Friday, July 16, 2010

The Genius Maker #76

The tribute game to George and Bob…

I wasn’t too happy to see CC struggle with fastball command as much as ever. However, he was able to spot some big pitches and work his way out of jams. There was a ton to this game, but getting out of bases loaded and nobody out twice and only allowing 2 runs was some nice pitching. I didn’t like when they allowed the Longoria single on a fastball, but I really thought Posada called a great game.

ARod is really struggling. Had some counts in his favor in key spots and still couldn’t come through.

Tex had 2 chances to make some in between hop scoops and was 0-2 including one that led to an ARod error.

Nice call of the Posada HR on a 3-0 pitch by Singleton who right before the pitch, said, I would expect Posada to get the green light…and then boom, Posada hit the first homer of his career on a 3-0 pitch.

Swisher hits the game tying bomb of Benoit who had absolutely sick numbers this year. We were lucky he was not able to throw strikes with his fastball and he couldn’t use his other pitches.

Swisher needed to hit after misplaying a fly ball into a 2 base error…really bad play.

Robertson threw the best inning of ball we have seen in some time. I give some credit to Posada for throwing more curveballs but understanding when to throw the fastball to mix it up. Robertson struck out all 3 batters he faced!

With the score tied, I thought Girardi had an interesting call whether to go right to Rivera or try and get a few more outs (maybe an inning) out of Robertson. No real right or wrong answer, but he went to the Genius Maker. Rivera broke the first two batters bats, but unfortunately one of them went right with the ball and arrived about the same time to ARod and ARod backed away from the bat and missed the ball. It is hard to criticize that play because the bad things that could happen for one out probably do not outweigh the benefits. Fortunately, Rivera picked off Upton before breaking another bat and striking out the last guy.

Upton getting picked off and then whining is a microcosm of a guy with immense talent that is a head case. I don’t want guys like that on my team.

The home plate ump liked to punch out people on questionable calls. We had it done 2 times and TB had it done to them 3 times.

Granderson led of the 9th with a single against a lefty (Choate). Then Girardi used Pena to sac over Granderson. I thought they may try a steal first and then bunt as I think Granderson could have stolen the base, but Girardi went with the sac bringing up Gardner against the lefty. Fortunately Choate still struggled with his control and walked Gardner. That setup the Jeter game winning hit in the game he gave opening tribute. Unfortunately, he continues to hit very poorly and had two pitches right over the middle of the plate that he missed and ended up waving at a curve in the dirt.

That brought up Swisher, who delivered a game winning hit and made Swisher the clear hitting star as he was the only Yankee with more than 1 hit and finished the day with 3!

Very exciting win! Boston lost also and is now 6.5 games back! This was the game we should have won though with CC going against Shields and was the most favorable matchup for us.

2 comments:

  1. Real baseball is back--we made it!!!

    Swisher made two bad plays--as well as the fly ball, he did not hustle and have his head up when he was charging Crawford's single. After being surprised when Upton went to third, he compounded his error by missing the cutoff man, allowing Crawford to go to second. A terrible play by the usually fundamentally sound Swish. That one actually bothered me more than the misplayed 2 base error.

    The Texiera scoop on the Jeter throw was nearly impossible considering it was off line and an in-between hop that bounced higher than expected. Tex gets a total pass from me on that one.

    Jeter looks lost, although he did get a few good hacks in the bottom of the 9th. I thought he actually got a third good pitch to hit after the first two. He fouled that one too. And yes, the umpire liked to punch out people, but in this at bat, he failed to punch out Jeter on a pitch that was just as close as Mariano's called strikeout against Longoria.

    Anyone willing to bet that Curtis Granderson would get a hit off of Choate to lead of the 9th could have gotten great odds and made a lot of money off of me tonight. Granderson's numbers against Choate were 3-4, but 4 at bats are almost meaningless. Granderson's struggling against everyone this year, and I had zero faith in him against a lefty at this point in the season regardless of the personal history numbers.

    I'm not criticizing Girardi sending Granderson to the plate, though. There was really no move to be made; I was just lamenting the fact that we faced a matchup that I felt had no chance.

    I also liked the immediate bunt, myself. You've already sent in your good bunter, who happens to be helpless at the plate should you get thrown out trying to steal. Also, stealing against lefties is such a crap shoot. Go with the bunt and don't try to get cute.

    Wow, did Robertson look great in the 8th.

    Broken bats by the Genius Maker in the Top of the 9th (look out A-Rod!), and a walk-off in the bottom of the 9th. If Bob and George are looking down, I'm sure they loved it.

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  2. You are spot on about the Swisher play trying to throw out Upton at 3rd base. I forgot to mention that. Swisher did not come up throwing and instead was surprised which lost him a step and then also lost power and accuracy. As for the cutoff, if Swish came up firing he really didn't have much of a chance to hit the cutoff because the throw would have been much worse (bouncing more than twice). Jeter was standing beyond 2nd base and that is too far for a cut off to be successful. Kay stated that but he was wrong. he could have thrown more of a line drive just to possibly give Crawford the idea that he MAY be able to cut it off, but you can't sacrifice throwing the guy out just to hit the cut off. if Swisher had in his mind that he was coming up throwing Upton would have been out.

    As for Granderson, you could have pinch hit Thames. I think Granderson was fortunate Choate left the last pitch right over the middle of the plate, but he got the job done and that is what is important.

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