Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Tuesday Night Bounce-Back
The score (7-2) belies the quality of the game played last night at Tropicana Field between the Rays and Yankees. The game featured outstanding starting pitching, highlighted by a mild flirtation with a no-hitter by A.J. Burnett, and intensity worthy of a game between two playoff contenders, including a couple of brush-back pitches. The Yankees' four-run 9th knocked open what had been a nail-biter.
Burnett, being called on for the 2nd time to clean up Wang's mess, was simply brilliant. In eight innings of work (103 pitches), Burnett gave up 3 hits, 2 runs, struck out 9 and walked only 1. His one blemish of the night occurred when he gave up the three hits in succession to start the 7th, when at that point he had been nine outs away from a no-hitter.
Quick Hits: Brett Gardner, batting leadoff (Damon out with flu, dropping Jeter to 2nd in the batting order) raised his average to .296 with three hits, including two resounding doubles in his last two at-bats. The first two-bagger ultimately led to the Yanks breaking a 2-2 tie in the top of the 8th. The second was a key component of the four-run 9th . . . Jeter had his best game in a week, getting three hits and hitting the put-away three-run homer in the 9th . . . The Rays employed an over-shift, a la Giambi, against Teixeria. The Yankees first baseman, playing for the first time since Friday was 0-3 with a walk and is hitting .211. He did, however, drive ahead the go-ahead run in in the 8th on a sac fly batting right-handed against J.P. Howell . . . Since making a point on the weekend to emphasize Cano's trend of hitting the ball to left field, I don't think I've seen him do it since . . . In looking at the very top of the rotations of the three A.L. East favorites, Tampa's tandem of Kazmir and Garza takes a back seat to neither the Sox (Beckett & Lester) or New York (Sabathia and Burnett). Kazmir looked outstanding on Monday, issuing no walks against 6 Ks in 6+ innings of work. And tonight Garza had 9 Ks to 2 BBs in 7 innings.
It's apparent that the Yankees' coaching staff feel that Chien-Ming Wang's bad start is simply a mechanical issue. From today's Daily News:
Wang's arm had been dropping too low in his delivery, which resulted in him not getting on top of the ball. Instead of getting his typical heavy sinking motion, Wang was leaving his pitches up in the zone, allowing hitters to knock him around with ease.
Wang's side sessions appeared to have fixed those problems, giving the Yankees the confidence that their former ace would rebound. Even as he warmed up for Monday night's game, Wang's sinker looked like its old self.
"He made the adjustment on his side work. Before the game he warmed up tremendously, but when he went in the game, he was back to where he was in Baltimore," Eiland said. "It's there. I saw it on the side and I saw it between 6:30 and 7o'clock Tuesday night when he was warming up. He didn't take it into the game. It's that simple."
The fate of Wang remains to be seen. Ever since reading Bill James' article on the correlation between the success of young pitchers and strikeout rate in 2001's Historical Abstract, K/9 is always one of the first stats I glance at when it comes to hurlers in their early- to mid-20s. Wang has passed that age range, as he's now 29 and has established himself as a bonafide major league starter. However, he's always been performing a precarious balancing act. With a low strikeout rate, he needs a perfect blend of three other factors: a high groundball rate, low number of walks and low number of home runs allowed. As Steven Goldman pointed out yesterday:
The good news for the Yankees is that for the first time since 2003, if not earlier, they can weather a storm in their starting rotation and still maintain a high level of play.
Loose Ends
Upon packing it in on Tuesday night, I saw Boston score three runs in the 1st inning in Oakland to stake Dice-K to an early lead. Runs have been at a premium early for the Red Sox, as they came into Tuesday's game with the 2nd lowest total in the American League. The only Boston regular who's off to any start of note is Youkilis whose BA and OBP are both north of .500. The rest of the line-up is littered with pain-staking numbers in the low .200s or worse. This line-up should be better than having to overly worry about Nick Green sucking up the 9th spot while they wait for Lugo to return. But when nobody is hitting, it makes every spot in the line-up scream for attention.
Boston ended up losing 6-5 in 12 innings. Of note, Matsuzaka lasted only 1 inning after surrendering 5 in the 1st; game reports indicated that he was diagnosed with "arm fatigue" and the Boston scribes are already lined up to take shots at among other things the WBC.
I erroneously noted the other day that Cleveland was the last winless team at the close of Saturday's action. All it would've taken is for me to pick up a newspaper (if such a thing existed anymore) to see that the Nats are indeed still winless. I knew that . . . . kinda, sorta.
Speaking of the Indians: Carl Pavano lost his 2nd start of the season, albeit pitching much more respectably than his Cleveland debut. The Royals moved to two over .500, while the Tribe dropped to a league-worst 1-7 . . . Let the debate continue as to which team has been the biggest surprise this year, the Mariners or the Padres. Seattle scored an extra-inning, walk-off win against Anaheim to move to 6-2. The Padres (6-2) were off on Tuesday, and will resume their series with the Mets on Wednesday night . . . On that same subject, the O's moved to 6-2 with an extra inning win over the Rangers . . . The Marlins look every bit as good as their Florida brethren, the Rays, right now. Whacking the sorry Nationals around in the first series of the season was one thing, but after rolling the Braves 5-1 on Tuesday night, the fish are now 6-1, and are really looking the part of a playoff contender.
The score (7-2) belies the quality of the game played last night at Tropicana Field between the Rays and Yankees. The game featured outstanding starting pitching, highlighted by a mild flirtation with a no-hitter by A.J. Burnett, and intensity worthy of a game between two playoff contenders, including a couple of brush-back pitches. The Yankees' four-run 9th knocked open what had been a nail-biter.
Burnett, being called on for the 2nd time to clean up Wang's mess, was simply brilliant. In eight innings of work (103 pitches), Burnett gave up 3 hits, 2 runs, struck out 9 and walked only 1. His one blemish of the night occurred when he gave up the three hits in succession to start the 7th, when at that point he had been nine outs away from a no-hitter.
Quick Hits: Brett Gardner, batting leadoff (Damon out with flu, dropping Jeter to 2nd in the batting order) raised his average to .296 with three hits, including two resounding doubles in his last two at-bats. The first two-bagger ultimately led to the Yanks breaking a 2-2 tie in the top of the 8th. The second was a key component of the four-run 9th . . . Jeter had his best game in a week, getting three hits and hitting the put-away three-run homer in the 9th . . . The Rays employed an over-shift, a la Giambi, against Teixeria. The Yankees first baseman, playing for the first time since Friday was 0-3 with a walk and is hitting .211. He did, however, drive ahead the go-ahead run in in the 8th on a sac fly batting right-handed against J.P. Howell . . . Since making a point on the weekend to emphasize Cano's trend of hitting the ball to left field, I don't think I've seen him do it since . . . In looking at the very top of the rotations of the three A.L. East favorites, Tampa's tandem of Kazmir and Garza takes a back seat to neither the Sox (Beckett & Lester) or New York (Sabathia and Burnett). Kazmir looked outstanding on Monday, issuing no walks against 6 Ks in 6+ innings of work. And tonight Garza had 9 Ks to 2 BBs in 7 innings.
It's apparent that the Yankees' coaching staff feel that Chien-Ming Wang's bad start is simply a mechanical issue. From today's Daily News:
Wang's arm had been dropping too low in his delivery, which resulted in him not getting on top of the ball. Instead of getting his typical heavy sinking motion, Wang was leaving his pitches up in the zone, allowing hitters to knock him around with ease.
Wang's side sessions appeared to have fixed those problems, giving the Yankees the confidence that their former ace would rebound. Even as he warmed up for Monday night's game, Wang's sinker looked like its old self.
"He made the adjustment on his side work. Before the game he warmed up tremendously, but when he went in the game, he was back to where he was in Baltimore," Eiland said. "It's there. I saw it on the side and I saw it between 6:30 and 7o'clock Tuesday night when he was warming up. He didn't take it into the game. It's that simple."
The fate of Wang remains to be seen. Ever since reading Bill James' article on the correlation between the success of young pitchers and strikeout rate in 2001's Historical Abstract, K/9 is always one of the first stats I glance at when it comes to hurlers in their early- to mid-20s. Wang has passed that age range, as he's now 29 and has established himself as a bonafide major league starter. However, he's always been performing a precarious balancing act. With a low strikeout rate, he needs a perfect blend of three other factors: a high groundball rate, low number of walks and low number of home runs allowed. As Steven Goldman pointed out yesterday:
There is a broader argument to be made that a pitcher like Wang, with his low strikeout rates, dependence on his defense, and less than pristine injury history, is not likely to be a 10- or 12-year pitcher in the Major Leagues. There are simply too many things that have to go right for him to pitch effectively, and if any aspect of his peak powers are compromised, he will have little to fall back on. A pitcher of this nature can simply have a bad year on balls in play, or allow his line drive rate to tick up slightly, and he's suddenly naked on the mound. Those looking for evidence of such a decline could point to Wang's ratio of ground outs to air outs, which has steadily declined throughout his Major League career, beginning at 2.87 in 2005, an excellent rate, and landing at 1.65 last season, still above average, but no longer in the dominant zone. Again, this kind of dire analysis is a reach right now. Wang has made two bad starts, two very bad starts. Two starts hardly constitute a trend.
The good news for the Yankees is that for the first time since 2003, if not earlier, they can weather a storm in their starting rotation and still maintain a high level of play.
Loose Ends
Upon packing it in on Tuesday night, I saw Boston score three runs in the 1st inning in Oakland to stake Dice-K to an early lead. Runs have been at a premium early for the Red Sox, as they came into Tuesday's game with the 2nd lowest total in the American League. The only Boston regular who's off to any start of note is Youkilis whose BA and OBP are both north of .500. The rest of the line-up is littered with pain-staking numbers in the low .200s or worse. This line-up should be better than having to overly worry about Nick Green sucking up the 9th spot while they wait for Lugo to return. But when nobody is hitting, it makes every spot in the line-up scream for attention.
Boston ended up losing 6-5 in 12 innings. Of note, Matsuzaka lasted only 1 inning after surrendering 5 in the 1st; game reports indicated that he was diagnosed with "arm fatigue" and the Boston scribes are already lined up to take shots at among other things the WBC.
I erroneously noted the other day that Cleveland was the last winless team at the close of Saturday's action. All it would've taken is for me to pick up a newspaper (if such a thing existed anymore) to see that the Nats are indeed still winless. I knew that . . . . kinda, sorta.
Speaking of the Indians: Carl Pavano lost his 2nd start of the season, albeit pitching much more respectably than his Cleveland debut. The Royals moved to two over .500, while the Tribe dropped to a league-worst 1-7 . . . Let the debate continue as to which team has been the biggest surprise this year, the Mariners or the Padres. Seattle scored an extra-inning, walk-off win against Anaheim to move to 6-2. The Padres (6-2) were off on Tuesday, and will resume their series with the Mets on Wednesday night . . . On that same subject, the O's moved to 6-2 with an extra inning win over the Rangers . . . The Marlins look every bit as good as their Florida brethren, the Rays, right now. Whacking the sorry Nationals around in the first series of the season was one thing, but after rolling the Braves 5-1 on Tuesday night, the fish are now 6-1, and are really looking the part of a playoff contender.
