Friday, July 6, 2012

The Genius Maker 7-4


Happy July 4th to everyone. 

Some notes from a very good and satisfying game:

·         I should have written earlier how much I hate the TB camera angle as it is really is hard to tell the strike zone. 
·         I would not have had Phelps start the 5th inning as he had reached his supposed pitch limit and why push it?  He really had excellent movement on his fastball and it was extremely encouraging.  He will be sent down to continue starting and then brought back up right after the break
·         Good play by Martin to not throw to 3rd on the 1st and 2nd situation as Nix didn’t cover the SB attempt.  This is hard to do as a catcher as you are up and ready to move and throw to a spot not a fielder.  It was heads up.
·         Of course, later that inning, Girardi decides to not allow Martin to throw to 2nd with 1st and 3rd as he was afraid they would pull the double steal on the throw.  I think this is absurd as nobody is as quick as Cano so I would have total faith in Cano seeing the play in front of him if the runner went.  Girardi is not as smart as he thinks
·         Eppley did a great job!  He has really pitched far better than we could have hoped.  He even got Luke Scott out, the same lefty Girardi didn’t let him pitch to the other night that hurt our chances to win.  When a pitcher has his good stuff, I would trust him unless the matchup is really bad and the other choice is a great matchup.
·         A very cool game with the game situation that I love.  Granderson was up against Price in the top of the 6th inning and the Yanks trailing 1-0.  Price is throwing great, but the last time up, Granderson had a 10 pitch AB that ended in a walk where Price threw nothing but fastballs (all 95-98 MPH).  This situation was not huge in the game as there were 2 outs and Jeter on first, but it was the batter pitcher matchups that are interesting as Granderson is a dangerous hitter (it is also why I enjoy the DH as I like good matchups).  Anyway, the first pitch was a curve ball that was low and Grandy took it for a ball.  This showed Price was paying attention to the first AB.  The next pitch Grandy took a fastball for a strike, followed by another fastball for a ball.  At 2-1, Grandy is looking for the fastball and he doesn’t get it and swings at a curve ball that would have been ball 3.  The next pitch was a 97 MPH fastball for a ball and a full count.  With the runner going Grandy gets his fastball and he is all over it but fouls it off.  I am now thinking Price would throw a curve, but he throws the fastball and Grandy is all over it again, then another fastball and Grandy was ready but fouled it off again.  Finally, he throws the curve and Grandy was naked with a swing and miss.  It was very interesting AB that showed the chances batters have and the control pitchers have…a lot of fun, even if it ended poorly
·         Price really gave our guys some very tough AB’s.
·         The Yanks had lost 9 in a row in Tampa and as one of their main competitors it felt good to win this game, especially with a very tough pitcher in Price on the mound.
·         Upton has so much talent but he is lazy and ARod had excellent hustle out of the box after struggling for a bunch of games.
·         Not sure why Jeter was upset with two calls form the ump; they were both clear strikes; I don’t like when we complain when there is no reason.  I actually thought the ump was very fair all game.
·         Piniella is done IMO.  He tries to bring some things up, but there is nothing there.
·         Swisher has hit pretty well in June, but he swings at far too many pitches out of the strike zone
·         Cano could be the best player in the game!  He has such incredible skills
·         So, here is a question, which team is “ahead when there is one out in the top of the 8th inning and the bases are loaded but the team up is down by one run?  This was the situation and I think it depends on who is coming up and the speed on the bases because the home team also gets an AB in the inning.  With Cano coming up I liked our chances.  
·         BTW, I was glad to see Farnsworth in the game and not Murphy to start the 8th

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