In yesterday's first regular season Yankee game, on the third day of the first regular season games on this continent, manager Joe Girardi used five infielders in a vain attempt to prevent Tampa from scoring the winning run in the bottom of the ninth.
Aside: Gee, I hate baseball when my team loses a game like that, the great Mariano Rivera retaining his ultimate cool but still blowing both the save and the game. It reminded me of the most notorious blown save in baseball history: Rivera blowing both the save and game seven, 2001 WS. Oh, the humanity!
I've mentioned the five infielders in at least two previous posts.
FRIDAY, JULY 1, 2011 2 outfielders, 5 infielders
The Yankees have just the right players to try 2 outfielders and 5 infielders when game conditions permit blah, blah, blah.
RF Swisher also plays first base. LF Gardner is a natural CF. Yanks could move left throwing Swisher to 1B, 1B Teixeira to 2B, spread Gardner and CF Granderson into the power alleys and move 2B Cano, who has a powerful arm, behind second base where he would make all plays at the bag.
MONDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2008 Defense as a Competetive Advantage.
My friend Eric Weiss has this suggestion: five infielders. Not just as a rare late game gamble but as an alignment for a ground ball pitcher. My implementaion would position the outfielder turned infielder behind second base. That player would handle all plays at second, allowing the shortstop and second baseman to play further from the bag.
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Ryan commented: Joe Maddon did the 5 infielder 2 outfielder shift vs the white so. In the 2008 alds
I think Terry Francona did it with Boston. The point today is how many times has it occurred this millennium?
Baseball is so stuck in its ways. Come on, come on! Try something, anything! Switch from zone to man-to-man. Press. Do something different before we all keel over from abject boredom.
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