move! And he had no bullpen heating to back up Penny. Game Over. Mets feast. Dodgers dead for good. Bad pitching management.
And Bruce Bochy of San Diego – how can you yank your starter today in a 3-2 game for a hideous reliever, Cla Meredith? A hits batsman, a single and a single and the game is gone. Could we have Trevor Hoffman please? It’s the 6th. You have to hold em. The pennant’s on the line, Bruce! You cannot turn the game over to a middle reliefer!!!! The look on Woody Williams’ face said it all as he watched the Cardinals tee-off. Bochy also made the Torre mistake he withheld Jake Peavy, his ace, from the game he had to win, hoping to pitch him Monday.
As the Mets go into the series against St. Louis Tuesday – we shall see if the Mets’ superior hitting can overcome the loss of Hernandez and Martinez. And we shall see if the Tiger bats can overcome the best pitching staff in the Major Leagues of the Oakland A’s.
