Girardi Leaving Too Much To Chance

Two possible games left in the World Series and Joe Girardi isn't positive who is starting game 6?  Chad Jennings:

Martinez pitched well in Game 2. He struck out eight while allowing three runs on six hits through six innings. He will be pitching on five day's rest. The Yankees starter, meanwhile, will likely be pitching on three day's rest.

As long as he feels strong during Tuesday's workout, Yankees Game 3 starter Andy Pettitte will start against Martinez in Game 6.

"If Andy physically feels good, he's going to go on Wednesday," Girardi said. "This is something that we talked about all throughout. We check with our guys. If he feels good, he's going."

I'm sorry...  what?  "If he feels good"? Reading this, it is possible Andy Pettitte could

not

pitch on Wednesday and that Girardi was aware of this possibility when he started AJ Burnett on three days rest in game five. Doesn't that strike anyone as a little bit risky? Girardi entered game five with a 3-1 lead in the series.  He was faced with two choices:

1. Pitch three of his starters (one erratic, one old) on short rest for the remainder of the series (Burnett, Pettitte, then Sabathia).

2. Pitch Chad Gaudin on 57 days rest for game five, AJ Burnett on full rest for a possible game six and Sabathia on short rest for a possible game 7 with Pettitte backing him up.

Nobody was thrilled with the idea of Gaudin starting a World Series game, but AJ on short rest wasn't exactly encouraging either.  The fact that Pettitte on short rest is even a question leading up to this game seems to make the choice for game five much simpler, doesn't it? What if Pettitte has to bow out of Wednesday's start because the tiredness he complained about after game four is real?  That means Chad Gaudin would have to start game six after AJ Burnett started game five on short rest.  That's the exact opposite of what you want to happen. Girardi could just be saying this to protect his rear end but there is little reason to be secretive about the game six starter. Pitching Burnett on three days rest was a gamble.  What little experience Burnett has on short relief wasn't enough to conclude that Burnett would be effective in game five.  His home/road splits make Burnett a much better pitcher at Yankee Stadium, which should have swayed the decision a little closer to Gaudin starting. But Pettitte being in doubt for game six?  If there was even a question that Pettitte couldn't pitch Wednesday, AJ Burnett had no business pitching in Philadelphia. It was reasonable to expect the Yankees to struggle a bit against Cliff Lee.  His game one performance would have been tough to duplicate and Lee didn't have his best stuff last night, but he was still effective.  He did have some help from the Yankees, who had to drop an injured Melky Cabrera from the lineup and replace him with light hitting Brett Gardner.  They also gave Burnett his personal catcher, Jose Molina, who was quickly lifted from the game once the Burnett implosion was complete.*

* And for the record, the Jose Molina experiment proved to be as ineffective as we thought it would. If Molina was going to take some of the credit for Burnett's success in September, then he shares in the blame for Burnett's busts in the ALCS and World Series.  Likewise for Joe Girardi, a light hitting catcher himself who overvalued his backup catcher without considering the impact it could have on the lineup, especially in a National League park.

In short, the Yankees featured a lineup that did not have Hideki Matsui, had Nick Swisher as the number five hitter, and Brett Gardner, Jose Molina, and AJ Burnett batting 7-8-9.  Is it reasonable to expect that lineup to perform against Lee? I'm trying not to apply hindsight criticism to this situation.  I truly was on the fence yesterday about who should start the game because I didn't think the Yankees had

any

chance of winning if Gaudin started and maybe a 30 percent chance of winning if Burnett started. Hearing that there was even a possibility that Pettitte could not be available for game six changes everything.  This isn't hindsight anymore.  This is forehead smacking, how-was-this-even-a-question disbelief. Girardi has managed to take one of the Yankees biggest strengths, their starting pitching, and actually put it in jeopardy in the World Series, all for the fear of an ineffective fourth starter pitching with a 3-1 Series lead.  It's this strange combination Girardi has, an old school mentality mixed with progressive, arrogant thinking, that makes him believe he can outsmart the game of baseball. Instead, MicroJoe paints himself into a corner and relies on the talent and fortitude of his players to bail him out.  It's been the story of the season, it's been the story of the postseason. With any luck, it will hopefully be the story of the Yankees 27th World Series title.