Yankees: No Rest for the Weary
More than two months into the season, Joe Girardi looks a lot like Joe Torre. Girardi, too, will always go first and often to his old reliables, before foraging elsewhere on the bench or in the bullpen.
…Girardi arguably has overused his core players, the ones who still remember what it feels like to win championships. He wants to play them. They want to play, at any cost. And so you have a worrisome situation which may grow worse by August or September, if you are inclined to think negatively.
Ignored in any discussion of the Yankees’ frantic rush for a playoff spot in 2007 is their predictable collapse in the post season. Having to scratch and claw for every game and unable (or unwilling) to rest players doomed New York.
By contrast Boston’s large divisional lead allowed starters scheduled rest. The result was a lower win percentage in the second half of the season but a team rested and ready for the playoffs.
Watching the divisional lead shrink while the Red Sox sat key players was frustrating; the results were impressive. Finishing with a 2 game lead in the division and winning the World Series trumps running away with the division and wilting in the playoffs.
This year appears to be shaping up similarly. The Yankees scrapping for a post season birth while the Red Sox are already preparing for the post season.
Do you understand what you’re seeing?
What the Red Sox are doing spits in the face of current major league logic. Running in one starting pitcher after another with similar successes, while having the gall to sit back and offer these various hurlers vacations to guarantee freshness come the schedule’s final stretch run?
If both Boston and New York make it to the post season it’ll be interesting to see if the results mirror 2007.
