(Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images)
For those of you not on Twitter, one of the more popular memes of the 2011 season has been the ongoing ridiculing of the mainstream journalists that continue to assert that the Yankees’ home run-hitting proficiency is somehow detrimental to the offense (also known as #toomanyhomeruns).
Whether or not you feel the Yankee offense is too one-dimensional — and while I of course love all of the home runs, the team’s ongoing frustrations with RISP remain troubling — no one should be complaining about the Yankees going yard, as they did precisely that many times in a 7-3 win over the Mets Saturday night to knot the Subway Series at one game apiece.
A.J. Burnett was serviceable, throwing 6 1/3 innings of three-run ball (four strikeouts, three walks), and the Yankee end-game of David Robertson and Joba Chamberlain were lights-out, combining for 1 2/3 perfect frames. Also, Luis Ayala somehow threw a perfect ninth. On the offensive side of the ledger, Curtis Granderson, Mark Teixeira, Alex Rodriguez and Russell Martin all homered. More of that, please.
The rubber match is tomorrow afternoon at 1pm, with Ivan Nova facing Mike Pelfrey.
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5 Responses to Yankees too-many-home-run Mets to death in 7-3 win
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I am a bit tired of the derisive comments about the team hitting too many HRs. I think few, if any, people thought that. The concern was that the HRs were deflecting attention from their failure to hit well w/RISP – - which of late has become more apparent to the mainstream media (and remains an issue despite a few HRs tonight).
I disagree-the folks at MLB.com, ESPN, and even YES have been saying just that for a lot of this year and over the past several years. The ‘what are they going to do when they don’t hit HRs’ comments almost always follow.
The great fallacy of this is that consecutive offense (relying on more than one hit) comes and goes just as frequently. Ditto RISP.
But, that is my point. No one, other than perhaps a few assorted idiots, is saying that they hit too many HRs. It is that they are too reliant on the HR as their (nearly) sole source of offensive production. Right or wrong, it is at least a fair point for debate … yet it has somehow morphed into the thought that a bunch of moron fans/writers are claiming “they are hitting too many HRs.” I don’t see that argument made now, and have not previously seen that argument made much at all.
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I don’t care how they score runs, just that they score them. The RISP thing will even itself out, it often does. Personally I think the whole clutch factor is completely overblown by the media to make AROD and the Yankees look like a bunch of mentally weak, overpaid superstars who can’t get it done when it matters.
however their inability to play situational baseball and win close games does concern me. stuff like advancing runners and scoring a guy on 3rd with less than 2 outs is vital to a teams playoff success when they have to face John Lester and Josh Beckett 5 times combined in a playoff series. Also the bullpen has been shaky and the stupid errors are inexcusable.
I’m not claiming that the team can’t do this, but the yankees have lost a lot of close games this year because of the little things. situational baseball and the bullpen are HUGE in winning close games in October. If they can start improving in those areas then they will be fine. They need the bottom of the lineup to produce (not to mention the leadoff spot), Soriano needs to be on the field, Joba needs to figure out how to limit the longball, and they need to find a guy who can get lefties out.