Saturday, April 10, 2010

CC Close But No-No

When you close in on a perfect game or no-hitter you have to have some great defensive plays along the way to get there.

Cano, Tex, and A-Rod really made some big plays to keep the no-no alive - which made me think that CC was going to get it.

But, it wasn't to be - at least they get the win.

14 comments:

old professor said...

CC was impressive at least for the portion of the game we were able to watch. The offense came alive for that game. Even more impressive was Burnett's performance.

Joba threw almost 30 pitches in his one inning of relief of Burnett. He is inconsistent and needs to get his head screwed on straight.

Crash regarding your comments on Huffman and Miranda - Miranda would give them a good lefthanded bat off the bench as well as someone who can give Tex a breather at first (putting Johnson in the field puts him at risk for injury).

Crash said...

First week recap...Yankees stand with a record of 4-2, taking 2 of 3 from both the Sox and Rays. Not bad considering many are claiming that the those 3 teams (Yanks, Ryas, and Sox) are the best 3 teams in baseball.

The Good from week 1: CC's outing against the Rays was great. Pettitte's start against the Sox was real good. Chan Ho Park's 2nd outing against the Sox was very impressive (3IP 1 H, 0R). Granderson has been great so far, .348 AVG 2 HR and 3 SB. Cano has started hot .360, 2HR. Posada .353 2 HR, Swisher .333 1 HR, and Gardner .294 3 SB.

The Bad: Teixeira started 0-17, before finding a couple hits in the second game with Tampa. Javier Vazquez...8ER??? He was pretty dominant through the first 4 2/3. Then he gave up the blast to Pena and he wasn't the same guy. Looked like he started throwing the ball and not pitching. He was leaving things in the fat part of the zone and his stuff became real flat.

This week, home opener in the Bronx on Tuesday when LA comes to visit with a DH that is knocking the cover off the ball. Matsui is real hot right now. I really have missed so far this year. He was one of those guys that I thought would never leave Pinstripes. I would think Matsui gets his ring on Tuesday as well, and gets a standing ovation for some time from the fans on Tuesday. Following LA is a weekend series with Texas.

Crash said...

There's a fun read on i-Yankees.com about a new Yankees/Boston Curse...it goes back and looks at the statistical decline of David Ortiz since that construction worker attempted to bury an Ortiz jersey during the construction of the new Stadium. Humorous if nothing else. Here's the link:

www.i-yankees.com/?p=19759

old professor said...

Yankees seem to be playing decent ball even without Tex and A-Rod producing that much.

It would be nice to see the Yankee fans give Matsui a great round of applause when he is presented his ring.

Crash said...

Matsui is a class guy. Cashman should have signed him. You may be able to replace his on field production, but you can't replace what he brought to the table, and Yankee fans know it. He deserved every bit of that ovation he got today.

Also good to see Gene Monahan out to accept his ring. Very classy of the Yankee players to show him how much they appreciate him. Whatever he's battling hope he comes out ok and can get back to the team. You can tell he misses it.

old professor said...

Great home opener - nice to see the way the fans and team treated Matsui and Mohanan.

Pettitte pitched another gem. Bullpen still seems to have problems - two pitchers, three innings, two home runs and five runs. NOT GOOD. Anyone surprised that Girardi seems to be going to Robertson versus Joba?

Crash said...

Despite Girardi saying that the setup role is a competition, it's obvious they want to use Joba in save type situations leading to Mo (kind of like preping him for a closer role???). When Robertson came in, the game was not close. Robertson was in to get work and end the game. He got work but couldn't get the job done. If Robertson can't close the door with a 6 run lead he's certainly not ready to setup and he's going to find himself in mop up duty or back on the farm in a hurry.

old professor said...

Different team more mature pitcher -results the same. Maybe Vasquez can't pitch in NY. Based on MLB Network analysis on his latest start, 47% of his pitches were breaking balls or changeups in addition when he threw his fastball it was 88-90. As they put it - he cannot be successful with that percentage of slow stuff and a mediocre fastball.

Crash said...

Don't get caught up with the media out cry here...he gave up 4 runs. Oh the humanity. Let's try to put that in prospective for a minute...Here's some reality: John Maine the Mets #2 starter just got blasted for 8ER. Jason Marquis (I believe you were shocked the Yankees didn't make him an offer) has given up 6 ER in each of starts and hasn't made it out of the 4th inning yet. Brandon Morrow I believe is Toronto's #2 just gave up 7ER. Jake Peavy 7ER in his last start. Justin Verlander gave up 6ER. Chris Carpenter gave up 5ER in his last start. So yeah I'll take 4ER in 5.1 innings from the #4 starter.

To my knowledge Javy isn't hurt. So his stuff just hasn't come around yet. CC had bad a April last year going 1-2 with an ERA near 5.00...think that turned ok didn't it. I'm not saying Javy is going to have 19 W's...but I'm saying, unless he's hurt, he will end up at the numbers on the back of his baseball card. Which means ERA around 4.20 with about 12-15 Wins and 200K's. Funny that's what the Yankees got from their #3 starter (well not quite Andy had about half the K's) and we didn't hear a peep from anybody.

Phil Hughes gets his first start today. I think it's a bad draw, as he goes up against Scott Kazmir who also seems to pitch well against the Yankees. If Hughes can go 5+ with 4ER I take it...oh wait isn't that what Javy gave them yesterday...

old professor said...

First of all don't give me statistical data related to the Muts - they suck as a team and may only finish with a better record than Houston. Javy had a strong spring training and apparently was ready to go - the season starts and the fastball disappears and the breaking stuff isn't impressive. He threw four consecutive changeups to Morales yesterday - exactly how many times would a major league hitter have to see something in the upper 70s or low 80s before it is rocketed somewhere?

The guy is not pitching with confidence and when that happens, the team behind him comes up short. The only think he has going in his favor is he will be given the opportunity to face the #4 starter for Baltimore and Toronto and eventually the #4 of the Mets (who should consider trying to bring Bob Feller out of retirement).

Crash said...

Just received a tweet from MLBTradeRumors.com that further supports my argument for not going overboard with Javy Vazquez...Pitchers who had an ERA over 7.50 on 4/15/09: Justin Verlander, Tim Lincecum, John Lester, and Cliff Lee.

I'm just saying let's not kill the guy yet. As always, the NY fan base and NY media blow everything way out of proportion.

Crash said...

So Yankees are starting off real well. 2 of 3 from Sox, 2 of 3 from Rays, and 2 of 3 from Angels...this could arguably be their toughest 9 game stretch of the schedule as all 3 teams figure to be in the playoff discussion all year long. To come out winning each series you have to be happy, and I think it sets the rest of the league on notice that the Yankees are not taking anything for granted and are coming out to play and defend/repeat.

By the way Cano is on fire...hasn't he always had slow starts? I think we have said imagine what he would be if he didn't hit .180 in April. He could very well be on the way to MVP if he keeps this up.

old professor said...

Lost in all of the hoopla of yesterday is that Hughes pitched fairly well (six strikeouts, five walks and a balk - 2 runs). The walks need to come down and the fact that he threw 108 pitches in just over five innings needs to be worked on as well, but he pitched okay. The Yankees can be happy with winning the first three series of the year in light of Tex and A-Rod not hitting much.

Even Thames had a good day yesterday as DH and he is now hitting over .450.

Crash said...

I think Hughes was squeezed a bit yesterday. He wasn't getting calls on the low strike. That didn't help his pitch count or his walks, but he needs to learn how to adjust to that as well. I'm reading that he needs to use his changeup more. Given that it's a new pitch for him, he will use it more as he becomes more comfortable with it. As the season progresses I bet he uses it a lot more.

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