Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Baserunners and More Baserunners and Then Some More Again
Gil Meche has settled down, retiring 10 batters in a row now. The Yankees haven’t scratched him since a Melky Cabrera two-run home run in the 2nd.
The night air seems to be getting stickier and more uncomfortable by the minute. I’m questioning my choice in beverages after having a small, hot coffee within the past hour.
Mike Mussina takes the hill here in the bottom of the 6th. Eighty pitches in, Mussina’s throwing his best game of the month. Hasn’t been brilliant as the Royals are averaging more than a baserunner/inning (4 hits, 2 walks), but his fastball has some life to it tonight, and his breaking stuff still looks solid. The Yankees are up 2-0.
The game just ended in Cleveland, with the Indians winning 1-0.
Elsewhere, for games that have interest in my world, Texas is up 3-1 in the 5th over the struggling Mariners, and the White Sox are up on Detroit, 7-5 in the 5th as well.
I have many scattered thoughts about the Yankees’ current run back to respectability & beyond: Reclamation Project Circa 2007, as I dubbed it on Saturday morning.
The good thoughts first. The team is doing not only what it had to do to get back in the playoff hunt (beat the crap out of the bad teams), but is staying right on target for the 95-win tract I set for them three weeks ago.
They deserve credit for that.
Then again, the last few days have reinforced the reality of the ineptitude that resides in the lower levels of the American League’s talent pool.
The Royals are on the board. A two-out single by Reggie Sanders.
Mussina’s out. In comes Ron Villone.
The beleaguered bullpen gets a legitimate test tonight. They have a one-run lead, with 3 1/3 innings of work to do. We’ll see . . .
What I like most about this current Yankees run, is that my perspective of the team has changed. Not in terms of my expectations for wins and losses, or my overall perspective of their eventual post-season fate, but in terms of the identity of this team.
One pitch for Villone, one fly ball out. Onto the 7th.
It doesn’t seem that long ago (it wasn’t, really) when an apt description of this bunch was “hard team to root for.” Underachieving, lethargic, slow, old, unlucky . . . whether it was having to watch Jason Giambi stumble around the base paths like a geezer with an arthritic hip, or Bobby Abreu flail and saunter his way back to the dugout or having to watch one pitcher go down after another . . . this was looking like a lost season for a long time
.
What changed?
I can’t point to one thing in particular. They started winning precisely at the moment when they could not afford to fall back any further, and they were able to finally establish some kind of rhythm in the starting rotation. The Clemens move has been ridiculed in all quarters, from the Bronx to Beantown, but the reality is he has been an important and valuable addition, and has made a critical impact on the rotation. And of course, the players who were in danger of having inconsequential seasons (Cano, Abreu, Damon) have started showing varying signs of productivity.
The biggest change to me though is that this team is starting to feel relentless again. Coming into tonight, the Yankees had a staggering .392 OBP for the month of the July, 20 points more than runner-up Boston. They’re slugging .511 for the month, well ahead of Chicago’s .463, which is 2nd in the A.L. And to top it off, they’re hitting .321 for the month, besting Boston’s .294 by 26 points.
I know, I know those numbers are weighted by the pinball-baseball they played on Saturday night and Sunday vs. Tampa . . . but still. They’re seemingly putting runners on base every inning, something they actually did for 24 innings in a row before the 8th inning last night.
The main culprits are obvious, an ever-torrid A-Rod, a locked-in Matsui, a resurgent Cano and Abreu. Not to mention the steady eddies, Jeter and Posada.
Looking beyond the obvious: I know they’re not the most productive players, but more subtle elements in New York’s resurgence have been Andy Phillips’ emergence as the everyday first baseman and Melky Cabrera’s emergence as the everyday centerfielder.
Follow professional sports long enough, and eventually you become hardened to rooting for players as you did when you were a kid. You see the players as what they are: men at work as George Will put it. You don’t root for them as people but as entities, stock chips, financial assets, statistical anomalies and the like. The human element is gone. Sucked out by media saturation, police blotters, misquotes and mistrust. Just give me the numbers. Is he going to help us win games?
I don’t feel that way about Andy Phillips. He’s become a new personal favorite of mine, and not only for the fact that he’s persevered through his wife’s serious illness and his mother’s serious car accident, which for all intents and purposes derailed his chances for making the team out of camp. Mainly it’s because you can tell, and if you’ve seen enough player interviews you can see the difference, that he’s just playing the game. He’s out there, knowing the rumors about Teixeira and hearing the half-votes of confidence offered by his manager and general manager, and he’s just playing.
It’s a dangerous business rooting for a player just because he “seems like a nice guy.” But in the case of Phillips, I don’t feel like I’m going too far out on a limb. And besides, since he’s taken over first base, it means that a) I’ve seen less of Miguel Cairo and b) the team has played exceptionally well, with a portion of that success owed to Phillips.
Two on, two out for the Royals in the 7th. The Yankees tacked on a run in the top of the inning.
Proctor’s out. Myers in. The bullpen carousel continues.
Fly ball in foul territory down the left-field line . . . Damon has it. Onto the 8th.
Another hit for Jeter, 2-4 tonight. He’s creeping up on that .340 mark now.
My main concern is that the season will unfold similar to last year when Sheffield and Matsui re-emerged right before the post-season started last year.
Jason Giambi is on the horizon. And while I hope that if Giambi does come back he’ll be healthy and ready to contribute, a part of me would rather not see him back at all.
The offense is not the issue right now. A Giambi return clogs the DH position permanently, and potentially complicates matters for players like Melky and Phillips.
Uncle Joe would never take Melky out of center . . . right? I would like to think not, but you never know.
Is that scenario (Damon going back to center, sending Melky to the bench) more or less likely than Johnny Damon becoming a bench player?
And if Johnny Damon doesn’t become a utility-type, jack-of-all-trades then do they (cringe) try and play him everyday at first base?
A-Rod. #499. A bullet, line-drive shot to right-center off Meche.
5-1.
And yes, I think the Melky-Cano-A-Rod bunny-hop-thing in the dugout looks goofy, but the hell with it . . . this team needs a bit of goofy in it. Keep it going.
If Jason Giambi is healthy and going to contribute to this offense, it is difficult to turn away a guy who is one year removed from .253/.413/.558, 37 HR, 113 RBI.
Matsui, a long, long home run to right after Gobble, a lefty. 397 feet, according to YES.
But of all the things this team needs to close the gap on the playoff contenders, and maybe even make a run in the post-season, Jason Giambi isn’t at the top of the list. You want to talk about bullpen help? Now you have my ear. A bona fide contribution from Phil Hughes? Definitely. You want to twist my arm and insist that they have to upgrade first base? I may buy it.
But if Giambi coming back equals some combination of taking Melky out of center or putting Johnny Damon at first base, then I think I’ll pass.
Top of the 9th now. Yanks up by a bunch.
Jeter just got drilled in the elbow by Dotel, with 1st base open and no outs . . . I wonder if the Yankees will retaliate.
A-Rod has a chance for 500 here. 2nd and 3rd, 1 out.
Strikeout swinging.
That’s it for me tonight. Detroit is back up on the White Sox 10-9, and Seattle still trails Texas.
We’ll see if the Yankees can finish off the sweep tomorrow night in K.C., sending Igawa to the mound.
Gil Meche has settled down, retiring 10 batters in a row now. The Yankees haven’t scratched him since a Melky Cabrera two-run home run in the 2nd.
The night air seems to be getting stickier and more uncomfortable by the minute. I’m questioning my choice in beverages after having a small, hot coffee within the past hour.
Mike Mussina takes the hill here in the bottom of the 6th. Eighty pitches in, Mussina’s throwing his best game of the month. Hasn’t been brilliant as the Royals are averaging more than a baserunner/inning (4 hits, 2 walks), but his fastball has some life to it tonight, and his breaking stuff still looks solid. The Yankees are up 2-0.
The game just ended in Cleveland, with the Indians winning 1-0.
Elsewhere, for games that have interest in my world, Texas is up 3-1 in the 5th over the struggling Mariners, and the White Sox are up on Detroit, 7-5 in the 5th as well.
I have many scattered thoughts about the Yankees’ current run back to respectability & beyond: Reclamation Project Circa 2007, as I dubbed it on Saturday morning.
The good thoughts first. The team is doing not only what it had to do to get back in the playoff hunt (beat the crap out of the bad teams), but is staying right on target for the 95-win tract I set for them three weeks ago.
They deserve credit for that.
Then again, the last few days have reinforced the reality of the ineptitude that resides in the lower levels of the American League’s talent pool.
The Royals are on the board. A two-out single by Reggie Sanders.
Mussina’s out. In comes Ron Villone.
The beleaguered bullpen gets a legitimate test tonight. They have a one-run lead, with 3 1/3 innings of work to do. We’ll see . . .
What I like most about this current Yankees run, is that my perspective of the team has changed. Not in terms of my expectations for wins and losses, or my overall perspective of their eventual post-season fate, but in terms of the identity of this team.
One pitch for Villone, one fly ball out. Onto the 7th.
It doesn’t seem that long ago (it wasn’t, really) when an apt description of this bunch was “hard team to root for.” Underachieving, lethargic, slow, old, unlucky . . . whether it was having to watch Jason Giambi stumble around the base paths like a geezer with an arthritic hip, or Bobby Abreu flail and saunter his way back to the dugout or having to watch one pitcher go down after another . . . this was looking like a lost season for a long time
.
What changed?
I can’t point to one thing in particular. They started winning precisely at the moment when they could not afford to fall back any further, and they were able to finally establish some kind of rhythm in the starting rotation. The Clemens move has been ridiculed in all quarters, from the Bronx to Beantown, but the reality is he has been an important and valuable addition, and has made a critical impact on the rotation. And of course, the players who were in danger of having inconsequential seasons (Cano, Abreu, Damon) have started showing varying signs of productivity.
The biggest change to me though is that this team is starting to feel relentless again. Coming into tonight, the Yankees had a staggering .392 OBP for the month of the July, 20 points more than runner-up Boston. They’re slugging .511 for the month, well ahead of Chicago’s .463, which is 2nd in the A.L. And to top it off, they’re hitting .321 for the month, besting Boston’s .294 by 26 points.
I know, I know those numbers are weighted by the pinball-baseball they played on Saturday night and Sunday vs. Tampa . . . but still. They’re seemingly putting runners on base every inning, something they actually did for 24 innings in a row before the 8th inning last night.
The main culprits are obvious, an ever-torrid A-Rod, a locked-in Matsui, a resurgent Cano and Abreu. Not to mention the steady eddies, Jeter and Posada.
Looking beyond the obvious: I know they’re not the most productive players, but more subtle elements in New York’s resurgence have been Andy Phillips’ emergence as the everyday first baseman and Melky Cabrera’s emergence as the everyday centerfielder.
Follow professional sports long enough, and eventually you become hardened to rooting for players as you did when you were a kid. You see the players as what they are: men at work as George Will put it. You don’t root for them as people but as entities, stock chips, financial assets, statistical anomalies and the like. The human element is gone. Sucked out by media saturation, police blotters, misquotes and mistrust. Just give me the numbers. Is he going to help us win games?
I don’t feel that way about Andy Phillips. He’s become a new personal favorite of mine, and not only for the fact that he’s persevered through his wife’s serious illness and his mother’s serious car accident, which for all intents and purposes derailed his chances for making the team out of camp. Mainly it’s because you can tell, and if you’ve seen enough player interviews you can see the difference, that he’s just playing the game. He’s out there, knowing the rumors about Teixeira and hearing the half-votes of confidence offered by his manager and general manager, and he’s just playing.
It’s a dangerous business rooting for a player just because he “seems like a nice guy.” But in the case of Phillips, I don’t feel like I’m going too far out on a limb. And besides, since he’s taken over first base, it means that a) I’ve seen less of Miguel Cairo and b) the team has played exceptionally well, with a portion of that success owed to Phillips.
Two on, two out for the Royals in the 7th. The Yankees tacked on a run in the top of the inning.
Proctor’s out. Myers in. The bullpen carousel continues.
Fly ball in foul territory down the left-field line . . . Damon has it. Onto the 8th.
Another hit for Jeter, 2-4 tonight. He’s creeping up on that .340 mark now.
My main concern is that the season will unfold similar to last year when Sheffield and Matsui re-emerged right before the post-season started last year.
Jason Giambi is on the horizon. And while I hope that if Giambi does come back he’ll be healthy and ready to contribute, a part of me would rather not see him back at all.
The offense is not the issue right now. A Giambi return clogs the DH position permanently, and potentially complicates matters for players like Melky and Phillips.
Uncle Joe would never take Melky out of center . . . right? I would like to think not, but you never know.
Is that scenario (Damon going back to center, sending Melky to the bench) more or less likely than Johnny Damon becoming a bench player?
And if Johnny Damon doesn’t become a utility-type, jack-of-all-trades then do they (cringe) try and play him everyday at first base?
A-Rod. #499. A bullet, line-drive shot to right-center off Meche.
5-1.
And yes, I think the Melky-Cano-A-Rod bunny-hop-thing in the dugout looks goofy, but the hell with it . . . this team needs a bit of goofy in it. Keep it going.
If Jason Giambi is healthy and going to contribute to this offense, it is difficult to turn away a guy who is one year removed from .253/.413/.558, 37 HR, 113 RBI.
Matsui, a long, long home run to right after Gobble, a lefty. 397 feet, according to YES.
But of all the things this team needs to close the gap on the playoff contenders, and maybe even make a run in the post-season, Jason Giambi isn’t at the top of the list. You want to talk about bullpen help? Now you have my ear. A bona fide contribution from Phil Hughes? Definitely. You want to twist my arm and insist that they have to upgrade first base? I may buy it.
But if Giambi coming back equals some combination of taking Melky out of center or putting Johnny Damon at first base, then I think I’ll pass.
Top of the 9th now. Yanks up by a bunch.
Jeter just got drilled in the elbow by Dotel, with 1st base open and no outs . . . I wonder if the Yankees will retaliate.
A-Rod has a chance for 500 here. 2nd and 3rd, 1 out.
Strikeout swinging.
That’s it for me tonight. Detroit is back up on the White Sox 10-9, and Seattle still trails Texas.
We’ll see if the Yankees can finish off the sweep tomorrow night in K.C., sending Igawa to the mound.
