Baseball Toaster was unplugged on February 4, 2009.
Bubba Crosby's game-winning home run last night just might have solved the Yankees' right field situation, which has been in flux since Gary Sheffield injured his leg at home against the Devil Rays two weeks ago. At the time of the injury, Matt Lawton had just "hit" his way out of the line-up, having gone 4 for 25 with a homer and three walks (.160/.276/.280) in eight games since joining the Yankees. Lawton's benching forced Bernie Williams back into center (where Lawton's arrival had temporarily placed Hideki Matsui), and created room for Ruben Sierra at DH.
Sheffield's injury created another opportunity for Lawton, who promptly squandered it by playing abysmal defense in right while going 0 for 12 against the Devil Rays and Red Sox. That opened the door for Bubba Crosby, who proceeded to go 7 for 20 over the next five games, starting two of them in right and one in center.
However, Crosby's grip on the starting job was jarred loose when Sheffield returned to the line-up as the DH, forcing Torre to give Ruben Sierra a trio of starts in right in order to get his favorite 39-year-old out machine in the line-up. However, Sierra also played his way out of Torre's rotation, going 2 for 27 with a homer and a pair of walks in the wake of Sheffield's injury, mixing in some costly defensive mistakes in the Yankees lone loss on the just-completed road trip.
Ultimately it was Sierra's defense that prompted Torre to start Crosby against the left-handed Erik Bedard last night, as Joe told MLB.com, "Yesterday, we may have given away too much, defensively. Bubba probably gives us our best defense, so where it may cost you a little on the offensive side, you hope he can make up for it."
Crosby, who is clearly the Yankees best defensive outfielder, responded by going 2 for 3 against Bedard by victimizing 320-pound Oriole firstbaseman Walter Young with a hot shot down the line and a bunt, then won the game by homering off of lefty reliever Eric Dubose in the bottom of the ninth.
With that 3 for 4 night under his belt, Crosby is now hitting .379/.379/.552 in 29 September at-bats (his triple against Tim Wakefield and last night's homer being his only extra base hits of the year), which has brought his season line comfortably above the Womack line to an almost respectable .278/.307/.347 (speaking of whom, Womack has made just one plate appearance since August 24, which is exactly what has to happen for this team to make the postseason). Last night's game has also thrown Crosby's splits for a loop as he's now hitting .357/.357/.571 against lefties in a mere 14 at-bats, three of his five hits and all of his extra bases against lefties coming last night.
Crosby made the Yankees' 25-man roster out of spring training the last two years due to his ability to get extremely hot at exactly the right time, hitting .320 during spring training this year and .357 last year. Thus it would be foolish for Torre to do anything other than ride Crosby until he runs out of gas, particularly as he is leaps and bouds better than his other options defensively. Fortunately, Torre seems to have caught on, as Crosby will again get the start in right field tonight as Aaron Small looks to extend his perfect record to 9-0.
Incidentally, it had occurred to me that with Crosby installed in the outfield, it would make more sense for Torre to play Crosby in center, Bernie in left and Matsui in right, but there are two reasons why I'm not going to harp on that:
1) Doing so would force two of the Yankees' three outfielders to play out of position. Matsui's four games in right this year (during which he's made six catches) are his only four games there since coming to the Yankees. Bernie, meanwhile, has not played left field since 1992, when he was a 23-year-old second-year player, and even then he only played four games there (eight catches). I do blame Torre for not working Williams into the corners more often this season (or last, or in 2003 . . .), which would have made such a move much more viable, but having failed to do so earlier, now is not the time to play two-thirds of your outfield out of position.
2) Looking at their Rate stats on Baseball Prospectus, Bernie has miraculously brought his center field defense up to league average for the first time since 2001, and Matsui has been even better than that in left. It would appear, even with the use of advanced stats, that Bernie and Matsui have reached a comfort level at their respective positions that is very beneficial to the Yankees and it would be very foolish, and potentially very costly, for the Yankees to mess with that in order to ride the hot hand of a 29 year old non-prospect who still qualifies as a major league rookie.
Now that that's out of the way, here's quick note on tonight's opposing starter. John Maine is a 24-year-old right-handed sinkerballer who was drafted out of college and has since sped through the Orioles organization. Maine has made five starts in seven appearances for the O's since being recalled in mid-August. His most recent start, against Rangers in Arlington, was both his longest (6 1/3 IP), and very nearly his best (just two hits, both solo homers). He has not allowed more than three runs in any of his seven appearances this year and has only once failed to complete five innings (he was knocked out with two outs in the fifth by the A's on August 28). He's also been murder on lefties thus far this year, holding them to a .147/.286/.309 line in 68 at-bats.
One of the more interesting stories of the last few weeks, as you point out, may be trying to understand how Bernie has been able to improve his defense. Is it merely because he is healthier than he has been in a long time? Is he more focused because he may be coming to terms with the possiblity that his memorable Yankee career may be nearing an end?
WTG, Sheff. He may he healing.
Nice Sheff!
When he signed with the Yanks, Sheff thought he would be the everyday DH and was looking forward to that.
Are you sure we can't send Randy Johnson to the bullpen? I want Posada in the lineup every night. ;-)
Not a bad idea, however, we don't need no stinking Frank Thomas.
Just being a wise ass. Thomas is always saying "I don't want to play the field" "I don't get paid to play defense" it's just rather annoying, and any excuse I have to poke at the Big Injury is always welcomed.
In Sheff's case, because he doesn't complain about having to play defense, it's perfectly acceptable.
See then, two wrongs do make a right.
A little preemptive defense there?
Meanwhile, this inning isn't on Cano as per #28.
Just never respond to Kay, I think that will lead him to speak more.
Cano's problem is that sometimes, he just looks too nonchalant out there. Maybe he was honestly having trouble getting the ball out of his glove there, but he looked so casual people assumed he was slacking.
Crap, 5-1 in Tampa
I'm sorry I didn't explain myself better, my bad Cliff. I know about the box, that's what I was referring to, whether he was within that line, or contacted Roberts prior to the base outside the line. I didn't catch the replay. They made it sound like Bubba was outside before reaching the base.
I see that, it blows! Game over in Tampa. Lets go White Sox!
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM
He's baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack.
It is never a long inning, so long as the Yankees are batting:)
dislocated left elbow for Roberts they just said.
Cliff,
You're right, I agree, we likely need to grab the east to get in.
But I have decided to root against the White Sox instead of rooting against the Indians, I think it's a safer bet, and more probable.
Doesn't it seem like Small gets a lot of huge double play balls?
Gotcha, and the Sox can beat the Twins.
I have to admit I like to watch "events," things which have never happened before, good or bad, and I am almost rooting for the biggest collapse ever, at least I get to see it.
Speaking of which chisox just tied the game at 2
Anyone else notice that the home plate ump (Sam Holbrook) seems to have, shall we say, a generous interpretation of the strike zone? (The last two pitches to Giambi looked like balls to me.) I thought MLB was cracking down on umps calling pitches three inches off the plate as "strikes".
On another note I'm not that comfortable with Moose taking a spot from one of the others right now. It sounds like he's not all that much better but he's gonna try to pitch through pain because he's assumedly needed. It's not like he was ptching lights out through the inflammation before he came out
Its nice to be able to watch the Yanks face a pitcher of Baldwin's 'abilities' in the heat of a pennant race. =)
Re: Chisox, I don't think it's so much that they've collapsed, or that they're being beaten by a hot club, as much as that they overachieved in the early months and built up a record that mislead everybody.
I think you're right on re: White Sox - they played way over their heads early on. Their early RS vs RA proved it. Regression to the mean was bound to happen.
No, no one is warming up, but there is the Groundskeeper Scott Proctor coming in to pitch I think, go get em' Green Thumb!
I'm sure he has a Beemer at home though.
Smile Mats, it's ok, it's fun!
Please score more runs to save Torre from himself.
Your pal,
Rich
Weird night.
Ah, just get this "w" and let's move on.
Please score more runs to save Mo from Joe.
Your pal,
Ben
Please score more runs to save Mo from Joe.
Your pal,
Ben
The Tribe is up by one again. It's quite a run they're on, no bout a' dout it.
Sickening.
Take away Proctor (used already) and Mo and Gordon (overused already) and there are seven other rested arms in the Yankee pen. C'mon, they only need six outs. Can nobody else do that?
I am Mr. Positive now. Hey, now Mo can get a save...:)
Leiter could have finished the game, simple as that. 4 innings, even he can do that, he throws strikes from the pen.
round and round
round and round
round and round
The Wheels on the bus go round and round.
Cliff's right - no reason DePaula or F-Rod couldn't get these outs.
I am waving the flag of Leiter.
No headsets you stupid fucks, Singleton, Kay! This is Baseball, not the WWE or the NFL, get a grip, telephone carpel tunel, seriously?
Maybe Mo can sit down now, please?
MVP-Rod!!!!
An A-bomb from A-Rod. That helps.
I am pretty sure Small left in the 6th, 6, 7, 8, 9, hmm, that's 4, no?
I am just screwing with you, but I called it, then, and Joe went with the Proctologist. "million to one Doc., million to one."
Can't Fussili Jerry get some peace!
You trust Proctor the rookie over Leiter, or Rodriguez?
At this point I trust Alex Rodriguez, over Proctor! He has a rocket arm.
Leiter has been ok outta the pen.
All I know is that I hate seeing Gordon out there, but I can't honestly say I could breathe easily with F-Rod/Leiter/name your stiff. Not saying I support what Torre is doing, just that the mix of elements seems especially volatile. I know Torre's mismanagement has contributed notably to this, but lack of ability is also lack of ability -- many of these guys simply aren't that good.
In some ways, as nice as the Yankee run has been recently, I felt better with the way things were going a few weeks ago. We were getting a more consistent stream of starting performances going seven or eight innings.
With the heat up these final 14 days, it seems that we can not count on anyone on a given day to go past five or six innings, and that opens up Pandora's Box. Not Small, not Johnson, not Wright, not Moose, not even Wang or Chacon...maybe for one start, but it's still a crapshoot what the next start will be like.
And I gotta say...welcome back, Tino!
6-5 Chisox after 7 now.
Jorge Julio cures all ills...I hope we see a lot more of him in the remaining six games against the Birds.
Sox up, you can put it on the board, yes!
The Brewers - a team that hasn't had a winning season in 12 years - built a fantastic bullpen from scratch. Why can't we?!
Every day I like nomass's motto more and more.
If Embree blows this game, he should be released tomorrow.
Someone last night said George should let Bronx Banter run the team. As sick as it sounds, I think there are some things we could do better at, even with so many different people having a say.
#%@)#&*%)@#)!)(!%()#%)!%
(#%&(!#*%&!
!%(@%&!_@*$@ $@!
(%&()@!_)$*!@$
NOW MO IS UP. ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Going forward, the other starters better follow Chacon and Wang's example, and pitch well into the 8th every night, or we might be in deep trouble when GorMo's arms fall off.
Am I nuts? My reading seems to be that the Dh will be gone, the pitcher will bat in the DH spot and the new player will bat in the vacated spot, no?
I still find it difficult to believe that no one other than Mo could have come in for Embree with the team up four in the ninth.
I'm a Lawyer and even I cannot read Rule 6.10.
See 242. Lawyer making easy difficult.
Mo=Cy Young
Someone said before all the Ortiz for MVP arguments really just show why Mo should be MVP. They're right on. I think tonight makes it pretty clear that, if A-Rod isn't the AL MVP, Mo is. I don't care if he only pitches 80 innings. He (and Gordon) are the bullpen. Hell, give 'em both the award.
Screwy game, man.
I think the undefeated Small may have just written his ticket to the bullpen tonight.
Nice bomb by Alex. I missed his third and fourth at bats. Cool to see him rebound after the one-pitch ground out, and the full count fly ball (on ball four).
http://cbs.sportsline.com/mlb/gamecenter/live/MLB_20050920_BAL@NYY
They say that relievers are so unpredictable. One year Sturtze (Howry, Todd Jones, etc.) is great the next years he's a bum. But Rivera is actually consistent. Amazing.
0-1 . . .to be continued.
So which 4 starters are going to give us some innings in the next week and a half? Or more realistically, are we just going to have to pound out runs every night and start praying after around 9:30pm?
Runner at third 1 out, misplayed ball at center fielder Rowand.
I have to think Embree is done on this team (probably in baseball period), other than garbage time.
Strike 3. Tie game going to bottom of the 9th now.
I really, really hope this is the end of Embree's tenure with the Yanks.
Joe finally gives up on Embree, how long did that take!
Sox, runner on, 1 out.
It will have to be adrenaline and a potent offense that still has some legs that can get us through next week. And Chacon, Small and Wang not turning into pumpkins too soon.
Ladies and Gentleman, I give you, Joe Torre.
Embree stinks now, doesn't matter who he's facing. I love Goldman's articulation of this over on the Pinstriped Blog.
I agree. Sox with 7 games at home, that scares the begeezus out of me. That is why I have been pushing to do anything possible, no matter how crazy, to win every game we can while they are on the raod.
Mendoza's numbers were pretty good in AAA, although I think I read that if you looked deeper, those numbers were probably lucky.
The reality is that I think we could definitely use some help, what with injuries, a pitching staff that gets shakier by the day, and an unfavorable schedule. I'd like to see the Tribe lose some games, even though I'm not one bit surprised to see the Sox fading.
Bonds is back after 10 months of no baseball.
He is over forty and had 3 knee operations.
Would he have anything left?
Is he in steroid withdrawal?
Was it all an illusion?
I expected to see Bonds like Giambi in May.
Nobody can sit on the bench for 10 months and come back with their timing and eye intact.
So after a week, the man that would be Bonds:
19 ABs / 3 HR / .316 BA / .417 - .842 - 1.259
Steroids or no, this man is amazing, well beyond anything we have ever seen.
Even in Mantle's declining years, we all knew what we were seeing.
Do we fully appreciate what we are seeing now with Bonds?
Right there with you on Bonds, he has just mastered hitting. It is incredible that there is so little margin of error with this guy.
Back to Yankees: I think yesterday would mean confirmation of the fact that if anyone should go to the bullpen when Moose is back, it is probably Aaron Small. I cannot put a value on what he has done to salvage the Yankee season with his pitching, but it would be suicidal to not appreciate his limitations.
Johnson is not going to go to the bullpen, ditto Mussina, the two designated aces. Chacon has pitched quite a few close games in which we won, and ditto for Wang. So, these pitchers have not relied on much run support to win games. The question then is Wright vs. Small.
Small has been a recipient of generous run support lately (Yankees have scored 36 runs in his last 4 starts, an average of 9). He strikes out less than 5 per 9 innings, and in his last 3 starts, he has given up 4, 5 and 4 runs after pitching the CG shutout against A's. Maybe the league is beginning to figure something out about him.
Wright has thrown decently after being back from the DL, and has been not so lucky with the fielding errors around him. He walks a little too many, but purely on stuff, he is a better pitcher than Aaron Small. So for now, to me, he stays in the rotation, but for one more start. If he cannot capitalize on that, it is back to Small.
And none of these two should be in the post-season starting rotation, assuming we get there.
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