Above Average Pitching + Below Average Hitting + Average Defense = 2 Game Split For The Yanks

Good afternoon everyone. I hope you all had an enjoyable weekend. Mine was nice and relaxing. I just hung out and enjoyed the family. The weather was nice and we spent a lot of time outside. Good times. I did get to catch the 2 games versus the Rays? Was it me or were both games pretty similar in nature, the defense withstanding? Both were exciting. Both went down to the wire. If only they could have won both games.

I thought CC pitched pretty well on Saturday. He was definitely better than his pitching line. Joba pitched pretty well on Sunday. It looked like he just ran out of gas in the 6th. Overall, solid outings by the two.

I hope Joe Girardi learned a lesson on Sunday. Let Mariano do what Mariano wants to do. It's not like Mo is some chump. It's Mariano Freaking Rivera. For my money he's the greatest closer of all time. If he wants to pitch to a guy, you let him pitch to a guy. I know the numbers were better for a Rivera/Upton matchup, but still. It's Mariano Freaking Rivera. So when it comes to Mo I say numbers schmumbers. You let Mo make the call. Who knows what would have happened had he faced Longoria? Longoria could have taken him deep. Mo could have gotten him to ground out weakly to end the inning like he did on Sunday. I guess we'll never know. Mo was pretty bad on Saturday. He was the polar opposite on Sunday and was vintage Mo. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little worried about Mo. He hasn't been his dominant self this year. His ERA (3.33) and batting average against (.263) are higher than they've been since his rookie year (5.51 and .266). He's definitely having a down year statistically speaking, arguably the worst of his career as a reliever. Well, it's definitely the worst year of his career as a reliever. But he's Mo. Before the year is all said and done, those numbers will be more Mo-like.

What happened to our solid defense? They break the record for most consecutive errorless games and then commit at least one in 5 straight. WTF? Let's get back to some clean baseball.

The offense over the last 2 games was pretty blah. They've hit to the tune of a .200 average (13-65) and are 1 for 18 (.056) with RISP. I expected them to struggle against David Price. The Yanks, as Jane pointed out in the comments, aren't good when it comes to facing pitchers they've never faced before. Most of the time, the pitchers they're facing aren't exactly highly touted and are below average pitchers. David Price is probably the best rookie pitcher the Yankees have faced in a long time. He's definitely the best that comes to mind. So struggling against him was not a surprise. Matt Garza has been one of the league's best pitchers over the last 3 seasons. It's understandable that they'd struggle against him as well. I did expect a little more but it's nothing of concern.

The series wraps up tonight and the Yanks can pull out a series win with a W. We have what I hope is a healthy Andy Pettitte on the mound tonight. If he has any missteps, I'd expect to see Phil Hughes get some innings. Hughes hasn't pitched since May 31st, which is over a week ago. I really wonder what the team's plans for Phil are. I agree with him pitching at the major league level but I disagree with letting him juts sit around. I know if he pitched on his regular rest he would have started on the 5th so it's really only been 3 days, but still. It's obvious to me that Girardi prefers Aceves over Hughes when it comes to pitching a few innings in relief. I'm not sure what their plan is as I doubt there are enough innings to go around for both Aceves and Hughes. I'm curious to see how this plays out. If you're not going to pitch Hughes, send him down.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Darryl Strawberry Interview

I got an e-mail tipping me off to an interview done with Darryl Strawberry. In it he talks about a bunch of interesting things, including his stance on Pete Rose and steroid users and their Hall of Fame prospects (he says that Rose absolutely belongs in the Hall and to put all steroids users who were bound to make the HOF into it), how he believes that Derek Jeter is the best player in baseball right now (talent and overall lifestyle considered), an update on his son DJ, and other interesting stuff. I haven't gotten the chance yet to watch it myself, but figured I pass it along because it should be interesting. The running time is just over 14 minutes. If you're interested in watching it, you can find it by clicking here. I've also added it below. There 's also a 28 minute interview they have with the Straw where he answers questions from RootZoo readers. That can be found here. Enjoy.

Melky (Again) Powers Yanks To Win

Why is it whenever there is a day game that I can't watch, it's an exciting game? Following along on the radio at work is OK, but i can't give it my undivided attention. I had a conference call today from 1-2 so I missed the beginning. Luckily, I didn't miss the end. Melky goes deep. Mo gets the save. Yankees win. Thuhhh Yankees win.

I blogged during the game about Chien-Ming Wang's outing. If you want to read my thoughts on that, scroll down or click here. To summarize, I thought it was a step in the right direction.

The Yankee offense returned to form today. They knocked the Rangers for 8 runs on 10 hits and 5 walks. The hero today, as has been the case several times this year, was Melky Cabrera. He came through again late, belting a 2-run dinger that ended up being the game-winner. Melky has been an extremely pleasant surprise this year. I don't know anyone who didn't write Melky off after the season he had last year. He's making us all eat crow and I don't think any of us are complaining. I know I'm not. He's kicking ass and taking names. He's Melktastic! No? How about Melkalicious? Yeah, still pretty bad.

Nick Swisher's June is off to a great start. In May, Nicky Swish his a buck-fifty. He had 12 hits in 27 games. He's got 4 games under his belt in June and he's already halfway to his May hit total, going 6-for-10. He's looking a lot better at the dish and that month long slump seems to be behind him. Mark Teixeira also had a good day. He had the big hit that got the Yanks back in the ballgame. This was Teixeira's 9th multi-hit game in his last 13. His average is up to .284, which is where I thought he'd end the year based on his start. He got that average up there in a hurry and it's still climbing. A .300 average for Teixeira doesn't look like it's too far off.

The Yankee bullpen had a pretty good day. Mo and Aceves were a tad bit shaky, but collectively, the 4 RPs gave up only 1 run in 4 and a-third. I was a little nervous about getting the 5 outs that were needed to get the ball from Phil Coke to Mo, but Coke and Robertson did a great job keeping the Rangers from scoring. I'll admit. I didn't think they would.

Great win today. The Yankees have won 7 of their last 8 series. If the Yankees can keep that up, getting back to the postseason won't be a problem. Winning a series pretty much means you're playing at a .667 winning percentage, which is pretty damn good. The LA Dodgers are the only team right now that have a winning percentage higher than that. Sabathia kicks things off against David Price. CC has been awesome as of late and if he's going down the same road as he did last season, we should expect big things from the big guy. It won't be a walk in the park but CC has the stuff to get it done.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Wang Roughed Up In Return To Rotation

Chien-Ming Wang made his return to the Yankee rotation today. It was Wang's first start since April 18th. After spending about a month on the DL, Wang was activated and went to the bullpen, making 3 appearances in 13 days. He threw a total of 8 innings in those 3 relief appearances, pitching well, allowing only 2 earned runs in 8 innings. Then pretty much out of nowhere, Wang was announced as today's starter, with hopes that he could throw about 80 pitches, lasting 5-6 innings. While he didn't do as well as everyone hoped, it wasn't all bad.

I didn't expect Wang to be perfect right out of the gate. I wanted to see a kick-ass outing, but deep down knew it was a long shot. He hasn't really pitched all that much lately. One of the things plaguing Wang earlier this season was his arm strength, which was tied to his leg issues. It would be foolish to think that pitching a total of 8 innings in 13 days would be enough to keep Wang's arm strong. He was good in short bursts, which is why I think he did well in short relief appearances. As we saw today, Wang did really well in the first 2 innings. You can't get much better than perfect. The wheels kind of fell off in the 3rd but it's not as if he was getting hammered like he was before he went on the DL. It's going to take a few starts for Wang to get back into starting form. All things considered, I think today's start was a step in the right direction. He did after all lower his ERA from 16.07 to 14.46. Wang has a long way to go to get back to respectability. It'll take 41 and a-third scoreless innings to get his ERA to 4.50.

Mark Teixiera just knocked in 3 to tie it! A-Rod just singled him home to put the Yanks up 6-5. It's now a whole new ballgame.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

In A BS Move By MLB, Burnett Suspended 6 Games

A.J. Burnett has been suspended by MLB for throwing over the head of Nelson Cruz. This suspension is complete and utter BS. I thought the same thing about Josh Beckett's suspension for throwing over the head of Bobby Abreu. Now if Burnett were ejected from the game that's one thing. But suspending someone who was allowed to stay in the game and pitch is BS. MLB is setting a ridiculous precedent where there now going to have to suspend every pitcher who gets an umpire to issue a warning. Now, I'm not sure if MLB is doing this now as I don't follow every other team as closely as I do the Yankees. But suspending guys that weren't ejected makes no sense to me. The worst part of this story is that Vinvente Padilla wasn't suspended. He hit Teixeira twice. He was fined, but not suspended. I fail to follow that logic.

Burnett has appealed the suspension. It'll probably get knocked down to 5 games, which means his start would get pushed back a day. Not the end of the world, but BS nonetheless.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Pettitte And Bats Struggle In 4-2 Loss To Rangers

Ah, the ups and downs of the season. One day you're in 1st with the best record in the AL. The next you're tied for first and don't have the best record. The season can definitely be a roller coaster ride. You just hope when the ride is over that your team is where you want them to be. When this ride is over, I think we Yankee fans will be pretty happy.

Andy Pettitte didn't have it tonight. He was definitely not on his game. It's possible that he has a lingering back issue but it's something I don't think we'll ever find out about. Andy is a gamer and he's not one to admit when he's not 100%. I hope that there was something wrong with him because it would at least provide some explanation for his poor outing. OK, I don't really hope something is wrong with him. I'd never want someone to be hurt. Pettitte's control was definitely lacking. He only threw 57.6% of his pitches for strikes, which is not a good percentage. He walked 6, which he hasn't done since 1999 (if I remember the stat I heard correctly). All in all, not a good night for AP. Surprisingly though, he only gave up 4 runs. He definitely didn't pitch well enough to win, but I guess you could say he kept the Yanks in the game. The offense definitely had its chances, but they didn't deliver.

The Yankees offense was pretty much non-existent tonight. Jeter's 16 game hit streak came to an end. Bummer. I guess he'll have to start a new one. The team was 1-for-6 with RISP and the goat of the game has to be A-Rod. He killed what could have been a big inning with his inning ending 5-5-3 DP in the 3rd. Alex whiffed with 1 out in the 6th, failing to bring Damon home from third. Not a good night for Alex. The team definitely missed having Mark Teixeira in the lineup. He was scratched late with a bum ankle. Girardi said in his post game interview that he'd probably be back tomorrow. If you ask me, I don't think he will be. Tomorrow is a day game so I wouldn't be surprised if he's not in the lineup. Hopefully Posada is. Typically catchers get a day game after a night game off. Jorge has been the man since he came off the DL. In his 6 games, he's hitting .348 (8 for 23) with 3 HR and 6 RBI. If he's not behind the dish, I hope he's slotted at DH. I don't think he will be, but one can hope, right?

Tomorrow marks the return of Chien-Ming Wang to the rotation. I'm down with moving him in and shifting Phil Hughes to the bullpen. I wrote the other day that if I were running things, I give the ball to Wang as opposed to Hughes. It looks like Wang is healthy so there shouldn't be any reason to think he'll get railed tomorrow. Except for maybe having below average arm strength because of only pitching 8 innings in 2 weeks. For his sake, and for ours and the Yankees, I hope he has a kick-ass outing. I have a good feeling. Oh wait, it's just gas.

Day game tomorrow which means I'll be following along on the radio. I'm not sure what my afternoon at work looks like. I'm hoping there are no meetings because nothing is worse than work interfering with listening to the Yankees. Stupid work. Always fouling up my day.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

12-3 Win Gives Yankees Best Record In AL

The AL's best team came into Yankee Stadium tonight and got their butts handed to them. The catalyst? A hard slide to break up a double play by Mark Teixeira. Teixeira may have had his hitting streak broken but his slide was definitely the big play of the game. Girardi told Teixeira on his way to first that they'd "take care of it." I'd say putting up a 7 spot and trouncing them 12-3 was taking care of it. Well done.

The offense piled it on today, scoring 12 runs on 13 hits, 6 walks, and 2 HBP. If these guys can put 21 guys on base a game, they're going to win a lot of ball games. It all starts at the top. Derek Jeter kept that hitting streak going, picking up 3 more hits. Jeter has now hit safely in 16 straight and he's seen his average jump from .266 to .319. He's had 2 or more hits in 7 straight games. The run he scored in the 4th inning was the 1500th of his career. He's the 4th Yankee in history to reach that plateau. If there's anyone out there that would prefer to see Jeter back in the 2-spot, let me know, because I want to tell you that you're crazy. Batting Jeter-Damon 1-2 is proving to be a very wise move.

The 18 game errorless streak ended tonight on an errant throw by Posada on a stolen base attempt. Bummer. I wanted to see that streak keep going but as they say, all good things must come to an end. You know, if an error had to happen, I'd rather see it happen on a stolen base attempt. It means that the rest of the defense played flawlessly. I'd rather see that than bobbled balls, dropped flies, or bad throws. Posada made up for it thought with his 3-run bomb in the 6th. Posada and Matsui each hit 3-run jacks. Matsui is looking a lot better at the plate. He's not pulling out of the box as much and hopefully that's a sign that he's figured things out. Hideki is 10 for his last 24 (.417) with 3 doubles and 3 dingers. I'd say Matsui is moving in the right direction.

A.J. Burnett had a pretty solid outing. He had that one little hiccup but pretty much was on his game. He had great control, throwing 65% of his pitches for strikes. He only issued one free pass and whiffed 8. That's 2 straight decent outings from A.J. and 2 straight wins. He didn't have his best stuff tonight, but consistently found ways to get it done. After A.J.'s last outing, I compared his 1st 10 starts this season to his 1st 10 starts last season. The stats were similar. Last year, Burnett was 4-4 with a 4.71 ERA. His WHIP was 1.48 (58 hits, 27 walks, 57.1 IP). This year after 10 starts, he's 3-2 with an ERA of 4.78. His WHIP is lower at 1.41 (59 hits, 31 walks, 64 IP). I also wrote that I hoped that win would be a jumping off point. So far, so good.

The Yankees are on fire. They're 16-4 over their last 20. They played 18 straight games without an error. The starters are 11-1 with a 3.39 ERA over that span. The offense has scored 127 runs (6.35/game) and if I had the time I'd look up their batting average and average with RISP over those 20 games. The Yankees next off day is June 16th. The next 12 games are going to be pretty tough. They have 2 more with Texas, 4 with the Rays, followed by 3 in Boston, and then back home for 3 against the Mets. It's going to be a tough stretch, but if they can continue to play well, it could put them firmly in the driver's seat, especially if they can batter the Red Sox around like a rag doll. That would be nothing less than awesome.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Joe Girardi Does Something I Like

I'm not sure how many people out there read lips, or how well I can read lips for that matter. After Rangers pitcher Vincente Padilla hit Mark Teixeira a second time, you could easily see that Teixeira was pissed. Girardi met Teixeira on his way to first and I'm pretty sure he said, "I know it's bullshit. We'll take care of it." I watched it a few times and every time I read it the same. Now I don't like a lot of what Joe Girardi does, but I was a fan of that. Burnett threw over the 2nd batter of the next inning's head. For most of, or pretty much all of, the Torre years, the Yankees would have never retaliated. It was probably the one thing I never liked about Torre. It was as if he thought the Yankees were above that. Girardi? Not so much. I'm glad he's going to stick up for his guys. I'm also glad we have a pitching staff with the balls to throw those pitches. Burnett was the perfect guy to have up in that spot.

I love this team. And that includes you, Joe. Now don't be stupid and have someone hit a guy tonight. Warnings were issued and the last thing I want to see is a suspension.

J-Boogie

Great Starting Pitching Plus Flawless Defense Equals A Yankee Victory

The Yanks picked a great way to end this 7 game road trip. Outstanding starting pitching from Joba. Flawless defense. What wins championships again? Oh yeah, pitching and defense. I've been waiting to blog about the errorless game streak but didn't for fear of jinxing it. 18 straight games without an error. They broke the record previously held by the 2006 Red Sox. Suck on that Sox fans. Anytime the Yankees can break a record held by the Red Sox is a good time. This team is playing some great baseball. 5-2 on the roadie. Headed home with a 1 game lead in the East. Things are going well in Yankees Universe.

Joba had one of the best outings of his career. I hope the WWE belt was hanging in his locker before the game ended. Hell, he deserved it as soon as he flew through the air and snared that pop up bunt. That was the play of the game right there. It's the best fielding play I've seen by a pitcher in a long time. I can't even think of a better one of the top of my head. It definitely saved the game. What would have been bases loaded no outs quickly turned in to 2 out with a runner on first. What a game saver! I really hope this outing silences all of the dopes out there who think Joba belongs in the bullpen. You can't put a guy with Joba's stuff in the bullpen. You just can't. A SP who can go 8 innings is much more valuable than a RP. Tonight was Joba's longest outing of his career. To pitch that deep into a game you have to be economical with your pitches. Doing that is a weakness of Joba's. Not tonight. 8 innings, 106 pitches. 62% were for strikes. The best thing about his outing was the spike in his velocity. He's been consistently in the mid-low 90s but he was steady rocking 96 and hit 98 close to the end of the outing. Way to get it done.

The Yankee offense should be a little ashamed of themselves. They should have blown the Tribe out. Jeremy Sowers entered the game with an ERA of 7.71. The Yankee O managed 1 measly run off him. They walked 11 times! 11! But they only managed 6 hits. Unreal. The key players (Jeter/Teixeira) kept their hitting streaks alive. Nick Swisher must be really glad that May is over. He was absolutely brutal in May. He opened June with a 2-for-4 performance with 2 doubles. He came close to clearing the bases in the 7th. That was a clutch hit right there. The Yanks had bases juiced in the 6th with nobody out and didn't score. I "tweeted" during the game that I thought Swish would ground into an inning-ender. Glad I was wrong. The bottom of the order, 5 thru 9, was abysmal, going oh-fer 16 with 5 walks. Yikes.

I saw something tonight I never thought I'd see. A team intentionally walked someone to pitch to Alex Rodriguez, with bases loaded no less. What the heck was Eric Wedge thinking? That was Girardi-esque right there.

The Yanks are headed home now to face the Rangers, holders of the AL's best record. A win tomorrow and the Yanks have the best record in the AL. Win or lose, for my money, the Yanks are the best team in the AL right now. Maybe even in all of baseball. They're pitching. They're hitting. They're playing D. They're playing great baseball and most importantly, they're winning.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

A Friendly Reminder

Just a quick reminder that you can follow this blog on Twitter. If interested, there's a link you can click on the left sidebar, or you can click here. I've been "tweeting" now for a few days and I have to say it's pretty cool. It's kind of like live-blogging, but easier to do, though I'm still getting the hang of it. There's a whole slew of Yankees bloggers on Twitter so if you feel so inclined, come join the community.

Oh, and you can also follow the blog on Facebook. Link is also to the left.

J-Boogie