A Look at the Giants: An Ugly Win to Save the Season

With less than two minutes left, the New York Giants stopped the Jacksonville Jaguars on a big 3rd and 10 from the Giants 34 and it looked like 4th and 10 was coming up for the game. That was, until a yellow flag appeared. Defensive holding, number 31, Aaron Ross...5 yards, automatic first down at the Giants 29. It felt like déjà vu all over again and as I sat there watching the game I thought it was over for the Giants, whose defense had looked mighty shaky the past three games. And then Perry Fewell and the Giants dialed up the blitz. Sack by Antrel Rolle and Justin Tuck. Sack and forced fumble by Jason Pierre-Paul recovered by the Jags. And then, a sack and forced fumble by Terrell Thomas recovered by Antrel Rolle. Giants victory 24-20.

Kevin Boss was the Bossman once again for the G-men (NY Mag)

It wasn't easy, it wasn't pretty, but in the end, Eli Manning and the Giants defense came up huge when it was needed most to get the Giants back into the playoff picture. In the first half, the Giants looked as if they were going to lose another game to an inferior team (the Jags may have come in 6-4 but they have an ugly -54 point di1fferential). The Giants continually stalled in the red zone and their offense looked lacking without three lineman and their top two wideouts. Thy let David Garrard, Maurice Jones-Drew, and even Rashad Jennings run all over them and the defense looked like the group with injuries. And it really looked pretty dire, even at 17-9 to start the 4th. But the Giants turned up the heat thanks and with Eli Manning connecting to Kevin Boss--with a blitz on its way--who stiff-armed his way for a season-saving TD, all was forgotten.

For the Bossman, that was a good thing. Boss had been flagged for a holding penalty that nullified a 9-yard TD pass to Mario Manningham (who played very well as the #1 WR) in the second quarter and dropped a first down (and much more) pass deep in Giants territory in the 3rd. Boss turned it up from there catching a 17-yard pass with the Giants backed up to their own 12 at the end of the 3rd, catching a 25-yard pass later in the drive, and then taking a 3rd and 10 pass 32 yards on the strength of a stiff-arm for the win. That helped bail out an offense and defense which looked very beatable at halftime. That's supposedly when Justin Tuck and Osi Umenyiora delivered a stirring halftime speech which according to The Blue Screen Giants' defensive tackle, Barry Cofield called "a halftime speech for the ages" and said "he had tears in his eyes as he ran back onto the field for the second half."

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The Yankee Clipper: Despite Great Pitching, a Doubleheader Split

Two days after losing a tough game to the Tigers (and Jose Valverde's chicken dance) and one day after being rained out, the Yankees went back at it again yesterday with a day-night doubleheader. It's odd how it turns out, but most of the time, no matter how unbalanced the teams might be, it usually ends up that doubleheaders get split. Last night was no exception. The Tigers took the afternoon affair and the Yankees won the evening game. Let's take a look at how that happened:

1. Javier Vazquez's best start of the season. If he wasn't making over $11 million, you would probably feel bad for the guy. After being all out of whack this season, he pitched a really good game giving up only 2 runs over seven strong innings, striking out 7--and his team got shutout for the first time all season. The two runs were on groundballs that just snuck through the infield so hopefully this is a start that Vazquez can build on as we move forward. Mike at River Ave Blues noted that Vazquez worked at a quicker pace and with confidence--and that is usually half the battle with struggling pitchers--and got 16 swings and misses. Vazquez was a little wild early on but settled down to retired 14 of 15 at one point. In the words of Herm Edwards "we can build on this!"
2. Phil Hughes' continued dominance. Johnny Damon told Mark Feinsand of the Daily News that Hughes could be the ace on 15-20 teams in Major League Baseball. LoHud's Chad Jennings agrees. At this point, they may be right. You forget how young he is, too--he won't turn 24 until June 24th. The only Yankees in the past 30 years to win more games than Hughes by age 24 were Andy Pettitte, Dave Righetti, and Bob Wickman. Hughes leads the league in ERA (1.38), wins (5), H/9 (5.077), ERA+ (289), Win Probability Added (1.7), 2nd in WHIP (.923), 4th in HR/9 (.231), 4th in WAR (1.3) and 6th in K/9 (9.000). Hughes' FIP is 2.50 and his xFIP is 3.60 so you expect that ERA to creep up a bit (he's probably going to give up another home run at some point), but so far he's been fabulous. The regular season domination we saw last year with Hughes as a set-up man has translated into Hughes as a confident starter. His cutter has been a tremendous pitch for him.

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The Yankee Clipper: Another Series Win In Beantown

Even though it feels like the Yankees haven't really gotten hot, they have started at an all-time pace. They won their first give series to match the 1926 squad for the best mark in team history. Coming into the series, they had won eight of their first nine series. The last time they had done that was 2003. Now, after taking two of three in Boston, the Yankees have won nine out of their first ten series. The only two Yankees teams to do that? The 1939 team (11 of 12) and the 1928 team (14 of 15). And at 21-9, the Yankees are off to one of the best 30-game starts in the Derek Jeter Era (in 1998 and 2003, the team went 23-7 to begin both seasons). Last year after 30 games the Yankees were 14-16, 5.5 games out of first, and A-Rod had just returned from the DL the game before. So this team is a little bit ahead of last year's pace. Let's talk a little bit about the series that was in Fenway Park this past weekend:

1. Mark Teixeira and A-Rod started to wake up. It was only a matter of time before the middle of the Yankees lineup got rolling. It was this time last year when A-Rod came off the DL so it's really a year since they were this cold. Now they're heating up. Tex had 3 home runs on Saturday (though the last one was off of an outfielder) and A-Rod had a .556/.615/1.000 mark for the weekend at the plate and seemed to look more comfortable at the plate. A-Rod's home run yesterday was number 586 for his career, tying Frank Robinson on the all-time home run list. ESPN New York's Andrew Marchand says this could signal more A-Bombs ahead. Moshe at TYU says they were getting plenty of consistent offense even without those guys. That was, until Robinson Cano stopped hitting in May.
2. The "Sore Four" expands. The Yankees injuries are starting to pile up. Curtis Granderson is out a month. Chan Ho Park hasn't been seen in a month. Nick Johnson is on the DL. Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera are battling issues. Jorge Posada missed a week. A-Rod missed a few games. Alfredo Aceves left Saturday's game with an injury. Robinson Cano left Friday's game with an injury. The wild card for the Yankees was always their health with a veteran team. They've gotten great contributions from guys like Francisco Cervelli and Sergio Mitre helping to fill in for others. But the Yankees need to work on getting guys healthy ASAP and the Post's Joel Sherman writes that these injuries should give the Yankees pause before committing too many more years to older players this off-season.

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Hot Stove Coal: The Yankees Worst Case Scenario, Part 1

The Yankees roster is almost set and baseball's spring training is right around the corner. But for every great Yankees, there is a great question mark that follows them. I wanted to go through those question marks and figure out what's the worst that can happen for each player. Red Sox fans may delight in this list, but this is what happens if everything goes wrong--I, in no way, shape, or form think this is going to happen. But if Hal Steinbrenner made a deal with the devil last season, here's part one of what hell-on-earth for Yankees fans will look like: The Starting Lineup.

Jorge Posada - What it would look like: Basically 2008 redux. He played in only 51 games, garnering a measly 195 PAs. The Yankees don't need him to get 545 (a number he reached from 2000-2007) but they need him to hit the mid 400s. The problem is that there is no backup that can play everyday. There is no position on the Yankees where I feel they have as little depth as at catcher. Jorgie can't get hurt

Mark Teixeira - What it would look like: The beginning of last season. He can't hit and he's killing the team out there. Derek Jeter and Nick Johnson are getting on over 40% of the time but Tex is doing nothing to drive them home. On May 2nd of last season, Tex was hitting .182/.354/.338 through 99 PAs. The Yankees have a surprising amount of depth here with the Nicks (Johnson and Swisher) but taking either of them from their position kills the Yankees defense and hurts the Yankees at the vacated position.

Robinson Cano - What it would look like: The first half of 2008 combined with his RISP performance from 2009. Let's hope that Cano doesn't miss his buddy, Melky Cabrera, too much. In the first half of 2008, Robby hit .246/.285/.358. Part of that was fueled by a low BAbip: .252 and part was oddly fueled by an inability to hit righties (.263/.286/.397 against them for the season). Those struggles combined with the RISP futility of this past season would make for a pretty awful season at the plate. Combine that with his some lazy defense and his general malaise for running the bases and you have a lethal combo.

Derek Jeter - What it would look like: A worse version of 2008. I don't think we've truly ever seen BAD Derek Jeter. He's had some times he's struggles and times he's looked awful in the field, but he hasn't looked awful. But as he turns 36 next season, there is the chance that decline could hit. I can imagine a nightmare scenario where he's slipped offensively and defensively to the point the Yankees have no interest in signing him in the off-season leading to a battle colder than the Cold War itself. The only thing worse for Yankees/Jeter is if he was tied to PED rumors. Since all of that is ridiculous (trying to quickly put it out of my head) a serious Jeter injury like 2003 could also hurt the Yankees.

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Giants Injury Update

From The Blue Screen:

Both WR Domenik Hixon (knee) and CB Kevin Dockery (hamstring) made the trip to Tampa, but are inactive. Six other players had previously been declared out: DT Chris Canty (calf), CB Aaron Ross (hamstring), LB Clint Sintim (groin), WR Hakeem Nicks (foot), RB Danny Ware (elbow) and Adam Koets (ankle). None of them made the trip.

Because a team can only have 8 players inactive, the Giants dressed Justin Tuck although he is not expected to play. This means the Giants are missing starters Dockery, Tuck, Ross, Phillips, and Canty from their defense. That "depth" talked about so much in the preseason is being tested today once again.

Update 2:01: Ok...so Justin Tuck is playing. Didn't think that would happen but it shows Tuck's toughness. This defense is playing well so far, causing nightmares for Byron Leftwich

Welcome Back, Aaron Boone

When rosters expand on September 1st, it's usually a time to bring up three groups of people: useful minor leaguers to help for the last month, veteran's toiling in the minor leagues, and young players to give a look for the future. They're all mostly unfamiliar names.

But one guy who was called up on September 1st has a name that most will recognize: Aaron f*#@ing Boone.

He was the hero of the 2003 playoffs, hitting a long home run into the October night to keep The Curse alive for one more year. His impact on the Yankees is still felt because if he would have never blown out his knee in a pickup basketball game after 2003 season, A-Rod may have never been a Yankee. After his stint with the Yankees, Boone has become a journeyman, moving around from team to team.

Yet nothing compares to the journey he completed to make it back this season. Boone had open-heart surgery in March and made it back to the field less than 6 months later. So far he's 0-5 with a HBP.

As someone who had open-heart surgery himself, I am appreciative of the determination it takes to make to back from that surgery, especially to be on the level to actually play Major League Baseball.

Aaron Boone was always going to be in my heart for hitting that home run deep into an October night, but he'll now be in my thoughts as well as I wish him the best coming back from a surgery we both had.

Stat(s) of the Day and A-Rod's Hip

Via Tyler Kepner, we have our stats of the day:

1) Courtesy of Elias, even including this past week, the Yankees are 11-6 this season in games started by pitchers who had never faced them before. Those starters, collectively, are 5-6 with a 5.08 E.R.A.

2) This one comes from Tom Verducci: Alex Rodriguez has the same road slugging percentage as the San Diego Padres’ David Eckstein. That is, away from the tight confines of Yankee Stadium, A-Rod’s slugging percentage is a meager .373.

Now that's not as bad as I thought. Kepner has the reason why:

When the Yankees lose to a pitcher few fans have heard of – Fernando Nieve and Craig Stammen, come on down – it naturally captures the attention of fans and reporters. But when they beat a pitcher like that, it’s no big deal.

And how about explaining A-Rod?

As for Rodriguez, who is 3 for his last 34 and hitting .212, he’s long overdue for his first game off since joining the team on May 8. Even Manager Joe Girardi admitted he probably should have rested him sooner. I spoke with A-Rod’s hip surgeon, Dr. Marc Philippon, and he agreed with the rest.

“Indirectly, he is still recovering from surgery, from a muscle standpoint,” Philippon said. “I think it’s important to give him some time off to allow the muscles to recover. His hip is doing very well, but he has to make sure his balance and his coordination are not affected by muscle fatigue. I would support giving him a little bit of a break, because it’s pretty exceptional to come back and play so many games in a row.”

Hold on. Hold on. I'm sure Tyler Kepner is a great investigative reporter. But you're telling me that I could write blog post after blog post about how A-Rod needs a rest, Tyler Kepner could speak to A-Rod's hip surgeon who said that "I think it's important to give him some time off to allow the muscles to recover", and yet the Yankees continued to play him every day without a rest? The Yankees couldn't have called his surgeon and gotten the same advice or watched him on the field and see that he was gassed? Was it worth leaving him in for all these games when he was hurting the team? ESPN's Stephania Bell predicted he'd be out 4 months and 2 months later he's supposedly in tip-top shape to be playing every day? Am I missing something here?

Update: I mean if Apple CEO Steve Jobs can have a liver transplant and return to work in two months, maybe anything is possible. Jeez

Mets K-Rod Collapses With Spasms

Scary Stuff. From the New York Post:

There was a wild scene outside the Mets New York Mets ' clubhouse after tonight's 3-2 win over the Red Sox when closer Frankie Rodriguez collapsed from back spasms and required medical attention.

Rodriguez suffered the back spasms -- the first of his career, he said -- while running in pregame warmups and was unavailable to pitch the ninth inning.

The Mets gave K-Rod muscle relaxers, but he collapsed shortly after trying to leave the clubhouse under his own power. Rodriguez started weeping from the pain after being helped into a golf cart, and a stretcher and EMTs were called to the scene.

Team officials then closed the gate in front of Rodriguez, preventing reporters for further observing the scene.

The Mets later said Rodriguez was taken to a local hospital by ambulance but offered no further update on his condition.

Think A-Rod Makes A Difference To Tex?

Mark Teixeira before Alex Rodriguez came off the DL (and before his talk with Tino): 25 games, .198 average, 5 HRs, 15 RBIs, 5 multi-hit games

Mark Teixeira after Alex Rodrguiez came off the DL (May 8th): 11 games, .341 average, 6 HRs, 15 RBIs, 4 multi-hit games

Yeah...and there have been 4 straight games with A-Bombs from A-Rod. They're a pretty good 3-4 combo.