Time to Move Swish Up and Other Observations from the Mets' Series

I’m writing this at the height of frustration. CC hasn’t recorded an out in the 5th yet and the Yankees are down 6-0 against the Mets. Barring an awesome come back, they’ll drop the series. Before going on to other things, I’d like to say that this series reminds me of a similar series last year: the 2-1 series loss to the Nationals in June. Like they did for the last three games, the Yankees looked pretty flat and played some uninspired ball. After that series, the Yankees won all but three games in the rest of the month. They then reeled off an 18 win month in July, a 21 win August, and a 19 win September. Hopefully the same thing happens here.

Clearly, the team has hit a rough patch and it’s not looking pretty at all. It was bound to happen, as the Yankees hadn’t really hit a poor stretch until recently. Some of the pitchers (especially Phil Hughes) are coming back down to Earth, as are some of the hitters. Let’s start with Brett Gardner, who’s found himself batting second now that Nick Johnson is on the disabled list.

Since leaving Boston, Gardner is hitting .236/.311/.327/.639. This comes from a few things. One is simple regression. Gardner wasn’t going to continue his hot start. The second is possibly exposure at the top of the lineup. I think it’s time to move him down and let Nick Swisher bat second.

His new approach seems to be working well this year as he’s right around .300 with his batting average and still has a good IsoP (.230 going into last night’s game). The only thing that concerns me is that Swisher’s walk rate is down below 10% (career 13.9%). Right now, he’s making up for it with hits but when his .351 BABIP starts to correct itself down to his .279 career level, that’s going to change. Right now, Nick’s line drive percentage is ridiculously high at 25% so when that comes down, so will the BABIP and so will the batting average. Hopefully when that happens, Nick’s walk rate begins to climb back up. Regardless, he’s hitting well right now and Gardner isn’t. Swisher should be bumped up to second and Gardner should be back down in the bottom third of the order.

Now, time for some subjective observations from this series:

1. Mark Texieria looks absolutely lost. Maybe the karma from that Jolly Green Giant haircut is catching up to him. Is it time to move him down, too? Perhaps he and Cano could switch places until Tex straightens himself out.

2. Alex Rodriguez looks fine in general, but there still seems to be something just a liiiiiittle of with him. At least once a game, I find myself saying “Wow, he should crush that!” It also seemed that this weekend, A-Rod looked very bad on anything that was low, away, and offspeed.

3. It’s a shame Javier Vazquez had to leave the game on Friday night (I didn’t see it, I was busy playing in a 21-8 losing effort…we kept it close ’til the 4th, then fell apart…I was 2-3 with an RBI and a walk). Hopefully, he’s getting back on track and reels off some more good starts in a row.

4. He’s got a positive UZR mark right now, but Derek Jeter looks pretty poor on defense. He seems to be a step slower than he was last year. Oh well, there’s plenty of time for his defense to improve.

5. Curtis Granderson is in rehab games and should be back soon. His return will definitely help put some pop back in the lineup. When he gets back, this is what the lineup should look like:

1. Jeter SS
2. Swisher RF
3. Tex 1B or Cano 2B
4. A-Rod 3B
5. Cano 2B or Tex 1B
6. Granderson CF or LF
7. Miranda/Thames DH
8. Cervelli C
9. Gardner CF/LF

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