Random Thoughts: Super Bowl, 'Melo, Yankees' Signings, and Cano

I had my first experience taking transportation other than a car to or from Boston this weekend and I can tell you it's not so much fun. But while I flew there, I'm taking Megabus on my way back and being blessed with spotty WiFi, I felt it a good time to blog. I know I've been absent from the blog for a while but I've been transitioning to a new [day] job and haven't had the time I would like to pump out great blog posts for the NYaT audience. So here's a bunch of random sports thoughts as I figure out how to get this guy's job as a ticket broker (H/T Zack):

I'm rooting with the rest of the Cheeseheads for Aaron Rodgers (NYP)

My Super Bowl Team

I don't think I'm alone rooting for the Packers tonight in the Super Bowl. I think while most of the time people root for a team, this battle is a battle of quarterback personalities. While Big Ben has become a hard-to-root-for quarterback with his off-the-field issues, Aaron Rodgers is about as easy to root for as a QB can be. He sat on the bench and didn't complain while Brett Favre did his annual retirement dance and the year that Favre had his personal downfall as a person and player, Rodgers is about to assert himself among the best QBs in the NFL. And if you look at the past 5 Super Bowls, the better story always won, though none will top the Drew Brees taking the post-Katrina Saints all the way last year. I think the Packers are going to win but I'm truly just rooting for an entertaining game.

Carmelo Anthony

I've been pretty adamantly against the Knicks double paying for 'Melo (in prospects and then in money) knowing that he's probably going to sign with the Knicks no matter what in the off-season. But after the Cliff Lee saga, I know that something like that is never certain and if the latest rumored offer (Knicks only giving up Wilson Chandler, Anthony Randolph, and Eddy Curry's obese corpse) is really true, I say go for it. They could go small and have a starting 5 of Amare, Raymond Felton, Landry Fields, Gallo, and 'Melo or move Fields to a super 6th man and start Ronny Turiaf or The Mozgov Cocktail in his place. Carmelo may not make the Knicks that much better (he plays even less defense), but for three players who won't be here next year, I think it's a steal. 'Melo has used his leverage and now the Knickerbockers need to take advantage of it.

Yankees' Latest Signings

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Yankees Chasing Numbers: The Hitters

A few of the Yankees chasing special milestone numbers in the last weeks of the season (thanks to Baseball-Reference's Play Index for a lot of the help on this):

Robinson Cano can join some impressive company in 2010 (ESPN)

Robinson Cano (.323, 99 runs, 187 hits, 28 HR, 102 RBI, 13 IBB).

If Cano reaches 100 runs, 200 hits, 30 HR and 110 RBIs (and he's on pace for each mark), he would become the third Yankee to do so after Lou Gehrig (7 times), Babe Ruth (3 times), Don Mattingly (twice) and Joe DiMaggio (once). Cano would also become only the third Yankee middle infielder to hit 30 HR after Alfonso Soriano (twice) and Joe Gordon (once). The only Yankees with an average of at least .323 and 30 HR: Babe Ruth (11 times), Lou Gehrig (9 times), Joe DiMaggio (5 times), Don Mattingly (3 times), and Mickey Mantle (twice). Cano's 13 intentional walks are tied for 9th best for a Yankee, one more ties him for 6th, two more ties him for 5th and 4 more would tie him for 4th. A 200-hit season would make him the first Yankee second baseman with more than one 200-hit season and would join Derek Jeter as the only other Yankee middle infielder with multiple 200-hit seasons..

Mark Teixeira, Robinson Cano, Nick Swisher, Alex Rodriguez, Curtis Granderson (30 HR, 28 HR, 26 HR, 25 HR, and 21 HR respectively)

If somehow 4 players finishes with 30 home runs, it would be the first time that 4 Yankees have hit 30 HR in the same year. The Yankees have had 3 players hit 30+ HR in one season 4 different times: 1941 and 2003, 2004 and 2005. Right now the Yankees have 4 players with 25 HR, tying them for second on the all-time list with the 1938 Yankees. If Granderson can hit 4 more home runs, they would tie the 2009 team which also had 5 players hit 25+ HR.

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The Yankee Clipper: Going For A Sweep (and Poll Results)

The Yankees have notched 5 Ws in a row and going for a 4-game sweep of the lowly Oakland Athletics today at the Stadium. Since the beginning of July, the Yankees have only lost 3 series (two vs. Toronto and one vs. Tampa) and the Yankees now sit by themselves in 1st place, a season-high 33 games over .500 at 83-50. How did we get here and where do the Yankees go from here?

Jorge Posada's strike out from last night looked a bit outside (BrooksBaseball)

1. The Yankees rotation concerns are really nothing new. Mike Axisa of River Ave Blues wrote a whole post about it, but I've been saying it for weeks: the 2010 team looks a lot like 2009. This statement was true for both 2009 and 2010: A.J. Burnett went 0-4 in August with an ugly ERA and questions were raised about his ability to pitch in October. Well last night we saw Good A.J., also known as the guy who won every Game 2 for the Yankees last year. So the Yankees will have to hope for a Good A.J. the rest of the way, a healthy Andy Pettitte, and someone else (Ivan Nova, Phil Hughes, or Javier Vazquez) step up and contribute. This is not to say that the rotation shouldn't be a concern for the Yankees, but just that the Yankees had the same issues and much less depth last year and they figure out how to bring home a World Series. Moshe Mandel at TYU takes an early gander at the postseason rotation. I think a lot of that will be in flux as September performances take shape. Brien @ IIATMS takes stock of the rotation.
2. Robinson Cano: MVP? We'll have to look at this a bit more, but I wanted to throw it out there. Josh Hamilton is kicking Cano's ass in WAR on FanGraphs, but leads all AL hitters in WAR in Baseball-Reference. As ESPN Stats and Info blog wrote yesterday, Cano's best time of year is just starting so te best may be yet to come (though it's hard to imagine him being better than his ridiculous April). YES' Jack Curry writes that Cano is showing the maturity and talent of an MVP. Detroit has fallen off so Miguel Cabrera will be hard-pressed to win (unless he miraculously takes the AL Triple Crown) and Tampa Bay's Evan Longoria and Carl Crawford will probably split votes for their teams. The Yankees' other two of NoMass' Three Amigos (Mark Teixeira and Nick Swisher) don't figure to take away too many votes from Cano. I think it comes down to Hamilton and Cano and Cano's position may make it a close race.
3. What will be the price tag on Derek Jeter?

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Quick Hits: FanGraphs Event, Yankee Bullpen, Mets, Cervelli, CC, Granderson, and Other Baseball Thoughts

It's time to play some catch-up on the blog. A little of a lot here on a Monday. Some quick hits for you:

- The FanGraphs Live event last Saturday in Manhattan was awesome. I thoroughly enjoyed the conference and the panels were all extremely engaging. Amanda Rykoff has a great review of the whole event at The OCD Chick, and Dave Cameron and Carson Cistulli of FanGraphs both have great recaps. A few observations/conclusions from the panel:

The FanGraphs live event was awesome

• I may be a nerd (Amanda did label this a "mini-dorkapalooza")
• Ben Kabak of River Ave Blues dislikes Francisco Cervelli as much on Twitter as he does in real life (and Jay Jaffe of Pinstriped Bible dishes out some dislike as well)
• Mike Axisa of River Ave Blues argues that the strength of the AL East pushes each team to get better
• Reporting on Twitter discourages analysis and makes it more about a personal brand
• The Wall Street Journal has a great formula for their sports section: smart, funny and analytical
• The game story is slowly leaving the papers (and with it, the need for the box score as well as Tim Kurkjian wrote on ESPN)
• Bloomberg Sports has an awesome fantasy sports tool that can even show video of Jeff Francouer drawing multiple walks
• Statistics are now for a wider audience than just nerds (though Tim Marchman of SI looks at the problems with defensive stats)
• The biggest myth in sports (according to one panelists) is that the pitcher stopping his windup mid-motion has led to a lot of injuries 
• I now own a FanGraphs t-shirt
• "Accept randomness"
• It was nice to finally meet in person people like Ben and Amanda who were, until now, just Twitter avatars and bylines on blog posts. This type of thing should occur more often.

- Joel Sherman of the New York Post asked today (re: the Yankees bullpen): "Do you believe in this group?" At one point the answer would most certainly have been no, but Joba Chamberlain, David Robertson, Boone Logan and Kerry Wood have joined together to form a nice "Bridge to Mariano". The Yankees bullpen in August is 1-1 (the one loss came from Mariano Rivera) with a 1.02 ERA in 35.1 innings and has a WHIP of 0.991. Since July 2nd, they've only allowed 16% of inherited runners to score (which was a bugaboo for a while with this team as they were at 30% at that point). With Andy Pettitte coming back (forcing Dustin Moseley back to the bullpen), and Alfredo Aceves and Damaso Marte on the mend, this is looking like a pretty good group. And despite his latest glitch, Mariano Rivera is pretty great/probably the greatest ever. The Yankees are 62-0 when leading after 8.

-CC Sabathia is getting less strikeouts as David Golebiewski of FanGraphs pointed out today and Dave Cameron pointed out last week. Here's my theory: from 2005 to 2010, Sabathia's thrown more innings than anyone in baseball. Maybe he's resting his arm a bit knowing he has plenty of years left to pitch in baseball. While strikeouts are the surest way to prevent outs, groundouts are usually a good way as well and they usually require less pitches. That's probably a good thing for someone who will have over 20,000 pitches in a 6-year span. Like Girardi told Chad Jennings of LoHud: "we don't want to wear the big guy down."

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The Yankee Clipper: The Infield

Yesterday we looked at the Yankees' outfield at the All-Star Break. Today we'll check out the Yankees infield and see how they've been fairing so far in 2010. We'll leave out the catchers for now, but we'll make sure to get back to them later. We'll also examine any places of weaknesses to see where the Yankees could make some strikes before July 31st:

1. Alex Rodriguez. We'll work our way around the diamond but start first with A-Rod. In what's been his least controversial year (so far), A-Rod's bat hasn't been producing either. His .269/.345/.481 line would all be his worst mark since 1995 and his 27 home run pace would his worst since 1997 (and his first time not hitting 30 since then). The one thing that A-Rod is still doing offensively is driving in runs and his 70 RBI are 3rd in the American League--and puts him on pace for 133 which would be the 4th highest mark of his career. He's also hitting doubles and triples at a high pace and his projected total of 42 non-HR XBH would be his highest since 1997. Now that could mean that he's just had bad luck and some of his flyballs haven't left the park this year--and the numbers support that. Only 11.2% of A-Rod's flyballs have left the park which would be his lowest mark since 1995 and way under his 18.5% career mark and his BABIP of .281 is way under his career mark of .320. So what does this mean for the man who is about to hit 600 home runs? There's probably some sort of correction coming (especially since he's also been battling a bad hip). I would assume he ends the season with higher slash lines and his regular 30+ HR and 100+ RBI power numbers (though his steals have gone down from 24 in 2007 to 18 in 2008 to 14 in 2009 to only 2 so far in 2010). The weirdest part of A-Rod's stats: he hits righties at a much better clip (175 points higher in OPS) than he hits lefties. This mostly seems to be because his inability to hit lefties cutters and it is a small sample size--but it is strange (as was his All-Star Game exclusion). His UZR number is actually his best since 2005 so despite his bad hip, he's still about average defensively. The key for A-Rod is finding a good backup so the Yankees feel comfortable sitting or DH'ing him once every week to 10 days. Right now, I don't think they have confidence in any one of the backups (and we'll get to that later) and need to hope for more A-Bombs from A-Rod. Best Month: May .330/.408/.534 with 5 HR and 27 RBI.
2. Derek Jeter. "El Capitan" had one of the best years of his career last season. This year has been a little rougher on the aging shortstop. A free agent in the off-season, he's at least made the Yankees think twice about giving him too many years. .274/.340/.392 would amazing all be the lowest marks of his entire career. He's on pace for 112 runs, 32 2B, 15 HR, 80 RBI and 17 SB so the production is still there, but he's certainly fallen off of his 2009 mark (and this is all with his HR/FB % the highest of his career). There is still hope for Jeter, though. He's typically a better second half player with his three best months of July, August and September (in ascending order). In many ways this season looks a lot like 2008 when Jeter had a horrible first half but raised his OPS 75 points in the second half. The Yankees need to keep their fingers crossed that Jeter can do the same in 2010 (or they need to move Brett Gardner to the leadoff spot to get a high OBP player in front of Jetes. You also hope that maybe playing for the memory of George Steinbrenner will propel Jeter to greatness in the second half of the season. Here's one big issue: Jeter can't hit righties. He's hitting .323/.372/.504 vs. lefties and an atrocious .248/.323/.332 vs. righties. If Jeter can turn that around, it will go a long way in helping his overall numbers. If not (and RotoGraphs thinks his days of being a .300 hitter may be behind him), the Yankees need to think long and hard about how many years to give an aging shortstop this off-season. Best Month: April .330/.354/.521 with 4 HR, 18 RBI and 3 SB.

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The Yankee Clipper: We're Going Streaking

The Yankees have hit their soft part of their schedule and after taking 3 of 4 against the Indians, the Yankees just finished off a sweep of the Baltimore Orioles. After the bats had gone silent for a few weeks, health has come back to the Yankees and so has their Bronx Bomber persona. Those bats mixed with great pitching has allowed the Yankees to take advantage and beat up on bad teams. Let's take a look at how we got here:

1. Javy Vazquez, Curtis Granderson, and a break in Game 1. ESPN's TMI blog summarized why Javier Vazquez won and it was pretty simple: he threw first pitch strikes (73% of the time), he kept the ball down (set season-highs with 64 pitches down, 9 ground ball outs, and 52.9% of balls in play resulted in ground-balls), and he got swings and misses (27.5%, his second-highest mark this year). I know that this was "only the Orioles", but pitching is really that simple: keep the ball down, throw first pitch strikes and get swings and misses. As Mark Feinsand of The Daily News points out, the one run that Vazquez gave up was on a pitch up to Corey Patterson. The overall numbers are ugly, but since they skipped his start in early May, Vazquez has pitched in 5 games has a 2.77 ERA and has a .202/.270/.348 line against. Granderson is also out to prove people wrong by hitting lefties and he continued that movement in Game 1 by hitting a home run. As LoHud's Chad Jennings pointed out, Joba Chamberlain also bounced back nicely. And a costly error by Miguel Tejada gave the Yankees the extra runs needed to seal a 3-1 win.
2. Phil Hughes, Robinson Cano, Nick Swisher and Granderson in Game 2. I was at this game and wrote about it from there. ESPN's Buster Olney gives us more details about why Hughes won: "He held Orioles hitters to just 1-for-15 after the count got to two strikes, including 0-for-9 against his fastball. Hughes registered five of his seven strikeouts with the fastball on the night. Hughes challenged Orioles hitters with his fastball up in the zone with success. Hughes got four of his five strikeouts on the fastball on pitches in the upper third of the strike zone. Hughes went to three balls on just one hitter and to a 2-0 count on only two hitters."
3. Today was about CC Sabathia returning to form and A-Rod and Brett Gardner getting in on the power game. CC Sabathia wasn't great today, but what he did well was keep runners off base. The Yankees have been getting great pitching from AJ Burnett, Phil Hughes and Andy Pettitte but this team really took off last season when the hefty lefty was at his best. As Mike from Yankeeist writes, the Yankees made it a lot more interesting than it needed to be, especially Mariano Rivera in the 9th inning but Jay from Fack Youk points out that despite the fact that the Orioles brought the tying run to the plate it never felt like the sweep was going to get away from the Yankees. The Yankees have to be happy to see Gardner and A-Rod starting to swing the bats well again.

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The Yankee Clipper: 5 April Surprises

Another series, another series win for the New York Yankees. The Yankees had a chance to sweep this series, but lost the rubber game behind another weak outing from Javier Vazquez (and BP's Jay Jaffe does a great job of breaking down Javy's troubles so far). But they bounced back last night in the rubber game and beat the White Sox 12-3 behind another strong pitching performance from Phil Hughes and some big games from their surprise bats. Let's take a look at some of those early-season surpises so far as we turn the calendar from April to May:

1. Brett Gardner - Patience was a virtue for this gritty, gutsy outfielder. Many fans were clamoring for Johnny Damon, Matt Holliday or Jason Bay to come to the Bronx to play left but the Yankees stuck with Brett Gardner and the results have been excellent so far. And while I thought that Gardner would be fine in leftfield because of his glove (UZR of +20.8 for his career) and his speed, he's so far been showing that given enough playing time, Gardner can impress with his bat. Gardner is 6th in the American League in batting average at .342, 10th in OBP at .415, 9th in runs scored at 18, tied for 9th in wOBA at .411, and 1st in stolen bases at 11 (which leads the Majors and is great in comparison to his one caught stealing). He is now on pace for 80 steals for the season. As the New York Times writes, the most important play in Sunday's win may have been Brett Gardner's infield hit in the second inning which drove in the game's first run. As a bonus, the little guy hit a home run too. Gardner, a slow starter at all levels over his professional career, has come on strong this season with his selectivity with the bat, seeing 4.43 P/PA good for 3rd in the AL. Oh, and those who thought that Gardner should face a strict platoon to guard him against lefties are looking off so far: he's hitting .409 against lefties so far this season. The one cause of concern? Gardner's .381 BAbip may be unsustainable (even with his speed). But so far, it's been a great start for the man who replaced Johnny Damon in left...and now Curtis Granderson in center.
2. Phil Hughes - I want to repeat: my preference of Joba Chamberlain being a starter had nothing to do with Phil Hughes' ability; I really though, eventually, he'd be a solid starter...but even I didn't see this coming. Hughes is becoming everything that the Yankees thought he would when they refused to package him in a deal to get Johan Santana. And after their starts yesterday, the Yankees look somewhat justified--a place that no one thought they'd be after Hughes' dismal 2008. Well he's showed them so far. He's 3-0 so far and looked like an ace. Hughes is 2nd in the AL in ERA (1.44), 3rd in wins (3), 2nd in WHIP (.880), 1st in H/9 (3.600), 9th in K/9 (8.640), 8th in HR/9 (.360), and first--in the majors--with a .122 BA against. Although his FIP (3.13) and xFIP (4.24) show that maybe he's been the bearer of some good luck, Hughes has looked as good as he did in the bullpen last season. You hope that players take bullpen assignments like that as motivation to trust in their stuff and use their fastball to get ahead and Hughes is certainly doing just that so far in 2010.

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Robinson Cano Is Showing He Can Handle #5

It's time to issue a mea culpa: I was dead wrong about Robinson Cano's hitting ability in the 5th spot of the lineup and I apologize for it. Now can we move on? No? Ok, well let's review. I railed against how the Yankees constructed their lineup when Cano was hitting 5th in mid-June, and a week later, I was still on the task, with some data to back it up. I called it "inexplicable", suggested they hit him *gulp* lead-off,  and threw up a "Hallelujah!" when they moved Cano out of the 5th spot. I wasn't the only one. I look back on those posts now and cringe. Why? Because I was dead wrong, as so far this season, Cano is proving to be one of the better hitters in baseball.

And for a guy who began his career as a slow starter (.293/.327/.451 in 1st half vs .329/.360/.533 in 2nd half--and that includes this April), he's on one hell of an April tear. He leads the majors in runs, hits, batting average, slugging percentage, wOBA, OPS+ and total bases, and leads the AL in OPS. Cano has hit in 8 straight games (where he is hitting .531), is 16 for his last 24, went 17 for 34 on the road trip, went 8 for 13 in the last series with 3 homeruns, and has played (in general) very good defense at 2nd including a Web Gem last night (shown to the right). He leads the Yankees with 8 home runsAnd there's this from ESPN New York's Andrew Marchand: "If he keeps his average above .400 on Friday night, [Cano] will finish this month with eight homers and a .400 batting average. No Yankee has ever done that, according to Elias. The last major leaguer to hit .400 with at least eight April home runs was Barry Bonds six years ago." River Ave Blues writes: "I know it’s April, but that’s utterly insane. If the Yankees didn’t already contractually control his rights through 2013, I’d suggest that they lock him up before he hits the open market." And the Posts' Joel Sherman writes "Cano has the look of someone who has graduated from a very good player to something more special than that."

Now, before we get too far ahead of ourselves, let's throw out a few caveats. First, it is still just April. And Cano still isn't that much more disciplined at the plate. According to FanGraphs, Cano has the highest BB% of his career so far with 6.7%, but he's also striking out 12.3% which would be his highest mark since 2008. And Cano is a streaky player and has been beating up on some bad teams so the fun may only last until the next slump or the next good pitching team. Yankeeist points out that the real test may come next month for Robbie.

But this is the Robinson Cano that Yankee fans have waited for for a long time now. We've seen him have streaks of brilliance, but for some reason, he seemed to lose the focus needed to put it all together for an MVP-type season. 2010 may be the year. Now some had suggested that maybe Cano would play worse this season without his buddy, Melky Cabrera, on the team. But rumor (and internet pictures) has it that Cano and Melky partied a lot together and maybe without the distraction of Melky, Cano can be a more focused baseball player. Regardless of what the reason is, Cano seems to be clicking on all cylinders through the month of April. He looks slick in the field and smooth at the bat. Again, it's still early, but this is a great start for Robinson Cano, don't ya know!

Things I Learned Today While Listening To John and Suzyn

I'm not much for Old Timer's Day anymore. It was a nice tradition and I like it as a child, but as I've gotten older, seeing some of these guys play isn't the thrill it used to be.

I am a big fan of the beach. Always have and always will be. So instead of heading to the Stadium today to see the game, I decided to head out to the beach. But I decided to listen in on an old Sony Walkman after Old Timer's Day to hear the Yankees take on the Tigers.

Although there are many haters out there for WCBS 880 AM's team of John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman, I fall into the indifferent category with them. Sometimes it's impossible to figure out what is going on in the game, they drone on, they are Yankee homers, and sometimes John screws up...but I like to hear them talk about the Yankees. Sterling has a sort of grandfather-ish charm: you know the thought process ain't what it used to be but he has a familiar voice, brings you good news, and makes you laugh once in a while (even if you are laughing at him).

Although there are a lot of games where I'll be on long car rides and listen to John and Suzyn, I don't think there has been many, if any, I've listened to the Yankees radio broadcast from start to finish for in a long time.

Until today. Some things I learned from John and Suzyn (with the amount of mentions that I can guesstimate in parentheses):

• (35 times) That Edwin Jackson-for-Matt Joyce deal was really bad for the Rays and really good for the Tigers. The Rays were idiots because Matt Joyce wasn't even a good minor league hitter. Matt Joyce is "just an outfielder" so why would you trade a pitcher for him? Edwin Jackson is still really young despite being a prospect for the Dodgers and then the Devil Rays/Rays. Edwin Jackson has a 2.50 ERA which is really good...and a lot better than anything Matt Joyce has done. The Rays made out like bandits in the Garza-Young swap two years ago and they allowed themselves to get hoodwinked this past off-season so now it's even.
  
• (27 times) Edwin Jackson now has amazing control and doesn't get riled up after things don't go OK. Side Note: This was classic John Sterling/Suzyn Waldman reverse jinxing. Nice work John and Suzyn! 5 walks and a hit batter for Jackson. After Jackson gave up a home run in the 4th to A-Rod, Jackson walked the next two hitters. After Jackson gave up a home run to Mark Teixeira in the 6th, he gave up two hits. This was some of John and Suzyn's best work to date
• (24 times) You cannot walk the leadoff batter and expect to win. Side Note: While this is usually very true, today it wasn't all. Joba and Jackson both walked the leadoff batter in the 2nd and 3rd innings and no runs came around. Jackson also hit a batter to lead off an inning and he was stranded
• (22 times) Swisharoo Side Note: Huh?
• (18 times) Placido Polanco is a great contact hitter. Side Note: This is where "contact" is overrated. This guy is making contact too much. His OPS is the second worst among qualifying Major League second basemen. Who is worse? David Eckstein (who actually beats Polanco on average and OBP. So at a position that is not an offensive position, Polanco is the worst the AL and the second-worst in the Majors. That's a "great contact hitter"?
• (15 times) It's amazing this team may only be one game out of first place after having lost 8 games to Boston. Even the players think so.
• (10 times) Phil Hughes ERA is 0.89. And any ERA that starts with a "zero" is amazing.
  
• (8 times) Even though Joe Girardi got booed for coming to take out Joba Chamberlain after striking out two guys in the 7th, he was right because Joe has to manage to win the game, not please the fans and bringing in Coke is the right move. Girardi wanted to get Coke into the game because it's his birthday. Side Note: I could go either way if it was the right move. I think that it has burned Girardi a lot this season, but Coke got it done on one pitch today. But the fact that John was explaining that the fans don't know what they're talking about was laughable. We've all watched this team in 2009 and saw this move come back to bite them. Joba had dialed it up to get his two Ks; taking him out wasn't so cut and dry. The funniest suggestion was that maybe Girardi brought in Coke because it was his birthday.
  
• (2 times) An A-Bomb, from A-Rod. A Tex message to right field; you're on the Mark Teixeira. Side Note: I love Sterling's home run calls. I wish he would come up with calls for other situations. "He got the Job-a done". "CC gets a GIDP which is A-OK by M-E". "Coke is the choice of the people once again". These two may be his most famous this year. The A-Bomb one was offensive to Japanese people before he tried to substitute in Matsui's name by accident. And Tex message was his newest invention which has gotten mixed reviews. I love it.
• (1 time) And it's caught down the right field line. Nope, I think it was a foul ball. We can't see that corner from our vantage point. The umpire signaled it was foul but I thought that just meant that it was caught in foul territory. We cannot see that part of the field from our booth. I wonder if a fan got in the way. Side Note: Classic Sterling call right there. No clue what was going on. I thought the ball was going fair down the line and was going to be a double for the Yankees. Then I thought it was caught. Nope...it was foul.
• (1 time) That is one of the greatest double plays that you will ever see Side Note: It's the radio, John. So I can't say it was one of the greatest double plays that I'll ever see, because, well, I'm not watching the game.
  
• (1 time) Thhhhhhhhhhhhheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee Yankees win! Side Note: Just awesome. Very high warble level to boot.
  

There were some thing never mentioned. Roy Halladay to the Yankees (though Tyler Kepner scored a nice interview with Brian Cashman). Robinson Cano had his typically bad Robinson Cano game: 3 ABs, 8 pitches, 1 inning-ending GIDP, 0-2 with runners in scoring position, 5 men left on base, left 3 runners in scoring position with 2 outs, ended 3 different innings and swung at the first pitch after Jackson had walked the previous two men. Melky Cabrera must have had dinner plans with Robbie: 3 ABs, 6 pitches.

Overall, I give the broadcast an A. Nice job. Kept me interested on a beautiful beach day. And the Yankees swept the first-place Tigers behind Joba, The Phils, and Mo and are now within one game of the Red Sox with the Orioles coming into town. Hopefully they can continue the magic. I'll make sure to be listening to John and Suzyn to find out more.

Some Thoughts Before The Final Subway Series Game Tonight

Again, why is Robinson Cano batting 5th?

• 0 for his last 9 ABs in RISP. Last hit with RISP was June 16th against the Nationals.
  
• Men on: .263/.299/.431
  
• With RISP: .222/.258/.356
• Runner on 3rd, less than 2 outs: .200/.222/.333
  
• Runner on 3rd, 2 outs: .200/.231/.200
  

Chien-Ming Wang against the Mets (sorted by OPS):

                   PA  AB  H  2B 3B HR RBI  BB  SO   BA   OBP   SLG   **OPS**   SH  SF IBB HBP GDP
+-----------------+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+-----+-----+-----+---------+---+---+---+---+---
Ryan Church         4   3   1  0  0  1   2   1   0  .333  .500 1.333   1.833     0   0   1   0   0
Alex Cora          18  18   5  0  0  1   4   0   0  .278  .278  .444    .722     0   0   0   0   0
David Wright        8   8   2  1  0  0   0   0   1  .250  .250  .375    .625     0   0   0   0   1
Jeremy Reed         7   6   1  1  0  0   1   1   1  .167  .286  .333    .619     0   0   0   0   0
Luis Castillo       6   5   1  0  0  0   0   1   0  .200  .333  .200    .533     0   0   0   0   0
Gary Sheffield      3   2   0  0  0  0   0   1   0  .000  .333  .000    .333     0   0   0   0   0
Brian Schneider     4   4   0  0  0  0   0   0   1  .000  .000  .000    .000     0   0   0   0   0
+-----------------+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+-----+-----+-----+---------+---+---+---+---+---
Total              50  46  10  2  0  2   7   4   3  .217  .280  .391    .671     0   0   1   0   1

Livan Hernandez against the Yankees (sorted by OPS):

                   PA  AB  H  2B 3B HR RBI  BB  SO   BA   OBP   SLG   **OPS**   SH  SF IBB HBP GDP
+-----------------+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+-----+-----+-----+---------+---+---+---+---+---
Mark Teixeira       6   6   3  0  0  2   3   0   1  .500  .500 1.500   2.000     0   0   0   0   0
Alex Rodriguez     22  19  11  5  0  3  10   3   3  .579  .636 1.316   1.952     0   0   0   0   0
Hideki Matsui       8   7   3  0  0  1   3   1   0  .429  .500  .857   1.357     0   0   0   0   0
Robinson Cano       9   9   4  0  0  1   1   0   0  .444  .444  .778   1.222     0   0   0   0   0
Jorge Posada       16  12   4  1  0  1   2   4   4  .333  .500  .667   1.167     0   0   0   0   0
Derek Jeter        21  19   8  3  0  1   2   1   0  .421  .429  .737   1.166     0   1   0   0   0
Brett Tomko         5   4   2  0  0  0   0   0   2  .500  .500  .500   1.000     1   0   0   0   0
Brett Gardner       2   2   1  0  0  0   0   0   0  .500  .500  .500   1.000     0   0   0   0   0
Melky Cabrera       5   5   2  0  0  0   1   0   0  .400  .400  .400    .800     0   0   0   0   0
Nick Swisher       14  14   5  1  0  0   0   0   3  .357  .357  .429    .786     0   0   0   0   0
Johnny Damon       15  13   2  0  0  0   1   2   3  .154  .267  .154    .421     0   0   0   0   1
Cody Ransom         1   1   0  0  0  0   0   0   0  .000  .000  .000    .000     0   0   0   0   0
+-----------------+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+-----+-----+-----+---------+---+---+---+---+---
Total             124 111  45 10  0  9  23  11  16  .405  .455  .739   1.194     1   1   0   0   1

The Yankees have had much more success against Hernandez, but how Chien-Ming Wang has pitched so far this season, that's not much of a predictor of future success. ESPN Insider says that Wang continues to get less ground balls per start, which is usually bad news but may be OK in this cavernous ballpark, Citi Field.

Yankees lineup with have Derek Jeter back in it according to the New York Daily News' Mark Feinsand via Twitter: @bloggingbombers: June 28 vs Mets: Jeter SS, Swisher RF, Teixeira 1B, A-Rod 3B, Cano 2B, Posada C, Cabrera LF, Gardner CF, Wang RHP. With Damon having struggled in the past against Hernandez and coming back from injury, this makes sense.

Meanwhile, Buster Olney on why A.J. Burnett dominated yesterday:

Why Yankees starter A.J. Burnett won, from ESPN Stats & Information:

• Dominant curveball: 48 percent chase percentage, 63 percent miss percentage, 19 percent in-play percentage

• Finished the job: 21 of 26 pitches with two strikes in the count were strikes, and he earned a season-high 10 strikeouts

• No-fly zone: Season-low five fly ball outs in seven innings of work

Yankees go for the sweep and I head out to Flushing tonight to see if they can accomplish it. More updates later.

Quote of the Day

"Lately I've been brutal." Johnny Damon (via Star-Ledger Twitter)

Yes, Johnny, you and Robinson Cano (and most of the team).

Please do better

Thanks.

Breaking the MT Curse

It seems that Red Sox owner John Henry created a bit of controversy when he blamed the Yankees' losses against the Red Sox on the "MT Curse" meaning the curse of Mark Teixeira. Well Tex took exception to it before the game, proved during the game that he's not the reason this team is losing games, and then actually won it for the Yankees.

Let's for a second throw out the fact that Castillo should have caught that ball (did it get caught in the famed "wind tunnel"?). Throw out the fact that Girardi made a horrible decision bringing in Mariano Rivera in the 8th inning (Coke had gotten two easy outs and not only is Rivera bad getting 4 outs, he's even worse in tie games).

Let's throw out the fact that Joba allowed one hit but only lasted 4 innings (I'm still a huge supporter of him in the rotation, but I'll make no excuses for him. He refused to go after batters and he paid for it. Bad job by him), that the bullpen is tired, and that they're going to need a complete game from Pettitte tomorrow because the entire pitching staff is now gassed.

Let's forget that the Yankees were again bad with RISP (2-9) and that Robinson Cano, who inexplicably is still batting 5th, is now 0 for his last 13 ABs and 0 for his last 9 games with runners in scoring position (let me repeat that: the #5 batter in the Yankees lineup has not gotten one hit his last 9 games or 13 times up with runners in scoring position).

Let's also, for a second, forget that A-Rod should have lost the Yankees that game (will get back to that).

Let's give Mark Teixeira and Derek Jeter credit. They ran their asses off with two outs. They didn't stop running. And that's why the Yankees won. He scored from first base on a pop up. The Yankees aren't losing games because of Tex. He works hard, he plays great defense, he hits homeruns and he always, always runs the ball out. That cannot be understated.

It also cannot be understated that the Mets walked Tex to get to A-Rod and that A-Rod should have failed. Michael Kay idiotically called A-Rod a hero but he was anything but. He struck out in a horrible at-bat against Sean Green, striking out, and he got ahead against K-Rod and then popped up a very hittable ball. A-Rod should have been the goat. He was anything but a hero. The Mets walked Tex to get to him. So he decides to show his pride by popping out.

And for some reason A-Rod also decided it was a good idea to run to second (watch it again...it made no sense...the Yankee first base coach was going beserk). Imagine if he had been tagged out and the run hadn't scored. I have no clue why Castillo threw it to second (I think he was just panicing) but even stupider was A-Rod RUNNING towards second. What a dumbass.

Amazingly, I was about to storm out of the room and the station was about to be changed when I saw the ball pop out. If we were playing at Citi Field, I could see the exact same thing happening to Robinson Cano with how the Yankees have been playing. But the Mets are having just as bad luck and it came back to bite them in the worst way in this one.

Gotta give the rest of the Mets credit, especially David Wright who should have had the game winning hit in a big spot. I still have no clue why Wright and his league-leading OBP is hitting BEHIND Carlos Beltran (you can't make this stupidity up), but he came up huge in that situation for the Mets--a situation that he had failed in the past.

I feel for Mets fans there. Ari wrote to me: "And the Mets announce Luis Castillo has been traded to the Yankees whom it was determined he was playing for all along". While I laughed at that, I have to feel bad. I know what it's like to be there. These are two teams who don't want to seem to want to make it easy for themselves or their fans.

But I also feel good for Mark Teixeira who showed John Henry that the Yankees aren't doomed to fail under the "MT Curse".

Update: forgot to post Dave Pinto of Baseball Musing's recap, but well worth reading. A lot more clear a concise just in case you aren't by a TV

Unrated It's Just "Embarassing"

Here's a series recap:

G version: We were awful. We lost every way possible (blown out, comeback fell just short, lead blown)

PG version: We played like crap. We are 0-8 against the Red Sox. We just can't beat this team. I feel like we're cursed.

PG-13 version: Shit. Fuck. Ass. RISP in the series: Game 3: 1-11, Game 2: 2-15, Game 1: 0-2. For those scoring at home that's 3-28. You can't win if you hit just over 10% with RISP. Cano 0-6, Jeter 0-4, Damon 0-4, Posada 0-2, Teixeira 0-2, Cervelli 0-2, Matusi 0-1. Only A-Rod 1-3, Melky 1-3, Swisher 1-1 got hits. And A-Rod was 0 for the rest of the series, and Swish made two horrible baserunning plays and one extremely bad defensive play.

R version: We sucked balls. No way around it. We came in as the best team in baseball and came out as a joke. There was not one player who had a good series besides maybe Phil Coke. We were undressed by the Red Sox. Big Papi looks steroids enhanced again when facing us (he doubled his homerun and curtain call totals this series). Aceves was not the answer to close the game. CC Sabathia tried to carry this team tonight but there's a reason why Pedroia was the MVP last year: he beat him.

This is why I drink.

Just embarassing. The Red Sox are a better team. But this is just insanity.

Today's Matchup in New York

A battle of two big, hard-throwing righties today in the Bronx. Let's see how the opposition has faired against them in the past:

                    PA  AB  H  2B 3B HR RBI  BB  SO   BA   OBP   SLG   **OPS**   SH  SF IBB HBP GDP G_miss YR_miss
+-----------------+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+-----+-----+-----+---------+---+---+---+---+---+------+-------+
Nick Swisher        5   4   2  1  0  1   1   1   1  .500  .600 1.500   2.100     0   0   0   0   0               
 Alex Rodriguez      9   6   2  0  0  1   2   2   0  .333  .444  .833   1.277     0   1   0   0   0               
 Jorge Posada        7   5   2  0  0  0   2   1   1  .400  .429  .400    .829     0   1   0   0   0               
 Robinson Cano      14  14   5  1  0  0   2   0   1  .357  .357  .429    .786     0   0   0   0   0               
 Derek Jeter        16  14   5  0  0  0   1   1   1  .357  .400  .357    .757     1   0   0   0   0               
 Brett Gardner       6   5   1  0  0  0   1   1   3  .200  .333  .200    .533     0   0   0   0   0               
 Johnny Damon       10  10   1  0  1  0   1   0   1  .100  .100  .300    .400     0   0   0   0   0               
 Melky Cabrera       6   6   1  0  0  0   0   0   0  .167  .167  .167    .334     0   0   0   0   1               
 Ramiro Pena         3   2   0  0  0  0   0   1   1  .000  .333  .000    .333     0   0   0   0   0               
 Mark Teixeira       7   5   0  0  0  0   1   2   2  .000  .286  .000    .286     0   0   0   0   0               
 Hideki Matsui       5   4   0  0  0  0   0   1   2  .000  .200  .000    .200     0   0   0   0   0               
+-----------------+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+-----+-----+-----+---------+---+---+---+---+---+------+-------+
Total              88  75  19  2  1  2  11  10  13  .253  .333  .387    .720     1   2   0   0   1               

It's a mixed bag, with some with great success (Swisher, Posada, Cano, A-Rod, and Jeter) and some without any success (Damon, Melky, Pena, Tex or Matsui). It's a small sample size, however.

And for Joba vs. the Rays:

                    PA  AB  H  2B 3B HR RBI  BB  SO   BA   OBP   SLG   **OPS**   SH  SF IBB HBP GDP G_miss YR_miss
+-----------------+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+-----+-----+-----+---------+---+---+---+---+---+------+-------+
Evan Longoria       1   1   1  0  0  0   0   0   0 1.000 1.000 1.000   2.000     0   0   0   0   0               
 Carlos Pena         4   2   0  0  0  0   0   1   0  .000  .500  .000    .500     0   0   0   1   0               
 Willy Aybar         3   3   0  0  0  0   0   0   1  .000  .000  .000    .000     0   0   0   0   0               
 B.J. Upton          3   3   0  0  0  0   0   0   2  .000  .000  .000    .000     0   0   0   0   0               
 Carl Crawford       2   2   0  0  0  0   0   0   1  .000  .000  .000    .000     0   0   0   0   0               
 Gabe Gross          1   1   0  0  0  0   0   0   0  .000  .000  .000    .000     0   0   0   0   0               
 Matthew Joyce       1   1   0  0  0  0   0   0   0  .000  .000  .000    .000     0   0   0   0   0               
 Dioner Navarro      1   1   0  0  0  0   0   0   0  .000  .000  .000    .000     0   0   0   0   0               
 Ben Zobrist         1   1   0  0  0  0   0   0   0  .000  .000  .000    .000     0   0   0   0   0               
+-----------------+---+---+---+--+--+--+---+---+---+-----+-----+-----+---------+---+---+---+---+---+------+-------+
Total              17  15   1  0  0  0   0   1   4  .067  .176  .067    .243     0   0   0   1   0               

It's a very small sample size, but only Longoria has been able to get a hit off of Joba and he's not even going to be in the lineup. Let's hope Joba can build on his last start where he went 8 innings. Yankees baseball about to start from the Bronx

16 Games Without An Error

I think one of the most impressive things the Yankees have done this season so far has been this streak of 16 games without an error. Granted, you can't get charged with an error if you never get to a ball (paging Derek Jeter) and an error is still a decision made by the official scorer...but this is quite impressive. They're one game away from tying the major league record set by the 2006 Red Sox--which is amazing to me...there's been many good defensive teams and many years of baseball and the fact that 17 games without an error is a record is a shock to me.

The most impressive part of this is that the Yankees have been tremendously subpar defensively in past seasons. By the end of last year they had a starting lineup with Xavier Nady in LF (average at best), Johnny Damon in CF (speedy but poor defender and extremely poor arm), Bobby Abreu in RF (decent arm, but subpar fielder), Jason Giambi at 1B (subpar), Robinson Cano at 2B (below average to above average depending on how he felt), Derek Jeter (poor defender), A-Rod (average, but good arm), and Jorge Posada (average at best).

This year Brian Cashman wanted to improve the defense of his team and he certainly did so. Swisher is an upgrade in RF, Melky/Gardner in CF (and Gardner is one of the top 3 defensive CFs in the league), Teixeira at 1B (who could win some Gold while with the Yanks and saves errors from the other infielders), and an improved bench of plus defenders in whoever is not starting in CF (who can play all 3 OF positions) and Ramiro Pena (who can play all infield positions).

The problem with errors is that not only do they sometimes end up in unearned runs, but they also make your pitcher throw more pitches. And when you make your starters throw more pitches, it hurts your team in ways not shown in the boxscore. This is especially important in the Yankees bandbox in the Bronx because extra pitches means greater chances someone will hit the ball out of the park.

I'm not taking anything away from what the Yankees starters have done the past few weeks, but the starting pitching looks better because of the good defense. I'm not sure how long this errorless streak is going to last, but it's because of increased focus on improving the defense this year that it was even possible.

Another Great Comeback But You Can't Win 'Em All

"Have they ever lost before?"
"Basketball? No, they sure haven't."
"It just feels wrong, that's all."
"Maybe that's where they get that saying, 'You can't win 'em all.'"
"That's a good point, Ralph. They do have that saying."
-Pleasantville

That quote from the movie Pleasantville sort of sums up my feeling right about now. Another well pitched game from the Yankees starters and bullpen. Another weak hitting effort until the 9th. Another come-from-behind in the 9th with a blown save for the opposing closer.

Just this time it ended up in a loss. Some may second guess Joe Girardi for taking out Robinson Cano for Ramiro Pena, but the truth is that the Yankees needed to score that third run to score and you can't worry about the consequences if that spot comes up again in the game (and it looked like it wouldn't). The Yankees had chances to win it in the 9th and 10th and couldn't muster a baserunner with the bottom part of their lineup in the 11th. Maybe the mistake was pitch hitting for Cervelli since he's a .300 hitter. Swisher's bat could have been used to pitch hit later on for somone like Pena. But that may be nit-picking.

Who is looking great? Melky Cabrera and Jose Veras. Melky came up with another huge hit for the Yankees and looks like he took his demotion at the end of last season and losing out on the starting job this year personally and has done a great job coming back. Jose Veras was horrendous in the Yankees bullpen for most of the season, but after almost being demoted recently (Edwar Ramirez was sent down instead of Veras being released) and realizing he was on his last legs, he's come back with a vengence recently.

Who is not looking great? A-Rod and Hideki Matsui. A-Rod is a true three outcome player now: homerun, walk or strikeout. But thankfully a lot of those homeruns have been in big spots. Matsui just looks lost at the plate and you wonder if those knees are bothering him again. If Nady comes back soon, it may pay to put Matsui on the bench for a while to rest those knees.

Regardless, I think this was the best Yankee homestand in a while and maybe their most exciting ever. They never really went down without a fight and they showed that no matter the closer, they were never done until that last out. Remember, Lidge never blew a save last year in the regular season or post season. So to do what the Yankees did to him on two consecutive days--even if only one ended up in a win and even if he may not be the same Brad Lidge this season--is still quite impressive. Let's hope they keep up this momentum as they head on the road.

What A Homestand For the Yankees

I think I would agree with Sam Borden of LoHud that this may have been the greatest Yankees homestand ever.

Consider this day-by-day:

May 15 vs MIN: Brett Gardner hits inside-the-park home run and ninth-inning triple, then scores winning run on Melky Cabrera’s two-run walkoff single.
May 16 vs MIN: A-Rod gets his first hit at new Yankee Stadium with game-winning two-run homer in the 11th inning.
May 17 vs MIN: Johnny Damon gives Yankees third-straight game-ending hit with 10th-inning home run to win it. Yankees clubhouse chefs put rush order on more whipped cream.
May 18 vs MIN: Mark Teixeira homers from both sides of the plate and the Yankees reverse their magic, scoring six in the first inning instead of rallying late.
May 19 vs BAL: A-Rod and Teixeira homer again and Yanks score seven runs in the seventh inning to turn a tight game into a laugher.
May 20 vs BAL: Yankees hit three homers in a row in the second inning and blast Baltimore to back Phil Hughes. As games on this homestand go, a pretty boring night.
May 21 vs BAL: Joba Chamberlain goes down two batters into the game after being hit by a comebacker, but the Yankees bullpen doesn’t break and they win again, their ninth in a row.
May 22 vs PHI: Jimmy Rollins homers on the very first pitch of the game and the Yankees don’t recover, finally losing.
May 23 vs PHI: Back to old reliable – the walkoff. Down two in the ninth, A-Rod hits a two-run homer to tie it; Melky Cabrera drives in Robinson Cano with the winner moments later.

So, to sum up: That’s eight games, seven wins, four walkoffs. Oh, and by the way, the pitching match-up for today’s homestand finale is CC Sabathia vs. Cole Hamels. Not a bad stretch of baseball, right?

Not bad at all. They were a few outs from losing this series to the Phillies but now are one win away from their fifth series win a row. Looking back at the Yankees schedule, they've only lost two series of more than two games: the first series of the season against the Orioles and the April series in Boston.

The most wins on this homestand? Alfredo Aceves with 3 followed by Jose Veras with 2.

Amazingly, although I had gone to 10 Yankees games this season, I only attended one of these. But I can say I saw Jorge Posada's walkoff a few weeks back that started this turnaround for the Yankees and A-Rod's first hit at the new Yankee Stadium, a game winning two-run homer that really got this streak going. This team truly believes that they can come back against anyone. Although I'd love to see them win 10-3 more often, I like to see that they have fight in them and don't quit. That's the mark of champions.

Another Win, Another Pie!

Great job by the Yankees there. Right before the win, I sent a message to Ari, a Mets fan, saying "Lidge's slider is crazy. Only way the Yankees get to him, is if he leaves a fastball up and then they need to crush one out".

And what happened? A-Rod hit one out (after a HUGE walk by Damon).

And Melky followed (after Cano reached base and stole second) with another walk-off hit. Cano and Melky got pies in the face (and Susyn Waldman got some on her as well). Great win by the Yankees.

"Can they win one 10-3?" my dad asked. "I love these wins, but they need a no-doubter once in a while."

I agree. Also happy tomorrow's broadcast is not on Fox. They were horrible today. Besides having Buck and McCarver who are horrible as it is. They found the wrong John Mayberry on his son's first homerun, they didn't turn on Ken Rosenthal's mic, and many other errors. Someone is getting fired there.

Another great win for the Yankees. As I said in my last post, they can use the homerun and the way the park plays small to their advantage, but they can't rely on it. And what did they do, they drew their walks and stole their bases, but they used the small park to their advantage and got the big single when it counted. Great, great win. Now let's go Mets!

Cervelli's Infield Single Key To Game

"How many times in recent history have we seen a Yankee catcher leg out an infield single?" That's what my dad asked me right after Francisco Cervelli legged out a huge infield single in the 7th inning with two out. He knew that he was fighting to stay on this team after a poor job with Phil Hughes last night and busted his ass down the line and was called safe. Two batters later, Damon put the ball in the stands, the Yankees led 5-3 and they never looked back. But who knows what would have happened had Cervelli not raced down the baseline to avoid that third out?

There is something to be said about guys who have been here a while--like Damon and Matsui-- contributing. But I often feel like you need to light a fire under some guys' asses to get them going. Robinson Cano was the subject of offseason trade rumors and has come back with a purpose. Melky Cabrera lost his starting job and has been playing great so far this year (on offense at least). Nick Swisher came in as a bench player and played himself into the starting lineup before Xavier Nady got hurt. Phil Coke started out the year roughly but has battled his way back to be the go-to-set-up guy. And game winning rallies have been centered around hustle singles by guys like Brett Gardner and Ramiro Pena.

Part of my problem with the Yankees the past 6 years or so is that they never seem hungry. They are made up of a bunch of guys who have already gotten their payday. Most of these guys won't be here by the end of the year (if/when people get healthy and replace them), but maybe their hunger will rub off on the rest of the Yankees and this team can play with a little more heart than in recent years.