Friday, May 14, 2010

The Genius Maker #27

It appears the injuries are starting make an impact to the offense as we got shut out twice in 3 games. The game that bothered me more was the 2-0 loss to Porcello in the 1st game Wednesday as we got a very good outing from Vazquez (nice to say that) and the offense was, well, offensive. Winn actually had a productive day getting on base 3 times, but nobody else did much of anything. One of the main guys who is not producing and is swinging terribly is Pena. Usually he is solid from the left side, but he is swinging at anything. I like Pena and was supportive of him playing over Hairston last year and defensively he is better than Jeter, but he has been awful at the plate, he is pressing and should be removed from the game to get himself straightened out. His OPS is .360 hitting a very weak .138.

I am not blaming the offense on just him as Jeter has been very poor of late with his OPS dropping to a poor .721. Cano also has started to swing at the inside pitch and getting himself out. He is still doing a pretty good job at laying off the balls away and in the dirt, but he was very productive when he wouldn't constantly swing at the inside pitch that is a ball. he got himself out a few times yesterday when he couldn't lay off of it.

I also would not let Thames play at all against righties; not really sure why Girardi would either. I would play Winn if he is on the team (I still think he may be cut later in the year) or Golson because the better defense will be worth more than the possibility of Thames hitting better against a righty. That being said Thames has not hit righties yet...just play him against lefties.

I can't be all negative. Rivera finally got into a game and did the job; it is always great to see Rivera on the mound! Finally, Hughes has been phenomenal; he is now 5-0 with a microscopic 1.39 ERA! Hughes has 39 K's in 39 innings which shows he has some dominance in him and also the OPS against him is fantastic .446. While keeping this up is improbable, it is incredibly encouraging how much better he is with the cutter adding to his well spotted fastball and good breaking ball.

We have now lost 4 of of our last 5 games and face a very tough pitcher (and team) in Liriano of Minnesota. Liriano has a 2.36 ERA and is pitching like he used to.

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