Saturday, June 06, 2009
Sunday Morning Coffee
(The "Say it ain't so, Mo" edition)
If writing is in any way therapeutic, then I need a dose of it this morning. Yesterday's Yankee loss got under my skin and stuck in my craw until the evening hours. Throw in the fact that Jon Lester appears to be out of his early-season funk, and you have the recipe for a rough baseball day.
The weather was lousy on the back end of the workweek here in the Northeast, with Friday night being downright dreadful. Yesterday was one of those high-pressure-fronts-moving-in days where the air is crisp, the humidity is low and the sky is a consistent blue. A perfect day for June. With the rainout on Friday, the Sabathia-Price match-up on tap and a 1:00 start, I was raring to go. I put a little extra emphasis on this one.
Tampa came in winners of three in a row, and had fought their way back to the .500 mark despite their inconsistency & injuries over the first two months of the season. Since May 8, the Yankees have played only one other team that I think is going to wind up being better than the Rays this season: Philadelphia two weeks ago. Needless to say, with the Sox & Mets coming up, I thought this series would be a nice warm-up, and a challenge for New York to continue their winning ways.
It didn't happen as Mariano Rivera had his worst outing of the season. Given the ball and asked to preserve a 5-5 tie in the top of the 9th, he gave up four runs (three earned) and four hits, all of them seemingly bullets being sprayed into the outfield grass. New York showed some spunk to mount a rally in the 9th, but a hard hit ball off the bat of Cano, who was the tying run, landed in B.J. Upton's glove in deep center to end the game. Tampa 9, New York 7.
As P. Abraham pointed out in his blog, the Yanks are now 2-9 vs. Boston and Tampa with a run differential of -24.
Yesterday was my first opportunity to see David Price start, and I was impressed.
Price threw 107 pitches, 53 of them for strikes, which isn't a good ratio. Amazingly though, it never felt like he wasn't in control of the game. The Yankees had a good approach against him, cognizant of taking pitches early in counts and generally made him work throughout. But his velocity never wavered (typically 95 on the fastball), and they couldn't do much with the few opportunities they had. He finished with a line of 5.2/2/3/1/5/3
I think by 2011 he's going to be one of the best starters in the A.L. and has a great shot to be one of the top 5 starters in the game in about the same timeframe.
As far as Mariano? Maybe I over-stated the case when I left a message on my friend's voicemail yesterday after the top of the 9th, exasperated & disgusted. My basic point was that Rivera has now become an "X-factor" against the better offensive teams in the American League. And I'm speaking specifically about Boston, Tampa and maybe a team like Detroit, i.e. the type of teams New York would end up playing in a post-season series. In the case of Boston, it's been this way since the early part of this decade.
Supporters are going to point out an impeccable 28:2 K:BB ratio in 23.1 innings of work. And while I wouldn't ever want to be labeled a "detractor" of Mariano, I think it's worth noting that within that same workload he's given up 26 hits, nine earned runs and five home runs. Yesterday wasn't about old position players with limited range not getting to balls; it was about a great reliever in his twilight not having good stuff and getting racked all over the park.
As of this morning, ESPN projects his season out to include 77 hits allowed in 68 innings of work, an ERA of 3.47 and a record of 0-6.
Since he became the closer in 1997, here are his IP:H splits
71.2 : 65
61.1 : 48
69.0 : 43
75.2 : 58
80.2 : 61
46.0 : 35 (This was '02. Off the top of my head I don't remember the details, but there were injury issues there.)
70.2 : 61
78.2 : 65
78.1 : 50
75.0 : 61
71.1 : 68
70.2 : 41
??.? : ??
In that same timeframe he's only had an ERA over three once, and that was in '07 (3.15).
I bring up this topic not to complain or suggest a different course of action. As I said in the aforementioned phone message yesterday, there is nothing the Yankees should do . . . even if they could.
All I'm saying is that this is now morphing from "Mo's occasional hiccup" to something more problematic. And it's not like we haven't seen Rivera rendered human in the post-season before . . .
In addition, I'm glad I'm not on the lunatic fringe of addressing this topic. Of course, if I'm in concert with the New York media scribes, then maybe I am dabbling in lunacy. From P. Abraham's LoHud Blog yesterday:
And from John Harper this morning in the Daily News:
What can I say about Jon Lester's performance last night at Fenway? Throughout the Big Papi storm I've maintained that as long as Boston stays strong at the front of that rotation they're still the best team in the sport. Well, Beckett was very good in May after a poor April, and now Lester appears to be back on the beam. To put it mildly.
As a follow-up to his win at Toronto last weekend in which he struck out a career-high 12 batters, Lester flirted with perfection at the Fens.
Picking up Nick Cafardo's report in the Globe this morning:
I concur. I picked up the game going into the 6th, and Lester looked as good as any hurler I've seen this year. Need a sinker in the low 90s? Got it. How about 97 mph heater on the black, outside corner against a lefty with two strikes? Yup. A crisp, knee-buckling breaking ball spotted on dime? Had that too.
Watching him last night, it's hard to fathom how this guy still has an ERA north of 5.00. With things lining up again at the front of that rotation, the rest of American League better take heed. And hope some other aspect(s) of this team springs a leak, because when they're firing on all cylinders, no one's going to touch 'em.
(The "Say it ain't so, Mo" edition)
If writing is in any way therapeutic, then I need a dose of it this morning. Yesterday's Yankee loss got under my skin and stuck in my craw until the evening hours. Throw in the fact that Jon Lester appears to be out of his early-season funk, and you have the recipe for a rough baseball day.
The weather was lousy on the back end of the workweek here in the Northeast, with Friday night being downright dreadful. Yesterday was one of those high-pressure-fronts-moving-in days where the air is crisp, the humidity is low and the sky is a consistent blue. A perfect day for June. With the rainout on Friday, the Sabathia-Price match-up on tap and a 1:00 start, I was raring to go. I put a little extra emphasis on this one.
Tampa came in winners of three in a row, and had fought their way back to the .500 mark despite their inconsistency & injuries over the first two months of the season. Since May 8, the Yankees have played only one other team that I think is going to wind up being better than the Rays this season: Philadelphia two weeks ago. Needless to say, with the Sox & Mets coming up, I thought this series would be a nice warm-up, and a challenge for New York to continue their winning ways.
It didn't happen as Mariano Rivera had his worst outing of the season. Given the ball and asked to preserve a 5-5 tie in the top of the 9th, he gave up four runs (three earned) and four hits, all of them seemingly bullets being sprayed into the outfield grass. New York showed some spunk to mount a rally in the 9th, but a hard hit ball off the bat of Cano, who was the tying run, landed in B.J. Upton's glove in deep center to end the game. Tampa 9, New York 7.
As P. Abraham pointed out in his blog, the Yanks are now 2-9 vs. Boston and Tampa with a run differential of -24.
Yesterday was my first opportunity to see David Price start, and I was impressed.
Price threw 107 pitches, 53 of them for strikes, which isn't a good ratio. Amazingly though, it never felt like he wasn't in control of the game. The Yankees had a good approach against him, cognizant of taking pitches early in counts and generally made him work throughout. But his velocity never wavered (typically 95 on the fastball), and they couldn't do much with the few opportunities they had. He finished with a line of 5.2/2/3/1/5/3
I think by 2011 he's going to be one of the best starters in the A.L. and has a great shot to be one of the top 5 starters in the game in about the same timeframe.
As far as Mariano? Maybe I over-stated the case when I left a message on my friend's voicemail yesterday after the top of the 9th, exasperated & disgusted. My basic point was that Rivera has now become an "X-factor" against the better offensive teams in the American League. And I'm speaking specifically about Boston, Tampa and maybe a team like Detroit, i.e. the type of teams New York would end up playing in a post-season series. In the case of Boston, it's been this way since the early part of this decade.
Supporters are going to point out an impeccable 28:2 K:BB ratio in 23.1 innings of work. And while I wouldn't ever want to be labeled a "detractor" of Mariano, I think it's worth noting that within that same workload he's given up 26 hits, nine earned runs and five home runs. Yesterday wasn't about old position players with limited range not getting to balls; it was about a great reliever in his twilight not having good stuff and getting racked all over the park.
As of this morning, ESPN projects his season out to include 77 hits allowed in 68 innings of work, an ERA of 3.47 and a record of 0-6.
Since he became the closer in 1997, here are his IP:H splits
71.2 : 65
61.1 : 48
69.0 : 43
75.2 : 58
80.2 : 61
46.0 : 35 (This was '02. Off the top of my head I don't remember the details, but there were injury issues there.)
70.2 : 61
78.2 : 65
78.1 : 50
75.0 : 61
71.1 : 68
70.2 : 41
??.? : ??
In that same timeframe he's only had an ERA over three once, and that was in '07 (3.15).
I bring up this topic not to complain or suggest a different course of action. As I said in the aforementioned phone message yesterday, there is nothing the Yankees should do . . . even if they could.
All I'm saying is that this is now morphing from "Mo's occasional hiccup" to something more problematic. And it's not like we haven't seen Rivera rendered human in the post-season before . . .
In addition, I'm glad I'm not on the lunatic fringe of addressing this topic. Of course, if I'm in concert with the New York media scribes, then maybe I am dabbling in lunacy. From P. Abraham's LoHud Blog yesterday:
My vote is no, not worried. I think these blips are natural as Mo ages, but he’s still better than almost every other closer out there, including Jon Papelbon, who has his own issues with hits and walks. It seems like Mo as a few of these every year then you look up four weeks later and he at 1.79 and blowing people away.
But if you are worried, it’s hard to argue after seeing him walk off that mound today.
But if you are worried, it’s hard to argue after seeing him walk off that mound today.
And from John Harper this morning in the Daily News:
There is so much to like about these Yankees, from the best starting pitching this franchise has had since 2003 to a late-inning grit that has the home dugout believing no deficit is too big to overcome.
But what if the great Rivera, at age 39, has lost just enough to make the ninth inning an issue after all these years?
But what if the great Rivera, at age 39, has lost just enough to make the ninth inning an issue after all these years?
Four of the five batters Rivera faced, two lefthanders and two righthanders, put good swings on his cutter and squared it up in ways no Yankee fan is accustomed to seeing.
One major league scout who was at the game said, "I can't remember seeing so many comfortable swings" against Rivera.
One major league scout who was at the game said, "I can't remember seeing so many comfortable swings" against Rivera.
"I saw the stadium gun had him at 92," the scout said, "but I think that's a tick high. I had him at 91, and that makes his cutter much more hittable than it used to be. The break on it didn't have much late life today.
"He can still break (lefthanded hitters') bats when he gets in on their hands, but when he misses location I think he's going to pay more now. The thing that registered with me was how Zobrist took him to left-center for that triple.
"Lefthanded hitters are usually so inside-conscious of his cutter that he freezes them when he goes backdoor (outside corner). Zobrist had time to get to that pitch today and do something with it."
----"He can still break (lefthanded hitters') bats when he gets in on their hands, but when he misses location I think he's going to pay more now. The thing that registered with me was how Zobrist took him to left-center for that triple.
"Lefthanded hitters are usually so inside-conscious of his cutter that he freezes them when he goes backdoor (outside corner). Zobrist had time to get to that pitch today and do something with it."
What can I say about Jon Lester's performance last night at Fenway? Throughout the Big Papi storm I've maintained that as long as Boston stays strong at the front of that rotation they're still the best team in the sport. Well, Beckett was very good in May after a poor April, and now Lester appears to be back on the beam. To put it mildly.
As a follow-up to his win at Toronto last weekend in which he struck out a career-high 12 batters, Lester flirted with perfection at the Fens.
Picking up Nick Cafardo's report in the Globe this morning:
[He] was perfect until Michael Young doubled to the left-center field gap with one out in the seventh.
Lester, who improved to 5-5 and lowered his ERA to 5.09, ended with a two-hitter and the crowd stood up and roared.
While he lamented allowing the hit, "at least it was a well-struck ball," he said.
Lester, throwing 96-97 miles per hour, has struck out 23 over the last two games, after 11 Ks last night. He issued two walks, and Young had both hits.
He had 10 strikeouts through six innings, fanning the top of the Texas order (Ian Kinsler, Young, and Andruw Jones), all swinging, in the fourth. There were six innings of perfection, when he was either overpowering with his fastball or getting hitters to wave at his changeup in the dirt. It was stunning what he could do with the baseball.
Lester, who improved to 5-5 and lowered his ERA to 5.09, ended with a two-hitter and the crowd stood up and roared.
While he lamented allowing the hit, "at least it was a well-struck ball," he said.
Lester, throwing 96-97 miles per hour, has struck out 23 over the last two games, after 11 Ks last night. He issued two walks, and Young had both hits.
He had 10 strikeouts through six innings, fanning the top of the Texas order (Ian Kinsler, Young, and Andruw Jones), all swinging, in the fourth. There were six innings of perfection, when he was either overpowering with his fastball or getting hitters to wave at his changeup in the dirt. It was stunning what he could do with the baseball.
I concur. I picked up the game going into the 6th, and Lester looked as good as any hurler I've seen this year. Need a sinker in the low 90s? Got it. How about 97 mph heater on the black, outside corner against a lefty with two strikes? Yup. A crisp, knee-buckling breaking ball spotted on dime? Had that too.
Watching him last night, it's hard to fathom how this guy still has an ERA north of 5.00. With things lining up again at the front of that rotation, the rest of American League better take heed. And hope some other aspect(s) of this team springs a leak, because when they're firing on all cylinders, no one's going to touch 'em.
