The Genius Maker #77

Let me first say in what turned into an amazingly exciting and close finish that is about as close as you can be, I didn’t enjoy this game. The umpire was so inconsistent it sucked the life from me…and I think if you took the 40 questionable calls, I think the benefit was in our favor for the game. The ump was so bad though, after a 2-1 strike was called a ball on Colon to make it 3-1 he was forced to groove one that ended up in the upper deck…we still ended up on the plus side of a terrible ump for the game.

Colon pitched OK. I would like to see them work the change in more and I thought he was a little heavy on his slider and didn’t use the 2 seamer (probably because he allowed some homers on that last outing. Colon is OK, don’t get too excited yet.

Oh before I get back to the game, I mentioned in the blog the other day that ARod looked to jam his thumb on the “error” he made…well it was confirmed as he was out of the lineup. This is getting frustrating with him. Hank’s idiotic decision which I harped on for weeks will really stink for those extra 3 years.

So Swisher had a chance to be a hero. 3 run homer in the 8th and could have had the game winning hit in the 9th. After being down 6-0 in the 8th, Posada led off the 9th with a HR (he also doubled and is showing some pop) and after 2 guys reached base, Girardi had a tough decision. Jeter was up with nobody out and 1st and 2nd. Normally I would bunt here, especially with a righty on the mound. But Jeter is seeing the ball extremely well and Granderson looked bad earlier this game and Tex also had terrible AB’s. That being said when Girardi called the bunt; it is not fair to criticize the decision. Granderson was lucky to work a walk, but Tex (who really had an awful game and probably cost us the game offensively) popped up with the bases loaded. Cano barely worked a walk and up came Swisher needing a single to win the game and with Gardner on 3rd a pitch in the dirt could tie the game. After 2 balls we were in the driver’s seat. Do you take a pitch or do you hack away? I am fine swinging at it and he hot it very solidly to deep RC, but it fell just short of the wall (about 390 feet) and instead of a GW grand slam; it was just a frustrating loss.

The offense stunk for most of the game. They missed a lot of hittable pitches. Their pitcher did have some movement, but throwing 90-91 and catching a lot of the plate, it was poor hitting a lot of the time.

Gardner also had a bad game going 0-5 and with Jeter’s hot streak Gardner’s OPS is barely better than Jeter’s at .742 compared to .737. Of course, the adjusted OPS to take SB’s into account puts 7 more points on Jeter and 34 on Gardner’s.

BTW, as bad as Posada has been his OPS is .724, (but a solid .828 against righties), of course he is as big a negative on the bases as a player can be. Interestingly, Posada has been awful against lefties (.304 OPS) and as a pinch hitter (.607 OPS in 13 AB’s). Posada also in about 40 plate appearances at first base has an OPS of 1.012. I think as a catcher he obviously has struggled with going from being so involved with the game to sitting on the bench. Therefore, Posada’s .828 OPS though shows he should DH against righties and be pinch run for as needed late in the game. That is pretty limiting, but at least he has been moderately productive in those spots.

Last comment, I know Jeter has been an icon, but it is embarrassing when everyone keeps talking about his batting average and will he hit .300? I could care less, I just want his OPS to be over .800 the rest of the year (.848 OPS after the All Star Game) and if he does it the way Teixeira does (.248 BA and an OPS of .858), I could care less. Tex and Jeter are a classic example of why batting average means so little. .295 batting average compared to a .248 and Teixeira’s OPS is 121 points higher.

BTW, I don’t want to excuse Teixeira as he has become a different hitter the last 2 years than he was his previous 6. He has become much more pull happy than ever and while he may break 40 homers for the 2nd time his career his overall OBP is lower than it should be. His OPS should be .900 so he is underperforming.

OPS for the Yanks with thoughts as of this moment:
Granderson .965 far over performing
Cano .873 slightly under performing
Teixeira .858 under performing
ARod .838 far under performing
Andrew Jones .836 doing what he did last year so on par
Swisher .808 slightly under performing
Gardner .742 on par (tiny bit under performing)
Jeter .737 (I had Jeter in the mid to high .700’s this year so under performing right now)
Posada .725 (under performing) (he was in the same boat as Jeter high .700’s)
Martin .722 (hard to say, but on par)
Lesser AB guys but
Nunez .708 19 SB’s and 5 CS (not enough for his defense)
Chavez .697 (this may surprise people how low he is, but he has been struggling of late and has little power)
Cervelli .654 (pretty much on his career)

Overall, our offense is not doing as well as it should be doing. In many ways this is a good thing looking forward. Of course, the starting pitching is coming back to earth as well. The bullpen is the best in the bigs! Should be a fun finish.