Joe Girardi Motivates….and the Yankees Walk off
23. May 2008 by JJK.
Bronx, NY – Ian Kennedy had by far his best start of the season. He allowed 1 run off 4 hits, over 6 innings, while striking out 4. He didn’t get much help from his teammates on the offensive end. They were only able to muster up only 1 run until the 9th inning. Jose Veras and Kyle Farnsworth pitched a scoreless seventh, and eighth, while Mariano pitched a perfect ninth inning for the win. The bottom of the ninth was where all the excitement occurred. Matsui singled to lead off the inning. Arod followed up Matsui and he struck out on four pitches. Jason Giambi stepped up and worked the count to 2-2. Then Jim Johnson pitched a ball inside that home plate umpire, Chris Guccione called as a foul tip strike out. The ball looked like it may or may not have hit the bottom handle of the bat. Chris Guccione had a delayed reaction then signaled that the ball hit the bottom of Giambi’s bat and he foul tipped it into catcher Ramon Hernandez’s glove for a delayed called strike three.
Girardi immediately came jolting out of the dugout to argue the call. The Yankee Stadium crowd got their moneys worth with the show Girardi put on. He kicked dirt at the umps he threw his hat down and kicked it.
“I wanted to kick something, and I figured that was the best thing. Walls don’t work too well,” Girardi said.
The crowd obviously loved it while they cheered louder and louder with every gesture Girardi preformed. Girardi was ejected for his theatrical performance. This was his first ejection as a Yankee manager.
The inning continued with a 5 pitch walk to Abreu who was pitch hitting for Shelly Duncan. Robinson Cano hit Jim Johnson’s third pitch between second and third. Matsui rounded third and slid home safely on a high outfield throw by left fielder Jay Payton as the Yankee dugout cleared and congratulated Cano at first base.
“It means a lot, to see the manager fighting for the team,” Cano said.
Last night Joe may have taken his frustration out on home plate umpire Chris Guccione, but his outburst motivated his team to victory. Someone needed to light a fire under the team and he did that and more. “Joe got fired up and I guess it got us fired up,” said Giambi.
Managers need to fire up their players. Team meetings are nice and all, but sometime a team meeting just won’t cut it. This is what players need to see. A player needs to see that their manager has their back. No matter what type of work place you are in, you want your manger to take charge and lead. You want him to fire everyone up. You want him to have your back. When things are going awry, nobody wants an emotionless stiff sitting on their side. This is NY baby! We love people that wear their hearts out on their sleeves. New Yorkers love their Paul O’Neills, their John Starks, and even their Wayne Chrebets. None of them are Hall of Famers, yet New Yorkers immortalized them. We want to see fiery expressive emotions explode out of our leaders. Joe Girardi let the best of his emotions get to him, but in doing so he motivated his team to victory.
“My purpose to go out there was not to fire them up, because I think they’re fired up every day.”
Well, regardless of what he said, he fired up the troops. Hopefully, this will motivate the Yankee players to perform and win the way that they should be.
Meet the Mutts
23. May 2008 by Glendo.
The Braves completed a four game sweep of the Mutts by beating Johan 4-2 last night. This team just doesn’t make any sense, the come off a great weekend with the Yankees, then get swept in the house of horrors in Atlanta. The inconsistent play is driving me crazy, I don’t get it. They are better than this, they are playing like shit and I think Willie’s time as the Mets manger is running out. The Mets no drop to one game below .500 at 22-23 and 4.5GB in the NL East. It’s hard to imagine that basically this same team was a base hit away from the World Series less than 2 seasons ago.
David Wright seems to be making steps towards becoming this team’s captain by basically call out his teammates with his comments.
“I can accept losing,” Wright said. “Not easily, but every team loses here and there. But to go out and give the effort we’re giving, to go out and lose without a fight …”
“I just don’t think we have the fire I would hope we’d have,” Wright said. “The problem,” he said, “isn’t there or in there. … The problem is with us, in here.”
“Losing like this, I hope, would ruin their nights,”
“I want them to take it personally when we lose,” he said. “I want them to be ticked off.
“If it was a matter of talent, it’d be different. If we just weren’t any good, I could put my head on the pillow at night and sleep. But to got through the motions every night …”
Mets try to get back above .500 before heading home, but most do so in a 3 game set with the NL Champion Colorado Rockies. The Rockies have struggled so far this year and you would think its a good matchup for the Mets, but right now that does not mean anything.
MATCHUP
New York Mets (22-23, 4th Place NL East/4.5GB) at Colorado Rockies (18-29, 4th Place NL West/10GB)
Tonight: Mets (Oliver Perez, 4-3, 4.25 ERA) at Rockies (Greg Reynolds, 0-1, 3.09 ERA) 9:05pm ET
Saturday: Mets (Claudio Vargas, 0-2, 4.76 ERA) at Rockies (Jeff Francis, 1-4, 5.87 ERA) 3:55pm ET
Sunday: Mets (John Maine, 5-3, 3.29 ERA) at Rockies (Jorge De La Rosa, 1-2, 7.78 ERA) 3:05pm ET
