The thing is whats the alternative??? Not to pitch Johnson at all??
Say we enter the 7th inning with a 1 run lead, how do you manage your way through without using JJ at all??? Or do you use him but in the 8th inning and say O'Day/Matusz in the 9th depending on the matchup. In that scenario JJ still has to pitch a high leverage inning it's just not the 9th.
IN the scenario where you don;t use JJ at all all you do is force people up an inning and out of their comfort zone.. I suppose Hunter and Matusz would pitch some combo of the 7th and 8th. You sure as hell don;t want to use Strop against the Yankees.
Obviously, and I'm not saying any of you are saying different, JJ has to get right for us to be successful. UNless your advocating just taking him out of the 9th for awhile and letting pitch the 8th inning you might as well go back to him tonight. The problem then is A. Again, JJ is still pitching in a high leverage situation and does being demoted mess him up more??. B. You're moving O'Day into a role as closer that he is unfamiliar. How does he respond??