October 09, 2007
I Love it When a Plan Comes Together
The Cleveland Plain Dealer notes Eric Wedge's strategy worked:
It was widely speculated that Wedge had made a tactical error by not bringing Sabathia back on short rest to pitch Game 4. The common sentiment was the Yankees would roll over Byrd.
Wedge refused to start Sabathia because Byrd had won 15 games during the season and Sabathia threw 114 pitches in five innings in Thursday's Game 1 victory. Now he'll have Sabathia and Fausto Carmona, who each won 19 games during the regular season, ready to start Games 1 and 2 in the ALCS on full rest.
A Byrd win would result in a high positive outcome, and that's what Wedge received.
I wonder what kind of questions LeBron will be fielding in his next few interviews. Hmmm. And I'm still amaed at Lofton killing the Yanks pitching with 2 outs. That ain't what they expected to get when they traded for him earlier in the season, but that a nice unexpection.
Wedge's choice was a gamble. It paid off. Byrd walked a tightrope and survived. (Even a bad pitcher gets most batters out.) That's the thing about a manager's decision: sometimes he makes a questionable choice and it works, and sometimes he makes the best possible choice and it blows up in his face.
The Yanks could easily have blown open the game. If they had, they'd be going into Game 5 with momentum on their side and their best postseason pitcher ready to go.
the yankees quite on torre. the indians could have thrown dennis martinez and won.
Big Props on the A-Team reference.