Lots O' Good Stuff

Interleague play wrapped up yesterday with a trouncing of the Mets. The Yankees have now won 4 straight series, nothing to scoff at. It very well could have been 6 straight, if not for a depleted bullpen in game 3 of the Washington series. Either way, the Yanks are playing good ball. It's too bad that so are the Sox, Twins, White Sox, and Tigers. It's going to make for an interesting second half. If you've been reading my blog, you know I think the Yankees have a great chance at winning the division and getting back to the playoffs. I'm not terribly impressed with the play of the Boston Red Sox. I still don't think they're a great team and I expect it to balance out on the standings as the end of the season draws near. The errorless streak and the interleague record are impressive, but honestly, who will remember that if they don't win it all. Nobody. It will be forgotten soon after the season and memories of the accomplishments will only be conjured up when another team makes a run at those feats.
I've been commenting today on the Sox blogs, specifically Red Sox Nation Daily and at the Red Sox Chick's. I've been talking baseball and defending the Yanks. Jonathan commented on the Chick's blog that Loretta was the better 2B of the two and that the numbers bare it out. While i agree that Loretta is deserving of being an all-star, I don't think he deserved the starting mod over Cano. And that's not to say Cano was the most deserving, but he is certainly more deserving than Loretta. And the numbers support that. I went through this before on my blog, but I'll go through it again. Up and down the line, Cano is better offensively than Loretta. Now if you look at their totals, Loretta has the edge in many categories. But Loretta has 57 more plate appearances, which is ample opportunity to pad the stats. If you break it down by plate appearance, Cano has more hits per plate appearance, more doubles, more triples, more HRs, more runs scored, more RBIs. He has a higher average and a higher OPS. Loretta has walked more, which has helped with the OBP being .005 than Cano's, but that's minuscule in comparison to the other stats. And Cano does strike out more per plate appearance. Offensively, Cano wins, hands down. If you look at their defensive totals, the edge goes slightly to Loretta. Loretta is no doubt the better fielder, but Cano brings more to the table. Cano gets to 83.9% of balls hit in his "zone," while Loretta gets to only 80.3%. What does that mean? Well, Cano has 29 more total chances, 17 more putouts, 3 more assists, and 6 more DPs. He's done this in 13 less defensive innings. Not bad. Loretta doesn't make as many errors, but he doesn't get to as many balls. Getting to the ball translates to an out. I think I've made my point rather nicely, again. Cano was the better choice of the two. Was he the best choice? That's up for debate.
Jonathan also feels that the Yanks should be embarrassed with their interleague performance. He belittles the Yankees victories over the Mets in comparison to the Sox because the Yankees got to face the back end of the rotation and missed both Pedro and Glavine. Is this really a valid argument? This is bound to happen every season, to every team. I'm sure I can go dig through the schedule and find many an instance where the Red Sox benefited in a pitching match-up compared to the Yankees. It's a given so I won't waste my time. I'm not embarrassed by the Yankees play in interleague. They won 4 straight series. That's nothing to feel bad about. They've won 7 of the last 10. They're in good shape. If you want to use the argument that the Sox went 14-2 against the same opponents to prove they are a better team, that's fine. Knock yourself out. But if you look at the record of the two teams against common AL opponents, the Yanks are 22-11, the Sox are 26-21. And there you go. It's too bad the Sox don't continue to play the NL East. The Yanks are playing good ball. No need to worry.
Finally, we have the ever-so hated curtain calls. Give it up. It's going to happen. While I think A-Rod took a little long to start his trot yesterday, he deserved both his CCs. He's been publicly criticized and he's been on a tear the last few games. Yankee fans are ecstatic he's finding his swing. Many have called him out for not being clutch. In a pretty big spot yesterday, he hits a go-ahead grand slam. He came through. They thanked him and he acknowledged. Later on, he went yard again, and again they wanted to let him know we're on his side. And Nick Green? 1st HR as a Yankee! Need I say more. The CCs shouldn't bother anybody. The RSC has said that all of MLB is laughing at the Yankees when they take what they feel is an unnecessary CC. Who is to say what is, and what isn't, necessary? I think that's up to the fans who are cheering. And if a guy wants to say thanks to the fans for the support, how's that a bad thing? I agree that sometimes I'm a little bewildered why Yankee fans cheer for a CC, but who cares? The players don't, why should anyone else? If the players cared, they'd police it, like they do with a "pimp-stroll." Why doesn't a guy get a beanball in the ear after a CC? Because no one cares! Let it go.
I have some more to say but I've written enough. I'll sum it up with this: it was a great weekend. We took two of three from the Mets and won another series. I've got some concerns about the pitching, which I'll share my thoughts on in my next post. Until then, go Yanks.
J