Before last night’s game, A.J. Burnett was the sure bet to be the player to blame for the loss. Now that everyone’s had a night to sleep on the loss, it’s clear who was at fault: Joe Girardi.
Let’s count his mistakes, shall we? (chronologically)
- Opting to start Burnett/going to a four-man rotation
- Making Burnett intentionally walk David Murphy
- Allowing Burnett to pitch to Bengie Molina
- Pulling David Robertson after two easy outs
- Picking Boone Logan to face Josh Hamilton
- Not putting in Mariano Rivera to keep the deficit within reason
I’m sure I missed some, but if I had to pick just ONE of these mistakes to harp on, it would have to be No. 4.
Robertson has a short, but telling history against Hamilton. In five matchups (including postseason), Robertson has struck him out four times. This head-to-head data should’ve been more than enough evidence to have Robertson face Hamilton. But wait, there’s more.
Robertson needed just eight pitches to strike out Elvis Andrus and induce Michael Young to softly line out to first base. D-Rob wasn’t working very hard and he had the crowd behind him. Never take out a pitcher to “play the matchups” if he’s retired the first two in the inning. Never!
