Archive for August, 2009
Warren’s scoreless streak snapped in loss
Posted by: | CommentsThe Yanks signed catcher Brian Peterson for Triple-A because Frankie Cervelli is on the disabled list with a sore hand. Barely a week ago the Yankees had to stick PJ Pilittere on the disabled list because they had no spot for him, and now they’re having to sign guys off the scrap heap to get by. Amazing how quickly depth can disappear.
Make sure you scroll down for tonight’s game thread, as well as news about the Chad Gaudin pickup.
Triple-A Scranton (6-0 win over Lehigh Valley)
Kevin Russo: 0 for 4, 1 K
Ramiro Pena, Juan Miranda, Yurendell DeCaster & Chris Stewart: all 2 for 5, 1 R – Pena doubled, drove in a run, K’ed & committed a fielding error … Miranda did the same exact thing as Pena, sans error … DeCaster doubled twice, drove in a run & K’ed … Stewart doubled & plated a run
Austin Jackson, Shelley Duncan & Colin Curtis: all 1 for 4 – Jackson stole a base, scored a run, drove one in & K’ed twice … Shelley walked, scored & K’ed … Curtis drove in a run
John Rodriguez: 0 for 3, 1 BB, 1 K
Russ Ortiz: 6 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, 1 WP, 1 Balk, 6-9 GB/FB – 58 of 95 pitches were strikes (61.1%)
Mike Dunn: 2 IP, zeroes, 2 K, 3-1 GB/FB – 14 of 20 pitches were strikes (70%) … awesome
Edwar Ramirez: 1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 0-1 GB/FB – 10 of 14 pitches were strikes (71.4%)
Yankees acquire Chad Gaudin
Posted by: | CommentsVia the YES broadcast (Carig confirms), the Yanks acquired Chad Gaudin from the Padres for a player to be named later. Gaudin figures to compete with Sergio Mitre for the fifth starter spot, if not assume it outright. He had a 5.13 ERA in 20 games (19 starts) with San Diego, but his FIP is a much prettier 3.68. Amazingly, Gaudin is only 26 and still has another year of team control left. The PTBNL might be fairly significant (as in not lower level filler).
I’ve been a Gaudin fan since he was with Oakland, so I approve.
Update (10:17pm): Joel Sherman says the Yanks owe Gaudin $650,000 the rest of the year, but tack on another $260,000 to the league for luxury tax.
Update (10:38pm): T-Kep says the plan is for Gaudin to work out of the bullpen, but you have to assume the clock is ticking on Mitre.
Game 108 Spillover Thread
Posted by: | CommentsGoing to go out on a limb and say this one won’t end 1-0.
Game 108: Taking it to the Sox
Posted by: | CommentsWhat better way to forget about those first eight games against the Red Sox than to beat them in the opener of this four-game series? It’s what the Yankees need at this point. Not only to put those earlier games behind them, but to continue rolling. They enter the game winners of three straight, and other than a three-game blip against the White Sox over the weekend have been playing incredibly since the All-Star Break.
The Yanks will take their hacks against John Smoltz, who has not lived up to expectations so far. What the expectations were for a 42-year-old coming off major shoulder I have no idea, but the Sox — their fans, at least — were talking it up like they were getting a bona fide ace in June. It hasn’t quite worked out that way, as Smoltz has allowed 50 hits and 29 runs in 36.2 innings. Smoltz’s peripherals, including a 6:1 K/BB ratio, have been good, but he allows too many hits. Worse for the Sox, he’s prone to the big inning. That’s a good thing for the Yanks.
Smoltz has gone six innings just twice this year, each time allowing five runs. His best start was a five-inning, one-run performance against the Royals in which he struck out seven. But those are the Royals. These are the Yankees, with arguably the best offense in baseball. We all know what they should do. If they can put it together, they should be able to hit Smolz.
On the other end is Joba, who has had a mixed bag against Boston this season. He allowed nine hits and walked four in his first outing against them, lasting just 5.1 innings. He limited the damages to two runs, one earned, but the Yankees would lose the game late. I need not recount that one.
The next time out Joba got off to a horrible start, allowing the first five men to reach base without recording an out, staking the Red Sox to a 4-0 lead. To say he settled down would be an understatement. Joba went nuts after that, striking out 12 Red Sox in the innings two through six, though he only lasted two outs into the last frame. That’s understandable: those strikeouts take a lot of pitches to attain. Yet the Yankees could not come back from that initial four-run deficit.
After a shaky few starts leading up to the break, Joba has been tremendous over his three post-break starts, going 3-0 with just two runs allowed over 21.2 innings. That includes just eight hits, though he has also walked eight in that span. Still, it’s a WHIP under 1.00. The Yankees need him to set the tone for this series. It’s a lot to ask from a young pitcher, but Joba is no ordinary 23-year-old.
There are a lot of things I want to see tonight: Joba throwing a chest-high fastball inside to Youkilis, Teixeira and A-Rod going back-to-back off Smoltz, the Yanks running all over Jason Varitek, and plenty more. But what I want to see the most — really, hear the most — is the Yankee Stadium crowd going crazy. I’ve been to a bunch of games this year, and yet to have the same feeling as I did in the old Stadium. In big games against the Sox in August, September, and October, that place was rocking. When Jorge Posada hit that double off Pedro in the 2003 ALCS, the place shook. That would make this really feel like the home park.
Lineup:
1. Derek Jeter, SS
2. Johnny Damon, LF
3. Mark Teixeira, 1B
4. Alex Rodriguez, 3B
5. Hideki Matsui, DH
6. Jorge Posada, C
7. Robinson Cano, 2B
8. Nick Swisher, RF
9. Melky Cabrera, CF
And on the mound, number sixty-two, Joba Chamberlain.
Quick musings on Hughes’ inning
Posted by: | CommentsEarlier today in an appearance on Mike Francesa’s show, Yanks GM Brian Cashman all but admitted that Phil Hughes will not be moved back into the rotation this year. I echo what Joe said to me earlier about this: “I’m glad I came to grips with that earlier in the year.” In general, there are two problems with leaving Hughes in the bullpen: 1) the team needs another starter, and 2) he’ll be stuck on an innings limit again next year. The first part is most certainly true, there’s not denying that. But what about those innings?
Hughes has thrown 84.1 IP this year between the majors and minors. As a full-time reliever in the months of June and July, Hughes threw 13 and 14.2 IP, respectively. If we assume he’ll work 14 innings in both August and September, that would put him at 112.1 IP on the season, his most since throwing a career high 146 IP in 2006 and 42.2 IP more than he threw last year. Baseball Prospectus’ PECOTA adjusted standings say the Yanks have a better than 93% of chance of making the postseason, but even if we assume zero playoff innings for Hughes and he finishes the season in that 110-120 IP range, he’d be good for 150 innings or so next year. That’s … not terrible. Not ideal, but better than I thought it would be.
Remembering an August series with Boston
Posted by: | CommentsOn August 18, 2006, the Yankees started a five-game series with the Red Sox with a rare Friday doubleheader. As usual, the two teams were battling it out atop the AL East. The Yankees, at 70-48, were a game and a half up on the Red Sox, though they had dropped the previous two games to Baltimore and were 4-6 in their last 10. The Sox, too, were 4-6 in their last ten. Yet none of that mattered on the afternoon of the 18th. All that mattered were the five games at hand, surely a series which would determine the fate of the AL East.
What followed was one of the most memorable Red Sox series in recent years. The Yankees offense stepped up, putting up double digit runs in the first three games of the series, taking them all. They put up an eight spot on Sunday to take that matchup, and then finally won a light-hitting affair on Monday, 2-1 to cap what has been dubbed the modern Boston Massacre. Five games, five Yankees wins. On the morning of August 22, the Yankees woke up to a 6.5 game lead, one they would not relinquish.
At the time, I could hardly believe those four days and five games actually happened. The two teams seemed evenly matched. They’d been atop the division all year. If you told me on Friday morning that either team would win all five, or even four of those games and I’d have said you were nuts. Beyond nuts. That you didn’t understand the ebbs and flows of a season, and more than that the anyone-can-win-any-game nature of baseball. Funny how things work out sometimes.
On August 6, 2009, the Red Sox head down to the Bronx, two and a half games down in the AL East. Both teams have spent time atop the division this year, and the series is critical for both. Again, if you tell me that either team will take all four, I’ll say you’re nuts. Two teams of this caliber shouldn’t have many lopsided affairs. In fact, they’ve had too many already this season.
Yet I can’t shake the notion of the Yankees burying the Red Sox right here. A sweep would put them six and a half games up, exactly how many they were ahead after the Boston Massacre. While it’s not quite as late in the season, it’s late enough for a team like the Yankees. That would be an enormous cushion that they could build on in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, the Red Sox would be scrambling for the Wild Card.
It’s not likely. It’s not really necessary, either. Considering their eight-game deficit to the Red Sox already, the Yanks would do well to take three of four. Still, it’s almost impossible to not think back to those four euphoric days in August 2006. They turned the season in the Yankees’ favor. We can only hope the next four games have a similar effect.
Running on the Sox
Posted by: | Comments
The Yankees have traditionally been a power hitting, high on-base percentage kind of team, going all the way back to the days of Ruth and Gehrig. They would dig in, make pitchers work, get on base somehow, then sit back and watch as their sluggers peppered the bleachers with big flies. This year’s club is no different, but this weekend they have a chance to exploit one of Boston’s biggest weaknesses: allowing stolen bases.
The Red Sox this year have been just terrible when it comes to allowing steals. I mean horrifically bad. On average, Major League clubs have stolen bases successfully at a 72.7% clip, but Boston has allowed runners to be successful on their steal attempts a ridiculous 85.2% of the time. All Star Catcher Jason Varitek has been the main culprit, allowing 69 steals in 83 attempts, or 85.6%. In addition to leaving his mask on during a fight, he’s also hitting just .212-.356-.349 since May 30th, and the team’s 3-4-5 starters have a combined 5.72 ERA. What exactly does he do well? Forgive me as I digress.
As for the rest of Boston’s catchers, Victor Martinez has only played one game behind the plate for them and no one attempted a steal. With the Indians though, baserunners swiped bags at a 84.8% success rate. George Kottaras was the best of the backstop bunch, allowing steals at just a 83.8% clip, but he’s on the phantom DL because the team has no spot for him and he’s out of options and they don’t want to lose him to waivers with a sore back and won’t play in the series.
As a team, the Yankees have stolen 71 bases, a modest amount good for 12th most in baseball and 6th most in AL. Their 78.0% success rate is fourth best in the game behind the Rangers (83%), Rays (80.2%), and Phillies (79.8%). Obviously most of the stolen base credit goes to the presently injured Brett Gardner, who’s stolen 20 bags with an 80% success rate. The Cap’n is second with 19 steals, getting the job done 82.6% of the time. Johnny Damon has picked his spots to go a perfect 8-for-8 in stolen base attempts. New addition Jerry Hairston Jr. hasn’t attempted a steal in pinstripes yet, but he had seven steals in ten attempts in Cincinnati.
The Yankees will do their usual shtick of drawing walks and working counts and hitting homers this series, but the opportunity is there for them to take an extra base almost at will. Given the way the team has hit with runners in scoring position this year, maybe that’s not such a good thing.
Photo Credit: Mike Carlson, AP
An open letter to Joba
Posted by: | CommentsWith the Red Sox coming to town tonight for the start of the biggest series of the season (to date, anyway), Jason at IIATMS pens an open letter to Joba, asking him to do the right thing and set the tone for the series with his pitching and not by throwing at people. I definitely agree, the Sox are coming off two tough losses in Tampa, no need to give them anything to rally around.
Just 21 days 'til pitchers and catchers report.
