The Genius Maker 5-12

Seattle has a pretty weak hitting team, but we took care of business and got a big 3 run dinger from Ibanez for half the scoring.  But the play that drove me crazy was once again Robby Thompson gets a runner thrown out at home with nobody out!!!  It shouldn't happen more than once a year, twice at the tops if he does everything else perfectly.  There is really no excuse.  The announcers also missed the point as they analyzed how ARod slowed up before touching 3rd and that little hesitation caused him from being safe.  While that was true, ARod who has excellent instincts slowed down (just for a split second) thinking he should not be sent but at that moment Robby Thompson who was well down the 3rd base lien had not started moving his arm waving him home yet.  So Thompson hadn't mind his mind up yet to send him until after (or it could have been simultaneous) and then waved him around.  When in doubt YOU DO NOT SEND THE RUNNER!!!  This was a 1-1 game at the time (4th inning) and we had bases loaded with nobody out against Felix Hernandez.  Instead we had 1st and 2nd with one out as the runners didn't even move up on the throw.  Then Swisher and Ibanez didn't get the job done, but ths swas yet another horrible (and late) decision by Robby Thompson.

The Yanks won the game as it turned out but Thompson just fails to get "it."

After letting up a leadoff HR, Kuroda did a nice job of working in his pitches and only allowed another solo HR.  Rapada, Cory Wade and Logan handed the ball with only 2 outs to go to Robertson who closed it out.

Rapada has allowed a .593 OPS against lefties so far so he has done his job.

Wade, of his part, has been outstanding so far this year limiting the almost 60 batters he has faced to an OPS of only .487!  Last year, Wade was better against righties (.540 OPS) than lefties (.730 OPS0 and still should be used that way as a match-up, but he has gotten lefties out this year too.

Saturday's game

Same team same result, a 6-2 win.  Hughes made a lot of mistakes missing spots, but the poor Seattle offense did not take advantage of some of those mistakes.  His stuff started out strong with a 94-95 MPH fastball but he dropped down to 92 after the 2nd inning and that concerned me.  I was hoping to see him throw hard at a key time later as maybe he was saving it but that never happened.  His curve was very effective and he mixed in his slider to mix up the speeds on his breaking pitches.  He threw some change-ups but he was missing his spots with them and in fact hung a few for taken strikes.

The key part of the game was with 2 outs and a man on 2nd, our sluggers row of Ibanez, Martin and Nix came through with a double, double and HR respectively.

Ibanez is now slugging great and I hope he can keep up 85% of what he has done as he now has an OPS of .921.  The short porch has been kind to him and he has had some big early hits.

Martin has made an adjustment in his swing similar to Jeter to keep him back and hopefully he can get going at least reasonably productive

Nix is now 29 and has never hit well in the majors (career .646 OPS) and had an anemic .554 last year with Toronto so it is hard to hope for anything more than mediocrity at the plate, but he supposedly plays good defense and can play everywhere, but doesn't play much at CF or SS (even though he played there for us last night).  Not sure he is a good solution, but maybe Kevin Long can do some magic with him as he runs well and was a former 1st round pick (44th overall in 2001).

Pettitte will pitch today and I am sure we are all excited to see him, but I would have let Phelps get another start and allow Andy to build up a little more.  I honestly think they wanted Andy to have some success and at home for his first game which is why they are starting him against a weak hitting Seattle team...in the Bronx.  Phelps stuff kind of reminds me of a raw/young Kuroda.  In 2010, Andy pitched as well as ever, but if he can give us what he did on 2009, I would be happy, a low 4 ERA.  I am not expecting much so I hope I am pleasantly surprised.

The Genius Maker 5-10-12

I have mentioned this numerous times and discussed how bad he is, but now I want to make this clear; Nunez should never start any position in the field other than SS (when Jeter needs a blow) and should only be used at any other position other than SS if all other measures are exhausted.

His offense has still not been good, but when you factor SB’s into the equation he has an OPS of about .800 (that is including his 2-2, walk and 2 sb’s last night).  But his defense is a killer (he made two routine errors last night).

What would I do with him?

I would send him to the minors and play SS every single day and then build up his stock and trade him or if it is a year away or so he could be Jeter’s replacement if he can improve his defense enough where he is a league average defender at SS.

The guy has great speed, but outside of that he is an awful fielder and a mediocre hitter.  He is only 24 so he has some upside, but I would let him play every day and improve his defense and let him know he can’t play in the majors the way he is now. 

CC was a horse and great last night.  I know the TB lineup is not strong, but he came through big time. 

Cano is starting to hit the ball well which is a great sign. 

Price was getting hammered as our outs were line drives and even our DP’s were line drives.  Granderson hit one to the wall as well.  Entering the 5^th I screamed out we are hammering you price (I was at the game) and we continued with Cano crushing a 2 run HR and then ARod his normal line drive (He is now a line drive hitter) and Jones doubled him in and the game was over.  I couldn’t tell location/movement very well compared to watching at home, but price was throwing hard.  The Yanks had 11 hits and 3 walks through 5 innings as well as 4 line drive outs and a deep fly.  We were all over him.  He did pitch the final 6 outs perfectly.

BTW, while on Price, he had an interesting pre game warm up, especially compared to CC who threw only off the mound.  Price played catch and then slowly backed up to play long toss and was firing the ball like an OF’r from about 200 feet.  He was really letting lose.  Then he would bring it back in and then threw breaking balls off of the flat grass from normal distance.  It has worked in the past, so I am sure that it is his way, but I thought it was a little odd.  BTW, I could see soft/medium tossing long distance, but it was a stark contrast to CC.

Jeter had his 10,000th AB at the game last night; he got out.

2.5 out is MUCH better than 4.5 out!

The Genius Maker 5-9-12

I stated more than a few times whoever is the next closer after Rivera will not be liked.  I think Robertson will be fine, but tonight (after 25 pitches last night) did not work out well…and I like Robertson so maybe those were words were harsh?

I didn’t like starting Rodriguez off with a fastball and said so before the AB, but outside of that he only made one mistake and that was throwing a fastball to Joyce.  There is a reason why we were throwing 4 curve balls to him and he barely got a piece of one of them.  They should have thrown another one…nope fastball and 3 run homer and end of game.  It is the same when teams throw Swisher a fastball after he has shown he struggled against the off speed stuff.  Make him beat what he struggles with. 

Speaking of Swisher he should be fined for an idiotic throw that really screwed up the 9^th inning.  On the 2^nd single he threw a rainbow to 3^rd base when he had no chance of getting the runner and he allowed the go ahead run to get to 2^nd base and really put the pressure on Robertson.  There is really no excuse for that!

Girardi had a good game with pitchers as I thought he did a great job pulling Phelps with the bases loaded and brought in Logan to stop the threat and then he went to Wade at the right time and Wade pitched great.  I would have used Rapada for the last out against Pena, but with nobody on Girardi let Pena get an AB against a righty and wade got him out. 

Girardi did mess up with Martin up in the 2^nd inning with 1^st and 2^nd and nobody out.  Martin is probably the worst hitter in our lineup and their starter had just walked Ibanez.  After falling behind 2-0 if he wasn’t going to bunt he should have demanded a take sign, but instead Martin swung at ball 3.  After grounding out into what should have been a DP (TB messed it up) we didn’t do anything.  A bunt was the play there and I have no idea why Girardi didn’t do it.

While on bunting, the Yanks need to do that more when TB gives us the free one.  Swisher was up with ARod on 3^rd and 2 outs.  The 3^rd baseman was playing SS and Swisher can bunt; he should have put it down and gotten a run in.

We need to throw away our scouting report on Zobrist because he was hitting under .200 against the league coming into these two games and he seems like he is hitting everything we give him now.

In the 8^th inning Cano made a big error that could have hurt us bad as he pulled Jeter off the bag, but Soriano pitched his way out of it.  Tex made a great throw on a rocket short hop play he made and got the force out at 2^nd base making it 1^st and 3^rd with 2 outs.  It ended up not making a difference, but it was a very heads up play because it kept the go ahead run off of 2^nd.  The play itself wasn’t as good as the announcers said because it was almost a catch, but the ball was a rocket and he made a perfect throw to get the force out (it had risk to it).  Contrast the heads up play to the bonehead one by Swisher in the 9^th.

In the 9^th Martin blocked a ball in the dirt and got it with his arm but he still didn’t turn his chest protector in; he made the good block, but also got lucky.  He needs to adjust his form on those or we will have more trouble.

Disappointed in the outcome as I would have been thrilled if Robertson could have closed 2 one run games out against TB.

The Genius Maker 5-8

Last night was a good win as Nova got back on the mound and pitched well without his best stuff, Soriano handled the 8^th, and Robertson got the save in his new role.

• TB continues to put the shift on the Yankees and it works well.  The one thing that is not talked about and I believe is a great add on to the shift strategy is to shift a guy and pitch him inside.  This is specifically beneficial when they did this to ARod.  In general ARod is not someone I would put the shift on, but if you pitch him inside he will pull the ball into the shift.  I think if used once in awhile this is an excellent strategy. 
• When is Tex going to lay down a bunt?
• After a rocket Cano double, Tex moved Cano over to 3^rd base with a groundout (why is it that this groundout seemed like a good thing when your #5 hitter is up?), then Swisher had a terrible AB swinging at a lot of balls before grounding out to 2^nd base and Cano got thrown out at home easily.  Not really sure why they sent Cano with the infield in, but I am not going to get critical of Thompson there.  Then a big hit by Ibanez on a hanging change gave the Yanks a 2-0 lead.  After what looked like they were going to strand the leadoff double the Ibanez HR was a big one. Ibanez later added a solo shot that just stayed fair as he was the offensive star!  Ibanez now has his OPS at .817 and as long as he is not in the field that is a positive.  I don’t expect it to stay there as I predicted it in the low .700’s, but with all the other guys struggling and the injuries if he only DH’s and pinch hits, he would be a plus with an OPS above .800.
• Nova did not have his best fastball (usually around 91) but he had the best change he has had and mixed in his sliders and curves.  The wet ball probably had something to do with it, but he was not consistent on his breaking stuff.
• Jeter booted one the other day and missed a backhand that was a makeable play for most SS’s last night and it put Nova in a jam.  The next hitter singled making it 1^st and 3^rd and 2 outs and then Nova fell behind 3-0.  With the score 2-0 in the 5^th inning, this was a big moment.  Nova pumped up his fastball to 93 for a 3-0 strike, then 94 for a 3-2 strike, and then threw an 89 MPH slider that looked more like a cutter to me and he got a pop up but unfortunately it just got into the stands.  This was a big moment and Nova got himself back into the AB and now could he finish the job?  He came back with another slider and got the strikeout…it was a huge moment in the game.
• After a Granderson HR, Nova had an 0-2 count on Molina by throwing 2 curve balls and then he hung a curve ball that Molina deposited in the seats.  It was a bad miss and Molina crushed the hanger.
• I emphasize this because in the 7^th Nova allowed a HR to Luke Scott on a change that hung.  He then allowed a walk and a double to make it 2^nd and 3^rd with 1 out and the score is 3-2.  This was another big moment and Nova was in trouble but had only thrown about 85 pitches and Girardi stuck with Nova.  Nova got their SS to fly out to medium shallow RF and they did not try to tag up.  Then Nova was facing Molina who homered after seeing 3 straight curves.  Nova threw 3 more curves all excellently located and Molina swung threw all 3 for a huge strike out!  It shows how poor the hanger was in the previous inning
• Girardi had Logan up at the start of the 7^th and it looked like he may go to him with 2 lefties coming up, but he let Nova pitch (and allow the HR).  Not sure why Logan would be up if he wasn’t going to be used, but I just think Girardi messed up and then stuck with Nova
• Soriano came on to pitch the 8^th with a 2 run lead (Ibanez 2^nd HR), and allowed a leadoff triple on a fastball on the outside corner that Zobrist hit well.  Soriano came back with 2 big strikeouts and looked to be able to get out of the inning.  However, Martin called for a breaking ball in the dirt and he got it, but couldn’t block it…again.  Now Martin is not lazy with his feet, but as I mentioned the other day he is not turning his shoulders (and thus the protector) in toward the plate.  This was a curve ball so when the ball hits the dirt it will kick toward the right hand batters box and the catcher must turn toward the left handed box to knock it down.  Martin allowed it to get to his left and the ball got away to score the run.  Martin throws great, in fact, he is the best thrower the Yanks have had since Munson and it is possible he is better (hard for me to judge, Munson ha d a quicker release but Martin has more strength to throw), anyway, I am disappointed in the fundamental mistake on the wild pitches.  BTW, Molina has awful/lazy footwork and I used to be very critical of him.  While he did block balls right in front of him, he was embarrassed on a few balls that got by him as well.
• While on defense, Tex may not be as good as people think on scoops and even with the glove, he is as good as anyone turning 2 as he makes excellent hard throws to 2^nd base.  He has been excellent at those
• Robertson had a very live fastball, so live in fact, martin stabbed at it a few times.  He allowed a grounder that found the hole and sandwiched it with 2 walks, but got his 2^nd strike out of the inning to end the game.  The ump did a good job all game IMO. 
• I know a lot of people think Soriano should close, but I would give the ball to Robertson as well.  I might look at Robertson to come in if the 8^th had the better hitters coming up, but Girardi won’t do that so I will not waste my time.

Switching gears:

• Josh Hamilton for the Rangers hit FOUR 2 run homers last night for the Rangers; now do you know why I wanted to walk him every time first base was open with a guy on 2^nd and it may be best to walk him almost every time up.  His OPS is now an amazing 1.298!   

The Genius Maker 5-6

Two points I wanted to make will be made after a brief update on last night's game: 

Cano finally got a big hit (Grand Slam) and Hughes looked decent all the way into the 7th inning.  I think the KC radar gun may be a MPH or 2 fast, but Hughes maintained a good velocity into the 7th and that is encouraging.  He also threw a decent change and curve.  But this was the Royals and Hughes still lets far too many left side of the plate balls leak over the plate.  It seems he has trouble throwing outside to righties/inside to lefties.  This will be a critical piece for him to fix.

1) On Saturday night the Yankees were losing 3-0 when a medium fly ball went to RF and Granderson was on 2nd with nobody out.  Francouer plays RF for KC and the one thing he does have is an excellent arm.  Granderson tagged and was thrown out on a close play.  Those of you veteran blog readers know I think Robby Thompson takes far too many chances and I have an issue with him because after getting his (appx) 5th guy thrown out with less than 2 outs at home he said "if I am not getting guys thrown out than I am not being aggressive enough."  My issue is not that guys get thrown out, my issue is that Robby Thompson probably doesn't understand that getting guys thrown out isn't the problem; it is WHEN.  When you are down by 3 runs you simply can't make outs on the base paths PERIOD.  A 90% chance is NOT worth taking that chance.  Getting thrown out at home with nobody out is almost never a good idea, yet that was his response.  Anyway, when Granderson got thrown out it reminded me why I was ticked at Girardi for not retaining Larry Bowa as our 3rd base coach (he was excellent there) and it also showed that after Thompson has screwed up more times than he should, Girardi was too lame to switch him out and I believe even defended the stupid answer with his own insulting rhetoric.

2) I think the Yankee owners are focusing too much on making money rather than doing what George used to do and that is focus on winning.  George knew that if the team was winning he would make more money; now compare it to the comments about not going over the revenue sharing limit.  I was watching the Orioles series and it is shocking how quite and empty the stadium is.  If the Yanks win people will come, but they also need to lower the pricing enough to make it so real fans can go.  They are marketing this all wrong, because if they lowered the pricing, they would sell more tickets and get more people in the stands and the overall take would be higher, especially when you consider all the extra concession business they would garner.  Finally, a healthy and loud crowd would aid the home field advantage which in turn could lead to a few more wins and the cycle continues.

I wrote the below italicized on Saturday:

"I am very saddened by the news that this may be it for Rivera.  I was looking forward to every pitch from the greatest of all time;  I was looking forward to watching the greatest for his final year; I was looking forward to seeing Rivera stand on the mound for the final pitch securing our World Series Title.  He deserved better...so did we.


It will be very sad if this is it; the guy was still at the top of his amazing game.


As for the Yanks, this is a big blow, but the team's strength is the bullpen.  Someone commented on this blog that they should move Hughes to the pen and that will support the backend of Soriano and Robertson.  This is most likely the best move, but I think they will give Hughes another start first."

Written Sunday morning:

We go into KC a team that hadn't won a game at home all year and end up losing 2 to do them...and the Genius Maker.  The only good thing was Rivera letting people know he was not going out like this and would be back next year (thus probably voiding my italicized above).  He still loses a year and will be a year older so we can't expect as good a year next as this year, but we should see a capable guy nonetheless.  I still feel a little bit of a loss.

It struck me how this crappy KC team seems to have 5 guys who all throw harder than anyone on our team?  This guy Paulino has a career 5.28 ERA even if last year was 4.11 with KC, but he was throwing 96-98 consistently and threw a slider and a curve that were at least major league average.  Think of the hype guys like Hughes had; no think about what the hype or how excited we would be if Paulino were on our team?  

Overall, the offense is simply terrible right now; perhaps the worst offense we have seen on our team in a very long time.  Yes, the O is hurt without Swisher and Gardner and yes we have had NO replacement for them, but Cano and Tex have been awful so far (with Tex being more pathetic), ARod has been mediocre and we have had very little production from the catcher and DH spot...thus a terrible offense.  Just egtting Gardner and Swish back will help a lot, but we still need some more production by the rest or this will be a long season.  Cano, I am not as worried about, but the others need to get my confidence back.  I am not saying they won't get better, but will they get back to what is expected?  I mean can tex really go from a career .900 OPS guy to the .840 OPS guy he has been the last 2 years to a .650 OPS guy?  Maybe the .900 is unreasonable, but even in a downward spiral being an .800 OPS guy isn't unreasonable...even if that is for the rest of the year and he finished in the high .700's.  Tex is only 32. 

We are in 4th place (BTW, even if I don;t write a blog I try to update the standings every day just so that you can come to the site and at the worst you get the standings and there are some articles on the far right bottom too that are picked out by a feed.)

I am pleased Rivera is coming back next year...but losing Mo does hurt the team forgetting all the historical and emotional implications.





 

The Genius Maker - Very sad day

The below paragraph was my original one, but I am adding this after finding out Rivera has a torn ACL.  This is such a sad event.  The guy is 100% class, the best ever and still was on top of his game and to get injured like this is just a tough one to swallow.  Shagging fly balls is and has been Rivera’s pre game warm-up forever so it is just a fluky thing.  I am a little stunned right now…

I want to jump to the 9^th inning last night as there were some critical pitches thrown and every pitch was important.  Broxton was pitching for KC and Jeter led of with the Yanks down by one.  Jeter fell behind 0-2 and Broxton throws 95-99.  After 3 straight fastballs for strikes (last one fouled off) he went to his breaking pitch and he hung it to Jeter who sliced it the opposite way for his 4^th hit (he has been great!).  Now Granderson is up.  Because of the struggles of Tex, I don’t consider bunting Granderson as Grandy can hit a 2 run HR anyway, especially against a righty.  Broxton throws a fastball for a ball and then comes back with a breaking ball for a ball.  This next pitch is a huge one as I would expect a fastball and this is the one you are looking for.  Broxton shows a ton of respect to Granderson (and Cone correctly pointed this out – I like the way Cone thinks) by throwing a breaking ball but Granderson does not swing for ball 3.  Now I am thinking let’s give him the green light to swing because I respect Broxton and also I have more faith in Granderson in our lineup than anyone else right now who isn’t on 1^st base.  Girardi gives him the green light but he fouls off a pitch (didn’t really get a good swing on it).  3-1 is still a huge pitch right here and Granderson takes a strike on the outside corner.  Grandy must not have seen it well even though it was an OK pitch.  Now at 3-2 Jeter should be running so this is another huge pitch.  Jeter is running and Granderson takes ball 4.  A little anticlimactic but really every pitch was crucial.  Now we are n the driver’s seat with or 3-5 hitters up and 1^st and 2^nd with nobody out.  Tex is up though.  Normally you wouldn’t think of bunting but the way Tex has been, especially from the left side I say to myself I hope they are working on him bunting more to take advantage of the shift because right now a bunt and only a sac bunt is the right call.  Either Tex just can’t do what ARod did the other night or he refuses.  After taking the first pitch for a ball, he swing at an inside breaking pitch (he should have taken).  The next pitch he hits a fairly solid ground ball toward the 2^nd baseman who made a nice back hand stop and flip to start a DP to take the wind out of our sails.  But, we still have ARod up with the tying run on 3^rd.  ARod was ready on the first pitch and fouled off a high 90’s fastball – good swing on it.  The next pitch was just a terrible call by the ump.  The pitch was very inside and the ump had not called closer pitches inside to a righty all night (he was calling the outside strike all night).  ARod got close to the ump and raised both his arms outstretching them to the side and twice said “how is that a strike?”  The ump must have known he screwed up because he allowed ARod to say that twice and didn’t get back in ARod’s face.  ARod was frustrated but didn’t go nuts on the ump, just asked the question.  Now the entire AB changes and ARod needs to get his head back in the game.  He fouls off 3 pitches and then has some good takes and 3 straight balls to make the count full.  Great battle.  ARod then tops the next pitch for a slow roller down to 3^rd, I thought he would beat it out but the 3^rd baseman who moves well, charges, barehands it and throws ARod out.  Tough loss, but I enjoyed the chess game in the 9^th.

Other points on the game:

1. ARod messed up a pop-up in the 7^th as he seemed to misjudge that he had a longer way to go for it; it wasn’t an easy play, but he didn’t read it right
2. While on ARod I have always said he is a very heads-up player with excellent instincts but one place he is very unsure of is on tags at 3^rd base.  His positioning just is awkward and he doesn’t snap his tags.  Martin made a fantastic throw catching Francouer trying to steal 3^rd and ARod barley caught the ball and made the tag, but barely is the right word.
3. Francouer was on 2^nd because he stretched a single into a double when Granderson didn’t go 100% after a ball and then didn’t rush his throw and then didn’t throw a strike too 2^nd.  A good throw would have had him.
4. Phelps threw a lot of pitches, but I actually was impressed for a guy who had a mediocre pitching line.  He doesn’t have overpowering stuff, but he reminds me a little of Kuroda in that he can get guys out if his control is good.  His breaking ball was not that sharp, at least consistently sharp, but he spotted a decent fastball and threw some changeups as well.  He definitely earned another start in my books.
5. Our other guy Mitchell is more of a sinker guy.  Good sinker but not much else
6. Logan was used correctly with 2 lefties and one righty and he did the job
7. I mentioned the terrible call at a critical time against ARod above, but the umps on the bases did a great job, especially first base.  Nunez had 2 close plays and he got them right and the 2^nd base and 3^rd base umps made all their calls correctly as well.
8. Jayson Nix started for us in LF and showed why defense is important as he made a nice running catch that would have been a double with Ibanez/Jones out there.  It should be noted Jones made a nice running catch in RF.  When Jones gets there he is rock solid, but he just doesn’t seem to get there anymore.  Nix also was robbed in a key spot by an excellent running catch by the KC speedster in CF.  He also had another running catch later in the game.  People overlook the defense, but if the guy doesn’t make one of those plays we probably win the game.
9. Man, I am so bummed about Rivera

The Genius Maker 5-2

I still don’t understand what Girardi is thinking in carrying so many pitchers?  What team carries 12 let alone 13 pitchers, especially when guys are banged up?  His quote about “being fine” in LF looks even more absurd now.  This is the BS about Girardi that drive me crazy.

Cano is just off.  He will get it straightened out but he is missing pitches he would normally crush.  His frustration is showing up as he swung at a strike 2 that was way outside and I said to my son (who has been watching the game on DVR and fast forward with me – pretty cool) he is going to swing at anything this pitch.  On queue he swing at a slurve inside and in the dirt for strike 3.   Fortunately his defense has still been excellent as he made a smooth as silk catch over his shoulder with 1^st and 3^rd and 1 out where Ibanez was slow to get there and probably would not have been able to get there.

Nova really struggled all game with breaking balls as he left a lot of spinners, but he battled as his fastball had some life (got up to 96 a few times).  Unfortunately the calls of changeups really came at bad times and he allowed 2 HR’s on the changeup.  The pitch selection I have not been happy with.  Nova battled and kept us in the game, but Girardi left him in too long and the game got a little out of reach, especially when you are fielding a AAA lineup.

Yes, I called ours a AAA lineup!  When you have NO bench matchups available and you are starting Andrew Jones against a righty, Ibanez in RF and a 1^st baseman who has a swing that is all messed up to go along with a weak hitting catcher…you won’t score a lot. 

Chavez had an odd thing happen to him as he must have gotten a vertigo attack or something as he had to leave the game with dizziness while at the plate.  Nunez got up and completed the strike out for Chavez, but hopefully Chavez is OK.

BTW, we talked about giving Nunez a chance to see what he has, but his stick is not good enough to cover his awful fielding.  I do think OF might be better for him and he might be better than Jones and Ibanez, but his .614 OPS isn’t exactly something that makes you want to stick him in the lineup.  Of course if Girardi/Cashman would have kept a good defensive OF’r with upside on the team we would at least be gaining valuable knowledge (and save money) rather than getting very mediocre production and poor fielding.  The decisions have been very odd if you ask me.  I will acknowledge that Ibanez and has his OPS of .729 is slightly better than I expected (I was thinking he would be around .700), but the point why I would not have signed him was his inability to play defense and at age 40 you have NO upside so why not get a young guy with upside who will play better defense or at least be used as a defensive replacement?  I know you are pretty tired of hearing me say this, but it just doesn’t show any vision and I think it is more Girardi than Cashman, but I could be wrong on that.

Martin better get his footwork in order behind the plate because he did another poor job of blocking a ball although it didn’t hurt us.  His technique has been bad.

5-0 loss and we are now 3.5 games out of first.

The Genius Maker 5-1

Hughes was Ok tonight.  His curve was OK and his fastball was 93-95 for the first 2 innings, but he still misses too much.  Overall, the irony was that the HR hit by Davis, he hit the target set by Stewart (our catcher), but it was dumb to call a low and inside fastball to a guy with an uppercut swing like that.  The HR he allowed to hardy was another bad call where he called for the fastball inside, however, Hughes left it over the plate and it was crushed…it is possible if he got it in he would have hit it foul, but hardy was waiting for the fastball. 

Some more irony may be Nunez misplaying flair out to LF for a 2 run double.  I am not sure either Jones or Ibanez would have gotten that, but Nunez played it very poorly and deserved his error (even though the silly sometimes rule is that if you don’t get errors on misjudged fly balls).  This underscores why I wanted a defensive player OF’r on the roster.  Eventually they will realize, but in the meantime I say keep Nunez out there if you won’t bring up a player like I was asking for from the start of the year…and maybe we can see if the guy has any game…so far he can’t field anywhere and hasn’t shown the ability to hit very well either.  Not sure he is much of a player?

Cano had many swings where when he was on he would have crushed the ball but he just has not got the barrel out.  He did hit a hard liner to CF at least, but it is sad to watch him like this.

ARod did was Tex should do and that is lay down a bunt when they are allowing you to take a free hit.  Tex needs to do it because he has been awful.  It is amazing with the poor starting pitching and how terrible Cano, Tex and Martin are doing to go along with the fairly weak job ARod has been hitting that the team is above .500.  Jeter and Granderson are carrying the offense with some help from Swisher. 

It should be noted that Logan didn’t get the job done letting up 2 hits to his two batters.  Mostly he struggled throwing his curve for a strike.

Finally, when Martin is your DH, you know someone isn’t filling out the roster correctly

The Genius Maker 4-30

Going back to the CC game.  While the results were good, CC still did not have good use of his changeup or his plus fastball.  He was normally around 92, but he did spot it pretty well and his breaking ball had a good break to it.  I was watching the game with my brother and I commented that because he only had 2 real pitches, he shouldn't just lay in his first pitch curve ball for a strike; he needed to get it outside.  Then he did exactly what I said he shouldn't do but they didn't hit it.  I repeated what I said and then he did it again and Fielder took him deep.  My brother just looked at me and I shrugged my shoulders.  Seemed obvious to me.

The Granderson HR was a highlight to watch as it was almost a great catch by the guy we traded away to get Granderson.  I thought he had it live, but he jarred just enough for it to trickle out.

Last night was one of the games I enjoy that many people find boring.  Every pitch was important.  Setting up the batter was important and there was a lot of chess going on.  I said don’t get down on Kuroda after he got blown up a few starts ago as the box score didn’t tell how he pitched; since then he has been very solid.  He is a professional pitcher with very good location and good movement with ok velocity.  He spotted his pitches very well, had good movement and can throw any of his pitches for strikes.  He is not overpowering, but he will be solid.

Well once again Girardi is behind the blog.  In the comments section from April 20th, my brother and I discussed that Nunez should play in LF until Gardner gets back.  This was in line with the reasons why I didn’t want Ibanez and wanted a younger player with upside who I felt would be overall more productive (including defense).  Well, Girardi realized it was a good idea and put Nunez out there and he paid dividends right away making a sliding catch coming in on a ball that neither Jones or Ibanez would have gotten to and then later on caught one over his shoulder at the wall that neither guy would have reached...then of course, in what could have been a game losing play, Ibanez misplayed what should have been a pretty routine into a single that allowed Kuroda's only run (should have been unearned as he miss-timed his jump badly).  Kuroda only allowed the one run that went to 3rd on the play and pitched really well all game.  Baltimore is not an offensive juggernaut but Kuroda only allowed 3 hits and a walk not counting Ibanez's bad play.  I think Girardi also is realizing that his comments I criticized the other day as being disingenuous were BS because he replaced Ibanez with Andrew Jones for defensive.  This also shows why I said having a defensive specialist made so much sense...I just don't get how inconsistent Girardi is in his thought process?

While on dumb comments...I couldn’t believe Michael Kay was praising the great defensive play by martin on the ball that got away from him when Kuroda tagged out the runner trying to score.  I give Martin credit for his great throw pegging the SB attempt early in the game and I also give him credit for hustling after the pitch and making a good toss to the covering Kuroda...BUT, what about the poor use of his body in blocking the ball in the dirt that allowed the runners to move up to 2nd and 3rd with one out?  That was a huge play.  Now, as a catcher, the blame was on the pitcher, but the when the catcher does not get his body turned back toward home plate he didn’t give it his best effort.  What I am referring too is when you block a ball you should be trying to direct the ball back toward the plate and not leave your right shoulder behind your left shoulder when shifting to your right (or from the pitchers view the left).  On the wild pitch Martin didn’t turn his body and he could have (sometimes you just can't).  Then on the one that we got the out on he did the same thing to the 3rd base side where he didn’t turn back toward the plate, although he did hustle.  Kay kept praising him and it was pretty naive if you ask me.

Robertson was (and has been) amazing by throwing 92-94 but his movement was Rivera like!  He has 10 scoreless innings this year with 15 k's. 

The Baltimore starter Hamel was impressive. Good fastball good control. He made some very good pitches, particularly an AB against ARod where he threw very well located first pitch curve ball on the outside corner, then came in with a very well located fastball for strike 2, then just missed inside and then finished ARod off with a perfect 2 strike pitch breaking ball just off the plate.  He also got Granderson on a great changeup and then after getting that in his mind blew him away with a fastball.

And the Genius Maker gets another tough one run save.  Since his 5 base runners and 2 runs allowed in a 1/3 of an inning on his opening day, he has pitched 8 scoreless innings allowing 3 hits no walks and 7 k's!  He is amazing and I hope he can continue being great at the age of 42.