Trust my instincts? Nah. Ill go with the computer printout.

Trust my instincts? Nah. I'll go with the computer printout.

Girardi outhought himself with the Aceves move.  Apparently he went with Aceves because Kendrik hits lots of fastballs and that’s what Robertson succeeds with.  However, with two outs and nobody on, even if Robertson gives up a hit (as long as its not a HR) he’s probably the better matchup against Matthis.  As it turned out, Ace couldn’t throw a strike.  He fell behind both hitters and got in trouble giving up the double to Matthis (I hate that guy – he’s pesky too).  Ace also gave up the go ahead run on Saturday night.  Maybe time to trust instinct a little more than the scouting report.  Should he have let Robertson finish the inning?  Maybe.

Also the substitution for Rivera was a little dumb, but not inexcusable.  I know he wanted a better arm in the outfield but 1) Rivera doesn’t give up long fly balls, 2) you are forced to take Mo out of the game, and 3) you’d rather have Damon batting in the 11th instead of Cervelli.

The problem yesterday was that all of Girardi’s moves compounded the problems and painted him into a smaller and smaller box.  For example, coming out to the mound to tell Pettitte how to pitch to Vlad (mid AB) messed up the rhythm – result HR.  Then he brings in Joba to face Kendrick, who feasts on fastballs (see above) when Joba throws fastballs.  Hendrick nearly blasts a HR and the Angels take the lead on a sac fly. Then in the next inning he pinch runs Gardner for Matsui (who gets thrown out ahead of Posada’s HR), meaning there’s now no protection for A-Rod (bc the only thing on the bench is speed not any power hitters).  Result A-Rod gets intentionally walked in the 9th. So he subs Hairston for Gardner in the DH slot to get a “better” batter than Gardner after they walk A-Rod.  Strike out.  BUT then he thinks that Hairston has a better arm than Damon so he subs Hairston for Damon (losing the DH).  So after Mariano performs an escape job in the 10th, Mariano is scheduled to hit in the 11th. But with two outs does he let Mo hit?  No he pinch hits Cervelli.  Who hasn’t hit in two weeks. Whiff. Then instead of leaving in Robertson, he goes to Aceves and after the Kendrick single, Matthis hits one toward Left field where a slower Hairston is just a hair to slow to track down the fly ball. Game over.

The three catcher, two speed guys on the bench is a little disturbing.  It would have been nice to have Hinske there to sub into the DH slot after pinch running for Matsui.  That’s the problem with the current playoff roster.  There’s no fearsome bat on the bench and once Girardi makes a move for speed, the lineup will be in trouble from then on.