The Yankees are the Champions!!!!!!
We did it!!!!!
I don’t want to get into too much analysis right now, as we should all feel great about our team and we should enjoy every minute of this. It is a very long year and it is very hard to win. Congratulations to the Yankee organization and congratulations to all of us!
I will make a few comments though:
Pettitte showed that 3 days rest didn’t make a difference. He allowed 1 run in 5 innings and was allowed to continue because of the lead. He was taken out at the right time. The homer by Howard just made it to the 1st row so overall while 3 runs in 5.1 innings is not good, he did his job.
Marte was huge in the postseason! I loved the trade when Cashman made it, but it surely looked bad after Nady and Marte were injured, but having that lefty specialist was enormous. I would have left him in to face Werth and Ibanez only because he was sharp, we had a 4 run lead, I only wanted 2 more batters for him to face and in the slight chance that Rivera didn’t have it, we could be extending him and it was possible he would not be available Thursday, in the slight chance he struggled. That being said, my comment was that I would leave Marte in, but I surely can’t argue with going to Rivera here.
Matsui was fantastic. 8-13 with a walk 3 HR’s and 8 RBI’s! I know he didn’t play that much, but if he had 7 more AB’s and didn’t get a hit, he would have still hit .400.
ARod’s postseason OPS is now better than his regular season OPS. Roll your eyes next time people talk about being clutch…I am sure some people would be talking about Texiera if the Yankees lost.
And last but certainly not least…how about the Genius Maker? He is a difference maker as the Phillies have nobody like him (or anyone else). I can’t believe he is still so much better than any other closer; it really is amazing. He pitched 5.1 scoreless innings in the World Series and closed out (2 saves) all 4 of the wins. For the Postseason he pitched 16 innings and allowed only 1 run! He is the GENIUS MAKER!
ENJOY THE VICTORY!
The Genius Maker tm is a tribute to Mariano Rivera who makes coaches look a like a genius...
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
World Series Post Game 5
Well all that thinking and a flip of a coin decision went the wrong way. AJ didn’t have his release point at all. He simply couldn’t throw anything where he wanted it.
I think the ump blew the HBP call on Victorino. He never took the bat back and that should have been a strike. That play really hurt.
I know I said I wouldn’t retaliate other than winning, but after we fell behind I wanted AJ to throw inside on Utley and plunk him after the 3 run homer. We need to make him move his feet and fear the inside pitch a little. It would have been a great time and who knows how it would have impacted his next homer. Oh, and we may want to stop throwing pitches down the middle of the plate to Utley. All of the homers were fastballs except the hanging curveball by CC. If you think about it, Philly has hit mostly fastballs the entire series. The breaking ball hits have been bleeders.
I thought the ump was really squeezing us and calling strikes for Philly every time the game was close (early and late). The ump also messed up on Posada when he allowed Cliff Lee to quick pitch after Lee took forever to get the sign before they regrouped. The ump should never have allowed that…I was really ticked about that situation. After many bad calls early on, the ump really blew the first pitch to Texiera in the 9th, that pitch was 8 “ outside…and really changed the AB as 3 more changeups ended the game.
Jeter failed miserably in the 9th inning after being ahead on a 2-0 count. Really poor job to not get the barrel out on a hittable 2-1 pitch That DP was a killer. Not sure why Girardi didn’t pinch run for Matsui? It might not have mattered but perhaps Pena could have broken up the DP?
Coke failed miserably as well, even if he allowed only one homer we could have played Jeter’s AB differently or at least the complexion would have been very different.
Great job by this team to never give up. I love our fight and really believe we will find a way to win this series. Cano swung the bat well tonight and that is huge for us. Tex didn’t get the job done, but he did get one hit. We lost, but I feel good about the way we came back. Pedro will not be as sharp IMO and we will get to him. Then again, we may need to with Pettitte going.
Molina needs to make a good throw down to 2nd as Utley should have been out. We just saw the last of Molina in a Yankee uniform I believe.
Gardner made a terrific catch that there is zero chance Melky would have come close to. Melky has about 50 points of OPS on Gardner, but the defensive doubles/singles that Gardner will save will make up more than 100 points. He is more valuable to play in CF than Melky.
Coke and Jeter were the goats, but two guys that match up well against Philly did their job. Robertson and Aceves pitched 4 scoreless innings.
Time to kick Pedro’s butt!
One more to go for the big prize!
The Genius Maker tm is a tribute to Mariano Rivera who makes coaches look a like a genius...
I think the ump blew the HBP call on Victorino. He never took the bat back and that should have been a strike. That play really hurt.
I know I said I wouldn’t retaliate other than winning, but after we fell behind I wanted AJ to throw inside on Utley and plunk him after the 3 run homer. We need to make him move his feet and fear the inside pitch a little. It would have been a great time and who knows how it would have impacted his next homer. Oh, and we may want to stop throwing pitches down the middle of the plate to Utley. All of the homers were fastballs except the hanging curveball by CC. If you think about it, Philly has hit mostly fastballs the entire series. The breaking ball hits have been bleeders.
I thought the ump was really squeezing us and calling strikes for Philly every time the game was close (early and late). The ump also messed up on Posada when he allowed Cliff Lee to quick pitch after Lee took forever to get the sign before they regrouped. The ump should never have allowed that…I was really ticked about that situation. After many bad calls early on, the ump really blew the first pitch to Texiera in the 9th, that pitch was 8 “ outside…and really changed the AB as 3 more changeups ended the game.
Jeter failed miserably in the 9th inning after being ahead on a 2-0 count. Really poor job to not get the barrel out on a hittable 2-1 pitch That DP was a killer. Not sure why Girardi didn’t pinch run for Matsui? It might not have mattered but perhaps Pena could have broken up the DP?
Coke failed miserably as well, even if he allowed only one homer we could have played Jeter’s AB differently or at least the complexion would have been very different.
Great job by this team to never give up. I love our fight and really believe we will find a way to win this series. Cano swung the bat well tonight and that is huge for us. Tex didn’t get the job done, but he did get one hit. We lost, but I feel good about the way we came back. Pedro will not be as sharp IMO and we will get to him. Then again, we may need to with Pettitte going.
Molina needs to make a good throw down to 2nd as Utley should have been out. We just saw the last of Molina in a Yankee uniform I believe.
Gardner made a terrific catch that there is zero chance Melky would have come close to. Melky has about 50 points of OPS on Gardner, but the defensive doubles/singles that Gardner will save will make up more than 100 points. He is more valuable to play in CF than Melky.
Coke and Jeter were the goats, but two guys that match up well against Philly did their job. Robertson and Aceves pitched 4 scoreless innings.
Time to kick Pedro’s butt!
One more to go for the big prize!
The Genius Maker tm is a tribute to Mariano Rivera who makes coaches look a like a genius...
Monday, November 2, 2009
World Series Post Game 4
I wrote most of this last night but wanted to sleep on the decision of who to start tonight. Answer near the bottom.
In a previous blog I mentioned that I wanted at least 4 runs in 6 innings off of Blanton. We achieved that, but I was not happy as we continued our pattern of taking strikes and swinging at balls. When the score was 4-3 in the 8th inning I was concerned we didn’t take enough advantage of our pitching edge of CC against Blanton. Partly because the ump was very inconsistent and I felt gave Blanton a lot more calls than CC, especially with CC’s changeup. Usually a staple of what makes CC very tough as he throws it on any count; CC had a lot of trouble getting called strikes on the changeup. Regardless, the offense should have done more against Blanton.
Because this was the best match up in terms of advantage from a pitchers standpoint, I felt this was a game we should win. Both teams showing a never quit attitude, but once again the Genius Maker is the difference as their closer allows 3 runs and Rivera just keeps plowing along. It really is amazing when you see what other closers due in the postseason and how great Rivera has been. When closers fail games are usually lost and Rivera has been the difference maker.
You have to give credit to Philly as they took advantage of our bad pitches. The hanging curve to Utley was deposited and then in the 8th inning after Joba blew away Werth and Ibanez, he missed with 2 sliders and then came in with a fastball that was supposed to be outside and ended up catching most of the inside part of the plate and Feliz deposited it. They really took advantage of our mistakes and this last one could have been a huge blow especially when I felt that if either slider was close to being a strike the inning would have been over. This is a learning experience for Joba and it shows you simply can’t miss your spots and get away with it very often…even at 95. Of course, if he was throwing 97-98 you can get away with a little more. Joba did get a little lucky against Werth in that he was looking to go away with a fastball and it ended up in a perfect spot up and in and Werth missed it. That reminded me of Lee and how when he missed he was fortunate that many of his pitches ended up in great spots. Against Feliz he was not as fortunate.
After 2 outs and the announcers talking about how good Lidge has been since he straightened himself out, Damon had a fantastic AB. Damon had the count 1-2 and then worked the count full and then fouled off 2 more before hitting a solid single the other way on the 9th pitch he saw. After a ball, Damon showed some real heads up play in stealing 2nd (subtle point was that Texiera was heads up enough to take a strike and allow Damon to steal the base) and then knowing that 3rd base was his for the taking as long as he could be Feliz who caught the ball leaning toward the 1st base side of 2nd. Now, I have to admit when I saw him going my first thought was crap, he thought the ball went into 2nd base as they had not shown the shift was on. But, when Feliz never threw I was thrilled. Kind of makes you wonder who screwed up on their side. If Feliz is taking the throws, the pitcher should be covering 3rd base and Lidge fell asleep. Great sequence for Johnny. After they hit Texiera, and no you don’t intentionally hit a guy hitting under .100 to face ARod, hit was up to Captain Clutch in yet again another classic spot for Alex. I expected sliders as I don’t buy this crap about having Damon on 3rd limited him to only throwing his fastball. You have to get the batter out and your catcher better stop the ball form getting by him if it is in the dirt. The Phillies stuck with the fastball and ARod with a very compact swing turned on the inside pitch and lined a double to left. A group of us were out of our chairs as ARod came through again. While we were in good shape, getting another hit could ice the game. Posada came through with another big hit and this was the final nail in the coffin for this game. Not sure why Posada went for 2nd, but the damage was done and those 2 extra runs were enormous. Posada is a great hitting catcher, calls a good game and has always thrown out runners at a very high rate, but he has to have some of the worst base running instincts of anyone. Add that to his lack of speed and he is one of the worst base runner you can have. Great job though Jorge!
A couple of other notes:
I believe we have been hit 5 times (I may be off here), and 2 of the ones to ARod were intentional in my opinion. I hate the rule that after you get hit, both sides get warned. It pays to “strike first.” I do like that ARod said something and the Girardi went out to make sure that CC came inside and happened to hit someone that he was not going to be tossed. I think the Umps knew that they would only toss someone if it were in an obvious spot. Tex was not hit on purpose. I don’t like that we have been plunked so much and the ARod 2 were BS, but I don’t want to see us retaliate in any way. Let’s just win. Burnett is wild enough where he will probably hit someone anyway.
I feel that Damon should have caught the very high pop up by Victorino in the 1st inning. I think he got a terrible jump and that cost him. A ball that high needs to be caught. I also think that on the 2nd run not only should have he caught that ball, but he also should have kept charging the ball to help his VERY weak throw. He misjudged that the ball carried farther than he thought. If he charges that ball he makes a fairly routine shoe string catch, but even if he couldn’t, at worst it would have been a very short hop where he could then keep his momentum going on the throw home. As the ball reached home plate Posada should have come forward before that last (I think 3rd hop) so that he could just tag Howard out. It was a tough play to stand there and wait for the ball and Jorge should have gone to get it as slow as it was coming. As for Howard not touching home plate, it is what it is, but CC threw to 2nd anyway instead of tagging him so it doesn’t matter. Also, he barely missed it so I could see if the ump thought he touched it.
Cano is absolutely lost at the plate. He is following the taking strikes and swinging at balls routine to an art form. It is a shame because he is a difference maker for us. I get the feeling Girardi may start Hairston at 2nd base against Lee.
With Gardner in CF (I imagine Melky is out), Molina catching, and Burnett hitting, we will have trouble generating any offense so having a punchers chance in Cano hitting a homer may be worth keeping him out there? Tough call, but it may be time to rest Cano for one game just like Swisher.
McCarver has starting to show his age. He has made many wrong comments and just seems to swing and miss often. Just a few of many examples: McCarver made the comment about “not one pitch inside to a lefty” and that was wrong as Utley was pitched inside with 3 pitches. He made the comment about Joba coming out to pitch even though he was already pinch hit for and many items such as this.
While on the announcing, I am very tired of the stating the obvious announcing such as a guy likes good when he is performing well (looks relaxed) and looks indifferent, depressed or distant when performing poorly…even though it is the same look. Even ARod looks different to everyone…the only difference is he is playing much better now. “He looks to be in great control and is locked in” followed by “and the Yankees score their 2nd run of the inning.” J
Girardi managed well and getting CC out after 107 pitches should make him be strong for game 7 if needed
Many people did not want Marte on the post season roster, but he has now pitched in 7 games and been able to get 10 outs against good lefty hitters while allowing only 2 hits and no walks! I have been saying how important it is to have specialists and in the post season it is even more important.
I liked that Posada had his arm around Joba after the Yanks bailed him out. I am sure that was very valuable and should be a great learning experience for Joba. Most likely he will be our closer of the future.
Who should we start tonight?
I have been going back and forth on starting Burnett. I stated that I wanted Burnett on 3 days rest as well as Andy from the start. But, in looking at stats, Andy (from what I have been told) is not good on 3 days rest, but AJ has been. Not sure of the relevance of either stat, but what has some relevance is the situation and the way AJ has pitched at home compared to on the road. AJ has a 3.51 ERA at home and 4.59 ERA on the road. In his 4 postseason games so far he has pitched very well at home with a 1.86 ERA allowing 4 ER in 19.1 innings at home. On his one road start he allowed 6 runs in 6 innings. This gives me great pause in sending AJ on short rest rather than holding him back to be on 5 days rest on Wednesday at home. It also makes them beat us twice at home with our 2 best on the mound. Of course we could still win with Gaudin, Acevas or whoever, but let’s assume we are almost giving that game up. Stat wise, the answer is to probably hold AJ back, but the other factors say to stay with AJ. These other factors are led by the fact that he has prepared to start tonight and holding him back 2 days could throw off his preparation (this is important). You don’t want to take anything for granted and when you have your foot on their throat you want to keep up the pressure and act like you need this game as bad as they do. If we would have lost yesterday, there is no question AJ would be on the mound tonight. No reason to offer any momentum to Philly and “concede” game 5. Again, we might be able to win with Gaudin, but Gaudin does not match up well against this team and has not pitched in a very long time. As poor as he has pitched lately I would actually have more faith in Acevas than Gaudin. Of course, Andy does not match up well either and did not pitch well his last outing.
As you can see, this is a very hard decision and I don’t think it is fair to criticize either one as they both have merits and pitfalls. My final decision would be to pitch AJ as that is what I planned from the start and try to close it out tonight. Also, AJ should be available to pitch out of the pen if needed in game 7 and with the shaky pitching of anyone not named Marte or Rivera, that may be needed. Act like you need every game, because with Lee going and a what could be a shaky Andy, there is a possibility we will need CC in game 7.
AJ, go out tonight and earn yourself the MVP of the World Series; it is yours for the taking!
10 wins under our belt with one more for the big prize!
The Genius Maker tm is a tribute to Mariano Rivera who makes coaches look a like a genius...
In a previous blog I mentioned that I wanted at least 4 runs in 6 innings off of Blanton. We achieved that, but I was not happy as we continued our pattern of taking strikes and swinging at balls. When the score was 4-3 in the 8th inning I was concerned we didn’t take enough advantage of our pitching edge of CC against Blanton. Partly because the ump was very inconsistent and I felt gave Blanton a lot more calls than CC, especially with CC’s changeup. Usually a staple of what makes CC very tough as he throws it on any count; CC had a lot of trouble getting called strikes on the changeup. Regardless, the offense should have done more against Blanton.
Because this was the best match up in terms of advantage from a pitchers standpoint, I felt this was a game we should win. Both teams showing a never quit attitude, but once again the Genius Maker is the difference as their closer allows 3 runs and Rivera just keeps plowing along. It really is amazing when you see what other closers due in the postseason and how great Rivera has been. When closers fail games are usually lost and Rivera has been the difference maker.
You have to give credit to Philly as they took advantage of our bad pitches. The hanging curve to Utley was deposited and then in the 8th inning after Joba blew away Werth and Ibanez, he missed with 2 sliders and then came in with a fastball that was supposed to be outside and ended up catching most of the inside part of the plate and Feliz deposited it. They really took advantage of our mistakes and this last one could have been a huge blow especially when I felt that if either slider was close to being a strike the inning would have been over. This is a learning experience for Joba and it shows you simply can’t miss your spots and get away with it very often…even at 95. Of course, if he was throwing 97-98 you can get away with a little more. Joba did get a little lucky against Werth in that he was looking to go away with a fastball and it ended up in a perfect spot up and in and Werth missed it. That reminded me of Lee and how when he missed he was fortunate that many of his pitches ended up in great spots. Against Feliz he was not as fortunate.
After 2 outs and the announcers talking about how good Lidge has been since he straightened himself out, Damon had a fantastic AB. Damon had the count 1-2 and then worked the count full and then fouled off 2 more before hitting a solid single the other way on the 9th pitch he saw. After a ball, Damon showed some real heads up play in stealing 2nd (subtle point was that Texiera was heads up enough to take a strike and allow Damon to steal the base) and then knowing that 3rd base was his for the taking as long as he could be Feliz who caught the ball leaning toward the 1st base side of 2nd. Now, I have to admit when I saw him going my first thought was crap, he thought the ball went into 2nd base as they had not shown the shift was on. But, when Feliz never threw I was thrilled. Kind of makes you wonder who screwed up on their side. If Feliz is taking the throws, the pitcher should be covering 3rd base and Lidge fell asleep. Great sequence for Johnny. After they hit Texiera, and no you don’t intentionally hit a guy hitting under .100 to face ARod, hit was up to Captain Clutch in yet again another classic spot for Alex. I expected sliders as I don’t buy this crap about having Damon on 3rd limited him to only throwing his fastball. You have to get the batter out and your catcher better stop the ball form getting by him if it is in the dirt. The Phillies stuck with the fastball and ARod with a very compact swing turned on the inside pitch and lined a double to left. A group of us were out of our chairs as ARod came through again. While we were in good shape, getting another hit could ice the game. Posada came through with another big hit and this was the final nail in the coffin for this game. Not sure why Posada went for 2nd, but the damage was done and those 2 extra runs were enormous. Posada is a great hitting catcher, calls a good game and has always thrown out runners at a very high rate, but he has to have some of the worst base running instincts of anyone. Add that to his lack of speed and he is one of the worst base runner you can have. Great job though Jorge!
A couple of other notes:
I believe we have been hit 5 times (I may be off here), and 2 of the ones to ARod were intentional in my opinion. I hate the rule that after you get hit, both sides get warned. It pays to “strike first.” I do like that ARod said something and the Girardi went out to make sure that CC came inside and happened to hit someone that he was not going to be tossed. I think the Umps knew that they would only toss someone if it were in an obvious spot. Tex was not hit on purpose. I don’t like that we have been plunked so much and the ARod 2 were BS, but I don’t want to see us retaliate in any way. Let’s just win. Burnett is wild enough where he will probably hit someone anyway.
I feel that Damon should have caught the very high pop up by Victorino in the 1st inning. I think he got a terrible jump and that cost him. A ball that high needs to be caught. I also think that on the 2nd run not only should have he caught that ball, but he also should have kept charging the ball to help his VERY weak throw. He misjudged that the ball carried farther than he thought. If he charges that ball he makes a fairly routine shoe string catch, but even if he couldn’t, at worst it would have been a very short hop where he could then keep his momentum going on the throw home. As the ball reached home plate Posada should have come forward before that last (I think 3rd hop) so that he could just tag Howard out. It was a tough play to stand there and wait for the ball and Jorge should have gone to get it as slow as it was coming. As for Howard not touching home plate, it is what it is, but CC threw to 2nd anyway instead of tagging him so it doesn’t matter. Also, he barely missed it so I could see if the ump thought he touched it.
Cano is absolutely lost at the plate. He is following the taking strikes and swinging at balls routine to an art form. It is a shame because he is a difference maker for us. I get the feeling Girardi may start Hairston at 2nd base against Lee.
With Gardner in CF (I imagine Melky is out), Molina catching, and Burnett hitting, we will have trouble generating any offense so having a punchers chance in Cano hitting a homer may be worth keeping him out there? Tough call, but it may be time to rest Cano for one game just like Swisher.
McCarver has starting to show his age. He has made many wrong comments and just seems to swing and miss often. Just a few of many examples: McCarver made the comment about “not one pitch inside to a lefty” and that was wrong as Utley was pitched inside with 3 pitches. He made the comment about Joba coming out to pitch even though he was already pinch hit for and many items such as this.
While on the announcing, I am very tired of the stating the obvious announcing such as a guy likes good when he is performing well (looks relaxed) and looks indifferent, depressed or distant when performing poorly…even though it is the same look. Even ARod looks different to everyone…the only difference is he is playing much better now. “He looks to be in great control and is locked in” followed by “and the Yankees score their 2nd run of the inning.” J
Girardi managed well and getting CC out after 107 pitches should make him be strong for game 7 if needed
Many people did not want Marte on the post season roster, but he has now pitched in 7 games and been able to get 10 outs against good lefty hitters while allowing only 2 hits and no walks! I have been saying how important it is to have specialists and in the post season it is even more important.
I liked that Posada had his arm around Joba after the Yanks bailed him out. I am sure that was very valuable and should be a great learning experience for Joba. Most likely he will be our closer of the future.
Who should we start tonight?
I have been going back and forth on starting Burnett. I stated that I wanted Burnett on 3 days rest as well as Andy from the start. But, in looking at stats, Andy (from what I have been told) is not good on 3 days rest, but AJ has been. Not sure of the relevance of either stat, but what has some relevance is the situation and the way AJ has pitched at home compared to on the road. AJ has a 3.51 ERA at home and 4.59 ERA on the road. In his 4 postseason games so far he has pitched very well at home with a 1.86 ERA allowing 4 ER in 19.1 innings at home. On his one road start he allowed 6 runs in 6 innings. This gives me great pause in sending AJ on short rest rather than holding him back to be on 5 days rest on Wednesday at home. It also makes them beat us twice at home with our 2 best on the mound. Of course we could still win with Gaudin, Acevas or whoever, but let’s assume we are almost giving that game up. Stat wise, the answer is to probably hold AJ back, but the other factors say to stay with AJ. These other factors are led by the fact that he has prepared to start tonight and holding him back 2 days could throw off his preparation (this is important). You don’t want to take anything for granted and when you have your foot on their throat you want to keep up the pressure and act like you need this game as bad as they do. If we would have lost yesterday, there is no question AJ would be on the mound tonight. No reason to offer any momentum to Philly and “concede” game 5. Again, we might be able to win with Gaudin, but Gaudin does not match up well against this team and has not pitched in a very long time. As poor as he has pitched lately I would actually have more faith in Acevas than Gaudin. Of course, Andy does not match up well either and did not pitch well his last outing.
As you can see, this is a very hard decision and I don’t think it is fair to criticize either one as they both have merits and pitfalls. My final decision would be to pitch AJ as that is what I planned from the start and try to close it out tonight. Also, AJ should be available to pitch out of the pen if needed in game 7 and with the shaky pitching of anyone not named Marte or Rivera, that may be needed. Act like you need every game, because with Lee going and a what could be a shaky Andy, there is a possibility we will need CC in game 7.
AJ, go out tonight and earn yourself the MVP of the World Series; it is yours for the taking!
10 wins under our belt with one more for the big prize!
The Genius Maker tm is a tribute to Mariano Rivera who makes coaches look a like a genius...
Sunday, November 1, 2009
World Series Post Game 3
Maybe someone sent Joe a copy of the blog as he got it right for the most part. Swisher started and I think Joe handled the bullpen according the matchups. HUGE win for us, I really feel good right now, but it will all go away if Blanton can upset CC tomorrow. Our offense better get us at least 4 runs in 6 innings and I want more.
If I am a Philly fan, I am upset at the way my team played. They had Andy on the ropes and Pettitte was not throwing strikes and was limited to 2 pitches as he didn't throw a single changeup for a strike the entire night. Also his fastball was 89 at best. The key AB to me was right after Andy walked in a run he threw 2 balls that were way out of the strike zone and Victorino swing and missed at both. Andy then grooved a 0-2 pitch and Victorino flied out for a sac fly and a 3-0 lead. Really bad AB for Victorino. Utley then didn't do any more damage and Andy pitched out of any other damage mostly because of poor offense as opposed to Andy pitching well. Then, immediately following Swisher turning on a fastball for a foul ball I turned to the people I was watching the game with and said, "that should be the last fastball Swisher sees," they throw him another one and Swish goes yard. Victorino should have caught the blooper by Jeter. His feet were farther ahead of the ball and if he either dived at it or stayed on his feet and reached forward he could have caught it; he misjudged it. Philly also could have turned a DP early in the game but it didn't hurt them. Either way, Philly did a bad job and allowed the Yankees to then play well.
ARod with the 2 run bomb was huge again as it gave us life.
Then in an AB where I would have pinch hit for Andy early (5th inning), Pettitte got a huge bloop hit. I was done with Andy as it was clear he had nothing, but as it turned out Pettitte was able to get through two more innings allowing one more run. Getting the hit was huge and even though he allowed another run, it probably was the right move and a different one than I would have made.
They are giving Posada a healthy dose of changeups. He must have seen 8 today.
I guess we can see why Werth crushes lefties.
In the 7th inning we were facing the top of the order and as I said last time this is a spot for Robertson or Joba. Joe went to Joba who was throwing very well and after mowing down the first 2 guys Girardi correctly stuck with Joba who got Utley out. Then with Howard (remember every time a lefty must face him), Werth and Ibanez up, Girardi correctly pinch hit for Joba with Matsui, who did a great job as those tack on runs were huge.
After the extra run scored I only saw Hughes throwing in the pen and I texted about 4 people and the folks I was watching with and said if Marte is not in the 8th I will really be disappointed in Girardi because he obviously doesn't get it. My faith in Joe is still there though as Marte came out and struck out Howard. In this spot if Marte didn't get Howard out I could see making a move away from him unless he looked great in failing (maybe a dropped 3rd strike or an error), but once he got Howard facing Werth was clear move with Ibanez on deck. Marte did a great job striking out Werth and getting Ibanez reach on a soft liner to 3rd. Marte is coming through in a big way (as did Joba tonight).
Now, we enter the 9th up 8-4 and we are at the spot for Hughes (two righties who hit lefties better and the pitcher). I really wanted Rivera to rest, I really did, but after getting one out and throwing 2 fastballs right down the middle with the 2nd taken deep, I was in 100% agreement with bringing in Rivera. He only needed 2 outs, the top of the lineup was up and there were 4 lefties coming up. I am not screwing around there when Utley would represent the tying run. It is time to call on the genius maker who thankfully got the job done in 4 pitches! This was a critical game and you simply can't screw around in that spot. If Robertson were ready I could see trying to get an out with him, but he had sat down and Rivera was ready and I would have done the same thing. I wouldn't have been critical if he went to Robertson though.
Swisher, ARod, Joba and Marte were the heroes today, but we had good contributions from many (Matsui and Damon had big hits).
Melky and Cano have really been struggling; against Blanton Gardner should see some time. I think Gardner should have been getting more work just for his defense. Cano you just have to hope he gets it going as he seems lost. Swinging at balls and taking strikes.
I am very happy and feeling very good right now. CC should put us up 3-1 and if the offense can do what it should we are in the drivers seat. This is a very good offensive team though so we need to score ourselves.
2 more wins for the big prize!
The Genius Maker tm is a tribute to Mariano Rivera who makes coaches look a like a genius...
If I am a Philly fan, I am upset at the way my team played. They had Andy on the ropes and Pettitte was not throwing strikes and was limited to 2 pitches as he didn't throw a single changeup for a strike the entire night. Also his fastball was 89 at best. The key AB to me was right after Andy walked in a run he threw 2 balls that were way out of the strike zone and Victorino swing and missed at both. Andy then grooved a 0-2 pitch and Victorino flied out for a sac fly and a 3-0 lead. Really bad AB for Victorino. Utley then didn't do any more damage and Andy pitched out of any other damage mostly because of poor offense as opposed to Andy pitching well. Then, immediately following Swisher turning on a fastball for a foul ball I turned to the people I was watching the game with and said, "that should be the last fastball Swisher sees," they throw him another one and Swish goes yard. Victorino should have caught the blooper by Jeter. His feet were farther ahead of the ball and if he either dived at it or stayed on his feet and reached forward he could have caught it; he misjudged it. Philly also could have turned a DP early in the game but it didn't hurt them. Either way, Philly did a bad job and allowed the Yankees to then play well.
ARod with the 2 run bomb was huge again as it gave us life.
Then in an AB where I would have pinch hit for Andy early (5th inning), Pettitte got a huge bloop hit. I was done with Andy as it was clear he had nothing, but as it turned out Pettitte was able to get through two more innings allowing one more run. Getting the hit was huge and even though he allowed another run, it probably was the right move and a different one than I would have made.
They are giving Posada a healthy dose of changeups. He must have seen 8 today.
I guess we can see why Werth crushes lefties.
In the 7th inning we were facing the top of the order and as I said last time this is a spot for Robertson or Joba. Joe went to Joba who was throwing very well and after mowing down the first 2 guys Girardi correctly stuck with Joba who got Utley out. Then with Howard (remember every time a lefty must face him), Werth and Ibanez up, Girardi correctly pinch hit for Joba with Matsui, who did a great job as those tack on runs were huge.
After the extra run scored I only saw Hughes throwing in the pen and I texted about 4 people and the folks I was watching with and said if Marte is not in the 8th I will really be disappointed in Girardi because he obviously doesn't get it. My faith in Joe is still there though as Marte came out and struck out Howard. In this spot if Marte didn't get Howard out I could see making a move away from him unless he looked great in failing (maybe a dropped 3rd strike or an error), but once he got Howard facing Werth was clear move with Ibanez on deck. Marte did a great job striking out Werth and getting Ibanez reach on a soft liner to 3rd. Marte is coming through in a big way (as did Joba tonight).
Now, we enter the 9th up 8-4 and we are at the spot for Hughes (two righties who hit lefties better and the pitcher). I really wanted Rivera to rest, I really did, but after getting one out and throwing 2 fastballs right down the middle with the 2nd taken deep, I was in 100% agreement with bringing in Rivera. He only needed 2 outs, the top of the lineup was up and there were 4 lefties coming up. I am not screwing around there when Utley would represent the tying run. It is time to call on the genius maker who thankfully got the job done in 4 pitches! This was a critical game and you simply can't screw around in that spot. If Robertson were ready I could see trying to get an out with him, but he had sat down and Rivera was ready and I would have done the same thing. I wouldn't have been critical if he went to Robertson though.
Swisher, ARod, Joba and Marte were the heroes today, but we had good contributions from many (Matsui and Damon had big hits).
Melky and Cano have really been struggling; against Blanton Gardner should see some time. I think Gardner should have been getting more work just for his defense. Cano you just have to hope he gets it going as he seems lost. Swinging at balls and taking strikes.
I am very happy and feeling very good right now. CC should put us up 3-1 and if the offense can do what it should we are in the drivers seat. This is a very good offensive team though so we need to score ourselves.
2 more wins for the big prize!
The Genius Maker tm is a tribute to Mariano Rivera who makes coaches look a like a genius...
Saturday, October 31, 2009
World Series Pre Game 3
Just thought I would throw in a bonus blog…
The crew chief umpire said and I quote. “The objective is to get it right, we asked each other what we had seen and the replay confirmed we were right.” WHAT? How is it possible that no reporter asked a follow-up question, say something like, “what replay were you watching?” This quote actually scares me. Even Howard knew, Howard said, “did I catch it?” “Well he called him out.” Now, my point is not to criticize the poor umpiring, but how could the crew chief say that?
My only hope is that Rivera, who was “forced” to throw 22% more pitches than he has thrown during any game this year (32 was his high before this 39) because we didn’t have a lead big enough for Girardi to feel comfortable enough to mix and match for a few more outs, will not have any loss of effectiveness moving forward. It is very possible he will struggle giving us an inning tonight. My hope is that our offense, which has really struggled most of the playoffs, gets on track and gives us a large enough lead where Rivera can rest one more day.
The offense needs to put up a big day and earn their paychecks over the next two days. Blanton is scheduled to pitch on Sunday and he is a guy we should be able to knock around if we were swinging well. Philly made an interesting decision holding Lee back and it is one that I am glad they did. He has never pitched on 3 days rest, but I don’t think it is as big a deal as some people are making it out to be. I know many pitchers are creatures of habit. Lee (and most pitchers) normally rests for 2 days then has a bullpen session on the 3rd day followed by one more day of rest before the start, but why not just rest for one during the WS? One mistake I feel that Manual made was allowing lee to pitch the 9th inning with a 6-0 lead. Instead of throwing 104 pitches and leaving the game, he ended up with 122 pitches. That might have weighed into the decision and if so, was a poor one in my opinion.
I hope Girardi uses our pen correctly.
Hughes should be used against the righties from Werth down through Francisco, Feliz and Ruiz. The worst matchup is Hughes against Howard (no righty should be brought in to face him but Hughes being worse against lefties exacerbates this problem). In general, Hughes should not pitch to the top of the order (Rollins, Victorino and Utley) which is where Girardi used him last time.
Joba is more balanced so if you had to go to Hughes or Joba against the top of the order, I would go with Joba. However, if Robertson was available he is your best choice to face the top of the order as he is better against lefties. Remember Utley is better against lefties so if Robertson is looking very sharp you may want to leave him in rather than using Marte or Coke. But, when Howard comes up you always go to the lefty (unless Rivera is on the mound). One last point is that Aceves is also a little better against lefties so he is a good choice as well. I know he has struggled as well, but I would have more confidence against the top than I would for Hughes. Remember, one of the reasons I liked the Burnett matchup against this team was because of the entire team hitting lefties better except Howard and Burnett is better against lefties himself.
Hypothetical situation: and I know this will never happen, but if Rivera is in another situation where he is struggling and has thrown a lot of pitches (let’s say 35) and the last few guys have worked the bases juiced and Howard is coming up with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th inning, I would bring in Marte to try and close it out. I only bring this up because I had just made the absolute statement in the previous paragraph "unless Rivera is on the mound."
I hope the offense shows up because for the above reasons Andy does not have a great matchup. Every game is huge, but if we look at this objectively, we SHOULD win game 4 and game 7 with CC on the mound against Blanton and whoever they start game 7. Therefore, if we win tonight we should win the series. Of course, what should happen and what does can be very different and can swing on one pitch, but I believe this game and game 6 are the swing games of the series and we will need to win one of them.
The Genius Maker tm is a tribute to Mariano Rivera who makes coaches look a like a genius...
The crew chief umpire said and I quote. “The objective is to get it right, we asked each other what we had seen and the replay confirmed we were right.” WHAT? How is it possible that no reporter asked a follow-up question, say something like, “what replay were you watching?” This quote actually scares me. Even Howard knew, Howard said, “did I catch it?” “Well he called him out.” Now, my point is not to criticize the poor umpiring, but how could the crew chief say that?
My only hope is that Rivera, who was “forced” to throw 22% more pitches than he has thrown during any game this year (32 was his high before this 39) because we didn’t have a lead big enough for Girardi to feel comfortable enough to mix and match for a few more outs, will not have any loss of effectiveness moving forward. It is very possible he will struggle giving us an inning tonight. My hope is that our offense, which has really struggled most of the playoffs, gets on track and gives us a large enough lead where Rivera can rest one more day.
The offense needs to put up a big day and earn their paychecks over the next two days. Blanton is scheduled to pitch on Sunday and he is a guy we should be able to knock around if we were swinging well. Philly made an interesting decision holding Lee back and it is one that I am glad they did. He has never pitched on 3 days rest, but I don’t think it is as big a deal as some people are making it out to be. I know many pitchers are creatures of habit. Lee (and most pitchers) normally rests for 2 days then has a bullpen session on the 3rd day followed by one more day of rest before the start, but why not just rest for one during the WS? One mistake I feel that Manual made was allowing lee to pitch the 9th inning with a 6-0 lead. Instead of throwing 104 pitches and leaving the game, he ended up with 122 pitches. That might have weighed into the decision and if so, was a poor one in my opinion.
I hope Girardi uses our pen correctly.
Hughes should be used against the righties from Werth down through Francisco, Feliz and Ruiz. The worst matchup is Hughes against Howard (no righty should be brought in to face him but Hughes being worse against lefties exacerbates this problem). In general, Hughes should not pitch to the top of the order (Rollins, Victorino and Utley) which is where Girardi used him last time.
Joba is more balanced so if you had to go to Hughes or Joba against the top of the order, I would go with Joba. However, if Robertson was available he is your best choice to face the top of the order as he is better against lefties. Remember Utley is better against lefties so if Robertson is looking very sharp you may want to leave him in rather than using Marte or Coke. But, when Howard comes up you always go to the lefty (unless Rivera is on the mound). One last point is that Aceves is also a little better against lefties so he is a good choice as well. I know he has struggled as well, but I would have more confidence against the top than I would for Hughes. Remember, one of the reasons I liked the Burnett matchup against this team was because of the entire team hitting lefties better except Howard and Burnett is better against lefties himself.
Hypothetical situation: and I know this will never happen, but if Rivera is in another situation where he is struggling and has thrown a lot of pitches (let’s say 35) and the last few guys have worked the bases juiced and Howard is coming up with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th inning, I would bring in Marte to try and close it out. I only bring this up because I had just made the absolute statement in the previous paragraph "unless Rivera is on the mound."
I hope the offense shows up because for the above reasons Andy does not have a great matchup. Every game is huge, but if we look at this objectively, we SHOULD win game 4 and game 7 with CC on the mound against Blanton and whoever they start game 7. Therefore, if we win tonight we should win the series. Of course, what should happen and what does can be very different and can swing on one pitch, but I believe this game and game 6 are the swing games of the series and we will need to win one of them.
The Genius Maker tm is a tribute to Mariano Rivera who makes coaches look a like a genius...
Friday, October 30, 2009
World Series Post Game 2
Pre game thoughts:
I made the statement that because the Yankees screwed up down the stretch and allowed Molina to start with Burnett, I would continue to start Molina over Posada (even though I would not have let it get to that point). While I still agree with my concept, I would start Posada this game 2 because the Yankee offense is simply struggling and having Molina in the lineup won’t help (also he is a righty and Pedro is better against righties).
While the above point can be debated, I believe that the move to start Hairston is simply bad. Hairston may very well get a hit or if we roll the dice and extremely lucky maybe even a double or more, but that does jot excuse starting him. Think about this, a righty pitcher who is better against righties, pitching against a right batter (a weaker one at that) who hits lefties better. Yes he has had some success off of Pedro and yes it is a decent sample (30+ AB’s can give you some basis of knowledge), but I would like to see whether the .370 BA has any extra base hits or walks so without OPS I still say this is stupid. I would play Gardner, but I could understand wanting to get more offense because Molina will start.
Onto the game:
I will first address my pre game comments: Hairston really didn’t play too much into the game as he had no challenging plays in the field and he went 1-3 with a cheap hit and finished doing as well as I could hope. 1-3 is .333, but with no walks or extra base hits that is an OPS of .666 which is in line with what you would expect. I still say bad move, but it didn’t seem to matter…this time.
As for the Molina Posada debate, I would have to say that Molina earned his keep today. He didn’t get a hit, but he did get a walk and Burnett was very sharp all day (Huge game AJ!). Not sure Molina can take credit for that, but he can take credit for the GREAT pick off throw on a ball in the dirt. He threw right over the batter helmet so Werth didn’t even know what happened. The play sparked the Yanks and we outscored Philly 3-0 the rest of the way.
Texiera’s homer was important as he has done very little.
ARod had a bad game failing to at least knock down the hard hit ball by Stairs that put us down 1-0 after the cheap hit by Ibanez and then struggling at the plate. I did pop out of my seat after the Texiera homer as I thought ARod had hit back to back shots, but he got it off the end of the bat.
Matsui gave us the 2-1 lead (he had a very productive game at the plate)
Up 3-1 with 1st and 2nd (after Jeter messed up bunting) the umpires reared the ugly head again. That was simply a bad call and instead of bases loaded and one out the inning was over. Howard knew he didn’t catch it and the ump behind the play should not have made that call. I am glad the Yankees won, because that call could have cost us the game.
The ump behind home plate was not consistent and by the end of the game the strike zone had expanded about 6 inches on each side of plate.
So here we are up 3-1 and we enter the 8th inning and Rivera comes in for another 6 out save. There is a part of me that understands this, but I worry about what impact this has on him the rest of the series. Yes, you must win this game, but perhaps a 6 out save does not give us the best chance? I would have let Joba face Ruiz to lead off the 8th and first guy on I would have made the move. Depending on how Joba looked after getting the first out, if he looked sharp I would let him face Rollins, if he got the out but was not sharp I would have gone to Robertson until he let a runner one and then gone to Rivera. But, like I said, I understand wanting to hear Enter Sandman and of more importance, I knew we would be hearing it.
Rivera was not sharp with his control, but was able to work his way out of trouble with a DP ball that was amazingly close at 1st base. Live I thought he was out and I made the comment that I am glad he was out because Jeter was slow on his exchange. Other guys are quicker to get rid of the ball than Jeter; but it didn’t cost them. When we came back form commercial they showed a bad angle but it looked like he was safe (that was close enough though where I wouldn’t be too ticked off either way). It should make you understand the importance of the quickness around 2nd base because if he were called safe, who knows what could have happened. Either way, the genius maker came through again! Simply amazing! Unfortunately, he threw 39 pitches! That is a lot of pitches for 2 innings and 2 innings is a lot for Rivera. Think about it, if you threw 20 pitches an inning you would be at 100 after 5 innings.
If you are going to use Rivera like this then why keep Bruney? I would much rather have Guzman on the team as you won't need all those pitchers as much as you would use Guzman.
I worry about our hitting, but they better get going on Halloween because Hamels has not pitched well in his two postseason starts. The Yankee offense needs to play better. Hamels had an OPS against lefties of .708 and .765 against righties, so he is a little better against lefties. So who would you start in RF? In weighing all the options, I would turn back to Swisher and if he looks bad again and a big spot is up, I let Matsui, Hinske or Hairston pinch hit and then bring in Gardner for defense (and hopefully the pinch runner). One of the serious options I would think about also is Matsui. However, because he has not played RF and he isn’t at top speed and his arm is a left fielders arm, I think those are too many strikes against him.
Boy is Girardi lucky he has the Genius Maker!
3 more wins to the big prize!
The Genius Maker tm is a tribute to Mariano Rivera who makes coaches look a like a genius...
I made the statement that because the Yankees screwed up down the stretch and allowed Molina to start with Burnett, I would continue to start Molina over Posada (even though I would not have let it get to that point). While I still agree with my concept, I would start Posada this game 2 because the Yankee offense is simply struggling and having Molina in the lineup won’t help (also he is a righty and Pedro is better against righties).
While the above point can be debated, I believe that the move to start Hairston is simply bad. Hairston may very well get a hit or if we roll the dice and extremely lucky maybe even a double or more, but that does jot excuse starting him. Think about this, a righty pitcher who is better against righties, pitching against a right batter (a weaker one at that) who hits lefties better. Yes he has had some success off of Pedro and yes it is a decent sample (30+ AB’s can give you some basis of knowledge), but I would like to see whether the .370 BA has any extra base hits or walks so without OPS I still say this is stupid. I would play Gardner, but I could understand wanting to get more offense because Molina will start.
Onto the game:
I will first address my pre game comments: Hairston really didn’t play too much into the game as he had no challenging plays in the field and he went 1-3 with a cheap hit and finished doing as well as I could hope. 1-3 is .333, but with no walks or extra base hits that is an OPS of .666 which is in line with what you would expect. I still say bad move, but it didn’t seem to matter…this time.
As for the Molina Posada debate, I would have to say that Molina earned his keep today. He didn’t get a hit, but he did get a walk and Burnett was very sharp all day (Huge game AJ!). Not sure Molina can take credit for that, but he can take credit for the GREAT pick off throw on a ball in the dirt. He threw right over the batter helmet so Werth didn’t even know what happened. The play sparked the Yanks and we outscored Philly 3-0 the rest of the way.
Texiera’s homer was important as he has done very little.
ARod had a bad game failing to at least knock down the hard hit ball by Stairs that put us down 1-0 after the cheap hit by Ibanez and then struggling at the plate. I did pop out of my seat after the Texiera homer as I thought ARod had hit back to back shots, but he got it off the end of the bat.
Matsui gave us the 2-1 lead (he had a very productive game at the plate)
Up 3-1 with 1st and 2nd (after Jeter messed up bunting) the umpires reared the ugly head again. That was simply a bad call and instead of bases loaded and one out the inning was over. Howard knew he didn’t catch it and the ump behind the play should not have made that call. I am glad the Yankees won, because that call could have cost us the game.
The ump behind home plate was not consistent and by the end of the game the strike zone had expanded about 6 inches on each side of plate.
So here we are up 3-1 and we enter the 8th inning and Rivera comes in for another 6 out save. There is a part of me that understands this, but I worry about what impact this has on him the rest of the series. Yes, you must win this game, but perhaps a 6 out save does not give us the best chance? I would have let Joba face Ruiz to lead off the 8th and first guy on I would have made the move. Depending on how Joba looked after getting the first out, if he looked sharp I would let him face Rollins, if he got the out but was not sharp I would have gone to Robertson until he let a runner one and then gone to Rivera. But, like I said, I understand wanting to hear Enter Sandman and of more importance, I knew we would be hearing it.
Rivera was not sharp with his control, but was able to work his way out of trouble with a DP ball that was amazingly close at 1st base. Live I thought he was out and I made the comment that I am glad he was out because Jeter was slow on his exchange. Other guys are quicker to get rid of the ball than Jeter; but it didn’t cost them. When we came back form commercial they showed a bad angle but it looked like he was safe (that was close enough though where I wouldn’t be too ticked off either way). It should make you understand the importance of the quickness around 2nd base because if he were called safe, who knows what could have happened. Either way, the genius maker came through again! Simply amazing! Unfortunately, he threw 39 pitches! That is a lot of pitches for 2 innings and 2 innings is a lot for Rivera. Think about it, if you threw 20 pitches an inning you would be at 100 after 5 innings.
If you are going to use Rivera like this then why keep Bruney? I would much rather have Guzman on the team as you won't need all those pitchers as much as you would use Guzman.
I worry about our hitting, but they better get going on Halloween because Hamels has not pitched well in his two postseason starts. The Yankee offense needs to play better. Hamels had an OPS against lefties of .708 and .765 against righties, so he is a little better against lefties. So who would you start in RF? In weighing all the options, I would turn back to Swisher and if he looks bad again and a big spot is up, I let Matsui, Hinske or Hairston pinch hit and then bring in Gardner for defense (and hopefully the pinch runner). One of the serious options I would think about also is Matsui. However, because he has not played RF and he isn’t at top speed and his arm is a left fielders arm, I think those are too many strikes against him.
Boy is Girardi lucky he has the Genius Maker!
3 more wins to the big prize!
The Genius Maker tm is a tribute to Mariano Rivera who makes coaches look a like a genius...
Thursday, October 29, 2009
World Series Post Game 1
Our two best went at it and they came out ahead. Why?
The Yankees took strikes and swung at balls
Lee had good movement on his pitches and pitched well, but he was aided by a poor Yankee performance. Lee missed his spots a lot yesterday but was fortunately wild at times. What I mean is that sometimes he missed his spot by a lot but the ball ended up in a very good alternative spot. Compare that to when CC missed his spot to Utley on the 0-2 pitch and threw a meatball down the middle. Utley hit it a long way (not the first one). The Yankees swung through or just didn’t swing at many very hittable pitches. Of course you could say that they kept the Yankee hitters off balance and they did, but the Yankees did not swing the bats well on very hittable pitches. I bet the Yankees approach will be very different next time.
Girardi didn’t read this blog. If he did, he would have known that the 8th inning should have started with Robertson instead of Hughes. Why would you bring in Hughes who is a lot better against righties when 4 straight lefties are coming up? Why am I stating this immediately with the people I am watching the game with and Girardi is not aware of this? Rollins and Victorino are both switch hitters and Victorino hits lefties better (Rollins about equal). Then Utley who is better against lefties is up followed by Howard. So Girardi goes with Hughes to maximize the DISadvantage in matchups. Hughes walks both hitters as he continues to struggle. Then Girardi goes to Marte who does another good job against Utley and Howard. Unfortunately, Girardi was backward in his use of the pen as he then goes to Robertson even though Robertson is much better against lefties to face the righty Werth. Now Werth is much better against lefties, but wouldn’t have made perfect sense to start Robertson and then go to Hughes for the Werth and below part of the lineup? Absurd that the Yankees didn’t go that way. Robertson ended up walking Werth and then with a decent matchup against Ibanez (Robertson, Rivera, and Marte would be our best choices against him) he induced a weak grounder that got through the right side that pretty much ended the game. It looked like Texiera could have made a play on the ball, but he broke back to first base and it just found the perfect spot. That was a tough break.
Less relevant than the above points, but one that ticked me off was the Check swing to Cano; it was an awful call that took his bat away from him and then he hits into a DP where Matsui was kind of in no mans land because the ump at 2nd base was a little late with the call. Either way he should have run back to 1st base instead of guaranteeing he had no chance by standing in the middle of base paths.
Swisher needs to sit down. He missed very hittable pitches and then took strike 3 down the middle. Sure he could come out if it at any time and maybe he will, but on the same note maybe Hinske or Gardner hit well too? Gardner will get you better defense and that is probably worth it. I get the sense Girardi will go to Hinske though.
Time for AJ to come through for us; I hope Posada catches.
The Yankees took strikes and swung at balls
Lee had good movement on his pitches and pitched well, but he was aided by a poor Yankee performance. Lee missed his spots a lot yesterday but was fortunately wild at times. What I mean is that sometimes he missed his spot by a lot but the ball ended up in a very good alternative spot. Compare that to when CC missed his spot to Utley on the 0-2 pitch and threw a meatball down the middle. Utley hit it a long way (not the first one). The Yankees swung through or just didn’t swing at many very hittable pitches. Of course you could say that they kept the Yankee hitters off balance and they did, but the Yankees did not swing the bats well on very hittable pitches. I bet the Yankees approach will be very different next time.
Girardi didn’t read this blog. If he did, he would have known that the 8th inning should have started with Robertson instead of Hughes. Why would you bring in Hughes who is a lot better against righties when 4 straight lefties are coming up? Why am I stating this immediately with the people I am watching the game with and Girardi is not aware of this? Rollins and Victorino are both switch hitters and Victorino hits lefties better (Rollins about equal). Then Utley who is better against lefties is up followed by Howard. So Girardi goes with Hughes to maximize the DISadvantage in matchups. Hughes walks both hitters as he continues to struggle. Then Girardi goes to Marte who does another good job against Utley and Howard. Unfortunately, Girardi was backward in his use of the pen as he then goes to Robertson even though Robertson is much better against lefties to face the righty Werth. Now Werth is much better against lefties, but wouldn’t have made perfect sense to start Robertson and then go to Hughes for the Werth and below part of the lineup? Absurd that the Yankees didn’t go that way. Robertson ended up walking Werth and then with a decent matchup against Ibanez (Robertson, Rivera, and Marte would be our best choices against him) he induced a weak grounder that got through the right side that pretty much ended the game. It looked like Texiera could have made a play on the ball, but he broke back to first base and it just found the perfect spot. That was a tough break.
Less relevant than the above points, but one that ticked me off was the Check swing to Cano; it was an awful call that took his bat away from him and then he hits into a DP where Matsui was kind of in no mans land because the ump at 2nd base was a little late with the call. Either way he should have run back to 1st base instead of guaranteeing he had no chance by standing in the middle of base paths.
Swisher needs to sit down. He missed very hittable pitches and then took strike 3 down the middle. Sure he could come out if it at any time and maybe he will, but on the same note maybe Hinske or Gardner hit well too? Gardner will get you better defense and that is probably worth it. I get the sense Girardi will go to Hinske though.
Time for AJ to come through for us; I hope Posada catches.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
WORLD SERIES pre game 1
Well we made it to the big show! I know if we don’t win we will all be very disappointed, but it has been a very good year and the moves made to get here were good ones. The Phillies made some great moves as well getting Ibanez and their ace Cliff Lee.
I thought I would take a look at the matchups a little bit so that everyone could have a feel for why moves are made and what to expect based on the yearly totals as well looking at past years to make sure trends are real and not just a one year aberration.
The most important piece of information to know is that Ryan Howard is MUCH better against righties than lefties. In fact, he has one of the larger discrepancies you will find in a star player. His OPS against righties is a superb 1.088 and his OPS against lefties is a weak .654! The Yankees should have Marte and Coke face him every single time.
Cliff Lee is better against lefties in a similar way that Saunders was better against lefties, but Lee is a better pitcher.
Cole Hamels had an average year with a .708 OPS against lefties and a .765 against righties.
Brad Lidge is their closer and he was awful this year, including blowing saves against us in 3 games. But he has picked it up in the postseason and has been tough on righties in his career with an excellent slider.
The other relievers are Madsen and Park. Madsen is the better guy with a .634 OPS against righties and a .710 against lefties, but he is not great. Park is similar with a .678 against righties and a .752 against lefties.
Utley (Lefty) is better against lefties over the last 3 years, but not very significant. A guy like Coke who isn’t as lopsided as Marte in terms of platooning is probably not the best matchup. However, a guy like Rivera and Robertson, who are both better against lefties are good matchups. Utley is a very good player.
Rollins (s) Rollins got off to a terrible start but then hit his usual career .800 OPS from that point on. Pretty equal overall over the years. He is their best base stealer
Ibanez (lefty) has a .900 OPS and is pretty equal
Catcher Carlos Ruiz. (Righty) .780 OPS – His OPS against lefties is very good at .894 and is mediocre against righties at .742.
Shane Victorino (Switch) hits lefties better .844 compared to .787.
Werth – Crushes lefties and 1.08 and still is fairly solid against righties at .805
Dobbs and Stairs are the lefties off the bench and they both hit righties better, but neither is a particularly good hitter and would not scare me with any matchup. Being lefties Robertson and Rivera matchup the best.
Ben Francisco LF – is a righty who is better against lefties.
As you can tell, the Phillies are a better hitting team against lefties almost down the line with the one huge exception of Howard.
As for the Yankees there are a couple of surprises you may not be aware of.
CC is very tough on lefties at .560 against and a still very good .679 against righties.
Burnett is surprisingly much better against lefties with an OPS against of .655 against lefties and .815 against righties. I know he got hit for 5 HR’s during the regular season (although we were not rolling yet) against the Phillies, but on paper he should matchup well against them. Now the righty lefty trends are very real, but sometimes one player just sees the ball well off of a pitcher. After one bad start I don’t think that means anything and if Burnett is on he should be able to pitch well to this very good lineup.
I mentioned this before but Robertson is .601 against lefties and .751 against righties. He is a guy we should be using more in this series.
Joba is fairly equal against both
Hughes is much better against righties and should be used against Ruiz and Werth. Hughes is .546 against righties and .740 against lefties.
Rivera is .511 against lefties and .586 against righties
Aceves has been good against lefties and decent against righties. His matchup is better than Gaudin's
Gaudin is .667 against righties and .823 against lefties. I don’t really like his matchup as a starter, but he could be used like Hughes or if we really need him to start.
As for our hitters, the guys who are worth noting as having any significant differences against lefties and righties are Damon who is .776 against lefties and .889 against righties (Not the best matchup against Lee) and Jeter, 1.01 against lefties and .816 against righties. The rest of the team is pretty much the same although Posada is a little better against righties and Matsui has hit lefties better this year.
There has been some talk about what rotation the Yankees should go with. I think there is no question what we do the first 4 games. CC, Burnett, Pettitte and CC again. At that point, I would see how things have gone and who has pitched well etc…Depending on the situation I might start Aceves. I know he has not pitches well, but I like his matchup better than Gaudin’s. Most likely I would pitch Burnett on 3 days rest and Pettitte on 3 days rest. This is the World Series and it is not that big a deal for one start. The way I see it none of our pitchers will have to pitch more than once on 3 days rest J
The Phillies are a very good hitting team and they are the defending World Champs so there is no intimidation. However, I think our pitching is better than theirs. After Cliff Lee there is nobody who scares me (including their pen) and it is up to our offense to put up solid production 5+ runs should happen if they are doing their job.
The Philly offense is really good, but I like our team a lot and I would hope we handle them just as we did Anaheim . There should be some more great games.
Either way, let’s enjoy the ride...
The Genius Maker tm is a tribute to Mariano Rivera who makes coaches look a like a genius...
I thought I would take a look at the matchups a little bit so that everyone could have a feel for why moves are made and what to expect based on the yearly totals as well looking at past years to make sure trends are real and not just a one year aberration.
The most important piece of information to know is that Ryan Howard is MUCH better against righties than lefties. In fact, he has one of the larger discrepancies you will find in a star player. His OPS against righties is a superb 1.088 and his OPS against lefties is a weak .654! The Yankees should have Marte and Coke face him every single time.
Cliff Lee is better against lefties in a similar way that Saunders was better against lefties, but Lee is a better pitcher.
Cole Hamels had an average year with a .708 OPS against lefties and a .765 against righties.
Brad Lidge is their closer and he was awful this year, including blowing saves against us in 3 games. But he has picked it up in the postseason and has been tough on righties in his career with an excellent slider.
The other relievers are Madsen and Park. Madsen is the better guy with a .634 OPS against righties and a .710 against lefties, but he is not great. Park is similar with a .678 against righties and a .752 against lefties.
Utley (Lefty) is better against lefties over the last 3 years, but not very significant. A guy like Coke who isn’t as lopsided as Marte in terms of platooning is probably not the best matchup. However, a guy like Rivera and Robertson, who are both better against lefties are good matchups. Utley is a very good player.
Rollins (s) Rollins got off to a terrible start but then hit his usual career .800 OPS from that point on. Pretty equal overall over the years. He is their best base stealer
Ibanez (lefty) has a .900 OPS and is pretty equal
Catcher Carlos Ruiz. (Righty) .780 OPS – His OPS against lefties is very good at .894 and is mediocre against righties at .742.
Shane Victorino (Switch) hits lefties better .844 compared to .787.
Werth – Crushes lefties and 1.08 and still is fairly solid against righties at .805
Dobbs and Stairs are the lefties off the bench and they both hit righties better, but neither is a particularly good hitter and would not scare me with any matchup. Being lefties Robertson and Rivera matchup the best.
Ben Francisco LF – is a righty who is better against lefties.
As you can tell, the Phillies are a better hitting team against lefties almost down the line with the one huge exception of Howard.
As for the Yankees there are a couple of surprises you may not be aware of.
CC is very tough on lefties at .560 against and a still very good .679 against righties.
Burnett is surprisingly much better against lefties with an OPS against of .655 against lefties and .815 against righties. I know he got hit for 5 HR’s during the regular season (although we were not rolling yet) against the Phillies, but on paper he should matchup well against them. Now the righty lefty trends are very real, but sometimes one player just sees the ball well off of a pitcher. After one bad start I don’t think that means anything and if Burnett is on he should be able to pitch well to this very good lineup.
I mentioned this before but Robertson is .601 against lefties and .751 against righties. He is a guy we should be using more in this series.
Joba is fairly equal against both
Hughes is much better against righties and should be used against Ruiz and Werth. Hughes is .546 against righties and .740 against lefties.
Rivera is .511 against lefties and .586 against righties
Aceves has been good against lefties and decent against righties. His matchup is better than Gaudin's
Gaudin is .667 against righties and .823 against lefties. I don’t really like his matchup as a starter, but he could be used like Hughes or if we really need him to start.
As for our hitters, the guys who are worth noting as having any significant differences against lefties and righties are Damon who is .776 against lefties and .889 against righties (Not the best matchup against Lee) and Jeter, 1.01 against lefties and .816 against righties. The rest of the team is pretty much the same although Posada is a little better against righties and Matsui has hit lefties better this year.
There has been some talk about what rotation the Yankees should go with. I think there is no question what we do the first 4 games. CC, Burnett, Pettitte and CC again. At that point, I would see how things have gone and who has pitched well etc…Depending on the situation I might start Aceves. I know he has not pitches well, but I like his matchup better than Gaudin’s. Most likely I would pitch Burnett on 3 days rest and Pettitte on 3 days rest. This is the World Series and it is not that big a deal for one start. The way I see it none of our pitchers will have to pitch more than once on 3 days rest J
The Phillies are a very good hitting team and they are the defending World Champs so there is no intimidation. However, I think our pitching is better than theirs. After Cliff Lee there is nobody who scares me (including their pen) and it is up to our offense to put up solid production 5+ runs should happen if they are doing their job.
The Philly offense is really good, but I like our team a lot and I would hope we handle them just as we did Anaheim . There should be some more great games.
Either way, let’s enjoy the ride...
The Genius Maker tm is a tribute to Mariano Rivera who makes coaches look a like a genius...
Monday, October 26, 2009
Playoff Edition Post ALCS
Bring on the Phillies!
4 more wins for the big prize.
I try to avoid listening to much of the hoopla and “experts” because I get sick of all the cliché’s and reviews of what happened and the explanations behind it. All the talk was about how the Angels were a team of destiny because of the tragic death of Nick Adenhart and if the Angels did win people would say it was because it pulled them together and they were playing for Nick. Now that they have lost it is forgotten (not the tragic death of course).
The Yankees took care of business again and took 4 of 6 from a very solid Angel team that didn’t play their best. I don’t think we have either as the majority of our team is not swinging the bats well. Both pitchers were not sharp today, but the Angels didn’t swing the bats today. Andy did OK, but they missed some hittable pitchers and the stat line doesn’t show it, but Andy was not incredibly sharp today.
I am not going to go into the game too much as I would like to get out a pre series blog analyzing the Phillies team. But a few points:
I had mentioned bunting with 1st and 2nd with nobody out and in the 4 times we had that situation we did not bunt and scored no runs. Tonight we bunted twice in those situations (These were obvious with Melky up) and we scored all our runs in those innings (the 1st 3 after the big hit by Damon).
In the 5th inning the Yankees are winning 3-1 and swisher had just K’d…I would have taken him out for Gardner and got my best defensive team in there. As it turned out swisher was up again in the 8th and for some reason he let Swisher sacrifice instead of letting Gardner bunt? I have no idea what he was thinking but after the Angels made an error somebody might have tapped Joe on the shoulder and mentioned pinch running Gardner may make sense…Joe woke up and put Gardner in.
Girardi pulled Andy at the right time.
I was good with Joba being the guy, but I thought it was interesting he didn’t go to Robertson.
In the 8th, I would have brought Marte in to face Chone Figgins and Abreu, but I understand turning it over to the Genius Maker. I don’t thin it was needed and I stated at the time what I would have done.
So, CC was the MVP of the series? He was great and deserving, but ARod really has been great. For the postseason ARod has an OPS of 1.516! He has only been up 41 times including walks, but if you took those numbers over 600 AB’s he would hit 73 HR’s with 175 HR’s and 131 walks and 146 runs scored. That is pretty darn good. Hey, I would sign up for an OPS of 1.000 or above for Alex in the World Series!
What else can you say about Rivera? You see all these other closers fail so often and it is amazing how few times he has failed. To be able to continue at his age is even more head scratching. THE GENIUS MAKER!
Bring on the defending Champs!
The Genius Maker tm is a tribute to Mariano Rivera who makes coaches look a like a genius...
Playoff Edition Post ALCS
Bring on the Phillies!
4 more wins for the big prize.
I try to avoid listening to much of the hoopla and “experts” because I get sick of all the cliché’s and reviews of what happened and the explanations behind it. All the talk was about how the Angels were a team of destiny because of the tragic death of Nick Adenhart and if the Angels did win people would say it was because it pulled them together and they were playing for Nick. Now that they have lost it is forgotten (not the tragic death of course).
The Yankees took care of business again and took 4 of 6 from a very solid Angel team that didn’t play their best. I don’t think we have either as the majority of our team is not swinging the bats well. Both pitchers were not sharp today, but the Angels didn’t swing the bats today. Andy did OK, but they missed some hittable pitchers and the stat line doesn’t show it, but Andy was not incredibly sharp today.
I am not going to go into the game too much as I would like to get out a pre series blog analyzing the Phillies team. But a few points:
I had mentioned bunting with 1st and 2nd with nobody out and in the 4 times we had that situation we did not bunt and scored no runs. Tonight we bunted twice in those situations (These were obvious with Melky up) and we scored all our runs in those innings (the 1st 3 after the big hit by Damon).
In the 5th inning the Yankees are winning 3-1 and swisher had just K’d…I would have taken him out for Gardner and got my best defensive team in there. As it turned out swisher was up again in the 8th and for some reason he let Swisher sacrifice instead of letting Gardner bunt? I have no idea what he was thinking but after the Angels made an error somebody might have tapped Joe on the shoulder and mentioned pinch running Gardner may make sense…Joe woke up and put Gardner in.
Girardi pulled Andy at the right time.
I was good with Joba being the guy, but I thought it was interesting he didn’t go to Robertson.
In the 8th, I would have brought Marte in to face Chone Figgins and Abreu, but I understand turning it over to the Genius Maker. I don’t thin it was needed and I stated at the time what I would have done.
So, CC was the MVP of the series? He was great and deserving, but ARod really has been great. For the postseason ARod has an OPS of 1.516! He has only been up 41 times including walks, but if you took those numbers over 600 AB’s he would hit 73 HR’s with 175 HR’s and 131 walks and 146 runs scored. That is pretty darn good. Hey, I would sign up for an OPS of 1.000 or above for Alex in the World Series!
What else can you say about Rivera? You see all these other closers fail so often and it is amazing how few times he has failed. To be able to continue at his age is even more head scratching. THE GENIUS MAKER!
Bring on the defending Champs!
The Genius Maker tm is a tribute to Mariano Rivera who makes coaches look a like a genius...
4 more wins for the big prize.
I try to avoid listening to much of the hoopla and “experts” because I get sick of all the cliché’s and reviews of what happened and the explanations behind it. All the talk was about how the Angels were a team of destiny because of the tragic death of Nick Adenhart and if the Angels did win people would say it was because it pulled them together and they were playing for Nick. Now that they have lost it is forgotten (not the tragic death of course).
The Yankees took care of business again and took 4 of 6 from a very solid Angel team that didn’t play their best. I don’t think we have either as the majority of our team is not swinging the bats well. Both pitchers were not sharp today, but the Angels didn’t swing the bats today. Andy did OK, but they missed some hittable pitchers and the stat line doesn’t show it, but Andy was not incredibly sharp today.
I am not going to go into the game too much as I would like to get out a pre series blog analyzing the Phillies team. But a few points:
I had mentioned bunting with 1st and 2nd with nobody out and in the 4 times we had that situation we did not bunt and scored no runs. Tonight we bunted twice in those situations (These were obvious with Melky up) and we scored all our runs in those innings (the 1st 3 after the big hit by Damon).
In the 5th inning the Yankees are winning 3-1 and swisher had just K’d…I would have taken him out for Gardner and got my best defensive team in there. As it turned out swisher was up again in the 8th and for some reason he let Swisher sacrifice instead of letting Gardner bunt? I have no idea what he was thinking but after the Angels made an error somebody might have tapped Joe on the shoulder and mentioned pinch running Gardner may make sense…Joe woke up and put Gardner in.
Girardi pulled Andy at the right time.
I was good with Joba being the guy, but I thought it was interesting he didn’t go to Robertson.
In the 8th, I would have brought Marte in to face Chone Figgins and Abreu, but I understand turning it over to the Genius Maker. I don’t thin it was needed and I stated at the time what I would have done.
So, CC was the MVP of the series? He was great and deserving, but ARod really has been great. For the postseason ARod has an OPS of 1.516! He has only been up 41 times including walks, but if you took those numbers over 600 AB’s he would hit 73 HR’s with 175 HR’s and 131 walks and 146 runs scored. That is pretty darn good. Hey, I would sign up for an OPS of 1.000 or above for Alex in the World Series!
What else can you say about Rivera? You see all these other closers fail so often and it is amazing how few times he has failed. To be able to continue at his age is even more head scratching. THE GENIUS MAKER!
Bring on the defending Champs!
The Genius Maker tm is a tribute to Mariano Rivera who makes coaches look a like a genius...
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