Quick note on the game last night…Jeter had a tremendous offensive game hitting 2 homers and Vazquez pitched another solid game (I think he could have gone 8). It is surprising that he is not consistently breaking 90 MPH, but all of his stuff including different angles on the same pitch make him a craft righty. The key is spotting his fastball well and being able to work off of that. As he adjusts to throwing 2-3 MPH slower than he is used to, he will need to slow up his changeup a little bit. When you are throwing 88-89, a changeup at 83 is not enough of a difference (I think 7 MPH is the minimum and 10 is a good number)
One other quick note as Posada hit a grand slam and may be showing some signs of getting back in a groove. Old timers of my blog who started out as a bunch of friends where I would rant and rave about items remember that I was perplexed why the Yanks kept Posada on the bench only to have a weak hitting catcher who threw runners out worse than Posada play over the far better hitting Posada. People would talk about how clutch Girardi was because of his triple, but not realize that triple was the ONLY RBI Girardi ever had in the postseason…seriously...in over 130 plate appearances this so called clutch guy had an OPS of a horrible .463 with ONE RBI). My point is I have been a huge supporter and believer in how much getting such great hitting production out of the catcher position has been a big plus for the Yanks. However, his comments lately about DH’ing and how he can’t get used to it and on and on kind of tick me off. I can understand stating that he has been having trouble adjusting to the role (it is not as easy as people think); but that he will do whatever is bets for the team. I think it is also fair for him to say that he wants to catch, but he should again talk about doing what is best for the team. So far he has only complained (a little) and used the DH as an excuse. I just wanted to let people know my opinion and while I do think Posada should still catch at least half the game when healthy, he needs to just shut up and do what he is asked.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Saturday, June 12, 2010
The Genius Maker #49
Houston came into this game surprisingly winning 8 of their last 10 games.
Andy pitched another good ball game. I thought the pitch selection was very good and I was going to compliment Cervelli (and I still will), but Andy was calling a lot of the pitches and surprisingly doing so by mouthing what he wanted. He did this while the batter was not looking, but that is not something you see very often. Good movement and command for Andy and he allowed 2 ER or less for the 10th time in 12 starts (now 8-1). 3 runs did come in, but 1 in the 8th was on a bad error by Jeter that could have been very costly, but Joba did the job holding the 8th inning down. Girardi had a tough call with Andy in the 8th and throwing 98 pitches; Keppinger (righty) and Berkman (switch) coming up. Michael Kay said (paraphrasing) that Keppinger is hitting .283 against righties and .313 against lefties and .290 overall, so not much difference. To that, I said, how can you tell from that stat? How about giving us OPS Mike? So, I went and looked... coming into the game Keppinger had an OPS of .907 against lefties and .683 against righties...a HUGE difference. That is just lazy announcing...honestly it is embarrassing. Joba got keppinger to hit a sac fly and then struck out Berkman, who incorrectly barked at the 3rd base ump when he punched him out on a (non) check swing.
The Yanks got a huge 2 out 2 RBI hit from Cervelli who has been slumping, but still is getting some big hits.
In came Mo for the 9th and his cutter was dancing. He had great movement and used it to strike out 2 batters in the 9th, although admittedly he got a big break on Pence who seemed locked in on Rivera, but called out on a pitch far outside...The Genius Maker looked good though in this 4-3 win.
TB lost so the Yanks are only 1 game out.
Andy pitched another good ball game. I thought the pitch selection was very good and I was going to compliment Cervelli (and I still will), but Andy was calling a lot of the pitches and surprisingly doing so by mouthing what he wanted. He did this while the batter was not looking, but that is not something you see very often. Good movement and command for Andy and he allowed 2 ER or less for the 10th time in 12 starts (now 8-1). 3 runs did come in, but 1 in the 8th was on a bad error by Jeter that could have been very costly, but Joba did the job holding the 8th inning down. Girardi had a tough call with Andy in the 8th and throwing 98 pitches; Keppinger (righty) and Berkman (switch) coming up. Michael Kay said (paraphrasing) that Keppinger is hitting .283 against righties and .313 against lefties and .290 overall, so not much difference. To that, I said, how can you tell from that stat? How about giving us OPS Mike? So, I went and looked... coming into the game Keppinger had an OPS of .907 against lefties and .683 against righties...a HUGE difference. That is just lazy announcing...honestly it is embarrassing. Joba got keppinger to hit a sac fly and then struck out Berkman, who incorrectly barked at the 3rd base ump when he punched him out on a (non) check swing.
The Yanks got a huge 2 out 2 RBI hit from Cervelli who has been slumping, but still is getting some big hits.
In came Mo for the 9th and his cutter was dancing. He had great movement and used it to strike out 2 batters in the 9th, although admittedly he got a big break on Pence who seemed locked in on Rivera, but called out on a pitch far outside...The Genius Maker looked good though in this 4-3 win.
TB lost so the Yanks are only 1 game out.
Friday, June 11, 2010
The Genius Maker #48 quick morning update
Both TB and Boston lost so we didn't lose any ground.
When the Yanks started this 16 game stretch I said I wanted to go 11-5 (at the minimum). Well, if the Yanks win 2 of 3 they will finish 11-5; if we sweep then we will have done a better job and one that I feel we should do, even with the injuries.
Some people have asked about what Ken Rosenthal wrote saying the Yanks were the leaders to get Cliff Lee. Is it possible, sure, but the logic doesn't add up to me. I think this is a writer making statements without really thinking through the situation. Now, I know I am putting myself out there and if the Yanks do trade for Lee I will look bad, but here is my reasoning. While any team could use Cliff Lee right now, the Yanks have 5 starters that are solid. Obviously, Vazquez is the weak link, but over the last 30 days he has pitched 33 innings allowing 10 runs (2.72 ERA). Also, the Yanks correctly have been avoiding making trades such as this one because of the reluctance to give up rising stars (prospects) at the level you have to. Look at the Santana almost trade. The Yanks only seem to make trades when they have soured on a guy (see Melky) or if the trade just makes a ton of sense. Now, if the Yanks had an injury to a starter, all bets would change, but unless the Yanks trade a starter back to Seattle in the deal, I don't see the Yanks just dropping prospects for Lee when they could make a run at him next year for "free." Next year, I would say the Yanks should open up the bank for Lee as they will most likely not have Vazquez (unless he pitches very well the rest of the year) and Pettitte may be gone as well. Lee is also an odd case because he was in the minors just a few years ago struggling very badly and even before he was pretty good, but not dominant. Something clicked and he obviously has been great over the past 2 years so he is worth going after hard, but I would not drop prospects right now for him.
One other note, a preemptive strike may also be part of the thought process because Lee going to a rival could sway the race...either way I think Rosenthal is wrong...we shall see.
When the Yanks started this 16 game stretch I said I wanted to go 11-5 (at the minimum). Well, if the Yanks win 2 of 3 they will finish 11-5; if we sweep then we will have done a better job and one that I feel we should do, even with the injuries.
Some people have asked about what Ken Rosenthal wrote saying the Yanks were the leaders to get Cliff Lee. Is it possible, sure, but the logic doesn't add up to me. I think this is a writer making statements without really thinking through the situation. Now, I know I am putting myself out there and if the Yanks do trade for Lee I will look bad, but here is my reasoning. While any team could use Cliff Lee right now, the Yanks have 5 starters that are solid. Obviously, Vazquez is the weak link, but over the last 30 days he has pitched 33 innings allowing 10 runs (2.72 ERA). Also, the Yanks correctly have been avoiding making trades such as this one because of the reluctance to give up rising stars (prospects) at the level you have to. Look at the Santana almost trade. The Yanks only seem to make trades when they have soured on a guy (see Melky) or if the trade just makes a ton of sense. Now, if the Yanks had an injury to a starter, all bets would change, but unless the Yanks trade a starter back to Seattle in the deal, I don't see the Yanks just dropping prospects for Lee when they could make a run at him next year for "free." Next year, I would say the Yanks should open up the bank for Lee as they will most likely not have Vazquez (unless he pitches very well the rest of the year) and Pettitte may be gone as well. Lee is also an odd case because he was in the minors just a few years ago struggling very badly and even before he was pretty good, but not dominant. Something clicked and he obviously has been great over the past 2 years so he is worth going after hard, but I would not drop prospects right now for him.
One other note, a preemptive strike may also be part of the thought process because Lee going to a rival could sway the race...either way I think Rosenthal is wrong...we shall see.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
The Genius Maker #47
Just as we were getting healthy and seeing a good lineup we put out a lineup that has Thames starting against a lefty, Moeller catching and after ARod went out with I assume a sore groin, Pena at 3rd base (batting 4th no less). After a game where you get 7 walks, you should be able to score more, but the Yanks only mustered up 4 hits. Posada had a bad game offensively (and has had an OPS of a horrible .464 since coming back -30 plate appearances) and the rest were too easily matched up against. Granderson faced a lefty for a big AB and then Thames faced a righty for a big AB and then Pena faced a lefty for a big AB and forced us to pinch hit Cervelli…we just couldn’t string the hits together enough. Unfortunately, Burnett had the worst fastball I have seen from him, maybe ever, throwing only about 92 with not too much movement. I am not sure why they didn’t throw more curves or even changes as I believe every hit came off the fastball except one. His curve was actually outstanding and I would have been throwing it a lot. In one key spot he threw 5 straight to get a K.
Not sure what game Michael Kay was watching, or even the score keeper, but giving Luke Scott a triple on the obvious misplay/error by Swisher was absurd. Swisher cruised back to the ball and then leaped for no reason and just let the ball hit off his glove. If he runs to the fence he stands there and catches the ball with no leap just a reach up…horrible play by Swisher that gave Baltimore the go ahead run.
Marte and Park did their job to keep us close, but our lineup was very poor and we went into the 9th with Thames and Russo leading off against a righty…as I said before, we don’t need so many pitchers, we need some specialists off the bench to hit. Russo got lucky when the pitcher walked him…I would have pinch run Gardner and worried about my defense later…Let him steal a base and see what happens.
I am not happy losing a game like this to Baltimore.
Not sure what game Michael Kay was watching, or even the score keeper, but giving Luke Scott a triple on the obvious misplay/error by Swisher was absurd. Swisher cruised back to the ball and then leaped for no reason and just let the ball hit off his glove. If he runs to the fence he stands there and catches the ball with no leap just a reach up…horrible play by Swisher that gave Baltimore the go ahead run.
Marte and Park did their job to keep us close, but our lineup was very poor and we went into the 9th with Thames and Russo leading off against a righty…as I said before, we don’t need so many pitchers, we need some specialists off the bench to hit. Russo got lucky when the pitcher walked him…I would have pinch run Gardner and worried about my defense later…Let him steal a base and see what happens.
I am not happy losing a game like this to Baltimore.
The Genius Maker #46
Nice job by CC to gut through a very rough beginning and then be a horse finishing off a 7 inning 2 run game. When he needed to he was able to reach back and make quality pitches to turn the game over to Joba and Rivera, who got the job done. Joba was helped by an excellent catch by Russo in LF where he left his feet to snag a double.
* Jeter seemed slow yesterday, he should have beat a throw that barely made it to 1st base on the 1st AB of the game and then he got thrown out on a low pitch that he got a good jump on. Finally, he made a slow tag at 3rd base on a relay throw back from Cervelli (when Russo made a bad high throw home).
*Cano is now hitting .376 with an OPS of 1.033. He and Swisher have carried us (Posada has also done very well in less AB's).
*Good job by Girardi to pinch run Gardner for Posada as he scored the 4th and very important insurance run, by stealing 2nd base and then scoring on a single by Cervelli (good job by Cervelli)
TB won and Boston got crushed
* Jeter seemed slow yesterday, he should have beat a throw that barely made it to 1st base on the 1st AB of the game and then he got thrown out on a low pitch that he got a good jump on. Finally, he made a slow tag at 3rd base on a relay throw back from Cervelli (when Russo made a bad high throw home).
*Cano is now hitting .376 with an OPS of 1.033. He and Swisher have carried us (Posada has also done very well in less AB's).
*Good job by Girardi to pinch run Gardner for Posada as he scored the 4th and very important insurance run, by stealing 2nd base and then scoring on a single by Cervelli (good job by Cervelli)
TB won and Boston got crushed
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
The Genius Maker #45
First, I want to thank people for starting to leave comments as I hope we can get some dialog between all of us in a format that you can get involved with if you choose to. We have had some good questions and good points made so far. One question was about moving Cano up to the 3rd spot and dropping Tex down. My feeling is that in general you put your better hitters up earlier in the order so that they may get the extra AB compared to some less productive hitter. I would never put some blazing fast guy up at the top of the order who couldn't hit well such as Juan Pierre or Rajah Davis type. What is the point of giving an extra AB to a guy like that instead of "ARod?" That being said, I would just let Cano continue where he is at as long as he is producing. I want him to take his approach that he has improved on and make sure it is part of his DNA and he doesn't revert back. Baltimore can help someone get back on track and because Tex is a proven commodity, confidence may be a big part of the issue. BTW, Tex had a May OPS of .841 so he was doing OK. June started out awful until yesterday...but lets give him another week before dropping him.
Another question surrounded the Yanks drafting a SS. I can't say I know anything about the kid as I have never seen him play. I have only read the same things many of you have and that is he has a rocket arm and is built tall and lean (kind of like Jeter was). This could be the heir to the throne, but that also may be a little premature and he could simply be the best player available. He is 17 years old and already committed to the University of Maryland. I would assume the Yanks felt that money will sway him away from school or they would not have drafted him. He hit .561 with 10 doubles, 5 triples and 9 homers in 22 regular season games (also 20 walks). I won't talk about things I don't know so I will only say we shall see.
I also had some comments about the excitement behind the 1st start by Strasburg (Last year's #1 pick by Washington). Yeah, he was playing against Pittsburgh, but it was one of the few times where the hype might have been less than the performance. OK, a 2.57 ERA (2 runs in 7 innings) isn't incredible, but striking out 14 and walking nobody in his debut is extremely impressive. He had at least 3 k's each off of his consistent 98 MPH fastball, his change up and his curve ball. Washington should be excited between Strasburg and the newly drafted clear cut #1 pick they just got in Bryce Harper. This kid is 17 and had played a year at a junior college. He used a wooden bat and hit 31 homers in about 60 games. People call this kid the natural.
Last nights game...
I think Gaudin will be released or dropped to the minors after yesterday.
Hughes struggled with his command, especially with fastballs and change ups. He was wild within the strike zone with his fastball and missed with change up. I thought his curve was outstanding and should have been used more; they didn't touch it. No walks helped nurse him through allowing 9 hits in 6 innings.
Another question surrounded the Yanks drafting a SS. I can't say I know anything about the kid as I have never seen him play. I have only read the same things many of you have and that is he has a rocket arm and is built tall and lean (kind of like Jeter was). This could be the heir to the throne, but that also may be a little premature and he could simply be the best player available. He is 17 years old and already committed to the University of Maryland. I would assume the Yanks felt that money will sway him away from school or they would not have drafted him. He hit .561 with 10 doubles, 5 triples and 9 homers in 22 regular season games (also 20 walks). I won't talk about things I don't know so I will only say we shall see.
I also had some comments about the excitement behind the 1st start by Strasburg (Last year's #1 pick by Washington). Yeah, he was playing against Pittsburgh, but it was one of the few times where the hype might have been less than the performance. OK, a 2.57 ERA (2 runs in 7 innings) isn't incredible, but striking out 14 and walking nobody in his debut is extremely impressive. He had at least 3 k's each off of his consistent 98 MPH fastball, his change up and his curve ball. Washington should be excited between Strasburg and the newly drafted clear cut #1 pick they just got in Bryce Harper. This kid is 17 and had played a year at a junior college. He used a wooden bat and hit 31 homers in about 60 games. People call this kid the natural.
Last nights game...
I think Gaudin will be released or dropped to the minors after yesterday.
Hughes struggled with his command, especially with fastballs and change ups. He was wild within the strike zone with his fastball and missed with change up. I thought his curve was outstanding and should have been used more; they didn't touch it. No walks helped nurse him through allowing 9 hits in 6 innings.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
The Genius Maker #44
This blog is being written as I watch the game on my DVR.
Boy was Jeter over matched by Morrow. Morrow has very good stuff 95-97 MPH fastball and a variety of other pitches that keep you off balance. I was surprised his ERA was so high, but then I saw how many walks he was issuing and that has most likely been his problem.
Vazquez looks to have good stuff today, the question will remain whether he can throw it for strikes when needed. His change up for a strike along with working his breaking balls in fastball counts is critical to his success.
2nd inning - ARod is usually heads up, but what in the world was he thinking when he tried to go to 2nd base after the infielders couldn't keep his grounder in the infield? First, he ran through first base by a long way and then hesitated before finally having the brain cramp to go and have the throw beat him by a long margin. Shaking my head...
It figures, I talk about Vazquez' stuff and he walks the leadoff guy. I understand not throwing the fastball to Bautista, but Vazquez needs to be able to throw all his pitches for strikes when you only throw 89...wild pitch moved him over, but He bounced back to get out of the inning. 2 walks in 2 innings, but at least his stuff has good movement. Continuing to walk guys will catch up to him soon though.
Man, this offense has been offensive. Gardner triples and Jeter K's looking awful again. Although this ump really has a huge plate (both sides). Both Jeter and Swisher had gripes as they K'd leaving Gardner on 3rd.
Molina leads off and Vazquez walks him to start the inning??? C'mon Javy! OK, Javy came back to strike out 2 guys and get out of the inning. Substituting walks for hits is fine so far, but he better cut them out or he will get this offense out of the game...walking Molina to lead off is terrible.
Man, Tex looks bad...didn't even run it out. We have now gone 4 innings this game and 14 last game with only one hit that produced runs.
The next 12 guys all got out as both pitchers are dominating, thanks to their stuff and a wide strike zone which I believe has been helping Toronto more than us (I try to keep my bias out of it, but admittedly it is hard sometimes). meanwhile Javy has a no hitter and has mowed down Toronto when not allowing a walk.
After 2 more outs Javy finally walked Lind. CRAP. 0-2 count and Cervelli walks out to the mound to discuss their next pitch. Not sure what was said, but IT WAS THE WRONG MOVE, as Javy hung a slider and Wells gave Toronto a 2 run lead. Normally, 2 runs should be nothing, but this team has not shown much of a pulse in this series.
OK, we showed a pulse in the top of the 7th, but Granderson struck out looking on a wide strike.
Javy recouped and mowed them down in the 7th...He has thrown 106 pitches and I hope they keep him in the game to start the 8th.
hey some life, thanks to Toronto hitting Cervelli and Gardner to lead off the inning. Do you bunt Jeter? Normally this is a good spot, but with Tex coming up I would let Jeter hit against Downs the lefty. Jeter just got a hosed by the ump and is now in the hole. This ump has a strike zone that is 6 inches too wide on each side for us and 2 inches too wide for them...we are getting the short end...Great job by Jeter as he came through with a very big double to get us some life. Funny as you read Downs their pitcher say, "wow" as if he were saying "wow, I can't believe he hit a ball that hard down the line for a double...because it was in the same spot as the previous pitch Jeter argued about and was a ball." Now Swisher just got hosed by the ump! The plate umpire has no right calling that check swing unless it is absolutely clear. Not only wasn't it clear, Swisher didn't swing. HORRIBLE call in a huge spot...I am glad Girardi came out and got tossed, those are horse manure calls.
What the heck is Cito doing walking Tex? I don't really care that ARod has made teams pay by going 5-5 in these situations (that doesn't mean squat to me), but Tex hasn't hit anything and I wouldn't walk him (and put the go ahead runner on base) to face ARod who might not be the same ARod, but is still an .850+ OPS guy??? I go after the guy with the under .700 OPS! Let's make Cito pay... Nice wild pitch to get the tying run in! Remember last year, I had an issue with Molina blocking balls. He wasn't lazy on this one, just a little slow. ARGHH! I have no idea what ARod was looking at as he took strike 3 right down the middle. he needs to swing the bat there. I assume Cano gets walked and Jorge will have to come through with the bases juiced. NO! Man, Cito is managing odd to me...He did get ARod, but let's hope these decisions I disagree with catch up to him...
Yeah, Cano comes through again! Greta job and what the heck was Cito thinking? Terrible job by him. Intentionally walking Posada in this spot is the right move to bring in the lefty to face Granderson...well, he walked Curtis so now Cervelli gets to face a lefty so we can break this open...Cervelli hit a hard line drive, but right at the right fielder.
Joba is in now for the 8th. I might have let Javy stay in, but I understand after the long 7th inning to take him out. I said I would leave him in, but I understand this move.
Granderson just missed the double by Molina...I wonder if Gardner would have gotten that one as speed was a huge factor. Granderson is good out there so I don't want to do this every time, but you have to wonder. Joba just allowed another hit to close the score to 4-3. Huge DP to get 2 outs in that spot. We were lucky it was hit right at Cano. Joba is being taken out for Marte as Lind is up...this is a good move and I like that they are not sticking to Joba in the 8th no matter what. He got the DP, but wasn't very sharp. Good job Marte as he K'd a guy who isn't good against lefties...Marte did his job! I still am not mad that Joba started the 8th just to go on record.
Man, Swish K'd again on a inside pitch...Ques Tec would have had fun today. I would have loved to give Rivera more than a 1 run lead.
C'mon Genius Maker! Pena in at 3rd for ARod...I hope ARod is OK? Anyway, Pena got tested and made a really good play on a tough hop to get the first out. Rivera is pounding the righties inside with his 2 seamer (tailing in) and his cutter. Rivera does it again!
I hope you enjoyed the blog in a little different format (to mis it up) and give you my thought process during the game a little bit. Normally I watch every pitch and call every pitch, but I can't get it all down on paper without spending too much time...
Boston lost and TB won
Boy was Jeter over matched by Morrow. Morrow has very good stuff 95-97 MPH fastball and a variety of other pitches that keep you off balance. I was surprised his ERA was so high, but then I saw how many walks he was issuing and that has most likely been his problem.
Vazquez looks to have good stuff today, the question will remain whether he can throw it for strikes when needed. His change up for a strike along with working his breaking balls in fastball counts is critical to his success.
2nd inning - ARod is usually heads up, but what in the world was he thinking when he tried to go to 2nd base after the infielders couldn't keep his grounder in the infield? First, he ran through first base by a long way and then hesitated before finally having the brain cramp to go and have the throw beat him by a long margin. Shaking my head...
It figures, I talk about Vazquez' stuff and he walks the leadoff guy. I understand not throwing the fastball to Bautista, but Vazquez needs to be able to throw all his pitches for strikes when you only throw 89...wild pitch moved him over, but He bounced back to get out of the inning. 2 walks in 2 innings, but at least his stuff has good movement. Continuing to walk guys will catch up to him soon though.
Man, this offense has been offensive. Gardner triples and Jeter K's looking awful again. Although this ump really has a huge plate (both sides). Both Jeter and Swisher had gripes as they K'd leaving Gardner on 3rd.
Molina leads off and Vazquez walks him to start the inning??? C'mon Javy! OK, Javy came back to strike out 2 guys and get out of the inning. Substituting walks for hits is fine so far, but he better cut them out or he will get this offense out of the game...walking Molina to lead off is terrible.
Man, Tex looks bad...didn't even run it out. We have now gone 4 innings this game and 14 last game with only one hit that produced runs.
The next 12 guys all got out as both pitchers are dominating, thanks to their stuff and a wide strike zone which I believe has been helping Toronto more than us (I try to keep my bias out of it, but admittedly it is hard sometimes). meanwhile Javy has a no hitter and has mowed down Toronto when not allowing a walk.
After 2 more outs Javy finally walked Lind. CRAP. 0-2 count and Cervelli walks out to the mound to discuss their next pitch. Not sure what was said, but IT WAS THE WRONG MOVE, as Javy hung a slider and Wells gave Toronto a 2 run lead. Normally, 2 runs should be nothing, but this team has not shown much of a pulse in this series.
OK, we showed a pulse in the top of the 7th, but Granderson struck out looking on a wide strike.
Javy recouped and mowed them down in the 7th...He has thrown 106 pitches and I hope they keep him in the game to start the 8th.
hey some life, thanks to Toronto hitting Cervelli and Gardner to lead off the inning. Do you bunt Jeter? Normally this is a good spot, but with Tex coming up I would let Jeter hit against Downs the lefty. Jeter just got a hosed by the ump and is now in the hole. This ump has a strike zone that is 6 inches too wide on each side for us and 2 inches too wide for them...we are getting the short end...Great job by Jeter as he came through with a very big double to get us some life. Funny as you read Downs their pitcher say, "wow" as if he were saying "wow, I can't believe he hit a ball that hard down the line for a double...because it was in the same spot as the previous pitch Jeter argued about and was a ball." Now Swisher just got hosed by the ump! The plate umpire has no right calling that check swing unless it is absolutely clear. Not only wasn't it clear, Swisher didn't swing. HORRIBLE call in a huge spot...I am glad Girardi came out and got tossed, those are horse manure calls.
What the heck is Cito doing walking Tex? I don't really care that ARod has made teams pay by going 5-5 in these situations (that doesn't mean squat to me), but Tex hasn't hit anything and I wouldn't walk him (and put the go ahead runner on base) to face ARod who might not be the same ARod, but is still an .850+ OPS guy??? I go after the guy with the under .700 OPS! Let's make Cito pay... Nice wild pitch to get the tying run in! Remember last year, I had an issue with Molina blocking balls. He wasn't lazy on this one, just a little slow. ARGHH! I have no idea what ARod was looking at as he took strike 3 right down the middle. he needs to swing the bat there. I assume Cano gets walked and Jorge will have to come through with the bases juiced. NO! Man, Cito is managing odd to me...He did get ARod, but let's hope these decisions I disagree with catch up to him...
Yeah, Cano comes through again! Greta job and what the heck was Cito thinking? Terrible job by him. Intentionally walking Posada in this spot is the right move to bring in the lefty to face Granderson...well, he walked Curtis so now Cervelli gets to face a lefty so we can break this open...Cervelli hit a hard line drive, but right at the right fielder.
Joba is in now for the 8th. I might have let Javy stay in, but I understand after the long 7th inning to take him out. I said I would leave him in, but I understand this move.
Granderson just missed the double by Molina...I wonder if Gardner would have gotten that one as speed was a huge factor. Granderson is good out there so I don't want to do this every time, but you have to wonder. Joba just allowed another hit to close the score to 4-3. Huge DP to get 2 outs in that spot. We were lucky it was hit right at Cano. Joba is being taken out for Marte as Lind is up...this is a good move and I like that they are not sticking to Joba in the 8th no matter what. He got the DP, but wasn't very sharp. Good job Marte as he K'd a guy who isn't good against lefties...Marte did his job! I still am not mad that Joba started the 8th just to go on record.
Man, Swish K'd again on a inside pitch...Ques Tec would have had fun today. I would have loved to give Rivera more than a 1 run lead.
C'mon Genius Maker! Pena in at 3rd for ARod...I hope ARod is OK? Anyway, Pena got tested and made a really good play on a tough hop to get the first out. Rivera is pounding the righties inside with his 2 seamer (tailing in) and his cutter. Rivera does it again!
I hope you enjoyed the blog in a little different format (to mis it up) and give you my thought process during the game a little bit. Normally I watch every pitch and call every pitch, but I can't get it all down on paper without spending too much time...
Boston lost and TB won
The Genius Maker #43
That was a disappointing game because this offense should not be shut down to only score 2 runs in 14 innings, especially when they came from a 2 run HR.
The 3-5 hitters were simply awful, with ARod getting the only hit between them (1-18). Tex was 0-6 with 5 k’s and what was most disappointing was that he didn’t make any adjustments. I lost count but I believe he swung and missed at 9 changeups that were all balls.
Jeter, who hit the 2 run homer, could have been the hero as he was up with 2nd and 3rd and one out (with the infield in) and hit a medium liner to 2nd base that doubled off Cervelli. I have no idea where Cervelli was going as he was at 3rd base and the secondary lead will take you off the bag, but once you see it is a line drive he would have plenty of time to get back. At a different point in the game a line drive was hit to Texiera who doubled off a guy at 1st base, but liners to the base you are on are the only excuse for getting doubled off as your secondary lead can make it hard to get back. Cervelli had no excuse. Cano also didn’t fully hustle out the start of a grounder he hit down the first base line and then when the pitcher crossed in front of him he slowed up only to be barely out at 1st base. If he runs hard the entire time, or even just at the end he would have been safe.
We wasted another outstanding performance by Pettitte. He had great movement on his pitches. The entire bullpen was a little shaky, but everyone until Gaudin worked their way out of trouble. My biggest complaint out of the bullpen were the walks. Marte, Robertson, Park and Gaudin walked 5 guys in 4.1 innings. When Gaudin walked the leadoff guy on 4 pitches that were not close, in the 14th inning, I knew we were done.
At least TB lost again…the division is getting tighter with 4 teams within 3.5 games.
The 3-5 hitters were simply awful, with ARod getting the only hit between them (1-18). Tex was 0-6 with 5 k’s and what was most disappointing was that he didn’t make any adjustments. I lost count but I believe he swung and missed at 9 changeups that were all balls.
Jeter, who hit the 2 run homer, could have been the hero as he was up with 2nd and 3rd and one out (with the infield in) and hit a medium liner to 2nd base that doubled off Cervelli. I have no idea where Cervelli was going as he was at 3rd base and the secondary lead will take you off the bag, but once you see it is a line drive he would have plenty of time to get back. At a different point in the game a line drive was hit to Texiera who doubled off a guy at 1st base, but liners to the base you are on are the only excuse for getting doubled off as your secondary lead can make it hard to get back. Cervelli had no excuse. Cano also didn’t fully hustle out the start of a grounder he hit down the first base line and then when the pitcher crossed in front of him he slowed up only to be barely out at 1st base. If he runs hard the entire time, or even just at the end he would have been safe.
We wasted another outstanding performance by Pettitte. He had great movement on his pitches. The entire bullpen was a little shaky, but everyone until Gaudin worked their way out of trouble. My biggest complaint out of the bullpen were the walks. Marte, Robertson, Park and Gaudin walked 5 guys in 4.1 innings. When Gaudin walked the leadoff guy on 4 pitches that were not close, in the 14th inning, I knew we were done.
At least TB lost again…the division is getting tighter with 4 teams within 3.5 games.
Saturday, June 5, 2010
The Genius Maker #42
So far we are 6-2 in this stretch of games where I want to win 11 of 16 (at the least).
We are now just finished with the 3rd inning of the year (or a 1/3 through the year so I will give an update on that tomorrow.
It is a shame that Burnett didn’t have good command over his fastball as his curve was dynamite today. It was one of those many games with Burnett, who has a great fastball and a great curveball, where he makes too many mistakes and doesn’t pitch as well as you hope. For the year Burnett is about where you would like him to be (6-3 with an ERA of 3.72), but when you see the “stuff,” you want more. Last game I saw a lot of sink to his fastball, actually as much as I have ever seen, but last night he didn’t have the sink and centered far too many fastballs. Like I said, his curve was outstanding and almost all if not all damage was done on his fastball.
I thought Cecil pitched extremely well for Toronto. He had great movement on all his pitches and mixed them up well. They were not able to lay off the many balls that he threw and that was their undoing (as well as poor hitting with men on base). But, give him credit; this was better pitching and not poor hitting.
A couple of other notes:
Some people have asked me about the lineup and whether Swisher should bat 2nd or Granderson (against righties). Not to cop out, but I don’t think it makes a big difference. My main concern is splitting up the righty/lefties, especially when you are dealing with Granderson who can be neutralized with a specialist. I think in general the key move we want to make sure in our lineup is that when the opposing manager wants to bring in a lefty to face Granderson, he only faces one batter or we make him pay with righties. In other words, having Jeter in front with Tex and ARod behind is a good think for protection and I would have Cervelli bat 9th if I were going to do that because both Jeter and Cervelli hit lefties much better (which BTW, was the reason I would have played Cervelli last night and rested him against a righty because Cervelli has an OPS of .914 against a lefty and .649 against a righty)
On a positive note Mitre has done pretty well for us only allowing a base runner per 9 innings and an OPS of only .582 against (.186 batting average); this has gone unnoticed.
I know Miranda was sent down for Posada, I thought this was an interesting stats; Miranda has an OPS of .955 at Yankee stadium and a .204 OPS on the road.
As for the question about the Detroit “perfect game, “ I don’t think it should be overturned, but it could be added into the record books with an asterisk stating the it was not a perfect game, but it could have been. Of course, this leads us to the instant replay dilemma. My take is IR has been bad in football and without getting into a very long discussion on it, my feeling is based on football being such a game of momentum with a clock that IR disrupts the flow of the game and doesn’t address the most important calls of the game which are the subjective calls such as interference, holding, etc…In baseball, I think IR would work better because you don’t have a clock and a play could be reviewed very quickly if needed. Of course, the ump behind home plate has more impact on the game than all the other umpires combined on the bases 9as they are usually pretty good), but I do see IR having a place in baseball and it should be done with a 5th umpire sitting by a monitor and either correcting calls or using a challenge method. One day we may even go to the “questec” strike zone.
We are now just finished with the 3rd inning of the year (or a 1/3 through the year so I will give an update on that tomorrow.
It is a shame that Burnett didn’t have good command over his fastball as his curve was dynamite today. It was one of those many games with Burnett, who has a great fastball and a great curveball, where he makes too many mistakes and doesn’t pitch as well as you hope. For the year Burnett is about where you would like him to be (6-3 with an ERA of 3.72), but when you see the “stuff,” you want more. Last game I saw a lot of sink to his fastball, actually as much as I have ever seen, but last night he didn’t have the sink and centered far too many fastballs. Like I said, his curve was outstanding and almost all if not all damage was done on his fastball.
I thought Cecil pitched extremely well for Toronto. He had great movement on all his pitches and mixed them up well. They were not able to lay off the many balls that he threw and that was their undoing (as well as poor hitting with men on base). But, give him credit; this was better pitching and not poor hitting.
A couple of other notes:
Some people have asked me about the lineup and whether Swisher should bat 2nd or Granderson (against righties). Not to cop out, but I don’t think it makes a big difference. My main concern is splitting up the righty/lefties, especially when you are dealing with Granderson who can be neutralized with a specialist. I think in general the key move we want to make sure in our lineup is that when the opposing manager wants to bring in a lefty to face Granderson, he only faces one batter or we make him pay with righties. In other words, having Jeter in front with Tex and ARod behind is a good think for protection and I would have Cervelli bat 9th if I were going to do that because both Jeter and Cervelli hit lefties much better (which BTW, was the reason I would have played Cervelli last night and rested him against a righty because Cervelli has an OPS of .914 against a lefty and .649 against a righty)
On a positive note Mitre has done pretty well for us only allowing a base runner per 9 innings and an OPS of only .582 against (.186 batting average); this has gone unnoticed.
I know Miranda was sent down for Posada, I thought this was an interesting stats; Miranda has an OPS of .955 at Yankee stadium and a .204 OPS on the road.
As for the question about the Detroit “perfect game, “ I don’t think it should be overturned, but it could be added into the record books with an asterisk stating the it was not a perfect game, but it could have been. Of course, this leads us to the instant replay dilemma. My take is IR has been bad in football and without getting into a very long discussion on it, my feeling is based on football being such a game of momentum with a clock that IR disrupts the flow of the game and doesn’t address the most important calls of the game which are the subjective calls such as interference, holding, etc…In baseball, I think IR would work better because you don’t have a clock and a play could be reviewed very quickly if needed. Of course, the ump behind home plate has more impact on the game than all the other umpires combined on the bases 9as they are usually pretty good), but I do see IR having a place in baseball and it should be done with a 5th umpire sitting by a monitor and either correcting calls or using a challenge method. One day we may even go to the “questec” strike zone.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
The Genius Maker #41
I had mentioned I wanted 11 out of these 16 and so far we have 4 out of 5.
Nice game tonight from Vazquez. He mixed his pitches and location well and more important he was able to hit his spots most of the night. He did make a mistake to Patterson who hit a HR, but pitched out of a few jams. The ump had a very big strike zone that each pitcher got some good calls from. Vazquez' ERA is down to 6.06 so at least he has been better of late. he does seem to pitch better against the weaker teams. We basically won because Tejada made a bad error in the 7th inning allowing 2 runs to score. Tejada had all day to make the play, took his time and fired low to Wigginton who couldn't come up with the in between hop.
Granderson hit a homer against a lefty and had 2 hits the other night, but they were all on fastballs; I am surprised they throw him fastballs for strikes. later when Granderson was up with a man in scoring position I said to my daughter, if they throw him a breaking ball he won't get a hit...after explaining what a breaking ball was(and how to throw one) he struck out on a ...breaking ball (in this case a curve ball). Either way, it is good to see some production out of Granderson against a lefty, we need it.
Joba was excellent today with fantastic velocity. He threw 96 consistently and threw the hardest ball he has thrown in over a year when the gun registered 98! He sawed off Tejada on an inside pitch...that was a good sign!
The Genius Maker looked pretty good closing out a 3-1 lead. I would like to see him tail the fastball away to a lefty once in awhile. He hasn't done that yet and I think it would give him another option away. He looked pretty good though, but not as dominant as the other night.
Cano is batting .366 now.
Posada should be back tomorrow and after tex fouled one off his foot we may need back.
Yesterday Gardner was thrown out twice stealing, both on perfect throws and once on a pitch out. The 2nd one bothered me because the catcher had to come up after a low pitch and while the throw was great, the release was a little slow and Gardner usually will beat that out. I think playing every day has slowed him up (slightly as he is still fast).
Last night Cano made a terrible play trying to go to 2nd on a single when the throw went to 3rd in an attempt to get ARod with 2 outs. It was a stupid decision and of course he made the "home plate" slide into 2nd base.
In contrast in terms of sliding in a heads up fashion, Gruzelaniek (sp?) slid into first base on a high throw off the bag and was safe because of it; compared to all the times we get tagged out because we were not as heads up. I think we need a sliding coach. Oh and BTW, while everyone states that sliding into first base is always slower, I want to take the contrarian view on that. While it is usually the slower way, there are times where your stride is not correct and runners take anywhere from 1-3 short steps for themselves to touch the bag and times like that you are better off diving head first. If you are running to a finish line I would agree that you should run through the line because it is just crossing (although your arms do get you some extension), but running to 1st base is different because you have to touch/land on a specific spot. I am actually surprised that this has not been analyzed more??? Then again first basemen don't stretch toward throws from the catcher or pitcher either?
One other note that was brought up yesterday that I agree with. They talked about lefties not being able to throw change ups to lefties and the same for righties. I don;t agree with this at all. if it is an effective pitch it would still work against the same side, but the ball would not tail away form the guy it would tail in and you could get a free pulled foul strike. if a pitcher has a very good change, you might throw it a little less against the same side (righty to righty), but you need to still throw it. Later on a righty threw back to back ones against ARod and it worked.
As I write this I just noticed the Rays who were down 5-0 to Toronto; scored 3 in the 7th and put up a 4 spot in the 9th inning to take a 7-5 lead.
Nice game tonight from Vazquez. He mixed his pitches and location well and more important he was able to hit his spots most of the night. He did make a mistake to Patterson who hit a HR, but pitched out of a few jams. The ump had a very big strike zone that each pitcher got some good calls from. Vazquez' ERA is down to 6.06 so at least he has been better of late. he does seem to pitch better against the weaker teams. We basically won because Tejada made a bad error in the 7th inning allowing 2 runs to score. Tejada had all day to make the play, took his time and fired low to Wigginton who couldn't come up with the in between hop.
Granderson hit a homer against a lefty and had 2 hits the other night, but they were all on fastballs; I am surprised they throw him fastballs for strikes. later when Granderson was up with a man in scoring position I said to my daughter, if they throw him a breaking ball he won't get a hit...after explaining what a breaking ball was(and how to throw one) he struck out on a ...breaking ball (in this case a curve ball). Either way, it is good to see some production out of Granderson against a lefty, we need it.
Joba was excellent today with fantastic velocity. He threw 96 consistently and threw the hardest ball he has thrown in over a year when the gun registered 98! He sawed off Tejada on an inside pitch...that was a good sign!
The Genius Maker looked pretty good closing out a 3-1 lead. I would like to see him tail the fastball away to a lefty once in awhile. He hasn't done that yet and I think it would give him another option away. He looked pretty good though, but not as dominant as the other night.
Cano is batting .366 now.
Posada should be back tomorrow and after tex fouled one off his foot we may need back.
Yesterday Gardner was thrown out twice stealing, both on perfect throws and once on a pitch out. The 2nd one bothered me because the catcher had to come up after a low pitch and while the throw was great, the release was a little slow and Gardner usually will beat that out. I think playing every day has slowed him up (slightly as he is still fast).
Last night Cano made a terrible play trying to go to 2nd on a single when the throw went to 3rd in an attempt to get ARod with 2 outs. It was a stupid decision and of course he made the "home plate" slide into 2nd base.
In contrast in terms of sliding in a heads up fashion, Gruzelaniek (sp?) slid into first base on a high throw off the bag and was safe because of it; compared to all the times we get tagged out because we were not as heads up. I think we need a sliding coach. Oh and BTW, while everyone states that sliding into first base is always slower, I want to take the contrarian view on that. While it is usually the slower way, there are times where your stride is not correct and runners take anywhere from 1-3 short steps for themselves to touch the bag and times like that you are better off diving head first. If you are running to a finish line I would agree that you should run through the line because it is just crossing (although your arms do get you some extension), but running to 1st base is different because you have to touch/land on a specific spot. I am actually surprised that this has not been analyzed more??? Then again first basemen don't stretch toward throws from the catcher or pitcher either?
One other note that was brought up yesterday that I agree with. They talked about lefties not being able to throw change ups to lefties and the same for righties. I don;t agree with this at all. if it is an effective pitch it would still work against the same side, but the ball would not tail away form the guy it would tail in and you could get a free pulled foul strike. if a pitcher has a very good change, you might throw it a little less against the same side (righty to righty), but you need to still throw it. Later on a righty threw back to back ones against ARod and it worked.
As I write this I just noticed the Rays who were down 5-0 to Toronto; scored 3 in the 7th and put up a 4 spot in the 9th inning to take a 7-5 lead.
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