Break out the Brooms!

Ten comments on the Yankee sweep against Boston:

1.   Warren pitched pretty well, but had more trouble locating his changeup on the outside corner against lefties.  He missed way off the plate to the right too often.  His fastball had good control though.

2.   I didn’t like the overturn of the call at 1^st base after a 3 or 4 minutes review.  If you have to look that long then the original call should stand.  It was amazingly close.  But, that delay really could have changed the game a lot as the Yankees and the pitchers mindset was very different after the overturn.   Warren fell behind 3-0 to Sandoval and with the score 5-0 (2 men on and 2 outs) I was kind of shocked they gave him the green light.  Fortunately, he swung and grounded out to end the inning.

3.   Just to show you that I don’t only show you my good calls…I thought it was idiotic to have Gardner swing away in the top of the 6^th inning with men in 1^st and 2^nd with nobody out.  I think that is probably a guaranteed bunt unless you are down by a lot, then when you add the fact a lefty was on the mound it is a no brainer.  After falling behind 1-2 I was really annoyed.  Then Gardner, turned on a mistake and barely cleared the fence for a 3 run HR.  Clearly I was wrong based on the outcome, but I really thought that was a bad move and more times than not, it will be a bad move.

4.   I don’t like the ESPN box over the strike zone; it annoys me.  I also am not a fan of the ESPN announcers; maybe it is just because I dislike Schilling?

5.   Ramirez is a punk thinking that Warren purposely hit him in the leg up 8-0.  He was missing inside to righties all day when he missed and his control was shaky at that point anyway.

6.   Rogers allowed the 3 run HR to Napoli to close the score to 8-5 and his issue was his breaking ball was not sharp at all.  The pitch to Napoli spun on the inner half.  That being said, it was a Green Monster HR and would have been an out in every other stadium.

7.   The Red Sox order is designed well so that the matchups for the opposing managers get you a 2 of 3 good matchups at best because you get Pedroia, a righty who hits lefties better, followed by Ortiz a lefty who hits righties better, followed by Ramirez, a righty who hits lefties better, followed by Sandoval who is a switch hitter who is much better against righties followed by Napoli who is much better against lefties.  This is why you need multiple arms of each side in the pen.  The situation has played itself out in every one of these games against the Red Sox with Ramirez being the beneficiary of getting the favorable matchup (last night Wilson stayed in to face him and let up a single…but he did get Ortiz and Sandoval before and after.)

8.   Ellsbury has his OBP up to .432 by getting on 6 times last night and hitting about .500 over the past bunch of games. 

9.   We probably will be making a move for a 2^nd baseman at some point, but an odd stat with a small sample size has Drew batting .111 with an OPS of .506 against righties and .294 with an OPS of .938 against lefties.  In his career, Drew has always been better against righties.

10.                   Miller, was OK, even though he found himself in a winning run at the plate scenario.  The first walk was bad, but then he k’d the next two guys before Betts earned a walk.  Bad job to walk Betts, but he fouled off 3 pitches and earned a 9 pitch walk.  Then when Headley committed an error, the memories of comebacks in Boston always enter the mind, but Miller was able to get Ortiz out to end the game and give us a sweep in Boston!