Well, why wouldn’t he be smiling?
Over at the Post, Mike Vaccaro has a piece about one Mike Sciocsia:
He has been a menace to us for damn near 30 years now, the thorn in our side, the cloud in our coffee, the bee in our bonnet, the fly in our ointment, the clouds on our sunny day. He has been our nemesis, our arch-enemy, our tormentor, our antagonist and our antagonizer. He inflicts misery for sport. He is a serial baseball sadist.
He is Mike Scioscia, from Upper Darby, Pa., by way of Hell.
And he will soon be back on our doorstep, back within our borders, back with a mission to continue his reign of terror. He is one of the nightmares that keep coming back. There is the one where you are falling, with no floor in sight. There is the one where you show up for a final exam in a class you haven’t once attended all semester. And there is the one where Mike Scioscia walks into a New York baseball October.
You know - this year the Yankees are going to say "Screw that!". The swagger is back.
And that's all I gotta say.
Who is Keyser Scioscia? He is supposed to be Turkish. Some say his father was German. Nobody believed he was real. Nobody ever saw him or knew anybody that ever worked directly for him, but to hear Kobayashi tell it, anybody could have worked for Scioscia. You never knew. That was his power. The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist. And like that, poof. He's gone.
Time to talk Roster.
Can we drop Damaso Marte? How many LOOGies do we need to pitch to Bobby Abreu?
Who would be the guy to replace Marte?
for right now I'm hanging my hat on "a 7 game series is much different from a 5 game series"...but check back with me on Friday afternoon when I'm curled up underneath my desk in a fetal position muttering to myself.
Mike Scioscia single handedly lost the 2004 ALDS. All we need to do is get him to panic against us like he's done in the past against Boston.
[5] I think the Angels' bullpen will do a fine job of that for us.
[4] Guzman, to me, is the obvious choice. An extra pinch-runner could prove to be a good weapon. I see no real need to another bullpen arm, especially since I'm not sure who'd I want to be added.
Note though, that with either the Dodgers or (especially) the Phillies looming, we have not seen the last of Damaso Marte this postseason (I hope).
[4] Hm. Well, adding another PR would maybe open Girardi up to the possibility of starting Gardner over Melky. Not carrying Cervelli would hopefully disavow him of his fascination with throwing away ABs on Molina. I don't see either of these happening, though.
As for pitchers--my guess is that Bruney is the next one on if Marte or Cokey is dropped.
Since I was not around for the game discussion...
BTW, the team won, so that justifies the decision, but Molina was PH for in the 6th inning or so, after two futile ABs. AJ was good but certainly not lights out, and Molina and AJ seemed often not to be on the same page (lots of shaking off, trips to the mound).
Will this make any difference in the next series?
[8] No, Molina got only one PA. Posada had three.
I suspect they'll carry 3 catchers; they're going to want Molina in there with Burnett, and I'm sure much will be made about the Angels' running game, and Molina's arm (no matter how overstated)
I suppose Gardner will continue in his role as a LIDR/PR. I don't see him starting over Melky or Damon.
Really isn't any reason to carry Marte. The only lefty of consequence is Abreu, the rest are switch hitters. They may use Marte's spot to carry Guzman. From the looks of it, late innings should be sewn up with Joba, Hughes, Robertson & Rivera. Aceves/Gaudin/Joba are the long men if a starter gets knocked out early.
[7] Oh God. I was nervous enough in an ALDS series where it would have taken catastrophe to lose. I really, really don't need the Bruney Fetish rearing its ugly head in the playoffs. My heart can't take that.
[9] Even more to my point.
[12] are you sure about that? your point in [7] seems to be that girardi shouldn't throw away abs. isn't one less ab less to your point? i do agree that aj and molina weren't always on the same page, but burnett was still very good, and i'd be surprised if they switched things up now. i would think that jorge's abysmal defense in the last series would solidify frankie's spot on the roster.
i'd go with guzman or pena and let gardner get some starts in cf.
[13] The only reason Molina got one ab in that game is because no one was hitting Blackburn.
[14] of course. i just don't see how the fact that he only had one ab supports the argument that he should never have been in there.
[15] He should never have been in there, that he only got one AB doesn't change that Posada is the superior player.
[13 et al] He only got one AB and was pulled because Girardi saw that Posada's offense trumped the supposed need for Molina to be in there to keep AJ's act together. In fact, Posada ended up catching AJ anyway (i.e., Posada did not bat as part of a double switch or some such).
If Girardi really believes that Molina's ability to make AJ a better pitcher outweighs Posada's offensive advantage, then he should have been in there as long as AJ was in the game. If he is willing to pull the plug on the enterprise after only one AB< then Molina should not have been in there to begin with. Moreover, if that is the case, then there is no reason to carry a third catcher.
Either way, ABs or a roster spot are being thrown away on a dubious premise that Girardi himself does not even seem all that committed to.
In fact, Posada ended up catching AJ anyway (i.e., Posada did not bat as part of a double switch or some such).
Actually, he didn't. AJ and Molina were done in the 6th inning. Joba pitched to Posada in the 7th.
[18] Man, I'm off my game. I checked the boxscore and was convinced that Posada had caught AJ for one inning.
[19] That's ok... All in all it's pretty much a foregone conclusion that AJ & Molina will probably be paired off in the playoffs. The moment AJ is gone, so will be Molina.