[ThePundit]

Did anyone see the end of that game? 1) Matsui should have caught that ball. 2) I've been watching Scott Proctor pitch for a year now. Has anyone ever seen him get an out?

[MVB]

Yes, I stayed up till after 1AM to see the end of that miserable game! First of all, NO outfielder could have caught the ball (watch the replays). It was totally and entirely, Joe Torre's fault! I mean come on!!! How many times do we have to watch Scott Proctor blow games??? Remember him giving up a walk of walk last year? Torre should have gone back to Farnsworth! Farnsworth only threw like 8 pitches in the eigth inning so he should have kept on going in the ninth!

Every time I see Joe Torre bring out a miserable pitcher to blow a game, I think to myself... "He must be doing this on purpose"... Maybe Torre thinks the Yanks are so good, he has to help the other teams win once in a while.... Other then that, I don't understand why Torre went with Proctor...

Sorry for the rant...

[legend]

I feel bad for Proctor. His three week old infant girl just underwent open heart surgery this week. He accepted all the blame for his performance, but I don't think he should have been in there. The bottom line is the Yankees opened the game with second and third, no one out, and then our big three of Sheffield, A-Rod, and Giambi all struck out. In the third, Sheffield was held at third when he should have been sent, resulting in A-Rod getting trapped off first. They left too many men on base, unable to get a big hit that could have broken open the game a couple of times, especially A-Rod, who left men in scoring position three times. And Scott Proctor is an easy kid to root for, but he is not a pro. Torre's explanation about using Proctor was he didn't want to use Jaret Wright in case the game was rained out and would be made up as a double header Wednesday. Not that Wright is any better than Proctor.

[MVB]

Well Torre should have sent Farnsworth back in... or even Villone!

Hmmm.... I guess I can't be mad at Proctor anymore... poor guy...

But I do agree with you, legend, that the Yankee left WAY too many batters on. The A-rod, Giambi, Sheff strikeout in the first was embarrassing.... And Damon should have been waved home on Jeter's double.

[ThePundit]

MVB: You're right about Farnsworth & Torre. This is why I don't think Torre's the best manager in the game. The last couple of years, some of his moves have been head scratchers.

I knew Proctor had that personal issue. So how about putting him in the night before when they're up 15-3 to get his feet wet? There was no reason to use Sturtz the night before.

But MVB, I respectfully diagree on the Matsui play. Any good outfielder would have caught that ball. He turned the wrong way and got all screwed up. The ball didn't even make the warning track. True the weather was lousy but you've got to make that grab.

Matsui was a good outfielder his first year on the Yankees. Then all of a sudden he started dropping and misjudging a lot of balls. It' s strange.

Did anyone else see that fly ball? What do you think?

[legend]

Probably should have had it. No reason to let Marco Scutaro ever hit a ball that far either! Torre didn't use Proctor the night before because he only arrived from his daughter's surgery during the middle of the game.

[ThePundit]

Thanks Legend - I didn't know that. But then MVB is right. Farnsworth should have been pitching.

[MJHMarc]

Originally Posted by legend

I feel bad for Proctor. His three week old infant girl just underwent open heart surgery this week. He accepted all the blame for his performance, but I don't think he should have been in there.

I completely agree. Why wasn't he with his child? Some things are more important than your job. Open heart surgery is one of them.

[MVB]

The ball almost hit the wall.... plus it was raining.... Matsui had no chance.

Now I'm not saying that Matsui is the best left-fielder in the game- he's made some pretty awful blunders. But, he couldn't have caught this particular ball.