Results tagged ‘ Robinson Cano ’
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.
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 comes down to one game…at a time(2)
If the Yankees hope to win their 41st American League pennant and advance to the World Series where the winner of the Phillies/Giants series will await, then yesterday’s game was but just one step to that goal. In a must win situation, the Yankees turned again to their ace, and this time, Sabathia earned a solid victory for himself and his team facing elimination at home. Although not dominant by any stretch of the imagination, Sabathia pitched like an ace, getting into trouble and then making a pitch or two that got him out of trouble. Ron Washington said it best about CC: “he bent, but didn’t break.” And in a series in which Yankees starters have not only bent, but broke, CC’s valiant effort is the boost the Yankees need to propel them forward.
It wasn’t as if the Rangers weren’t getting to CC. As Washington said, he bent. In 6 innings of work, CC gave up 11 hits, most of which were line drive ropes that either found the ground instead of a fielder’s glove. Yet most of Texas’s hits came with no runners on base. When there were runners on base, the Rangers couldn’t get consecutive hits. In the 6th however, the Rangers did manage to load the bases, but Sabathia had enough to retire the side. In that inning, Mitch Moreland put on a great at-bat against CC and somehow someway, Sabathia was able to strike him out with a slow curveball in the inside corner. That bases loaded jam was the closest the Rangers came from putting pressure on the Yankees.
But decent a performance CC had on the mound, he couldn’t do it alone and he needed the support from his offense, support he has gotten throughout his Yankee career. Yesterday was no different, as the Yankees busted out of the gate and put 3 runs on the board in the bottom of the 3rd, 2 in the fourth, and 2 more in the latter innings. The hitting star of the day was Robinson Cano who continues his hot hitting in the LCS. Cano’s homerun was the fourth of this series and now he joins Josh Hamilton as one of many who have hit four homeruns in LCS history. But preceding Cano’s homerun’s was Nick Swisher’s solo job to left. Swisher who is having yet another dreadful post-season, needed that homerun to get off the schnied and extend the Yankees lead to four. His homerun set the tables for what was the Yankees first good offensive game of the series.
Looking Ahead…
Phil Hughes, with normal rest, should be able to pitch better in Texas than he did last Saturday afternoon, and hopefully he will give the Yankees what they need to extend this series to a final seventh game. Hughes, who has had a decent year, with rough starts here and there, could give the Yankees another post season quality start, with the hopes that he would receive the same kind of run support he has been accustomed to this season. The Yankees also need to bust out of the gate early again, and chase a suspect Colby Lewis, who is a pitcher that can pitch well, but can also pitch poorly. Putting pressure on early and scoring often and getting into a very suspect Texas bullpen is what the Bombers need. Of course, that is easier said that done. Lewis did outpitch Hughes in game 2.
Yankees win an emotional game.
On a very emotional night, a night in which baseball really seemed to be the second most important event, the Yankees honored their late owner and legendary public address announcer with a thrilling walk off victory. But the big story of the night isn’t the fact that the Yankees won a close game, but how the Yankee family came together to mourn and remember two Yankees’ icons.
The ceremony was short, but poignant, as fans in the stadium and viewers at home got to see the good nature and public side of the Boss. As the presentation made clear, George Steinbrenner bought the franchise at the lowest point of its history and turned it again until a premier and winning organization. The Yankees turnaround in the mid-1970′s can be credited to the fact that Steinbrenner brought to the franchise the winning attitude it had lost after CBS bought the team.
As for Bob Sheppard, I don’t think there are enough words to describe his contribution to the Yankees and what he meant not only to the fans but to the entire baseball world. Even the Boston Red Sox honored the life of Mr. Sheppard, as his impact on the game was felt beyond the Bronx, as his voice was often imitated but never duplicated. Since Sheppard’s voice has been forever silence, the Yankees kept the public address booth empty for the entire game.
As for the game itself..
When the rememberances were over and the game began, it seemed that baseball was furthest thing in the minds of the Yankees, as James Shields, who historically has struggled against the Yankees, was pitching a gem. But with a 3-1 lead, and two outs in the six, Shields gave up back to back homeruns to Cano and Posada. After surrendering the lead again, the Nick Swisher ties up the game for the Yankees again, with a lead off homerun in the bottom of the 8th. In the bottom of the 9th, Nick Swisher completes the night with a walk off single, driving in Granderson from second base. Overall, it was a good win for the Yankees, as they are now three games in front of the Rays in the AL East.
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!
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.
Vazques is dreadful…Pelfrey wins rain-shorten game.
How dreadful has Javier Vazquez been so far this season? The answer is pretty dreadful. On his fourth start of the year, Vazquez once again failed to make it into the 6th inning, just pitching 3.2 innings against the Angels yesterday afternoon. The reason why the Yankees traded for this guy was to avoid the three man rotation during the post season. Unfortunately for the Yankees, it looks like they still only have 3 legitimate pitchers and question marks at the end of the rotation (even though Hughes has pitched well).
Next time, just walk the guy….
Next time Joe Girardi gives the walk sign to either Posada or Cervelli, he should stick with the decision! Girardi’s overmanaging, whether to walk Kendry Moralies or pitch to him, with the Yankees down one run in the bottom of the seventh, cost the Yankees three runs and any potential momentum received after the Cano solo homerun. Girardi, seriously, you made the right call the first time stick with it. Kendry Morales killed Yankee pitching in the two games the Angels won this weekend; on Friday night he hits a two run bomb off Chamberlain, and then yesterday afternoon he victimized Demaso Marte. Clearly the right move was to walk him, but for reasons unknown, Girardi had second thoughts and decided to pitch to Morales. I know it is early in the year, but I hope the overmanaging stops…
Pelfrey…
Unfortunately I missed the rain shortened Sunday night game between the Braves and Mets, but what I have gathered from the game, after watching the highlights on TV, is that Mike Pelfrey was in a jam early in the game and somehow survived by inducing a double play grounder from Jason Heyward. What has to be an encouraging sign to Mets fans everywhere, the fact that Mike Pelfrey, who really had nothing from what I saw, was able to keep it together after two runners reached base, and more importantly Pelfrey was able to retire Jason Heyward, who had a .617 batting average with runners on scoring position. Pelfry is no 4-0 with one save. He is clearly emerging as the Mets second best pitcher behind Johan Santana.
Yankees take game 4.
The old adage in baseball that “momentum lasts right up until the next day’s starting pitcher takes the mound,” rings true tonight. This is what the doctor ordered for the Yankees, tonight, unlike yesterday, the Yankees were able to drive in runs with runners on base and in scoring position. Starting with Alex Rodriguez and Jorge Posada, both players led off the top of the 4th with singles and were responsible for manufacturing the Yankees first two runs of the game. The Yankees rally in the inning culminated with Melkey Cabrera’s 2 run single to make the score 3-0. In the top of the 5th, Alex Rodriguez drove in two more runs with a 2 run homerun and the Yankees basically never looked back as they went on to win the game 10-1. However, the offense wasn’t the only story of this game. CC Sabathia’s performance was also the story. Pitching on 3 days rest, CC showed the baseball world why he is the Yankees ace, as he single handly wrestled away some of the momentum the Angels gained after last night’s win.
Thumbs up to….
…CC Sabathia. Again, what more is there to say about his performance tonight? He went out and gave the Yankees 8 strong innings taking it upon himself to shut down the Angels and give the overworked Yankee bullpen a rest.
Thumbs up to Alex Rodriguez. After his performance tonight all I have to say to the Alex Rodriguez detractors out there is, GET LOST. No matter what idiotic thing you may say about Alex Rodriguez, this guy is a heck of a baseball player. Yes he has struggled in the post season in years past, but so did the rest of the team. However, unlike years past, I don’t think A-Rod cares what we think of his performance as fans. It is that new attitude that is helping him to play his game. And playing his game is what he has been doing all season long. Without A-Rod in the lineup the Yankees are lost. With A-Rod in the lineup the Yankees expect to win.
Thumbs up to Jorge Posada. Posada and CC were on the same page all night and, well, everyone saw the results. At the plate, Posada protected A-Rod and going 1-for-3 with 2 walks and 1 run scored.
Thumbs down to…
…Jorge Posada. I know I just gave him a thumbs up, but I have to also give him a thumbs down because he made terrible baserunning mistakes. When Robinson Cano hit a double over Torii Hunter’s head, Posada for some reason kept looking at Hunter instead of picking up the 3rd base coach. In the 5th, when Nick Swisher hits a grounder to 2nd, Posada runs towards home and then gets caught in a rundown. Why? Don’t you know the situation?
Thumbs down to Robinson Cano as well. On the same play that resulted in the Posada run down, Robinson Cano goes to third base and doesn’t occupy the base. If it wasn’t for a dreadful call by Tim McClelland, Cano and Posada would have been doubled off.
Thumbs down to…the umpires for tonights game. I don’t know what’s going on this post season, but the bad calls made last night during the game were just a microcosm of the terrible calls the umpires have been making this entire post season. First, the second base umpire clearly blew the call when he called Nick Swisher safe at second. The throw from Kazmir clearly beat Swisher to the bag and he was out by a mile. It was not even close, yet the second base umpire missed it. Later in the inning, when Johnny Damon hit what I thought would be a sac fly to center, Tim McClelland calls Swisher out for leaving the base too early. How can he make that call when he wasn’t even looking at Swisher leave the bag? Oh but it gets worse. In the next inning, when Posada was caught in a rundown with Cano foolishly going to third, McClelland awarded the Cano third base and called Posada out. In this play, both runners should have been called out. First, Cano never occupied 3rd base and when Napoli tagged him he was out. Second, Posada overran his base and was also tagged, he, therefore was also out. But McClelland completely botched Rule 7.03 (a) and (b) of the rule book. Both players did not occupy 3rd and were tagged out, how Cano could be award third base is beyond me.
Either way, it was a good win by the Yankees tonight. The Yankees will try to win their 40th American League Championship on Thursday night, as A.J Burnett will take the mound for the Bombers.
Angels take game 3, and Phillies rally to win!
The best words that can describe the Angels victory yesterday afternoon against the Yankees are these: Situational Hitting. So far this post-season, the Yankees have been very dependent on the homerun, all the while failing to manufacture runs by the doing the little things that good teams do to win. Twice yesterday afternoon the Yankees had runners on third and first with 1 out in the inning, and they twice failed to get that run from third. In the 8th, the Yankees had runners on first and second, and again failed to move the runners into scoring position and failed to drive in the run from second. The bottom of the Yankees lineup was absolutely dreadful in key situations. Nick Swisher and Melkey Cabrera failed, absolutely failed to drive in the run from third in the 2nd and 4th innings. Robinson Cano failed to move the runners on first and second with no one out. These are two situations in which the Yankees should have manufactured a run. Instead the Yankees manufactured runs bia the homerun, smacking four solo blasts. The Angels on the other hand got the job done in key situations. After Howie Kendrick got the Angels on the board with a solo blast in the fifth, Vladimir Guerrero blasted a game tying two run homerun with 2 outs in the sixth. In the 7th, Howie Kendrick blasted a triple off Joba, pinch hitter Maicer Itzturis didn’t waste any time in getting a sac-fly to drive in Kendrick to give the Angels a 4-3 lead. After the Yankees tied it, the Angels wasted several opportunities to win it, especially in the 10th with the bases loaded and no outs; but in the 11th, with two outs, Kendrick gets a single to get on base and attempts to steal 2nd when Jeff Mathis hits his second consecutive double, this one to win the game.
I guess the good news for the Yankees is that their pitching was good enough to keep them in the game all afternoon long. Andy Pettitte pitched good enough to win, but unfortunately made two mistakes, one to Kendrick that woke up the Angels and the other to the aging, yet lethal, Vladimir Guerrero. Otherwise, Pettitte pitched an effective 6.1 innings of 3 run baseball, hitting his spots with his curveball and keeping the Angels off balance for most of the afternoon with his cut fastball. Aside from Aceves and Chamberlain, the bullpen kept the Yankees in the game, but was again overused. The pitching star for the Yankees bullpen was Mariano Rivera who bore down the Angels bases loaded threat to get out of the jam. Rivera’s post season ERA this year is 0.
Angels bullpen also got the job done. Jered Weaver started the game for the Angels, and unfortunately served 3 homers to the Yankees. Unlike his last start against the Red Sox, this time Weaver was ordinary and pitched 5 innings, allowing 5 hits, 3 homeruns 3 earned runs. The bullpen on the other hand pitched 6 innings of 2 hit baseball. The only mistake was the homerun Kevin Jepsen allowed.
Thumbs up to….
…Howie Kendrick, the Yankee killer woke the Angels from their slumber and got them rolling in the 5th inning with a blast to left field. He also tripled to score the first go ahead run for the Angels in the afternoon, and got on base to score the winning run. Kendrick was 3-for-5, with 3 run scored and 1 RBI.
Thumbs up to Jeff Mathis. The light hitting catcher, with an average of .211 during the regular season, came up big twice by hitting two doubles. The first double set up a potential game winning rally that failed in the 10th. In the 11th, Mathis hit another double, this time driving in Kendrick.
Thumps up to Alex Rodriguez. He is getting the job done this post season, and for the third time during these playoffs, Alex Rodriguez hits a homerun when the count was 3-1. Without A-Rod in the lineup, the Yankees would be home right now watching the playoffs. Instead A-Rod has been clutch.
Thumbs up to Derek Jeter who hit his 20th post season home run. Of course, this stat is a little misleading, because the person behind Jeter, Mickey Mantle, hit 18 World Series homeruns. But nevertheless, 20 homeruns in post-season play is impressive.
Thumbs down to…
….Bobby Abreu. I mean what was he thinking stopping in between second and third after he got a double? Abreu who is a smart and very good ballplayer, basically the Angels MVP, ran his team out of a potential rally in the 8th. As a baseball fan, it is disappointing to see so many mental errors being committed this post-season.
Thumbs down to Joe Giradi. In game 2, Giradi overmanaged and overused his bullpen. Luckily for Giradi the Angels bailed him out. In game 3 however, Giradi’s overmanaging clearly cost the Yankees the game. Why take out Demaso Marte, a lefty and bring in your other lefty just to get one out? Why take Robertson out of the game, with 2 outs and bring in Aceves? Clearly the moment was too much for Giradi and he overplayed his hand.
Phillies Rally
Like the Angels win yesterday, the Phillies win can also be summed up in a few words and these are: Situational Hitting. The Phillies were down to their last at-bat and with a 1-1 count, Jimmy Rollins hits a 2 run double that splits the right field gap giving the Phillies the 5-4 victory. Unfortunately, I missed the game and only saw the highlights, but like the Angels, the Phillies win because one of their hitters got the job done in a key situation in the game and was clutch. Good teams in the post-season manufacture runs with 2 outs. When teams failed to do that, they usually wind up losing.
Thumbs up to….
….Jimmy Rollins, his walk off double has the Phillies one win away from going back to their 2nd consecutive World Series.
Thumbs up to Ryan Howard, whose 2 run homer in the first inning of last night’s ballgame tied him with Lou Gherig for consecutive post season games with an RBI(8 games). Of course, the stat is also misleading because Gherig did it in the World Series. Nevertheless, Ryan Howard is getting the job done and he is the reason why the Phillies are a game away from winning the National League championship.
Thumbs down to…
….Jonathan Broxton. All you had to do was get one more out. Instead of having the NLCS tied at two games, Broxton’s mistake to Rollins has the Phillies knocking on the World Series door..
David Veloz
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