All Things Bubba

July 19, 2006: Seattle 3, N.Y. Yankees 2

Tough loss. Randy Johnson pitched well enough to win, but the offense just didn't come through. You can't really blame the kids and castoffs; they did very well. It was big name veterans who failed to step up this time. Perhaps because of the late night, they seemed a little flat.

Bubba did not get into this game at all. Guiel was in RF, and his defense is solid, so a LIDR wasn't really necessary.

Joe decided he wanted to bunt in the 7th. As we've seen before, Guiel is a terrible bunter. Bubba is probably the best bunter on the team (he does bunting drills every day), but Joe went with Cairo instead. Miggy has a reputation for being a tough out.

Kaat thought maybe Bubba would be brought in to pinch run for Miguel Cairo, but he wasn't. Cairo's not particularly slow, and Joe was probably reluctant to put an outfielder in for an infielder, after the defensive strangeness of last night.

Joe's substitutions turned out to be brilliant last night. Today, they didn't work out. Putting Bernie in for the red-hot Nick Green proved to be a mistake. One that was rather predictable, given Bernie's numbers against righties. Still, Joe trusts Bernie's bat over Bubba's, which is probably why he didn't put Bubba in for Bernie on defense. With the Yanks behind, Joe wanted offense over defense.

Joe should have left Green in. Barring that, he'd have been better off putting Bubba in instead of Bernie. I know, many would think that a ridiculous idea. But Bubba's been hitting well since the break, and he's a lefty. Plus, all that was needed was a sac fly. Bubba can do that.

I don't think Joe realizes that Bernie is not the hitter he used to be. GOB is just guessing these days. His eye may still be good, but his bat speed is not, so he guesses. And he's not hitting righties well at all.

Gee, the one game Bubba stays on the bench, the Yanks lose. Take a lesson from that, Joe! ;-)