-Phil Hughes is currently the best pitcher in the American League.
-Just what we needed. If Swisher needs a day off, then today’s afternoon matinee could feature an outfield of Brett Gardner, Randy Winn and Greg Golson in what may very well be the weakest Yankee offensive outfield ever assembled. Doesn’t sound serious, though.
-Girardi weighed in on Mo’s question from yesterday, and it appears that Sergio Mitre will get the start on Sunday. That pushes Vazquez’s next starts to Monday against the Red Sox at the stadium, and Saturday against the Mets at Citifield. The Red Sox are a tough match up for Javy, but the Twins have some very tough lefty hitters as well. Neither would have been easy, so he’ll just need to build on yesterday’s performance.
-Alex’s slow start with his power numbers have led some to question whether or not he will challenge the all-time HR record after all. While I don’t want to make too much out of a few bad weeks, ones where he was admittedly banged up (knee) it’s always fair to question whether anyone can set an all-time record. They are by definition the rarest of rare events, and we all thought Ken Griffey Jr was going to chase history a few years back.
-Larry over at IATMS is wrapping up his terrific series on salary caps and why they don’t work in Baseball. If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend reading all four parts for anyone who wants to get up to speed on the business of Baseball and the inner workings of the team-union issues. These issues will be very prominent when the current CBA expires next year.
-In other blog news, Rational Pastime is the best new Baseball blog I’ve seen in quite a while. It’s a general Baseball blog, but there’s loads of Yankee-related stuff for us pinstripe lovers. Check it out.
-For the folks who think Vazquez doesn’t have the stuff or heart to pitch in the AL, do you know who’s #2 on the active list for Strikeouts? Guess who. Some of that is durability to be sure, the only reason Moyer or Wakefield are on there is they’ve pitched for a very long time, they’ve never been big strikeout guys. Active Leader lists are typically filled with some great players and others who’ve simply hung around forever, which is why modern fans favor rate stats over these aggregate numbers. But it shows the kind of company he’s in, and how rare it is for someone to have the career he’s had. He’s also the fourth youngest out of the top 10, and the other three are named Johan Santana, CC Sabathia and Roy Halladay.
-Finally, the last section of the old Yankee Stadium was finally taken down over the weekend. If you look at the site from the elevated train tracks, you will now see nothing but debris and construction equipment. On this occasion, I’d like to ask our readers for their remembrances of the old facility. Is there any one moment that stands out for you? For me, it was a July 17th, 1990 game where Bo Jackson hit 3 HRs and Deion Sanders hit an inside-the-parker in the same game, in what was an otherwise awful season for the Yanks. Maybe that one stands out for me because it was such a rare event in an otherwise forgettable stretch of teams. What’s yours?
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6 Responses to Quick notes after a long day of Baseball
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TIQ IQ
Having Mo take a few weeks off is actually not a bad idea. First of all, it gave us a chance to see Joba in late innings, with reasonable success. Second, we don’t need a worn out Mo in October. No matter how ageless he may seem, he can’t pitch every day during the season, and then be expected to work his magic in October as well.
I agree, let Joba get his feet wet as the closer and give Mariano all the time he can get.
This team could head in either direction.
Without Hughes, we’d be in big trouble.Andy may only be 85% the rest of the season.He’s had elbows before that he pitched through but he wasn’t very good with.His breaking stuff loses it’s bite and he’s ordinary.Velasquez shouldn’t fool anybody with yesterdays performance.Tigers are not a deep hitting team, it’s a big ballpark and he’s still throwing 88-89 heaters.
Nick Johnson could be gone for a long time and Winn, Thames and some of the others are not Championship caliber players.
Will Jeter relax and stop worrying about putting up numbers for his new contract?
Is Arod’s hip a bit dead? I don’t remember so many swings where his top hand leaves the bat so early.If his hip is a bit dead (even without pain it can happen) and he’s swinging hands and arms, he could see a power decline.Hope not but some of the swings lately are awkward.Hip issues are subtle.
Yankees have issues and potential issues.
Whenever dealing with a player with a hip problem, you worry about a power decline since the hip rotation is where most power is generated.
As far as the team goes, they’re pitching so well that I’m not overly concerned about the lineup. They still have plenty of weapons, more than most other teams do and will have opportunities to add mid-season where a team like the Rays will not. They’ll be fine.
You don’t want to burn out your starters with every game a tight game either.I don’t want to depend on Franscico Cervelli (nor do I think we can) for offense.His catching is tremendous, especially compared to JORGE who has gone from a mediocre catcher who could throw to a just a terrible catcher in general over the past few years.
With a big hitting team, with a healthy Granderson, Nick Johnson and Jeter Tex & Arod hitting, Jorge’s poor receiving isn’t as big an sisue but if you’re talking hitting less, then pitching and defense rule and Cervelli needs to be behind the plate.
With Tex now hitting the cover off the ball and Cano cooling off & hopefully stabilizing at career averages (though with 9 hrs there’s a great shot at 30), the spotlight on Arod ‘s lack of power is going to dial up. Whatever happened to the lift ? He’s hitting balls hard but in line drive style. If he’s only hit 5 hrs by the end od May, this is going to be a big story.