Curly Ogden
Last night, the Yankees tried to pull a Curly Ogden, and it didn't work.
"Tried to pull a what? A who?"
Warren Harvey Ogden, known as Curly, was a pitcher in the 1920s. Bucky Harris, later to manage the Yankees to the 1947 World Championship, was managing the Washington Senators in the 1924 World Series, and chose Ogden to start Game 7 against the New York Giants. Although he'd gone 9-5 with a 2.58 ERA since being picked up earlier in the season from the Philadelphia Athletics, he was an odd choice for the season's ultimate game.
But the great Walter Johnson had pitched Game 6, and seemed to be unavailable. So Harris chose Ogden, a righthander, in the hopes that Giant manager John McGraw would stack his lineup with lefthanded hitters. McGraw did just that, and, after just 2 batters, Harris replaced Ogden with lefthander George Mogridge. It mostly worked, as the game was tied going into the 9th inning. Harris brought Johnson in, and the Senators won the game in the 12th.
Curly Ogden may have been the original "opener."
Last night, in Game 2 of the American League Division Series, at the neutral site of Petco Park, with a 1-0 lead over the Tampa Bay Rays, Aaron Boone should have started Masahiro Tanaka. Instead, he started 21-year-old rookie Deivi Garcia, with all of 34 1/3rd major league innings under his belt.
The idea was that Rays manager Kevin Cash would start mostly lefties against him. And then, after 1 inning, Boone would bring in lefthander J.A. Happ, and the Rays would be screwed.
This was almost certainly a Brian Cashman "analytics" decision, with Boone following orders, instead of deciding, "To Hell with this damn fool decision, I want to win."
It could have worked. Certainly, the Yankees scored what should have been enough runs to win, including off 2 home runs by Giancarlo Stanton, who now has 5 homers in the team's 4 postseason games this year.
It didn't work. Cruz allowed a solo home run in the bottom of the 1st. Happ allowed a 2-run homer in the 3rd, and another 2-run homer in the 4th. Adam Ottavino didn't get the job done, either, setting up a run in the 5th to be allowed by his replacement, Jonathan Loaisiga, who gave up a home run in the 6th.
The Yankees got the 1st 2 men on in the top of the 9th, but only got 1 run out of it, and lost 7-5. The series is now tied.
Home plate umpire C.B. Bucknor was completely incompetent. He gave the Rays a 1990s Atlanta Braves-sized strike zone, and squeezed the Yankee pitchers. But that's not why the Yankees lost. They lost because of the stupid pitching decisions.
The only good thing about this game is that neither Aroldis Chapman nor Zack Britton was used, so, if we need them for Game 3, they'll be fresh. They should be okay for the now-necessary Game 4 as well. And if we need a Game 5? Who knows.
We've seen some odd Yankee managerial decisions before. A few examples, some of which worked better than others:
* 1960 World Series vs. Pittsburgh Pirates: Casey Stengel started Whitey Ford in Games 3 and 6, when he could have started Whitey in Games 1, 4 and 7. The Yankees won Games 3 and 6, and lost Games 1, 4 and 7. Casey paid for this defeat with his job.
* 1964 World Series vs. St. Louis Cardinals: Yogi Berra started Mel Stottlemyre in Game 7 on 2 days' rest. Mel had already won Game 2, but lost Game 5. Cardinal manager Johnny Keane made the same gamble: He started Bob Gibson on 2 days' rest. Gibson had lost Game 2, but won Game 5.
Mel held the Cards scoreless through the 1st 3 innings, but his shoulder stiffened up, and the Cards scored 3 in the 4th and 3 more in the 5th. Gibson, gassed, still managed to hold off a Yankee comeback in the 9th, and won, 7-5. Yogi paid for this defeat with his job.
* 1977 American League Championship Series vs. Kansas City Royals: Billy Martin, seeing that the lefthanded Reggie Jackson had been having such trouble hitting the Royals' lefty pitchers, especially Game 5 starter Paul Splittorff, benched Reggie, and puts Paul Blair in right field. Billy wasn't even man enough to tell Reggie face-to-face: He sent Reggie's best ally on the team, backup catcher Fran Healy, to tell him.
Billy's plan was to get to Splittorff to the point where Royals manager Whitey Herzog would replace him with righthander Doug Bird, and then send Reggie up to pinch-hit. It worked: In the 8th inning, Reggie pinch-hit for righthanded designated hitter Cliff Johnson, and singled home a run off Bird, aiding a comeback that was completed in the 9th, and the Yankees won the Pennant.
* 1977 World Series vs. Los Angeles Dodgers: Martin strikes again, sending Catfish Hunter out to pitch Game 2, when Catfish hadn't pitched in 12 days and had been battling a shoulder injury all season long. Catfish got rocked, and the Yankees lost. Reggie, in particular, was furious that his former Oakland Athletics teammate got hung out to dry by Billy.
But there were rotation issues. Ed Figueroa was hurt, and unavailable for the Series. Now, with the travel day, Billy could start a fully-rested Mike Torrez in Game 3, a fully-rested Ron Guidry in Game 4, and a fully-rested Don Gullett in Game 5. If Game 6 were necessary, he could start Torrez on 3 days' rest. If Game 7 were necessary, he would get gutsy again, and throw Guidry, then still a rookie, on 3 days' rest. Essentially, Billy was asking Catfish to take one for the team.
Result? Torrez was solid in Game 3. Guidry was great in Game 4. Gullett, who had started Game 1 but was not the winning pitcher, didn't have much in Game 5, so Game 6 was necessary. Torrez went the distance, and Reggie hit 3 home runs, and the Yankees were World Champions.
* 1978 World Series vs. Los Angeles Dodgers. With the Series tied, manager Bob Lemon could have started Hunter in Game 5 on 3 days' rest. Instead, he went with rookie Jim Beattie, who had been shaky. Beattie had good stuff, pitching the only complete game of his career, and the bats supported him, giving the Yankees a 12-2 win. Catfish started and won the clinching Game 6.
* 1981 World Series vs. Los Angeles Dodgers: This time, it wasn't Billy Martin standing in Reggie's way, it was George Steinbrenner. Reggie had been injured in Game 2 of the ALCS, but was medically cleared for Game 3 of the World Series, with the Yankees up 2-0.
Lemon saw that Dodger manager Tommy Lasorda was starting Fernando Valenzuela, the sensational rookie lefthander. and sat Reggie as a precaution. The Yankees lost 5-4. One Reggie at-bat could have made the difference.
For Game 4, Lasorda started Bob Welch, a righthander who had mixed success against the Yankees, and Reggie in particular, in the 1978 World Series. Welch got knocked out early, and Reggie got 3 hits, including a home run off Steve Howe -- a lefthander. But he also led to a run with a dropped fly ball, and the Dodgers won 8-7.
For Game 5, Lasorda started Jerry Reuss, a lefthander. Lemon let Reggie play, and he hit a double and scored the Yankees' only run. But Guidry hiccupped in the 7th inning, allowing home runs by Pedro Guerrero (understandable) and Steve Yeager (less so) back-to-back. The Yankees lost 2-1.
For Game 6, Lemon made a dumb decision that had nothing to do with Reggie. With no DH in this Series, the game was tied 1-1 in the bottom of the 4th, Graig Nettles on 2nd and Larry Milbourne intentionally walked to set up a force play and bring up the pitcher's spot in the order, Lemon, following the orders of Steinbrenner, decided to let the bullpen handle it, and sent Bobby Murcer up to pinch-hit for Tommy John. Murcer flew out to end the inning.
The bullpen did not handle it, allowing 3 runs in the 5th inning and 4 in the 6th. The Dodgers won 9-2. Steinbrenner then finished breaking up the team that had, in 6 seasons, won 5 Division titles, 4 Pennants and 2 World Series.
* 1996 World Series vs. Atlanta Braves: 3rd baseman Wade Boggs, a future Hall-of-Famer, and 1st baseman Tino Martinez, a slugger with a perfect lefty swing for Yankee Stadium, weren't hitting in the earlier rounds, so, for Game 3 onward, Joe Torre benched them for Charlie Hayes and Cecil Fielder, respectively. It worked, as the Yankees took the next 4 games and won the Series. Key, though, was a bases-loaded walk drawn by Boggs as a pinch-hitter in the 10th inning of Game 4.
* 2000 World Series vs. New York Mets: With 2nd baseman Chuck Knoblauch having such defensive difficulties, Torre started Jose Vizcaino at 2nd, and he singled home the winning run in the 12th inning of Game 1.
Torre started Denny Neagle in Game 4, and he got into trouble in the 5th inning. Torre really gambled, bringing in David Cone, who had the worst season of his career, to pitch to slugging Mike Piazza with the bases loaded. Cone got Piazza to pop up. Piazza was the only batter Cone faced in the Series, as Torre trusted his bullpen the rest of the way, and the Yankees won.
For Game 4, Torre switched to Luis Sojo at 2nd. He started Vizcaino there in Game 5, but had Sojo pinch-hit for Andy Pettitte, and he singled home the Series-winning runs in the 9th.
* 2001 Postseason: Torre kept leaving Mariano Rivera in for 2-inning saves. It worked every time until the last, Game 7 of the World Series against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
* 2003 American League Championship Series vs. Boston Red Sox: The Sox took a 4-0 lead off Roger Clemens in the 4th inning of Game 7. Torre took him out, which was understandable. Less so was replacing him with Mike Mussina, who had never pitched in relief in his life. But it worked: He held the Sox scoreless through the 7th.
David Ortiz then hit a home run off David Wells, and the Yankees trailed 5-2 going to the bottom of the 8th, but tied it. Torre brought Mariano in, and left him in for 3 innings, and we all had flashbacks to 2001. But Mariano held on, and Aaron Boone, now the manager, hit the Pennant-winning home run in the bottom of the 11th.
* 2006 American League Division Series vs. Detroit Tigers: Alex Rodriguez just wasn't hitting in the postseason -- again. Torre dropped him to 8th in the order for Game 4. It didn't work, and the Yankees were out.
* 2010 American League Championship Series vs. Texas Rangers: Twice, Joe Girardi brought Boone Logan in to force a lefty vs. lefty matchup with steroid-ridden slugger Josh Hamilton. Twice, the steroids won. The Yankees lost.
* 2019 American League Championship Series vs. Houston Astros: The "opener" strategy failed, and that was one reason the Yankees lost -- but by no means the only reason, as we have seen.
As you can see, some of these decisions were merely odd, and some were outright bizarre. Some worked, some didn't.
Last night's "opener" strategy failed. Cliche Alert: This is one of those games we will remember if the team goes on to lose.
Except that particular cliche rarely comes true. We tend to forget the individual moments, and focus mainly on the results.
Look at the 1993 Philadelphia Phillies: Everybody remembers they lost Game 6 of the World Series to the Toronto Blue Jays because Mitch Williams couldn't hold a lead and Joe Carter hit a home run. They tend to forget that the Phillies led Game 4 14-9 after 7 innings, at home, and couldn't hold it.
Look at the 2003 Chicago Cubs: Everybody remembers they lost Game 6 of the National League Championship Series, at home, to the Florida Marlins because of their meltdown after the Steve Bartman incident. They tend to forget that the Cubs blew a 4-0 lead at home in Game 1. If they'd won that game, Game 6 wouldn't have been necessary.
I hope Boone tries to manage the rest of the postseason like he, not Cashman, is the manager. If he does, he stands a good chance of "the rest of the postseason" lasting longer for the Yankees.
Game 3 is tonight, at 7:00. Masahiro Tanaka will start for us, against 2017 Astro nemesis Charlie Morton.