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.

----

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….

One week later

This is a fairly newish blog, so I don't feel particularly obligated to keep up with it.

I do intend to blog as much as possible about the Yankees, but life interferes sometimes.

In the last week, I went to the beach with my children and had a pretty difficult week workwise. Plus, I was not particularly in the mood to write (both because of the sucky Yankees play and generally).

In any case, by now it's fairly well known that the Yankees lost 7 straight, but finally beat the Red Sox today (3-1) to break that losing streak.

There's not much I can add to the hundreds of thousands of words that have been written about the Yankee skid, other than to say that it was one of those perfect storm situations where the starters are injured or can't pitch deep enough, the bullpen did its part except for one member who was gased (or in case of Mariano's BS of last Friday, rusty) and the hitters suddenly decided to pretty much go cold at the same time.

I can't help but notice, however, that A-Rod has absolutely disappeared from the Yankee headlines. That tells me that A-Rod earned some brownie points with his great batting in the frist 3 weeks of the season (he has been somewhat cold of late) and that he wasn't seen as the problem.

If there was ever a silver lining to a 7-game losing streak is that A-Rod is not news.

Other than that, you have to feel for Jeff Karstens. As I posted on Pete Abraham's Lohud blog ( http://yankees.lohudblogs.com/2007/04/28/karstens-fractured-fibula/#comments ), I liked the kid last year and was rooting for him this year.

He's still young, and hopefully he will be able to come back this year and reclaim his career.

Tomorrow, Chien-Ming Wang will have a chance to show why he was a Cy Young runner-up last year (and frankly, Wang pitched solidly against TB last week).

If the Yankees win 2 out of 3 against the BoSox, they will have cut Boston's lead back to a manageable 4 1/2 games. But more importantly, they will have built some momentum for the forthcoming weeks.

P.S. To add a new wrinkle to this blog, I'm thinking of doing entries in English and in Spanish.

The first Yankee-BoSox battle of 2007

There's not much I'm going to add before the first game of the Yankees-BoSox series that hasn't been added by others.

Yes, the Yankees are coming in with their pitching rotation somewhat in tatters.

Yes, the Pettitte - Schilling match-up is pretty much the best one for the Yankees.

Yes, it's not advisable to go into Fenway with 2 rookies.

Yes, it would have been nice to have all of the Yankee relievers rested for this series.

Yes, Pettitte better pitch long today, so the pen gets some rest.

But you know what?

IT'S APRIL!!!

Assuming every Yankee and Red Sox player leaves this series healthy, this is just a 3 game series, being played at a good time for Boston. But in April.

Let's not make it into something more important than it is.

In any case, as I posted on Pete Abraham's blog: a) If the Yanks get swept, it will be a mild disappointment;

b) If the Yanks win 1 out of 3, it will be an acceptable result for the Yanks;

c) If the Yanks win 2 out of 3, it will be seen as a very good result for the Yanks;

d) If the Yanks sweep the Red Sox, yikes, that would definitely be an upset (and a heck of a great result for the Yanks).

Other than that, play ball.

JRVJ

P.S. I get the feeling that if there were a rematch of the A-Rod - Varitek fight this weekend, A-Rod would lift Varitek with his pinky finger and throw him all the way to second base without flinching.

That's the kind of roll the man is in right now.

Two random thoughts after yesterday's 8-6 win

1. There's an old baseball tradition, wherein a team which is winning a game in what could be construed as a blow out, should not "run-up" the score.

According to this tradition, if a team is winning by 8+ runs (maybe even by 6 or 7 runs), its expected not to hustle full throttle to manufacture extra runs that may "show-up" the other team (things like stealing bases in blow-outs are frowned upon).

Well, I haven't done a study on this, but I have the distinct impression that baseball has gotten more chaotic of late (and by late I mean the last few seasons), and every so often you hear about a team coming back from a big deficit and winning a game that seemed lost. Clearly, MLB baseball is not operating in a 1968 mode, so a big inning is always lurking there somewhere.

While I suspect that the number of awesome comebacks in a season is still fairly small (probably not even 5%), seeing comebacks like yesterday's (with that amazing 6 run 9th, all with 2 outs), leads me to think that it's time to discard that old baseball tradition of not running-up the score.

2. It's become well established among Yankee fans that Joe Torre rides relief pitchers hard (see Quantrill, Paul or Villone, Ron).

Since relief pitchers are seen as somewhat fungible commodities (unless you are Mariano Rivera), riding relievers hard is not exactly a tragedy for the Yankees, provided that the Yankees have enough pitchers in line to take up Torre's high work load (this year would seem to be one of those years in which the Yankees have the relief arms and the need to use them).

What I don't understand is Joe Torre's philosophy when using Jorge Posada.

Watching Wednesday's game (April 18th, Yanks over Cleveland 9-2), I noticed that Joe replaced Alex Rodríguez with Miguel Cairo, Josh Phelps with Doug Mientkiewicz and Johnny Damon with Kevin Thompson (the first two in the top of the 8th, the latter in the waning part of the bottom of the 7th, when the Yanks were already up 9-2).

Why didn't Torre replace Jorge Posada for the top of the 9th inning?

The Yanks were up by 7 runs, and Torre had already bit the bullet on taking out some of his regular players, so it's not like he was studiously trying to avoid a comeback like yesterday's.

While I believe that teams should not assume that they're going to win blowouts (see point 1 above), if you're already putting in defensive replacements, shouldn't you at least spare Jorge an inning of going into his squat?

An inning in a 162 game season is not that much, but an inning here and there could well end adding up by the end of the year......

A-Rod, the Lord of Creation

With apologies to Morgan Freeman in Shawshank Redemption, A-Rod has every right to feel like the Lord of Creation tonight.

Due to work commitments, I couldn't watch today's game.

I had ESPN's gamecast going, and was somewhat negative about the Yankees winning today, what with the score being 6-2.

Well, I get out of a phone call and check to see how the game ended, and notice that it ended 8-6, and that the last batter for the Yankees was A-ROD!!!

Game's like today are why I love baseball: long term, this wins means nothing more than any other run-of-the-mill win. In October, when the chips are on the line, this win means nothing (as the Yanks have learned the last few Octobers, it's not necessarily the best team that wins in October).

But the pure joy that this amazing A-ROD tear has caused me, and other Yankee fans, is why the 7+ months when MLB baseball is being played are my favorite time of the year.

JRVJ

P.S. Upon watching A-ROD's shot again ( http://tinyurl.com/2fxa7a ), what strikes me as interesting is that some of the Yankee players and fans KNEW that it was a HR from the moment A-Rod hit it.

Check 00:54 of the clip, and tell me if that's not the case.....

Yankee thoughts

As far as I'm concerned, the Yanks would do quite well to move RJ.Mr. Johnson was never the great pitcher of years past, and clearly he has not endeared himself to the fans or his teammates.

Freeing up $16MM ($22+MM if we add up the 40% penalty for being over the luxury tax threshold) would allow the Yanks to allocate resources someplace else in a more productive way.

Having said that, unless the Yanks get Zito or Clemens (players with very different profiles and shelf-lives), I suspect that Carl Pavano will actually be counted to contribute in 2007.I'm not sure how I feel about that, other than Pavano will certainly benefit from having new faces around.

What I'm saying is that by not having Sheffield, Wright, RJ and whomever else - Villone - may not be around, peer pressure on Pavano (for being brittle, being sort of a playboy, not being there for the team etc. in 2006) will decrease a little.

JRVJ