I'm beginning to think the problem with this offense is the non-stars and their OBP woes. Its true that during the championship run not every player was a star, but most if not all could walk and had OBP of .350 or higher. Right now, Melky, Cano, Gardner, Molina all have OBPs either just above .300 or well below. You just cannot win with that many players in your lineup not getting on base. Its way too many outs. Its true that we've been a bit below average with RISP but we just don't have that many opportunities. Those great teams were built on OBP, much more so than slugging. In our current lineup we have three players OBP over .350. Three! Giambi, A-Rod and Posada. Jeter and Abreu are right below. I did a quick glance at team EQA and we're something like 16th, below such offensive powerhouses as the Rockies, the Orioles and the Marlins. Hell, we're two above Toronto! Boston by comparison is third and Tampa is sixth. This is not a team going somewhere.
1 For comparison, looking at the 1998 Yankees (not a HR hitting team). Not a single player in the starting 9 had an OBP below .350. That's the difference in the two teams, right there.
1 which to my mind, is the only explanation needed as to why we weren't in on sabathia or harden ... the pitching isn't the true problem on this team, the bats are ... and the problem is deep enough and wide enough, that i don't think 1 bat, regardless of who it belongs to, is going to solve our problems.
3 Agreed, if the offense was performing at even 90% of projections we would be dominating with our current pitching. We've scored two or less runs in something like 33 games now. You just can't win like that. I'm amazed this team's record is even where it is.
1 Agreed. But that only underscores how silly it has been to give so many starts to Molina, no matter how good his throwing has been. And, if you are going to play Molina AND carry Chad Moeller, then you HAVE to PH more often in high leverage situations--I would say in any big spot starting in the 5th inning.
I've beaten this horse before, and I'm gonna keep on it.
5 Yeah, I think I agree with you. It still doesn't matter, with Melky and his .303 OBP and Cano with his sub .300 one we're not going to score many runs. As Steve Goldman has pointed out to death, a player who walks a lot still walks when he's in a slump. Hence he still has some value. When Cano is hitting below about .320 he doesn't have much value. Melky, sheesh, .303 OBP?! I guess he's still got 10 points on Miguel Cairo, but c'mon!
i dunno, the more we sucketh, the better our draft position will be next year ... maybe we can suck enough to get a protected draft position ... then we can sign free agents and still keep a high draft spot.
23 why? he isn't even throwing yet. he's still on the DL. eric milton will not throw a meaningful pitch for the yankees this year. by the time he'll be ready, so will a bunch of other options, including probably phil hughes and wang. relax and find something else to bitch about ... like pumpkin rasner and his vortex of suck.
I wonder if the Yankees actually send Rasner to the mound expecting a win. If Cashman isn't going to get another viable arm or bat, then he needs to start dumping veterans now. This team has past the point of disfunctional.
31 This team has run its course. It may simply be time to clean house and start over. More and more, it looks as if the Yankees are going to require a more significant rebuild.
26 I a very relaxed. Game on CBC today, nice lager on the coffee table.
By joking that Cashman (or Hank) would be paging Eric Milton as "Pumpkin Rasner" gets lit up was a clever way (I thought) to comment on his "vortex of suck."
I don't really believe that Eric Milton is getting called up any time soon, especially not on an old hospital PA system like in the Three Stooges shorts ("Paging Dr. Moe, Dr. Larry, Dr. Curly").
At the same time, the team eschewed "a bunch of other options" to sign Sydney Ponson.
34 like whom? horne was hurt, aceves was hurt, mccutcheon had only had like 5 starts in AAA and wasn't pitching well enough to warrant a callup ... freddy garcia isn't even ready to throw for scouts now, let alone then. what would you have done?
This is from the notes from a similar situation between the Mets and Dodgers earlier this year:
While Martin was charged with an error for the catcher's interference that let Vargas reach, the runs that scored after the two-out play were officially earned. According to scoring rules, it couldn't be assumed that Vargas would have made the third out.
While Martin was charged with an error for the catcher's interference that let Vargas reach, the runs that scored after the two-out play were officially earned. According to scoring rules, it couldn't be assumed that Vargas would have made the third out.
39 Sydney Ponson is a bad pitcher. On that point we can agree. He was pitching badly when he was dumped by Texas. Essentially ANYONE would have been a better option than him. Now, the move has worked out, and they have won every start he has had made.
What would I have done? The primary reason he was called up was because of the DH. I would have called up an extra BP arm (which they ended up doing anyway) and pitched a few guys two and three innings. I would have a long man on the staff who is used as a real long man: a swing starter/spot start/used for multiple innings at times.
I would not carry three catchers an never use one, so that there would have been extra room on the roster to accommodate the thirteenth pitcher without crippling the bench too much.
Oh wait, Overbay is unearned, but if anyone had scored after him, it would have been earned.
I'm under great psychological distress now at work. I am sitting by an escalator that is having problems working and every 10-25 seconds it issues an ear-splitting noise to alert people that it may not be working.
I think this should be adopted by the folks at Gitmo.
See! If the bottom of the lineup gets on base A-Rod and co. have more chances to drive them in. It won't last, but this is how the Yankees offense should be.
6061 It isn't that he isn't a pretty good hitter or that he doesn't care...he just always seems to be playing the game in slow motion and it is maddening to watch.
66 That's funny! I was going to post something similar, but figured I would get jumped on for being too negative. I have images of Girardi or Meacham or whoever jumping out of their seats and covering Melky's eyes, like a parent with their child when some inappropriate program flashes on TV. Funny stuff. : )
77 He is crazy if he can get on base. But that's the big question with him. I am weirdly glad that injuries will force the team to give him more than a passing look. If his BA and OBP are still crappy after 60 or 100 PAs, then I'll relent in my optimism.
Holy Cow, the Jay's announcers on CBC just gave an even-handed assessment of the Yankee organization's popularity (both positive and negative) and its impact on baseball. The conclusion: having an organization like the Yankees is good for baseball. Stunning.
82 As with athletes, the longer they play the more likely it is that weaknesses and holes are exposed. Jesse Barfield, God bless 'em, is not a real good announcer.
96 I'm surprised he didn't send him, but again Jeter swung at the 1st pitch and the Jays pitched out once.
95 This is Jeter's 87th game, the teams 94th (if I add correctly). He has now hit into 14 DPs, or .16/G. If he plays in all of the remaining games, he will hit into another 11 DP for a total of 25 for the season. That would be his career high, but not way out of norm for his last few seasons. From 2004 to 2007 he hit into 19, 15, 13, and 21.
Lower line drive rate + higher GB/FB ratio = more DPs.
Of course, while I don't remember ever seeing Bobby play, all I can ever think of is this game: http://tiny.cc/kj4Ir. Bobby always represented to me the best of the 1970s Yankees that I just missed, the bridge between the two eras--just missing the glory days of the Mantle Yanks and arriving back again a year too late for the revival. I grew up watching Bobby and Phil on WPIX and he without a doubt shaped my vision of baseball and the Yankees
I've said it here many times before .... Murcer is my all-time favorite player. I grew up watching him on some mediocre Yankee teams, and like Mattingly, he just missed being involved in the run of playoff years.
Hard to banter baseball with the Murcer news. A fine ballplayer on a bad run of teams, and - by all accounts - a fine man. Someone to miss. I'll expect the All-Star opening will remember him. I hope they do.
I remember seeing him play, but only in his later, much diminished second Yankee career. I never understood the reverence that somewhat older Yankee fans had for him. But as I got older, I saw him grow into a very god announcer, and I too grew in my appreciation for his career--he put up two or three HOF-type seasons with the Yanks--and also to see him as a tangible to link between the Yankees of my formative years (Winfield, Mattingly, Righetti) and the last of the legends Yankees (the Yankees of Mantle and Maris).
Wow... I knew he had Cancer and a small chance at survival, but didn't know he was sick currently. Very sad. A great man and a great Yankee.
He was the team... our only hope for many years. Our All-Star.
I was at THE Cleveland double-header. In those days, the Stadium was 2/3rds empty, so we were able to sneak down to good seats by the 8th inning of the first game. Between home plate and 3rd base, about 15 rows back. Man! Those were seats. As a young teenager, I felt like a King.
And it was a perfect view to see Bobby at the plate. A HR in his last AB in game 1, a HR in his 1st AB of the 2nd game, a HR in his 2nd AB, then a walk, and finally in his last AB, when he pulled a number of LDs foul, and a foul HR or 2, after what seemed like a 100 pitch at bat, making a HR even more and more impossible, Bobby did it again. HRs in 4 consecutive ABs. My friend and I were actually in tears from the grueling anticipation.
An amazing feat, that maybe 15,000 people saw live. A minor note in a grand Yankee history... but an amazing feat.
God damn! What a bummer. I hope they do him right at the ASG, one I hoped he might throw out the first ball for. I hope they do it right for Bobby, for the whole world to see.
Goodbye Bobby. I hope you know what you meant to so many of us.
---------------------------
Wow... As I'm proofing this, I hear on the News that Tony Snow, 53, just died from his cancer.
I'm beginning to think the problem with this offense is the non-stars and their OBP woes. Its true that during the championship run not every player was a star, but most if not all could walk and had OBP of .350 or higher. Right now, Melky, Cano, Gardner, Molina all have OBPs either just above .300 or well below. You just cannot win with that many players in your lineup not getting on base. Its way too many outs. Its true that we've been a bit below average with RISP but we just don't have that many opportunities. Those great teams were built on OBP, much more so than slugging. In our current lineup we have three players OBP over .350. Three! Giambi, A-Rod and Posada. Jeter and Abreu are right below. I did a quick glance at team EQA and we're something like 16th, below such offensive powerhouses as the Rockies, the Orioles and the Marlins. Hell, we're two above Toronto! Boston by comparison is third and Tampa is sixth. This is not a team going somewhere.
I've beaten this horse before, and I'm gonna keep on it.
.
.
.
That was sarcasm.
Ok, over/under how many outs does Rasner get before getting pulled? Do they have a bus ready to take him back to Scranton?
Three run triple! Perhaps Rasner can't even get the Yankees out. I'm beginning to think the league has some video on him now.
All the runs Rasner gave up should be earned even though there was an error for the CI.
It's one of those things.
By joking that Cashman (or Hank) would be paging Eric Milton as "Pumpkin Rasner" gets lit up was a clever way (I thought) to comment on his "vortex of suck."
I don't really believe that Eric Milton is getting called up any time soon, especially not on an old hospital PA system like in the Three Stooges shorts ("Paging Dr. Moe, Dr. Larry, Dr. Curly").
At the same time, the team eschewed "a bunch of other options" to sign Sydney Ponson.
I'm pretty sure Overbay's run is unearned, but the other two aren't.
This is from the notes from a similar situation between the Mets and Dodgers earlier this year:
While Martin was charged with an error for the catcher's interference that let Vargas reach, the runs that scored after the two-out play were officially earned. According to scoring rules, it couldn't be assumed that Vargas would have made the third out.
While Martin was charged with an error for the catcher's interference that let Vargas reach, the runs that scored after the two-out play were officially earned. According to scoring rules, it couldn't be assumed that Vargas would have made the third out.
What would I have done? The primary reason he was called up was because of the DH. I would have called up an extra BP arm (which they ended up doing anyway) and pitched a few guys two and three innings. I would have a long man on the staff who is used as a real long man: a swing starter/spot start/used for multiple innings at times.
I would not carry three catchers an never use one, so that there would have been extra room on the roster to accommodate the thirteenth pitcher without crippling the bench too much.
40 Was meant for 39 .
I'm under great psychological distress now at work. I am sitting by an escalator that is having problems working and every 10-25 seconds it issues an ear-splitting noise to alert people that it may not be working.
I think this should be adopted by the folks at Gitmo.
It's Kabbalah time!
95 This is Jeter's 87th game, the teams 94th (if I add correctly). He has now hit into 14 DPs, or .16/G. If he plays in all of the remaining games, he will hit into another 11 DP for a total of 25 for the season. That would be his career high, but not way out of norm for his last few seasons. From 2004 to 2007 he hit into 19, 15, 13, and 21.
Lower line drive rate + higher GB/FB ratio = more DPs.
Bobby was simply one of baseball's best people.
Here's the greatest Bobby moment I saw live--I was there with my brother and my old man.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYA/NYA
198109260.shtml
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/sports/AP-BBO-Obit-Murcer.html?hp
(Coming off the high of attending the All Star fab fest this afternoon, I now feel sick to my stomach ...)
mlb.com story on Murcer ...
(sigh)
Sigh ....
RIP Bobby Murcer. We're sure gonna miss ya.
He will be missed.
He was the team... our only hope for many years. Our All-Star.
I was at THE Cleveland double-header. In those days, the Stadium was 2/3rds empty, so we were able to sneak down to good seats by the 8th inning of the first game. Between home plate and 3rd base, about 15 rows back. Man! Those were seats. As a young teenager, I felt like a King.
And it was a perfect view to see Bobby at the plate. A HR in his last AB in game 1, a HR in his 1st AB of the 2nd game, a HR in his 2nd AB, then a walk, and finally in his last AB, when he pulled a number of LDs foul, and a foul HR or 2, after what seemed like a 100 pitch at bat, making a HR even more and more impossible, Bobby did it again. HRs in 4 consecutive ABs. My friend and I were actually in tears from the grueling anticipation.
An amazing feat, that maybe 15,000 people saw live. A minor note in a grand Yankee history... but an amazing feat.
God damn! What a bummer. I hope they do him right at the ASG, one I hoped he might throw out the first ball for. I hope they do it right for Bobby, for the whole world to see.
Goodbye Bobby. I hope you know what you meant to so many of us.
---------------------------
Wow... As I'm proofing this, I hear on the News that Tony Snow, 53, just died from his cancer.
Rest in peace.
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