Archive for Offense
Yankees have won the World Series with struggling key players
Posted by: | CommentsFor many reasons, Mark Teixeira probably didn’t appreciate Tuesday’s break in World Series action. He’s struggled through the first five games, as he has throughout most of the playoffs. Off-days aren’t kind to slumping players. The media, needing to fill column inches, tend to harp on these guys, endlessly pointing out their paltry contributions. Teixeira was no exception.
Not only does Teixeira have to deal with nearly every major media outlet harping on his struggles during an off-day, but he has to deal with the off-day itself. From Jim Baumbach’s “Teixeira is struggling” column, regarding the frequent days off in October:
“I’m not going to make excuses because everyone has to deal with it. But being a switch hitter and being a guy who lives off hot streaks and lives off a rhythm, it doesn’t help.”
Thankfully, most of Teixeira’s 10 postseason hits have been pretty big. His two hits in the ALDS were a single before an Alex Rodriguez game-tying home run, and then a walk-off homer in the same game. He had just one extra base hit in the ALCS, and that was a bases-loaded double that brought the Yankees within one of the Angels after being down 4-0 most of the game. In the World Series he has just two hits, one of them a home run off Pedro Martinez that tied Game 2.
Instead of just lamenting Teixeira’s struggled, I’d like to look at some other key Yankees who struggled through a postseason or World Series in which the Yankees won. Maybe that will put his struggles in perspective.
Bernie Williams
Bernie has 22 postseason home runs, second all time to Manny Ramirez. We’ve seen some big postseason moments from Bernie over the years, and he contributed a lot to the Yankees four World Series titles of the late 90s. Yet Bernie always seemed to struggle in the World Series. In 141 career Series plate appearances, Williams is just 25 for 120 with three doubles, five home runs, and 20 walks, for a slash line of .208/.319/.358. There have been some pretty atrocious performances in there, but none worse than the 1998 World Series in which he went 1 for 16, his lone hit being a home run.
While he generally hit well across the LDS and LCS rounds, Bernie has turned in a pair of poor postseason performances. The first was 1998, when he went hitless in 11 LDS at-bats and then had that terrible World Series. He did pick it up against Cleveland in the LCS, though, reaching base 15 times in 28 plate appearances, though he had just one extra base hit, a double, in that round. Then in 2000 he did the same thing, going 5 for 20 with no extra base hits in the LDS, smacking around the Mariners in the LCS, and then going back into hiding for the World Series with a 2 for 18 performance.
Bernie will always be revered by Yankees fans for his contributions to the four championships, but there have been times when he’s fallen short. He’s never hit well in the World Series, though his bat was sometimes a big reason why the Yankees got there.
Paul O’Neill
In his first World Series in New York — the team’s first appearance since 1981 — O’Neill couldn’t hit the Braves. He picked up just two over 12 at bats in that series, though both were doubles. He continued that slump into the 1998 World Series, where he went 4 for 19 with a double as his only extra base hit. Then again in 1999 he was 3 for 15 with no extra base hits. It wasn’t until 2000 that O’Neill would hit in the Series, as he also did in 2001.
O’Neill has also struggled through an entire postseason. In 1999 he had just 11 hits in 44 at bats, which is bad enough, but even worse it came without the benefit of extra bases. Just 11 singles was all O’Neill could muster. Yet the Yankees went on to win each of the series on the way to a sweep of the Atlanta Braves.
Tino Martinez
There’s quite a connection here between Martinez and Teixeira. Martinez struggled in his first Yankees postseason, much like Teixeira is now. He went 4 for 22 with two doubles in the LDS, 4 for 22 with one double in the LCS, and then 1 for 11 with no extra base hits in the World Series. That one hit game in the Yankees 12-1 Game 1 loss, making it hurt that much more. Martinez’s struggles were so pronounced, in fact, that Joe Torre opted to start Cecil Fielder at first base when the team was in Atlanta.
The Yankees survived his 0 for 3 performance in Game 6 of that World Series to defeat the Braves 3-2. That game centered around one inning in which Martinez did not bat, and was controlled by excellent pitching by Greg Maddux and Jimmy Key.
Teixeira’s struggled are frustrating, but they’re not unprecedented. Key Yankees have had bad postseasons, and even more have had poor World Series performances. That didn’t stop the Yankees from winning four titled last decade, and it shouldn’t stop them from winning it this year. It would be nice to see Teixeira contribute to a big Game 6 win, but if he doesn’t he still has a great group of hitters surrounding him. “If we were losing games 2-1 and I was leaving a ton of guys on base, I would have been squeezing the life out of the bat,” he said. “But my teammates have been picking me up just like I picked them up all season. That’s how a team works.”
Swisher’s new stance leads to Game Three breakout
Posted by: | CommentsAfter a dreadful three-plus weeks, Nick Swisher finally showed signs of life offensively last night, when he doubled down the line to start a rally in the fifth and tacked on another run with a solo job an inning later. Astute observers noticed that Swish had changed up his stance since we last saw him, and here’s the visual evidence to prove it:
The clip on the left is from the homer at-bat in the 6th last night, the clip on the right is from his 8th inning at-bat against Scott Kazmir in Game 6 of the ALCS. You can’t see it from the still photos, but there’s less movement in his hands. You can see that he’s closed up however, which in theory gives him a better chance on pitches away.
Kenny Rosenthal notes that hitting coach Kevin Long said this is just the first step of a “major overhaul” that will continue into the offseason.
The idea, Long said, is “to eliminate movement, put yourself in better position to react to the baseball.
“Everyone knows he is a great fastball hitter,” Long continued. “They’ve been trying to off-speed him to death. When you have a lot of motion — he has a toe tap and also a long stride — pitches are tough to see, tough to react to.”
Of course, the pitch Swish hit last night for the double was a curveball down and on the inner half, but the homer came on a fastball away. Did his new closed stance allow him to reach out and tag that pitch? Maybe. Either way, let’s hope Swish keeps hitting for the next five days.
Locker Blogger interviews Kevin Long
Posted by: | CommentsIt’s amazing how these guys can pick up on such subtle problems with a swing, just by looking at it. I hope to one day be that smart. Or that attentive.
(h/t Fack Youk)
Yanks offense goes from powerhouse to porous in ALCS
Posted by: | CommentsWe’ve all seen this before: Yankees offense scores 900 runs in the regular season, goes to sleep in the playoffs. The difference this year is that some guys are still hitting. That, and the superb pitching allowed even a porous offense to come out ahead in the first five postseason contests. But, as we saw yesterday, the holes in the lineup can be killers. The Yanks could have scored eight, 10 runs yesterday if they hit with runners in scoring position. Instead, they relied on the solo homer. That won’t always work.
That the bottom of the order isn’t hitting is one thing. That Mark Teixeira isn’t hitting is another. He’s had a pretty bad playoffs overall, notching just two hits in the ALDS. Of course, those two hits were as big as they get: a single prior to a game-tying homer, and a walk-off shot in the same game. Since then, in four games, Teixeira has just one hit. He is 1 for 13 in the ALDS with a lone single, walking three times to five strikeouts. It hurts so much more because he’s batting in the three hole.
It’s April all over again for Tex. It appears the long breaks have disrupted his rhythm. That’s anecdotal, of course, but it matches with what we’ve heard about Teixeira from day one. He starts slow every year because he needs to get into a rhythm from both sides of the plate. Joe Morgan (of all people) explained it on a Sunday Night Baseball broadcast, noting that while most hitters transfer their weight from their back foot to their front, Teixeira stays on his back foot for his whole swing. I wonder how much Tex would benefit from having a non-roster pitcher, like Brian Bruney, throw him live BP, at game speeds.
Robinson Cano came to the plate twice yesterday with runners on first and second with none out, and twice bounced into a fielder’s choice. In fact, he doesn’t have a hit with runners in scoring position all series. His only RBI came on a triple with a man on first. He’s just 3 for 13 in the series with a GIDP. The Yankees certainly need the guy who hit .320 this season.
Batting after Cano is Nick Swisher, who has been equally as bad if not worse. After going 1 for 12 in the ALDS, Swisher is 2 for 10 in the ALCS with five strikeouts. A few of those have been costly, coming with a runner on third and less than two outs. Swisher’s woes at the plate are amplified when A.J. Burnett starts. Because Jose Molina bats ninth and Jorge Posada is out of the lineup, Swisher hits sixth. Unless he does something tonight, putting him in that spot isn’t the best idea.
Rounding out the order is Melky Cabrera who, after a good Game 1, has slowed down considerably. He went 1 for 2 with two walks in the opening match, but since has gone 2 for 11 with no walks and four strikeouts. He’s the No. 9 hitter, so it’s tough to expect the world from him. Still, Melky has stumbled in the playoffs. He’s just 5 for 25 this postseason, which is bad even for the last hitter in the lineup.
So far the Yankees have gotten by with timely (i.e., late) hitting and solid pitching. But the home runs won’t come against everyone. The Yankees have to start taking advantage of their opportunities earlier in the game, and that means Teixeira, Cano, Swisher, and Melky have to produce. After yesterday’s loss, the Yankees could use it tonight more than ever.
Johnny, Melky hope September slumps end in October
Posted by: | CommentsThe calendar has flipped from September to October, and while the playoffs aren’t quite here, everyone can feel it. These last three games won’t mean much, except maybe to CC Sabathia, who tries for his 20th win tonight. The rest is just a tune-up. But for two Yankees, it will be about setting a tone for the new month, the one that, for the Yankees and their championship-focused mentality, is all that matters.
Johnny Damon and Melky Cabrera have been slumping of late. That’s fine. The Yankees had matters pretty well at hand coming into September, so to have two-thirds of their outfield struggling wasn’t the worst thing in the world. As we like to say when players slump, better now than in the playoffs. Players streak and players slump. Neither lasts forever, which is why it’s perfectly fine that both have had their struggles in September.
Of the two, Johnny’s has been worse, if only because he’s a more important piece than Melky. While he’s still getting on base — a .347 OBP on the strength of 14 walks — Damon has seemingly lost the power stroke that made him a Yankee hero earlier this season. He has only four extra base hits in 96 September plate appearances, all doubles. Even worse, he has just 19 hits, making a slash line of .235/.347/.284.
It could be that Damon, who will turn 36 in November, is breaking down in his old age. But given the amount of rest Girardi has provided him, that seems unlikely. Damon has appeared in just 22 September games, starting only 20. He’s had two two-day breaks in the past 11, so there’s no doubt he’s as well rested as he’s been at this point. In that 11 game span, by the way, Damon is hitting .083/.267/.083. From September 1 through 19, he hit .298/.385/.368, so there was only a loss of power. There doesn’t appear to be any reason to think Damon will continue this slide.
Melky’s slump is less pronounced than Damons, but that’s because Melky has a lower baseline. In September he’s hitting .287/.361/.414, which is actually pretty good. In fact, if the Yankees could get Melky to hit that way consistently, he could definitely man center field. The problem, as with Damon, is his play of late.
We last wrote about Melky on September 8. He had just gone 3 for 4 with two RBI in the second game of the Tampa Bay doubleheader, in which he went 4 for 7 with a walk overall. Since our previous criticism, on August 19th, Melky had hit .348/.392/.464. But, just like every other time we criticize Melky, he turned it around. From the 8th through the 30th, Melky’s hitting .214/.302/.321.
Some players are going to slump in October. It’s just part of the game. If Melky continues hitting poorly, well, the Yanks just have to accept that. Thankfully, they can use Brett Gardner and have his speed in the lineup. But the Yankees can ill-afford to have Damon’s woes continue into the cool October nights. Unfortunately, there’s not much Girardi can do, other than to play Damon all three games this weekend and hope he hits a rhythm. He’ll have plenty of time to rest on Monday and Tuesday.
Performing against the best
Posted by: | CommentsThe Yankees didn’t get to where they are by beating up on the weaklings of the league. After going a combined 2-12 against the Red Sox and Angels in the first half, but rebounded to go 12-2 against those clubs in the second half. We write things like “it’s still early, they’ll figure out,” and we’re usually greeted with “it’s May, it’s not that early” responses, but by gosh, things got figured out long before it was too late. Amazing. But I digress.
Anyway, the Yankees did not get to where they are right now by getting fat against the lesser teams. They lead all thirty big league clubs in AVG (.285, tied with Anaheim), OBP (.363, next is .351), and SLG (.480, next is .453), and before anyone tries The Bandbox Defense™, you should know that the Yanks have a .357 OBP and a .470 SLG on the road, both of which would still lead the big leagues. And as Gordon Edes points out, they aren’t just piling up those numbers against the David Hernandezes and Andy Sonnanstines of the world either.
Allow me to quote:
Best against the best: When the best hitters playing this October face the best pitchers, how can we predict who will come up big? Well, we employed statistics calculated on billjamesonline.net to get an idea. James breaks down how batters fared by the quality of pitchers faced, based on pitchers’ ERA. The best pitchers were considered those with ERAs at 3.50 or less, which generally covers a staff ace and in some cases a No. 2, a closer, and top-shelf setup men.
Holliday, Miguel Cabrera, Alex Rodriguez, Torii Hunter, Matt Kemp and Orlando Hudson have posted some of the best numbers among the playoff qualifiers against the best pitchers. Cabrera is batting .359 against the best, though just three of his 32 home runs have come in those 142 at-bats. Holliday is batting .352 with six home runs, 22 RBIs, and a .997 OPS against the best, while A-Rod is batting .284 with nine HRs, 22 RBIs, and a 1.014 OPS. Rodriguez, in fact, has more home runs and a higher OPS against the elite class than he had against the dregs.
[snip]
What about some of the big-name boppers? Albert Pujols (.272, four, 12, .804 OPS) has held his own, while Ryan Howard is batting just .224, but has hit 13 home runs and knocked in 27 runs. Derek Jeter is batting .292, while teammate Mark Teixeira has seven HRs and 22 RBIs to go with a .246 average. Manny Ramirez, the most feared bat in the ’08 postseason, has a so-so .279 average with five home runs and 12 RBIs.
The Red Sox lineup, loaded with All-Stars, has not put up numbers against superior pitching. David Ortiz is at .208, five and 15. Four other of Boston’s best hitters are at .220 or lower: Jason Bay (.204), Kevin Youkilis (.204), Dustin Pedroia (.206) and Victor Martinez (.220). Catcher Jason Varitek is batting .139.
Of course the problem with this study is the almighty sample size. It’s wonderful that A-Rod is bringing the pwn to the league’s best arms, but there’s just 34 pitchers in the AL with an ERA under 3.50 (min. 60 IP), and three of them are A-Rod’s teammates. How many plate appearances can he have against the other guys? There just isn’t much predictive value here. A-Rod is no more or less likely to do well in the postseason because of those numbers, and besides, postseason success doesn’t hinge on one guy. Everyone must contribute, and if someone fails, then it’s up to the other 24-guys to pick up the slack. It’s a team effort, and we see it happen every year. Yet again, I digress.
The old adage is that power pitching wins in October, and it’s true. As a team, the Yankees are hitting .273-.380-.478 off power pitches (B-Ref defines “power pitchers” as guys that combine to strikeout or walk at least 28% of the batters they face). That criteria includes pitchers like Justin Verlander, Josh Beckett, Jon Lester, basically the three best pitchers the Yankees could face in the AL portion of the playoffs. The Yanks have ten such “power pitchers” on their staff, including all five members of the rotation and four of its five best relievers (Al Aceves misses the cut).
Does that bode well for October? It certainly seems like it does. Boston is hitting off .258-.359-.442 off power arms, obviously very good, but the Angels? Just .245-.324-.380. Dee-troit? .229-.319-.389. Suddenly I even better about the Yankees playoff chances than I did before. You?
The return of Godzilla
Posted by: | CommentsGet your pencils ready; it’s time for a quiz. Who has the second most home runs on the Yanks? Third most RBIs? Third highest OPS? And who has done this in 495 plate appearances, fewer than all but Jorge Posada among Yankee regulars? By now, of course, the answer is clear: Hideki Matsui is having a season, for him, for the ages, and in doing so, he is going to force the Yanks’ hand in November.
Matsui’s season wasn’t on pace to end up this way. June 28 marked the Yanks’ last Interleague game, and Hideki Matsui pinch hit against the Mets. That wrapped up a month of irregular play and little success for the once-mighty Yankee DH. He was hitting .246/.345/.463 with 10 HR and just 28 RBIs. Unable to play the outfield due to his very creaky knees, Matsui seemed to be on his last legs.
Since then, however, Matsui has been every bit the force in the Yankee lineup that the team expected him to be. Over his last 261 PAs, Hideki is hitting .310/.396/.588 with 18 HR and 60 RBI. He leads all Yankees in home runs and slugging over that stretch and is one of the key movers behind the Yanks’ run toward the best record in baseball. His home run last night was an unsung moment in the game, a blast well into the high porch in right field.
Matsui is also heading toward free agency, and the Yankees are going to have to decide if they want to bring him back as their full-time DH. Over the course of the season, the Yanks have intimated that, with their aging team, they would prefer to keep the designated hitter spot open for its veterans. They can rest Jorge Posada without losing his bat. They can cycle Derek Jeter, A-Rod and Johnny Damon — if he returns — through that spot. With Matsui limited to DH duties, the Yanks would have more roster flexibility without him. They would also have fewer wins.
I’ve briefly touched upon this idea in the past, but Matsui’s value to the team’s offense cannot be understated. Few teams have a DH as good as he is. In fact, among full-time designated hitters, Matsui’s .905 OPS ranks him second. While the league’s DHs are averaging a .255 BA with a .781 OPS, the Yanks are far outpacing that figure thanks to Matsui.
From a value perspective, Matsui has a 32.1 VORP and a 2.5 WAR (wins above replacement). If the Yanks go with their rotation DH plans, their lineup would include a subpar hitter nearly every day. Ramiro Peña has a 1.1 VORP and a 0.3 WAR. Jose Molina’s and Franciso Cervelli’s respective offenses both put them below replacement level on the VORP scale. Molina’s WAR is 0.2, and Cervelli’s is 0.1. Faced with a very competitive Red Sox team, the Yanks can ill afford to let Matsui’s 2.5 wins simply walk away unreplaced.
As the Yankees head into the playoffs, Hideki Matsui will anchor this offense. He can hit lefties; he can hit righties; and apparently, he can hit in Anaheim too. He may be old; his knees may be frail; but he can hit with the best of them. The Yanks should look to bring him back next year on a one-year deal. Unless they can find a suitable replacement, the team will miss his bat if it isn’t there.
It’s amazing what a little rest can do
Posted by: | CommentsThere’s really nothing going on right now, and we don’t have a game for another almost another nine hours, so here’s a bit to chew on:
Since A-Rod’s two-day rest in Florida: .324/.426/.544 with 10 doubles, 16 homers, and a triple in 324 plate appearances.
That’s also when they started resting him once a week. Could the cumulative effects of said rest have an impact on Alex’s late-season run? After the Yankees beat the A’s on August 19, A-Rod had a .254 batting average. That average, exactly a month later, is .287. A-Rod has racked up 103 plate appearances in the past month, and has hit .404/.476/.607.
This is pretty damn good for someone coming off hip surgery in March. Sure, Chase Utley is having an even better season than last year after hip surgery, but he had his back in November, giving him a three-month head start.
It’s not quite an A-Rod appreciation thread, but damn, it’s tough not to appreciate what he’s done this year.
The Kevin Long Appreciation Thread
Posted by: | Comments
The plan was in place a few years ago. The beloved Don Mattingly was in pupil in the Joe Torre School of Managing while doubling as the team’s hitting coach. Once phase two of Mattingly’s apprenticeship was put in place – moving him from hitting coach to bench coach – the Yanks needed someone to come in and guide their group of big name hitters.
Enter Kevin Long.
An unheralded player, K-Long spent parts of eight season in the Royals’ organization after being a 31st round pick back in 1989, although he never made it to the big leagues. As a corner outfielder he hit just .273-.322-.365 in 2,599 minor league plate appearances, eventually calling it a career in 1996. Long gradually climbed the minor league coaching ranks after his playing days were over, and found himself replacing Mattingly as the Yankees’ hitting coach after spending three years with Triple-A Scranton.
While Mattingly didn’t take over for Torre, instead bolting with him to LA, Long has remained and transformed what used to be a great offense into a truly outstanding offense. Here’s where the 2009 Yankees rank among the 30 clubs in some of the key offense categories:
Runs: 829 (1st)
Hits: 1,432 (1st)
Doubles: 294 (3rd)
Homers: 221 (1st)
AVG: .283 (2nd)
OBP: .362 (1st)
SLG: .480 (1st)
OPS: .842 (1st)
Total Bases: 2,425 (1st)
Walks: 597 (1st)
And don’t even try the bandbox defense, because the Yanks are among the league leaders in road offense as well. “But Mike, the Yankees have some of the best hitters in the world, of course the team will have great offensive numbers.” Oh yeah, well check out these individual numbers:
Johnny Damon before K-Long: .289-.353-.436
Johnny Damon with K-Long: .286-.364-.452
A-Rod before K-Long: .305-.386-.573
A-Rod with K-Long: .302-.409-.587
Jorge Posada before K-Long: .270-.375-.472
Jorge Posada with K-Long: .307-.393-.515
Those are just three guys, but Long managed to make great hitters even greater. Among other things, he’s worked in the offseason with Robbie Cano, got Bobby Abreu to stop stepping in the bucket, helped A-Rod maximize his output following hip surgery, fixed Hideki Matsui’s shoulders, and turned Melky Cabrera into a league average hitter. He’s just that damn good.
So spill your guts here folks, and tell us how much you appreciate one of the best hitting coaches in the game.
Photo Credit: Reuters Pictures
The Yankees are good at offense
Posted by: | CommentsI’m going to give you the offensive stats of two players over the last three months, dating back to June 11th:
Player A: .269-.361-.480, .211 IsoP, .291 BABIP, 11.6 BB%, 17.0 K%
Player B: .253-.363-.479, .226 IsoP, .279 BABIP, 14.7 BB%, 19.6 K%
Both players play every day for the Yanks, yet one is universally beloved and has been touted as not just an MVP candidate, but the favorite by some. The second player is either loved or hated by fans, there doesn’t seem to be any middle ground. You’re all smart, so I’m not going to string you along any more. Player A is Mark Teixeira, Player B is Nick Swisher.
Now, by no means am I saying Swish is as good as Tex. Tex provides far more defensive value than Swish ever will, but offensively, the two have provided nearly identical output over the last 80 games. For fun, let’s take a look at the rest of the infield over the last 80 games.
Alex Rodriguez: .304-.416-.520, .216 IsoP, .354 BABIP, 14.4 BB%, 20.8 K%
Derek Jeter: .355-.418-.486, .131 IsoP, .392 BABIP, 9.3 BB%, 12.3 K%
Robbie Cano: .329-.359-.553, .224 IsoP, .339 BABIP, 4.1 BB%, 10.9 K%
We’re talking about an 80 game sample here, for all intents and purposes half of the season, not 80 at-bats. You can make a case that in that time, Mark Teixeira has been the least productive hitter on his own infield. This isn’t meant to slight Tex at all; he’s been tremendous and frankly better than I think anyone really expected in his first year in pinstripes. What I’m trying to point out is that the Yanks offense is absurdly good.
On days when Melky Cabrera starts in center, every regular in the lineup has at least a 100 OPS+, and just one of the nine hitters (Melk) is below 123. 123! As a team, the Yanks have an .841 OPS on the season, far and away the best in baseball. The second place team, Boston, has an .804 OPS. And if you want to try any sort of Yankee Stadium bandbox funny business, consider they have an .829 OPS on the road, still the best in baseball by a considerable amount.
It’s time to have a Kevin Long appreciation thread, isn’t it?
