For the second time in a row, Andy Pettitte faltered when the Yankees needed him to come through. This is upsetting, especially since Pettitte has been such a stopper in previous years.
Roy Halladay looked fantastic like always--except for 2 pitches to A-Rod and Giambi.
The only positive I can take from this game is that Alfredo Aceves looked very strong. His breaking ball had good, sharp movement. His fastball also showed good life and moved away from lefties and backed up righties. Hopefully, he can add some life to the Yankees bullpen, though it is probably too little too late.
The Yankees need to play essentially flawless baseball on this roadtrip. It's looking pretty grim...
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Friday, August 29, 2008
Game 134 Thoughts.
Well, the Yankees won 2-1, they got great pitching all night--Carl Pavano was impressive and Mo was vintage Mo. Anyway, here are some other thoughts I had whilst watching from my GF's couch...
In A-Rod's first at bat, the second pitch specifically, he expanded the zone like crazy and went fishing for a pitch. He's been doing this a lot this month--hence the struggles--but it's really starting to show. Xavier Nady seems to be doing the same thing. His swing is flying open on the outside pitch and he's whiffing on it. He's also swinging his absolute hardest on just about every swing. It's nice that he's not getting cheated, but it seems to be leading to a few more strikeouts than necessary. On a related note, when Mr. Rodriguez has been making contact with outside pitches, he seems to have been doing one of two things: either rolling his hands over and grouning out (ten double plys this month) or getting just under it and fouling it back to the screen. Alex clearly has power to the right side--to all sides for that matter--but is getting caught up in trying to pull the ball--doubles to the RC gap count just as much those to Death Valley.
I thought we were gonna have the first test of instant replay on Johnny Damon's fly ball to right, but alas, it endedup being a fairly simple call.
Snider for Toronto got his first ML hit--congrats to him and I hope he has a long, successful career--just so long as he doesn't get anymore hits against the Yankees ;-)
AJ Burnett owns Jason Giambi and Alexis Rios looks like Nosferatu.
That's it for tonight, great game for the Yankees--let's hope they can do it about 20 more times and get into the playoffs.
In A-Rod's first at bat, the second pitch specifically, he expanded the zone like crazy and went fishing for a pitch. He's been doing this a lot this month--hence the struggles--but it's really starting to show. Xavier Nady seems to be doing the same thing. His swing is flying open on the outside pitch and he's whiffing on it. He's also swinging his absolute hardest on just about every swing. It's nice that he's not getting cheated, but it seems to be leading to a few more strikeouts than necessary. On a related note, when Mr. Rodriguez has been making contact with outside pitches, he seems to have been doing one of two things: either rolling his hands over and grouning out (ten double plys this month) or getting just under it and fouling it back to the screen. Alex clearly has power to the right side--to all sides for that matter--but is getting caught up in trying to pull the ball--doubles to the RC gap count just as much those to Death Valley.
I thought we were gonna have the first test of instant replay on Johnny Damon's fly ball to right, but alas, it endedup being a fairly simple call.
Snider for Toronto got his first ML hit--congrats to him and I hope he has a long, successful career--just so long as he doesn't get anymore hits against the Yankees ;-)
AJ Burnett owns Jason Giambi and Alexis Rios looks like Nosferatu.
That's it for tonight, great game for the Yankees--let's hope they can do it about 20 more times and get into the playoffs.
Game 134: Blue Jays at Yankees
Here is the lineup for the Yankees tonight courtesy of Peter Abraham.
YANKEES (71-62)
Damon CF
Jeter SS
Abreu RF
A. Rodriguez 3B
Giambi 1B
Nady LF
Matsui DH
Cano 2B
I. Rodriguez C
Pavano RHP
Back after the game for post-game thoughts.
GO YANKS!
YANKEES (71-62)
Damon CF
Jeter SS
Abreu RF
A. Rodriguez 3B
Giambi 1B
Nady LF
Matsui DH
Cano 2B
I. Rodriguez C
Pavano RHP
Back after the game for post-game thoughts.
GO YANKS!
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Leading Off
I'm not sure how many, if any, people will be reading this but welcome. I'll try to keep this up as much as possible with posts about anything from incredibly specific articles on the Yankees to just my general thoughts on baseball. A lot of the time, I won't have access to games since I go to UConn and their cable package doesn't carry YES. However, my wonderful girlfriend, Liz, has the Extra-Innings package and she gladly provides play-by-play for me when I can't watch games. She's gonna help out here, too, adding pre and post game thoughts with me. Anyway, here goes!
Some thoughts on the state of the team right now:
Things are bleak...very, very bleak. Obviously, making the playoffs is still possible...but realistically, I don't think it's going to happen. For the first time in my time as a Yankee fan (essentially my entire life), they will be missing the playoffs. It comes as an odd reality, but one that I'm ready and willing to face. For the beginnings of the past few seasons, my pessimism shining through, I've thought that the playoffs were out of reach for the Yankees. Now that "bad dream" might finally be coming true. I can't help but think of R.E.M: "It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine." Perhaps the Yankees not making the playoffs will wake the entire organization up into possibly changing things. While I think things like "heart" are overrated, this team clearly lacks it. Passion has been totally absent from this team despite their claims of playing in a "playoff atmosphere" for the last few weeks. Maybe biting this "no-playoff" bullet will be good and the Yankees will be able to develop some prospects in the coming weeks when rosters expand. The decision to call up Alfredo Aceves is a great one--even though it comes rather late--and it'll be nice to see him get some major league innings. Hopefully Phil Franchise can get some more major league work before '08 ends, as well. Maybe Brett Gardner (my new favorite player) will get some more time, too. His tools are definitely fantastic and the future in CF for the Yankees looks very bright.
Troubles w/RISP
While I'm not a huge fan of the whole "clutch" thing that has baseball in a death grip right now, the Yankees' situational hitting has been just awful this year, especially compared to previous years:
2006 w/RISP: .286/.386/.479/.865
2007 w/RISP: .293/.378/.451/.829
2008 w/RISP: .259/.345/.389/.735
Right now, the Yankees are 8/14 in the AL in runs. In 2006 they were first and in 2007 they were first again. More on this later, on an individual level. That's all for now, check back tomorrow night for a game wrap up.
-Matt
Some thoughts on the state of the team right now:
Things are bleak...very, very bleak. Obviously, making the playoffs is still possible...but realistically, I don't think it's going to happen. For the first time in my time as a Yankee fan (essentially my entire life), they will be missing the playoffs. It comes as an odd reality, but one that I'm ready and willing to face. For the beginnings of the past few seasons, my pessimism shining through, I've thought that the playoffs were out of reach for the Yankees. Now that "bad dream" might finally be coming true. I can't help but think of R.E.M: "It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine." Perhaps the Yankees not making the playoffs will wake the entire organization up into possibly changing things. While I think things like "heart" are overrated, this team clearly lacks it. Passion has been totally absent from this team despite their claims of playing in a "playoff atmosphere" for the last few weeks. Maybe biting this "no-playoff" bullet will be good and the Yankees will be able to develop some prospects in the coming weeks when rosters expand. The decision to call up Alfredo Aceves is a great one--even though it comes rather late--and it'll be nice to see him get some major league innings. Hopefully Phil Franchise can get some more major league work before '08 ends, as well. Maybe Brett Gardner (my new favorite player) will get some more time, too. His tools are definitely fantastic and the future in CF for the Yankees looks very bright.
Troubles w/RISP
While I'm not a huge fan of the whole "clutch" thing that has baseball in a death grip right now, the Yankees' situational hitting has been just awful this year, especially compared to previous years:
2006 w/RISP: .286/.386/.479/.865
2007 w/RISP: .293/.378/.451/.829
2008 w/RISP: .259/.345/.389/.735
Right now, the Yankees are 8/14 in the AL in runs. In 2006 they were first and in 2007 they were first again. More on this later, on an individual level. That's all for now, check back tomorrow night for a game wrap up.
-Matt
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