Results tagged ‘ Dusty Baker ’
Yanks’ offense reaching exasperation level
Even after the grimmest of losses, Joe Girardi can put on a good face and handle questions from the press adroitly. Sunday was different, however. There is no doubt that the Yankees’ manager has become exasperated at what is going on with his hitters these days.
The Yankees’ 5-2 loss to the Reds could have easily been blamed on CC Sabathia, who blew a 2-0 lead in the seventh inning by allowing three runs on solo home runs by a couple of guys named Ryan, Ludwick and Hanigan, and a sudden loss of control that resulted in three straight walks, the last of which forced in what proved the winning run. Sabathia showed rare displeasure with a plate umpire by gesturing at Tony Randazzo after the inning ended, but none of the replays I saw indicated that CC was being squeezed.
Three earned runs in seven innings from a starting pitcher are plenty acceptable any day. Sabathia was working on a three-hit shutout before the seventh and did not get a lead until the sixth when Raul Ibanez, who has become the steadiest productive player in the Yankees’ lineup, slammed a two-run home run in the right field second deck.
Yes, it is important for a pitcher to shut down the opposition the inning following that of his team taking the lead, so CC must share some of the guilt for his seventh-inning turnaround. But the glum expression on Girardi’s face and his dour response to inquiries were not due to what Sabathia did as much as what his lineup did not.
“We didn’t score a lot of runs again,” Girardi said.
The Yankees totaled 11 runs in the three games against the Reds and lost the rubber game in a series in which the pitching staff struck out 35 Cincinnati batters. That the Yankees won only one of those games was due to an offense that continues to struggle with runners in scoring opportunities. They were 3-for-18 (.167) in the series stranding 19 runners and are in a 6-for-59 (.102) funk in the clutch. For the season, the Yankees are batting .231 in those situations.
Almost as loud as the ovation the Bat Day crowd of 45,622 at Yankee Stadium accorded Ibanez for his homer were the shouts throughout the stands when Alex Rodriguez hit a towering drive to left field in the eighth with a runner on that had the look of two-run homer when it came off the bat that would have regained the lead for the Yankees.
The strong wind blowing in from left field on this sunny, breezy afternoon may have had a part in A-Rod’s blast dying on the warning track.
“We thought that ball was gone big time, and he probably thought that ball was gone, too,” Reds manager Dusty Baker said. “But the elements were with us on that particular play.”
“I thought it was going out when he hit,” Girardi concurred. “I thought we’d get the lead.”
Perhaps it did not matter. The Reds scored two more runs in the ninth on a two-out double by Ludwick off Rafael Soriano. Mark Teixeira, who did not start a game in the series because of his bronchial condition, reached base with one out in the bottom of the ninth as a pinch hitter, but two other pinch hitters, Russell Martin and Andruw Jones, couldn’t handle the 98-mph gas from Aroldis Chapman, who earned his first save of the season.
The Yankees’ first taste of inter-league play this year was bitter. Sabathia was paired with the Reds’ Johnny Cueto, who improved to 5-1 with a 1.97 ERA in winning the top-shelf pitchers’ duel. Games like this often prompt players and managers to say that occasionally you have to tip your cap to the opposing pitchers.
Girardi wore an expression that told everyone in the room that he is getting tired of doing that.
Dusty recalls Bronx tale
You have to give credit to the security personnel at Yankee Stadium. They run a tight ship, which for those of us who work at the Stadium on a daily basis is very much appreciated. There are some visitors who might beg to differ, however.
Among them is Reds manager Dusty Baker, who was detained at the gate Friday when he tried to make an early entrance to the park on his own a few hours before their team bus was scheduled to arrive. This is common practice with many managers, but while most of the American League skippers are well known by Yankees security many in the National League are not.
Baker eventually got clearance from another guard who recognized him. Dusty was not angry and in fact complimented the crew on its diligence. The episode reminded him of a time during his playing career when he made a mistake in traveling to a ballpark that only an out-of-towner could make.
Dusty was on a trip to New York with the Dodgers when he hopped into a cab in midtown Manhattan and told the driver to take him to “the Stadium.” Baker was busy in the back seat reading a newspaper and only looked up after the cabbie said, “We’re here.”
“We’re where?” Dusty remembered asking the cabbie as he pulled alongside Yankee Stadium. “I didn’t want to come to Yankee Stadium. I wanted to go to Shea Stadium. He said, ‘Sir, you said, The Stadium.’ A $20 cab ride turned out to be a $45 cab drive.”
Dusty learned his lesson the expensive way. If you refer to “The Stadium” in New York, you must be talking about the one in the Bronx, the one with all that tight security, not to mention decades of baseball history.
Keep post-season out of awards mix
It has been suggested by some columnists that the Baseball Writers’ Association of America should allow its voters for the Manager of the Year Awards to include post-season play. Just as is the case with the Most Valuable Player, Cy Young and Jackie Robinson Rookie of the Year Awards in the BBWAA jurisdiction, voting is done prior to the start of post-season play and includes only the accomplishments during the regular season.
Some writers argue that while players, pitchers and rookies are eligible for separate awards related to post-season play, managers are not. Also, they add, steering a team throughout the post-season is a function worthy of being included in an honor that recognizes managerial skill.
In my view, the problem with that is that you would no longer need an election, would you? The heck with polling writers, just hand out the trophies to the two guys whose teams reached the World Series every year. I am sure there are some people who though the Giants’ Bruce Bochy and the Rangers’ Ron Washington were more deserving than the managers who won, the Twins’ Ron Gardenhire and the Padres’ Buddy Black.
You have probably read reports that Major League Baseball is toying with the idea of another round of playoffs by adding two more wild-card teams into the post-season mix. That’s just what we need; more November baseball with pitchers already overworked trying to keep their tongues off the mound.
All an additional round of playoffs would do is to continue to weaken the impact of the 162-game schedule, still the most demanding test in team sports. If I’ve heard this once, I’ve heard it a hundred times from managers, coaches and players that the post-season is a “crap shoot.” Why base an award that is supposed to honor achievement over the course of a year on a crap shoot?
Managing a team involves more than just what takes place three hours a night during games. It is the day-to-day handling of two dozen-plus players over six months upon which a manager is judged. By adding post-season to the Manager of the Year Award mix, the eight managers whose teams reach post-season play, maybe 10 by 2012, will get a distinct advantage. Isn’t the field already small enough? There are 16 managers in the National League and 14 in the American League.
Again, why bother to have an election if post-season inclusion would likely lead to eliminating nearly three-quarters of the field?
Gardenhire, who won the award for the first time after five second-place finishes in the voting, directed the Twins to a 94-68 record and their sixth AL Central title in his nine seasons at the helm despite the loss to injury of closer Joe Nathan for the whole season and slugging first baseman Justin Morneau for half the schedule. Yet all that good work might have been discarded by voters after the Twins were swept in the Division Series by the Yankees.
Black’s victory in the NL by merely one point over the Reds’ Dusty Baker was a testament to the overachievement of the Padres, whom many thought at season’s start to be a last-place club. In his fourth season in San Diego, Black got the Padres within one game of the NL West title with the fourth best record in franchise history. But if the post-season had been included, mightn’t Cincinnati’s quick exit have hurt Baker so that the vote would not have been so close?
What takes place over a period of less than three weeks should not hold the same weight as what transpires over six months. A manager who does the best job in the post-season will get the best award there is – a championship ring. That is reward enough.
Jack O'Connell
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