Questionable Managing

The Yankees tied the game on an ARod home run in the 7th inning, at 2, off Jarod Washburn. It was only Washburn's 3rd hit allowed of the game. The first two were both to Jose Molina, including a solo home run.

Robinson Cano then reached on an error, and the took Washburn out. Washburn had thrown 94 pitches, and his splits show that after he tops 90 his effectiveness drops dramatically. So taking him out seemed like the thing to do.

They brought in George Sherrill. Sherrill, a lefty, has a 2.28 ERA on the year. Shelly Duncan came up and bunted Cano over to second base. Putting Cano on second with one out. Giambi drew a walk. Betemit also followed with a walk.

That bought up Jose Molina. Despite his overwhelming success this evening, with the bases loaded, it was time for Posada. The Mariners countered by bringing in RHP, Sean Green. This is what surprised me. Posada of course is a switch-hitter. So you can choose which side you want him to bat from, but that doesn't seem to matter. As a righthanded batter Posada is batting .338 with a .957 OPS, as a lefty he's batting .337 with a .965 OPS. Virtually no difference, except that it's Yankee Stadium where you'd probably prefer him to be hitting righty.

What got me is that righthanded batters hit only .220 of Sherrill. Off of Green, lefties bat .333 with a .922 OPS. Sure, walking 2 batters isn't great like Sherrill did, but Giambi walks off of everybody, and that matchup seemed much better.

Sure enough, Posada worked the bases loaded walk to take the lead. Plus, Johnny Damon was on deck, another lefty, meaning the Mariners had to make another pitching move. When all was said and done, it took the Mariners 6 pitchers to get through the inning, and ARod hit a second home run before the frame ended.

Also, in the last 8 plate appearances for Yankee catchers, they are 6-for-6 with 2 walks, and 3 home runs.