93 wins and a +117 differential and a second straight early exit are barely acceptable under the circumstances, which are a large payroll, high expectations, a depleted farm, a closing window and that whole damn cliff thing.
If you review history you can see that our franchise has made a series of grave mistakes that commenced in 2011. We had the best general manager and the best manager in baseball and they are now in other cities showing how it's done.
It's all captured on film for posterity, Millar saying that to Shaughnessy - with a grin on his face! Just incredible. And then he gets the crucial walk off Rivera in the 9th to boot.
Girardi is being destroyed everywhere, and not just for the challenge failure, some of the other moves in the game as well, and for his postgame excuses. This really might be the worst game a manager has ever had.
I think if you're going to make a big move you have to replace Farrell and see how things go next year. Maybe these guys just aren't as good as we hoped. Maybe another manager would get more out of them.
After missing the playoffs 2 years in a row and an epic collapse though. 2011 was the year that f***ed us. Francona and Epstein gone in one fell swoop.
I remember one of those losses pretty well. It came on September 20 against the Jays and Mike Willis (had to look up the date and the guy's name).
What was so memorable was that it was the first game of a doubleheader, and the Jays were also leading in the second game 2-0, but the damn Yankees rallied for 3 runs in the 9th to get a crucial split.
Well no, I don't think I'm picking and choosing when I suggest that every at-bat in that 1978 playoff game was a clutch moment. It was a classic example of a high leverage game.