Upon the introduction of Boone Logan Boone -- the Yankees' third pitcher -- in the fourth inning of this game, I found this in my Twitter feed:
Is Girardi Playing Matchups Too Early?
@CliffCorcoran
Cliff Corcoran Okay, this is absurd. Coffee Joe at his worst. Playing matchups in the fourth inning. I don't care if it's a double-elimination game.
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Which I found particularly amusing when this rolled in, scant seconds later:
@d_a_cameron
David Cameron Girardi is handling this exactly right.
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I usually agree with Cliff Corcoran, but agree more usually with Dave Cameron, including this time. Why wouldn't Girardi use every pitcher at his disposal to stay close? He's got the luxury of playing early-inning matchups because he's got CC Sabathia in the bullpen, ready for (presumably) two or three innings of work. You play matchups early, then Sabathia, then Soriano and Robertson and Rivera late.
Do you know what team ERAs would look like, if managers used seven or eight pitchers in every game? Lower than they are now, probably. Sure, there’s always a chance that somebody’s going to blow up. But if you have enough pitchers to run every inning like it’s the seventh, why not do it?
Anyway, it's Tigers 2, Yankees 0 after four innings, and here's Sabathia in the fifth, for the first relief outing in his whole glorious career ...
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