Sunday, June 28, 2009
Random Thoughts While Watching Baseball on a Sunday Night
(The Keeping the Work Week at Bay Edition)
Ultimately, there's nothing really wrong with Robinson Cano hitting .300 with 24 home runs and playing pretty good defense at second base. It's just that sometimes you feel he should be doing so much more. Getting on base more. Hitting more consistently over the course of the season.
Remember early in the season when he was red hot, hitting line drives all over the place and seemed on his way to having a huge season? Specifically, he was peppering the ball to left field, either slicing it down the line or driving it with authority toward the left-cente gap. That's gone now. As I expected it eventually would be. I can't remember the last time I saw him hit a ball with authority to left or left-center.
Cano hit into two DPs and left a tidy nine runners on base. He had two chances to salt the game away with the bases loaded in the late innings. In the 6th, he hit into a DP with 1 out; and in the 8th with two outs and the bags juiced, he grounded out to Castillo.
It hit me. Wang's theme song for 2009. A mid-90's alterna-rock classic by Dave Grohl.
I'm ready to knock him out of the rotation at a moment's notice. And then he gets an inning-ending double play. Or flashes a nasty slider (something new in his arsenal?) and strikes out David Wright. The Mets had the tying run on 2nd in the 4th, and he was able to get the ground ball to get out of it.
He's still allowing too many baserunners and has lost his magical ability to be economical on a game in/game out basis (remember those 85 pitches through seven innings nights of '06 and '07?). But after watching his start in Atlanta and against a AAAA team at Citi Field tonight, I can't justify taking him out of the rotation. Yet. His next start will be against the Blue Jays, and then either at Minnesota or at Anaheim. In a couple of weeks we'll know for certain of Wang is going to be in the Yankees' rotation for the 2nd half of the season.
His final line: 5.1/4/2/2/3/3. He had 11 groundouts and 2 flyouts, threw 85 pitches, 49 of them for strikes. And got his first win of the season. That monkey's gone to heaven.
As the game got deeper, I realized that a loss tonight would've bothered me more than I expected. I can't remember a more depleted major league line-up than the Mets are shuttling out there everday; they're one player away from being a bonafide AAA line-up. To not be able to put them away, complete the sweep and enjoy Monday's off-day would've been disappointing
As is typical for an ESPN national broadcast that features the Yankees, there was a ton of Jeter Talk. Chances to get to 4,000 hits. The imminent prospect of a position switch. The Yankees' move at the end of his current contract.
The most interesting tidbit they offered was that since 1950 Jeter has been involved in the 4th most number of wins of any player in the major leagues before turning 35 (which Jeter did the other day). 1. Brooks Robinson; 2. Mickey Mantle; 3. Hank Aaron
Sure there's the factor of payroll advantage and being born under a good sign, but I find it amazingly impressive that Jeter is 4th on that list.
And by thinking "In five years Derek Jeter is going to be 40" gives me one of those "Damn, I'm getting old" moments which always suck.
In two games against Livan Hernandez the Yankees haven't bludgeoned him like I thought they could/should. His effort at Stadium 2 earlier in the month was no great shakes, but he did pitch into the 6th inning and tonight he was even more game than that. 7/3/3/3/5/1
This fits into his overall trend for this year of defying the odds of being left for road-kill by nearly every preseason prognostication, and giving the Mets a guy they can hand the ball to with a modicum of confidence every five days. Before tonight he had a 3.66 ERA in June in 32 innings of work. He's pitched into the 6th inning in 12 of 15 start this season. Who could've predicted that in the spring?
I don't know if there is a lesson to be mined from Hernandez's work this year . . . maybe never underestimate the wily veteran with the rubber arm of all rubber arms.
That's a big home run for Brandon Inge in Houston. The Tigers were on the verge of an inexcusable sweep at the hands of the Astros, and with one swing with 2 outs in the 9th down one, they were able to save face and stay a healthy margin ahead of the Twins.
The Giants have the second best record in the National League. It's time to start paying closer attention.
I didn't like the Tatis bunt in the 6th. Sheffield on first with no outs, and a count of 1-0. Granted, Tatis was clearly trying to bunt for a base hit, but I would rather see him hit away there.
I also wasn't crazy about lifting Wang at 85 pitches with one out in the 6th. He has Fernando Martinez (.173) and Brian Schneider (.233) coming up there and you're going to need the pen for 7-8-9 anyway. I always hate going to the bullpen until you clearly have to. And I didn't think they needed to in that spot. Maybe with the off-day tomorrow, the rest the relievers have had over the last 48 hours and their sub-3.00 ERA in June, Girardi didn't want to push Wang any further . . . It's a decision that could go either way. I probably would've stuck with him for at least another batter or two.
Coke struck out Martinez, and then Girardi pulled a double-switch with Damon & Hughes. Hughes got Santos to fly out on one pitch.
Since May 8th (the date of A-Rod's return), the Yankees have the best record in the majors, just ahead of Boston. The other two teams in the top four are the two Los Angeles teams. The Dodgers are no surprise, but I was surprised to see the Angels on that list. With the Rangers losing at home to the Padres, LA/Anaheim is two up in the loss column now.
The two A.L. West rivals start a series tomorrow in Texas.
Appropriately enough, A-Rod made a Keith Hernandez-esque play in the 7th on a sacrifice bunt attempt. With Castillo on first on no outs, Argenis Reyes but a bunt toward the third base side of the pitcher's mound. Rodriguez was moving in as the pitch was being delivered (a move that Hernandez made an art form as a first baseman in obvious bunt situations) fielded and threw to Jeter covering second to get the lead runner. Great execution of a difficult play.
It's funny the details you remember from your formative years as a sports fan. And some of the things you forget. I honestly forgot that Eckersly won both the Cy Young and MVP in 1992. I don't think I could ever condone a reliever winning an MVP award, regardless of the gaudy save numbers, ERA and WHIPs. He was *amazing* though during that stretch ('88-'93), wasn't he? How 'bout those WHIPs in '89 (0.607) and '90 (0.614)? From 1989-1991, three seasons, he pitched 207 innings, facing 767 batters in the process, and walked 16 men unintentionally (four intentional). And struck out 215! His K:BB ratio in '89 and '90 was 18.33 and 18.25 respectively. And the thing is those ratios were in the 6's in '87 and '88, 9.67 in '91; and never higher than 9.00 again.
It was like he hit an oasis of pitching-control perfection for two years, never to be found again at that level. Not that his K:BB splits thereafter were anything to scoff at.
For a point of comparison, Mariano Rivera's best K:BB ratio of his career was last year at 12.83. Before then he had never been higher than 6.92.
A couple of years ago, a buddy of mine who's a Red Sox fan and wasn't familiar with Brian Bruney at the time asked me about him. And I described him simply as "a country chucker." That description still fits to a large extent. And why I'm not dead-set on believing that Bruney is some kind of nirvanic answer to the 8th inning, his injury history aside for the moment.
He put two runners on in the 8th via the walk, then blew away Martinez with a high fastball. And then Girardi decided it was time for Mariano, well-rested and with four outs to claim as his own before his 500th save was in the books.
Twilight Zone Moment of the Night: Mariano Rivera hitting against K-Rod in the 9th with the bases loaded and two outs. And to truly add to the bizarro-reality moment, Mariano actually drew a walk! He was up 2-0 in the count to start, and Rodriguez came back to even the count at two. And after a foul ball, Frankie threw two balls in a row to walk in a run. Unbelievable. Not surprisingly, it was the great reliever's first RBI of his career.
After that, he closed out the 9th in efficient fashion, reaching a nice, round-number milestone in the process. He's only the second pitcher to reach 500 saves, the other being Hoffman of course.
A good baseball night even if my enthusiasm for sweeping the Mets is tempered by the reality of just how under-manned they were.
(The Keeping the Work Week at Bay Edition)
Ultimately, there's nothing really wrong with Robinson Cano hitting .300 with 24 home runs and playing pretty good defense at second base. It's just that sometimes you feel he should be doing so much more. Getting on base more. Hitting more consistently over the course of the season.
Remember early in the season when he was red hot, hitting line drives all over the place and seemed on his way to having a huge season? Specifically, he was peppering the ball to left field, either slicing it down the line or driving it with authority toward the left-cente gap. That's gone now. As I expected it eventually would be. I can't remember the last time I saw him hit a ball with authority to left or left-center.
Cano hit into two DPs and left a tidy nine runners on base. He had two chances to salt the game away with the bases loaded in the late innings. In the 6th, he hit into a DP with 1 out; and in the 8th with two outs and the bags juiced, he grounded out to Castillo.
It hit me. Wang's theme song for 2009. A mid-90's alterna-rock classic by Dave Grohl.
I'm ready to knock him out of the rotation at a moment's notice. And then he gets an inning-ending double play. Or flashes a nasty slider (something new in his arsenal?) and strikes out David Wright. The Mets had the tying run on 2nd in the 4th, and he was able to get the ground ball to get out of it.
He's still allowing too many baserunners and has lost his magical ability to be economical on a game in/game out basis (remember those 85 pitches through seven innings nights of '06 and '07?). But after watching his start in Atlanta and against a AAAA team at Citi Field tonight, I can't justify taking him out of the rotation. Yet. His next start will be against the Blue Jays, and then either at Minnesota or at Anaheim. In a couple of weeks we'll know for certain of Wang is going to be in the Yankees' rotation for the 2nd half of the season.
His final line: 5.1/4/2/2/3/3. He had 11 groundouts and 2 flyouts, threw 85 pitches, 49 of them for strikes. And got his first win of the season. That monkey's gone to heaven.
As the game got deeper, I realized that a loss tonight would've bothered me more than I expected. I can't remember a more depleted major league line-up than the Mets are shuttling out there everday; they're one player away from being a bonafide AAA line-up. To not be able to put them away, complete the sweep and enjoy Monday's off-day would've been disappointing
As is typical for an ESPN national broadcast that features the Yankees, there was a ton of Jeter Talk. Chances to get to 4,000 hits. The imminent prospect of a position switch. The Yankees' move at the end of his current contract.
The most interesting tidbit they offered was that since 1950 Jeter has been involved in the 4th most number of wins of any player in the major leagues before turning 35 (which Jeter did the other day). 1. Brooks Robinson; 2. Mickey Mantle; 3. Hank Aaron
Sure there's the factor of payroll advantage and being born under a good sign, but I find it amazingly impressive that Jeter is 4th on that list.
And by thinking "In five years Derek Jeter is going to be 40" gives me one of those "Damn, I'm getting old" moments which always suck.
In two games against Livan Hernandez the Yankees haven't bludgeoned him like I thought they could/should. His effort at Stadium 2 earlier in the month was no great shakes, but he did pitch into the 6th inning and tonight he was even more game than that. 7/3/3/3/5/1
This fits into his overall trend for this year of defying the odds of being left for road-kill by nearly every preseason prognostication, and giving the Mets a guy they can hand the ball to with a modicum of confidence every five days. Before tonight he had a 3.66 ERA in June in 32 innings of work. He's pitched into the 6th inning in 12 of 15 start this season. Who could've predicted that in the spring?
I don't know if there is a lesson to be mined from Hernandez's work this year . . . maybe never underestimate the wily veteran with the rubber arm of all rubber arms.
That's a big home run for Brandon Inge in Houston. The Tigers were on the verge of an inexcusable sweep at the hands of the Astros, and with one swing with 2 outs in the 9th down one, they were able to save face and stay a healthy margin ahead of the Twins.
The Giants have the second best record in the National League. It's time to start paying closer attention.
I didn't like the Tatis bunt in the 6th. Sheffield on first with no outs, and a count of 1-0. Granted, Tatis was clearly trying to bunt for a base hit, but I would rather see him hit away there.
I also wasn't crazy about lifting Wang at 85 pitches with one out in the 6th. He has Fernando Martinez (.173) and Brian Schneider (.233) coming up there and you're going to need the pen for 7-8-9 anyway. I always hate going to the bullpen until you clearly have to. And I didn't think they needed to in that spot. Maybe with the off-day tomorrow, the rest the relievers have had over the last 48 hours and their sub-3.00 ERA in June, Girardi didn't want to push Wang any further . . . It's a decision that could go either way. I probably would've stuck with him for at least another batter or two.
Coke struck out Martinez, and then Girardi pulled a double-switch with Damon & Hughes. Hughes got Santos to fly out on one pitch.
Since May 8th (the date of A-Rod's return), the Yankees have the best record in the majors, just ahead of Boston. The other two teams in the top four are the two Los Angeles teams. The Dodgers are no surprise, but I was surprised to see the Angels on that list. With the Rangers losing at home to the Padres, LA/Anaheim is two up in the loss column now.
The two A.L. West rivals start a series tomorrow in Texas.
Appropriately enough, A-Rod made a Keith Hernandez-esque play in the 7th on a sacrifice bunt attempt. With Castillo on first on no outs, Argenis Reyes but a bunt toward the third base side of the pitcher's mound. Rodriguez was moving in as the pitch was being delivered (a move that Hernandez made an art form as a first baseman in obvious bunt situations) fielded and threw to Jeter covering second to get the lead runner. Great execution of a difficult play.
It's funny the details you remember from your formative years as a sports fan. And some of the things you forget. I honestly forgot that Eckersly won both the Cy Young and MVP in 1992. I don't think I could ever condone a reliever winning an MVP award, regardless of the gaudy save numbers, ERA and WHIPs. He was *amazing* though during that stretch ('88-'93), wasn't he? How 'bout those WHIPs in '89 (0.607) and '90 (0.614)? From 1989-1991, three seasons, he pitched 207 innings, facing 767 batters in the process, and walked 16 men unintentionally (four intentional). And struck out 215! His K:BB ratio in '89 and '90 was 18.33 and 18.25 respectively. And the thing is those ratios were in the 6's in '87 and '88, 9.67 in '91; and never higher than 9.00 again.
It was like he hit an oasis of pitching-control perfection for two years, never to be found again at that level. Not that his K:BB splits thereafter were anything to scoff at.
For a point of comparison, Mariano Rivera's best K:BB ratio of his career was last year at 12.83. Before then he had never been higher than 6.92.
A couple of years ago, a buddy of mine who's a Red Sox fan and wasn't familiar with Brian Bruney at the time asked me about him. And I described him simply as "a country chucker." That description still fits to a large extent. And why I'm not dead-set on believing that Bruney is some kind of nirvanic answer to the 8th inning, his injury history aside for the moment.
He put two runners on in the 8th via the walk, then blew away Martinez with a high fastball. And then Girardi decided it was time for Mariano, well-rested and with four outs to claim as his own before his 500th save was in the books.
Twilight Zone Moment of the Night: Mariano Rivera hitting against K-Rod in the 9th with the bases loaded and two outs. And to truly add to the bizarro-reality moment, Mariano actually drew a walk! He was up 2-0 in the count to start, and Rodriguez came back to even the count at two. And after a foul ball, Frankie threw two balls in a row to walk in a run. Unbelievable. Not surprisingly, it was the great reliever's first RBI of his career.
After that, he closed out the 9th in efficient fashion, reaching a nice, round-number milestone in the process. He's only the second pitcher to reach 500 saves, the other being Hoffman of course.
A good baseball night even if my enthusiasm for sweeping the Mets is tempered by the reality of just how under-manned they were.
