Girardi made a costly mistake

All year, Yankees fans like me have seen Joe Girardi use a short leash on relief pitchers. Game 3 was just another example of that, but he definitely went overboard in the 11th inning.

David Robertson recorded the first two outs of the inning in 11 pitches, but Girardi opted for Alfredo Aceves to face Howie Kendrick. Kendrick singled and Jeff Mathis hit a walk-off double. Robertson was the sixth reliever of the game. Three pitchers pitched 1/3 of an inning.

It was an unacceptable decision on Girardi’s part. He said in the postgame that he was going by the numbers. Why would you go by the numbers in that situation?

It was a righty vs. righty matchup either way. Robertson and Aceves are both righties. It’s an extra inning game, so you have to be careful of using too many pitchers so you don’t end up pitching Nick Swisher in the game (even though some might enjoy that). After Aceves came in, the only other reliever available was Chad Gaudin.

It was an awful move, but you can’t do anything about it now. Hopefully he will learn to not take pitchers out when they are doing well.