Jayhawk Bill

By the way, great managerial call having Lugo try to steal second on a muddy basepath.

Absolutely. Compared to use of the best fireman in the 7th or earlier 30-odd times a year, the norm back then, just using him for saves on the road and saves or ties at home makes sense. But if you've got exactly one guy you can trust, and the opposing team has an excellent heart of their lineup coming up as the 4th-6th potential batters in the seventh, it's prudent to warm up the closer. Edit: BTW, I think that everybody knows that you meant "three inning saves," not "three out saves." If I misinterpreted, please correct me.

Billy Martin. He used Goose Gossage in the seventh inning or earlier 15 times in his 1978 work with the Yankees. There are others. One AL All Star relief pitcher on the 2007 team appeared in the seventh inning 20 times last year. Edit: I glanced at all of the AL All Stars for 2006 and 2007. Except for the one relief pitcher I've found for 2007, the only guy used in the 7th was Mariano Rivera, and both of his 2006 seventh-inning appearances were low-leverage, not critical pre-closing moments. With the big difference between Paps and everybody else, I'd still use him in situations like bases-loaded-tying-run-is-ARod-at-the-plate, and I'd warm him up two innings early to have him ready for those moments, but I see your point regarding current usage of closers.

Out of curiosity, I notice that Jacko joined here in 2006, right after the simultaneous injuries at the trade deadline. The Yankees' situation now is analagous to Boston's back then: what advice did he offer for Red Sox Nation when he was new around here?

Tito makes one right choice!

Tito goes to MDC. Were I managing: 1) Jon Papelbon. 2) Craig Hansen--Hansen is very effective vs. RHH. 3) David Aardsma. 4) Every other relief pitcher not mentioned by name. 5) Manny Delcarmen. 6) Hideki Okajima for one more batter. This is the biggest plate appearance of today's game--Papelbon should be on the mound.

This is pretty standard for the New York Yankees.

Not in that at bat. 6-3 DP. Some big guy is about to sing.

Jeter gave way to Gardner on that catch...that's the first time I can remember that Jeter yielded to anybody on a fly ball.

Luis Alicea at first base and I agree with you, a700hitter, but it was admittedly very close.

Argue? Argue is such a strong word. I'm merely submitting other perspectives for consideration. Coercive management often (not always, nor necessarily even usually in many types of workplaces) maximizes short term results at the price of long-term morale and cohesion. Billy Martin is 20th all-time in wins over .500, but he did that in NINE separate jobs in only 20 seasons. Martin got the most out of his players. He was fired when the young players stressed out in Texas and when his pitchers' arms fell off in Oakland (A's starters threw 60 complete games in 1981, a season with only 109 games). With the Yankees, he actually became almost the alternating manager, reestablishing standards, getting fired, and continuing the cycle for five iterations. If Billy Martin hadn't been such a jerk, I don't know if he would have been good at all. We're not talking about a Chuck Tanner-type personality--we're talking about Billy Martin, whom you may remember as a hard-nosed player. Martin was who he was, and he won lots of games. Girardi is in New York to win games. Hank Steinbrenner is not in the mood to finish anything but first. He's relying upon Girardi to communicate that, emphatically, to the players. If they win enough, Girardi might keep his job. If not, well, remember 1978? Bob Lemon, on the heels of Girardi, was 28 games over .500 in 68 games. The rest of his 833-game managerial career he was 29 games UNDER .500. Lemon was not that good a manager--the situation in New York in 1978 was perfect for his easygoing style. The standards were known by the Yankees: they just needed to destress a bit. How do you think Don Mattingly, or any other more laid-back manager, would be welcomed by the Yankees after a few more closed-door meetings with Girardi? Just sayin...

Lowell!

Not as badly as he was earlier in the game, IMO. Rasner is still getting a bigger strike zone, though.

Good job by Beckett getting out of trouble.

Zephyr, god of wind, is on Boston's side today. Foul ball by Giambi. If only Schrieber, demi-god of home plate, were as friendly to our Red Sox...

Schieber is still giving Rasner the inside pitch to RHH that he's not giving to Beckett. I believe that Rasner has had more called strikes located outside the zone than he's had located inside the zone.

Damn. A Yankees left fielder who's really got the range of a center fielder.

Damon used to hold onto those balls when he hit the wall in Fenway.

I stated clearly the context in which I first studied Coercive Leadership, but the reasons for Girardi's needing to use Commanding Leadership were stand-alone in context and properly referenced back to Goleman's work. I humbly request that you reconsider your words, "The theoretical underpinnings of this coercive style do not have any application to this situation."

Nice throw by Crisp. 3-0, Yankees.

Schrieber is giving Beckett a couple fewer inches inside than he gave Rasner.

Schrieber is letting Beckett pitch outside to LHH. Let's see if the inside pitches a half-foot off the plate to RHH are called strikes, as well as the borderline low pitches in the zone, as Schrieber called for Rasner in the first inning.