Good job by Andy, and some questions about Torre's decision making

Though he started a little gingerly, Andy Pettitte ended up pitching a solid 7 innings yesterday (1 run allowed, 4Ks, 2 BBs, 7 hits, 108 pitches, 68 strikes - http://tinyurl.com/ytfau7 ).

As mentioned by Pete Abraham ( http://tinyurl.com/ysp2kg ), who beat me to the punch since I was sleeping at the time ( :-) ), the Yanks have had sold pitching in 7 of the last 8 games (the bad game being Igawa's bad start against Seattle on May 4th, though you could argue that Mussina's start against Texas on May 3rd, though rock solid, even if it hadn't been a rehab start - Moose did not allot a run in his 5 innings of work - was short).

SG, of RLYW fame published a chart on May 5th, 2007 ( http://tinyurl.com/yu2rvy )
which showed the number of IP per game by Yankee starters (4.82 IP per game, dead last in the AL) and pen (4.12 IP per game, highest in the AL).

That chart was somewhat skewed by the April 28th game against Boston ( http://tinyurl.com/3cml6c ) where Karstens had to leave after the second batter due to having his fibula broken due to a line drive hit right up the middle by Julio Lugo in the first pitch of the game. Igawa, which was almost certainly on call for long relief that day (should Karstens bomb), had all the time he needed to warm up, in what was almost a start for him.

Nevertheless, SG did have a point: the Yankee starters were not going deep, and this was killing the Yankee pen, especially in the absence of a long reliever (a role which, incidentally, Mike Myers ended up playing in the May 4th game against Seattle).

SG hasn't done a new chart, but I suspect that the last few outings by the Yanks have improved the situation significantly (it isn't the most complicated of maths, and I may get around to it later today if I have a chance).

Here's hoping that Moose (one of my favorite Yankees) can pitch 6 innings (or more) of rock solid baseball, AND the Yankees pound on Texas again.

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The Roger Clemens signing has once again proven that Joe Torre is a great people manager, especially for NY. This is clearly his greatest strength.

His biggest weakness is probably his tactical decision making.

Yesterday, Torre replaced Andy Pettite with Scott Proctor in the 8th. That seems reasonable enough, what with Scott not pitching since Sunday, May 6th, when he only threw 8 pitches before being tossed from the game (http://tinyurl.com/2hfaa6 ). Moreso, Scott has being given a 4 day suspension, which the Yanks have appealed. It is possible that the Yanks may drop their appeal today (after Scott threw 26 pitches) and have him take his 4 days of rest when he will probably not be available for one or even two games.

But what is strange is why Torre did not use Luis Vizcaino in the 9th inning (he used Sean Henn). Vizcaino hasn't pitched since the May 4th game (the Igawa/Bean/Vizcaino got pounded game). That's 5 games, and in the 9th, the Yankees were up by 8 runs, which surely was as good a time to get Vizcaino some work as one could find.

In any case, my other pet gripe is the fact that Torre is not taking out Jorge Posada in the 9th (or 8th) inning of games the Yankees are winning handily.

Yesterday was the 3rd game I've identified in which Posada should have been pulled.

The other two are:

a) April 18th (the Yankees won 9-2 against Cleveland, and they already were winning 9-2 by the bottom of the 7th. As you can see in the play-by-play, by the top of the 8th, Kevin Thompson had been put in to play LF, Miguel Cairo had been put in to play 2B, Minky was playing 1B and Melky was in CF - http://tinyurl.com/27mheu ); and,

b) May 5th (the Yankees won 8-1 against Seattle, and they were already winning 7-0 in the top of the 8th. I can understand keeping Posada in for the 8th, since that was a possible perfect game for Chien-Min Wang, but by the bottom of the 8th, the Yanks were up 8-1 and Wang was out. By the top of the 9th, Miguel Cairo was in for defensive purposes at 3rd - http://tinyurl.com/yw5mo8 ).

Yesterday (play by play here - http://tinyurl.com/2do759 ), Melky was already in CF at the top of the 8th, by which time the Yanks were winning 8-1. Jorge was up to bat in the bottom of the 8th, so I could understand keeping him to bat, but why keep him in for the top of the 9th?

That's 3 innings (arguably it could be 4 or 5, but I'll err on the side of caution) where Jorge Posada should not have been in.

Unless Torre changes this trend, this could easily end up amounting to 20-30 innings over the season.

Will 20-30 innings really wear Jorge down? I don't know, but seeing as how the Yankees don't have anything close to a good replacement for Jorge handy, why take the risk?

In Mariano I trust

I was at a book presentation last night, so I only watched bits and pieces of the 3-2 loss to the Mariners.
I did see the horrible blown call by Gerry Davis (check out a screen cap at River Ave. Blues - http://riveraveblues.com/ - or Canyon of Heroes - http://canyonofheroes.blogspot.com/ ).

I think the Yankees would have won that game without that blown call (Mariano may never have faced Beltre), but that’s baseball for you. If nothing else, it keeps down those anti-Yankee fans who are always bitching about the Yankees get favorable calls.

As to Mariano’s loss, I actually thought that Mariano pitched very well. If you look at the pitch Beltre hit, it was a 96 MPH fastball. Jorge Posada was calling for an inside pitch, and Mariano threw it a little bit to the center.

HRs happen, even to Mariano. Personally, I don’t think this appearance by Mariano as comparable to his Oakland or Boston meltdowns or as a harbinger of prolonged shakiness by Mariano (we already had WWWMW).

Until further notice, I am still fully confident in Mariano this year (though arguably, his ERA is going to look horrible by the end of the year, unless you tease out the noise from those Oakland and Boston meltdowns).

JRVJ

Some bullets on recent Yankee events

• Since my last post, the Yankees have improved to 14-15. They are one good De Salvo outing away from .500, and more important, being 5 down of Boston with slightly more than 80% of the season to go.

• Yes, losing Phil Hughes was a disappointment, but long term (including for the second half of the season), it is probably a blessing in disguise.

• Both Pettitte and Mussina have shown that they are still true work horses (and personally, I think the argument of which one of the two is the Yanks 2 or 3 starter is moot. I tend to favor Moose as 2, but again, I think they are pretty much at the same level).

• Wang’s last start has confirmed his standing as one of the elite starters in baseball. Plus, the fact that he almost always eats up a lot of innings is a great boon to the Yanks.

• Igawa, God bless his soul, is the Mr. X of the Yankee pitchers. I think he’ll be a league average starter eventually, but I tend to agree with others who have pointed out that he needs some extra seasoning in Scranton.

• It’s good to bear in mind that Igawa was not supposed to be a starter for the Yanks out of spring training, but was sort of pushed into this due to injuries (most particularly, to Jeff Karstens).

• Pavano, Pavano, Pavano. Contrary to other Yankee fans, I’m not convinced that the fix is in with the guy (why would have thrown so well against Minny on April 9th if he was trying to take a dive?). I do tend to think that he is brittle, snake-bitten and a little bit of a wuss.
  
  From a purely sentimental standpoint, I think the Yankees should push him to the mound and say: “You will pitch until your arm drops off”. However, the attorney in me wonders if the whole Dr. Andrews/possible Tommy John surgery angle isn’t being pushed by the Yankees so that they can get some sort of insurance payment.
  
  It does surprise me that bloggers such as Mike Plugh (http://canyonofheroes.blogspot.com/ ), Pete Abraham (http://yankees.lohudblogs.com/ ), Alex Belth ( http://bronxbanter.baseballtoaster.com/ ) or the RLYW guys ( http://www.replacementlevel.com/ )haven’t looked into what is the insurance situation pertaining Pavano.
  
  I do know that if I’m Brian Cashman, and I know what I have coming down the pitching pipe (more later), plus what I have coming up from the minors in 2008, I would certainly try to get a big insurance payment due to Pavano being out until 2009 (at best).

• I like J. Damon as much as the next guy, but I tend to think that he could use a 15-day stint on the DL, to get over all his ailments.

• Abreu seems to be working through his slump. That’s crucial, both to this year’s Yankee team and to Abreu’s professional prospects (either he’s a FA after this year on the Yanks pick up his expensive option).

• Melky (or as I always root for him: “Fear the Melky!”) is also getting himself corrected, little by little. Yes, he has little power (though that recent triple was nice), but he’s walking again, which is one of his better traits: unlike the better hitting Robinson Cano, Melky will get on base a lot (where his speed is a distinct plus).

• I mentioned this in re: the Yanks 9-2 win over Cleveland on April 18th, and I mention it again in regards the Yanks 8-1 win against Seattle yesterday (May 5th).
  
  Why isn’t Torre taking out Jorge Posada in the 8th or 9th inning of games where the Yanks have a commanding lead and where he’s already done other substitutions?
  
  Over the course of a year, 20-30 innings that Jorge doesn’t catch are 20-30 innings of lesser tear on his body.

• Roger Clemens. Today’s Yankee game was not being broadcast in Panama, so I read about Clemens announcement by reading comments on Pete Abraham’s blog plus comments on RLYW.
  
  While most Yankee fans hope that Roger is going to be close to what he was in Houston (even with the understanding that the AL is a tougher league to pitch in than the NL), I think that we’ll all settle for below 4.00 ERA Roger Clemens.
  
  See, I don’t necessarily think that the most important thing about Roger signing with the Yanks is the talent issue (though that’s clearly important).
  
  I think the Clemens signing shows the Yankees are committed to going to the mat to win THIS YEAR, while also applying all of the measures Cashman is undertaking for future success. Furthermore, having Clemens on the team means that Boston doesn’t get him, with the concomitant talent shift on the Yankee side of the ledger.

• Roger Clemens Redux. I wrote this once, probably over at Baseball Primer, but I distinctly remember my grandfather in the hospital in October 1986 during the Red Sox - Mets WS (he died, about 2 months after being diagnosed with lung cancer, on Nov. 17th, 1986).
  
  At the time, we didn’t really get any AL games in Panama (we got Cubs and Braves on Cable), so while I knew of Clemens, I hadn’t really watched him pitch.
  
  Well, whenever I see Roger pitch, it reminds me of my father, and if nothing else, it links me back to my mid-teens. So, as long as Roger wants to keep on going, my memory of times past remains stronger….

• Today’s brushbacks (and yes, Roger gets mentioned, too). I sort of agree with the argument that it’s counterproductive to hit the opposing team’s batter, since it gives that other team a baserunner for free.
  
  However, like most things in life, there are exceptions to the rule.
  
  I don’t particularly mind hitting somebody back if you’re way ahead or way behind in a game, or when there’s a full out feud in place.
  
  I like the fact that Scottie Proctor threw behind Y. Bethancourt today, though I tend to think that either this was an individual action (because if it was a Torre approved move, then it would have made much more sense to have Proctor go out for the top of the 8th and have his 1st pitch brush back the Mariner hitter in the box) or Torre is really not a smart tactician/bullpen handler (for the above stated reason: if you’re going to have Proctor thrown out, have him thrown out at a smart time). You'd better believe it that Roger Clemens would have also thrown at the Mariners today, though he would have picked his spot a little more tactically....

• One last Scottie Proctor comment: to think that he’s the by-product of the Robin Ventura trade, who’s retired now…..
  
  One of the few trades of the early-to-mid 2000s in which the Yankees came out ahead….