Archive for April, 2011
Banuelos solid in Trenton win
Posted by: | CommentsAlan Horne told Mike Ashmore that he’s scheduled to throw some long bullpen session over the next two weeks before getting back on the mound to face real live hitters. Horne didn’t pitch at all last year and has thrown just 100.2 IP since 2007 due to various shoulder issues. The now 28-year-old was once one of the Yankees’ best pitching prospects, but we know how that story usually goes. Jeremy Bleich, meanwhile, is throwing 35-pitch side sessions.
Triple-A Scranton (4-1 loss to Gwinnett) faced the best pitching prospect in baseball and an old buddy
Greg Golson, CF: 1 for 4, 1 R, 1 BB – threw a runner out at third
Kevin Russo, 2B: 2 for 4, 1 BB – eight for his last 24 (.333) with five walks
Jesus Montero, C: 2 for 5, 1 RBI - I believe that’s his first game behind the plate since the injury
Jorge Vazquez, 1B: 0 for 4, 4 K - that’s 29 K in 23 games
Justin Maxwell, LF, Jordan Parraz, RF & Ramiro Pena, SS: all 1 for 4 – Parraz and Pena each whiffed once, but Maxwell did three times … Maxwell has now struck out 35 times in 22 games, which is horrible
Brandon Laird, 3B: 2 for 4, 1 2B, 1 K
David Phelps, RHP: 7 IP, 9 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, 9-4 GB/FB, 1 E (throwing) – 63 of 96 pitches were strikes (65.6%) … hasn’t been great this year, hopefully that changes as the weather warms up
George Kontos, RHP: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 0-2 GB/FB – seven of his eight pitches were strikes
Open Thread: Slayer at the Stadium!
Posted by: | Comments
(KEYSTONE/Peter Schneider)
The Yankees announced last night that Yankee Stadium will host Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, and Anthrax in a September concert (the 14th to be exact), the second concert in the building’s history. Tickets go on sale May 6th, and my loser, metal-loving ass will be first in line (for the internet pre-sale, anyway). You have to figure the show will close with Enter Sandman. They really couldn’t do it any other way, right?
Anyways, here is your open thread for the night. There’s a few night games being played around the league (MLB Network will have one, though the game depends on where you live) and I’m sure there’s plenty of NBA and NHL playoff action on as well. It’s a gorgeous night though, go out and have fun.
Game 24: Just win
Posted by: | Comments
Give us a reason to smile today, Robbie. (AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek)
The Blue Jays didn’t win last night’s game as much as the Yankees lost it. Not only did they not hit with men on base, they didn’t even bother to put together good at-bats. A sixth inning error on a Little League caliber rundown resulted in the two runs that ended up being the margin of victory. But then there’s this little factoid: Toronto is 8-1 in the first game of a series this season (they blew a seven-run lead in the one loss), but they’re just 5-12 in all other games. Hopefully that trend continues today. Here’s the starting lineup…
Derek Jeter, SS
Curtis Granderson, CF
Mark Teixeira, 1B
Robinson Cano, 2B
Nick Swisher, RF
Eric Chavez, 3B
Jorge Posada, DH
Russell Martin, C
Brett Gardner, LF
A.J. Burnett, SP
It’s just a routine day off for Alex Rodriguez, he’s available to pinch-hit if needed. It’s the rare non-FOX broadcast 4pm ET start on a Saturday today, as YES will carry the broadcast. Enjoy the game.
Checking in on Andy Phillips
Posted by: | CommentsNow that we’re out of that time warp, I offer you this Tyler Kepner article on former Yankee Andy Phillips. Phillips, 34, is currently coaching at the University of Alabama, and he grew up in the recently tornado-devastated Tuscaloosa. “There’s almost a mile-wide path the tornado went through,” said Phillips. “They said you could literally stand a mile and a half away from [the stadium], where there used to be homes and buildings in between, and now there’s nothing.” Phillips and his family are safe, but some of his players lost everything. David Robertson, another Tuscaloosa native, said his family and house are safe as well.
Yankees RISPFAIL their way to loss vs Jays
Posted by: | Comments
(AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek)
Hitless in eight at-bats with runners in scoring position, eleven men left on base. Yankees lose, thaaaaaaaaaaa Yankees lose. Bullets points is all I have the motivation for, so…
- Four at-bats with the bases loaded, and all four guys swung at the first pitch. Three resulted in outs, the other a swing-and-miss. This game was over after the fifth inning, when the Yankees had the bases loaded with no one out only to have Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez make three outs on two pitches. Terrible job by them, and also by Derek Jeter (strikeout on a pitch at eye level) and Nick Swisher (first pitch groundout) for those hacky at-bats with the bases loaded in the eighth.
- We got our first look at bad Freddy Garcia in this one. He had no command of his slop, giving up homers to Jose Bautista and J.P. Arencibia on a pair of 80-something mph nothingballs that hung out over the plate. Batting practice pitches. He walked five guys in five innings, and the only reason it wasn’t worst than it was (three runs in five innings) is because Juan Rivera hacked at pitches out of the zone to end two innings/threats.
- David Robertson botched a run down that directly led to two extra runs scoring for Toronto in sixth, the eventual margin of victory. That was (at least) the second time this year a Yankees pitcher botched a run down that led to multiple runs for the other team. Also, walking the leadoff hitter (a fast guy at that) on four pitches is a major no-no.
- Robinson Cano had two homers and two walks, raising his season totals to eight and three, respectively. His last two homer game came exactly one year ago Friday. Tex and Russell Martin each had a single and a walk, but the other six hitters in the lineup combined to go 3-for-24 with three walks (two by Brett Gardner) and ten strikeouts.
- Here’s the box score and video, here’s the WPA Graph.
That’s pretty much all I care to write about this loss. These same two teams will play again tomorrow afternoon (4pm ET start, but apparently it’s on YES and not FOX), when A.J. Burnett faces Kyle Drabek. If you want to head up to the Stadium, RAB Tickets can get you there dirt cheap.
Heathcott’s big night goes for naught in loss
Posted by: | CommentsMyron Leslie was released today, allowing Dellin Betances to come off the disabled list. There just wasn’t enough room for the guy in the organization.
The Triple-A Scranton box score isn’t updating for whatever reason, so I have no idea what’s going on. I do know this much: Andrew Brackman allowed three hits and three runs in six innings. He struck out seven and walked (ugh) five. Andy Sisco and Eric Wordekemper also pitched.
Game 23: Gotta get down with Freddy
Posted by: | Comments
(AP Photo/Kathy Willens)
With apologies to everyone who know has that song stuck in his or her head and with a tip of the cap to our own Hannah Ehrlich for the inspiration, it’s Freddy time. The Yanks play host to the Blue Jays this weekend for a three-game set in the Bronx, and Freddy Garcia, 1-0 with a minuscule 0.69 ERA, takes to the hill tonight for his third start of the year.
Opposing Garcia will be Ricky Romero and the change-up of doom. Romero is only 1-3 this year but with a 3.00 ERA. In 19.2 innings against the Bombers last year, Romero limited the Yanks to just a .200/.282/.386 triple slash line. In his lating outing, he went seven strong against the Rays, giving up just a pair of runs while striking out ten but took the loss anyway. If both pitchers are on tonight, we’ll see a lot of slow balls and a good duel on the mound.
First pitch is at 7:05 p.m., and the game airs on the YES Network.
Derek Jeter SS
Nick Swisher RF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Andruw Jones DH
Curtis Granderson CF
Russell Martin C
Brett Gardner LF
Freddy Garcia P
Notes: The Yankees activated Francisco Cervelli from the DL this afternoon and sent Gustavo Molina down to AAA. Cervelli make his 2011 debut on Sunday when he catches Ivan Nova…RAB will be offline for about an hour beginning 1 a.m. on Saturday morning as we undergo a planned server move.
Looking at the Three True Outcomes: Pitching
Posted by: | Comments
As I said this earlier this afternoon, I’m a sucker for homers, walks, and strikeouts. We know the Yankees’ are hitting homers and drawing walks at an above average rate (considerably so in the case of the long ball) while maintaining a league average strikeout rate, but what about the pitching staff?
The graph above is the pitching version of the graph I used earlier, with the stats expressed in terms of batters faced per events. Remember to click it for a larger view. You want the homer and walk rates to be high (more batters faced per HR or BB) while the strikeout rate should be way down low. Again, the AL averages I’ve listed do not include the Yankees, so we’re comparing them to the other 13 AL clubs.
Let’s run through it quick, since the graph is pretty self explanatory. The Yankees are slightly better than league average when it comes to strike outs, we’re talking 5.48 BF/K compared to 5.62 BF/K. Their unintentional walk rate is actually worse than league average, just under twelve batters faced per walk. The homerun rate has been up and down all year, but it’s settled down of late and right now sits about four batters faced per homer better than the average. Believe it or not, the Yankees’ pitching staff has the eighth best FIP in baseball (3.64), and their staff ERA essentially matches (3.72). April’s a good time for stats, eh?
King of the Fist Pumps returns from the DL
Posted by: | CommentsFist pumps are returning to the Bronx. The Yankees have announced that backup catcher Francisco Cervelli has been activated from the disabled list, and Gustavo Molina, who won’t enter the history books as a hitless Yankee, has been optioned down to AAA. Cervelli, who hit .271/.359/.335 last year, broke his foot in the middle of Spring Training. He’ll serve as Russell Martin‘s backup and hopefully will not take too many at-bats away from the Yanks’ starting catcher. Gustavo, we hardly knew ye.
Looking at the Three True Outcomes: Offense
Posted by: | Comments
I obsess probably a little too much over the three true outcomes, meaning walks (preferably unintentional), strikeouts, and homers. All three events take the defense right out of the equation, and every so often I check out how the Yankees are doing in each department compared to league average. That’s what you see in the graph above, and I recommend clicking it for a larger and easier to read view.
Strikeout rate typical stabilizes around 150 plate appearances while it takes walk rate about 200 or so. Homerun rate needs a bit more time, right around 300 plate appearances. For a player, that’s anywhere from a quarter to half a season, so we shouldn’t get too worked up about Robinson Cano‘s 1.1% (!!!) walk rate for another 100-110 plate appearances or so. When you look at the entire team though, we get to these stability points much more quickly. In fact, we’re already north of 800 plate appearances for the Yankees as a whole, which is the second fewest in the American League. That has more to do with all those rain outs and off days than anything else.
The graph shows the team’s cumulative strikeout, unintentional walk, and homerun rates in terms of plate appearances per event. So ten plate appearances per strikeout, something like that. You want the uIBB and HR rates to be low but the K rate to be high (that means more PA per strikeout, so they’re happening with less frequency). As you can see in the graph, they’ve hovered right around the league average in strikeout rate all month, whiffing once every 5.75 trips to the plate, give or take a tenth of a plate appearance. That’s reasonably in line with last year’s 5.62 PA/K, which again was almost exactly league average.
As for the unintentional walks, New York batters are comfortably better than league average. They’ve worked an unintentional walk once every 10.27 plate appearances in 2011, more than full PA better than average. That’s the second best rate in the league, bested only by the Red Sox at 9.68 PA/uIBB. Forget about the homerun rate, the Yankees are off the charts good there. At 20.29 PA/HR, they’re more than double to league average of 44.37 PA/HR. That’s crazy. Add in the fact that they’re not striking out at an ungodly pace (more power, more strikeouts, that’s just the way it goes), and it’s a pretty impressive offense when you remove things the defense impacts. Of course it hasn’t looked that way over the last week or so, at least not up until last night.
Note: Just to be clear, I removed the Yankees from the league average calculation. So we’re effectively comparing the Yankees to the other 13 AL teams.
Just 0 days 'til pitchers and catchers report.
