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?