It's funny how I took 7 months off and then post twice in one day. However tonight required me to make a post. The Yankees won 9-1, YAY!, but the bigger story is still in the almost perfect game for Armando Gallaraga. Gallaraga deserved to have a perfect game but got robbed because Jim Joyce made a terrible call. The final out in the inning was called safe when the runner was clearly out. Perviously in the inning Austin Jackson made a terrific catch that was eerily reminiscent of Wise's catch last year in the 9th to save Mark B's perfect game. Jackson ran down a ball in dead center field and then Gallaraga got a ground ball to Santiago to get the 2nd out. With one out to go he induced a groundball to Miguel Cabrera off the bat of Duncan. Armando ran over and covered and the play was bang bang but called safer despite replay's showing it was clearly out. What a frustrating situation for the young right hander. It's hard to see such a terrible situation happen, what should have been the 21st perfect game and a big accomplishment for the guy instead becomes just a nice complete game shut out. It frustrates me to talk about this more so we will move on to the Yankees.
The Yankees won 9-1 tonight. The game was won by Phil Hughes and some phenomenal offensive statistics. Cano was 3-4 and had a homer, Granderson was 3-4 and was robbed on his only out. Arod was good, Swisher was better, and Posada looked good in his return (especially running down the line). Altogether things were good in Yankee land tonight. Gaudin came in to finish the game pitching te 8th and 9th after Hughes pitched a great 7 innings of 1 run ball, 6 hits, and 8 Ks. It was good to see the Yankees preying on the bottom feeders and not taking any pity. It was also nice to see the Yankees score early and get Bergessen out of the game before he could finish the 3rd inning.
Tomorrow they look to sweep the series and will look to CC to get back on track after his recent struggles. Game is 1:05 at the stadium.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Its Been A While
Well after a 7 month hiatus from the blogging world, I'm back. Now that school is out of the way it's time to again start writing about the Yankees. So let's get right back into the action,
52 game assessment of the Yankees
Starting Pitching- The Yankees might have the best rotation in baseball. Javier Vazquez (funny I'm beginning with him) is finally coming around and might finally make Yankee fans happy after his second stint in pinstripes. Phil Hughes has been sensational and will hope to continue his awesome play tonight vs. the Orioles. Andy Pettitte is having the best start to his career and that is saying quite a lot as he has 236 wins with the Yankees, tied with Whitey Ford for the most as a Yankee. AJ Burnett has been pretty good despite a few rough outings. His last two starts were great and showing signs of his dominance when his control is right. When he doesn't walk batters and hits his spots, he has top 5 stuff in all of baseball. CC Sabathia started the year on fire and has cooled off of late, but he is a horse and loves warm weather and I have no doubts his era will be in the mid 3's when the season ends. Overall the numbers on the starters look like so:
That covers all of the health issues, now to the rest of the batters. Nick Swisher and Robinson Cano have been unbelievable, both All-Star worthy and having their best seasons in the majors. Derek Jeter is having a typical Derek Jeter year, with a slightly lower avg and obp but more power than in previous years. Alex rodriguez is just beginning to hit his stride after driving in 6 runs the other day, he is now quietly 5th in the league in RBIs with 41 and is batting .293. The homers are down (7), but his production is not and he continues to heat up with the weather. Mark Texeiria had an abysmal April which is to be expected, but then followed that up with an eh May. Now Mark looks to finally break out and bring his numbers to where we expect them to be despite a leg bruise that cost him the 2nd half of last night's game. Brett Gardner has done a great job proving to the Yankees and the world that he is capable of being an everyday starter. His average is high, his stolen bases rank top 5 in the league, his defense has been stellar, and he adds another dimension to the Yankees offense that isn't just station to station anymore.
Overall assessment of the offense is that it has been good but not great. We have to do a better job of getting runners in from 3rd with 1 out or less. We need to find ways to score runs earlier in games and stop waiting for the opposing team's bullpen to score runs. If that is the case though, we need to work pitch counts and see to it that we face their relievers in the 6th not the 8th. We need to see more from Tex and Granderson, we need A-rod to get hot, Cano to stay hot, and a healthy Posada for the year.
Bullpen- This is where the enormous problem in the team lies. Other than Mariano Rivera there is no one reliable in the entire pen. Robertson has struggled mightily. Marte has been inconsistent. Aceves has gotten hurt and will be out for a while. Chan Ho Park got hurt and has been piss poor even when healthy. Joba has at times shown flashes of his 2007 self, dialing up 97 and an incredible slider to match it. Unfortunately he has been really hittable at other times and his era is 5, way too high. If this team wants to go the distance, the middle relief has to do a better job of taking the baseball from our starters and getting the ball to MO.
Given the team's enormous injuries, the glaring issues at middle relief, the early struggles for Vazquez and current struggles for CC, the team is very pleased to be 32-20 at this point. They have played a lot of road games and played a lot of good teams and have done very well against every team except for maybe the rays (2-3 overall). The Yankees maintain their status as a contender and with the 2nd best record in baseball, the future is bright in Yankee Land.
Tonight Hughes takes the mound against Bergessen at 7:05 in Yankee Stasium as the Yankees look to take the series against the Orioles.
52 game assessment of the Yankees
Starting Pitching- The Yankees might have the best rotation in baseball. Javier Vazquez (funny I'm beginning with him) is finally coming around and might finally make Yankee fans happy after his second stint in pinstripes. Phil Hughes has been sensational and will hope to continue his awesome play tonight vs. the Orioles. Andy Pettitte is having the best start to his career and that is saying quite a lot as he has 236 wins with the Yankees, tied with Whitey Ford for the most as a Yankee. AJ Burnett has been pretty good despite a few rough outings. His last two starts were great and showing signs of his dominance when his control is right. When he doesn't walk batters and hits his spots, he has top 5 stuff in all of baseball. CC Sabathia started the year on fire and has cooled off of late, but he is a horse and loves warm weather and I have no doubts his era will be in the mid 3's when the season ends. Overall the numbers on the starters look like so:
- AJ Burnett- 6-2 3.28 ERA 71.1 IP 53 Ks
- Phil Hughes- 6-1 2.70 ERA 56.2 IP 57 Ks
- Andy Pettitte- 7-1 2.48 ERA 65.1 IP 41 Ks
- CC Sabathia- 4-3 4.16 ERA 71.1 IP 54 Ks
- Javy Vazquez- 4-5 6.06 ERA 49.0 IP 43 Ks
That covers all of the health issues, now to the rest of the batters. Nick Swisher and Robinson Cano have been unbelievable, both All-Star worthy and having their best seasons in the majors. Derek Jeter is having a typical Derek Jeter year, with a slightly lower avg and obp but more power than in previous years. Alex rodriguez is just beginning to hit his stride after driving in 6 runs the other day, he is now quietly 5th in the league in RBIs with 41 and is batting .293. The homers are down (7), but his production is not and he continues to heat up with the weather. Mark Texeiria had an abysmal April which is to be expected, but then followed that up with an eh May. Now Mark looks to finally break out and bring his numbers to where we expect them to be despite a leg bruise that cost him the 2nd half of last night's game. Brett Gardner has done a great job proving to the Yankees and the world that he is capable of being an everyday starter. His average is high, his stolen bases rank top 5 in the league, his defense has been stellar, and he adds another dimension to the Yankees offense that isn't just station to station anymore.
Overall assessment of the offense is that it has been good but not great. We have to do a better job of getting runners in from 3rd with 1 out or less. We need to find ways to score runs earlier in games and stop waiting for the opposing team's bullpen to score runs. If that is the case though, we need to work pitch counts and see to it that we face their relievers in the 6th not the 8th. We need to see more from Tex and Granderson, we need A-rod to get hot, Cano to stay hot, and a healthy Posada for the year.
Bullpen- This is where the enormous problem in the team lies. Other than Mariano Rivera there is no one reliable in the entire pen. Robertson has struggled mightily. Marte has been inconsistent. Aceves has gotten hurt and will be out for a while. Chan Ho Park got hurt and has been piss poor even when healthy. Joba has at times shown flashes of his 2007 self, dialing up 97 and an incredible slider to match it. Unfortunately he has been really hittable at other times and his era is 5, way too high. If this team wants to go the distance, the middle relief has to do a better job of taking the baseball from our starters and getting the ball to MO.
Given the team's enormous injuries, the glaring issues at middle relief, the early struggles for Vazquez and current struggles for CC, the team is very pleased to be 32-20 at this point. They have played a lot of road games and played a lot of good teams and have done very well against every team except for maybe the rays (2-3 overall). The Yankees maintain their status as a contender and with the 2nd best record in baseball, the future is bright in Yankee Land.
Tonight Hughes takes the mound against Bergessen at 7:05 in Yankee Stasium as the Yankees look to take the series against the Orioles.
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