Yankees lose a tough, tough one tonight, when leading 3-1 in the bottom 7th and giving it up to give the Twins the lead and the win.
And the question arose -- 'Why did Joe Girardi remove Phil Hughes in the bottom 7th ?'
When I saw Girardi come out the dugout to remove Hughes for Boone Logan, so Logan can face the lefty Denard Span, I was fine with it; even though I felt Hughes can get Span out in that spot. After Hughes struck out Perdo Florimon with the bases loaded and got it to two-outs.
But, when the Yankee commentator John Flaherty said that Span has a .300 average against lefties, I suddenly did not like the move. Because it hit me, and I forgot how good Span is against lefties. Now I'm starting to think Hughes should have stayed in that game and he would have gotten Span out.
Are we FOR SURE that Hughes would get out Span -- no. But when span is hiting .300 against lefties, what's the use. I know Logan has been great this season, but I think Hughes gets Span out -- unfortunately.
That was a tough decision to manage, if you're Girardi. You have Logan whose been great against lefties all year, and we seen Hughes blow up the lead toward the end of the game before, when he tends to lose gas.
I thought Hughes was upset at Girardi for taking him out, but I think he was upset at himself for walking Trevor Plouffe.
That's what did it. Plouffe gave a great at-bat in that seventh, against Hughes. After that walk, he gets Chris Parmelee to pop-up, which was a big out for a hitter who had 23-homers. Then, Jamey Carroll hits in-field single that almost passed Derek Jeter, but Jeter fields but didn't have play. If Jeter goes to his right a little more, I think he gets the second out. I wonder if that ankle of his caused him from not.
Tomorrow's Game: Or, later's games since it's midnight -- C.C Sabathia takes the hill. I expect Sabathia to pitch well with a Twins lineup like this. Sabathia needs to be the savoir for tomorrow games after a tough lost. You would like him to go eight innings.
Orioles lost -- which made this lost even tougher. But, the magic number is down to seven. A win tomorrow, and get the number down to six and get the hell out of Minnesota.
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