The Yankee Clipper: Same 'ole in Anaheim

No matter how much things change, they always seem to stay the same. The Yankees overcame their inability to beat the Angels in last year's American League Championship Series, but they still are unable to beat them in Anaheim (or is it Los Angeles?). Even last year, en route to winning the series, the Yankees dropped 2 out of 3 in California. The latest iteration was no different--a loss, followed by a win, followed by a tough loss. Let's review:

1. Javier Vazquez was not good. Listen, I'm a Javy Vazquez fan and I think he'll be fine, but this is not the start that helps me to prove that. Not even to myself anymore. How bad is it? Well consider this stat from ESPN's TMI blog: "Vazquez's ERA jumped to 9.00, matching the worst-ever April ERA by a Yankee who pitched at least 20 innings." For my friend Paul who is NOT a Javy fan, I will say this: BRUTAL! That's a horrible start. Jason @ IIATMS debates whether this is a result of a small sample size (and maybe bad luck) or time to panic. Chris at TYU defends Javy a little, saying, at the very least that he's probably not a "gutless bitch". Vazquez claims to be embarrassed by all this and Joe Girardi thinks it's mechanical. Let's hope so. At least that can be corrected.
2. What exactly happened before the Kendry Morales home run? I'm still confused. And, although some will sweep it under the rug, it was a big at-bat in a one-run game. It was runners on 1st and 2nd for Morales vs. Damaso Marte with David Robertson ready in the bullpen and Juan Rivera on deck. Girardi left in Marte. Francisco Cervelli rose from the catcher's stance like they were intentionally walking him and took ball one. Now this seemed like an odd move to me and the rest of the Twitter universe took the task of asking why the Yankee would walk someone when 3rd base was the one that was open. I guess Girardi was checking out his Twitter feed because he decided that they were going to now pitch to Morales. So Marte threw ball 2...and then ball 3. Right before the next pitch was going to be thrown, I saw Girardi signal something to Cervelli. I thought that signal was to let him know to just put Morales on base. Instead, the signal was to let Cervelli know that Morales will swing 3-0 and not to groove one over. Instead, Marte grooved one over and it was crushed out for a three run shot. A close one-run game became an easy four-run lead for the Angels and they never looked back. Girardi looked upset at the time and took all the blame for the Yankees. I know it was just one play, but for a team that prides themselves on professionalism and fundamentals, that was a big hiccup in a bad spot. The New York Times' Ben Shpigel talks about how out of character that was for Girardi.
3. Andy Pettitte was really good once again. No pitcher seems to battle through starts like Andy Pettitte. And Andy was dandy again on Saturday. He mixed his pitches and kept the Angels hitters off balance. He looked dominant at times and when he wasn't, he found a way to get it done. He was a big part of the Yankee rotation in 2009 and they'll need him to be big again in 2010 if Vazquez doesn't pitch a lot better. River Ave Blues has a writeup of the game and of Andy's mixing of pitches.
4. Nick Swisher's bunt was dumb...but Cervelli's hit was huge. I don't know if it was called on the bench or if it was Swisher himself, but it was not a smart call for Nick Swisher to lay down a sacrifice bunt on Saturday. In general, it's not a good idea for a hitter as good as Swish to ever lay down a sacrifice bunt (why give up outs, the most precious commodity in the game?), but it was especially ill-convceived when it left a base open to walk Curtis Granderson in front of Ramiro Pena and Cervelli. So after getting out Pena and getting to two outs in the inning, this looked like an especially bad move. But then Cervelli, who does not have a reputation for his bat, smacked a single and drove home two. It was a huge hit in the game and another big knock for the Yankee backup backstop who is hitting .429 (.529 OBP). and his driven home 5 in 5 games. The Yankees have been getting a ton from their bench with Marcus Thames' bat (.500 average and power) and Ramiro Pena's glove (a really, really nice play at 3rd on Saturday), but Cervelli has been an especially bright spot.
5. Mr. Jeter goes to Washington. Today the whole Yankee team went to the White House to hang out with the President as many other teams have done before them (that link is a great New York Times summary of baseball and the White House). The picture to the right comes from the Yankees Public Relations department (via Twitter) and shows the Yankees in the Green Room in their tour through the White House (does Jorge Posada look like he's asleep or what?). The "Core Four" has now greeted three Presidents who are all baseball fans: Bill Clinton (who famously told George Steinbrenner that "Hail to the Chief" wasn't being played for him and singled out Jeter by name), George W. Bush (who once owned the Texas Rangers and then threw out a famous first pitch in the World Series after September 11th), and now Barack Obama (who is a huge White Sox fan). Supposedly Obama snubbed A-Rod in his speech (maybe he's a Dallas Braden fan?). One thing to point out: the Yankees won 4 World Series while a Democrat was sitting in the 90s and then didn't win one under the Bush administration. Now they won one in the first full year of Obama's term. Let's hope the Democratic vibe continues. The New York Times has a list of "Presidential" Yankees and Mets.

That's it for today. Tomorrow we'll review 24 and hopefully see the Yankees go back on their winning way as they visit Baltimore. Until then, let's debate about whether A-Rod's home-run trot is too long (Lisa from Subway Squawkers says no) and whether Ryan Howard's new extension is too long And large (yes and yes and this is why it's good that the Yankees don't always negotiate extensions in the middle of contracts). The Yankees end up tying the 1926 Yankees for the most series won to start a season at 5, but the number they really care about is 28...and the quest for World Series #28 continues tomorrow.