Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Yanks Take 2 out of 3 Versus Twins

The Bombers took down and completed their first series win of 2007 against the Twins tonight.

Pitching: Pavano and Pettitte looked like a number 1 and 2 starter. Mussina continues to disappoint though. It should not be a surprise that ever since he threw Pavano under the bus in the Spring that he has stunk up the joint. It happens all the time in sports - what goes around comes around. Mussina sucked in the Spring, was pounded in his first start, then gave up on the team in a critical moment in third putting even more strain on the bull pen. With the exception of the loss tonight the relief has performed admirably and was overall very good - just overworked no thanks to the Moose.

Defense: Much improved - no errors last three games.

Offense: A-Rod is the man. Offensive production has been better than anyone else in the league. The only two areas of disappointment right now is Jason Giambi and the bottom two spots in the line up. Giambi is batting well below Mendoza - he continues to offer high fly ball practice to the opponent as he continues his quest to hit a home run every damn time resulting in getting underneath the ball and creating outs in critical times - the fly outs are not even deep enough to advance a runner. He needs to spend some quality time on the batting tee and re-learn how to drive a ball. As for spots 8 and 9 in our hitting order, they went 2 for 21 the last 3 games. We're not asking for a hit every time - but better than .100 would be appreciated.

Final Grade for Series vs. Twins: B+ (Points for winning 2 of 3, strong starts by the P brothers, and defensive improvement. Loss of points on Mussina, Giambi, and bottom of the order forgetting how to hit)

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why all the hate for Moose? The freakin guy strained a hammy...no big deal, get over it...he's old. He was smart to come out of the game, whether you like it or not he's a big part of the Yankee rotation and losing him on the DL for a month or more would be quite harmful. Good for him being a "team" guy and realizing he better shut it down last night. He'll be back, and he will perform up to his borderline Hall of Fame pedigree.

Nice stat pointing out the deficiencies of the bottom of the lineup, I had no idea it was so horrid....but no mention of "Minky's" glove at first...a couple more stellar plays.

Giambi has me puzzled. For the first time in a while, he is supposedly 100% healthy and you're right, he doesn't seem to be driving the ball. Maybe Donnie Baseball needs to take a little time off from his bench coach job and get the Giambino in the cage.

Tyler Clippard anyone???

old professor said...

Moose is 38 years old, the hamstring will take awhile to heal. maybe the Yankees need to look at their conditioning coach. Wang down with a hamstring, Damon calf strain, Matsui hamstring, and now Mussina with a hamstring.

Tyler Clippard would be the logical call, but they also like Olendorpf. They compare his stuff to Wang.

Giambi seems overmatched by anything that is over 92mph. Maybe his best years are behind him and he is slowing down.

57 said...

Prof,

Great call on the team conditioning coach. Not enough people in or out of any organization recognize how important a good conditioning coach is.

In total agreement.

Anonymous said...

To continue on this "conditioning coach" theme, I find it quite interesting that at the end of last season, the Yankees fired Jeff Mangold and replaced him with Marty Miller. The New York Post reported today that Miller's conditioning program has de-emphasized running during Spring Training.

As Prof points out, there have been too many leg injuries to chalk it up to coincidence. I think Miller should dust off his resume.

Anonymous said...

On Mussina - look at his last three MLB starts for the Yanks. Blew a lead at home in the Playoffs, got blasted in first start, then leaves after 2 against the Twins.
This coming from the guy who says to the media he's Mr. Reliable and Pavano needs to prove he has what it takes - time for Mussina to prove something

old professor said...

Mid-Relief - Mussina has nothing to prove to anyone. He has won over 238 games. Started last season at 8-0. Elbow issues sent him to the DL and he never regained his touch.

Pavano has not reached 100 wins in his career and is slightly over a .500 pitcher. Signs big contract with Yankees goes 4-6 in his first year and didn't pitch after July. Second season - bad back, elbow surgery, bruised butt and poor driving kept him from even showing up at the Stadium.

This year, one mediocre start and one good one. Let's see if he lasts beyond July 1 (which could coincide with Moose's return).

When the season ends, Moose will have more wins than Pavano.

Yankee failure to win a World Series does not rest with one pitcher who starts every five days. The success of this year's team will be linked to getting everyone healthy and playing together and getting quality starts from all of the starters. (Even if they give quality starts, they will still lose some of those starts).

Yanks do need to be concerned with the lack of mph on the pitches from Farnsworth (normally upper 90s now throwing at 92) and the lack of confidence being shown by Proctor).

Let's end on a positive note - Henn has been lights out from the pen. Apparently not knowing when he will be called on to pitch is a positive for him.

Feeling the love on my conditioning call.

Anonymous said...

you are wrong on soooo many fronts - will come back later to detail.

Anonymous said...

Prof is right on ALL fronts....will come back later to detail after "anon" once again proves his ignorance.

Middle Relief said...

Scooter - when I'm at work and on the web via remote access i am blocked from signing in - thus the occasional anon author.

Now, here's why Old Man is wrong as it relates to Mussina. On your comment on the number of games he has won in the past - yesterday's wins do not win today's games. He opened his mouth questioning other teammates while pounding his own chest - this coming from a guy, who has failed when needed the most in post season and most recently needing to eat some innings and has yet to give a quality start.

On the winning of a World Series - how can you diminish the importance of quality starting pitching???

Middle Relief said...

Given how well King Felix has started out in Seattle - maybe Cashman will be more inclined to give Hughes a shot sooner rather than later.

Anonymous said...

Mid,

Just messin' with ya with the "anon" stuff...no worries.

As for Moose....let's simplify this. He is a quality front of the rotation starter and he has been for all of his career. With help from the Yankees potent lineup, he should be more than capable as your number 2 or 3 (when Wang gets back).

I think its unfair that you continue to point out one or two post season failures especially considering what a big supporter of A-Rod that you are. I seem to remember Moose coming out of the bullpen in the playoffs not too long ago and giving us a performance for the ages.

We bitch when he does NOT take a leadership role, but now when he tries to (by challenging Pavano to be a better pitcher and team mate), you give him grieve for that as well.

As for Hughes. I agree. Enough of the coddling.....throw him into the fire. But Cashman and Torre continue to say that it aint gonna happen.

Anonymous said...

Bobby A's shotty Defense costing the Yanks last night.

old professor said...

Mid-relief,

Abreu did not cost the Yankees the game. Farnsworth not finding the strike zone and giving up the tying blast had a lot to do with it.

In addition the Yankees had runners on second and third with no outs, bases loaded with one out and could not score a run.

Their first baseman didn't get the ball out of the infield in the eighth. A fly ball would have led to a run and Mariano in the ninth.

While the guy has a great glove, the team can't continue to absorb a .135 batting average from the guy. They may need to give Phelps a few games at first to see if he can produce.

As for king Felix, the kid has spent time on the DL because of arm trouble - could it be linked to his being rushed to the majors??

Let Hughes get some AAA games under his belt.

Anonymous said...

The Yanks lost by one run - Abreu's wiff on a routine fly ball cost one run - do the math!

And Mussina's post season issues is more than a couple of bad starts - I'm talking not only with the Yanks, but look at his tenure in Baltimore - how'd he do when they were making their run in the 95, 96, 97 time frame???

57 said...

Looks like Giambi bailed out the fact that A-Rod struck out three times last night and left four men on base (2 in scoring position) inlcuding a pivotal at bat in the 8th.

Jeter has five errors this year, and two last night. Reyes is #1 in NY...

Anonymous said...

Funny how "57" failed to mention El Duque completely imploding last night and losing to the Nationals of all teams...lmao lmao lmao


Moose and Pavano to the DL...what doesn't kill us makes us stronger.

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