Save Me

This is the kind of loss that drives me nuts. With the game tied in the bottom of the ninth and the heart of the Blue Jays' order coming to the plate, Joe Torre hands the ball to Chris Britton. Meanwhile, Mariano Rivera watchs his team lose from the bullpen.

Torre has allowed himself to become a slave to the save. Granted, he's not alone in this. Most, possibly all, major league managers refuse to bring in their closer unless its a save situation, letting a statistic dictate their strategy. Don't get me wrong; I'm a big stat geek, but they're only supposed to inform your decisions, not make them. Sometimes the most crucial situation in a game isn't a save situation, because baseball is more complicated than the eight lines that make up the definition of a save.

For example, when its the bottom of the ningth in a tie game, when just one run ends the game, and the other team's best hitters are coming to the plate, I say that you want your best pitcher on the mound. If that means that a lesser pitcher facing lesser hitters picks up a save, then so be it. If you end up losing the game altogether, then at least you can say that you gave your best.

A Belated Minor League Monday 9/12

I've been experiencing some technical difficulties, so I'm afraid this week's Minor League Monday has become Minor League Wednesday.

While the Yankees spent the last week marching towards the playoffs, their minor league affiliates were mostly exiting the playoffs. To start, the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees were knocked out in the first round of the International League playoffs, winning only one game of their five game series with the Richmond Braves. Part of this can be blamed on the fact that the team recently lost its best hitter, Shelly Duncan, and three of its best pitchers, and three of its best pitchers, Ian Kennedy, Chris Britton and Brian Bruney. That's life in the minor leagues, I suppose. They did keep it close, losing by one run in two of their losses and by two in the third.

Also knocked out of the first round were the Staten Island Yankees, losing the first two games of their three game set with the Brooklyn Cyclones. In the first game, the defending champions fell victim to shoddy defense when first baseman Taylor Holiday who bounced a throw to the plate, allowing the winning runs to score. In the second game, they were simply outmatched by the Cyclones' pitching, as starter Dylan Owen combined with three relievers for a 15 strikeout performance, allowing only one run.

The lone spot of good news came out of Trenton, as the Thunder beat the Portland Sea Dogs three games to one to get themselves into the Eastern League Championship Series. The Thunder won the same way they've been winning all year, with dominant pitching. The pitching staff allowed only three runs in their three wins, capped by a shutout in the final game by starter Jeff Marquez and relievers Eric Wordekemper and Justin Pope.

The Thunder have also been helped out by the late season promotion of hot hitting center fielder Austin Jackson, who I wrote about last week. Jackson knocked in three runs, including the game winner, in the opening game of the championship series against the Akron Aeros last night. I'll be sure to recap the entire series on Monday.

The Sun Never Rises on the Britton Empire

Peter Abraham is reporting that Brian Bruney will be recalled from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, with Ron Villone likely being sent down. This is a pretty baffling move for me. I understand sending Villone down, as he seems to have lost the ability to throw a strike. What I don't understand is why Brian Cashman has again passed on calling up Chris Britton.

For those who don't know about Britton, he's the hard throwing righty obtained from Baltimore in the Jared Wright trade. When this trade happened, I assumed Britton would be in the major league pen from the get go, as he had pitched very effectively for the Orioles in 2006, posting a decent 4.36 RA (I prefer to use runs against rather than ERA, because, let's face it, official scorers are pretty lousy), and a strong 1.17 WHIP (that's walks and hits per inning pitched) in 53.2 innings. He's been dominant in Scranton with a 2.89 RA and a 1.13 WHIP, and allowed only one run in five innings in a short callup earlier this year. Considering the Yankees bullpen woes, I have to think that the Yankees have some sort of off the field reason for not bringing him up. So, I present to you my top 5 possible reasons that Chris Britton is still in the minors:

5. Mariano Rivera is afraid the 300 lb Britton will eat him if a game goes on too long. He also might use Edwar Ramirez as a toothpick.

4. He refuses to leave Scranton until Pam Beesly goes out with him.

3. Kicked Joe Torre's dog

2. He is the leader of a secret Scranton Army and is plotting to conquer neighbouring Wilkes-Barre

1. George Steinbrenner and Brian Cashman cannot bear to look upon him, for he is a reminder of their terrible shame for having signed Jaret Wright.