Results tagged ‘ Mark Teixeira ’
Situational Hitting!
Watching the Yes Network Yankees BP show’s interview with Girardi, the Yankees manager said something that I have been writing in this blog since I started writing one back in April of 09, situational hitting wins games. That in my opinion is one of the greatest “truths” in all of baseball. When a lineup manufacture runs via good at-bats and key situational hits, they usually end up winning a lot of games. The problem for the Yankees this season has been their inability to hit with players in scoring position, a problem that has persisted with this club since last September.
What will it take for the Yankees to fix this problem? Better at bat for one. Alex Rodriguez in the past few days has had better at bats than he did the week before. But during his recent hot streak, A-Rod has minimized swinging at bad pitches and is fouling off tough ones to keep his at-bat alive. More importantly, he is getting into better hitting counts. Tonight, A-Rod has to keep doing the same thing. Hopefully Teixeira and Cano will start doing the same.
Mets/Yankees update
Yankees are leading the Mets 4-2, in the top of the fifth. Both Mark Teixeira and Russell Martin have hit two run homeruns each. That is good news for fans that love homeruns; but it’s bad news for fans that want to see this Yankee team manufacture runs the way successful American League teams like the Rays do night in and night out.
This Yankee offense was supposed to carry the club in the early months, as the pitching staff settled in. Instead it has been the pitching that is carrying this team, while the offense has remained maddenly inconsistent.
AJ Burnett is holding his own so far tonight. Three earned runs in five innings.
The Gold Standard: American League.
Even though I’m not a big fan of the Gold Gloves, I want to extend my congratulations to this year’s recipients of the award with a few comments. Of course, before I do that I have to explain why I don’t give much stock to this particular award. At least to me it seems that the Gold Glove Awards are based more on popularity than on actual on the field play. For instance, why is Derek Jeter a Gold Glove winner this year? No disrespect to Jeter, but it’s been clear that for the past few season, except for 2009, that he has lost considerable range at short. When Jeter came up in 1995, he showed some range (of course not the same range at short that A-Rod, Nomar Garciaparra or Ray Ordonez all had) but he never developed that part of his game to the fullest, falling behind other notable shortstops in both leagues. And as Jeter has gotten older, his range has so considerably diminished that one Texas Rangers’ scout recently, and gleefully, told Ed Randall that it was one of the reasons why they were successful against the Yankees in the ALCS. If MLB scouts can see that Jeter has lost range, why is he the recipient of another undeserved Gold Glove? I guess popularity does counts.
And the Gold Gloves goes too…..
C. Joe Mauer.. No surprise here. I think Joe Mauer is the most complete catcher in baseball right now. Not only can he gundown runners, but he has been able to do a good job handling the Twins pitching staff the past two seasons. Only Buster Posey is a close second.
1B. Mark Teixeira.. I have said this before, Mark Teixeira’s glove is as important as his bat. Considered the playoffs in 2009. Teixeira didn’t hit much in all three rounds, however, it was his defensive play that saved one game and extended another; ALDS game 2, Teixeira made an important defensive play with the base loaded and zero outs, and in ALCS game 3, he kept the go ahead run from scoring, before the Yankees fell in extra-innings.
2B. Robinson Cano.. He has come of age playing at second. It is remarkable to see how far he has come. In 2007, one of the problems many fans had with Cano was his shoddy defense, but since that year, Cano has worked hard to improve his defense and this year it paid dividends when he helped turn 114 double plays.
3B. Evan Longoria.. Longoria is the real deal at third base. He has considerable range, a very strong arm and ever since he came up in 2008, we have witness a superstar in the making..not to be confused with Eva Longoria..
SS. Derek Jeter.. Seriously?
OF. Ichiro Suzuki.. Not only does Ichiro swing a mean bat, but he complements his offensive with crisp defense. Ichiro is one of those special players because he focuses on the fundamentals of the game on both sides of the ball, which is why he will be considered as one of the greats of the game here and in Japan.
OF. Carl Crawford.. He is the best all around left-fielder in the game, so it isn’t a surprise he has won it. This year Crawford in UZR with an 18.5 rating. That means he saved the Rays an average of 18 runs against.
OF. Franklin Gutierrez.. Not surprising. Gutierrez is one of the best centerfielders in the game today, and this season he gave the Mariners steller outfield play. In 2009, Gutierrez had a UZR of 29.1.
P. Mark Buehrle.. Of course he was going to win it this year. On Opening Day he made the play of the year; a play which inspired ESPN’s Buehrlemeter, the standard on which all defensive plays were judged during the course of the season. Buehrle however has been one of the best fielding pitchers in the American League, and one play made on Opening Day is just a microcosm of his excellent defensive play.
Yankees season down to one game…at a time.
After another crushing defeat at the hands of the Texas Rangers, the Yankees season comes down to the strength of CC Sabathia’s arm later on this afternoon. Out of options, the Yankees now need to take it one game at a time if they hope to continue playing this season, and ultimately hope that Sabathia would come out and pitch like the ace he has been for the Bombers since 09. Otherwise, another bad start by Sabathia and the season ends….no more baseball until March for the Yanks. So CC’s job today is simple; pitch 8 innings of shut out dominant baseball, and hope the offense wakes up and figures out CJ Wilson. Take this series back to Texas and hope for the best.
What happened?
Even though I don’t make predictions before the beginning of a playoff series, and I specially do not make predictions when the team I root for is involved, I did however write before game 1 that if the Yankees have trouble with their situational hitting, they would lose this series. So far the Yankees have not only struggled with their situational hitting, but have struck out an unreal 39 times. A team that is built on power, as the Yankees are, will not win many games if they are undisciplined at the plate. Putting aside game 3, their inability to put pressure on two suspect Rangers starters in Hunter and Lewis will be the reason why this team will lose this series. Pitching wise, the Yankees starters, other than Pettitte and for five innings, Burnett, haven’t pitched to their level. Sabathia, as has been noted, was horrible in both his post season starts, not pitching to the level of an ace the Yankees have become accustomed to. Hughes had a very good start in the ALDS, but unfortunately pitched poorly in game two of this series. In those two games, the Yankees gave up 13 runs and if not for a miraculous comeback in the 8th inning of game one, would have been outscored 13-1. On top of that, the Yankees will now be forced to be without Mark Teixeira who hurt his hamstring in last night’s debacle. Although Teixeira wasn’t having a good series, his glove in the field will be missed. Lance Berkman is a decent defensive first baseman, but he isn’t Mark Teixeira.
The Rangers on the other hand have done everything right. They have not ony pitched well, but are hitting in the clutch, getting big hits when needed. Last night, the big clutch hit came off the bat of Bengie Molina, who once again hits another clutch playoff homerun against the Yankees. This time, the three run job, gave the Rangers a 2 run lead to basically put the game away. Now all the Rangers have to do is win one more game. If they lose today and in Friday night’s game, they have literally nothing to worry about, as the Magnificent Lee will take the mound in game 7 and possibly send the Texas Rangers to their first World Series in franchise history.
NLCS Update..
The Giants take a 2-1 series lead over the heavily favored Philadelphia Phillies and are now on the drivers seat ready to take control of this series later on this afternoon. Before the series began, I questioned Matt Cain’s ability to out pitch Cole Hamels and wonder if the moment would be too big for Cain and the young Giants pitching staff. Well, I guess Cain answered my questions by outpitching Cole Hamels and continuing his good pitching in the post season. In 13 innings so far, I don’t believe Matt Cain has allowed a run to score. Moreover, the Giants are suddenly hitting in clutch situations. Cody Ross delivered a key RBI single with two outs in the 4th and two runners on, to give the Giants a one to nothing lead. After Ross’s single, Pat Burrell hurts his former team and drives in the second run of the inning. The Giants tagged another run in the bottom of the 5th thanks to an error by Chase Utley (who just had a bad game) to put the game away. All that is left for the Giants to do is win Lincecum’s start in game 5 and hope Matt Cain repeats his performance in game 7.
The Phillies on the other hand have nothing to worry about, but I would pitch Roy Halladay today instead of Joe Blanton and have him ready for game 7. Of course, I think the Phillies will win this series (and the World Series), they are just too good, but a bad start by Blanton could be devestating as the Giants would be one brilliant Lincecum start away from wrapping up the series. I’ll be watching (darn cablevision and news corp) tonight.
Dominant-Lee
What is it about Cliff Lee in the post season? For a pitcher who struggles in the regular season there seems to be something about the October air that makes Lee into a dominant beast that controls not only the tempo of the game, but both sides of the plate. As I have written before, Lee is not a dominant pitcher as he doesn’t throw in the high 90′s, but he is a finess pitcher and his control makes it difficult for any lineup to work the count. The Yankees have such a lineup, which depends on hitters like Teixeira, Swisher, Jeter and A-Rod to work the count. So it wasn’t surprising that last night, Lee just moawed down Yankee after Yankee, even as he fell behind in the count.
So after another incredible performance by Lee, his post season record now stands at 7-0 with a ridiculous 1.26 ERA. In less than a year, Cliff Lee, has made a name for himself in post-season play by joining the greats of yesteryears who were also great pitchers in the post season. You know Lee is doing a great job when his name is mentioned with Sandy Koufax and Christy Mathewson. As I said before…I heart Cliff Lee!
What does Lee’s victory mean for the rest of the series however? It makes things simple for the Rangers, who do not have to win the next two games in New York. A win tonight, or tomorrow night would give the Rangers control of this series. If they lose game 6 in Texas, Cliff Lee will be ready to take the mound in the decisive game seven.
For the Yankees, last night’s defeat means that they will have to wake up now and take advantage of the next two Ranger pitchers in the Bronx and try to take a series lead. If the Yankees head back to Texas with a 3-2 lead in this series, they could very well wrap things up Friday night with Phil Hughes on regular rest. So lets go Yankees, wake up and take control, starting tonight!
Yankees bust out
It took the Yankees until the third inning, but they finally bust out against the Blue Jays and scored 11 runs during the frame. With the offense that has been struggling this week, it was nice to finally see them put a pitcher on the ropes and knock him out of the game. This time, suprisingly, Ricky Romero was the victim of a rare Yankee offensive onslaught.
Romero has been pitching well all season long, giving the Blue Jays quality start after quality start; and against the Yankees this year, Romero only allowed two earned runs in 7 innings of work. So I guess something had to give today right? Well, it did. Brett Gardner (more on him in a moment) started the inning innocently enough with a single to right, and from there the roof caved in on Romero as the Yankees batted around and scored eleven runs. Jeter walked; Swisher hits a bloop single; Teixeira drives a double down the left field line; A-Rod hits into a ground out RBI; Cano hits a screaming line drive single, and then later with the bases loaded, Gardner hits a grand slam. For the yankees this inning couldn’t have gone any better than it did as they knocked Romero out of the game and gave Andy Pettitte a nice 8 run cushing to work with.
So where has the offense been lately? I guess it was hiding after being rattled by the great arms of Lee and Hernandez. But today the offense came out and decided to put the game away early and give Pettitte a chance to earn his 10th victory of the season.
As for Brett Gardner…
During the off-season I had my doubts that Gardner could be an everyday player, let alone be a factor in the Yankees lineup. But after 70+ games, Gardner has not only proven he can be an everyday player, but has effectively proved me wrong. Gardner not only finds ways to get on base, but once he is on base, the Yankees have a strong chance of manufacturing a run. Success in baseball depends on how a lineup manufacture runs. Over the past five years, the Yankee way of manufacturing runs came via the long ball. However this season, the club is now rellying on stealing bases, timely hits, hit and run to manufacture runs, instead of just waiting for a big blast. The reason for this has been Gardner’s play all year.
Gardner’s at bats are complete and discipline because he makes the pitcher worker harder than necessary. One of the things Gardner does very well is that he fouls off very tough pitches. By doing that, the pitcher strike zone gets smaller, which allows Gardner to take close pitches and draw a lot of bases on balls. And when he is on base, he is a threat to take off and get into scoring position. A player like Gardner, that consistently gets on base becomes a consistent run manufacturer. And today against the Blue Jays, Gardner began, or should I say, manufactured the foundations of an 11 run inning. Not bad for a guy I said wasn’t even a good hitter.
Escape from Arizona.
The Yankees were lucky to win last night’s game, let’s be serious. They had every opportunity to put the game away early, and blew all of them by making boneheaded baserunning mistakes that would drive any manager, or any fan, insane. Dontrelle Willis, who clearly has lost his ability to be a MLB pitcher, was no where near the plate last night, walked 7 batters, and all the Yankees could do is just score 2 runs off him. The much maligned D-Backs bullpen, actually pitched well for most part, while the Yankee bullpen, in this instance, Mr. Marte, gave up a run after the Yankees tided the score at 4 in the top of the 6th.
The sloppiness and the ugliness of this game could have cost the Yankees a golden opportunity to increase their lead in the American League East, as both the Red Sox and Rays lost their respective games. But after the fifth inning, after Robinson Cano’s lineout that resulted in a double play, it was possible to think about the Yankees losing a series to the struggling D-Backs. Even worse, Javier Vazquez looked bad last night. Just like Willis, Mr. Vazquez couldn’t find the plate if his life depended on it. It could be that he just had one bad game, but Vazquez reverted back to his early season form, and that isn’t good news for the Yankees. Of course, it could be just one bad game, but I’m not encouraged by Vazquez’s performance last night.
But despite the sloppiness, and bad pitching, the Yankees rallied and took the lead, and in the process showed why they are the favorite to win the East. Not only did their big guns managed to get on base, but produced runs in the clutch. After both Jeter and Swisher got on base, Teixeira moved them to scoring position, and A-Rod drove in Jeter with a sac-fly. In the top of the 10th, Curtis Granderson gives the Yankees the lead with a solo homerun, and Mo comes in, manages to make the game interesting, but finishes off the D-Backs to earn the win.
Mo reasons why the Yankees will win the East:
It is rather simple really. The Yankees will in the AL East because of Mo. Let us compare and contrast Mo with another closer in the division. In Colorado last night, the Red Sox had a one run lead heading to the bottom of the 9th at Coors Field against the Rockies. Their closer Jonathan Papelbon comes into the game to try and nail down a win for the Red Sox. Win for the Sox right? ah no. Papelbon surrenders a leadoff homerun, allows a single, gets a quick out, then allows the game winning homerun to Jason Giambi, ball game over..Red Sox lose. On the other hand, Mo comes into the game, gets out of the 9th inning, the Yankees take the lead in the 10th, and in the bottom of the frame Mo allows: a single, double, and intentional walk. Yankees are in trouble right? no. Rivera proceeds to get a foul out, pop out and strike out, Yankees win…nuff said!
Quick thoughts…
Yankees finally get over their offensive slump and take two out of three against the Mets, to split this season’s Subway Series. The hitting star over the weekend was Mark Teixeira, who has struggled for most of the season, but over the weekend was able to come through with big situational hits. Teixeira, like most Yankees it seems this year, has been inconsistent in situational hitting; so the fact that he and others in the lineup got the job done over the weekend could possibly mean that the Yankees are ready to fire on all cylinders? I’d hope so, because the Yankees will be in a three team race to the finish this year.
During their three game losing skid, the Rays were also losing, while the Red Sox kept pace with both teams. Now that the Yankees finally won two games in a row, while the Rays lost two out of three in Miami, the Yankees are again atop of the AL East.
Pettitte strong but Yankees still fall…
Tough game yesterday for the Yankees to lose, after an outstanding outing by Andy Pettitte. Yankees had their chances, unfortunately, the inexperience of some of their baserunners showed, as they were unable to get the job done in key situations. More importantly, the Yankees couldn’t take advantage of the fact that the Rays lost down in Texas 6-1 to the Rangers. As of now, the Yankees are 2 games behind Tampa, and just 1 and half behind the Red Sox and Blue Jays.
But, it isn’t all bad news for the Yankees. As I wrote above, Andy Pettitte once again gave the Yankees a quality start by striking out 10 Jays in just 7.2 innings of work. At times during the game it seemed that Pettitte was about to lose control, only to have him throw a pitch that got him out of trouble. The defense behind him was also solid, as Nick Swisher, not known for his defense, made to good catches in right field. For Pettitte everything went right, except his run support.
The same unfortunately can’t be said about the Yankees lineup. In two games, Jays pitching, which has been very good all year (as I said, this team can pitch just as well as they hit homeruns), and yesterday, although Romero wasn’t as sharp as he has been in earlier starts this year, he still found a way to hold the Yankees down to two runs. The Yankee that had the most difficulty with Romero was Mark Teixeira, as he was literally owned by Romero’s nasty changeup. Teixeira’s struggles continue as he struck out 5 times in a row, earning him the olympic rings. The rest of the lineup wasn’t good either, so I’m not going to lose sleep over the fact that Teixeira is still struggling.
But, I did lose sleep over one thing, and that is Francisco Cervelli’s boneheaded baserunning mistake. With less than two outs, every player is taught from little league on up to freeze on a linedrive. So I was surprised that in the 7th or 8th inning of the game, when the Yankees had two runners in scoring position with one out, that Cervelli took off for home plate after a Derek Jeter lined out to a drawn in infielder. Seriously, I like Cervelli, but as a Major Leaguer he should know better. It’s mistakes like those that drives me nuts (what drives my really insane is when major leaguers can’t bunt the ball in play) and after that inning, I knew the Yankees would lose the game.
Give Credit to the Jays…
Ricky Romero (not to be confused with JC Romero) did a heck of a job, even if he was struggling. He got out of a bases loaded jam in the second inning, and held down the Yankees offense during his 8 innings of work. His only mistake came on a fastball that had “hit me” all over it to Derek Jeter, who certainly hit it to give the Yankees a 2-1 lead. Other than that, Cito Gaston should be happy with his pitching, as Romero and the bullpen got the job done. More over, the Jays, unlike the Yankees, cashed in with their situational hitting. With the way the Jays are playing, I wonder if Gaston is having flashbacks to the early 90′s…I know I am :-\
One month down, 6 to go..
Now that April has come and gone and May is finally here, we can expect Mark Teixeira to heat up. And in someways he has. So far today he is 2 for 3 with two singles, while yesterday afternoon he also got to hits. The reality is, there is no need to worry about Teixeira, he will heat up as the season moves a long and will get big hits for the Yankees. But more importantly, Teixeira is a more valuable player defensively as he anchors an infield that has improved defensively since he arrived last year.
In that same infield, Robinson Cano–don’t ya know–is making an early season case for AL MVP as he leading the league in batting average, as of today is third in homeruns. There is no doubt in my mind, and I believed this before the season started, as much as I love Dustin Pedroia as a baseball player and second baseman, I truly believe that Robinson Cano is the best second baseman in the American League East, and the overall in the AL. Cano is solid defensively and is picking up his game offensively.
April showed that…
The Tampa Bay Rays are going to make a serious run at the AL East. I know that many of my friends who are also Yankee fans have said that the Rays have had a light schedule during the month of April, only having played the Yankees and Red Sox seven times, while playing 17 games against the White Sox, Orioles, and Royals combined. Even if the schedule is light (The A’s are having a solid season so far), that doesn’t really matter, the Rays have done their job and took advantage of the schedule in April and are now clearly in the driver’s seat. The more they win, the more confidence they will have in themselves to say that they do indeed belong and that last year was the fluke. Second, with all the talent the Rays have, and the way Joe Maddon manages the Rays, that team is fun to watch. Again, it sucks I don’t have the MLB extra innings package, because the Rays are one of those teams I would pay to see.
April also showed that the Boston Red Sox need help offensively and need to pitch better. Coming into the year there was no question the Red Sox brought a decent 4 man rotation that could win games. However, the Red Sox are 14th in team ERA in the AL and 25th overall. A team that was built upon pitching a defense has to turn their starting pitching around, otherwise, the much anticipated three team race in the AL East will only be a two team race by the time we get to July.
Austin Jackson has been a very good replacement for Curtis Granderson. Coming into today’s game, the former Yankee prospect is second in the league in hitting with a average of .356 and an OBP of .412. In 104 AB’s, Jackson has collected 37 hits.
Vernon Wells is also had a very good April. After signing a ridiculous contract offered by the Blue Jays a few years ago, his play took a significant dive both in average and power. But in April, Wells busted out of the gates hitting over .300, with 8 homeruns, 17 rbi’s and 66 total bases. If Wells puts another 3 months like he had in April, that could help his confidence and play in a very young team that certainly needs a veteran presence.
David Veloz
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