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Why pitch to Manny?

Ken Davidoff

April 13, 2008

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BOSTON

It was the "most impactful" decision he has made so far as Yankees manager in terms of in-game strategy, Joe Girardi conceded last night. Call it the most confusing as well.

Up one run in the sixth inning, with Red Sox on second and third base and two outs, what would compel Girardi to go after Manny Ramirez? Before anyone could even voice such a thought, the decision backfired, with Ramirez's two-run double on Mike Mussina's first pitch putting the Red Sox ahead.

The Yankees eventually lost a 4-3 decision after a 2-hour, 11-minute rain delay that gave Alex Rodriguez far too much time to contemplate his mano-a-mano with dominant Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon. The question that Yankees fans probably will ponder the most, however, is, "Why did we let Manny beat us?"

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To their credit, Girardi and Mussina answered questions for as long as they came, and afterward, you could at least understand their mind-sets: Kevin Youkilis, the guy hitting behind Manny, is no slouch. Pitching to the patient Youkilis with the bases loaded wouldn't have been comfortable. They wanted to try and nibble with Manny, get him to chase something - and if they fell behind, they would walk him and go after Youkilis.

Yet this stood as one of those situations in which, for every line of reasoning the losing manager and losing pitcher offered, you wanted to grab them by the lapels and scream, "But it was Manny Ramirez!!!"

"It looks like we were stupid to go after Manny," Mussina said. "But that's not what was going on."

Here's what was going on: With the Yankees up 2-1, Jacoby Ellsbury singled and Dustin Pedroia doubled in the bottom of the sixth, giving the Red Sox second and third with one out and their power duo up.

Mussina struck out David Ortiz, who now has a ghastly .371 OPS, for his lone strikeout of the day.

So they were all set now, right? Walk Manny, who had crushed a homer above the Green Monster seats in his previous at-bat, to fill the open base and go after Youkilis. The third baseman was 1-for-2 on the day against Mussina, giving him lifetime numbers of 5-for-17 (.294). Manny was 25-for-97 (.258), but with a slugging percentage over .500.

And, of course, he's Manny.

Girardi ran to the mound to consult with his veteran pitcher rather than dictate strategy.

"He had just thrown so well to Ortiz and located," Girardi said. "[Girardi and his coaches] thought, 'All right, we're going to give him an opportunity to see if we can get Manny to chase something.'"

"He asked me who I felt better with," Mussina said. "I said, 'I feel the same with both guys. Youkilis usually gets good at-bats against me. If I walk Manny and load the bases, then I'm kind of putting myself in a tight spot. I've got to throw strikes. I can't be nibbling.' So the last thing we said before he left is, 'If we get behind [Ramirez], I'll just walk him. We'll move on.'"

The plan called for Mussina to throw a fastball, low and away. The pitch drifted back toward the plate, though, and Ramirez drilled it to right-centerfield. Ellsbury and Pedroia scored easily to turn the 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 lead, and just like that, Girardi was back at the mound, this time to take the ball from Mussina (1-2). Youkilis then singled off Brian Bruney to drive in what proved to be the winning run.

"You have to live by your decisions," Girardi said. "There's a lot of decisions that you're going to make during the course of the year. Hopefully, 95 percent of them work out. But that's not the case during this game."

It was the pitch that killed them, Girardi and Mussina thought, not the decision. This space disagrees. As Mussina said, "Whatever the strategy was, I didn't make a good pitch. Manny's too good a player to make mistakes like that. He was up there ready to go, and he hit it."

That's exactly why you take the bat out of Manny's hands and take your chances having to be precise with Youkilis.

That's why Girardi's first high-profile tactical decision since he took over the Yankees manager's office - with the understanding that he would exhibit more in-game savvy than Joe Torre - made surprisingly little sense.