So far so good.

I would appreciate some unpredictability like the first inning every once in a while.

Posada K's twice the same way?

Not looking good.

Anyway, in that case, I advocate keeping Leiter. He has thrown only 50% of his pitches for strikes through 5th, walked 4 and hit 1, yet has thrown only 78 pitches.

Anyway, we have a 3-run lead, but recently, larger leads have been made up (the game Moose pitched against Rangers was a 4-run lead). Hopefully, the Yankee offense is aware.

So is Lou a bad manager.... the worst in baseball... because he can't get his players to play the game the way he knows the game should be played?

Still, Yankees need to slug this one out. If we cannot hit the TB bullpen, we should not be making plans for October anyway.

That being said, I would love to see him get 3 quick outs if he is left in the eighth.

Now hold onto it like dear life.

Did Cano throw that ball away?!?

I can't look!!!

Augh!! Sturtze gives up a hot single.

My eyes!!!! My eyes!!!

GET. SIX. OUTS. ANYHOW.

DONT. GIVE. UP. A. RUN.

Is Gordon going to close this one out? I really don't want to see Mo- dont get me wrong, i have 100% faith in him, but the guy needs a break.

Good Lord, Sturtze!! You threw the ball over his freaking head!

MY EYES!!!!!!!!

Must. Turn. Off. The. Tv.

BP

(fingers and toes crossed)

Must sit in another chair. This one has bad karma.

BP

I exclude Mo from it, but lately his performance is just like I said. But still, Mo does get a free pass.

Not others.

Their bullpen is exhausted. I can't see pulling the starter when he's still effective. Leiter has worked out of much worse situations than the one he was pulled from. He makes a habit of it.

Twelve of the 14 games since then have featured solid to outstanding starting pitching for at least six innings, despite our Salvation Army pitching lineup. Any other ML team would love to have this good a stretch....yet after the dust has cleared, the team remains 4.5 back and the WC seems more and more remote.

Bad bullpen management, overtaxed relievers, tight batters, bad defense...whatever it is, it does not look good. I thought the Yanks had turned the corner after the White Sox series (even though they lost two tough games), but things seem to be getting worse again, not better.

Yanking Leiter at that point only makes sense if you plan on stretching Small out for at least three innings (someone jokingly mentioned Al Small, and that's exactly what I assumed Torre was seriously thinking), thereby not going to the so-called exhausted pen.

But then taking Small out so prematurely (I say prematurely because look who our options were) renders the previous strategy of yanking Leiter all the more ill advised. Enter the usual litany of bullpen characters, along with another ignominious Cano error, and, voila, an instant loss to suckbag Tampa Bay.

Does Girardi do anything as bench coach? I have a bad feeling he's just a yes man for Torre and backs up all his bad choices.
Did you see Torre in the post-game saying Leiter "struggled" and that they had already decided to bring in Small for that batter before the inning started? What the hell? It was something like a panic move, or the kind of plotting you do in April, not August.

btw, What has Embree done to earn more trust than F-Rod?

Play for a world series champion?

I like what domvjr said in post #66. I'm not old enough to have seen the '59 team, but I have that same feeling. This is simply an 87 win team, and they don't have the steam they need.

That having been said, I also agree with part of Matt B's post #75, where he talks about how no one is pulling away from us. The '59 Yanks didn't have the luxury of a Wild Card chase, and these Yanks are within striking distance of the WC. They absolutely won't catch the Red Sox this year. Give that quest up. They can catch Oakland with about a week and a half of strong baseball. It's in them.

The starting pitching is so-so and the bullpen is shit in the middle innings. You'll forgive Gordon and Mo for an occasional hiccup, but the middle guys don't do their jobs. The bottom of the lineup is hot and cold with the older guys, and that needs some work in the offseason.

I can't blame Torre and company completely for the mess. A lot of it comes down to the players, and they have been throwing flat sliders and straight fastballs from the mound. The top hitters are mashing, but the other guys rarely pick them up on off nights. Hot and Cold is the best way to define this team. If we can get one more good Hot streak in there, we'll make the playoffs.

I think this is part of Schilling's problem as a closer. Starters are used to giving up a run here, a run there, and otherwise pitching out of and around their mistakes. But if you've only got 1 inning to work with, that's much much harder to do.

That said, of course I hope Schilling stays in the pen for the rest of the year and keeps blowing games for the Sox.

So did Clay Bellinger.