I'm not sure the Yankees can afford a lost nine game homestand and still make the playoffs, but that is what they are looking at. I believe AROD not being in the line-up, taken on its own, can actually help the offense. There is a tendency for the other guys to wait for him to produce the fireworks and not to fight through their own at-bats. And since he remains the most gifted choke artist in the history of the game (well, that's something!), the tendency is a losing one. But with Posada out as well, they not only lose one of their few clutch performers, they also get to luxuriate in excuses for the inevitability of their failure--which quotes from new Joe, Andy Petite and others indicate they have already begun to do. With the exception of Wang (and last year's Hughes), this is not a pitching staff that can pull off the 1-0 or 2-1 win very often, if ever, and this Yankee team remains every bit as bas at scratching out runs as they were under slow Joe. Last night they left 18 men on base, which is egregious even by last year's standards, and they are poised perilously close to the bottom of the league in RISP batting average, which is just unforgiveable when you realize Posada and Arod have really been gone all that much yet.
Part of the problem is that only 2 guys on the team, Matsui and Cabrera are at 300, and part of it is that 2 guys in the middle of the line-up, Giambi and Cano, are not even within shouting distance of 200, and this with a full month of the season gone. How much I wonder is remediable by devoting some thought to the problem? I would guess some. Clearly you can tell Giambi that for every game he doesn't hit a grounder through the left side of the shift, he doesn't play a game. That would get his attention, and some compliance with what has to be the most obvious imperative in the whole Yankee offensive picture. And for a hitter of Cano's ability to still be looking like the second coming of Phil Linz begs questions about technique, bad habits etc. If the hitting coach can't fix Cano in the next week, I would think he should be fired, with extreme prejudice.
But the larger RISP problem is probably unsoluble by the head, it goes to the heart and the nerve of the team. And so far they haven't showed any more of those qualities for Giardi than they did for Torre. Nor have they played with any greater sense of urgency than they did last year. And that really is a surprise to me and a disappointment. Frankly, they are playing much as I would have expected them to under Mattingly, which is why I was so opposed to his hire. And at the end of the day--or maybe at the beginning of the day--I do blame Giardi. Because he is not managing this team, or commenting on their performance, in the same mode that he did with the Marlins. HE IS MANAGING THIS TEAM AS IF HE WERE MANAGING THE NEW YORK YANKEES. And that's the problem, because he isn't. These aren't the Yankees at all. Consider--with Jorge on the shelf, only two position players on the team, Jeter and Damon, have rings. Only one starter does (Petite) and only one reliever (MO). When you consider Andy is only on the field once every 5 days and Mo is only on the field when (and if) the game is in hand, there is virtually noone regularly in pinstripes this year who knows a damn thing about winning, and some of these Yankees have had long and distinguished careers (e. g. Giambi, Abreu) without ever winning it all, as if that was somehow normal or acceptable. Giardi needs to wake up and recognize his present yankees are no more winners than his erstwhile Marlins, that they, like those Marlins, need to be taught how to win or, if you like, to refuse to lose. And he'd better wake up soon, because the season is rapidly slipping away. And if it goes as badly as it could, Hank won't keep him around to see another April with its new rays of hope.
Proposal of the day: With AROD out, try Gonzalez at third. He's the best infielder on the team, easily, and while he has modest offensive skills, he fights for every at bat.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
RAYS OF HOPE
I HATE TO BE OPTIMISTIC, BECAUSE IT'S THE KISSING COUSIN OF DISAPPOINTMENT. (McGready wasn't his cousin too was she; I mean 15 years old is bad enough.)
But I do see a couple of trends I like. One is Farnsworth. I think he just might prove to be a decent 7th inning pitcher. He's more relaxed that far back, and so he gets his breaking pitch over more consistently, making the fastball much more effective. If the Big F turns out alright, the Yankees have perhaps the best bullpen in the league after the sixth inning. Now if the starters could just last that long.
I also am liking the way Matsui is swinging the bat. He's not pulling off the ball as much as he did late last season.
After that road marathon,, with AROD misssing for some games, Posada for others, Jeter for others, and with Kennedy and Hughes so hopeless, it really is amazing that they are only one game back. They have to get better than this, right?
The Red Sox are just not that good this year. their strting pitching is mediocre, their bullpen less than great before Papelbon, and with Ortiz sitting or sucking their offense is really kind of anemic, at least outside of Fenway. you can now walk Manny knowing that most of the other hitters are singles guys and will have to string them together and are also slow white guys (Varitek, Lowell, Youkilis, Drew) who are just as likely to hit into a DP. I don' think the Rays sweeping them was a fluke. It shows what a fast team can do to an over the hill Varitek and what a team with good pitching can do to their line-up, at least outside of Fenway. Last year the Sox were as good away form home as in Boston, reversing the trend of the year before when they could only win at home and finished third. They look to me like they're reverting.
On the down side, they should never have signed Posada to a long term deal, a point I made at the time repeatedly. He's just too old and the breakdown has now begun, 4 years before the end of the deal. Also, is it just me or does Shelly Duncan look totally overmatched this year? He seem to be guesssing fastball on every pitch and swinging entirely too hard.
Of the many things I thought and hoped Giardi would do is force Giambi to bunt, to hit the other way, to take advantage of the gaping left side. I don't get it, he's so willing to take a walk when offered; why won't he take a single. In Abreu and Jeter, you have two of the better inside-out slap hitters in the game. Can't they teach him how? It'll only be for a month or so, then teans will take the shift off and his average will go up pulling the ball. Is this too obvious a remedy for his mendoza line problems to be put into effect?
Proverb of the Day: It takes the Yankees to make an all time great a cheater, but it takes the Sox to make him a registered sex offender.
But I do see a couple of trends I like. One is Farnsworth. I think he just might prove to be a decent 7th inning pitcher. He's more relaxed that far back, and so he gets his breaking pitch over more consistently, making the fastball much more effective. If the Big F turns out alright, the Yankees have perhaps the best bullpen in the league after the sixth inning. Now if the starters could just last that long.
I also am liking the way Matsui is swinging the bat. He's not pulling off the ball as much as he did late last season.
After that road marathon,, with AROD misssing for some games, Posada for others, Jeter for others, and with Kennedy and Hughes so hopeless, it really is amazing that they are only one game back. They have to get better than this, right?
The Red Sox are just not that good this year. their strting pitching is mediocre, their bullpen less than great before Papelbon, and with Ortiz sitting or sucking their offense is really kind of anemic, at least outside of Fenway. you can now walk Manny knowing that most of the other hitters are singles guys and will have to string them together and are also slow white guys (Varitek, Lowell, Youkilis, Drew) who are just as likely to hit into a DP. I don' think the Rays sweeping them was a fluke. It shows what a fast team can do to an over the hill Varitek and what a team with good pitching can do to their line-up, at least outside of Fenway. Last year the Sox were as good away form home as in Boston, reversing the trend of the year before when they could only win at home and finished third. They look to me like they're reverting.
On the down side, they should never have signed Posada to a long term deal, a point I made at the time repeatedly. He's just too old and the breakdown has now begun, 4 years before the end of the deal. Also, is it just me or does Shelly Duncan look totally overmatched this year? He seem to be guesssing fastball on every pitch and swinging entirely too hard.
Of the many things I thought and hoped Giardi would do is force Giambi to bunt, to hit the other way, to take advantage of the gaping left side. I don't get it, he's so willing to take a walk when offered; why won't he take a single. In Abreu and Jeter, you have two of the better inside-out slap hitters in the game. Can't they teach him how? It'll only be for a month or so, then teans will take the shift off and his average will go up pulling the ball. Is this too obvious a remedy for his mendoza line problems to be put into effect?
Proverb of the Day: It takes the Yankees to make an all time great a cheater, but it takes the Sox to make him a registered sex offender.
Sunday, April 27, 2008
CLASSIC AROD
One down, top of the 6th, the Yanks nursing a 1 run lead for Wang. Jeter on third after a long double and a beautiful piece of hitting by Abreu to move him up. The Yankees big man at the plate, needing only to push the ball through a drawn in infield or loft a fly to bring home a little bit of insurnace. And he strikes out on three fastballs, not one more than 94 and the last one right down the middle of the plate. Needless to say, they don't score--now 2-19 this series with RISP. Yes folks, just like last year--only worse.
Saturday, April 26, 2008
THE NEW YANKEES,
INDEED.
There has been talk of how the Red Sox have become the new Yankees and in one dubious respect they have. Win or lose this season, they have depended on a potent offense to mask a weaker than expected starting rotation with the inevitable consequences that has for the bullpen: Beckett's been so-so, Lester blows, Bucholz is uneven, Wakefield has begun his mid-season decline early and Dice-K's been pretty good, but only for 5-6 innings a game. The result is that with the exception of Papelbon, their relievers are already stressed. During their current losing streak, the bullpen blew up in one game and Francon is so concerned with their workload, he left Bucholz in way too long tonight, costing them another one.
Considering how truly putrid the Yankees have been in almost every phase of the game (noone can hit with men on base but Jeter, and he's well under 300 overall, AROD has been anemic so far, Canohas been unbelievably bad at the plate and little better in the field, Jeter has no range at all anymore, Giambi is still a disaster at first, Posada can't throw, Hughes can't find the strike zone, ditto Kennedy, Mussina has become a slow-pitch softball pitcher, and not a very good one, team speed is non-existent etc. etc.), it is telling that they are only 2 games behind the Red Sox, who have just come off a long home stand.
Right now I would venture to say there is only one really good team in baseball and they don't play in the American League.
There has been talk of how the Red Sox have become the new Yankees and in one dubious respect they have. Win or lose this season, they have depended on a potent offense to mask a weaker than expected starting rotation with the inevitable consequences that has for the bullpen: Beckett's been so-so, Lester blows, Bucholz is uneven, Wakefield has begun his mid-season decline early and Dice-K's been pretty good, but only for 5-6 innings a game. The result is that with the exception of Papelbon, their relievers are already stressed. During their current losing streak, the bullpen blew up in one game and Francon is so concerned with their workload, he left Bucholz in way too long tonight, costing them another one.
Considering how truly putrid the Yankees have been in almost every phase of the game (noone can hit with men on base but Jeter, and he's well under 300 overall, AROD has been anemic so far, Canohas been unbelievably bad at the plate and little better in the field, Jeter has no range at all anymore, Giambi is still a disaster at first, Posada can't throw, Hughes can't find the strike zone, ditto Kennedy, Mussina has become a slow-pitch softball pitcher, and not a very good one, team speed is non-existent etc. etc.), it is telling that they are only 2 games behind the Red Sox, who have just come off a long home stand.
Right now I would venture to say there is only one really good team in baseball and they don't play in the American League.
BEING THE YANKEES MEANS...
no excuses.
We are already getting the word from Giardi that the season may be in jeopardy because they just couldn't afford to lose, as they apparently have, Brian Bruney. Huh? If your season depends on the health of Brian Bruney, you are already completely screwed.
Their response has so far been to bring up Chris Britton, whose gotten so fat I swear it looks like he ate Curt Schilling. What about Patterson, who pitched something like 25 scoreless innings in spring training? Bruney really wasn't all that great, it's just that Hawkins and Farnsworth made him look that way. My advice for new Joe is to stop whining about the inevitable injuries and bring people up until you get someone who can get the ball to Joba.
We are already getting the word from Giardi that the season may be in jeopardy because they just couldn't afford to lose, as they apparently have, Brian Bruney. Huh? If your season depends on the health of Brian Bruney, you are already completely screwed.
Their response has so far been to bring up Chris Britton, whose gotten so fat I swear it looks like he ate Curt Schilling. What about Patterson, who pitched something like 25 scoreless innings in spring training? Bruney really wasn't all that great, it's just that Hawkins and Farnsworth made him look that way. My advice for new Joe is to stop whining about the inevitable injuries and bring people up until you get someone who can get the ball to Joba.
WHERE HAVE YOU GONE BILLY MARTIN,
the empire turns its lonely eyes to you, ooh, ooh, ooh.
The secret to playing small ball, otherwise known as Billy Ball, is to be relentless, to press every opportunity. In the midst of trying to separate himself from the passivity of the old Joe, the new Joe showed he just isn't there yet. In the top of the ninth in a tie gae today against Cleveland, Girardi took adavantage of having Damon on first with one out tohit and run Melky. The result, first and third with one out, and Jeter at the plate. Now you have a couple of options, with Cleveland playing half-way in the infield. One is to send Melky, either on a straight steal or a hit and run. Remeber, the man behind the plate, Victor Martinez, has a notoriously bad arm. This would be one way of protecting against the one outcome that can kill you, the double play. Jeter fouls off the first pitch and noone moves on the bases. Now a second and even better option present itself--the suicide squeeze. And I'm screaming at the TV to do just that. With Jeter's skill at the bunt, only a pitch out would prevent him from getting his bat on the ball, and with Eric Wedge already ejected, it seems unlikely that anyone in the Cleveland dugout is thinking on those lines. What's more, even if the surprise element doesn't actually score Jeter a hit, one run scores, Melky's on second and AROD is at the plate. That is, you've made sure they have to beat Mo in the ninth, and you still have a chance for a bigger inning. Instead (sigh!) Giardi plays it safe, lets Jeter hit an easily buntable ball, and he hits it hard, smokes it in fact, right into a DP. Ohlendorf, who is noone's idea of a late inning pitcher, comes in to give the game away in the ninth. And we have another game lost by Yankees management.
The secret to playing small ball, otherwise known as Billy Ball, is to be relentless, to press every opportunity. In the midst of trying to separate himself from the passivity of the old Joe, the new Joe showed he just isn't there yet. In the top of the ninth in a tie gae today against Cleveland, Girardi took adavantage of having Damon on first with one out tohit and run Melky. The result, first and third with one out, and Jeter at the plate. Now you have a couple of options, with Cleveland playing half-way in the infield. One is to send Melky, either on a straight steal or a hit and run. Remeber, the man behind the plate, Victor Martinez, has a notoriously bad arm. This would be one way of protecting against the one outcome that can kill you, the double play. Jeter fouls off the first pitch and noone moves on the bases. Now a second and even better option present itself--the suicide squeeze. And I'm screaming at the TV to do just that. With Jeter's skill at the bunt, only a pitch out would prevent him from getting his bat on the ball, and with Eric Wedge already ejected, it seems unlikely that anyone in the Cleveland dugout is thinking on those lines. What's more, even if the surprise element doesn't actually score Jeter a hit, one run scores, Melky's on second and AROD is at the plate. That is, you've made sure they have to beat Mo in the ninth, and you still have a chance for a bigger inning. Instead (sigh!) Giardi plays it safe, lets Jeter hit an easily buntable ball, and he hits it hard, smokes it in fact, right into a DP. Ohlendorf, who is noone's idea of a late inning pitcher, comes in to give the game away in the ninth. And we have another game lost by Yankees management.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Meet the New Joe, Same as the Old Joe?
I can't say I have really good feelings about Giardi's reign so far, and it has nothing to do with their mediocre record. He looks an awful lot like Torre in his reliance on long-ball instead of small ball. They are not running all that much and there still seems to be too little respect for contact hitting. How else does one explain the continued play of Giambi, who in addition to his mediocre glove and lack of arm strength, cannot make contact at crucial moments against any pitcher not named Timlin. He continues doggedly to pull the ball into a shift that smothers his chances for getting on base. If giardi is going to insist on playing his G-buddy despite the 125 BA, then he should at least make him bunt, half-bunt and push the left side until teams pull the shift off. Of course once on base Giambi cannot move around them with any celerity and combines with Posada and Matsui to make the middle of the line-up a station to station nightmare. ensberg, i n case noone has noticed, is hitting the ball for average quite smartly, runs better than Giambi, fields better than Giambi, oh what the hell, is better than Giambi.
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