Archive for Nick Swisher
For the second time in two days (and three games), we were treated to my favorite brand of game: the pitcher’s duel. From David Price, we might have been able to expect it. He’s had his struggles, but is a promising pitcher who has started to come around lately. From Chad Gaudin, the hope was to get five serviceable innings. He provided that and a bit more, and the Yanks took advantage.
It’s sometimes tough to write much about pitcher’s duels. There were definite turning points of this game, but I’d like to take this one hockey style: three stars. I think they’re pretty clear in this case.
Third Star: Alex Rodriguez
Alex was in the right place at the right time in three instances last night, and he took advantage in each. In the top of the first, Carl Crawford skied a pitch to left center, which was just out of Johnny Damon’s reach. The speedy Crawford took advantage of the ball’s hang time and trotted into third with ease. The Rays had a chance to stake Price to an early lead, and with Longoria and Zobrist due up, they had a good chance to do so.
Longoria hit a sharp grounder which A-Rod fielded cleanly. Crawford was already a good deal off the bag, and A-Rod looked him down before throwing to first. But, judging that he was too far away from the bag, A-Rod did what they teach you in Little League: run right at him and make the runner commit. A-Rod moved toward him, and then iced the play by faking a throw, which tied up Crawford just long enough. A-Rod chased him until he was almost home, then flipped to Posada. This was good strategy by Crawford, since he can outrun Jorge. But Jorge chased diligently, flipping to Jerry Hairston for the putout.
In the top of the sixth, A-Rod came to the plate with runners on first and second with two outs. The Yanks had a 1-0 lead, but insurance runs are always welcome. Price tried to come inside with a 2-2 fastball, but A-Rod jumped on it, smacking it to left. Johnny Damon scored easily, and that put the Yanks up by two. That run came in handy the next inning, when Evan Longoria homered to lead off and cut the lead to one. It would come even more handily when Jason Bartlett homered to tie it.
Finally, Alex made a nice play on a Dioner Navarro grounder in the seventh. With runners on first and second and one out, Brian Bruney got Navarro to hit one on the ground toward third. A-Rod move to his right and was leaning while getting to the ball. He almost certainly could have thrown out the slow Navarro, but instead used his momentum to sprint to third ahead of Ben Zobrist. It wasn’t as impressive a play as the other two, but it saved the Yanks from a situation where a Willy Aybar single could have put the Rays ahead.
Second Star: Chad Gaudin
After Gaudin’s last two starts, it was tough to expect a lot. But Gaudin stepped up and pitched very well through six innings. He had used just 64 pitches to get through those six innings, and allowed just four hits and walked one. If Girardi had pulled the plug at that point, I doubt anyone would have cared (save for those who think anything Girardi does is moronic; there will always be those types). But with his pitch count so low, Girardi decided to push his luck.
Gaudin fell apart in the seventh, allowing a leadoff homer followed by a single and a walk, putting the tying run in scoring position with none out. That would be it for him, but even with the less than stellar performance in the seventh, Gaudin left with a respectable line: 6 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K. He deserved the W in this one. Thankfully, that stat means nothing in the grand scheme of things (as in, pitcher wins).
First Star: Nick Swisher
Had this game ended 2-1, I was leaning towards Swisher as third star. His homer in the first was pretty key, considering how well Price was pitching. But A-Rod had those three nice plays, and it’s hard to downplay the start by Gaudin. But then Phil Hughes allowed a leadoff homer to Jason Bartlett, tying the score. The Yanks were looking for another walk-off at that point, and Swisher delivered with his second bomb of the night.
Entering last night’s game, Swisher had 24 homers, 21 of which were on the road. In other words, 2/5 of Swisher’s home run total at Yankee Stadium came in last night’s game. Given that, he was the most unlikely hero. Maybe this breaks his curse of not being able to hit bombs at home. If the guy had hit half as many homers at home as he has on the road, he’d have over 30 bombs right now. There are four guys in the AL tied for third with 31 homers, and two tied for seventh with 30, just for some context.
The win puts the Yanks magic number down to a Munsonian 15. It also puts them at a .750 win percentage since the All-Star Break (hat tip Rebecca). It’s a pretty wild ride. I’m just glad we can all enjoy it together. Yanks go for the sweep tomorrow. Joba Chamberlain tries, once again, to redeem himself. Behemoth Jeff Niemann goes for the Rays.
Photo credit: David Pokress
If you want to read our indictment of Joba Chamberlain’s poor outing last night, head on down to Joe’s recap. I’m not here to talk about Ol’ Two-Out Run Joba. I want to talk about bunting and why it’s generally a very bad idea.
Baseball is a game played without a clock. Instead of 48 or 60 minutes, baseball teams get precious outs. Each side has 27 of them, and at the end of those 27 outs, whichever team has more runs wins. Just as teams don’t like to give up minutes in football, why should managers leading a team on offense ever opt to give up outs? Some will say it improves their chances of winning, but in reality it doesn’t.
In fact, it has been proven that at no point in the game does giving up an out in exchange for a base lead to a better chance at scoring runs — and runs, after all, represent the ultimate goal of a baseball game. Before we arrive at Nick Swisher, Joe Girardi and the bunt that made me want to punch a wall, take a look at Baseball Prospectus’ run matrix. This chart details how many runs a team at bat scores in any given situation. For example, with runners on 1st and 2nd with no one out, a team is expected to score 1.50766. With one out and runners on 2nd and 3rd, a team is expected to score 1.43489 runs.
There are two key points here. First, with that extra out and extra base, a team’s total runs scored decreases by around 0.07 runs. Is that by itself worth eschewing the bunt? Probably not. After all, a team with runners on 2nd and 3rd and 1 out still scores, on average, more than 1 run in that situation. There is, however, a need to consider who is batting.
And now, we return to the Yankees. According to Jack Curry, Joe Girardi, with two on and no one out, asked Nick Swisher to bunt. Now, Nick Swisher is a power hitter. On the season, he has a 123 OPS+ and has hit 123 career home runs. He also gets on base 37 percent of the time — and, by the way, a team with bases loaded and no one out scores, on average, over two runs in that situation.
So Girardi asks Nick Swisher to bunt. Coming into tonight’s game, Nick Swisher had 7 career bunts in 2978 career plate appearances. Three of those bunts came this year. Not so surprisingly, Nick Swisher popped out, and the runners did not advance.
In the end, last night’s game really annoyed me. Joba was really bad, and the Yanks couldn’t protect an early 4-0 lead. They nearly mounted a comeback, but Joe Girardi stupidly managed it away. They still have a six-game lead, but Girardi has been a slave to bad strategy all year. Had the slumping Melky been up with Jeter behind him, I could see why the team might want to bunt, but Nick Swisher is a hitter. He should never ever be bunting after the Yanks got six batters on and the tying run is already in scoring position with no one out. It just doesn’t make sense.
One thing that’s become apparent over the course of this season: the Yanks are built for their home ballpark. Among their nine regulars they have just two righties. The rest are lefties or switch-hitters. Since the majority of pitchers are righties, that means the Yankees bat from the left side of the plate more often than not, which gives them a nice, short shot at the right field fence. This has led Pat Andriola of The Hardball Times to wonder whether the Yanks hitters are trying to put the ball in the air. Unsurprisingly, some players are experiencing the highest flyball rates of their careers: Mark Teixeira, Johnny Damon, and Jorge Posada, while Hideki Matsui is in the midst of his second highest rate season.
Is that necessarily good, though? Sure, Tex is just three homers behind his total from 2008 and is at his total from 2007, but it has come at a cost. Ground balls go for hits more often than fly balls, which has led Teixeira’s BABIP to fall to .289, the lowest of his career. Ditto his line drive rate, at 16.6 percent, and his batting average with runners in scoring position, .268. It’s also led to a high number of infield flies.
Also, Tex’s fly balls aren’t getting out at a greater rate. He has a 17.2 percent home run per fly ball ratio, which is at or below most of his previous years. It would make sense to swing for the fences more if the fly balls were going out at a greater rate, but they’re not. Then again, it’s tough to complain about Tex’s season at all right now. Maybe he’d be better off leveling his swing as in the past, but we just can’t know that. What we do know is that he’s battering the ball at Yankee Stadium.
Strangely, Swisher is not hitting more fly balls this year. In fact, it doesn’t look like he’s tailoring his swing to the new Stadium at all — or if he is, then it’s not working. Hey, maybe that explains his poor home splits. If he’s trying to put the ball over the short porch and is failing, well, that might explain his .206 BA and .323 SLG at home.
It’s an interesting thought, though. Considering how well the Yanks have played at home this season, it would seem to be working, if in fact that’s the case.
The Yankees have had their share of botched fly balls and bad calls go against them this year, but tonight they got to live on the other side. One play led to a big inning, while the other saved a potential one for the Mariners. When you’re as hot as the Yankees and a couple of things fall your way, the chances of a win are pretty damn good. Add in some solid pitching and it’s a 5-2 Yankees victory.
Sergio Mitre did what he was supposed to do by keeping the ball low. It resulted in seven hits, but none for extra bases. The only runs came as results of balls smashed into the ground. Ichiro hit a tough bouncer to Robinson Cano in the first, resulting in a two-base error. He came around to score on a ground out and a sac fly. Catcher Rob Johnson hit a high, high chopper in the fourth with a runner on third, plating the Mariner’s second and final run.
Through five there can be few if any complaints about Mitre. Even in the sixth he wasn’t horrible. After striking out Ken Griffey Jr. to start the frame, he gave up a first-pitch single to Russell Branyan, walked Jack Hannahan on four pitches, and allowed another infield single to Rob Johnson, one that the latter barely beat out. With the bases loaded and one man out, Joe Girardi felt his bullpen could better handle the task of escaping the inning.
On came David Robertson, who has been on something of a hot streak. After consecutive rough outings against the Angels and A’s, Robertson has pitched 9.2 innings, allowing two runs on seven hits and three walks, striking out 12. His 47 strikeouts in 33.1 innings overall is quite impressive as well. With the bases loaded and one out he struck out Josh Wilson on a 94 mph fastball up. Two down.
Robertson would be the beneficiary of the Yankees’ second fortuity of the evening. On a 3-2 count to Ryan Langerhans, Robertson unleashed another 94 mph fastball, this one headed toward Langerhans’s knees. It looked low, and Gameday agrees. But Jose Molina did a good job of framing it, which might or might not have influenced CB Bucknor’s call of strike three. The threat was over and the Yankees two-run lead was still intact.
The Yankees first fortuity of the evening came a bit earlier, back in the second. With Cano on first and one out, Melky Cabrera hit a fairly routine fly ball to center, ranging a bit toward right. Franklin Gutierrez, the M’s current center fielder, called off Ichiro, the M’s former center fielder, but it looked like the latter pulled up a little late, distracting the former and possibly causing him to drop the ball. No matter the reason, Cano and Melky booth stood on base for Jose Molina.
After working a 2-1 count, Molina jumped on a fastball up in the zone, slapping it to left and plating Cano. Derek Jeter then hit a fly ball deep enough to center to score Melky, and Nick Swisher followed it with a line drive into the seats in left that got out in a hurry. The Yanks wouldn’t score again until Jeter hit one out in the ninth, but the initial runs would hold up. Without the Gutierrez error, the Yankees might not have even scored that inning.
All three of these games against Seattle have been greatly enjoyable. It helps that they’ve won — I somehow doubt that Mariners fans feel the same way. Best of all, they got one with their No. 5 starter on the mound. They’ll bring out the big guns tomorrow with Joba Chamberlain making his final appearance for a little over a week. He’ll miss out on Oakland and Boston, so maybe he can make up for it by twirling a gem tomorrow. He’ll get his shot against Doug Fister tomorrow in a game that starts, mercifully, at 4 p.m.
If I told you that Sergio Mitre would only last 4.1 innings last night, you’d surely lower your head into your palm. Yet it wasn’t that bad. Girardi exercised caution and relieved Mitre before he could cause any serious trouble. Al Aceves fended off the Blue Jays for an inning and two thirds, and that bought the Yankees offense enough time to rally ahead and take their second straight game from the Jays, 8-4.
Mitre didn’t look bad to start the game, striking out Marco Scutaro and Aaron Hill. The Jays then went single happy, hitting ground balls and bloops on their way to four straight hits which resulted in two runs. The box score looked bad, but at least Mitre was keeping the ball on the ground. And striking out guys. Five innings, two runs was still a possibility.
Over the next few innings, it appeared he might just hold up. Mitre was by no means perfect over the next three innings, but he made some good pitches and got a strikeout with a runner on and two outs in the second, and a ground out with two on and two outs in the fourth. Jose Molina assisted in the third, picking off Vernon Wells on a snap throw to fist.
After getting yet another grounder to open the fifth, Mitre left one up to Adam Lind, and Lind did as Lind does, parking it in the right field seats. After a Lyle Overbay single, Girardi had seen enough. His team was down just one and he didn’t want to see any more distance in the score, so he called on Ol’ Reliable, Al Aceves, to finish off the fifth and then some. Al fulfilled his duty, retiring the first five batters he faced.
Meanwhile, the Yankees were thinking rally. Nick Swisher sparked them in the seventh with a leadoff solo homer, tying the game. This led to a multi-run inning, which is strange, because you’d think that a leadoff walk would lead to more multi-run innings. But no, Swisher’s one run started a series of events which would eventually end with Mark Teixeira singling home the Yankees fourth run of the inning. Sandwiched in there was Jose Molina walking and Rod Barajas botching a play at the plate, so it was quite an eventful series of at bats. Even better, it left the Yankees with a lead.
I was a bit surprised to see Aceves back out to start the seventh after a long top of the inning. It made it easy to excuse the lead off home run to Marco Scutaro. Thankfully, the Blue Jays would not get a multi-run inning of their own. Ace got Aaron Hill to hit one right at Jeter, and then Phil Coke took care of the lefties Adam Lind and Lyle Overbay to cap the frame. Hughes and, after a few insurance runs, Robetson cleaned up.
It was encouraging to see the Yanks come back, despite a short start from Mitre. It’s never a welcome sight to see a starter fail to finish five innings, but the Yankees bullpen was good enough to pick up the slack and limit the Jays. I keep thinking back to years past in games like this. Would the offense have come back last year? Would the bullpen have held together for so long in 2007? I’m not so sure. It’s reassuring to know that both can happen in 2009.
The Yanks have now won three straight, and with two straight Red Sox losses they head into the weekend series two and a half games up in the AL East. The Yankees have no excuses this time. They’ve got to take three out of four, though there’s always the thought of a sweep right in the front of my mind. They’ll kick it off with Joba vs. Smoltz tomorrow night. I couldn’t be more excited.
The good news: the good Andy Pettitte showed up last night. The bad news: the offense didn’t. Blame the umpire if you will — the Yanks did strike out looking seven times — but it was an all around poor offensive effort. It’s tough to win games when you only score two runs, and the Yankees weren’t an exception tonight. They tied the game up late, but lost in the bottom of the ninth, 3-2.
Pettitte did his part. He allowed just five baserunners over 6.1 innings. He threw strikes all night, 71 percent, which again was partly owed to the unnecessarily large strike zone. It resulted in eight strikeouts and two runs, one of which was unearned amid an inning full of defensive mistakes. While the walk-off put the nail in the coffin, that one inning did in the Yanks.
The seventh started off oddly, with Pettitte slipping while in pursuit of a Jim Thome tapper. What should have been an easy out netted the Sox a baserunner. Pettitte recovered with a strikeout, but then A.J. Pierzynski smacked one A-Rod’s way, and it hit off his glove for a single. That was it for Pettitte.
Phil Hughes almost brought the inning to an end by inducing a ground ball right to A-Rod. He tossed to Cano, who could have gotten Carlos Quentin if not for Pierzynski’s slide, which caused him to throw off-line. Teixeira couldn’t corral it in time and Thome scored the go-ahead run. WIth Gavin Floyd rolling, things looked a bit dark for the Yanks.
The top of the ninth did little to lend optimism. Both A-Rod and Matsui struck out swinging to start the inning. That left Nick Swisher, 0 for 3 at that point with three strikeouts himself. But on an 0-1 count, Matt Thonton put one in Swisher’s wheelhouse, and it left the park, tying the game.
The bottom half wouldn’t be so kind. After getting Jermaine Dye to pop up to Jorge Posada, Phil Hughes gave up two straight singles, a bouncing ball towards no one in particular to Jim Thome, and a legit shot to Paul Konerko. Girardi called on Phil Coke, who got A.J. Pierznyski to fly out, but gave up a game-winning single on an up the middle line drive to Dewayne Wise.
It’s always tough to lose these games, but they happen here and there. Could Girardi have gone to Mo in the ninth? I think it’d have been a better decision than pitching him with a four-run lead on Wednesday night. Again, with the winning run in scoring position — as in, if he scores the game is over — you want your best guy on the mound so you have a chance to fight another inning. Managers never do that, so I’ve come to grips with it, but it still irks me every time. Especially, again, when said closer pitched with a four-run lead the night before.
As the Yanks have proven, the bats can come alive after a dead night, and that’s what they’ll hope for tomorrow. It’s Sergio Mitre vs. Clayton Richard. Splitting the four-game set with Chicago would be nice at this point, so a win tomorrow could go a long way.
Last time A.J. Burnett pitched at the Trop he went eight innings on 103 pitches, allowing three hits and walking one while striking out nine Rays. He wasn’t quite that good last night, but he still pitched seven strong, allowing just one unearned run on two hits and two walks. It was just the kind of opening performance the Yankees needed as they attempt to bury the Rays this week. Combined with an offensive outburst it led to an 11-4 Yankees victory.
Despite excellent results, Burnett’s pitch count rose quickly. He faced just four batters in each of the first three innings, and then he faced the minimum in the fourth and fifth before facing four again in the sixth. At that point he had thrown 105 pitches, but with a short bullpen Joe Girardi sent him out there for the seventh inning. Thankfully it was a quick inning, aided by Carlos Pena’s first-pitch groundout to short.
Was it concerning that Girardi sent out Burnett for the seventh with over 100 pitches? A bit, but considering the circumstances it wasn’t the worst move. It’s the end of July, so he’s used to the work load. He’s a vet who has racked up pitch counts before. The game was inside, so there were no concerns about the conditions. With Coke and Hughes unavailable, it’s understandable why Girardi wanted to get seven out of his starter.
On the other hand, it’s always an oddity these days to see a manager let a pitcher with over 100 pitches start a new inning. Maybe it’s just our modern bias towards the 100-pitch milestone, and it’s not really that big a deal at all. But for someone with Burnett’s injury history, it’s hard not to be concerned. It’s probably no big deal, but it’s tough to ignore, again, because of our modern biases.
High pitch count or not, Burnett was on his game last night. He allowed just five base runners through seven innings, one of whom, B.J. Upton, reached on a dropped third strike, and another of whom was erased by a double play. It’s yet another in A.J.’s recent string of excellent starts. He’s certainly among the Yankees players of the month in July. He’s got my vote, even over Hughes.
The offense wasted little time in staking Burnett to a lead. James Shields looked to be on his game in the first, but the Yanks pounced in the second. It took them two pitches to rack up two hits and a run. Hideki struck first with a single, and then scored all the way from first on a Jorge Posada gapper. As if Hideki’s 270-foot sprint wasn’t bizarre enough, Robinson Cano got ahead in the count 3-0 in the next at bat. He then whaled a 3-1 pitch all the way to the wall. It looked as if Gabe Gross would catch it at the front of the warning track, but the ball ended up sailing a bit further, bouncing off the top of the wall. Posada scored and Cano moved into third, to score on a ground out. The Yanks had an early 3-0 lead.
Subsequent innings of silence are always golden when you have a lead, and that’s what the next few were for the Yankees. Then they struck again in the sixth. Robinson Cano, who walked in the fourth, took the first pitch he saw to dead center for the Yanks’ fourth run. Nick Swisher would follow up two pitches later with a moon shot to right. It was his third homer at the Trop this season. He’d later add his fourth as an insurance run.
The Yankees offensive night speaks for itself: 11 runs, 15 hits, 3 doubles, 1 triple, 4 homers, 7 walks. A-Rod doubled in two insurance runs on his birthday, though given how Albaladejo pitched in the eighth, those runs provided some security. Also, congratulations to Johnny Damon on hitting his 200th career home run, a three-run blast in the ninth. Of those 200 career jacks, Damon has hit 70 with the Yankees in the three-plus years he’s been with the club. That’s already 14 more than he hit with Boston and five more than he hit with KC.
As mentioned, things got a bit shaky with Alabaladejo in the eighth. After opening the inning with a strikeout, he walked Jason Bartlett and then let up a double to B.J. Upton. Following a Carl Crawford sac fly, he hit Evan Longoria in the elbow, then gave up a single to Ben Zobrist. That was enough for Girardi. In came David Robertson in what was technically a save situation, with Pat Burrell standing in the on-deck circle as the tying run. Robertson got Pena swinging to end the threat. The Yanks would then add on their insurance, and Robertson finished off the Rays in the ninth after allowing a leadoff homer to Pat the Bat.
The loss puts Tampa Bay 7.5 games out of the division, with Scott Kazmir on tap to try and staunch the bleeding. The Yanks will counter with their ace, CC Sabathia. Another Yanks win could be devastating to the Rays. It would push them 8.5 games out of the division, with the possibility of a sweep looming. Even with the struggling Kazmir on the mound, do not take the Rays lightly tomorrow. They know what’s at stake.
For the Yankees, life is good. They’ve gotten contributions from all ends in the six games since the break, and have taken all six contests. The latest came earlier this afternoon in the series finale against the Orioles. The Yankees sent out A.J. Burnett, hoping he’d replicate the success he’d had leading up to the break. They were not disappointed.
Burnett scattered six hits and three walks over seven innings of work, tossing 104 pitches and getting 68 over for strikes. That’s a bit more than we’re used to seeing from Burnett. He ran into trouble a couple of times, both on out of the ordinary plays. In the third Nick Swisher dropped a fly ball led to a first and third, none out situation, and then a second and third, one out situation. Swisher got his redemption, though, running down a line drive by Ty Wiggington to end the frame.
The jam in the seventh didn’t end so painlessly. Robert Andino, the Orioles No. 9 hitter, bounced one sky high in front of the plate. By the time it came down neither Posada nor Burnett had a chance to make a play. Adam Jones later doubled, and Nick Markakis knocked in the Os first run with a sac fly. The Yanks were out of the inning when Aubrey Huff hacked at strike three in the dirt, but it bounced away from Posada and Jones scored. That’s quite a painful way to surrender two runs.
The action picked up again in the ninth. Phil Hughes had pitched the eighth, but the Yankees tacked on a run in the bottom, so Brian Bruney came in to close things out. It was his first appearance since July 10, and we’re all familiar with his struggles of late. Things looked good, as he struck out Andino, on three pitches, and Roberts, on a two-two count.
Then Adam Jones homered on the first pitch he saw. Okay. Forgivable. Adam Jones is good, and that was probably a poorly placed pitch. But when Nick Markakis followed two pitches later, that was enough. Girardi made the slow walk to the mound, summoning Rivera for the one-out save. Rivera completed striking out the side, and the Yanks picked up another victory.
We often hear about the Yankees struggling against rookie pitchers they’ve yet to see — in fact, I think it’s brought up in some capacity every time, win or lose. Today they not only got to Jason Berken, but they got to him early. It helped that Brian Roberts bobbled a Robinson Cano bouncer with the bases loaded, but when the frame was over the Yanks had jumped out to a 4-0 lead. That would be enough for Burnett to cruise through the rest of the game.
It’s tough coming up with new things to say after all these wins. The Yankees played well. They hit with runners in scoring position: 7 for 15. They got some timely pitching and made some good defensive plays (even if they were making up for previous blunders). It was an all-around great effort, as it has been since the break (and before). Teams that play like this will win ball games. That’s what they tell me.
It’s back to work tomorrow. A’s are in town for a four-game set. CC Sabathia gets to open things up. Until then, treat this as your open thread. But treat it gently.
At 51-37, with the third best record in baseball, leading the Wild Card and just three games back in the AL East, the Yankees had a fine first half. Yet it was a tumultuous three months, wrought with streaks and injuries and strange trends, causing mass panic at times among Yankees fans. Over the extended All-Star Break, we’ll go over each position to see what went right, what went wrong, and how things look for the second half. We already looked at the starting pitchers, relievers, corner infielders, catchers, and middle infielders, so now it’s time to take a look at the outfielders and designated hitter.
The expectations
Coming into the season with no fewer than five outfielders on their projected Opening Day roster, the Yanks figured to sport a solid but relatively unspectacular outfield in 2009. Johnny Damon, Nick Swisher and Xavier Nady figured to man the corner outfield spots and work in some kind of harmonious rotation where everyone stayed rested and productive. Centerfield was going to be occupied by Melky Cabrera or Brett Gardner, whichever one happened to be hitting at the moment. Hideki Matsui was expected to contribute nothing beyond DH duty, which was fine.
After posting a .765 OPS as a unit in 2008 (20th best in baseball), the team figured to see an improvement in its outfield production this year given their depth. Damon was expected to produce at a similar pace to his first three years in pinstripes, while everyone assumed that a rebound for Nick Swisher and slight step back from Nady would combine to produce at the very least average production. Gardbrera was a bit of a crapshoot, and in most circles it was believed the team would probably need to go out and get someone at some point. Matsui just had to be Matsui, or close to it.
The results
Aside from a season-ending elbow injury to Nady just eight games into the season, everything has gone better than expected. Swisher has rebounded from his down year in Chicago while Cabredner has been better than anyone could have expected. Johnny Damon is enjoying the best season of his long career, just in time for his contract year. As a unit, the Yanks rank third in AL with an .815 OPS, trailing two of their AL East counterparts. You get one guess who those two teams are. Hideki Matsui has stayed relatively healthy and is having his best season since 2005.
It’s hard not to be pleased with the production the Yankees have gotten out of the outfield and DH this year. Aside from Nady everyone’s been able to stay on the field, and there’s more bodies than spots so there should be enough opportunity to keep the seemingly ageless Damon fresh.
Johnny Damon
Amazingly, Damon is having the best season of his career at age 35. However, it looks like the New Yankee Stadium has contributed greatly to his resurgence, as his home OPS is more than 200 points greater than his road OPS. He’s taken to the two-spot in the order like he’s been hitting there his entire career, which I think is what most of us figured would happen.
Unfortunately it’s not all good news for Johnny, because his defense in left field has been downright dreadful in 2009. Whether you trust newfangled defensive metrics or just judge defense with your eyes, it’s easy to see the Damon went from an above-average left fielder to one that’s shaky at best. In the team’s final two wins of the first half up in Minnesota, Joe Girardi replaced Damon with Melky Cabrera in the late innings for defense. More than likely we’ll see that continue in the second half.
Melky Cabrera & Brett Gardner
After winning the centerfield job outright in Spring Training, it took only 15 games or so for Melky Cabrera to reclaim the job. In what looks like an annual occurrence, Melky started the year on fire (.326-.394-.517 through May 13th) but trailed off afterward (.261-.320-.395 since). Gardner did pretty much the opposite, starting slow (.214-.273-.257 through May 12th) before picking up the pace (.322-.398-.492 since). The two have combined for a .293-.361-.439 batting line, fourth best among centerfielders in the AL and behind only the Orioles in the AL East.
Gardner has been a hero on defense, putting up an ungodly 20.1 UZR/150, trailing only Colby Rasmus and Franklin Gutierrez. Melky’s been solid, but as usual he tends to get overrated because of his arm. As a whole, the Gardbrera tandem has given the Yanks everything they could have wanted and more.
Nick Swisher & Xavier Nady
We weren’t sure how Girardi was going to get both Swisher and Nady regular at-bats this year, but that problem took care of itself barely a week into the season. Swisher has handled the everyday job with aplomb, doing his usual schtick of getting on base (.360 OBP) and hitting for power (.464 SLG). While he’s prone to the occasional botched play, overall he’s been slightly above average in right field with a 1.8 UZR/150. While it would be nice to have Nady healthy for the depth, Swisher has held down the fort just fine.
Hideki Matsui
It’ll be easy to talk about Matsui’s first half since all he’s done is hit, and hit he has. His .264-.367-.517 batting line is his best in years, and while the common perception might be that the New Stadium is artificially beefing up his numbers, Godzilla’s road OPS is more than 60 points higher than his home effort. While his knees look ready to explode whenever he has to run, Matsui’s a hitting savant that produces in all situations against any kind of pitcher regardless of what arm they throw with.
Expectations for the second half
Brian Cashman added some insurance in Eric Hinske not long before the break, which helps mitigate what would have been a disaster should another outfielder go down with injury. It’s tough to expect Damon to continue his career year, but a regression to his previous performance would be acceptable. The real question is whether or not Melky and Gardner can keep it up in center, because the Yanks have less than three weeks to decide if they need an upgrade.
I guess the expectation for the second half is what it was coming into the season, rock solid production but far from spectacular. Anything else is gravy.
It’s not quite a nine-game win streak, but the Yankees have been rolling lately. They snapped the streak while losing two out of three to Philadelphia, but since then have taken two of three from Texas, three out of four from Cleveland, two out of three from Texas again, and two of three from the Rays. A win capped that last series, as the Yanks bats powered them over the Rays, 5-3. They’re now 9-3 since the Philly series, and yes, they’re still atop the AL East.
Looking at the box score, it wouldn’t appear Andy Pettitte pitched badly. And really, he wasn’t bad, in the Hughes-against-the-Orioles kind of way. But he labored yet again, walking three and allowing five hits in six innings. The worst, by a long shot, was a two-run shot to Gabe Kapler, who entered the game hitting a robust .169/.261/.260. YES nominated him for the player of the game, but I believe there’s a statute buried somewhere deep in the MLB rulebook which says no one who surrenders the first homer of the year to a guy hitting on the Interstate shall be awarded player of the game. I’ll look it up sometime.
Pettitte did battle, though, and you can’t really complain about six innings and three runs, especially when they come with seven strikeouts — though six came in the first three innings. The thing that concerns me is that Pettitte will look like this the rest of the season. Sometimes he’ll win his battles as he did tonight, perhaps losing a significant one along the way but generally limiting the damage. There will be games, though, where other teams bomb him. The Yanks have been able to avoid that, for the most part, since it happened a few times in April. It’s been a big part of their turn-around.
Of course, there’s little the team can do about it. They could put him on the DL to give his back a rest, and that might be the best decision from a team standpoint. Clearly, that’s not what Andy wants to do. He’s got innings-based incentives in his contract. Combined with considerable pride, and you have a guy who is going to insist on taking the ball every five days. Generally I respect this mentality. However, it’s different when it involves being sick than when it involves being injured. I’m not saying Pettitte must go on the DL, but I am saying that if Pettitte’s next five starts are going to resemble his last five, perhaps a two week vacation could do him some good.
Pettitte and the bullpen kept the team in the game, and the offense delivered on their end of the deal. It was once again a homer party for the Yanks, as they scored all five runs on the longball. Mark Teixeira solo job, Swisher with a no-doubt-about-it two-run shot, Johnny Damon with a right-field special, and finally Derek Jeter, after falling just short previously in the game, deposited one in the stands in right. That’s five runs on four homers. Strangely, despite the power surge, the Yankees hit no doubles in the game (neither team did). In fact, the only non-homer hits for the Yanks were an infield single by Swish and a leadoff single by Cano in the second.
The only point of complaint about the offense was that it seemed like they were swinging at too much of Andy Sonnanstine’s out-of-the-zone slop. The guy doesn’t have the greatest stuff, and it looked like he didn’t have his command last night. Those are the games where you’d like to see the Yanks take their walks, but they drew just two. It seemed like they could have had five or six. Worse yet, on the AB after Sonnanstine walked Hideki Matsui on four pitches, Nick Swisher hacked at some pitches you’d normally see him take. The result was a double play. At the time, with the score tied at three, it was horribly frustrating. Upon reflection, yeah, we can’t expect them to be perfect all the time. But when a guy with mediocre stuff isn’t hitting his spots, you’d like to see them take some more of the free passes he’s handing out.
While there were some frustrating moments from Pettitte and even a few from the offense, nothing drew my ire last night like Girardi’s decision to take out Hughes after an 11-pitch seventh inning. He absolutely mowed down the Rays’ 1-2-3 guys, but wasn’t given a chance to pitch a second inning, even though he hadn’t thrown in a week. Instead Phil Coke came out to face the lefty Pena. Girardi explained on the postgame that “it’s Cokey’s job” to get the lefty, but really it’s every pitcher’s job to get outs. Pena does have a pronounced split — .962 OPS vs. righties, .779 vs. lefties — so the decision is at least somewhat defensible. Still, Hughes could have used the work, and it’s not like he did anything to show he couldn’t get Pena (and please, his three career at bats are the definition of meaningless). It’s not the end of the world, and we will not treat it as such. Consider it a mild complaint on behalf of those who want to see Hughes get in some innings, especially when he just tossed a marvelous seventh.
Surprisingly, Mo came out to pitch the ninth for the third straight day. Surprisingly again, but this time in a sarcastic manner, Mo isn’t done. After blowing the game Friday he retired six straight batters and locked down two straight wins. It’s a bit scary a proposition to not have him available for a game in Fenway, but that’s the way it’s gotta be. Would Girardi dare call on Mo for a fourth straight appearance if the Yanks are up one going into the bottom of the ninth? Who else would he call on? Hopefully the Yanks offense can just tee off on Beckett and make it a moot question.
Tomorrow’s quite the big day. Not only are the Yanks in Boston with Beckett vs. Burnett on the hill, but we have the MLB Draft. Stay tuned to RAB, as Mike will bring you the dirt from the draft while Ben and I bow in admiration and cover the rest of the team. Draft question to get everyone warmed up: If Kyle Gibson, Tanner Scheppers, and Aaron Crow are all on the board when the Yanks pick, which one should they choose?
