I was at the game last night and watched as Melky laid down an excellent bunt, in a perfect situation to do so.  Yankees were up by 2 with no one out, Melky at the plate, and Jeter on deck.  We were killing Girardi for the bunt play with Swisher (I say rightfully so), but I must commend him for having Melky bunt there.  Melky is a guy that is expected to bunt, in fact he already has 23 in his career, so it made perfect sense to let him bunt.  He actually bunted it so well, he loaded the bases.  Jeter came through with a 2 run single.

So then, Girardi was presented with the 2 on nobody out situation with Swisher…AND…he let him hit away.  What happened?  Swisher absolutely smoked a line drive over the right fielder’s head.  You have to know your players.  Ok so Swisher has bunted 3 times this year, so what.  Cashman did not get Swisher for his bunting skills.  He got him because he does two things well.  Hits for power and gets on base.  You have to utilize your player’s strengths.  And bunting clearly is not one of his strengths.

As for Joba, he is stubborn and will eventually learn to listen to his catcher/manager.  He is constantly ahead of batters, but fails to put them away, mostly because he relies to much on the slider.  He needs to throw more fastballs and let the fielders help him out.

By the way.  I love that Lenny can’t spell anyone’s name right.