Tagged: Red Sox

Yankees are in denial

So this morning, I was reading some of the quotes from the Yankees players and from manager Joe Girardi and it struck me that they were in denial about what Tampa did to them this weekend. By repeatedly hitting directly into the teeth of defensive shifts, they cost themselves any chance they may have had of winning those games. A-Rod, Texeira and Swisher all talked about how they had hit the ball hard. Well what good is that if you hit it right at the defense? Girardi said this “It’s really hard to change who you are and revamp your approach because of the way a team plays you. You try to take what they give you, you try to hit the ball hard, and you take your chances. Sometimes part of the reason they do it is they want you to get away from what you’ve been doing so well for a long time. I just tell our guys to keep hitting the ball hard, and it’ll work.”

Well that may just be the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. How is continuing to hit the ball into the teeth of the defense taking what they give you in any way shape or form? It’s not taking what they give you, it’s the exact opposite. It’s playing to what they are trying to take away from you.

Yesterday, after the Yankees lost, I flipped over to the Red Sox/Detoit game. In the bottom of the 11th with Prince Fielder up, Boston employed the shift on the right side of the infield. Instead of drilling it right at the defense like the Yankees did, Fielder drilled one to left field and wound up scoring the tieing run. That, my friends is taking what the defense gives you. They gave him the left side and he took it. He didn’t just hit it really hard, right at the defense. My guess is the Yankees will now see a lot more of these shifts and they need to adjust or they will find themselves losing a lot of winnable games this year.

Saw This One Coming

     Let’s see.  The Sox open 0-6.  The Yankees throw a struggling Phil Hughes at them in their home opener?   Recipe for disaster?  You bet.  I told my son this morning that there was no way in the world that Hughes would pitch well today.  Sure enough, he gave up six runs in two innings.  My guess is that before the end of the season, someone from Triple A will take Hughes spot in the rotation.  Could even be Kevin Millwood.  One thing is for sure.  Something is very wrong with Hughes.  They can claim that he is physically OK, but his velocity has dropped significantly and his secondary pitches just aren’t good enough to get major league hitters out.  So they just sit on the fastball and hammer it.  And Boone Logan?  Really?  There is no left hander in the Yankees system that can throw strikes and get lefties out?  If so, that is pretty pathetic.  Logan was inconsistent last year and he has been terrible thus far this year.  I know it is early, but he looks like the same pitcher he was last year and that wasn’t very good.  Tomorrow it’s Nova and one thing I would bet my paycheck on and that is that he will go more than two.  This will be a long season and I don’t believe that the Yankees rotation at the end of this season will look anything like it does now.  Neither will the bullpen for that matter.  So far, this team is proving that they can score runs in bunches.  Pitching will be the key and right now, I have no idea how good it will be. 

More BS from the New York and National writers

    So let me get this straight.  It’s the first day of spring training and “sources with knowledge of the situation” already can predict that CC Sabathia will opt out of his contract after the season.  Really?  Really?  That’s pretty interesting considering that I’ll bet that CC himself doesn’t even know what he will do at this point.  What a bunch of BS.  That’s right all you national writers and NY beat reporters who are making this crap up.  I am calling BS.  The fact is that you are making up a story where none exists.  You can speculate all you want, but call it what it is.  If you think he will opt out, then say that.  To say that he is “expected” to opt out at this point is total nonsense and shoots any credibility that you may have had right down the tubes.  To me, this is a non-story and will be until the end of the season when Sabathia actually has a decisions to make.  Until then it’s very boring and un-original nonsense.  
     On another note, Buster Olney has predicted that the Red Sox will win the AL East.  Doesn’t he do that every year?  I for one am not convinced and not because I am a Yankees fan.  I personally don’t see the Red Sox as being that much improved from last year.  The biggest improvement may be in the bullpen, but that remains to be seen.  Offensively, I predict the numbers will be eerily similar to last year.  So let’s play the games boys and see what happens.  I for one wouldn’t be terribly disappointed if the Yankees let a couple of their young pitchers get some experience and take their lumps.  In the long run, they have some arms that will start at AA and AAA that could make up a really solid home grown rotation for years to come if given the opportunity.      

Yanks Offseason

     Well, I haven’t written anything in awhile as I’ve just been watching this off season unfold.  A lot has been written by others, mostly negative.  It seems almost everyone has already crowned the Red Sox as AL East Champs, but let’s look at what they’ve done.  They lost Adrian Beltre and Victor Martinez and replaced them with Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez.  To me, that looks like a wash, with no real offensive improvement.  Beltre and Martinez combined to hit 48 HR and drive in181 runs.  They batted a combined .311 and slugged  a combined .523.  Crawford and Gonzalez on the other hand hit 50 HR and drove in 191 runs between them.  Their batting average was .295 and they slugged a combined .475.  So can someone please explain how these moves make the Red Sox significantly better offensively?  And certainly they will miss Beltre’s glove at third.  Crawford is a good defensive outfielder, but really, how much defense do you play in left field at Fenway?   The Sox did improve their bullpen a bit, but their starting rotation still has the same holes it had last year.
     Now let’s look at the Yankees.  Even though they missed out on the big fish Lee, I think they did a lot to improve the team this off season.  Let’s start with Russel Martin.  He is finally healthy and will be significantly better defensively than either Posada or Cervelli this year.  Cervelli saw significant time behind the plate in 2010 and he hurt the team both offensively and defensively.  Martin will be a marked improvement in both areas.  Next, let’s look at the bullpen.  The Yankees added Soriano and Feliciano.  Both of these guys will make that pen more solid and it was already pretty good.  We could be back to the six inning games that we enjoyed in the early Torre years.  Get the lead and turn it over to the pen after six.   The Andruw Jones signing looks like Marcus Thames from last year with the exception that Jones can actually play the outfield.  Again, the team will be stronger in this area this year.  As for bench players, that should play out in the spring, but at least they are bringing in a couple of veterans to compete in Chavez and Belliard.  Either could add some pop off the bench.  Finally, a lot has been written about the loss of Andy Pettitte.  Remember, that Pettititte missed most of the second half last year and the team did just fine without him.  My guess is that Nova will suffer some growing pains, but will be solid in the number four slot.  Between Garcia, Mitre and Colon, one of them will solidify the number five slot. 
  So all in all, yes, Boston made some headline moves, but are they really that much better?  I don’t think so.   The Yankees on the other hand appear to have shored up some weak areas and will be just as good or better than they were last year.  Anyway, one more week and pitchers and catchers report and I for one am stoked. 

Buster Olney, Gary Thorne, Chuck Greenberg and other  idiots

     Where do we begin.  Sometimes it just amazes me the idiocy that comes out of so called “baseball people”.  First Olney reports that Carl Crawford may refuse to play for the Yankees or Red Sox because he has built up a “competitive callous” against those teams.  Brilliant!  Then Greenberg insults Yankees fans by calling them violent and apathetic.  Yankees fans may be a lot of things, but apathetic sure isn’t one of them.  And if he wants to see violence, he needs to step outside the stadium into the streets of the Bronx one fine evening, just for a reality check.  Finally, Gary Thorne and Rick Sutcliffe were speculating on the International feed for the World Series on how much money this start meant to Cliff Lee.  The topic in itself is ridiculous.  No one will offer Lee any more or less money based on his game five performance.  But then they compounded it when Thorne stated that Lee has said he absolutely won’t play in NY because of the way his wife was treated.  I believe the quote was something along the lines of “Although he hasn’t stated it directly, he has in a round about way said that there is no way he’s going to NY.”  The fact is, Lee has stated just the opposite.  He has stated that there is no way you can control every single one of 50,000 fans and it will have no bearing on his decision. Unbelievable the stuff that comes out of some people’s mouths when talking about the Yankees.  Their ignorance just blows my mind.

     Finally, congratulations to the Giants.  Great win.  They played their best baseball when it counted.  I am still convinced that Joe Girardi managed the Yankees out of the ALCS by making poor decisions, and the team didn’t help him out much.  They were good enough to win this year, they just didn’t play well when it counted like the Giants did.  Hats off to SF and congratulations.  I was rooting for you, just because I didn’t like the way the Rangers fans conducted themselves during the ALCS.  Can’t someone think of something more original than “Yankees Suck!”.  I don’t ever remember Yankees fans chanting anything like this against another team.  They root for their team passionately and respect the opposition.  A silly chant like that is beneath their dignity.  Smoke that Mr. Greenberg.    

       

Time to wake up

     I guess the good news is that the Yankees are still tied for first after losing 3 straight.  The bad news is that they have allowed the Red Sox to creep to within 1 game.  It’s time for the Yankees to wake up and start winning games against competitive teams.  I won’t even say good teams, because I am not convinced that the Phillies team that beat them two out of three can even be considered one of the better teams in the NL East at this point.  The problem is easy to see.  The middle of the order other than Cano is killing them.  Texeira has been pathetic and A-Rod very inconsistent.  Posada has been putrid since coming back except fot the two Grand Slams last weekend.  This team needs some consistency in the middle of the order if they are to go anywhere this year.  They are very talented, but it is performance that counts, not talent and this team’s best players are underperfoming this year.  The saviors have been Cano, Brett Gardner and Nick Swisher who all have been solid for the most part.    

Joba the nut

     That was brutal.  Blowing a 5-1 lead in the eighth inning is simply inexcusable.  Joba seems to me to have a poor mental approach.  Whenever he gives up a hit or a walk he seems to unravel a bit.  Last night was a good chance to sweep this short series and go 5-2 on the Sox.  Instead the Yankees  gift wrapped this one and gave it away, much as they tried to do the night before.  More importantly, Tampa won again and the Yankees are 3 games back.  It is time for this team to pull itself together and start playing good baseball again.  They gave away one against the Twins on Sunday and tried to blow up on Monday before managing to squander a four run lead in the eighth innning last night.  Now Tampa is in town and it’s time to right this ship in a hurry.  I know it’s early and overall the team has played well, but the past few days have been particularly ugly.   

Beat down in Boston

     For a Yankees fan, there is nothing better than having the team silence the loudmouthed Red Sux fans.  Last night was perfect.  A thorough drubbing.  The only unfortunate thing was Cano getting plunked by Becket as he probably will miss at least today’s game.  Also injured was Nick Johnson.  This poor guy just can’t seem to stay on the field.  Too bad, as I like this lineup with him in the 2 hole even though he hasn’t hit much yet.  He still is geting on base and scoring runs.  He was never meant to be here beyond this year anyway as I believe next year Jesus Montero and Jorge Posada will take turns DH’ing and catching with Cervelli backing both up.  So if it is a serious injury, they will have to figure out who to DH.  Looks like for now it will be Marcus Thames, with Randy Winn taking over in left.  When Curtis Granderson returns, he will take over in center and I believe it will be a DH platoon of Winn and Thames, which ain’t all that bad.  I am hoping Johnson’s injury isn’t serious, but with his history, who knows.  Looking forward to another Yankees win in Beantown today.     

Red Sox hypocrisy

I wonder how the “poor” Red Sox and their fans are justifying the signings of John Lackey and Mike Cameron.  All the John Henry talk of a salary cap and blasting the Yankees for spending too much money kind of rings hollow today.  They are giving both Lackey and Cameron more than anyone else was willing to offer.  So now that makes Dice-K, J.D. Drew, Cameron and Lackey as well as some guys in the bullpen as Red Sox mercenaries.  Don’t get me wrong, I don’t see any problem with signing free agents.  I do however have a problem with hypocrisy.  All of the fans crying about the Yankees “buying” pennants is absolutely ridiculous.  The Yankees operate within the rules just like Boston does.  Players have to be paid based on past performance and future potential based on what the market dictates.  So please no more whining from Sox fans about how much money the Yankees spend.  The Sox do the same thing.  They just don’t have as many star calibre players to pay.    

Juan Miranda!

      Well, what can you say about that one?  Phil Coke singlehandedly tries to give the game away and the Yankees still manage a win.  Coke made three boneheaded plays in a row.  Not one, not two, but three in a row.  He mishandled the bunt, threw away a sure double play ball and then failed to come home on what appeared to be a sure out at home.  Personally, I have not been a fan of Coke for most of the season.  He almost always seems to give up at least one run and although he has pitched a lot of innings this year, his effectiveness has been very spotty.  You never know what you are going to get.  If he is to stay in the majors, he needs to work on being more consistent.  And he needs to extract his head from his posterior.

     Having said that, when Kyly Farnsworth entered the game, I knew the Yankees had a chance.  He did not disappoint and it was a pleasure to watch him blow a lead for some other team.  I watched him do it enough for the Yankees.  Hats off to the Yankees for continuing to battle in a game that meant nothing.  Meanwhile, Boston slid into the wild card despite their fifth straight loss as Texas lost to the Angels.

     Finally, good riddance to Pete Abraham over at LoHud Yankees.  Yesterday was his last day and he will be going to work for the Boston Globe covering the Sux.  Pete was a windbag who valued his own opinion much more than anyone else’s.  If you dared to disagree with him, you could count on a nasty e-mail.  He will be replaced by Chad Jennings who has been covering the Yankees AAA team in Scranton/Wilkesbarre.  Chad is a good writer and has had an excellent blog and I for one am looking forward to the change.  Good luck Chad.  I will be reading LoHud again for sure.