Yankees: Ray’s manager calls Girardi’s strategy “brilliant”

The Yankees played a game last night in an “eerie” atmosphere. Adding to the oddity, the team’s manager pulled his starting pitcher early with a four-run lead. But in another oddity, the Ray’s manager described the move as “brilliant.

Yankees warhorse, CC Sabathia, had struggled through four innings of work, balky knee and all, and held a commanding four-run lead, surrendering only one run to the Tampa Bay Rays.

But in the fifth inning, he allowed runners to reach first and second base with Evan Longoria on his way to the plate. In full playoffs mode and thinking this was likely the turning point in the game, Yankees manager, Joe Girardi, strode out to the mound, taking the ball from Sabathia and handing it to David Robertson.

After only 88 pitches, Sabathia might just have been getting warmed up, but this time he didn’t balk at his manager’s decision, especially because  it was Longoria coming to bat, later telling the New York Post:

"“It’s [Longoria],” Sabathia said. “He’s hitting like .900 off me, so I understand it. We got the win. That’s all that matters. [The bullpen] is the strength of our team. We have confidence in all of them out there.”"

And maybe he was exaggerating a bit as Longoria is hitting only a healthy .421 lifetime against Sabathia, but so it was that Robertson went on to retire the side with no damage done and the Yankees won their seventh game in their last ten tries.

But it was Ray’s manager Kevin Cash who added a dose of reality on Girardi’s move calling it brilliant, explaining to the Post:

"“When you have the relievers and you have a certain style of pitcher, why not do it?” Cash said of the quick hook. “It’s an advantage. It’s proven over baseball that different looks challenge opposing lineups. Robertson, [Dellin] Betances and [Aroldis] Chapman are gonna challenge [you] whenever they’re pitching, but the buy-in to get that done has been pretty impressive.”"

Girardi added, “He (Sabathia) was not sharp,” Girardi said. “He worked so hard and had to battle all night. … Longoria’s been a guy who has probably hurt him as much as anyone in the game.”

So, there you have it. A sound decision made by a sound manager who is as much a candidate for Manager of the Year as anyone in the league.

Lurking in the shadows though…….

But lurking behind that story is another one much more troubling for the Yankees. And that’s the question of to what extent the team can count on Sabathia from here on in and into the playoffs.

More from Yanks Go Yard

• Should Yankees toss short-term extension at Harrison Bader before 2023?
• Yankees chose worst possible player to ring in New Year on 2023 team calendar
• Yankees State of the Farm System Review: Josh Breaux
• Yankees make upside play, sign former Rangers top prospect outfielder
• MLB insider claims favorite emerging in Bryan Reynolds rumors (not Yankees)

Pitching on a knee that gets 300 pounds slammed on it with every pitch is like playing Russian Roulette, waiting for the other shoe to drop when Sabathia is forced to say, No Mas, I can’t do this anymore.

For Sabathia, he’s grown to live with it and when asked how his knee is feeling his reply is always the same, “It always hurts.” And cortisone has become as much of his daily diet as Corn Flakes.

And if George Steinbrenner were still around, he’d probably have the same tag applied to Sabathia as he gave to Paul O’Neill, a Yankees warrior.

Still, though, that doesn’t make it any easier for Girardi in assessing how Sabathia feels on a day to-day basis, and especially on days when he pitches.

But as he showed last night, Girardi is more than capable of making those decisions. And even Ray’s manager, Kevin Cash says so.

Next: Yankees farm report: The playoffs and beyond

Hey, fans, don’t forget to post your comments about this story, or anything Yankees on the Yanks Go Yard Facebook page where all Yankees fans get together.