Why Brian Bruney in the Bullpen is a BAD Idea

Listen, I know that it's tempting to have Brian Bruney in the bullpen. He was, by far, the best reliever on the Yankees early in the season. And, at times, he showed great stuff late in the season. But he is too inconsistent/stubborn to be trusted. He tries to throw everything through the wall which is great against the Baltimores and Torontos of the American League, but when you go up against a team like the Angels, it doesn't work as well.

But, courtesy of Keith Law, here's a much, much better reason why Bruney should be left off the ALCS roster:

Joe Girardi will be managing in his first postseason, and while the offense can probably manage itself, he does have a tendency to overthink his bullpen decisions, and I'm concerned he'll indulge his irrational attachment to Brian Bruney in a leveraged situation, or try to extend a specialist like Coke or Gaudin with superior options left in the 'pen. I know Bruney throws hard, Joe, but you can throw hard and still be terrible.

See: Farnsworth, Kyle.

At least with Marte he knows that he can't face righties (they absolutely murder him), but Joe has the idea that Bruney can get out anyone (he's given up 3 HR in 5 games pitched in Anaheim in his career...yikes!).

But Marte isn't good either. There is a myth that Marte was much better when he came off the DL late in the season. Although he was unscored upon in 2.1 innings in August, he had a 7.94 ERA in limited work in September/October. Yes, there is supposed value as a lefty specialist only because lefties hit .120/.214/.280 against him this season. But the two lefties he faced in the ALDS both got hits off of him and the only lefty in the Angels lineup is Bobby Abreu.

Side Note: Girardi may be tantalized by the small sample size of success he's had against some of the tougher Angels against the Yankees: in 30 PA, Torii Hunter, Chone Figgins, Gary Matthews and Abreu have amassed only two hits and 4 walks to 9 Ks. But this is exactly why a small sample size should never be used to make decisions like these. He also may be intrigued to turn Kendy Morales around but Marte gave it up to righties to a tune of .414/.485/.690 (Coke was at least a "manageable" .227/.346/.432 vs. righties). Don't be tempted Joe!

I think Joe should go with another set of legs off the bench (Freddy Guzman or Ramiro Pena), but if he has to go with a pitcher, he should go with Marte over Bruney just because he may be tempted to trust him a big too much when he has much better options in the bullpen.

Pettitte Plays The Role Of Stopper Again

In the glory days, Andy Pettitte played a role rarely talked about in baseball: he was the stopper. In 1996, Andy Pettitte had more than half of his wins the day after a Yankee loss. This year, he's also been the stopper of losing streaks: Pettitte is 3-1 the day after a Yankees loss (his lone loss coming against Boston Red Sox who no Yankee pitcher since Mike Mussina has been able to beat).

And he continued that "stopper" mentality again as he shut down the Marlins. There is something to be said about just going after hitters. Instead of aiming for corners, Andy Pettitte went after an agressive Marlins team and got the Yankees a solid 7 innings. Part of his success may have been pitching away from home; he has an ERA of over 5.75 at home and 2.35 on the road.

He also helped wake up the Yankees offense with a big double in their 4-run inning. On a day where A-Rod sat, Derek Jeter played hurt, and Brett Gardner was unable to go after making severe contact with the wall (I think Bobby Abreu cried watching that highlight), Andy was Dandy once again. Now they need to turn the losing streak into a winning streak with AJ Burnett and CC Sabathia closing out this series.

16 Games Without An Error

I think one of the most impressive things the Yankees have done this season so far has been this streak of 16 games without an error. Granted, you can't get charged with an error if you never get to a ball (paging Derek Jeter) and an error is still a decision made by the official scorer...but this is quite impressive. They're one game away from tying the major league record set by the 2006 Red Sox--which is amazing to me...there's been many good defensive teams and many years of baseball and the fact that 17 games without an error is a record is a shock to me.

The most impressive part of this is that the Yankees have been tremendously subpar defensively in past seasons. By the end of last year they had a starting lineup with Xavier Nady in LF (average at best), Johnny Damon in CF (speedy but poor defender and extremely poor arm), Bobby Abreu in RF (decent arm, but subpar fielder), Jason Giambi at 1B (subpar), Robinson Cano at 2B (below average to above average depending on how he felt), Derek Jeter (poor defender), A-Rod (average, but good arm), and Jorge Posada (average at best).

This year Brian Cashman wanted to improve the defense of his team and he certainly did so. Swisher is an upgrade in RF, Melky/Gardner in CF (and Gardner is one of the top 3 defensive CFs in the league), Teixeira at 1B (who could win some Gold while with the Yanks and saves errors from the other infielders), and an improved bench of plus defenders in whoever is not starting in CF (who can play all 3 OF positions) and Ramiro Pena (who can play all infield positions).

The problem with errors is that not only do they sometimes end up in unearned runs, but they also make your pitcher throw more pitches. And when you make your starters throw more pitches, it hurts your team in ways not shown in the boxscore. This is especially important in the Yankees bandbox in the Bronx because extra pitches means greater chances someone will hit the ball out of the park.

I'm not taking anything away from what the Yankees starters have done the past few weeks, but the starting pitching looks better because of the good defense. I'm not sure how long this errorless streak is going to last, but it's because of increased focus on improving the defense this year that it was even possible.