Posts tagged ‘Robinson Cano’

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August 23, 2010

Yankees take 2 of 3 from Mariners

by Jamie Insalaco

Some quick thoughts on the Yankees winning the series against the Mariners and other points:

FRIDAY – AJ Burnett was as awful as the Yankees offense. However, the offense was facing King Felix Hernandez; Burnett wasn’t exactly pitching against an All Star team. Or a playoff team. Or a team with a .500 record.

SATURDAY – Javier Vazquez didn’t have it again, and he all owed a home run into the upper deck, the first homer to be hit up there. Ah, Home Run Javy: if anyone could do it, he could. The bullpen and the offense weren’t taking it lying down and the Yankees recovered after an embarrassing loss the night before, which was good to see. It felt like the Yankees were getting their asses kicked, but it was actually tied at 4 before the Bronx Bombers took the lead for good.

SUNDAY – With rain looming, CC Sabathia put together a great start chuck fulla Ks. The offense was also out and about: the Mariners decided that with runners on 2nd and 3rd, they’d walk Mark Teixeira and load the bases. With a lefty on the mound and Robinson Cano coming up, who was 0-2 and 1 out on the board, I still questioned the logic; Cano had been K’d once already, but he’d also seen the pitcher twice before on that day, gotten a good look at his stuff, which was diminishing. Cano immediately rewarded my faith with a first pitch fastball grand slam. If the game wasn’t already out of reach, that killed it for the Mariners and gave the Yankees the series win – and the season series win.

Burnett is, by far, the biggest concern on this Yankee team. It’s clear that the Yankees are going to get into the playoffs one way or another, despite their injuries. I still believe Andy Pettitte is going to come back from his injury and pitch effectively, if not at the insane level he was at before the injury. Phil Hughes is good enough to be the fourth starter, which I believe won’t come into play until the ALCS. Javier Vazquez is hurt or exhausted or finished; I’m not sure which, and it doesn’t really matter, because I can’t see him starting for the Yankees in the playoffs this year. I still think bringing in Vazquez was a worthwhile risk, but it just hasn’t worked out.

Back to Burnett: check out his game log. April was good, May was ok, June was horrible, July was great and August has been bad. You just don’t know what you’re going to get out of this guy. I know I should be more concerned with Pettitte, who isn’t even on the mound right now, but Burnett is so hit and miss that its hard to trust him. In the 2009 playoffs, he lost one of the biggest games of the year – and also won one of the biggest games of the year. I don’t know what to think about Burnett, and that tells me that he can’t be counted on, which scares me in October..

The Yankees finally put A-Rod on the DL. They probably should have done this two weeks ago, but whatever. Cano is a more than capable clean up hitter, and the Yankees will manage for the 15 days. Besides, the Yankees are undefeated in games that A-Rod has missed this year, and he probably wasn’t going to play until around August 27 anyway.

The Yankees are going to Toronto to face the Blue Jays, and Ian Nova will get his first start, which should give the other guys an extra day of rest. No idea if this will help Vazquez and Burnett, but it couldn’t hurt. Nova has appeared out of the bullpen this year for the Yankees, and his starting numbers at AAA are pretty good – a sub 3.00 ERA.

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August 19, 2010

Power, Bullpen create Yankees win

by Jamie Insalaco

Jeremy Bonderman just ain’t what he used to be.

After a fairly quick inning by Dustin Moseley for the Yankees, Bonderman served up back to back bombs to Mark Teixeira (scoring Brett Gardner) and Robinson Cano, which was followed by the Miguel Cabrera show, who blasted solo jacks in the 2nd and 4th inning. The Yankees quickly responded with 3 more runs of their own: Ramiro Pena (aka Scrappy Doo) tripled and scored Austin Kearns, Gardner doubled and scored Pena, and Gardner came around to score on the throwing error by somebody… Santiago. Box Score.

Don Kelly hit a 2 run homer to make things interesting and chase Mosley from the game, but there was no stopping the Yankees. Curtis Granderson, the student of hitting coach Kevin Long, hit another homer to deep right, and in the bottom of the 7th, as much as the Tigers mixed and matched, they still payed the ultimate price as Austin Kearns doubled in 2 more runs. The Tigers managed one more run on a sacrifice fly, but it was too little, too late.

Now how about that Yankees bullpen? Moseley left after 5 IP, giving up 4 ER, and then the Yankees decided to bring the pain: Joba Chamberlain, Boone Logan, Kerry Wood (I still can’t believe Brian Cashman got the Yankees Kerry Wood), Chad Guadin, David Robertson and Mariano Rivera combined for 4 IP of 1 run ball. Robertson was especially effective pitching out of a Guadin made jam, and Mo restored order to a game that was pretty wild.

So what did we learn last night? The Yankees can score runs without A-Rod – if it’s against a pitcher they’ve seen before. Their bullpen is looking pretty good, but it would be nice if Andy Pettitte could make it back by September 1st to sure up the rotation. Mosely isn’t a horrible fifth starter, but I don’t see him being on this team next year. The Yankees look like they’re starting to turn the corner again, although Derek Jeter put up another 0-4. There are a lot of ifs right now surrounding the Yankees, but they still have a better team than everybody else.

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August 12, 2010

Chuck Norris furious after Texas Rangers blow lead to Yankees

by Jamie Insalaco

After five innings of play, hope was dwindling that the Yankees were going to escape Texas with a split in the two game set. It was 6-1, and Javier Vazquez had already been knocked out of the game. A-Rod’s double to score Marcus Thames was the lone Yankee run, and it was starting to look like it was going to stay that way. Box Score.

But the tide began to turn in the 6th when Derek Jeter tripled and then scored on a wild pitch in the 6th. Then Lance Berkman doubled in Robinson Cano followed by Brett Gardner’s line hugging bloop single the other way to plate Austin Kearns, and suddenly, it was 6-4 Rangers, and the Yankees were in striking distance. Marcus Thames, in the middle of things all night, crushed a home run to deep left, a no doubter as soon as he touched it in the 8th, and then in the 9th, he plated the winning run after Derek Jeter singled in the tying run. Game Day.

On the pitching side, things were all over the place. Cliff Lee had 11 Ks in 6.1 IP, which is outstanding, but gave up 8 hits and 4 ER. Javier Vazquez was a 4.1 IP nightmare for 6 ER, but he’s pitched so good since April that his ERA is still under 5. The victory really belongs to Sergio Mitre and Kerry Wood, who combined for 3.2 IP of shut out ball.

On to Mo: Mariano Rivera converted his 24th save, and it was a very interesting one at that. After almost hitting Elvis Andrus in the head, Andrus responded with a triple. Got that? You already know the Yankees won the game – Mo pitched around a lead off triple. This is why I worship no Gods before Mariano. He never ceases to amaze me. The man is not infallible, but he is totally amazing. Being short handed with Mark Teixeira still being out for maternity leave (or should that be faternity leave, because he’s the dad and not visiting with frat brothers?), Joe Girardi pitch ran my boy Curtis Granderson (I know, he’s not having a good year, but I can’t help it, he’s awesome anyway) for Fat Elvis himself, Lance Berkman. This might Nick Swisher came in from RF to play 1B, Austin Kearns shifted over to play RF and Granderson took CF while Brett Gardener moved to LF. So after Andrus’ triple, Michael Young hit a ball off the heel of Kearns’ glove, which stuck in the webbing and kept Andrus at 3rd, which he might as well of sat down on, because he wasn’t going anywhere. Mo fell behind Josh Hamilton 2-0 before getting him to ground softly out to himself. Vladimir Guerrero also enjoyed some chin music before grounding out to Jeter. I can’t emphasis that enough – Mo’s control last night was not good. And he pitched around a lead off triple. How amazing is that?

So after a tough two games in Texas, the Yankees head to Kansas City to take on the Royals in a four game set that I insist they take a minimum of four games from.

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August 11, 2010

Depleted Yankees lose to Rangers in extra innings

by Jamie Insalaco

D’oh!

The Yankees had Marcus Thames batting third last night. I’d usually say, ’nuff said,’ but where’s the fun in that? Robinson Cano sat for most of the game with the flu. I think Jorge Posada sat just because he needed a day off – and wouldn’t you know it, but Francisco Cervelli had a clutch RBI, showing shades of April. Mark Teixeira was home in New York celebrating the birth of his son. Brett Gardner sat against the lefty starter. So Thames was the DH, Ramiro Pena started at 2nd base and Austin Kearns started in left field.

In the top of the first, Derek Jeter was first called safe at first by the umpire, despite the appearance of being tagged out, and the call was reversed by the home plate umpire. I do agree that Jeter was out, but how the home plate umpire, who is so far away, can see the correct call and the guy standing right on top of it can’t, I don’t know how to explain.

AJ Burnett pitched a pretty good game; not great, but good. He tired as the night went on and gave up a 2 run bomb that made it 3-2 Yankees, but A-Rod had his back. Alex Rodriguez smashed career homer 601 into center field to tie the game back up. Burnett gave up the lead as soon as he got it, but I guess we should be pleased that he pitched decent in a home run hitting park.

David Robinson pitched well in multiple innings and worked with Cervelli to get out of jams. Mariano Rivera gave up some ground ball sinkers and nearly walked in the winning run in extra innings as he had to throw the ball right down the middle 3 times in a row after falling behind in the count 3-0. For all of Mo’s genius, he is almost always one of those closers who doesn’t usually do well in the non save situation – at least I’m pretty sure he doesn’t. Still, he’s Mo, so he’s allowed to blow it once and a while. I believe his ERA is still under 1.00 and he’s allowed less than 20 hits in nearly 50 innings. Again, I know he blew the game last night, but BOW DOWN TO HIM! Now! He didn’t exactly get smacked around, but the ball was hit hard enough to get the job done for the Rangers.

Michael Kay referred to last night’s game as a possible playoff preview, and if he’s right, it could be exciting. However, you’d hope the Yankees would play all of their regulars in a playoff game. Also, I don’t think Kay needed to mention the possible playoff game preview ten times, but it was an exciting game. The Rangers did look better than they did in April, but they committed more errors, so they’re not that much improved in terms of defense. Tonight, Cliff Lee faces off against Javier Vazquez in what could be a serious mismatch. Lee through a complete game against the Yankees last time and surrendered 3 runs, so we’ll have to see what he does. Both bullpens sent out their best guys last night, and most of them threw a ton of pitches, so both starters would be wise to go long – something Lee is good at and Javy is not.

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July 26, 2010

Umpires, warnings and rules 2.0

by Jamie Insalaco

If you didn’t catch last week’s post on Umpires, warnings and rules, the intended message was:

Umpires and rules are all well and good, but sometimes, the umpires need to impose the rules while using their common sense. We’re not in court, no one’s life is at stake – a strict interpretation of the rules is not always necessary. Let’s just play ball.

I think that might have gotten lost a bit in the rules I was ranting against, so I just want to reiterate that. I’m not anti-umpire; for the most part, they do a great job, but I do believe they should be seen and not heard. Well, I guess the, "Strike!" screaming is OK, but let’s keep the Leslie Nielsen performances to a minimum.

Today, I’d like to call attention to yesterday’s interference call against Jorge Posada during Chan Ho Park’s disastrous ninth inning. When the ball got away from Posada, he through away his mask, which spent a lot of time bouncing around on the ground. The ball was slowing down, and, by chance, his mask landed on top of the ball. The umpire called interference, meaning that the catcher’s mask/equipment can’t be used to retrieve the ball, and awarded the runner at 3rd home plate, making the score Yankees 12, Royals 6.

It’s really important to understand that Posada’s mask was not intentionally used to slow the ball down – he didn’t through the mask at the ball. The ball was already moving very slowly, hence the mask, which bounced several times before hit landed on top of the now virtually stopped ball, was able to catch up to it. Posada didn’t use his mask to scoop up the ball, or deliberately throw his mask at the ball. This is what the spirit of the rule is intended to guard and punish, and that’s not what happened on Sunday. Some common sense needed to be exercised in that situation, and it wasn’t. It didn’t change the game, as the Yankees still won, and it’s not worth deliberating ifs, but this was a bad call by the umpire. This didn’t help the Royals, it certainly didn’t help the Yankees, I don’t see how any baseball fan benefited from this call. MLB needs to modify this rule so the umpires can use their own judgment and determine if the catcher’s action was deliberate and if it would have altered the course of the ball. In Sunday’s case, there was no way the ball was traveling fast enough to get far enough away from Posada to allow the runner on 3rd to score. I believe the umpires can use their judgment to determine this.

I feel that this year, more than any other year, the umpires have injected themselves into the game in a way that is not necessary. I think the Rays at Blue Jays game was probably the best example of this, during which Angel Hernandez called strike three on Carlos Peña after Peña asked for time out and Hernandez, being one of those ‘up the game tempo’ guys, didn’t grant it. Ah, Hernandez and Joe West – my favorite umpires! Those guys just can’t seem to keep their mouths shut. Having these two guys on the same crew is just begging for problems.

NOTES:

Robinson Cano got his 1000 career hit!

Joba Chamberlain let up 2 ER in the 8th inning. It’s time to give somebody else a shot at the eighth inning – Joba needs a kick in the butt!

Chan Ho Park gave up 2 walks and 1 hit in a horrendous 9th inning. If you can’t throw strikes with a 12-5 lead in the ninth inning, well, I don’t know what to say. You just suck. I know I stuck up for this guy early in the season – well, that’s because it was still early – and he had a great outing against the Red Sox. It’s not so early anymore, and when you walk guys the way Park did on Sunday, I can’t have your back.

The Kansas City Royals suck. More than half the time, they don’t seem to be trying; or they’re trying to hard. Not sure which is worse.

The road trip begins with 4 games in Cleveland against the Indians (41-57) and 3 in Tampa against the 2nd place Rays (59-38). The Yankees need to fatten up against Cleveland – they stink. The Indians have scored 403 runs and allowed 472 this season – compared to the Yankees 533-405.

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