Freak Out: How Joe Girardi Could Learn From Bruce Bochy

New York Yankees manager Joe Girardi and San Francisco Giants manager Bruce Bochy appear to have a very different definition of what constitutes “all hands on deck.” And that’s a big reason why the Giants are going to the World Series, while the Yankees aren’t.

The Giants were leading the NLCS three games to two over the Philadelphia Phillies, but  Bochy went for the kill instead of Game 6, instead of worrying about his staff for Game 7. He pulled starter Jonathan Sanchez in the third inning after 50 pitches, with the score 2-0 Phillies, and two on and nobody out. The move worked, as reliever Jeremy Affeldt was able to end the Philadelphia rally.

Bochy later went to Game 4 starter Madison Bumgarner for two innings, and then reliever Javier Lopez. Then, with the Giants leading 3-2 thanks to Juan Uribe’s homer, Bochy went in for the kill in the eighth inning with the gutsiest move any manager has made in the postseason so far. He unleashed The Freak. Two-time Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum came in to pitch on one day’s rest, in one of the most exciting moments of the playoffs so far.

Granted, Lincecum wasn’t his best — he got a strikeout and two singles before giving way to closer Brian Wilson in the inning. But nonetheless, Bochy’s fearless move showed that he was going to do whatever it took to go for the jugular in Game 6, and end the Phillies’ chances of coming back in either Games 6 or 7 at home.

Girardi, on the other hand, seemed to manage too much by the book  in the ALCS, relying on players’ traditional roles instead of being creative. The cliche about Girardi among the New York media is that he’s a manager addicted to the black binder that contains the team’s statistics. I’m not somebody who thinks using such numbers is bad; after all, you want your manager to keep up with modern techniques.

The problem is that while using such statistics served Girardi well in the regular season, his inflexibility and lack of feel for what was actually happening in the game served him poorly in the postseason this year.

That started in Game 3, when the Yankees were losing 2-0 going into Cliff Lee and the Rangers in Game 3. Instead of going to Mariano Rivera to keep the game close, Girardi first went to lefty Boone Logan, who gave up a hit to Josh Hamilton. Then he  went to David Robertson, who gave up five hits and five runs. It was tortuous to watch the Rangers hit Robertson again and again. By the time he was pulled for Sergio Mitre, the damage was done, and the Yanks went into the bottom of the inning facing an impossible 8-0 deficit, instead of a 2-0 score.

Not using Mo in a losing game would make sense in the regular season, but it was a mistake in the playoffs. If the game had been kept close, Rangers’ manager Ron Washington was planning on using Cliff Lee in the bottom of the ninth to face the top of the Yankee lineup. At 122 pitches, Lee had already thrown a season high, and it’s possible the Yankee bats could have beaten him. By going to Robertson instead of Rivera, Girardi essentially conceded the game, something you can’t do when you’re in the playoffs.

Girardi told reporters afterwards he was saving Rivera for multiple innings in Games 4 and 5, but he never used Rivera, arguably the greatest closer of all time, in a meaningful situation again in the playoffs.

The Yankee manager also made bullpen mistakes in Game 4. He left A.J. Burnett in a batter too long, instead of pulling him at the top of the sixth with the score 3-2 Yankees, after the erratic pitcher gave up a leadoff double to Vladimir Guerrero. He stuck with Burnett, the Yankees most mystifying starter, through five more batters. After Burnett got two outs, Girardi should have pulled him, yet Burnett stayed in to intentionally walk David Murphy, then pitched to Bengie Molina, who hit a three-run homer to put the Rangers ahead. Girardi still left him in to finish the inning.

It should have been a clue to Girardi that Burnett was about to groove a homer when he nearly threw an intentional pitch away. And anyway, why the manager didn’t just pull a pitcher he didn’t trust, and go to his bullpen then? When he finally did, the game was effectively lost.

A similar situation happened in Game 6. Even though Girardi said CC Sabathia was available, and all hands would be on deck, he left Phil Hughes in too long, intentionally walking Josh Hamilton to face Vladimir Guerrero. And this time around, Hughes threw one of the intentional pitches away. Instead of pulling Hughes there, Girardi let Hughes stay in and give up a two-run double to Guerrero, making the score 3-1 Rangers.

Perhaps the Yanks could have recovered from that. But Girardi didn’t go to CC Sabathia, or Mariano Rivera, or Kerry Wood. Instead, he went to the shaky Dave Robertson, arguably the fourth-best arm he had to choose from. Robertson promptly gave up a two-run homer to Nelson Cruz, ultimately putting the game out of reach for the Yankees.

Granted, the Yankee bats were asleep for most of the ALCS. But Girardi should have gone with his best, not his fourth-best, to keep the series within reach. And unlike Bochy, who put his team in the best position to win, Girardi put his team in the worst position to win.

Why is it Girardi has such a quick trigger finger in the Taco Bell commercial, and not in real life? Maybe he was saving Mariano for the chalupa guy!