Mr. Steinbrenner...Cut Torre's Cord!

While analyzing last night's game vs. Tampa Bay...Joe Torre (in typical form), once again, gave away another one. It's getting ridiculous! Three years ago...Torre was, without argument, the best manager in the game. As a Yankee fan, I can admit that he has since become one of the worst -- and, it has transcended at an exponential rate.

Back to last night's game....

• While leading 3-2 (in the 7th inning), Torre inexplicably pinch-ran Melky Cabrera (whom isn't fast) for Josh Phelps. This is a 1 run game!! Jeter is already out of the game -- chances are you're going to need to score a few more insurance runs to win this game (especially, when you take into consideration the Yanks' current bullpen woes). So, why on God's green earth would you pull Phelps (by the way, I'm starting to love his approach as a hitter)?? The chances of Phelps getting another AB later in the game were close to 100%. But, to make matters even worse...in the bottom half of the inning, Torre inserted Doug Mientkiewicz for JOHNNY DAMON!!! So...essentially, this was a defensive replacement turned terribly bad?? Listen up, Joe...Mientkiewicz SUCKS!! I could care less about his defense at 1B -- a first baseman's defense VERY rarely comes into play (much less than EVERY other position). To put this into perspective...Torre, in a 1-run game against Kazmir, no longer had Jeter, Damon, and Phelps as offensive options. His defensive alignment had worsened at SS and CF, but had been upgraded at 1B!! And, sure enough...both automatic outs, Cabrera and Mientkiewicz, were mowed down by Al Reyes in the 9th! Joe...from me-to-you -- you suck!!


• The Yankees bullpen is currently on pace to throw 673 innings this year -- which would shatter the all-time record of 601 innings. However...after 81 pitches, Torre yanked Chien-Ming Wang. Fine - I guess I can live with that, considering this was his first start from coming off the DL (although the injury had nothing to do with his arm - and has been throwing throughout the entire stint). What I can't fathom is why Torre lifted him in favor for Luis Vizcaino (whom I may bomb before season's end)??? But...to make it EVEN better, Torre opted to intentionally walk Rocco Baldelli -- immediately upon Vizcaino's entrance. Ok, let's get something straight...Vizcaino has issued twice as many walks as he has strikeouts this year -- he can't throw an f'n strike to save his life, yet you bring him in to purposely throw 4 balls??? TERRIBLE, TERRIBLE, TERRIBLE! Joe, you never bring in a pitcher to intentionally walk someone. Never! So, now...the bases are loaded with 1 out -- the Yanks are obviously hoping for a double play. HELLO! Joe, you just took out your one double-play artist (in Wang) -- all he does is induce groundballs! In turn, Vizcaino owns a career groundball-to-flyball ratio of 0.88 (which is terrible). It took me less than a minute to do this research, yet Torre has oodles of stats in front of him and watches these guys work on a daily basis -- and still can't figure out how to manage the game! So, what happens next...Vizcaino gets Brendan Harris to softly fly out. 2 outs. Out comes Torre...in comes Mike Myers. Let's get one thing straight...Mike Myers is a boob! Myers is supposed to specialize in tapping out lefties. However...for the past 2 years, lefties have hit him better than righties. That's when the light bulb should go off -- Myers is no longer a specialist of ANYTHING. Yet...in typical Joe Torre fashion, he continues to trot Myers out there -- and Myers continues to get tattooed. This time...by giving up a grand slam to Carl Crawford. This has become commonplace. I'm sick...

...someday, I swear to you -- Torre will finally realize that Brian Bruney is his best option at getting to Mariano Rivera.