Posts tagged ‘Curtis Granderson’

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October 5, 2011

In Praise of Curtis Granderson

by Jamie Insalaco

Where would the Yankees be last night without the impeccable defense of Curtis Granderson? Or his bat? Hell, where would they have been all year?

You’ll note that this morning, a lot of folks are vindicating A.J. Burnett for his performance last night, and I’m not here to say he doesn’t deserve some acolades for how he pitched, but let’s be real – if Curtis Granderson doesn’t make that catch in the 1st inning, we’re looking at a very different game going forward form there. If that ball is dropped or worse, gets passed Granderson and rolls to the wall, we’re looking at a bases clearing double or triple AT BEST. Granderson’s catch saved an in the park grand slam at worst – can you imagine? Then he saved Rafael Soriano’s proverbial bacon with that full extension grab that sent him sliding across the outfield for several feet! Hitting the ground completely emptied the air out of Granderson’s lungs, but he still held onto the ball and somehow managed to raise his glove.

I was so happy when the Yankees acquired Granderson over the 2009-10 off season and although things didn’t go well from the get go, it’s fair to say that his 2011 performance has exceeded even my high expectations. Before yesterday’s game, I was encouraging people to pray for Burnett – maybe we should be praying to Granderson.

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September 20, 2011

Game 151 – Phoning it in

by Jamie Insalaco

There’s resting players and then there’s "Eh, I could care less about the outcome of today’s game." Sunday’s game was the latter when Joe Girardi sat Derek Jeter, Mark Teixeira, and Curtis Granderson. I completely understood why he did it – off days in September are over for the rest of the month and on their last off day, they were flying from Seattle to Toronto, so that probably doesn’t offer much in the way of relaxation. Here’s the lineup they trotted out, which was able to produce zero runs.

Brett Gardner, CF
Eduardo Nunez, 2B
Robinson Cano, DH
Alex Rodriguez, 3B
Nick Swisher, RF
Eric Chavez, 1B
Russell Martin, C
Chris Dickerson, LF
Ramiro Pena, SS

Freddy Garcia, SP

I would usually talk a lot about how Freddy Garcia didn’t last five innings, but when the offense doesn’t score any runs, what’s the difference?

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September 18, 2011

Curtis Granderson Gives Props To Teachers

by Jamie Insalaco

curtis-granderson-teachers

Just had a chance encounter with this poster of Curtis Granderson and his former marketing professor, David Koehler.  (Not sure what goes on in marketing classes that necessitates a baseball bat, but the business world is changing…)

Anyway, this poster serves as a reminder to student athletes that education is important.  Well, not if you’re Curtis Granderson – besides being insanely talented on an athletic scale, the guy also has a silver tongue – I’d buy anything that guy was selling.  He could sell a ketchup Popsicle to a woman in white gloves, for crying out loud!

Still, it’s a nice message.

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August 10, 2011

Night of Blunders decreases Yanks wildcard lead

by Jamie Insalaco

MLB.com’s headline, "Abreu torches Yanks with homer off Mo" might be hyperbole (the game was tied, after all; it wasn’t a save situation), but it’s general sentiment sums up the Yankees performance during the evening well enough.

This season, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim have scored 447 runs – that might sound like a lot, but when you compare it to the Red Sox’s league leading 629 or the Yankees own 607, you realize that you’re dealing with a team that has trouble scoring runs – at least compared to the superior teams in the league. So of course, A.J. Burnett promptly gives up the big hit and allows 4 runs in 6 IP… did I mention he allowed all 4 runs in the 6th inning? The guy has won some big games for the Yankees (game 2 of the 2009 world series), but these days, Burnett often folds like Superman on laundry day – faster than a speeding bullet. I think it’s time to admit that Burnett can’t start a game in the playoffs.

Yes, Mariano Rivera gave up the go ahead 2 run home run, and boy, did he look shocked. Mo usually goes through a phase where he gets hit hard around this time of year, so it’s no concern – but it couldn’t of happened at a worse time.

Curtis Granderson, who started things rolling with a solo home run, ended the scoring just as suddenly when he he got picked off with two outs in the bottom of the 9th as the Yankees tried to rally back from a two run deficit. I know it happens to everyone, but it looked HORRIBLE.

The Yankees need to put last night’s blunder behind them and rally behind Ivan Nova, who gave the Chicago White Sox a tremendous beating his last time out. They still retain a 6 game lead in the wild card, but the Yankees are a decidedly better team than the Angels, and there’s no reason to let things get interesting.

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June 1, 2011

Yankees May 2011 Wrap Up

by Jamie Insalaco

 

May was a bit of a roller coaster ride for the Yankees.

The month of May, 2011 began promisingly enough as the Yankees finished off a series win against the Toronto Blue Jays, which finished up the home-stand on a positive note. Then the Yankees went to Detroit and the wheels came off – or maybe I should say the arms came off as they dropped 3 of 4 while we watched Eduardo Nunez through the ball all over the place. But, when the Yankees got to Texas, the bats came out, and we got Derek Jeter‘s mythical 2 home run game, which seems to have quieted the “Derek Jeter is finished,” media machine – at least for now… for some reason, hitting .264 in May is much better than hitting .256 in April – although I must admit, hit at-bats do look a lot better of late.

Then the Yankees came back home and experienced The Home Stand of Tears, dropping 2 of 3 to the Kansas City Royals (current record 24-30) and getting swept by the Boston Red Sox. Wow. Swept by the Boston Red Sox at home. That was a tough one. Yet, despite the rough patch, the Yankees are in first today by one game over the Monsters from Fenway.

Then the Yankees split two games at Tampa Bay (and they really should have won that first game), swept two games from the Baltimore Orioles (two game series are a waste of my time!) and then took two of three from the lowly Mets at home (current record 25-29). The Blue Jays came to Yankees Stadium and this featured another Yankees series win, including a come from behind extra innings win (pie style) that I feel this team desperately needed.

The Yankees flew out to Seattle to face the Mariners and gave up leads to lose the first two games and salvaged the final one before flying to Oakland to take on Hideki Matsui and the A’s, taking the first two games, including a gem by Bartolo Colon, and here we are, at June 1st, waiting for Game 3 to start later today.

So what did we learn this month?

The Yankees can’t bunt. Seriously, enough with the bunting. Nobody on this team is any good at it. The Yankees need to either start working on this in BP or just stop doing it. Last night’s failed suicide squeeze that resulted in Nick Swisher being tagged out in a run down was embarrassing – almost as sad as the fact that Brett Gardner and Derek Jeter can’t bunt; considering they have no power, they both need to add this trait to their game ASAP, or at least stop doing it, but this in between crap needs to stop.

Curtis Granderson is a golden god. Obviously. I was soooooo happy when they traded for him, and although last year was a tough start, my girlfriend very kindly ran out and bought me a Grandy-Man t-shirt in May of 2010, which makes us both look like geniuses now. Unlike Russell Martin, I don’t expect Granderson to slow down.

In praise of Bartolo Colon. Where would we be without this guy and his fastballs? His low pitch counts keep him in games late, giving a bullpen that is teetering on over use a bit of a breather. The Yankees need to protect this guy and give him an extra day’s rest any time they get a chance.

Losing streaks are inevitable. If you saw a lot of the New York papers (cough Post, cough Daily News) insisting that the Yankees blew their chance to bury the Red Sox, I tend to disagree. The Red Sox (not to mention the Rays) struggled early, and the Yankees hadn’t struggled yet. It was bound to happen. It could happen again. It’s a long season and there are many ups and downs.

Derek Jeter isn’t Derek Jeter anymore, but he’s hardly terrible. I don’t have any plans to build a statue to the guy on my front lawn, but I refuse to kill him in print the way so many have done. But then, this is another good example of what happens when you let Randy Levine meddle in negotiations.

Phil Hughes… ugh. Can this guy get through two consecutive seasons without spending major time on the DL? I know he’s still young, but he’s not that young anymore. Is it time to stash Hughes in the bullpen for good? I’m not sure, but given the Yankees appeared shortage of starting pitching, it’s a tough call. If you don’t believe in Freddy Garcia, I can’t blame you, but is Hughes really a better option? I guess we’ll have to wait and see what he has when he comes off the DL.

GOING FORWARD:
Take a look at the Yankees June schedule; it’s a tough one. Red Sox, Angels, Rangers, Rockies, Indians… if they’re still in first on July 1st, it’ll be a miracle.

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May 26, 2011

Yankees End Home Stand With Series Win

by Jamie Insalaco

Before the Yankees head to the west coast to face every good pitcher the Oakland Athletics, Seattle Mariners and Los Angeles Angels of Midgard have on their roster, it was nice that the Yankees took care of business against the New York Mets and the Toronto Blue Jays.

Game 1: Intentional walk blues
I hate, hate HATE the intentional walk. I understand that it can be an effective strategy, but in my eyes, it’s almost the last act of the desperate. I don’t know what Bartolo Colon‘s ground ball rate is, but he’s a strike out pitcher, right? I don’t feel that his two seamer is the sort of pitch that sinks and generates a lot of ground balls the way other guys can, so I wasn’t a huge fan of the strategy, and low and behold, it lead to a big inning. I guess I’m bound to be right about something every once in a while when I yell at the TV. If you’re going to have Colon issue an intentional walk to set up a double play, you might as well just pull him, because he probably got into the tough spot in the first place because his stuff wasn’t there anymore (and it wasn’t), so why leave an ineffective pitcher in there? I just don’t understand the strategy deployed there.

Game 2: Let there be pie!
Things weren’t going well; the Yankees were down late in the game, but suddenly, the 2009 Yankees showed up and came from behind to win the game! (I’m still pumped about this – wearing my Curtis Granderson t-shirt today.) This gave me a sense of confidence in the 2011 Yankees that I don’t think I’d felt before.

Game 3: Poor Jo-Jo
Day games suck. I understand that teams need a getaway day game, especially when the Yankees have to fly to the west coast, but seriously, who’s around to watch a ball game during the afternoon in the middle of the week? How can this be profitable for the Yankees as a business? But whatever.
You ever drop by Fan Graphs? I love that graph they have on the scoreboard page, showing how the percentage changes as things happen during the game, as both team’s 50/50 chance to win the game modifies with particular events. The graph starts with both teams having a 50% chance to win, but when Jo-Jo Reyes is the game’s starter, shouldn’t the Yankees get at least a 10% bump toward a win? Reyes hasn’t recorded a win since 2008, when he was with the Braves – and he went 3-11 with a 5.81 ERA in 113 innings. This year, his 4.70 ERA over 51.2 IP isn’t terrible, but it’s certainly not good, but when a guy has a cloud like that floating over his head… I don’t know how he overcomes it. Bottom line, the Yankees crushed him, as they should. It’s good to see Andruw Jones showing some power with 2 homers in a game – maybe Joe Girardi needs to consider platooning him with Nick Swisher in right field – Swisher is still hitting around the .200 mark, and I don’t feel like his swing is getting any better. I do think his discipline has been a little better in May than it was in April, but that’s a small consolation.

Coming up:
As aforementioned, the Yankees are going out west to facing good pitching, so the staff needs to respond in kind and toss up zeroes. With A.J. Burnett on the mound tomorrow night, we’ll have to wait and see if the good doctor is there or if the raging Mister Hyde takes the mound and throws the ball into the backstop – or maybe it’ll be one of those starts where both guys show up. Who knows…

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May 12, 2011

Can I Get An RBI?

by Jamie Insalaco

A Quick Rant On LOB:
The Yankees left 15 runners on base last night – which doesn’t include the runners lost by the GIDPs from Alex Rodriguez and Curtis Granderson. Granderson got some redemption in the 10th with his RBI single to keep the game alive, but jeez – not a good offensive performance by any stretch of the imagination.

A Quick Rant On Bunting and Coaching:
The Yankees have a problem that sounds like the setup for a work of fiction: a manager who loves to bunt has a roster full of players who can’t bunt worth a shiz! As far as I know, the Yankees don’t have anyone (well, maybe Martin can bunt) who is proficient in bunting, yet Joe Girardi loves to call for it. And why have Brett Gardner or Derek Jeter bunt? They’re both hot right now! And neither of them are what I would call good bunters… not to mention they were both facing a pitcher who was wild. I just don’t understand why Girardi calls for players to bunt who can’t do it (is he trying to embarrass them into practicing it more?) in situations where bunting doesn’t make a ton of sense. Sure, maybe that was a ‘by the book’ scenario where a bunt was called for, but use your eyes: the pitcher can’t Joakim Soria couldn’t find the plate and his velocity was way down – that means either take your walk or wait for the inevitable fastball down the middle!

New York Connection:
So the Kansas City Royals have Melky Cabrera in left field, Wilson Betemit at 3rd – both former Yankees – and Vin Mazzaro is from Rutherford, NJ. Who else they got over there that either played for the Yankees at some point or is from the greater New York City area?

Tonight:
Ivan Nova in the rubber match! It’d be a shame to lose a series at home to the Royals, regardless of how good their start has been this year. Also, Rafael Soriano’s arm is OK, so good news there! It sounds like we’ll see him this weekend against the Red Sox, if not tonight.

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April 25, 2011

Yankees Take Another Rain Shortened Season

by Jamie Insalaco

I know it’s April and this is when it’s supposed to rain, but I’m starting to lose my cool.  The Yankees are nearing their 2010 rain out total, and we’re not even through with the first month yet!  Here’s The Good, The Bad and The Fug-Ugly from Baltimore.

The Good
CC Sabathia was, in a word, dominant on Saturday.  Sure, he labored toward the end, but he was really dealing – vintage CC, I loved every minute of it!

Freddy Garcia might not deserve a statue or a plaque yet, but he probably deserves an apology.  I know it’s only two starts, but they haven’t been against teams without any hitters and he hasn’t let up run yet, right?  I’ll take 12 IP of 0 run ball every two times out!

Russell Martin is probably worth praying to.  Like I wrote the other day, he does it all.  Take a closer look at your mailman – it’s Russell Martin!

Curtis Granderson is putting on a hitting display, and I love it!  The Grandyman is my favorite kind of player:  an outfielder with speed and power.

The Bad
Nick Swisher needs to worry less about shaving (if you don’t know what I’m talking about, you’re lucky) and more about hitting the ball.  At least he’s still getting his walks.

Derek Jeter managed some hits on Sunday, but they were mostly infield squeakers.  Who knows, maybe a game like this will get him started, and if he’s going to lead off and gave Curtis Granderson protecting him the two hole, that could help him, too.

Mariano Rivera is not a machine, and I guarantee that if he only had to get three outs, he would have been fine.  Mo can’t pitch in more than one inning anymore.  Just forget about that.  It’s over.  Not in April, anyway – in October… you do what you have to do.  But in April?  Let’s not and not even say we did.  Anyway, Mo will be alright, so lets not bother having the “he’s done!” conversation because he blew two saves.

The Fug-Ugly
Brett Gardner had what, one hit in two games?  I know it was a double and I know that’s not the end of the world, but the guy is striking out a lot… I really want Gardner to find a way out of his funk now that he’s been moved to the bottom of the lineup, because I don’t want to see this guy end up being the next Melky Cabrera…  well, it won’t be that bad.  If anything, he could be a fifth outfielder and pinch runner/base stealer on this team.

I was just about to write ‘Kyle Farnsworth‘ or ‘Octavio Dotel,’ because sometimes, I get my free agent setup men confused… (wait, was Dotel a setup man or just in the pen?  I can’t remember and don’t care enough to check)  But yeah, Rafael Soriano‘s back soreness is troubling, and I’m particularly annoyed given that I can’t find any reason for it.  Was it the flight down from Toronto?  Did he wake up in pain on Saturday morning?  I just don’t understand how someone is in so much pain that he has to miss two games, making it necessary to inject Mariano Rivera into the 8th inning (where he should never be, ever!) and have no reason for it at all.  That’s weak sauce, right there.

Russell Martin getting plunked between the numbers after he’d already hit two home runs in a game… that’s not cool, and it looks really bad – I’m all for pushing guys off the plate, but when you hit a guy in the back in between the numbers, it looks like it’s on purpose.  You don’t need to let the hitter get too comfortable in the batter’s box, but you don’t need to hit him, either.

The White Sox are in town, who are 8-14 on the young season – lets not read anything into that until we see them for ourselves…  but yeah, they probably stink.

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April 18, 2011

Freddy Garcia And Bats Combine to take Games 2 and 3 From Rangers

by Jamie Insalaco

Another home stand over, another series victory.

After Friday night’s rough outing from Ivan Nova, the Yankees got 6 shut out innings from Freddy Garcia – maybe the last place you’d look in the Yankees rotation for a pick-me-up performance. I suspect that Garcia is the the kind of pitcher who performs better on extra rest, but I don’t have the data to back it up; just notating that he exceeded expectations against a good hitting team after not having started a game in a few weeks. (Garcia did get that one relief inning in Boston, so this is only his second appearance of the young season.)

CC Sabathia just didn’t have it last night, most notably with his awful fastball control. The ESPN announcers can credit the text bats all they wish, but if CC is going to throw his fastball right down the middle like that, it’s akin to putting the ball on a t-ball stand for big league hitters, never mind a good hitting team like Texas. Sabathia is, however, an elite pitcher, so he has his secondary pitches to keep him in the game through 6.1 innings, most notably his change up to right handers and several good sliders. Last night, it was the Bronx Bombers doing it Bomber Banter style with homer after homer: Robinson Cano, Russell Martin and Curtis Granderson all contributed with the long ball. Martin and Eric Chavez also contributed via the 2 out RBI, so these guys were all getting it done box score style. Meanwhile, Derek Jeter, the anti-box score hero, contributed with a hit of his own, but I don’t feel like he’s in the zone yet, but I do think he’s close now. Chavez has continued to prove himself to be a valuable piece as he’s hit well in limited duty and has played a solid third in A-Rod’s absence – hopefully, A-Rod’s stiffness is a thing of the past by Tuesday. For next year, the Yankees are probably better off going with a right handed bat who can also play left field for Garnder as a DH so A-Rod can spend more time there. The guy is a beast at the plate, but I just don’t trust him to stay healthy if he has to play 150 games in the field.

We got to see the big three again last night – Joba Chamberlain was not great in relief and surrendered a run, but Rafael Soriano was downright nasty as he took down all three batters he faced with authority. Mariano Rivera came in and was Mo – that’s all there is to that.

I do want to take a second and mention that the new ESPN Sunday night baseball crew is twice as bearable as the old one. I guess they got a new director in there, too, because everyone is a lot more focused on what’s happening on the field rather that showing us the announcers in the booth, talking about nonsense or pimping topics/interviewing other things/people that have something to do with something that’s going to be on ESPN on another day. I think this puts ESPN slightly behind of FOX Sports in my ‘Totally Unbearable To Watch Sports On Your Network’ race – meaning FOX is currently the most unbearable.  On the other hand, ESPN’s constant badgering of the Yankees leading MLB in home runs was annoying – I don’t care what anybody says, LEADING THE LEAGUE IN HOME RUNS IS NOT A BAD THING!

The Yankees are off today and will be back tomorrow at Toronto to face the Blue Jays. The Jays will be pesky again this year, but I don’t see them as a playoff team this year.

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April 1, 2011

Yankees Start Off 2011 With Power, Bullpen

by Jamie Insalaco

Smell the grass! Feel the rain on your skin! Embrace the cold! It’s Opening Day at Yankee Stadium!

I can’t truly express how pleased I am to be writing about an actual game rather than off the field decisions and situations – it’s been a while!

Another season of New York Yankees baseball kicked off yesterday on an ugly day at the stadium as CC Sabathia faced former Yankees farm hand Austin Jackson, who was touted as a major prospect before being traded, along with Phil Coke, for my favorite newish Yankee, Curtis Granderson. Predictably, Jackson struck out to start things off – he lead the league in Ks last year and, not to be out done, he added 3 to his early season total yesterday, but also managed a hit. He’s a nice player, and maybe he’ll grow out of his K troubles one day, but for now, I don’t miss him.

Rather than grind you with the minutia of the entire game, lets just hit the highlights and notable players in yesterday’s contest.

CC Sabathia went 6 IP, gave up 6 hits, 2 walks, 7 Ks (thanks again, Jackson), and only 2 ER because of the error on Robinson Cano when he failed to catch a ball at first base that Mark Teixeira pretty much put in his glove for him. CC didn’t have his best stuff and Cano dropped a ball he should have had, but that’s life, I suppose; it was cold and raining, and I’m glad I wasn’t out there watching, neve mind playing. CC is a notoriously slow starter, so any time you win one of his starts in April, you have to be happy.

Granderson was everywhere, making diving or running catches in the outfield and hitting a no doubter off Phil Coke, which is particularly exciting given that Coke is left handed and Granderson’s lifetime numbers are not great off lefties. Coke, of course, is not exactly a great pitcher, but still, seeing the ball out of a lefty’s hand is an issue for Granderson, so any time he does it, I’m happy.

Jeers to Alex Rodriguez (note: I’m not an A-Rod hater, but we have to call him out here) for not running when he thought he hit a home run – he probably could have had a triple instead of settling for a double, but I’m not going to lose my mind over it – it’s the first game and the Yankees won, so I’ll let this pass.

Mark Teixeira hit that monster home run in the third inning; does anyone think for a second that this is the start of Teix actually getting off to a fast start? I do not, but time will tell. In any case, he certainly knocked the crap out of that one.

Cheers to the Yankee bullpen: the combination of Joba Chamberlain, Rafael Soriano and Mariano Rivera shut the Tigers down for three innings, and their dominance sure made yesterday’s contest look like a 6 inning affair. Obviously, we’re all hoping that Joba’s good 2010 peripheral stats can turn into more success in 2011 and Mo is obviously a god in this town and the Yankees snagged one of the great closers in the game to be the setup man, so you hope you can draw it up like this for a ton of Yankee wins. I think this three headed monster can power this team to a ton of late innings victories, so I think we have a lot more outings from this tandem to look forward to.

A quick word about Justin Verlander: this guy is good. His final line of 6 IP and 3 ERs might not look good, but the 8 Ks and the high velocity on opening day in cold weather was impressive. The one mistake to Teixeira with runners on and his high pitch count from the first inning led to his undoing, but don’t read anything into that. If the Yankees can avoid Verlander for the rest of the year, it’ll be a blessing.

No hits for Derek Jeter yesterday, so no 3000 hit chase update. (He did manage a walk and a run scored.)

BASEBALL IS BACK!

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