More Proof of my Theory
For the past few days, I’ve been talking about how hard it is to win when your starting pitcher puts you in a hole and how you usually win when he is solid. Last night, Hiroki Kuroda surrendered 4 runs after 14 pitches. The Yankees were down 4 and never caught up. They had their chances, especially after scoring three and having the bases loaded with one out in the first. That threat ended when Eric Chavez hit a rocket to second base for an inning ending double play. The Yankees never led in the game after that. Five runs is usually enough to win, but not when your starter gives up six in five innings. This Yankee rotation has not looked good with the exception of Nova and once again they fall to .500 at 6-6. Not too bad and hopefully they will get the pitching straightened out.
On another note, now that Brett Gardner is going to the 15 day DL, how is that decision not to keep Justin Maxwell looking? I thought they should have kept him instead of keeping the extra lefty Rapada. Now they need Maxwell and they don’t have him. He has the look of a good player and is only 28. Oh, by the way, in his first AB for Houston he hit a pinch hit, walk off homer. Neither Andruw Jones or Raul Ibanez is equipped to play left field every day and even splitting time leaves them open to injury and leaves the team with poor defense in left. On top of that, instead of calling up an outfielder to take Gardner’s place, the Yankees called up right handed reliever Cody Epply, who was cut by Texas a couple of weeks ago. Sometimes the moves this team makes baffle me. Dewayne Wise is killing the ball at AAA and has experience as an every day ML outfielder. Seems like a good fit, so of course they didn’t do it.
Riffing on a Theme
Yesterday, I gave kind of a simplified version of how baseball games are won. It went basically like this. If your starting pitcher does well, chances are you will win the game most of the time. Last night was the personification of that theory. C.C. Sabathia lasted into the eighth inning and gave up only three runs. He was kind of shaky at first and then unhittable from the 3rd through the eighth innings. Chris Stewart of all people came through in the clutch and knocked in the tying and go ahead runs and then chipped in another RBI single later on. Don’t expect that from him too often, but it was very timely and clutch on his part. Game three tonight, so the ride continues.
Another poor outing by a Starting Pitcher
Baseball really isn’t that complicated. When your starting pitcher does well, you generally have a good chance to win the game. When they don’t, it puts you in a hole that can be hard to dig out of. So far. after two times through the rotation, the Yankees have had two poor starts by Sabathia, one good and one bad from Kuroda, two poor ones from Hughes, two good ones from Nova and two poor ones from Garcia. I’d say they are pretty lucky to be 5-5 at this point. I’m sure things will get better, but I would also wager that if they don’t pitch better soon, both Hughes and Garcia will be gone from the starting rotation by mid season.
Ivan Nova wins again
You can say what you want about Ivan Nova. The one thing a starting pitcher is supposed to do is give his team a chance to win. Nova has done that 14 straight times now. Is he perfect? No. He makes mistakes and he pays for them. But he comes right back and attacks the next hitter and generally gets them out. His record last year was no fluke and he will only get better. I am looking forward to watching him pitch for the Yankees for a very long time. I know the Yankees are counting on Betances and Banuelos to possibly crack the rotation next year, but both are struggling right now at AAA and Banuelos is hurt. When they get a guy like Nova, they have struck gold. It looks as if David Phelps is going to be a decent pitcher as well. He may be the one to crack the rotation next year. Regardless, it was a good performance by Nova and a nice win. And how about that monster shot from Ibanez? Wow! Not sure how good this team will be this year, but they have the potential to be every bit as good as last year if not better.
Another Hughes Start, Another Stinker
I know it’s only two starts, but we have seen this movie before. This is the fourth year that we have watched Phil Hughes struggle to get through five innings. This time he only lasted 3.2 innings and gave up six runs. I stand by my prediction that he will pitch his way out of this rotation and back into the bullpen where he belongs. When a pitcher consistently struggles to get through five innings, he is not a starting pitcher. He is a reliever. When Pettitte is ready , Hughes will be gone and rightfully so. As a starter, he too often does not give his team a chance to win. Starters don’t have to be perfect, but they need to pitch well enough to keep their team in games. C.J. Wilson was very good today, but it’s much easier to pitch when given a 6-0 lead. I believe that Nova will pitch well enough on Sunday evening to give them a chance to win. That is all that you can ask of a starting pitcher and that is something I don’t believe Hughes is capable of delivering on a consistent basis.
On another note, how about the job David Phelps has done so far? 3 games 8.1 innings pitched, 2 BB, 9 SO. This guy could be the next David Robertson. He can obviously pitch in middle relief, and it looks like he could give them a spot start if need be. He has looked much more like a Major League pitcher than has Phil Hughes. Very impressive.
Nothing Like Opening Day at the Stadium
Yesterday was a Yankees classic. From the pre-game player introductions and fly over to Jorge Posada throwing out the first pitch to his Dad, this one was special before it even began. Then once the game started, it was a great game to watch. Swisher started it off with a clutch bases clearing double in the first. A-Rod added to the lead with a HR to dead center, then Granderson capped it off with a solo shot. Hiroki Kuroda was effortlessly brilliant. I may have been wrong about him, he will bear watching. All in all, a great day for Yankees fans. Looking forward to this afternoon.
Sweep
OK, so what have we learned in the first week of the season? Too early to tell, but I do see some trends. Girardi continues to overmanage and it has already cost his team two wins in the very first two games of the season. There were other close calls as well, like last night’s brilliant decision to walk the bases loaded and put the winning run on third base in the 9th inning. One WP or passed ball and it was game over. The fact that it didn’t happen does not make it a good decision. It was a bad decision and these kinds of boneheaded managerial moves are what makes Girardi a bad in game strategist. Just get out of the way Joe and let the team play. Keep your influence to a minimum.
So far, there still seems to be the tendency for this team to not be able to get runners in from scoring position with less than two outs. It is there and until they start delivering, it will be a problem.
Overall, 3-3 on the opening road trip is just okay for me. They are supposed to beat Baltimore, but they need to beat Tampa as well and they pissed away two winnable games in Tampa. Jury is still out on this bunch. Should be an interesting home stand.
A Bit of a Stinker, but a Win is a Win
Well Freddy Garcia looked pretty ugly last night. Five wild pitches in under five innings is pretty bad. The good news is the bullpen pitched great and they ended up with a win. Still 2 for 18 with runners in scoring position is pretty bad as well. I believe they will straighten things out eventually and if they win tonight they come home 3-3 on the road trip. Not too bad after that debacle in Tampa over the weekend.
Yankees Win, Theeeeeeee Yankees Win!
Well, like I said yesterday, I fully expected the Yankees to get well in Baltimore. I won’t predict a sweep, but two out of three doesn’t seem out of the question. Last night, Ivan Nova showed us why he was so good last year. He is still the Yankees second best starter ahead of Hughes and Kuroda.
In fact, I am going to make a bold prediction. Once both Andy Pettitte and Michael Pineda are ready to join the rotation, it will be Kuroda and Hughes who are pitching out of the bullpen. Kuroda because he has shown nothing to prove he will be effective in the AL East and Hughes because he has shown that he doesn’t have an out pitch when he starts. This causes a lot of 3-2 counts and high pitch counts, all of which spell reliever.
Regardless, tonight it’s Freddy Garcia who tries to keep the ship headed in the right direction. I fully expect a good outing from him.
Yankees are in denial
So this morning, I was reading some of the quotes from the Yankees players and from manager Joe Girardi and it struck me that they were in denial about what Tampa did to them this weekend. By repeatedly hitting directly into the teeth of defensive shifts, they cost themselves any chance they may have had of winning those games. A-Rod, Texeira and Swisher all talked about how they had hit the ball hard. Well what good is that if you hit it right at the defense? Girardi said this “It’s really hard to change who you are and revamp your approach because of the way a team plays you. You try to take what they give you, you try to hit the ball hard, and you take your chances. Sometimes part of the reason they do it is they want you to get away from what you’ve been doing so well for a long time. I just tell our guys to keep hitting the ball hard, and it’ll work.”
Well that may just be the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. How is continuing to hit the ball into the teeth of the defense taking what they give you in any way shape or form? It’s not taking what they give you, it’s the exact opposite. It’s playing to what they are trying to take away from you.
Yesterday, after the Yankees lost, I flipped over to the Red Sox/Detoit game. In the bottom of the 11th with Prince Fielder up, Boston employed the shift on the right side of the infield. Instead of drilling it right at the defense like the Yankees did, Fielder drilled one to left field and wound up scoring the tieing run. That, my friends is taking what the defense gives you. They gave him the left side and he took it. He didn’t just hit it really hard, right at the defense. My guess is the Yankees will now see a lot more of these shifts and they need to adjust or they will find themselves losing a lot of winnable games this year.
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