No Cliff Hanger

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It only takes one...

Chase Utley made it two for good measure and as Carl Spackler once said,"That's all she wrote."

There is, of course more, Cliff Lee was so good  he made it look easy...unless you had a bat in your hand.  It really was enjoyable watching a masterpiece being painted on the sports' biggest canvas. 

I can't leave game one of the World Series at that, though, can I?

You (the manager) can't play post-season games the way you play them during the regular season.  It's a different animal.  You know how we always say,"It's a marathon...not a sprint?"  Well, guess what? Now it's a sprint Joe Girardi.  Look, as the thing played out you were gonna lose anyway to Lee.  But, it's 2-0 after seven.  Are you telling me that with six outs left it's over for that Yankee lineup.  Are you telling me that in the World Series, NOW you have Sabbathia on a pitch count...NOW?  Unless C.C. tells you he's done, you win or lose with your best.  In this kind of a game that means two guys.  Sabbathia or Rivera.  I know Hughes has been your 8th inning guy and had success.  But if you end  up losing the series, how could you look back on game one and say,"I lost with Hughes, Marte, Robertson, Bruney and Coke?  That doesn't even sound like a decent law firm.

Shortening the bullpen can be a dangerous game.  LaRussa over did it and lost to the Giants seven years ago.  And even then I gave Tony the out.  If you don't have confidence in a pitcher, how in good conscience can you pitch him...with everything on the line.

If Girardi took C.C. out so that he could go in game four, look out. If you try to play the game looking too far ahead baseball will bleep you.  On the other hand you can't play games one through six like they are game seven either.  I get Girardi's dilema.  You're down four or six, forget it.  Let's get 'em tomorrow.  But in that particular situation I think you have to do everything possible to get game one in your park.