The 1B Non Stretch

Just a quick note to the friends of this blog.  Many of you are aware of the many times I call out first basemen because of the way they field throws from in front of home plate.  I have written it probably 10 times at least and described it way more than that, but last night, in game 6 of the World Series it almost was an enormous mistake.  You can see the video below, but I am focusing on the same way 1B defenders field these balls.  Both his feet are basically aligned with the invisible line to 2nd base (from 1B), so there is no stretch other than his arm out and bending at the waist.  Can you imagine on a close play and a throw from SS where a 1B would have on foot on the bag and the other on the 1B foul line and then just reached forward?  Of course not, yet for some reason, this is done all the time on throws from in front of home plate.  If Gurriel, just stretches toward the ball, first, he catches the ball before it gets to the runner and second, he catches the ball about 3.5 feet earlier so Turner would be out.

They ruled runner interference, which at the time could have been an enormous call in a one-run game.  Instead of 2nd and 3rd nobody out (runs expected are 2) you have a man on 1st with 1 out (0.5 runs expected).  That call was on average a 1.5 run swing; that is huge!   

When will 1B and coaches read this blog and get smart?  BTW, I understand there is a slightly reduced chance of fielding a ball when you stretch, but that is the same on all throws when it is close.  I would also concede that the throws to 1B from in front of home plate may be a little more off target, but I would also argue that fielding the ball earlier allows you to catch balls that would normally put you in harms way with the runner and also leads to those arm injuries we have seen.  I also have seen 1B bail on throws that if they would have stretched they could have caught "behind" the runner (closer to home plate).

Here is the link to it from MLB.com

https://www.mlb.com/video/martinez-ejected-after-turner-out?t=world-series

It's Officially Football Season

I hope you all slept better than I did as I was replaying so many parts of this game.

I will just list the parts that replayed the most with me including the issue I had with the umps.

The 3 run HR was a crushing blow.  With both teams not swinging the bats well, a 3 run shot is a game-changing and winning event.  The slider he centered to Altuve was just a terrible pitch especially with 2 strikes.  Green had the best slider I have seen him throw but this was a bad location.  You have to go low and away slow with him and then jam him in.  With 2 outs, he was careful with Bregman and walked him.  The next pitch was the one that lost the year for us.  It was the wrong pitch but in the correct location, and Gurriel did a great job of bringing his hands in and getting the barrel out on a 96 MPH FB for the 3 run HR on a pitch that was WAY inside.  Obviously, he was looking for the fastball so the slider would have been a better call.  Regardless, one has to credit Gurriel as he had a plan (something we didn't seem to have).

We almost answered all the way, but only got one run as Gardner k'd on 2 balls (more later).

Maldonado bunted in the 5th and Sanchez took his time and threw to first and he was originally called out but the replays showed he was safe.  Before I get into Sanchez, I want to discuss something I have said 10 times in my blog and this has to do with why the 1B positions himself with his feet in the line to 2nd base and does not stretch toward the throw???  This started with Teixeira and you see many 1B do this.  However, on close plays you need to stretch and DJ didn't stretch all the way and we lost at least 2 feet and that was the difference between being out and safe.  I have no idea why this is still done as it costs teams often.  

Speaking of mind boggling stuff, why did Sanchez take a quick pause before throwing on what was a good bunt?  If he comes out firing he is out even with DJ not stretching.  Also, how about dropping the 3rd strike slider Sanchez missed that caused Kahnle to throw 5 more high-stress pitches to get out of the jam created by Sanchez?  This also didn't allow us to stretch Kahnle for a few more outs in the next inning.  This is a theme that was important as we needed to get as far as we could knowing that this could go into extra innings.  I will say that Kahnle did throw some changeups at the top of the zone and that is not a good place to put them, but he seemed to settle down as he technically struck out the last 2 batters.

Didi - earlier in this series, Didi got up with the bases loaded and two outs and swung at a first-pitch breaking ball that was inside and grounded out to 1B.  It was very frustrating after we worked so hard to get bases loaded and then one pitch, a breaking ball that was inside no less, and it was all erased.  Last night, in the 3rd inning, I could write the exact same thing and Didi did the exact same thing!  Seriously, that is enough for me to say goodbye next year and move Torres to SS and DJ to 2nd.   The free-swinging drives me crazy.  If he got a fastball and he swung I would be OK, but bases loaded, you are in charge.  I like Didi a lot and he is great for Yankee stadium and being a lefty is even bigger with our lineup, but playing DJ at 1B hurts his value a lot.  That is an offseason decision.

Once again, I think we didn't extend guys enough and try to get deeper into the game.  Haap could have at least led off the 4th as Gurriel is better against righties and you want to pick up more outs anywhere you can and eventually that pushes you one or 2 innings deeper.  Cessa pitched really well and after going 2 scoreless on the 15th he did it again, but I would have let him go further.  Finally, I mentioned to all the people with me that I would have let Britton start the 9th.  You have to extend at this point.  Britton did throw 18 pitches the night before and threw 22 last night, but you have to push guys in the playoffs and unless he said he was gassed I would have let him go as far as he could or at least go until he let a guy on and see how he looked. 

As for the 9th, Chapman got the 1st 2 outs before losing his fastball and walking Springer (one of those pitches was a strike).  Then, after going 3-0 he threw a slider for a strike before throwing a spinner that hung up and away and was crushed.

Gardner just missed a HR

Gardner’s HR just foul

Urshela 3-3 and a walk and good defense - great job.  

Bad running by Judge to get doubled off!

The 9th inning HR by DJ is why we watch the games, as bad as I feel now, that HR was an awesome feeling and it was a great AB with a great outcome!

SOUR GRAPES MOMENT

During the game, I was furious with what I perceived to be us getting the short end of the stick on many calls.  So I took about 40 minutes to go through every AB and pitch to see if I was correct.  Many times our own emotions exaggerate the issues.  Here is what I found:

• 7 times we had balls called strikes against us, including some critical AB's where Gardner was up with 1st and 2nd and the ump gave him BOTH sides of the strike zone and both were balls.  Sanchez had a bad call as well and that led to a DP.  
• In these same situations, Houston had only 3 balls called strikes. 
• Here was another situation where our pitchers threw strikes and they called it a ball.  This happened 7 times as well, including the walk before the Altuve HR. 
• I only found only 1 instance where this happened to Houston, and it was close.
• The 3 most egregious calls were all on the Yankees (farthest away from the strike zone.)
• That is 10 more pitches that went against us including the worst calls.  This is a lot to overcome!

More on the future later...

Was It Over When The German's Bombed Pearl Harbor?

Tonight's game was one of the worst performances by the Yankees all year!  I could go into AB after AB, but the same outcome happens every time when you simply can't center up pitches that are right over the heart of the plate.  Conversely, Houston took some of them deep.  Green had his worst outing centering pitches his entire performance and even getting some K's when they looked like us.

There were at least 10 times where I got excited when I saw a hanging pitch only to go "yeah" and then say "shoot," we missed that mistake.  And yes, it was not shoot.  This was not good pitching shutting down hitting, this was bad hitting!

If this were at almost any time during the season we would have put up 8-9 runs easily.  

To make it worse, the defense was atrocious.  Outside of the 4, yes, 4 errors, Didi should have caught the throw in from Judge that would have created a DP.  Sanchez didn't move his feet and allowed a wild pitch on a pitch he could have blocked if he used his chest protector instead of trying to glove it.  He also missed a fastball.  Even some of the plays we made were an adventure as Didi and Torres bounced a bunch to DJ at 1st.  The way we fielded some balls was awkward as well, Didi and Torres both fielded balls very, well, awkward was the right word.

Pretty disgusted right now that we have played so poorly, mostly the hitting, but the fielding was embarrassing.

We now have a huge uphill chore.  Our odds are about 10% and our offense needs to somehow flip the switch.  If there is one consolation, the guy who has looked awful, hit a HR last night, but with most of the lineup swinging like crap, 10% is about right.

 

Offensive Struggles Continue

This won't be a long post.  I think losing this game shows why it was so important to extend our relievers doing well in game 2.  That golden opportunity to go up 2-0 was lost because we didn't extend Green and Britton. 

Cole had his good stuff but he did not have his normal command.  We had the chance to beat him but our sticks have gone pretty silent.  Of course, we could say it was the stuff of Cole and clearly it is at times, but other times we are just missing mistakes or guessing wrong.  While half our team can be used as an example of missing or taking mistakes and then swinging at balls; a good example of the "stuff" getting us was when Judge was up with a 1-0 count and he was looking fastball and got it but it ran up and in on him and he swung and was on it but the pitch was in a spot that was tough to do anything with and he hit a towering fly out. 

We had an opportunity to beat Cole because of his control issues and we just didn't swing well.  We had bases loaded and Didi swung at the first pitch breaking ball for a ground out and then we had 2 guys on again in the 2nd and 4th.

Didi just missing the 3 run HR was frustrating but an example of us just not swinging well.  I seriously don't think Didi has hit an off-speed pitch away solid in a month.

Sanchez has been awful at the plate as he doesn't seem to be able to square up a pitch.  I also was very disappointed with how lazy he was on the pitches in the dirt by Britton.  Those were not easy blocks, but he didn't move his feet at all and tried to use the glove both times rather than the chest protector.  the first pitch got stopped by the ump which was a huge lucky play.  You would think the next one Sanchez would be ready for but again his setup was not giving him the ability to move well (his feet were well outside his knees) and the next one went for a wild pitch.

I hated the lineup as I don't understand the logic in batting Gardner 3rd when he hasn't been swinging that well?  I want Torres batting 3rd because he is a better hitter and I want him up a possible extra time.  I know Boone was trying to separate the lefties but you could just drop Gregorius a spot if needed and move Gardner to 5th.  In the 1st inning, with 1st and 2nd and nobody out, a bunt with Gardner had to be on the table and with him popping out, it would have been a better choice.

Once again, Boone is so intent on getting Ottavino in, but once again Ottavino has been bad.  I would not use him until we are desperate at this point to get one righty out as he has a 20.25 ERA allowing 3 of our 7 runs so far while getting 4 outs!

We have to take the last 2 in Yankee stadium!

Almost A 5 Hour Playoff Game!

In yesterdays’ blog I wrote, “ Anyway, rushing to pull Tanaka to get Ottavino in, who has not pitched well, was also surprising.  With the righty Springer up and the lefty Brantley you had two guys who are better against righties, followed by the two guys you would want Ottavino to face, Altuve and Bergman as they are lefty killers and Ottavino is so tough on righties.  So why not let Tanaka pitch to the first two batters and see what happens?  If you really felt like Tanaka might struggle, have a lefty (CC if he can pitch or Tyler Lyons) ready to face Brantley if Tanaka doesn't get Springer out and then bring Ottavino to face the two righties.  This was not thought out well but thankfully did not hurt us.”  That was the exact situation we had again and Boone made the mistake again and it hurt us as Ottavino hung a first pitch slider and it was deposited for a game tying HR.  Now I know Ottavino in to face a righty is still a good thing, but it is a righty who is better against righties and more importantly, you then have him face a lefty which is not the matchup you want.  Further, and this is the biggest mistake, why take Green out?  He pitched 2 innings without a hit or a walk, this was very early in the game still (5^th inning) and Green had just struck a batter out so he was already out for the inning and his stuff was good; why not let him throw more than 26 pitches?  He has thrown 47, 44 and many times threw 30+ pitches, so he can easily give you 40 if needed, this is the playoffs!   This was a very poor decision and as I said yesterday, at the worst I would have let Green pitch to the righty and if he got on, depending on how he got on I could bring in Lyons or CC or let Green get them out.  But why bring in Ottavino in again, especially because he has not been sharp! 

Boone did a good job of yanking Paxton although it was very early and when that happens you need to extend some of your pitchers a little, which makes you wonder even more about pulling Green.  I understand that Green MAY have been the plan to start game 4, but who cares, you have a chance to win this game and you can pitch Cessa for an inning or 2 to start if needed.

Kahnle did an outstanding job of going 2.1 innings without a hit or a walk.  He had thrown 25 pitches but for him, that is the 2^nd most this year and even though this is the playoffs he had extended into 3 innings or 2 in between innings and I thought taking him out made sense as we enter the 8^th.

Britton came on and looked pretty good walking one and not allowing a hit, but he only pitched 12 pitches.  In a game that is very likely to go into extra innings, you can’t get only 12 pitches out of one of your best relievers and the guy with your lowest ERA.  You need to extend them and get another inning or at least another 1 or 2 outs and you can get the other 1 or 2 outs out of Chapman.  I said this to my brother last night as we watched it that I would let Britton start his 2^nd inning because 1) I would rather Britton/Chapman get the other inning rather than what we had left and 2) Chapman pitched the 9^th to the lower part of their order and then someone else would be pitching to their meat of the order (this ended up not mattering, but there needs to be a thought process).  Again, what did matter was we didn’t get an extra inning out of our best pitchers and then we were forced to use someone else.

That someone else was Loaisiga, who came in after Boone used CC correctly to get Brantley out.  Loaisiga, just didn’t throw strikes and walked 2 guys and he had to come out.  To be fair, that is a tough chore on a young guy to face Altuve and Bergman, their two best hitters and Loaisigawas not up to the task.  Happ came in to face the lefty Alvarez and I have to say that I was shocked he threw nothing but 11 straight fastballs and many of them were over the heart of the plate as he missed his spots frequently.  We were lucky that they did a poor job of hitting as Happ got us out of it.

After another inning of not swinging the bats well, Happ came out and was trying to get a fastball up and in (his bread and butter) and instead left it out over the plate for the walk-off HR.  But again, we should have used our better relievers longer, especially when you know the game has a shot at extra innings and even back when you take your starter out after 2.1 innings.

Our batting approach was poor.  Sometimes when your players are swinging at balls in the dirt it is because of the great pitching on the other side, so we have to understand that and give credit, however other times it is because of a poor approach. Early in the game, Verlander did an excellent job of not leaving anything over the plate.  Sliders away with good bite and an excellent 12-6 curve ball were spotted well and supported by a fastball consistently at the top or above the strike zone.  His fastball was usually around 94 so it wasn’t blazing.  As the game got through the first few innings, Verlander was not as sharp with his command and many hittable pitches were left over the plate.  Therefore, when you swing at a slider in the dirt, and then take a hanging slider for a strike and then swing at a terrible curveball in the dirt, your approach is bad.  This same approach saw many of our players taking fastballs down the middle and then swinging at fastballs well out of the strike zone.  Outside of swinging at many breaking pitches out of the strike zone (that will happen), we also swung at fastballs well above the strike zone.  Gardner, Edwin and Sanchez were the main culprits. But, Didi didn’t help himself as well.  Edwin has been awful and I have no clue what he is thinking as he is swinging at terrible pitches and letting strikes go right down the middle?   Again, the approach was off because if you are looking fastball and you get a fastball and miss it that can happen, but when you take the fastball for a strike and then you swing at a fastball over the strike zone then you did a poor job with discipline. 

A few notes:

·         I want to discuss the Sanchez AB in the 11^th with 2 men on he struck out on the worst pitch call of the night by the umpire (who made his two worst calls of the game during this AB).  First, it was a battle of 10 pitches although many were balls as Sanchez swung at the first pitch way above the strike zone, but at least he went after a pitch with a plan.  The problem is that Sanchez simply has not been able to line up any pitches as even when he knows something is coming and it is down the plate he is missing it.  Anyway, after Sanchez didn’t check his swing he should have struck out, but the ump agreed that Sanchez foul tipped the pitch.  This was a bad job by the ump and I think somehow he was notified that Sanchez should have been out and called the next close pitch a strike.  That is kind of BS, but he should have been struck out.  All that being said, my issue was that instead of trying to say he foul tipped the ball (even though that somehow worked), if Sanchez just takes off for first, I think he beats the throw, even with his speed, that ball got away very far from the catcher and the catcher was running toward 3^rd so there is a good chance that he could even throw it away.  Sanchez should have just taken off and we might have scored. 

·         Hicks pinch-hitting and the going in to play defense was a good sign. 

·         It stinks Stanton hurt himself as we can use his bat.  I would not be surprised to see him DH and Edwin not play. 

·         Edwin was on 2^nd base in the 11^th inning and I was wondering why we didn’t have anyone on our roster who could pinch-run for him?  I guess keeping Wade off the roster was assuming Maybin could pinch-run as one didn’t expect Stanton do get hurt, but with our great medical staff, it is probably a certainty someone gets hurt.

·         The gamble to send DJ home obviously failed.  I have to say that while it didn’t work out and you could see that Correa did a good job moving toward the ball, that is really an immediate decision that isn’t a normal situation and the defensive play was executed perfectly by Correa, who raced to the ball, picked it up perfectly and quickly threw a hard strike home to easily get DJ.  But, if anything isn’t perfect he might be safe.  I can’t really criticize that play as it was a great play by Correa.

We had a huge opportunity that we lost as going up 2 would have been great, but let’s get the bats going against Cole!

Houston; We Have No Problem!

I am pumped up!  One never knows what to fully expect, but watching us put pressure to score in almost every inning and see us shut down their offense has me psyched!  I enjoyed watching the game with great friends and that made it all the more entertaining!

Grienke did not impress me or scare me last night.  He doesn't hurt himself with walks and is usually a very crafty righty, but he left too many fastballs (at 90) in the heart of the plate and we didn't take advantage of them, in fact, we took many for strikes and didn't get good hacks on others.  After 3 innings we had no runs and I thought our approach was to blame as we were looking for the breaking ball and we gave up too many strikes not being ready for a very hittable fastball.  I was going to list the players, but it was almost everyone.   Greinke also missed his spots often and was a little lucky that they ended up on the opposite corner of what he was shooting for.  We got 3 runs in 6 off of Greinke but I felt we left at least 1-2 runs on the table.

Gleyber got us going with a double on a 1st pitch slider that was over the heart of the plate.  Torres' next time up saw him jump on a first-pitch fastball centered as well for a dinger!  The next time Gleyber came up was the AB of the game.  7th inning, 3-0 lead and with 2 outs and nobody on, Didi and DJ singled before Judge lined a hard hit to RF that was a questionable decision to send Didi home.  It was a good call to hold him up, but the throw was really weak by Tucker as it was up the 3rd baseline and had many hops.  Tucker had made a weak throw before so that is something to look for as usually, one would expect the RF to have a decent arm, but not in this case. The first pitch was a slider for a ball (smart move by Houston to not throw him a strike on the 1st pitch, but a closer pitch might have had him chase.  He then took a great curve for a strike before swinging through a high strike fastball. Gleyber than took a fastball and what looked like a cutter for a ball (it was faster than a slider).  The runners are now going on a 3-2 count and Pressley throws Torres a slow curve that ended up just out of the strike zone, but Gleyber was able to stick the bat out and bloop one into CF with a huge 2 run single.  We caught a break on the location, but we also had plenty of hard-hit balls caught as well.  Huge play!

Tanaka was outstanding!  I thought he was a little lucky against Minnesota, but also the bite on his splitter was better and his slider has been good as well.  Last night was the best he has pitched, maybe ever.  He was on the corners all day and the bite on his splitter was as good as we have ever seen it.  His slider was also good and was located great.  He didn't leave his fastball over the plate, even if he did throw a few higher than I would have liked (loses its effectiveness if it isn't close).  Tanaka now has an ERA of 1.32 in 7 postseason games (41 innings) and is now a record holder for not allowing more than 2 ER in any of those first 7 postseason starts (the records will get turned upside down with the bullpen starter now).  So why would Boone take Tanaka out when he was in full and complete control and had thrown only 68 pitches and had faced the minimum batters (18)?  In the 6th, Houston popped out weakly twice and struck out?  It was a bad decision that worked out, but that doesn't excuse the decision.  I am of the philosophy that the less they see us of our bullpen the less they can adjust and get used to them.  More important was that Tanaka was in complete control, not showing any negative signs, in fact, he might have been better.  Now, if you are so bold to say that he might use Tanaka in game 4 and game 7, I could see limiting him, but I thought he was a pitcher who liked his rest (I could be wrong)?  Anyway, rushing to pull Tanaka to get Ottavino in, who has not pitched well, was also surprising.  With the righty Springer up and the lefty Brantley you had two guys who are better against righties, followed by the two guys you would want Ottavino to face, Altuve and Bergman as they are lefty killers and Ottavino is so tough on righties.  So why not let Tanaka pitch to the first two batters and see what happens?  If you really felt like Tanaka might struggle, have a lefty (CC if he can pitch or Tyler Lyons) ready to face Brantley if Tanaka doesn't get Springer out and then bring Ottavino to face the two righties.  This was not thought out well but thankfully did not hurt us.

Some Notes:

• DJ made a bunch of scoops yesterday and had an excellent defensive game
• Didi and Gleyber had a mix up on a grounder up the middle on the SS side.  Allowing that single made it 1st and 3rd with one out and could have been a huge play if we didn't get a DP right after that.  I think it was Didi's fault, even if he thought Gleyber was playing up the middle more and was going to get it, why didn't Didi break harder to the bag?   
• Judge found another way to get the job done with a nice line drive catch and then making a strong and accurate throw to double up Bergman who didn't do a good job reading the play.  Judge is such a good defensive OF, saving a lot of bases/runs with his arm.
• EE bad game, he was not swinging at good fastball strikes and then striking out on a 3-2 count on a slider that wasn't close.  He wasn't swinging poorly, it was all his approach at the plate and if he was guessing, he guessed wrong almost every time.  He can flip the switch tonight!  
• Sanchez doesn't look good; getting the one hit on a very high and outside pitch that floated into CF
• Urshela seems to be getting the groove back with a line out to Bergman who made a great play and then homering to RF.  Stanton also had a single and a line HR to RC.
• This win was important though as Houston will throw Verlander and Cole 4 of the remaining games.  We will have to beat them at least once and tonight is as good a time as any!
• Loaisiga looked sharp with a fastball at 99 and then at 97 he had a lot of run/fade on his fastball.  If he can harness the control part of it he can be a big plus.
• Hicks being on the roster was very interesting.  I noted that it will be interesting to see if they use him as a defensive replacement and they did not.  That means that he is still not ready yet in their minds because they had their chance to give him a shot in a game with a lead and they chose not to use him.  A few more days may be needed for him, but our best defensive lineup is having him in CF and Gardner in LF.
• We have to beat Verlander or Cole at least once; let's get that out of the way tonight!

Game 3 Get Out The Broom!

Severino had good stuff including excellent movement on his slider.  The 2nd inning was an enormous inning in the game.  The Twins had bases loaded and nobody out and Sano was up.  This AB was a great one as the chess game was on.  Sano has great power but can be beat with high heat, but that also has a danger with a guy with his power.  After just missing with a fastball (close enough to call but was a ball), Seve threw a fastball for a strike and then missed with another close fastball before challenging him for a swinging strike (fastball).  Sano then fouled off a slider and 99 MPH fastball before taking a slider that looked like a strike, but showed a tiny bit low on the strike zone.  3-2 count bases loaded and nobody out, Seve got Sano to pop up on a 98 MPH fastball.  Seve then threw 4 straight sliders to Gonzalez to strike him out.  The part I thought was well done was on the last slider, Seve took a little off of it and threw it at 84 mph, most of his sliders were at 86-89 mph.  Now with 2 outs Jake Cave came up.  2 slider had the count at 1-1 followed by a fastball that Cave froze on.  At 1-2, Cave fouled off a tough fastball (98) up and in and then took a fastball (98) for a ball before being frozen on a slider (89) for a called 3rd strike.  HUGE sequence in the game!

Torres was a star hitting for 8 bases (2 doubles and a HR) while making an excellent play in the field (and another where he had a clunky, slide fielding the ball,  where he might have been able to throw the batter out at first if he slid as well as he did on his great play.)

Didi made a great diving catch to snare a line drive at another key spot in the 9th

Negative section:

Twins hit some hard balls and we centered too many pitches, but we were fortunate they were at people.  They flashed that the Twins hit 5 of the 6 hardest balls of the game and they hit at least one more after that.

Once again we had an injury and the player stayed in and possibly aggravated it.  Britton was hurt in the 7th and they left him in for the 8th where he allowed a solo HR and got an out before they took him out with a sore ankle.  They don't think it is anything serious and luckily we have until Saturday to rest it, but a sore ankle can be tricky.  I just don't get our logic and while you do what you have to in the playoffs, at that spot I would have yanked him.  Let Chapman go 2.  Once again Boone did not get much out of Ottavino, but you simply can't come in and walk a guy.

Judge was up in the 3rd inning with Urshela on 3rd base with one out and he had a 3-2 count before taking a 94 MPH fastball for a definite strike that wasn't even on the corner.  Judge is our best player, but sometimes his approach with 2 strikes baffles me as he takes so many called 3rd strikes.  I think he should look for more fastballs in those spots and adjust to the off-speed stuff.  With a guy on 3rd base and less than 2 outs, you need to do that even more.  BTW, Urshela was on 2nd base because of an awful play by the Twins LF, Cave, who dove at a ball he had no chance on and turned a single into a double and that ended up costing them a run as Gardner picked up Judge slapping a single down the line

Sanchez is struggling to center the ball as he missed many hittable pitches.  Hopefully, he can get it going. 

More positives:

Judge made a catch in the 8th that he might have been the only player who could have caught it.  An absolute bullet was hit to deep RC and he went back on it with a perfect angle and reached up extended his full 6' 8" frame and long arms to bring in that line drive.  Judge runs well but assuming another fast(er) person was in RF, I don't think any of them could have had the height to go up and get that ball.  Great play!

Maybin's HR in the 9th to tack on runs was huge. 

We outscored the Twins 23-7 in the 3 games!  Holding that offense to 7 runs in 3 games is a great job!


The next game is Saturday, hopefully at the Bronx against TB.  Otherwise, the battle most people expect, has the two best teams go at it.  No disrespect to other teams as anyone of them can win a series, but Houston and the Yankees are the two best teams in baseball; this matchup is the one people should want (but I am rooting for TB)

8 more wins to go!

Game 2 Minnesota Series

I wrote this early this morning and realized I never sent it...so here is some lunch reading...

First, one has to be impressed by our team and the response to "stepping it up" for the playoffs.  As usual, I am proud to be a Yankee fan and pleased with the team stepping up.

However, I think Minnesota played a pretty poor game.  They made some very questionable pitch selections and they missed some hittable pitches.  We had a great bottom of the 3rd, which was aided by terrible pitch selection and location.  Outside of the bottom of the 3rd, we were outscored 2-1.

Let's discuss the 3rd inning and the selection/location of pitches.

Judge: fastball pretty much down the middle hit for a single.

Gardner - two balls and a well spotted 2-0 pitch that Gardner fouled back followed by 2 more balls (although ball 3 was probably a strike)

Edwin - After 2 bad pitches, Edwin got a grooved fastball that he hit for a single to load the bases with nobody out.

After a pitching change

Stanton - Took 4 fastballs for a 2-2 count - he then swung at a breaking ball for a sac fly.

Nothing really poorly pitched in the Stanton AB although Stanton should have swung at one of the fastball strikes before swinging at a good breaking ball

Torres - Slider for a foul and a then swung at a borderline fastball.  0-2 count in a key spot in the game, I would expect a guy who throws 93 to use his good breaking ball, but instead, he threw a fastball right down the middle and Torres turned it around for a single making the score 3-0.

Sanchez was up and after 2 sliders that Sanchez took and waived at for another 0-2 count, they decided to go away with what works and throw a fastball inside and they hit Sanchez.

That brought up Didi, who, obviously, has not been swinging the bat well.  He has really struggled on pitches away and specifically, slow pitches away, but also hasn't been squaring too much either.  Anyway, after fouling back a fastball on a pitch right down the middle. Didi swung at a curve in the dirt.  0-2 count, this time they correctly threw another in the dirt but it was even worse and Didi barely held up.  At this point, I would have thrown a back door breaking ball and if it was a ball so be it, but they decided to throw a fastball that ended up right down the middle and Didi fouled it off.  Now is the time to go back to the breaking ball but instead they threw a fastball that was a high strike but Didi launched it for a grand slam.  I have no idea what they were thinking but it was very bad pitch selection and bad pitch location and we took advantage of it.

The above illustrates that with good pitch location and the right pitch selection, Torres would have struggled to get on and Sanchez was given an 0-2 gift followed by a mistake to Didi on the 4th pitch (fastball down the middle) that we didn't take advantage of.  Against Verlander or Cole you may get that one mistake, but you won't get 2+ mistakes (that is location and selection) in an AB very often.

I was happy to see Ursehla get 2 hits and Didi contribute.

I also don't want to discount the job Tanaka did.  He only walked one batter and the pen didn't walk anyone either.  Overall 1 walk and 14 k's was impressive.  Tanaka did a good job of not centering too many pitches and I thought he had a little extra bite on his pitches, specifically the breaking ball.  He did a good job of mixing speeds, locations, eye levels and movements.  He was a craft righty!

Let's end it tonight and move on!

9 more to go!

Game 1

This was an excellent game and not because we won (That just made it more enjoyable).  The final score was more of an indication that our bullpen was better than theirs.  However, the score was 3-3 going into the bottom of the 5^th and 5-4 going into the bottom of the 6^th.

What made this game great was that I could write a long time about almost every AB in the game.  It was truly a chess game of pitch selection, adjustments and usually very good pitches in excellent spots.  Both teams did a good job of controlling the strike zone at the plate and both teams made a lot of very good pitches.  How many times did you say to yourself, great pitch only to also compliment the batter for holding off on swinging at that 1-2 pitch that was just off the plate? 

The game started with the Yankees seeming to just miss in a lot of areas.  We just missed 2 HR’s, Judge just missed catching the HR to RF which beat him to the wall (not his fault), Stanton just barely missed beating the broken bat throw from 3^rd base with 2 outs and Stanton just missed a line drive into left and it ended up a double We also had 2 doubles with a man on 1^st and less than 2 outs and missed scoring in each of those times. 

The Stanton play is one to dissect as we had 2^nd and 3^rd and 2 outs and he had a 3-0 count on him.  I am not a huge fan in giving the 3-0 green light when there is an open base at 1B as the pitcher should not just groove one.  Further, it was the first swing of the night for Stanton and he saw a fastball and 2 curves all for balls.  Of course, the decision to swing was exacerbated by a pitch that was pretty inside and he sawed off Stanton bat for a bleeder to 3^rd that highlighted how Stanton is not 100% running.  Stanton is not slow and he labored down the line and was just barely out.  If he got out of the box faster or even if were later in the game and had a “lather” going he probably beats that out even with him not at 100%.  Poor decision and it didn’t work.  Stanton is the one to blame for that as the green light doesn’t mean you have to swing.  BTW, Stanton was up with 2 man on base 3 times; he walked the other two times and then added another walk leading off the inning.

Paxton pitched OK, the Twins did a good job taking advantage of his mistakes and the big one was the 0-2 pitch to Cruz, you simply can’t catch that much of the plate on an 0-2 count.  Overall, you have to credit the Twins hitters as they were able to not swing at some very tough pitches.

The part of the game that I didn’t understand and I am not sure if Boone addressed it, but I didn’t like the way he handled the Ottavino, Kahnle, Green grouping in the middle of the game.  There is a man on 2^nd and 2 outs, Paxton had thrown about 80 pitches and Polanco, who had homered off Paxton was coming up.  This is not a lot of pitches so you either allow Paxton to stay out there as he was still throwing fine or you take him out before facing Polanco.  The Yankees were looking at the stats, as they should, and Polanco has an OPS of .891 against righties and .728 against lefties.  This is part of the chess game where you have to ask yourself whether the fact the guy hit a HR off your pitcher that day is more important than a season of stats?  I am not going to go crazy over the decision, but I was watching the game with a friend and we questioned why not take him out right there and go to Kahnle (Polanco is a switch hitter).  Ottavino was up and ended up being brought in AFTER Paxton allowed a single to tie the game at 3.  After Ottavino walked Cruz after being up 0-2 (made bad pitches to go 3-2 and if he would have thrown the 3-2 slider on 1-2 or 2-2 Cruz would have chased it but after seeing so many he was able to hold up his swing and walk.  Ottavino was then out of the game for Kahnle.  Using Ottavino for one batter in a situation that was a guy on 1b and 2 outs didn’t make sense to me.  As it turned out we only got 1.1 innings out of all 3 of them including Green.  Poor use of the pen there

Like I said earlier I could go through so many AB’s, but the one AB to go through is the Torres AB in the 5^th.  Bases are loaded with 2 outs and Torres is up against Duffey who came in and struck out Edwin on 3 pitches and then walked Stanton on 4 pitches.  Last AB Torres was also up with the bases loaded and he swung at a low changeup and grounded into what should have been a double play but Minnesota botched it.  Torres swung at the first pitch again and fouled it straight back.  After being all over the fastball, I think he was expecting a breaking ball and Duffy threw another fastball for a strike.  Down 0-2, Torres took some tough pitches including a 2-2 pitch that was just off the plate.  He showed some great discipline and then fouled off a slider for the 6^th pitch of the AB before ripping a 2 run double!

Sanchez who did not look good at the plate at all, swinging at balls and taking strikes while also missing very hittable pitches struck out to end that inning.

Some other quick notes:

Gardner hit a HR and you have to feel great for the guy.  I have been the biggest supporter of Gardner and always defended him to others and felt he was very underrated as well as the best defensive LF in the game for many years.  That being said, who would have thought he would be batting 3^rd and playing CF for us in the playoffs in what many felt was his final year?

Gregorius did walk, but he still has looked poor at the plate.  The bat path has not been sharp to the ball.  He could hit a HR and still pop out the other 3 AB’s.

Urshela did not finish the year well and he continued to struggle hitting the ball weakly all 4 times.

Edwin being in the lineup was a huge plus.  Even when he K’d he was on the ball; that is huge for us.  2 doubles were very important

Can’t get through this blog without talking about DJ.  Yeah he dropped a pop up that was pathetic, but 3 hits a double clearing the bases and a solo HR at the plate!  BTW, I am convinced it was the 1B glove that screwed him up there.

How about big 99?  2 diving catches and a bullet single to go along with 2 walks!

Sanchez had an excellent block and then a poor passed ball…he is better, but don’t be lazy and don’t leave your throwing hand out in the open as he just missed getting hit again.  Oh, he also made a nice play on a swinging bunt.

I am really happy the way we swung the bats (and didn’t swing at too many bad pitches.  Need to get Didi and Urshela going; I would not play Didi against a lefty and I would try Voit, you could also try Voit and rest Urshela, but one thing at a time.

A few other points:

·         I loved not having the box when watching the game; it was so awesome to see the entire catcher/strike zone without something superimposed.  That being said, I don’t know why they don’t show the replay almost every single time with the box???  That is what I would do.

·         Smoltz is really good, he is kind of like Cone with a little less comedy.

·         I am not sure why the Yankees didn’t ask 1B for help on the Judge called foul ball?  He didn’t touch it and Boone should have asked for help (can’t challenge).  I believe it is treated differently than a checked swing which can’t be overruled.  The ball tipped the catcher’s glove and then went off his shin pad so the ump thought the tip was the ba

t

·         The ump did a pretty good job, the one really bad call was a low pitch to Stanton

10 more to go!

Time to Step Up!

Before I get into anything else, I want to go into injuries and the head-scratching decision to keep players in the game after their injuries.  This happened many times during the season and it really showed a lack of long term thinking.  Toward the end of the year, it continued where Torres, Edwin and Urshela were all injured and they decided to leave the players in the game only to take them out an inning or two later.  It made no sense and really bubbled up to me when Torres had his leg buckle and he stretched his hamstring (it looks worse) and they left him in the game???  You take him out immediately and get it checked out.  Urshela got his in the hand; you take him out and ice that immediately; this was not a playoff game.  With all the injuries, I have to question our medical staff and they obviously deserve scrutiny; but I also think Boone needs to lead and don’t let the player decide, you take them out!  We missed over 2000 player games because of injuries; that is absurd!

 OK, on to the playoffs.

First, the past doesn’t matter.  I have heard people talk about how we handle the Twins (we have won 13 of 15 postseason series), but none of that matters now.  I wish we were in a different place, I had visions of Betances and Severino being some key pieces for us, but while we have Severino, we lost German (our big winner) and Betances.  We are still without Hicks who in many ways was the hardest for us to replace and we will now hope that Gardner can keep his magic going.  We lose defense in CF and depth and will need Maybin as well.  Didi has not swung the bat well and Urshela and DJ have cooled down.  Voit goes into the postseason lost, Edwin goes in cold and Sanchez combines both of those situations. 

I don’t like how we are going in, but perhaps the rest will be good.  We still have a ton of talent and while everyone needs to step up (#NextManUp) it would be great if Stanton can step up.  He should be in a pretty good place right now.  Judge was not swinging well either toward the end and he is a huge difference-maker for us.

As for pitching, it was not pleasing to see Paxton leave his last start with irritation in his left glute and because it will be col, that is concerning; we need him!  Everyone else should be pretty good and our bullpen is incredibly deep.  As I wrote before, we could give everyone an inning or 2 and have nothing but excellent pitchers go through the 9 innings.  Overall, our pitching is better than the Twins, specifically our bullpen and that is our advantage.

Minnesota is great on the road, they were the only team to win 50 games on the road this year and they won 55 (lost 26).  They were actually better on the road than at home.  The Yankees won 57 at home to give you some perspective and only two other teams had more wins at home than the Twins had on the road.

These are two evenly matched teams and while I was disappointed that we do not hold the record for most home runs in a season, we are still very talented and even injured, very deep.  Anything can happen in any series and just as Houston may lose, so can we.  The Twins have a great lineup and they can hit all pitches, I was very impressed with their team and their hitting approach.  Either team could win games by a lot and just looking at that 14-12 game at Target Field as an example of how an 8-2 lead isn’t safe, yet it took a diving catch by Hicks in CF to win that game.   It is a little silly to write, but we have to play up to our capability and in my view if both teams do that, we will win.

   

Now we just have to win 11 more games and we are champs.  11 more!