I’ve been thinking of ways I could spice up the blog a bit and to add a few new elements for my readers to enjoy and I decided that once training the NFL preseason starts, I’ll cover all 32 teams in 32 days with season previews, leading up to the beginning of the regular season.
I will also be providing weekly picks on who I think will win throughout the course of the season. Basically, if you actually value my opinion that much and make wagers based on what I think, I take full credit for all winnings and no liability for any losses incurred.
And for the rest of the baseball season, I will be providing Yankee game reviews. Will I do it for every game? Probably not. Will I try and do it for as many games possible? Definitely. We all know I never miss a game, so I’ll provide you with my insights on how the game turned out, whether positive or negative for the Yankees. I’ll share the good and the bad I saw for each team during the game and then a few random thoughts as well. All of that business taken care of, let's get to the game.
Game 89: Detroit Tigers at New York Yankees
The New York Yankees (51 – 37) opened up the second half of the season tonight taking on the American League Central leading Detroit Tigers (48 – 39) at Yankee stadium. Detroit Tigers New York Yankees
The Good: Curtis Granderson continues his All-Star season in impressive fashion having two hard hits including a home run and exhibited great range in center field. Miguel Cabrera shows it doesn’t matter how big his waist may get, he will always flat out rake, picking up another two hits against the Yankees. He’s gotten a hit in every game he’s ever played against New York.
The Bad: Terrible team defense as errors by Clete Thomas, Josh Anderson and Brandon Inge indirectly led to 2 runs scored by the Yankees and could have been much more. Joel Zumaya’s rocky season continues as he allows 5 hits and 3 runs, raising his season era to 4.94.
The Good: Mark Teixeira seems to have finally busted out of that month long slump he was in, collecting 3 hits and 3 rbi, including a monster 3 run home run in the 7th inning to put the Yankees ahead for good. Melky Cabrera’s 2 outfield assists definitely helps the Yankees show that not all their outfielders have poor arms. Phil Hughes was downright filthy tonight, recording 6 strikeouts in 2 innings of scoreless relief.
The Bad: The Yankees offense continues to squander opportunity after opportunity. They had Luke French battling on the ropes on three occasions, but couldn’t come up with the big hit. Yankee pitchers continue to have trouble throwing strikes. It’s been a problem for them all season and will continue to be throughout the rest of the season. Leadoff walks to start innings and lack of control will always come back to bite you. They dodged a bullet that Burnett only allowed 3 runs.
The Outcome: Yankees win 5 – 3. Your winning pitcher is Phil Hughes (4 – 2) and the losing pitcher is Joel Zumaya (3 – 3). Mariano Rivera picked up the save, his 24th of the season and 506th of his career.
Random Thoughts:
1. Derek Jeter swings at the first pitch WAY too much. It’s getting to the point of being ridiculous. Vegas should start wagering on the odds of Jeter actually taking the first pitch of an at bat. If I were the Vegas odds maker, here’s how I would view it: in the first inning, you’d have the odds be set at 500 to 1 that Jeter takes the first pitch. As you progress through the game the odds will obviously decrease, say in the third inning the odds go down to 9 to 2. By the sixth inning, you’re living pretty at a cool 5 to 2 odds that he’d take the first pitch. But, if it’s a close game late, then the odds jump back up to at least 250 to 1 that Jeter takes a pitch. Why am I the only one that realizes this? Never throw him a first pitch fastball and you will get him out 85% of the time.
2. The way the Tigers scored their first run was something the Yankees are never able to do. It was sound, fundamental baseball. Get him on, get him over, get him in. 28 other teams in baseball can do it, yet the two teams in New York can’t?
3. Robinson Cano makes every play seem effortless and smooth. He’s a much better fielder than anybody gives him credit for.
4. Luke French didn’t overpower the Yankees in any way, he wasn’t fooling them on the mound and he was in trouble 60% of the time, but he kept them off the scoreboard. Even though the Yankees have a surprisingly good record against rookie starters this season and over the past few years, doesn’t it seem like they never win these games?
5. Can’t it be extremely hard to watch A.J. Burnett pitch sometimes? He’s either going to be lights out and impressive, or the lights off and he’s terrible. Tonight was more lights off than lights out. While his final line of 6 innings, 6 hits and 3 runs is deemed a quality start, he was anything but tonight. The 5 walks and 1 hit batsman, not to mention the complete lack of control Burnett had tonight weren’t good. But, he battled and kept the Yankees in the game.
6. The Yankees ability to overcome deficits completely astonishes me. There is no game they are entirely out of. This was their major league leading 12th victory when trailing after 6 innings. To the very last out they are a team of 25 fighters . It’s fun, yet agonizing to watch.
7. Josh Anderson is going to be a very, very good player. He has tremendous plate discipline and outstanding speed.
8. Clete Thomas is going to be one heck of a ball player too.
9. Jorge Posada’s throws like my mother. Actually, that’s an insult to my mother. Jim Abbott could throw harder with his right hand and he doesn’t even have one.
10. Johnny Damon should practice sliding, because his pseudo-slide/fall flat on his face at home plate wasn’t pretty to see.
11. Remember when Joel Zumaya was going to be the next phenom closer in baseball? Yea, me either. He’s certainly fallen off the face of the earth. He throws the ball 100mph consistently, but, like many flame throwers has no idea where it’s going. Say hello to the next Kyle Farnsworth.
12. Taiwanese pitcher Fu-Te Ni came on in relief for the Tigers. His first and last name is a total of 6 letters. Is that a record for shortest full name in the world? Or, is there a Jon Wu, somewhere out there that I’m not aware of? Somebody research this and get back to me.
13. With the bases empty, Robinson Cano is a modern day Rod Carew batting 353. this season and .322 for his career. But, with runners in scoring position, he transforms into Mario Mendoza batting a paltry .211 and a below average .261 for his career.
14. The Yankees looked half asleep through the first 6 innings of this game until Phil Hughes came in for the 7th and immediately started blowing fastballs by the Detroit Hitters.
15. Speaking of Phil, for any person who thinks that Joba Chamberlain should be put back into the bullpen and Phil Hughes inserted into the rotation, just stop that nonsense. Hughes has now become the Yankees biggest asset. He is pitching with the same confidence and swagger that Joba Chamberlain had out of the pen 2 years ago. He’s on an entire other level right now physically. He hit 97mph on at least two occasions tonight. Until now, I have never seen Hughes do that before. Leave him be. We’re watching something remarkable.
Liking the ideas for the additions to the site.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the Yankees' 1st game of the 2nd half, I'd definitely say 500 to 1 odds on Jeter swinging at the 1st pitch is fair. I still like Burnett because he's nearly unstoppable when he's got control of his pitches, but he's got WAY too many walks, although like you said I'm pretty much astonished the team's had so many come-from-behind wins and don't give up until the final out. I almost fell out of my chair in my dad's office when you said Jorge throws worse than Jim Abbott's non-existent right hand. No lie. But in all seriousness, I think the deciding factor on whether or not they beat out the Sox for the AL East pennant is if they improve with runners in scoring position and stop wasting opportunities when the opposing team is struggling. I think that's about it for now. lol.