I am sorry I have not been as
consistent in writing as last year, and over the next few weeks I won’t be able
to get much out (all is good, just busy), but I have a lot I want to blast out!
I spoke about how I think they are
messing with Phelps in the way they did with Joba and Hughes and we know how
that worked out (or how long it took to undo it (hopefully Joba comes back
strong). The Yanks said they put Phelps down “to
stretch him out because he is a starter.”
Ok, so now they bring him up and use him in short situations? Either the Yanks/Girardi is FOS or they are
stupid; which one is it?
Kuroda has pitched at least seven
innings in nine of his past 11 starts since May 27. … He’s 7-1 with a 2.49 ERA
in those past 11 starts. I stated I
liked the signing when they inked him, but I was only looking at the stats; I
can see why is stats were solid. He has
a nice repertoire and isn’t a slop pitcher, he can get his fastball up there.
Ichiro! Let me get this out of the way; this was a no
brainer pick up for what we gave up both minor league and money wise. That being said, the fact we had to is a bad
thing. People can say what they want,
but Ichiro is not a good hitter anymore.
Can we find lightning in the bottle?
Sure, and could he be rejuvenated coming to a winner? Sure as well.
We might even see an uptick from him, but how big of one? The key why this was a no brainer is this
team needed some more speed and some defense in the OF. In fact, I was in favor of not shutting down Gardner for the year and
use him for those two situations and if he had to bat he could bunt, but
basically he is a pinch runner and defensive replacement. Unfortunately, Ichiro is a poor man’s Gardner now with a
horrible OBP as he is a free swinger. I
also should note that I have always said Ichiro was one of the more overrated
players in the game as people were enamored with how many hits and his batting
average, but they didn’t take into account his lack or power and walks. Of course, his defense has always been
excellent with great range and a great throwing arm. Pardon my own interruption here but I have to
speak about this as I was extremely disappointed in the late Tuesday night
game. Ichiro’s great throwing arm needs
to be changed to great arm strength because his overall time of when he touches
the ball to when the ball gets to its destination is NOT great.
In the 3rd inning twice Seattle went from 1st
to 3rd on Ichiro and twice they should have been out. Ichiro made strong velocity throws, but he
took forever to get rid of the ball both times.
In fact, each time he wasn’t charging full speed (which is OK because
the game wasn’t on the line and you don’t want to let the ball by you), but I
am OK with that if he gets rid of it quickly, however he then fielded the ball
both times then took a half step with his right foot and then “hopped” with right
foot coming down again and then his left and then came down another time with
his right foot and threw off his right foot stepping with his left with a
normal throw. He took those two extra
steps which of course allows the runner to get extra steps as well. I was so shocked after I saw this I went back
and watched it the first time a few times and was a little annoyed. I thought that maybe he just was off balance
or didn’t have a good grip so he double clutched, but then later in the inning
the same exact situation happened! This
was very alarming to me as I am big on getting rid of the ball quickly. There is a reason why a catcher doesn’t take
longer to throw the ball down to 2nd base even if he would get a
more accurate and more powerful throw; it is because he can’t give the runner
another step. The same applies to an OF’r,
but it isn’t as critical because it is a longer throw. Either way, his overall throw is not that
good and in fact was not good yesterday and clearly was not effective…very
disappointed. BTW, this inning was a 2
run inning for Seattle and might have cost us the
game as Seattle
has an awful offense. Also contributing
the loss was a key moment when the Yanks had 1st and 3rd nobody
out and bases loaded 1 out in the same inning and Cano & Ibanez screwed
up. Later Cano redeemed himself but
Ibanez K’d again later.
While I am in such a sour mood
after hearing Gardner
is out for the year (I have said he is more valuable than people gave him credit
for) the news got worse when after the 3rd Yankee was hit by a pitch
and it resulted in ARod getting hit on the hand and breaking it! ARod seemed to be just starting to swing well
and got his OPS above .800 (.807). ARod is
a brunt of so much criticism because of the absurd contract the Yankees game
him, but he is an important part of the team and as much as he is struggling,
we could only hope that many of our players had an OPS of .807. I was listening to Michael Kay talk about the
“great” year Jeter is having and I am thinking to myself what is he
watching? I am thinking he must be
talking about Jeter’s .758 OPS or his team leading 15 DP’s or his great
range? Now, please don’t take this as a
knock on Jeter, the guy is 38 and playing SS, only a few guys have done this,
but because he is a great guy (and he is), he gets so many passes. ARod is clearly hitting better than Jeter,
but you wouldn’t think so from the way everyone talks. BTW, ARod’s OPS with RISP is better than Jeter’s
(even though they both are poor). I
guess I don’t think people realize how valuable ARod is even when he isn’t playing
at his best and even if he isn’t close to justifying his contract…but that is a
sunk cost. ARod is 3rd in the
AL for OPS of
3rd baseman behind Cabrera and Beltre. That isn’t as bad as people make it out to be
and he had an .860 OPS for July…he was swinging pretty well. This is another big blow for this team. We are lucky that the competition is as weak
as ever this year. I think we might need
another bat now as Ibanez has been slowing down and hitting into a lot of DP’s
(his OPS is about .600 over the last two months). Jones is OK but that is about it. We better hope Chavez can keep playing the
way he has so far; it will be critical now as ARod is probably out until a few
games before the playoffs
Oh and why does Girardi try and be
too smart? Freddie had just retired 15
straight batters after Joe sent him out for the 8th inning and he
struck out the initial guy in the 8th? Then Joe takes him out, I assume, because he
was pitching too effectively? Rapada
walked his first batter on a 3-2 pitch and then retired his 2nd guy
before Qualls walked Montero after allowing a SB and Logan came on to walk the
bases loaded (on a 3-2 pitch). Then Logan allowed a check
swing “bunt” down the 3rd base line for the 4th run. Eplley got them out of it, but why did we
need all those relievers when Garcia was absolutely cruising and not even
thrown 90 pitches?
I know I have said that I would
have Phelps in the rotation instead of Freddie and I still want that, but I am
talking about letting a guy who is pitching well to continue and not look for
the guy who might struggle that day. It is about being flexible with your
application of statistical knowledge based on the watching what is happening
with your human team.
Just closing on Ichiro, I do think
he will get some life with us and we clearly need him now, but he is just an
extra piece and I do not think he should be batting all the time against
lefties. I would play him and see if he
responds, but you should also remember he is also 38 years old and his game was
predicated on speed. Good pickup, but we
are not getting a HOF
player; we are getting someone who can help us; even if it is just for defense
and a pinch runner. BTW, I was thrilled
they batted him 8th. I might want
to bat him 9th so if he does get on base he could try and steal and
if there are 2 outs we go to the top of the lineup. I bring this up because he was on 1st
with 2 outs and Stewart was up and I thought I am not sure if I want to risk
getting him thrown out and having the “pitcher” lead off. Either way, I am glad they didn’t even think
of putting him at the top.
Just a quick note on some of our
hitters:
Tex has been swinging the bat real well and
had a great walk against King Felix last night to load the bases. He also was up with the bases loaded and 1
out and scorched a bullet right at the CF’r and if that found a gap we would
have won. His OPS in July is 1.161 and
his overall is now at .847 which is 3rd behind Cano’s .947 and
Granderson’s .859.
That should be it for me for a
little while…
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