Cano’s late HR gives Yanks Subway Series win

June 25, 2012 by Mike Axisa 46 Comments

The much-hyped CC Sabathia-R.A. Dickey matchup turned out to be a total dud, with both starters allowing five runs while failing to pitch beyond the sixth. The battle of the bullpens turned into a win for the Yankees, their second straight and fifth of the 2012 Subway Series. Let’s recap…

Five Outs: It’s tough enough to win when you have to get three outs in an inning, but it’s damn near impossible when you have to get five. The Mets tied the game with a three-run sixth after Robinson Cano failed to field a ground ball for the second out and Mark Teixeira was unable to reel in a ground ball for the final out. Obviously Sabathia did himself no favors by walking Vinny Rottino on four pitches, but every infielder misplayed a ball in the last two nights. Those miscues are killers. Seriously.
RISPWIN: We know all about the team’s struggles with runners in scoring position this season, but everyone seems to forget that the Yankees have a men on scoring position even when no one is on base. They’re a club built to hit the ball out of the park, which is exactly what Cano did leading off the eighth. Miguel Batista fell behind in the count, left a pitch up in the zone, and bam. The game was untied. There’s your big hit with a man in scoring position.
Bullpen Work: Cory Wade allowed the game-tying single in that sixth inning, but after that the relief corps retired ten of the final 13 men they faced including five on strikeouts. Boone Logan recorded four outs without allowing a baserunner while David Robertson and Rafael Soriano each pitched around singles. Another great job by those guys, they won the battle of the bullpens.
Leftovers: Sabathia failed to complete six innings for the first time this season and only one of the five runs he allowed was earned … I thought they should have sent Mark Teixeira on Raul Ibanez‘s single in the second; you have to push the envelope against a great pitcher with Chris Stewart and the pitcher due up … Teixeira’s sacrifice fly and Nick Swisher‘s three-run homer gave the Yankees a quick and unexpected lead against Dickey, who was on a ridiculous roll coming into the game …every non-pitcher in the starting lineup reached base at least once except for Derek Jeter and Stewart … the Yankees hit seven homers in the three-game series and all seven cleared the old CitiField dimensions.

MLB.com has the box score and video highlights, FanGraphs the nerd score, and ESPN the updated stats. Every team in the AL East won today except for the Blue Jays, so the Yankees remain on top of the AL East by three in the loss column. The Indians — another first place team — come to the Bronx for a three-game set starting Monday; it’ll be Hiroki Kuroda against Josh Tomlin. Check out RAB Tickets if you want to catch that one.

Pat D

Just curious, but where did you get the info that all of their homers cleared the old dimensions? I only ask because Chavez’s homer last night and Swisher’s tonight looked like they hit off back walls that I presumed to be the old dimension walls.
- http://www.riveraveblues.com Mike Axisa
  
  I just watched the replays. Chavez’s definitely cleared, they didn’t move the walls in at all down the lines. Swisher’s landed in the people and they didn’t add seats in right-center, only left-center.
  - Pat D
    
    OK, thanks for the info.
    
    Again, I can’t wait to hear Mets fans call and whine with Francesa tomorrow.
FIPster Doofus

@YankeesWFAN “Not bad for a bunch of chickens.”–Nick Swisher

Amen.
- Brian S.
  
  Trololololo Mets fans hella hate Swisher and that’s awesome.
PhillyMatt

Split the last 14 games before the all star break and that’s 50 wins at the all star break. Pretty, pretty, pretty good after the start the Yanks had.
- Rocky Road Redemption
  
  Over 50 wins by the all-star break would be pretty fucking awesome.
  - RetroRob
    
    The All-Star break fluctuates. I want 50 wins by game 81!
teddy

very nice win
- Robinson Tilapia
  
  *heart attack*
Adam B.

The Indians are a half game back of first
- forensic
  
  With a -42 run differential and an 11-16 record in the last 27 games.
  
  Oh to play in the AL Central…
Tom Q

In the category of “Maybe Girardi & Cashman Know More Than Us Internet Smart Guys” (and I include myself in that last group)…who can believe how indispensable Boone Logan has turned ot to be? Plenty around here (way more than just trolls) were begging for him to be sent down/released/whatever last year. Imagine where the team would be if they had.
- RetroRob
  
  Logan has been a positive bullpen addition for all three years on the Yankees. This year, however, has clearly been his best.
- Paul VuvuZuvella
  
  Even the RAB Blogmeisters hated Booney. He’s been great since Alex sat him down last year and told him to look in the Freaking mirror (I paraphrase.)
- Jorge Brosada
  
  Cashman/Girardi know how to build/manage a bullpen. I hate how all of CASH’s prospects are out of the game by the 5th Inning, on the DL, or coming in middle relief but the bullpen effectiveness is unquestionable.
your mom

I love reading the game threads during close games. Always good for a laugh.
RetroRob

I went out to watch the games with some friends at a bar since my TV remains dead and will until at the earliest tomorrow evening.

Hard to follow a game quite as closely compared to at home, but it seemed CC’s command continues to remain off, yet the Yankees defense totally screwed him. He might have gone 1 1/3 to two innings more if not for the extra twenty pitches or so he had to throw.

All well, though. A win is a win, especially against the “greatest knuckleball pitcher ever” according to Mets fans.
- Dino Velvet
  
  ESPN’s constant pimping of Dickey throughout the broadcast, even when they were losing 5-1, as if he just invented the wheel, was unbearable.
- Robinson Tilapia
  
  We’d probably be saying he grinded out another not-so-pretty-but-good-enough seven innings if it wasn’t for the defense. Why am I still not worried?
Nico

Don’t look now but Cano has essentially the same wRC+ he ha had in his career season 2010, and currently sports his highest walk rate at 9.2%.. He is mashing right now.
- Dino Velvet
  
  yeah but his grit rate is down.
- MannyGeee
  
  yes, but ESPN made it a point to point out he is the central point of RISPFAIL.
  
  sooooo, that happened.
  - Pat D
    
    Well, he is.
    
    I’m also starting to think he’s getting lazy again. Not yet at 2008 levels, but getting there.
    - http://www.workwithpete.com Pete
      
      Quick – who’s his best friend on the team right now? TRADE HIM!!!
LarryM.,Fl.

The posting is right on with a description of the game. The RISP is my concern with this team going forward. I know they score runs from the plate but in the playoffs you score runs anyway possible because it gets tougher to score against quality pitching on playoff teams. Just hope it gets better than league worst.

It was great to see the excitement of the fans in the stands. The announcers were informing us on the ESPN feed that the Yanks will play 20 inter league games next year. Four against their natural rival the Mets. The remainder of the inter league will be division against division play. Getting more balanced which is fair.
- Monterowasnotdinero
  
  Seems like the Mets have an abundance of pesky contact hitters that can do well with risp.
- Jim Is Bored
  
  The Yanks have hit just fine against quality pitching this year.
- jjyank
  
  I still think it’s way easier to hit a home run off of a good pitcher in the playoffs than it is to string together a sustained rally. Besides, the Yankees have hit around guys like Verlander and Santana (and probably plenty more than I’m forgetting) so far this year, I’m not concerned.
  - Sweet Dick Willie
    
    I still think it’s way easier to hit a home run off of a good pitcher in the playoffs than it is to string together a sustained rally.
    
    This.
    
    Good pitchers make mistakes, even in the playoffs.
    
    A walk or an error, then a blast produces 2 runs. That scenario is much more likely against a quality pitcher (by a HR hitting team) than a walk and 3 singles.
blooper

I still don’t get why hitters swing at a knuckleball before 2 strikes. There’s no advantage to a hitters count anyway. 0-2 is no worse a count than 2-0 when even the pitcher doesn’t know where the pitch is going. Sit on the rinky-dink fastball until then but hope for a walk.
.

I’m not complaining so much as wondering why hitters don’t try this. Probaby would have worked better against Wakefield than Dickey, but man, there is mothing more frustrating than watching guys swing at pitches that end up a foot out of the zone.
- Monterowasnotdinero
  
  I also think hitters should move up as far in the box as possible both to negate timing issues and to get the knuckler before the final movement which is usually the most movement.
  - MannyGeee
    
    makes sense, but I think this might throw hitters off. pro athletes are routine guys, and changing things like stance and position in the box might be a thing.
    - Robinson Tilapia
      
      Yeah. I agree here. I also think pride and potential common sense aren’t necessarily congruent with one another. You want to be the guy who solves the knuckleball sometimes, not finds a way around it.
- jjyank
  
  Seems to make sense, but they hit Dickey last night and Wakefield has a career ERA of 5.01 against the Yankees. So their approach seems to work just fine against knuckleballers.
Monterowasnotdinero

Another day another non-win for Cliff Lee. 4 months without a win but he has great $tat$!
- MannyGeee
  
  butbutbutbut… the Phillies are not OLDDDD!
  - Pat D
    
    Except where they’re old.
    
    Which is almost everywhere.
    
    Take that, Cliff.
DERP

Cano is now second in the AL in WAR for position players. Only behind Mike Trout. Ahead of Adam Jones and Hamilton.
- Pat D
  
  I’m guessing that’s Fangraphs.
  
  BRef loves Brett Lawrie. Cano is the only Yankees hitter in the top 39 (Teix is at 40), so they’re not liking the Yankees this year.
  
  Did BRef change their WAR calculation? I keep seeing things I don’t remember seeing last year.
  - Gonzo
    
    I heard somewhere that Lawrie gets a lot of defensive love because of his work in the shift. Not truly accurate with shift plays because it gives credit for manager placement. Not sure how much of that is true.
jjyank

Wish I got to watch. Wednesday day game, Thursday off day, watched Friday, then not laying for cable bit me in the ass this weekend with nationally televised games (can’t use MLB.TV). Its been a pretty baseball-less week. Ah well. Let’s see how long the new streak goes!
JohnC

You just can’t predict baseball heh Suzyn! Who’d thunk that Cashman and the FO know more than the fans and would be GMs on here heh?
- Robinson Tilapia
  
  You’ll be eating those words when Cashman is replaced with new GM, only going by “Hummingbird,” next year.
DJ4K&Monterowasdinero

Jeter to pass Ripken this week. Only one more SS to go after that I think.
Christopher

Thank you, National League. You have been very good to us this year.