ROCKET SCIENTISTS THEY AIN'T by ST

Occasionally we get the ballplayer who might consider a career in science, probability and statistics or another area of higher intellect. I don't think Yankee manager Joe Girardi or LA Dodger closer Jonathan Broxton fall into that category. Yesterday, Girardi decided to pull his young reliever David Robertson after the kid mowed down the first two hitters he faced in the fatal 11th inning at Aneheim. On my word I can tell you the TV set in my den was verbally abused well prior to the new guy, Alfredo Aceves blowing the game. Girardi pretty much made a move based on nothing. Pull a guy throwing the heck out of the ball in favor of a guy who has not been particularly sharp these playoffs. The leadoff hitter, Howie Kendrick roped a single to left. The next batter, Jeff Mathis brought him around with the winner with a blast into the gap. No way around it, and the Fox duet of Joe Buck and Tim McCarver also questioned the decision before the disaster, it was a stupid choice by Girardi.
In the NLCS, the Dodgers were on the brink of squaring the deal at Philly. They led 4-3 with 2 outs in the 8th inning when Joe Torre summoned his closer, one Mr. Broxton. Broxton, who can throw it 100 miles per hour and looks more like an offensive lineman than relief pitcher, got Jayson Werth on a harmless flyout to right with the tying run on board, by THROWING HIS FASTBALL. Fast forward to the bottom of the 9th when Broxton left his stones and brains in the dugout. With one out he must have had a flashback to a year ago in the NL Championship Series Matt Stairs took him yard for the decisive blow in Game 4. Stairs hit .194 this season and struck out in his only at bat of the post season last set against the Rockies. Broxton walked him and failed to challenge him with his heater. It obviously shook him up as he plunked the next hitter, Carlos Ruiz. He was so tentative he grooved a fastball down the middle to Jimmy Rollins who sent one up the gap in right center to win the game. Why would a guy who can knock over a brick wall with his gas not use it with the game, and in some ways, the season on the line. Obviously never heard the "die with your boots on" theory. It's like having Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Kareem Jabbar, Jerry West and Greg Ostertag on the floor for the final shot & setting up a play for Ostertag to launch a 3 pointer. DUMB, DUMB, DUMB!