Saturday, July 10, 2010
The Genius Maker - A Must Watch
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/06/29/magazine/rivera-pitches.html?ref=baseball
The Genius Maker #72
Seattle has a pretty weak hitting team. While Hughes had a solid fastball last night (generally 94-95 even though he hit 96 a couple times), his command of the fastball was not great as he missed his target often. Posada called a great game as there were about 5 times where I was adamant about what to throw and Posada did it 4 of the times. The one he didn't happened to be the double knocking in their only run. I wanted nothing but fastballs as the batter swung through 3 fastballs in his 1st AB and took one for a strike before Hughes threw a cutter that was hit for the double. It was still a fastball, but it didn't have the extra 5 MPH that the batter was struggling with. Hughes cutter also did not have greta movement.
The Yankee starting pitching has allowed more than 1 run only once on this west coast trip...and that was when Burnett allowed 2. Weak hitting teams or not, that is impressive. This is the 1st time since 2002 that the Yanks have allowed 2 runs or less in 5 straight games.
Teixeira (now on base in 30 straight games) and Cano were the offense tonight as Cano had a huge 2 out triple and Tex had 2 dingers. Tex's OPS is now above .800 for the year and not that far behind ARod's .839. Posada's OPS is down to .837 as the hand injury has impacted his swing. When you look mostly at ARod, Tex, Jeter (.730) and Granderson's poor OPS (.713) it shows you how good our starting pitching has been, along with the Genius Maker. The only player really playing above where you could have thought is Swisher with his .910 OPS. I also think our defense is really good with Gardner in LF as he seems to get to a ball I am not so sure an average speed guy would get to every couple of games. Add him to Tex and Cano and our defense is solid. The middle relief has been shaky, but overall only TB in the AL has allowed less runs than us. Our offense is 2nd only to Boston in runs scored which shows you how much better we could do offensively. I think it is reasonable to project our offense to be the #1 scoring offense when the season ends.
Finalizing my thought on the Lee trade
Justin Smoak was the key player Seattle got from Texas. he is only 23 so it is hard to make a good judgment on the guy and honestly I have never seen him swing (or concentrated on him), but in full time action this year, he has an underwhelming OPS of .669 OPS. The guy may be awesome, but I am not so sure our package wasn't better. For perspective we are making judgments on Colin Curtis (25) and Pena who will be 25 in a about a week. So he is about a 1.5 behind our guys, which can be a lot at that age, but Montero looks like he could be a huge hitter and at a premium position (he could always move to 1st). Baseball America rankings:
Justin Smoak #13
Jesus Montero #4
Kind of interesting, but perhaps we were saved if we can sign Lee next year and then still have our prospects. i respect Cashman for putting a stake in the ground and giving up more, but having Lee and the player we were supposed to move Javy for would have made us better. Texas now has 2 good lefties they could throw at us and while our team OPS is slightly better against lefties, I think we are a little more vulnerable to lefties (I guess that is more of a prediction that flies in the face of the stats).
The Yankee starting pitching has allowed more than 1 run only once on this west coast trip...and that was when Burnett allowed 2. Weak hitting teams or not, that is impressive. This is the 1st time since 2002 that the Yanks have allowed 2 runs or less in 5 straight games.
Teixeira (now on base in 30 straight games) and Cano were the offense tonight as Cano had a huge 2 out triple and Tex had 2 dingers. Tex's OPS is now above .800 for the year and not that far behind ARod's .839. Posada's OPS is down to .837 as the hand injury has impacted his swing. When you look mostly at ARod, Tex, Jeter (.730) and Granderson's poor OPS (.713) it shows you how good our starting pitching has been, along with the Genius Maker. The only player really playing above where you could have thought is Swisher with his .910 OPS. I also think our defense is really good with Gardner in LF as he seems to get to a ball I am not so sure an average speed guy would get to every couple of games. Add him to Tex and Cano and our defense is solid. The middle relief has been shaky, but overall only TB in the AL has allowed less runs than us. Our offense is 2nd only to Boston in runs scored which shows you how much better we could do offensively. I think it is reasonable to project our offense to be the #1 scoring offense when the season ends.
Finalizing my thought on the Lee trade
Justin Smoak was the key player Seattle got from Texas. he is only 23 so it is hard to make a good judgment on the guy and honestly I have never seen him swing (or concentrated on him), but in full time action this year, he has an underwhelming OPS of .669 OPS. The guy may be awesome, but I am not so sure our package wasn't better. For perspective we are making judgments on Colin Curtis (25) and Pena who will be 25 in a about a week. So he is about a 1.5 behind our guys, which can be a lot at that age, but Montero looks like he could be a huge hitter and at a premium position (he could always move to 1st). Baseball America rankings:
Justin Smoak #13
Jesus Montero #4
Kind of interesting, but perhaps we were saved if we can sign Lee next year and then still have our prospects. i respect Cashman for putting a stake in the ground and giving up more, but having Lee and the player we were supposed to move Javy for would have made us better. Texas now has 2 good lefties they could throw at us and while our team OPS is slightly better against lefties, I think we are a little more vulnerable to lefties (I guess that is more of a prediction that flies in the face of the stats).
Friday, July 9, 2010
Possible Cliff Lee Trade
I received a few texts today regarding the Yankee deal with Cliff Lee was imminent. I also saw the Yanks deal with the Mariners was on the 1 yard line. I guess we need a new goal line back...
I am torn as I always feel a little odd as the team with the highest payroll to go out and grab a guy like this, however, he is a difference maker and Texas just became a huge threat. That being said, we should just outbid everyone for him next year...within reason. While Lee has been dominant after his minor league assignment a few years ago, he is not a spring chicken and will be 32 next month. So how long of a deal can you give him? Maybe you give him a 4 year deal? Either way, maybe this was all a ploy to get the Mariners to deal him today so that Lee won't pitch against us tonight and to ensure TB or Boston didn't get him? If so, great job. I would like to add another righty stick to PH or platoon with Granderson and/or Gardner.
The other part of this is that Texas should have locked up the their division with this move. They were already the best team in the division and this just ended it barring some huge injuries. Texas made a great move signing Guerrero for only 5.5 mil dollars as he has been an excellent DH this year (OPS of .933).
I am torn as I always feel a little odd as the team with the highest payroll to go out and grab a guy like this, however, he is a difference maker and Texas just became a huge threat. That being said, we should just outbid everyone for him next year...within reason. While Lee has been dominant after his minor league assignment a few years ago, he is not a spring chicken and will be 32 next month. So how long of a deal can you give him? Maybe you give him a 4 year deal? Either way, maybe this was all a ploy to get the Mariners to deal him today so that Lee won't pitch against us tonight and to ensure TB or Boston didn't get him? If so, great job. I would like to add another righty stick to PH or platoon with Granderson and/or Gardner.
The other part of this is that Texas should have locked up the their division with this move. They were already the best team in the division and this just ended it barring some huge injuries. Texas made a great move signing Guerrero for only 5.5 mil dollars as he has been an excellent DH this year (OPS of .933).
The Genius Maker #71
These west coast games are rough on sleeping...
The good part is that this game went very quickly because Pettitte shut down the weak hitting Mariner lineup and our lineup got a lot of hits, but didn't string enough of them for a decent inning.
The difference in the game is that they have Aardsma and we have the Genius Maker and that is about it.
Swisher was the man on offense. Fresh off his buzz from finding out he made the All Star team, Swish was 4-4 with a key double in the 9th inning which was followed by Captain Clutch (ARod) knocking in 2 runs with 2 outs after Tex popped up with men on 2nd and 3rd and 1 out.
I have to knock Jeter on a few items.
Each SS had a mirror play on a ball in the hole where they grabbed the ball and threw to 2nd to start a DP. The Seattle SS got in front of the ball, planted and immediately threw while Jeter couldn't get in front of it so he had to jump on throw. They completed the DP and we didn't and Cano had a better turn than Figgins. Jeter also missed a line drive up the middle where he didn't get off the ground; he just looks a step slow everywhere to me. In fact, he has to be the only leadoff hitter in baseball where the pitchers don't even throw over when he leads off a 1-1 tie in the 9th getting on base and the threat of a steal isn't even there.
I also think he has way too much movement at the plate. Jeter's OPS is now below .750 and his slug is below .400.
Other notes:
Gardner made a really big play by getting over on a single and throwing out Ichiro at 3rd base. Ichiro was on 1st with nobody out and after the single Gardner cut it off and threw a strike to Pena who made a good tag. That was a huge play because instead of 1st and 3rd with nobody out it was man on 1st with 1 out. Good thing Gardner played very well in the field because he had a terrible batting day (0-4 with 3 K's)
ARod made a good running play getting to 3rd base with nobody out on the 8th by getting a good jump on a ball in the dirt and their catcher Bard didn't block the ball well. ARod ended up scoring the tying run at the time
Andy is 11-2 with a crazy 2.70 ERA!
Boston is 5 games out!!!!
The good part is that this game went very quickly because Pettitte shut down the weak hitting Mariner lineup and our lineup got a lot of hits, but didn't string enough of them for a decent inning.
The difference in the game is that they have Aardsma and we have the Genius Maker and that is about it.
Swisher was the man on offense. Fresh off his buzz from finding out he made the All Star team, Swish was 4-4 with a key double in the 9th inning which was followed by Captain Clutch (ARod) knocking in 2 runs with 2 outs after Tex popped up with men on 2nd and 3rd and 1 out.
I have to knock Jeter on a few items.
Each SS had a mirror play on a ball in the hole where they grabbed the ball and threw to 2nd to start a DP. The Seattle SS got in front of the ball, planted and immediately threw while Jeter couldn't get in front of it so he had to jump on throw. They completed the DP and we didn't and Cano had a better turn than Figgins. Jeter also missed a line drive up the middle where he didn't get off the ground; he just looks a step slow everywhere to me. In fact, he has to be the only leadoff hitter in baseball where the pitchers don't even throw over when he leads off a 1-1 tie in the 9th getting on base and the threat of a steal isn't even there.
I also think he has way too much movement at the plate. Jeter's OPS is now below .750 and his slug is below .400.
Other notes:
Gardner made a really big play by getting over on a single and throwing out Ichiro at 3rd base. Ichiro was on 1st with nobody out and after the single Gardner cut it off and threw a strike to Pena who made a good tag. That was a huge play because instead of 1st and 3rd with nobody out it was man on 1st with 1 out. Good thing Gardner played very well in the field because he had a terrible batting day (0-4 with 3 K's)
ARod made a good running play getting to 3rd base with nobody out on the 8th by getting a good jump on a ball in the dirt and their catcher Bard didn't block the ball well. ARod ended up scoring the tying run at the time
Andy is 11-2 with a crazy 2.70 ERA!
Boston is 5 games out!!!!
Thursday, July 8, 2010
The Genius Maker #70
Break out the brooms! The Yanks are a season high 22 games above .500!
Burnett did not throw particularly great, but I was very happy to see he and Cervelli work in the change up and Cervelli called it at smart times. I little more disparity than 4 MPH would be better, but it was still very effective.
The Yanks rested Granderson instead of Gardner against the lefty and Gardner had a good game offensively as well as making a real nice running catch to LC on a ball tailing away from him that I am not sure if Granderson would have gotten to (maybe). Granderson did come in later for defensive purposes (correctly) and got a weak jump on a ball and let one drop in front of him that Gardner might have been able to get.
Teixeira put an exclamation point on a 5 run 4th inning with a 3 run bomb to keep his streak of reaching base intact.
ARod dropped a pop up by overrunning it in the vast foul territory; he has never been that comfortable on pop ups and I can only hope he gets back in a groove of catching them so it doesn't become mental. He is better at a reaction position like 3rd and he has been playing very well there of late, but the pop ups give a person a lot of time. ARod seems to catch the ball in front of face too much instead of off to the side more IMO. In this case he kept looking to the stands and took his eye off the ball and overran it.
Marte has been doing better of late. The key to him is throwing strikes as he is not too easy to hit when he is ahead in the count. Overall he has allowed only 10 hits in 17.2 innings (great), but he has allowed 11 walks (awful). The OPS against him is .580 though so he has been effective. Overall, lefties have an OPS of .468 hitting only .146 with a .200 OBP and a .268 slug. As I have said last year, being the only lefty (usually), he is a key component of the bullpen, especially as we get to the playoffs.
Pena got 2 his first 2 hits of the year against a lefty!!! The Yanks rested Cano so that he could play in the All Star game...OK, maybe they just wanted to give him a rest, but you know how I feel. I was happy to hear that he will not partake in the HR derby as that screws up guys swings. However, they said it was due to a stiff back; that is not good. The same news was about Rivera who they said had a stiff knee...hopefully they are just being smart.
TB beat the banged up Red Sox again
Burnett did not throw particularly great, but I was very happy to see he and Cervelli work in the change up and Cervelli called it at smart times. I little more disparity than 4 MPH would be better, but it was still very effective.
The Yanks rested Granderson instead of Gardner against the lefty and Gardner had a good game offensively as well as making a real nice running catch to LC on a ball tailing away from him that I am not sure if Granderson would have gotten to (maybe). Granderson did come in later for defensive purposes (correctly) and got a weak jump on a ball and let one drop in front of him that Gardner might have been able to get.
Teixeira put an exclamation point on a 5 run 4th inning with a 3 run bomb to keep his streak of reaching base intact.
ARod dropped a pop up by overrunning it in the vast foul territory; he has never been that comfortable on pop ups and I can only hope he gets back in a groove of catching them so it doesn't become mental. He is better at a reaction position like 3rd and he has been playing very well there of late, but the pop ups give a person a lot of time. ARod seems to catch the ball in front of face too much instead of off to the side more IMO. In this case he kept looking to the stands and took his eye off the ball and overran it.
Marte has been doing better of late. The key to him is throwing strikes as he is not too easy to hit when he is ahead in the count. Overall he has allowed only 10 hits in 17.2 innings (great), but he has allowed 11 walks (awful). The OPS against him is .580 though so he has been effective. Overall, lefties have an OPS of .468 hitting only .146 with a .200 OBP and a .268 slug. As I have said last year, being the only lefty (usually), he is a key component of the bullpen, especially as we get to the playoffs.
Pena got 2 his first 2 hits of the year against a lefty!!! The Yanks rested Cano so that he could play in the All Star game...OK, maybe they just wanted to give him a rest, but you know how I feel. I was happy to hear that he will not partake in the HR derby as that screws up guys swings. However, they said it was due to a stiff back; that is not good. The same news was about Rivera who they said had a stiff knee...hopefully they are just being smart.
TB beat the banged up Red Sox again
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
The Genius Maker #69
This game was the ARod and CC show. CC had the best fastball he has had all year. He was consistently 95 MPH and hit 96 at times. Oakland's huge stadium and weak hitting lineup made it a very good matchup for minimizing runs. Meanwhile, ARod, by himself knocked in more runs against the Oakland starting pitcher than he has allowed in any game this year. ARod did it on a Grand Slam and a solo homer. The GS was particularly enjoyable because it came after the inning was extended because Gardner got down to 2nd base blazing fast and caused the turn to be delayed allowing Jeter to NOT hit into a DP. Then Tex got hit by a pitch (when he was down in the count) and ARod followed with his bomb on a 3-1 pitch. This was a classic example of how important the count is. On the 2-1 pitch, ARod checked his swing on a curve in the dirt and by controlling himself, got the count in his favor where the pitcher (Cahill)had to give in and he crushed it. He would not have seen that pitch on 2-2. Cahill is a pitcher that has really good movement on his pitches and ARod was the man last night.
Tex made a really good play on pop up that would have been out of play in every other stadium in the league. He went a long way and stuck out his glove near the stands.
TB beat Boston again
Tex made a really good play on pop up that would have been out of play in every other stadium in the league. He went a long way and stuck out his glove near the stands.
TB beat Boston again
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
The Genius Maker #68
I hate the Oakland camera; tough to judge the strike zone and the movement.
Javy pitched a very good game today. The run support for him has not been good. The stat I saw was he had about 3.5 runs/game while others were in the 7's and 6's. That is a huge reason why the wins and losses are what they are. i think Burnett's was about 4.5. (UPDATED with correct numbers: Hughes 7.7 r/g, CC and Pettitte 6.1 and AJ was 4.4)
The Yanks only scored 3 runs, but Tex got a homer and has continued to swing better. unfortunately ARod and Jeter have not. Jeter is moving far more than he ever has and he could use some of the Swisher non movement techniques to help out.
Joba was throwing 95-97 so that was good to see and the Genius Maker got the job done even though the movement didn't seem very good.
Teixeira odd stats- he has an OPS of 1.025 in the day and .701 at night under the lights. That is a surprisingly huge discrepancy.
There are some rumors the Yanks are looking at Ty Wiggington. I don't see any reason to get Wiggington unless we give up nothing for him and take on his contract. Over his last 100 AB's this year his OPS is barely above .500. Now I know he started off hot (over .900 OPS over the first 170 AB's of the year) but his overall OPS is .776 this year and he doesn't have a platoon advantage that is strong this year (actually is better against righties this year). Pena has a better glove and at 24 I would rather let him play well against righties and if we need someone else try Russo against lefties. Now if I knew one of our infielders would be injured that is a different story as I would think Wiggington would be a better every day option than Pena, but I don't want to make that assumption otherwise we should trade for Cliff Lee assuming one of starters will go down. Last Year Wiggington had an OPS of .714 playing in Baltimore. The slump he is in right now scares me away a little but his overall OPS of .770 is about what you would expect from him because it is more in line with his career numbers than last year which was a big drop off. Maybe at 32 he is aging faster than most, but either way, I don't like the fit.
Javy pitched a very good game today. The run support for him has not been good. The stat I saw was he had about 3.5 runs/game while others were in the 7's and 6's. That is a huge reason why the wins and losses are what they are. i think Burnett's was about 4.5. (UPDATED with correct numbers: Hughes 7.7 r/g, CC and Pettitte 6.1 and AJ was 4.4)
The Yanks only scored 3 runs, but Tex got a homer and has continued to swing better. unfortunately ARod and Jeter have not. Jeter is moving far more than he ever has and he could use some of the Swisher non movement techniques to help out.
Joba was throwing 95-97 so that was good to see and the Genius Maker got the job done even though the movement didn't seem very good.
Teixeira odd stats- he has an OPS of 1.025 in the day and .701 at night under the lights. That is a surprisingly huge discrepancy.
There are some rumors the Yanks are looking at Ty Wiggington. I don't see any reason to get Wiggington unless we give up nothing for him and take on his contract. Over his last 100 AB's this year his OPS is barely above .500. Now I know he started off hot (over .900 OPS over the first 170 AB's of the year) but his overall OPS is .776 this year and he doesn't have a platoon advantage that is strong this year (actually is better against righties this year). Pena has a better glove and at 24 I would rather let him play well against righties and if we need someone else try Russo against lefties. Now if I knew one of our infielders would be injured that is a different story as I would think Wiggington would be a better every day option than Pena, but I don't want to make that assumption otherwise we should trade for Cliff Lee assuming one of starters will go down. Last Year Wiggington had an OPS of .714 playing in Baltimore. The slump he is in right now scares me away a little but his overall OPS of .770 is about what you would expect from him because it is more in line with his career numbers than last year which was a big drop off. Maybe at 32 he is aging faster than most, but either way, I don't like the fit.
Monday, July 5, 2010
The Genius Maker #67
I don't think I could be more frustrated in a win where we picked up a game on Boston.
10 reasons (no order):
1) 3 times we were thrown out at home plate (our 3rd base coach should lose his job, along with our sliding coach.
Actually, I was only mad at our 3rd base coach once out of the 3. However, that one was HORRIBLE! This is now at least the 6th time we have been thrown out at home with nobody out and it killed a rally. There was/is no excuse for that. The other 2 were chances that I thought were fine to take as they took very good throws and good blocking by Molina along with a terrible slide by Teixera. I have been very critical of the Yankees sliding past home plate and then touching the plater rather than going in straight and hard into home plate. For the record, Swisher twice did what I like, however, I am talking about when you beat the throw. The time to go around the guy is when you are beat and you need to try and resort to trickery. Tex had the throw beat by plenty and decided to fore-go either running Molina over or sliding straight in in which he would have been definitely safe. He blew that play. As of for Swisher, one play he went right in on a play that Molina did about as good a job as possible blocking the plate as the ball got there in time where he could drop a knee down (MUCH stronger) and Swisher was stood up for a split second which was enough for Molina to get the tag down. There wasn't too much for Swisher to do there (Except be a little faster).
2) Posada got hurt
He took a foul ball off his glove hand ring finger. It is a sprain and he should be OK, but any finger can hurt the swing and even the catch.
3) Scoring decisions like the double to ARod yesterday and the Gardner homer.
The scoring is really messed up as the scorers usually use the silly rule that if you get your glove on it you should catch it. Arod's "double" the other day should have been an out, yet it was lost in the sun. Isn't that an error; somewhere you lost site of the ball and while you can't control items like that, the player does not deserve a hit. Gardner hit a fly out that should have gotten Morrow out of the inning, but it was lost in the sun and he got an inside the park "homer." I agree with Kay on this one as I have always felt there should be a team error so the integrity of the pitchers ERA and the batters OPS should remain intact. Just a pet peeve of mine.
4) An inconsistent home plate ump
This always frustrated me and it had an impact throughout the game. Probably didn't help either team more than the other, but it is frustrating
5) The Genius Maker blows a save
The ump did not give Mo the benefit of 2 calls that would have bailed him out (others were worse that weer called strikes), but Mo did not have good movement or control so allowing only one run was not so bad...but frustrating
6) Poor pitch selection
Hughes did not throw the change or cutter enough. Robertson threw too many fastballs...again. I thought Mo should have tailed the fastball in a couple times, but overall I was a little frustrated at the pitch selection. To be fair, after a bunch of time where it hurt us, Robertson did throw yet another fastball to Molina when he struck him out. It was a hittable pitch that Molina was on, but he missed it, but it did end up being effective.
7) Hughes Struggling again after skipping his turn
More on Hughes in number 10
8) I didn't like Girardi's decision to bunt Cervelli in the 10th inning with a lefty on the mound and Granderson coming up (followed by Gardner). I was less concerned about Gardner, but when are the Yankees going to realize what i said at the beginning of the year and that is Granderson is not good against lefties and should be platooned. The Yankees need a bench player to come off and bat for Granderson in those spots.
9) The ongoing struggles of Granderson
To continue the last point, Granderson has been looking worse of late. Obviously, a .704 OPS is terrible for him, but it is the fact that the Yanks have allowed him to get about 40% of his AB's against lefties. I will find my quote, but at the beginning of the year I said something about the sooner the Yanks realize that he should be platooned the better we will be. Even struggling his is still a really good hitter against righties. As bad as he has been his OPS is .842 and while it should be over .900 he is still effective against righties.
10) All Star Game
This has been something I wanted to write about for awhile, but why do we want our players in the All Star game? I don't! I want our players to get the rest they need so they don't need to miss games when it matters! Why do we want the team to be weaker because of the All Star game? I will be pissed if Hughes throws an out in the All Star game. he misses a start and sucks for 2 starts after just so he can play in the All Star game? What the heck are we resting our guys for? I never vote for the Yankees as I want them to get their rest. never understood this phenomenon. BTW, it cost the team money when they go to the All Star game as either they pay a bonus or they will have more leverage in contract negotiations.
On a positive note, the Yanks gutted out a win and Thames came off the bench to deliver the game winning hit. the Yanks need more specialist like him to help us out. We need a blazing fast guy to pinch run and guys who can come off the bench and do real well against a lefty or righty (platoon bench guy). Granderson needs to be sat down against any lefty in a key spot. ARod made a very heads up play in the top of the 10th allowing a pop up bunt to drop when the batter didn't run, but what surprised me was that he looked to 3rd first and almost didn't get the runner at 2nd before completing the DP. Why did he look to 3rd base first? Didn't he know what defense they were in and that nobody would be at 3rd base? He almost didn't get the guy at 2nd base and that could have been disastrous. It was a heads up play by ARod and a bad play by Encarnacion to not run.
Cano really missed some very hittable pitches in this game...Hopefully he will right the ship.
Gardner has really been playing excellent defense in LF. I still think he should be in CF and Granderson should be in LF. Maybe once the Yanks realize that our every day player is Gardner and not Granderson, they will make that switch?
10 reasons (no order):
1) 3 times we were thrown out at home plate (our 3rd base coach should lose his job, along with our sliding coach.
Actually, I was only mad at our 3rd base coach once out of the 3. However, that one was HORRIBLE! This is now at least the 6th time we have been thrown out at home with nobody out and it killed a rally. There was/is no excuse for that. The other 2 were chances that I thought were fine to take as they took very good throws and good blocking by Molina along with a terrible slide by Teixera. I have been very critical of the Yankees sliding past home plate and then touching the plater rather than going in straight and hard into home plate. For the record, Swisher twice did what I like, however, I am talking about when you beat the throw. The time to go around the guy is when you are beat and you need to try and resort to trickery. Tex had the throw beat by plenty and decided to fore-go either running Molina over or sliding straight in in which he would have been definitely safe. He blew that play. As of for Swisher, one play he went right in on a play that Molina did about as good a job as possible blocking the plate as the ball got there in time where he could drop a knee down (MUCH stronger) and Swisher was stood up for a split second which was enough for Molina to get the tag down. There wasn't too much for Swisher to do there (Except be a little faster).
2) Posada got hurt
He took a foul ball off his glove hand ring finger. It is a sprain and he should be OK, but any finger can hurt the swing and even the catch.
3) Scoring decisions like the double to ARod yesterday and the Gardner homer.
The scoring is really messed up as the scorers usually use the silly rule that if you get your glove on it you should catch it. Arod's "double" the other day should have been an out, yet it was lost in the sun. Isn't that an error; somewhere you lost site of the ball and while you can't control items like that, the player does not deserve a hit. Gardner hit a fly out that should have gotten Morrow out of the inning, but it was lost in the sun and he got an inside the park "homer." I agree with Kay on this one as I have always felt there should be a team error so the integrity of the pitchers ERA and the batters OPS should remain intact. Just a pet peeve of mine.
4) An inconsistent home plate ump
This always frustrated me and it had an impact throughout the game. Probably didn't help either team more than the other, but it is frustrating
5) The Genius Maker blows a save
The ump did not give Mo the benefit of 2 calls that would have bailed him out (others were worse that weer called strikes), but Mo did not have good movement or control so allowing only one run was not so bad...but frustrating
6) Poor pitch selection
Hughes did not throw the change or cutter enough. Robertson threw too many fastballs...again. I thought Mo should have tailed the fastball in a couple times, but overall I was a little frustrated at the pitch selection. To be fair, after a bunch of time where it hurt us, Robertson did throw yet another fastball to Molina when he struck him out. It was a hittable pitch that Molina was on, but he missed it, but it did end up being effective.
7) Hughes Struggling again after skipping his turn
More on Hughes in number 10
8) I didn't like Girardi's decision to bunt Cervelli in the 10th inning with a lefty on the mound and Granderson coming up (followed by Gardner). I was less concerned about Gardner, but when are the Yankees going to realize what i said at the beginning of the year and that is Granderson is not good against lefties and should be platooned. The Yankees need a bench player to come off and bat for Granderson in those spots.
9) The ongoing struggles of Granderson
To continue the last point, Granderson has been looking worse of late. Obviously, a .704 OPS is terrible for him, but it is the fact that the Yanks have allowed him to get about 40% of his AB's against lefties. I will find my quote, but at the beginning of the year I said something about the sooner the Yanks realize that he should be platooned the better we will be. Even struggling his is still a really good hitter against righties. As bad as he has been his OPS is .842 and while it should be over .900 he is still effective against righties.
10) All Star Game
This has been something I wanted to write about for awhile, but why do we want our players in the All Star game? I don't! I want our players to get the rest they need so they don't need to miss games when it matters! Why do we want the team to be weaker because of the All Star game? I will be pissed if Hughes throws an out in the All Star game. he misses a start and sucks for 2 starts after just so he can play in the All Star game? What the heck are we resting our guys for? I never vote for the Yankees as I want them to get their rest. never understood this phenomenon. BTW, it cost the team money when they go to the All Star game as either they pay a bonus or they will have more leverage in contract negotiations.
On a positive note, the Yanks gutted out a win and Thames came off the bench to deliver the game winning hit. the Yanks need more specialist like him to help us out. We need a blazing fast guy to pinch run and guys who can come off the bench and do real well against a lefty or righty (platoon bench guy). Granderson needs to be sat down against any lefty in a key spot. ARod made a very heads up play in the top of the 10th allowing a pop up bunt to drop when the batter didn't run, but what surprised me was that he looked to 3rd first and almost didn't get the runner at 2nd before completing the DP. Why did he look to 3rd base first? Didn't he know what defense they were in and that nobody would be at 3rd base? He almost didn't get the guy at 2nd base and that could have been disastrous. It was a heads up play by ARod and a bad play by Encarnacion to not run.
Cano really missed some very hittable pitches in this game...Hopefully he will right the ship.
Gardner has really been playing excellent defense in LF. I still think he should be in CF and Granderson should be in LF. Maybe once the Yanks realize that our every day player is Gardner and not Granderson, they will make that switch?
Friday, July 2, 2010
The Genius Maker #66
Burnett pitched pretty well; thank you Eiland. He was helped by Toronto struggling (Wells swinging at ball 4 was a big help early in the game) and a fairly wide strike zone, but he nailed some corners. He also worked in about 3-4 changeups.
However, this game was lost in 2 main spots.
1) Bottom of the 3rd inning and the Yanks are up 1-0. They have bases loaded and nobody out with ARod up. The pitcher is really struggling and falls behind ARod 2-0. With Cano and Posada on deck, this has the making of at least 2 runs and could be a lot more. 6 pitches later, both ARod and Cano have struck out and the entire game changed. Posada hit a hard grounder the 2nd baseman made a nice play on and we didn't score a run! Almost inexplicable. ARod deserves a lot of blame, but Cano didn't do well either.
2) 6th inning, still 1-0 and the Yanks have 1st and 2nd and nobody out with Cervelli up. This is a bunting situation! In fact it is almost the perfect bunting situation, only later in the game with the same score is it better. Instead Girardi allows Cervelli to hit into a DP that basically ended the inning. I was really ticked off.
A few other notes:
*Joba was not sharp, but I am getting tired of so many 3 ball sliders that could be walks if the batters lay off the pitch...THROW STRIKES! I don't care about a strikeout, I want an out!
*Cervelli has had a lot of troubles throwing of late (and what should have been a passed ball or 2). Today he threw one away as he bounced it, but he has not thrown well of late. i am not sure of the numbers, but I bet you they are not good of late. Also, I hated his pitch selection with Robertson. How is it possible that Robertson threw 20 pitches and they were all fastballs until finally throwing a curve when the guy was bunting? The Yanks were lucky to get out of the 10th inning the way Robertson was hit. In the 11th, Robertson hung an 0-2 curve for a single and that was a huge pitch.
*Losing in extra innings always stinks, but I am more concerned with the offense not doing a good job. They should be better.
*Granderson is not good against lefties and while he is a pretty good CF'r, as I stated at the beginning of the year, I think Gardner should be in CF. Gardner made a fantastic catch earlier in the game and I also think he has more range in CF and might have caught 2 balls that Granderson did not get to in the past 2 games.
*The Genius Maker was not sharp, but worked out of allowing 1 hit. he could have gotten out of the inning with a DP if Jeter wasn't so slow on getting the ball to Cano. I think it was the right move letting Rivera only throw the one inning.
However, this game was lost in 2 main spots.
1) Bottom of the 3rd inning and the Yanks are up 1-0. They have bases loaded and nobody out with ARod up. The pitcher is really struggling and falls behind ARod 2-0. With Cano and Posada on deck, this has the making of at least 2 runs and could be a lot more. 6 pitches later, both ARod and Cano have struck out and the entire game changed. Posada hit a hard grounder the 2nd baseman made a nice play on and we didn't score a run! Almost inexplicable. ARod deserves a lot of blame, but Cano didn't do well either.
2) 6th inning, still 1-0 and the Yanks have 1st and 2nd and nobody out with Cervelli up. This is a bunting situation! In fact it is almost the perfect bunting situation, only later in the game with the same score is it better. Instead Girardi allows Cervelli to hit into a DP that basically ended the inning. I was really ticked off.
A few other notes:
*Joba was not sharp, but I am getting tired of so many 3 ball sliders that could be walks if the batters lay off the pitch...THROW STRIKES! I don't care about a strikeout, I want an out!
*Cervelli has had a lot of troubles throwing of late (and what should have been a passed ball or 2). Today he threw one away as he bounced it, but he has not thrown well of late. i am not sure of the numbers, but I bet you they are not good of late. Also, I hated his pitch selection with Robertson. How is it possible that Robertson threw 20 pitches and they were all fastballs until finally throwing a curve when the guy was bunting? The Yanks were lucky to get out of the 10th inning the way Robertson was hit. In the 11th, Robertson hung an 0-2 curve for a single and that was a huge pitch.
*Losing in extra innings always stinks, but I am more concerned with the offense not doing a good job. They should be better.
*Granderson is not good against lefties and while he is a pretty good CF'r, as I stated at the beginning of the year, I think Gardner should be in CF. Gardner made a fantastic catch earlier in the game and I also think he has more range in CF and might have caught 2 balls that Granderson did not get to in the past 2 games.
*The Genius Maker was not sharp, but worked out of allowing 1 hit. he could have gotten out of the inning with a DP if Jeter wasn't so slow on getting the ball to Cano. I think it was the right move letting Rivera only throw the one inning.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
The Genius Maker #65
CC had a very good fastball tonight that had good life and was consistently 94-95. His change was a tough one for him as he didn't have good location on it most of the night and his curve was decent. Seattle does not have a great offense, but with the Yankees swinging the bat so poorly the game was only 2-0 going into the 8th inning. After listening to the announcers tonight I know why I usually fast forward like crazy...they were talking up what a great game Rowland Smith was throwing and at one point it he had pitched 4 innings and allowed 2 runs on a high pitch count. Then the Yanks had the bases loaded in the 6th and failed to get in any runs. His overall line was good, but he was not throwing well, the Yanks were hitting poorly. As I stated in an earlier post, I don't understand why the Yanks choose to rest players in the infield and play Pena when a lefty is on the mound? It is like they don't have a plan. Pena, who has been horrible at the plate this year, has always been better from the left side of the plate and this year he is still looking for his first hit from the right side.
In the 8th inning, CC walked the leadoff hitter, got an out and then allowed a single before getting another out. While CC was not sharp at this point, I was OK leaving him in the game against Branyan as Branyan is better against righties and he homered off of Marte earlier in the series. After Posada did a very bad job of letting the ball go to the screen for a passed ball, Kay was all over how huge it was moving the runners over. Now this is clearly true and it was a bad play, but with 2 outs it is time for CC to get the lefty out. With an open base, he threw a 3-1 pitch down the middle and Branyan ripped it on one hop to Swisher. He had a shot at Ichiro at home, but he didn't have too much on his throw (a strong armed RF could have gunned him out). Tex correctly cut the ball off and easily got Branyan going to 2nd to end the inning, but the score was tied. Kay continued talking about how huge the play was moving the runners over (and it was), but we also got an out on the play and that was huge as well. Imagine if it was 1st and 2nd and the same hit happened and it was either bases loaded or 1st and 2nd with the score 2-1 and the inning was still going on...Seattle might not have scored anything, but they also might have blown it open with CC out of the game and probably Joba in. I am only saying it might have been worse if the passed ball didn't happen.
Thankfully Seattle went to their horrible closer, who throws 94 but it is very straight and he didn't throw anything but a fastball. Swisher somehow struck out, but Tex singled an ARod hit a homer pulling his hands way in but putting a good swing on a high and a little outside pitch for a dinger. It was an odd swing, but he hit it well. Aardsma now has a 5.33 ERA and is 0-5 ( I know he was good last year). On the other end of the spectrum, The Genius Maker came in and threw 13 pitches to dominate the 9th for his 18th save. He has now allowed only 12 hits in 30.1 innings. His WHIP is an unreal and career best 0.59; he looks as good as ever...The Genius Maker!
In the 8th inning, CC walked the leadoff hitter, got an out and then allowed a single before getting another out. While CC was not sharp at this point, I was OK leaving him in the game against Branyan as Branyan is better against righties and he homered off of Marte earlier in the series. After Posada did a very bad job of letting the ball go to the screen for a passed ball, Kay was all over how huge it was moving the runners over. Now this is clearly true and it was a bad play, but with 2 outs it is time for CC to get the lefty out. With an open base, he threw a 3-1 pitch down the middle and Branyan ripped it on one hop to Swisher. He had a shot at Ichiro at home, but he didn't have too much on his throw (a strong armed RF could have gunned him out). Tex correctly cut the ball off and easily got Branyan going to 2nd to end the inning, but the score was tied. Kay continued talking about how huge the play was moving the runners over (and it was), but we also got an out on the play and that was huge as well. Imagine if it was 1st and 2nd and the same hit happened and it was either bases loaded or 1st and 2nd with the score 2-1 and the inning was still going on...Seattle might not have scored anything, but they also might have blown it open with CC out of the game and probably Joba in. I am only saying it might have been worse if the passed ball didn't happen.
Thankfully Seattle went to their horrible closer, who throws 94 but it is very straight and he didn't throw anything but a fastball. Swisher somehow struck out, but Tex singled an ARod hit a homer pulling his hands way in but putting a good swing on a high and a little outside pitch for a dinger. It was an odd swing, but he hit it well. Aardsma now has a 5.33 ERA and is 0-5 ( I know he was good last year). On the other end of the spectrum, The Genius Maker came in and threw 13 pitches to dominate the 9th for his 18th save. He has now allowed only 12 hits in 30.1 innings. His WHIP is an unreal and career best 0.59; he looks as good as ever...The Genius Maker!
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