Comments on: Counterpoints to Starting Burnett tonight

By: phoenix

phoenix — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 20:09:35 +0000

maybe this is stupid but how about this for a series rotation?

game one: sabathia vs wilson
game two: pettitte vs lewis
game three: burnett vs lee
game four: sabathia vs hunter
game five: hughes vs wilson
game six: pettitte vs lewis
game seven: sabathia vs lee

from the yankees standpoint it has to look better than what they did. i know its a moot point now, but what does anyone else think about this set up? games 1 and 4 definitely give advantage to the yanks, and they give up game 3, but games 2, 5, and 6 seem even enough or favor the yanks, and then you get sabathia in game 7. its two (semi)guaranteed wins against one (semi)guaranteed loss with 4 that can go either way. has to be better than giving up (semi)guaranteed losses in games 3, 4, and 7 right?

By: phoenix

phoenix — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 17:27:42 +0000

i agree. i think that giving up game 3 by pitching burnett was preferable than wasting pettitte and giving up both games 3 and 4 by pitching burnett then. sure they always have a shot with pettitte and he pitched well, but against lee they had no chance it seemed from the very beginning. then they pitch burnett which is just asking for a loss, so why not pitch him in a game that they are likely to lose anyways? then pettitte can win them game 4 (which if you swap out pettitte’s start for burnett’s, would make the yankees winners). of couse the fallacy of predetermined results come in here, but still pettitte>burnett and lee>pettitte and pettitte>hunter and hunter>burnett. so then why not lose burnett vs lee and win pettite vs hunter? instead they just conceded both…

By: pft

pft — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 05:29:45 +0000

The debate to pitch AJ or CC seems to be a straw man to me. The main question was whether AJ should have been used in game 3 and saving Pettitte for a game in which his odds of winning are higher. Instead of conceding game 3 and hoping for a miracle, they tried to win it and failed, and then were left to hope for a miracle that AJ would pitch better than his season average numbers in game 4, which he did until Girardi pulled a Grady Little imitation.

CC did not really pitch well in game 1, so nobody can say how pitching on 3 days rest would effect him, especially as he had an extended bullpen session to work on some issues.

By: Not David

Not David — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 01:35:19 +0000

*yawn*

By: NotDave

NotDave — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 00:48:12 +0000

Most important counterpoint: The umpires will ensure the Yankees win this important game, just as they did in game 1 and 2 of the ALDS. Cano’s “home run”…please.

By: Bronnt

Bronnt — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 21:56:55 +0000

I think you’ve got to go with the comfortbility factor.

By: Cliff Lee's Changeup

Cliff Lee's Changeup — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 21:23:03 +0000

Also its pretty clear that some pitchers are able to take the abuse and some aren’t. Its a more personalized issue then one that can be made on the weight of such general evidence. But I would argue that this supports your conclusion, CC is better prepared to win game 4 then AJ. Its just a question of what do you do in games 5-6-7