Damon dumps a single down the left field line, Jeter bunts for a single to put men on first and second with none out in the bottom of the seventh. The Yankees then call on Abreu to bunt! I can’t believe it. Abreu still has some power, and can easily double in both batters. So now they’re walking Giambi to pitch to A-Rod. I can’t wait to see how this ends and Torre’s explanation for the bunt.
Update: Lackey gets ahead of 1-2, the A-Rod gets a pitch he can drive the other way. Guerrero catches it against the wall at the 314 sign down the right field line and Alex drives in the go ahead run, and moves Jeter to third.
Update: Cano flies out to left to end the inning. The Yankees play for one run, and that’s all they get.
Alex hits a long sac fly, Lackey’s lucky that Vlad caught it at the wall.
The graphic showed Abreu’s most recent successful sac bunt was 1998!
I have said it for years, but someone really needs to buy Torre a copy of Weaver on Strategy.
“Sometimes” Torre is an Idiot?????
I’ve been a Yankee fan all my life, and I honestly don’t think Joe Torre knows most of the rules of baseball, let alone how to manage a team.
And Rivera in a 7-2 game. You could fill volumes with the Idiocy of Joe Torre. I think it’d start a printer’s ink shortage, in fact.
i was at the game tonight…a couple of points:
1. torre only brought rivera in because he had been warming up for a half hour while the yanks extended their lead. When Mo started warming up it was a save situation but then the yanks went crazy in the 8th.
2. I was sitting next to these kids, seriously, couldnt have been more than 7 years old. When Abreu was trying to bunt one of them quirps, “Theyre bunting too much!” Half the people around me looked at him like he was some sort of boy genius. Very funny stuff.
3. The yanks knew not to run on Vlad. Nobody even pretended to round 2nd
4. There were a few “non-traditional” double plays against the yanks…The one where they got the runner at 2nd and then fired to 3rd to get ARod, the LEAD runner, really impressed me, i dont know if i have ever seen that before. Also Vlad gunned someone (Jeter i think) down at first from the RF corner on a fly out.
Well, the Angels do have the best record against the Yankees since Torre became the manager. Maybe the Angels put something in Joe’s water when they play him.
Joe Torre sees the Angels style of giving up outs and wants to copy it, even though his lineup is actually filled with awesome hitters instead of 8 average hitters and Vlad.
I suppose playing for 1 in a tied game in the 7th isn’t a TERRIBLE idea though. looking back, IF Abreu didn’t advance the runner or get a hit, the Yanks would have come up empty that inning…
Of course. it didn’t really matter much in the end thx to “must die” Romeo
Oh and if you think about it, if the Yanks pushed into the 8th in a tied game the Angles wouldn’t have send their cannon folder pitchers out against the Yankees anyway.
From Baseball Prospectus. 2003 numbers for expected runs in an inning.
Runners
Outs None 1st 2nd 3rd 1st&2nd 1st&3rd 2nd&3rd Loaded
0 0.531 0.919 1.177 1.380 1.551 1.869 2.023 2.474
1 0.282 0.535 0.706 1.032 0.909 1.211 1.428 1.544
2 0.109 0.237 0.341 0.384 0.454 0.518 0.541 0.797
The formatting doesn’t lay out quite nice, but runners on 1st and 2nd, no outs= 1.551 runs; runners on 2nd and 3rd, 1 out= 1.211 runs; bases loaded, 1 out= 1.544.
From this article:
http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=2844
Im surprised Torre didnt give him the “walk” sign. That’s what Abreu does best in late inning/close game situations. Afraid to swing, but has the best eye in baseball.
It’s been suggested at Bronx Banter (and I wondered about it myself) that Torre’s motive was putting ARod in a tight situation. He knew that Giambi would get walked if first was open. I’ve got mixed feelings about that, but Torre’s strength has always been his player management, rather than his game management.
Barron,
The thought did cross my mind as well. However, Torre’s supposed to manage to win games, not set up a player. Off hand, I’d say he has a better chance of winning in that situation letting two lefties bat against Lackey.
Gov’nah
288/ .431/ .464
Abreu’s close & late figures over the last three seasons
Don’t believe everything you read from Tom Verducci
And I’m sure if you actually watched Abreu on a regular basis you would realize just how many balls he fouls off. Usually, fouling off pitches requires one to swing the bat.
govnah
please explain to me why a batter should swing at a pitch that is a ball
go check it out – most all swings at pitches out of the strike zone are strikes, not hits.
i am tired of people saying that it is a bad thing to walk because it is better to swing and strike out on balls