What They're Saying: Umpires, The Overmanager, and ALCS Recaps

If you were out of the country since the playoff started and just read the media coverage of the playoffs, you'd probably think the umpires were the reason we are about to watch the Yankees and Phillies in the World Series, while the Yankees are here despite Joe Girardi. While that has been overblown quite a bit, the umpiring has been quite awful this postseason and Joe Girardi has been a little, um, anxious. And other people played in a part in the ALCS besides Girardi and the umpires. Let's see what the media has been saying about it:

• Gene Wojciechowski of ESPN says yes to increased instant replay...for the World Series. Buster Olney agrees.
  

• ESPN.com looks at the men who will be calling the games in the World Series and Baseball Prospectus rates them.

• Joe Girardi was not treated kindly at times. Jon Heyman says that Girardi "seemed to suffer from temporary insanity or incompetence at times in the ALCS". Slate seems to agree and calls him The Overmanager. Keith Law says his #1 key for the Yankees is to "hog-tie Joe Girardi and leave him in a clubhouse locker". Almost makes you yearn for the days of this overrated guy.

• Rob Neyer takes them all to task and says that most teams would loved to be overmanaged to within 4 wins of a World Series title.

• The ALCS: Ken Davidoff recaps the clinching Game 6 and so does Shysterball. Baseball Musings looks at what went wrong for the Angels, while David Pinto congratulates the Yankees. Steven Goldman congratulates the Yankees as well with some great analysis with one very true fact: "at least there were no umpiring controversies in the last game".

• The biggest controversy at the end of the ALCS? That CC won the MVP over A-Rod. Please, people. There are more important things to worry about. I think that A-Rod and CC were both great. CC won two games for them; Alex, maybe one. That's why I give it to CC, though I would have been fine with Alex winning or them splitting. Who cares? It's a meaningless award! And A-Rod not winning gives him extra motivation in the World Series (you know he must have some sort of bonus if he wins the World Series MVP).  

• Big League Stew votes for the split of the MVP. Mark Feinsand says that A-Rod was great but not as great as CC. Dugout Central gets their panties in a bunch over A-Rod not winning.

A few other articles that I couldn't fit elsewhere: Rob Neyer breaks down Johnny Damon and Bobby Abreu and asks if either or both are Hall of Fame worthy. Joe Posnanski breaks down his Top 10 Hitters Ever (A-Rod is not in the top-10 if you're curious, but Albert Pujols is). MLBTradeRumors is reviewing the trades of the past decade (there's surprisingly not really any Yankees ones on there, yet). Jonathan Papelbon is a weird motherfucker according to Deadspin. Lastly, a former Yankees prospect, Ross Ohlendorf, is headed for an internship in Washington. I know that the trade looked good at the time, but the Yankees could have sure used Ohlendorf in 2009.

What They're Saying: Joe Girardi

Joe Girardi has been praised at times this postseason, but has been criticized more often. Has he really been doing a bad job or are people overreacting to a few losses? Let's see what everyone has to say:

•  AOL Fanhouse goes over Girardi's decisions in Game 3 to try to figure out exactly what he was thinking
  

• Steve Politi says that "jumpy" Joe Girardi made at least one too many pitching changes in Game 3.

• Rob Neyer didn't really think Girardi's moves in Game 3 were all that bad, but it just didn't work out in the end 
  

• Howard Bryant says that as we move on to Game 6, the focus is on the decisions the managers have made

• Rob Neyer says that Girardi's biggest mistake in Game 5 was pinch running for A-Rod 

• GQ writes that while the action on the field was compelling, the managing decisions of Game 5 were puzzling 

• RealClearSports says that Girardi is making mistakes by not relying on instincts

• Jon Heyman lists Joe Girardi among his disasters of October
  

• Jesse Spector says that if the Yankees somehow lose the ALCS, Joe Girardi should be fired 

• SNY.tv says it's time to lay off of Girardi (picture courtesy of this article)
  

Joe Girardi makes managing harder than it has to be at times. He's too quick to makes changes at times and some times is too slow to make them. This has cost his team a few times this postseason. Girardi may be best off just letting the Yankees who are on the field do what they do and then use his bullpen--without the aid of that big binder.

What They're Saying: Nick Swisher

We'll do a quick series on the blog where we'll look at what everyone's been saying over the interwebs:

• Buster Olney points out that Nick Swisher is having a miserable series, going only 1-for-13 in the first 5 games, but his patience at the plate is still there.

• Sam Borden says Swisher is not so sweet and while there are no better options and it is a small sample size, it may be worth sitting him

• The New York Post says that Swisher is working on tinkering his swing.

• Inside Edge says that bad luck is the cause of Nick Swisher's problems.

• Steve Politi says that the Yankees can't afford to give him another at-bat

• Deadspin calls Politi's article a "frantic" search for a scapegoat with only a small sample size

• Rob Neyer agrees and asks if Swisher is going to be the last good hitter to be demoted because of a slump

• Marc Carig writes that Swisher's slump is easier for him to take if his team wins

When I wrote my original opinion, I said to put in Brett Gardner instead of Nick Swisher. I think it's a good idea to start him against the lefty Saunders, but Swisher has struggled at home. He actually has almost identical OPSs hitting righty and lefty but he has hit 20 his 29 home runs from the left side. Still, I would give him another start in Game 6. If he goes 0-4 and there's a Game 7, it makes sense to start Brett Gardner against John Lackey regardless. I say give Swisher one more chance and hope the Yankees close it out tomorrow with the help of the Swishalicious one.