Give Joe Girardi credit for honesty at least. First he tried to intentionally walk Kendry Morales in the 8th inning last night; then after putting his pitcher in a 1-0 hole he took off the IBB; then with a 3-0 count instead of going back to the IBB he had Marte pitch to Morales–ball game over, first series lost of the year over.
As Marc Carig reports in the Star Ledger:
“I probably should have stuck with my first instinct,” Girardi said after the game.
Another decision: Girardi considered simply conceding by having Marte throw an intentional ball to Morales, who has been so hot lately that even at 3-0 he was a good bet to have the green light to swing away.
“He got to 3-0 and I could have put four (fingers) up again,” Girardi said. “I probably should have put four there.”
He put up none. This was perhaps his worst decision.
Cervelli called for a pitch just outside of the strike zone, figuring that chancing a walk would be less dangerous than throwing a pitch over the plate. “Then,” Cervelli said, “we can face the next guy.”
But Marte’s command was lacking all day. And faced with a situation that left no room to breathe, he missed his target badly. The pitch, a fastball in name only, sailed over the heart of the plate at 89 mph. Just as the Yankees had feared, Morales had the green light.
As the ball sailed over the left-field fence — Morales’ three-run homer ended the competitive portion of Sunday’s game — Girardi dropped his head and rubbed his brow.
“You know, 162 games, ” he said later. “You’re not always going to make the right move.”
Girardi’s bad decision overshadowed other bad news from yesterday’s game, most especially another lousy outing from Javy Vazquez. Hard to know what to do with Javy at this point other than just trot him out there on his pitching day until his fastball is faster so he can use it instead of run from it.
Oh well, on to Baltimore to face the worst team in the leauge. A sweep there would give the Yanks a 6-3 road trip. Given how lousy Baltimore is a sweep must be the goal.
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