This would be an example of Girardi adapting with the resources he has. In NY he generally had a couple of good setup relievers and then Mariano who was good for only 3 outs in the regular season but up to 6 regularly in the playoffs. The goal in the playoffs was really to get 5 or 6 out of the starter and then the game was hopefully over with the bullpen.
The goal with the Phillies needs to be limiting the exposure of the weak pitchers. There are multiple ways to accomplish this. I think the gloves will come off Nola and Wheeler down the stretch as he lets them more regularly go 7 or 8 innings. Then another way to limit the exposure is to use lots of bullpen arms in short stints. That is what is not working now though. All his options are worse than the comparable options with the Yankees.
The strength of his pitching staff is depth in the starting rotation. Our top 2 are good, but our 3-6 starters are also better than most teams' 3-6 starters. The challenge in the playoffs should be how to use these 6 arms in a way that limits the bullpen back end exposure. It is really a challenge Girardi has not had to face yet. I just feel better about innings pitched by Howard and Velasquez at the moment than I do about innings pitched by Neris and Hembree and Hale.
The schedule with double-headers means they can't really experiment now unfortunately. Even the 1 or 2 bullpen games are unique, likely led by a 3-inning start from someone at the alternate site. After the last double-header though Girardi should change into playoff mode. If both Velasquez and Howard are pitching well (but only in 4-5 inning stints) then they should both pitch and likely take innings in some way from the bullpen. He should think like he is managing Tampa a bit. Hopefully anyway.
