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9/24-9/26 Series Preview: Minnesota Twins

September 24, 2012 by Mike 49 Comments

(Tim Umphrey/Getty)

The fourth series of the Yankees’ season was a four-gamer against the Twins in Yankee Stadium, but the two clubs have not faced each other since. They split those four games and since the start of the Ron Gardenhire era in 2002, the Yankees are 65-19 (!) against Minnesota (including playoffs). Four of those 19 losses came against in-his-prime Johan Santana. The Bombers are 10-2 at the new Target Field as well, where these three games will be played.

What Have They Done Lately?

The Twins swept the Tigers in a doubleheader yesterday, which I can’t imagine went over well in Detroit. They had lost two straight prior to that, and have dropped nine of their last 17 games. Overall, the Twinkies are 64-89 with a -119 run differential. Only the Indians have a worse record in the league.

Offense

(Tim Umphrey/Getty)

Despite the pitcher friendliness of Target Field, Minnesota averages 4.4 runs per game with a team 99 wRC+. They’re a league average offense, and that’s pretty good. Their two best hitters this year have been Joe Mauer and Josh Willingham (both 142 wRC+), who go about it very differently. Mauer hits for a sky-high average (.323) and leads the league in OBP (.416) while Willingham has 35 homers and a .265 ISO. They shouldn’t be underestimated, they’re right behind Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder as the best three-four combo in the AL this year.

Setting the table for Mauer and Willingham is leadoff man Denard Span (107 wRC+) while Justin Morneau (114 wRC+) bats fifth behind them. Ryan Doumit (106 wRC+) and the powerful Trevor Plouffe (103 wRC+) add length behind the middle of the order. Ben Revere (95 wRC+) and Jamey Carroll (83 wRC+) play everyday, and the recently recalled Pedro Florimon (71 wRC+) is getting regular reps at shortstop. Darin Mastroianni (103 wRC+ in limited time) plays more than the typical fourth outfielder and brings a lot of speed to the table. The September call-ups include former Yankees farmhand (and former RAB Lifetime Achievement Award honoree) Matt Carson, infielders Eduardo Escobar, Alexi Casilla, and Chris Parmalee, and catchers Drew Butera and Chris Herrmann.

Pitching Matchups

Monday: LHP Andy Pettitte vs. RHP Liam Hendriks
Hendriks, 23, has been up-and-down all season and has pitched to a 5.88 ERA (5.38 FIP) in 72 innings. He’s a classic Twins pitcher in that he doesn’t walk anyone (2.88 BB/9 and 7.0 BB%) and doesn’t strike anyone out (5.38 K/9 and 13.2 K%), but he doesn’t get many ground balls either (41.7%). Hendriks is five-pitch pitcher, using two upper-80s/low-90s fastballs (two- and four-seamer) to set up an array of offspeed pitches: low-80s slider, low-80s changeup, low-70s curveball. Lot of separation between those pitches. The Yankees have never faced Hendriks, who has pitched decently against the Royals and Indians the last two times out.

(Jason Miller/Getty)

Tuesday: RHP Phil Hughes vs. RHP Esmerling Vazquez
A former reliever with the Diamondbacks turned starter for the Twins, the 28-year-old Vazquez has pitched to a 6.75 ERA (5.36 FIP) in four starts and 20 innings since being recalled. He’s walked 15 and struck out just eight in that time with a 31.8% ground ball rate. Vazquez is offspeed heavy, throwing his low-90s four-seamer and sinker just ~45% of the time. A low-80s changeup is his top offspeed pitch, and he’ll also mix in a mid-70s curveball. The Yankees scored five runs in zero innings (!) against Vazquez back when he was pitching out of the Arizona bullpen, but otherwise they haven’t seen him. They’ll also be the first above-average team he faces as a starter after four games against the dregs of the AL Central.

Wednesday: LHP CC Sabathia vs. RHP Sam Deduno
Deduno, 29, has made 14 serviceable starts since being recalled from Triple-A at midseason (4.54 ERA and 5.54 FIP) in 77.1 innings. He gets a ton of ground balls (57.9%) and won’t miss a ton of bats (6.40 K/9 and 16.1 K%), typical Twins stuff, but he will walk himself into trouble (5.94 BB/9 and 15.0 BB%). Deduno sits right around 90 with two fastballs (four-seamer and cutter), and will throw his hard, low-80s curveball almost one-third of the time. A low-80s changeup is a distant third offering. He makes it three starters the Yankees have never faced before, for all intents and purposes.

(Hannah Foslien/Getty)

Bullpen Status
Scott Diamond and P.J. Walters soaked up some innings as the two starters yesterday, so Gardenhire’s bullpen is in decent shape. Left-hander Glen Perkins (3.00 FIP) has assumed closer duties with Matt Capps on the DL, and he’s being setup by splangeup specialist Jared Burton (3.26 FIP). Both of those guys pitched an inning last night but otherwise had two days off beforehand.

Middle relief duties belong primarily to right-handers Casey Fien (2.18 FIP) and Alex Burnett (4.22 FIP), as well as left-handers Brian Duensing (3.86 FIP) and Tyler Robertson (3.86 FIP). Robertson is the specialist while Duensing is the multi-inning guy. Burnett was the only one of those four not to pitch in either of yesterday’s games. The lot of September call-ups is righties Luis Perdomo and Anthony Swarzak, that’s it. Check out our Bullpen Workload page for details on the Yankees’ relievers, then check out Aaron Gleeman and Twinkie Town for the latest and greatest on the Twins.

Filed Under: Series Preview Tagged With: Minnesota Twins

Gardner will take live batting practice today

September 24, 2012 by Mike 36 Comments

Via Jeff Bradley, outfielder Brett Gardner will take his hacks in live batting practice today. “I feel great,” he said. “I have hit in the cages this week. Soft toss. And once I hit live on the field, I think I’ll be able to show that I’m 100 percent and ready to play. My body feels like it’s March. I’m excited to get back on the field and help any way I can.”

The 29-year-old Gardner has missed basically the entire season with an elbow injury that (eventually) required surgery. We’ve been hearing that he’s close to being activated as a pinch-runner/defensive specialist for a few days now, though I wonder if this new batting practice stuff means he’ll be able to hit in games as well. That would be huge, especially against right-handed pitchers. Stick Gardner in left, Ichiro Suzuki in right, Nick Swisher at first, Raul Ibanez at DH, and they’re good to go.

Filed Under: Asides, Injuries Tagged With: Brett Gardner

Fan Confidence Poll: September 24th, 2012

September 24, 2012 by Mike 48 Comments

Record Last Week: 5-1 (32 RS, 25 RA)
Season Record: 88-64 (736 RS, 632 RA, 87-65 pythag. record), 1.0 game up in AL East
Opponents This Week: @ Twins (three games, Mon. to Weds.), @ Blue Jays (four games, Thurs. to Sun.)

Top stories from last week:

  • The Yankees had Monday off, then rain postponed Tuesday’s series opener against the Blue Jays. Andy Pettitte returned to the rotation and pitched the Yankees to a win in the first game of Wednesday’s doubleheader, then Ichiro Suzuki got the big hit in the nightcap. Ichiro and Nick Swisher pounded the Jays in the series finale.
  • The Athletics came to the Bronx for a three-game weekend set, and the Yankees took the opener on a Russell Martin walk-off homer. They mounted a big extra innings comeback the next day for another walk-off win, but couldn’t finish off the sweep in yesterday’s loss.
  • Injury News: Mark Teixeira (calf) has resumed baseball activities and will head to Instructional League to continue rehabbing today. Brett Gardner (elbow) will come off the DL to pinch-run/play defense at some point. David Aardsma (elbow) may still join the team this year while Pedro Feliciano (shoulder) will not. Dellin Betances (shoulder) was placed on the 60-day DL to accommodate Pettitte.
  • Derek Jeter spoke about potentially playing for another team and owning a club in the future. Long-time pitching guru Billy Connors was relieved of his duties. The Yankees are reportedly “very interested” in impending free agent outfielder Cody Ross.
  • MLB is nearing long-term deals with FOX and TBS that will put a lot more money in each team’s pocket. Mark Teixeira was the Yankees’ nomination for the 2012 Roberto Clemente Award.

Please take a second to answer the poll below and give us an idea of how confident you are in the team. You can view the interactive Fan Confidence Graph anytime via the nav bar above, or by clicking here. Thanks in advance for voting.

Given the team's current roster construction, farm system, management, etc., how confident are you in the Yankees' overall future?
View Results

Filed Under: Polls Tagged With: Fan Confidence

Yankees can’t finish off sweep, fall to A’s

September 23, 2012 by Mike 63 Comments


Source: FanGraphs

Walk-off Weekend fell one short. The Yankees were unable to complete the sweep of the Athletics on Sunday afternoon, losing a sloppy 5-4 game that they led into the fifth. The seven-game winning streak is over, but New York has still won a dozen of its last 17 games. Let’s recap…

  • Kuroda Struggles: Hiroki Kuroda carried the Yankees for a few weeks earlier in the season, but now the rest of the team isn’t reciprocating when he needs the pick-me-up. Kuroda allowed five runs (four earned) on seven hits and three walks in 5.2 innings, struggling with his location all day. He was missing up and away from lefties and off the plate from righties quite a bit, and he bounced a few breaking balls for wild pitches. The umpires and his defense didn’t help him out, but at the end of the day Hiroki wasn’t all that good. He’s now allowed 20 runs in his last 32.1 innings (five starts).
  • Four In The Fourth: The Yankees did all of their scoring in the fourth inning, when it became pretty apparent that they had figured A.J. Griffin out. Nick Swisher crushed a two-run homer like he knew what was coming, then Curtis Granderson (single) and Raul Ibanez (double) followed with rockets to right. The other run scored when Eduardo Nunez plated Russell Martin (infield single) with a ground out. Griffin left the game shortly thereafter and the Yankees did score again despite chances in the fifth (first and second, one out), sixth (first and second, two outs), seventh (runner on first, one out), and eighth (runner at second, one out).
  • Sloppy: The entire series was messy, especially the finale. There were five total errors in the game, including two by Eduardo Scissorhands. The first — a two-base throwing error — allowed Josh Donaldson to reach base before he came around to score the game-winning run. Each team had a pitcher throw a ball away on a pickoff play as well. The umpires also got in on the fun, as home plate ump Mike Estabrook had a wacky strike zone and first base ump Larry Vanover blew a call in the second that led to a run. The throw beat Donaldson by a half-step if not more. Wasn’t particularly close.
  • Leftovers: Derek Jeter singled twice to extend his hitting streak to 17 games, but Ichiro Suzuki only had one hit. His multi-hit game streak ends at five … Jeter, Swisher, and Ibanez were the only Yankees with multiple hits, though Robinson Cano (single, walk) and Martin (single, walk) also reached base twice … Boone Logan retired all three men he faced (two strikeouts and a line drive double play), his 76th appearance of the season. That leads the AL, is the most by any reliever under Joe Girardi, and the tenth most in Yankees’ history … the bullpen (Logan, David Phelps, Clay Rapada, and Cody Eppley) allowed one hit and one walk in 3.1 scoreless innings.

MLB.com has the box score and video highlights while ESPN has the updated standings. The Red Sox actually managed to beat the Orioles, so they remain one back in the loss column. The Rays beat the Blue Jays to creep within six games. The magic number to clinch the division is down to ten, but the magic number to clinch a playoff spot remains at six. The Yankees are off to Minnesota for a three-game set with the Twins starting Monday night. Andy Pettitte will make his second start off the DL in the opener and be opposed by rookie right-hander Liam Hendriks.

Filed Under: Game Stories

Sunday Night Open Thread

September 23, 2012 by Mike 103 Comments

Inexcusable that David Phelps didn’t have to wear the golden bikini. Adam Warren is Han Solo, Cody Eppley is Luke Skywalker, Melky Mesa is Darth Vader, assistant trainer Mark Littlefield is Chewbacca, and Kenji Nimura (Hiroki Kuroda’s translator) is Yoda.

The seven-game winning streak came to an end, but that was bound to happen at some point. At least it happened on the same day that the Orioles finally lost, so the lead in the division remains one game with ten to play. That’s far too close for my liking, so I hope the Yankees really take care of business against a bad team in Minnesota these next three days.

Anyway, here is your open thread for the evening. The ESPN Sunday Night Game is the Dodgers at the Reds (Kershaw vs. Bailey), and the late NFL game is the Patriots at the Ravens. You can talk about those games and pretty much anything else right here. Except politics, don’t talk about that stuff. Thanks in advance.

[Photo via Mike Mazzeo]

Filed Under: Open Thread

Report: Yankees are “very interested” in Cody Ross

September 23, 2012 by Mike 64 Comments

Via Nick Cafardo, the Yankees are one of three big market teams who are “very interested” in impending free agent outfielder Cody Ross. The Phillies and Red Sox are the other clubs.

Ross, 31, has had a career year in Boston this season (115 wRC+) and will almost certainly look to parlay that into a multi-year contract. I wrote about him in Friday’s mailbag, but here’s the short version: he’s a dead pull right-handed hitter, a below average hitter against righties, and isn’t all that good in the outfield. Add all that together and you get a glorified platoon bat who will wants multiple years and isn’t a great fit for Yankee Stadium.

Filed Under: Asides, Hot Stove League Tagged With: Cody Ross

Game 152: End of the Homestand

September 23, 2012 by Mike 793 Comments

(Mike Stobe/Getty)

The final true homestand of the season ends today, a homestand that has featured a lot of wins including the last two walk-off jobs. After losing four straight in Oakland earlier this season — including two on walk-offs — I feel pretty good about how things have gone. The Orioles are still only one game back because they’re winning a ton as well, so sole possession of first place is still on the line. Here’s the starting nine…

DH Derek Jeter
RF Ichiro Suzuki
3B Alex Rodriguez
2B Robinson Cano
1B Nick Swisher
CF Curtis Granderson
C  Russell Martin
RF Raul Ibanez
SS Eduardo Nunez

RHP Hiroki Kuroda

First pitch is scheduled for 1:05pm ET and can be seen on YES locally and TBS nationally. Enjoy.

Filed Under: Game Threads

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