Joe Girardi: You Can Rest in November!

-----Last night I was sitting down watching the Yankees exhilarating (sarcasm) pregame show with the frozen faced Nancy Newman, when I saw the lineup for that nights game against the Angels. To my amazement I did not see the name Matsui anywhere in the lineup. It appears as though walking twenty five feet to one spot, and swinging a bat about three times, four times a game is so exhausting that Girardi felt his hottest hitter needed a day off. Girardi earlier in the year when asked about the standings said that he doesn't pay attention to that stuff, and he has clearly proven that over the last week or more.

I don't want to hear anything about the fact that it was because the Angels were starting a lefty pitcher. Look at Matsui's numbers versus lefties and righties this year.

vs lefties:---AB=125--HR=13--RBI=46--BA.=.280--OPS=.982
vs righties:-AB=301--HR=14--RBI=41--BA.=.279--OPS=.857

The man has 60% less at bats against lefties, he averages a homerun for every nine at bats against lefties (the pace Roger Maris hit homeruns at in 1961), and has more RBI in 176 less at bats!

Nevertheless, Girardi needed to rest him. What happens next? He pinch hits him late in the game after they are already down and Matsui absolutely slaughters a pitch over 420 feet for a homerun.

This isn't the only time we've seen Girardi resting guys or deeming certain players "unavailable" for games. He does this with pitchers quite a bit. I am not even going to start talking about Joba Chamberlain and his "Baby Steps" grow chart.

I grew up hearing true stories about pitchers who would throw complete games of both games in a double header, pitchers who would throw over 350 innings/year, 250 pitches a game (yes that's a shot at you 100 pitch count) Don't bother giving me nonsense that pitchers didn't throw hard or aggressively back in the day. Bob Feller (google him if you don't know him) was a pitcher with the Indians. Since the radar gun was invented in 1941 he was consistently clocked at or above 100mph throughout the prime of his career, while at the same time making 40 starts per year, and pitching 370 innings. Face it, players today are babied and it all comes down to the dollar.

Hey Joe, turn around, it's not luxury time. The Red Sox are red hot and if you're not careful, you may remove the joy we had of making fun of the Mets for their back to back collapses by doing the same thing! Give the kid the damn ball and tell him to throw his heart out and pump his fist all he wants, give Matsui the damn bat and tell him swing for the sun and a new contract. You are in the middle of a war, and I don't think you can afford to rest your frontline soldiers if you want to win this thing. Toughen up, go out and lock this thing up already!!