Baseball Toaster was unplugged on February 4, 2009.
The Yankees look to split Cleveland with a split tonight following the match-up of lefties Randy Johnson and Cliff Lee. The Yankees took Lee deep three times at the Stadium in mid-June (Melky's first career tater plus dingers by Alex and Bernie), but all three were solo shots as Lee allowed just two other hits and one walk over 6 2/3 to pick up an 8-4 win. Johnson did even better against the Tribe the night before, holding them to one run on four hits and no free passes before getting tossed for coming inside to since-departed Unit-killer Eduardo Perez in the top of the seventh. After looking sharp in that outing and the two that followed it, Johnson got roughed up in his last start against the Mets, though it's worth noting that even in that ugly eight-run outing he only allowed one dinger and struck out seven in six innings. Lee, meanwhile, has been solid of late, posting a 3.09 ERA in June and winning his last five decisions, thanks in part to an average of 8 2/3 runs worth of support across his last six starts.
With Robinson Cano on the DL and Johnny Damon out tonight due to an abdominal strain, the Yankees would seem to be a better offensive team against lefties right now given these numbers against the wrong-handed:
Jeter: .378/.471/.568
Rodriguez: .288/.461/.727
Bernie: .329/.375/.494
Cairo: .324/.390/.459
But while facing a lefty makes two of the team's best hitters better and their two biggest liabilities productive, it has the opposite effect on the rest of the line-up. Andy Phillips has surprisingly struggled against lefties this year, Jorge has a .407 OBP against them, but curiously loses his power when batting righthanded, Melky has also been a weaker hitter from the right side, the Yankees don't have non-left-handed replacement for Damon (paging Kevin Thompson!), and their lone remaining lefty, Jason Giambi, is, of course, a lesser hitter against his own kind (though in Giambi's case "lesser" means a .371 OBP and .500 SLG).
And Bernie in CF tonight. Why not Guiel in CF and Bernie in RF?
Melky Cabrera LF
Derek Jeter SS
Jason Giambi DH
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Jorge Posada C
Bernie Williams CF
Andy Phillips 1B
Aaron Guiel RF
Miguel Cairo 2B
Grady Sizemore CF
Jason Michaels LF
Jhonny Peralta SS
Travis Hafner DH
Victor Martinez 1B
Ronnie Belliard 2B
Aaron Boone 3B
Franklin Gutierrez RF
Kelly Shoppach C
Darn. I have a feeling we're gonna miss Martinez tonight.
Laughable.
Or, why not DL Chacon and call up another OF (Thompson)?
But I don't understand why he's in CF.
I assume they want to see what Guiel has, which is why he's in. He's only hitting .183 against lefties.
I love the early evening sunlight that we've seen in Cleveland. The long shadows trailing from the pitchers mound to first, are terrific.
They'll be gone shortly...
A ha.
It's a strange, beautiful sight.
I miss that ominous bat waggle. I miss the menacing stillness of Matsui at the plate. I miss the fear those two caused in opposing pitchers. I miss the "no holes in the lineup" we had back when it was
Damon
Jeter
Sheff
A-Rod
Giambi
Matsui
Posada
Cano
Bernie/Andy
Did we really have a lineup like that sometime this year? Seems like it was just a figment of my imagination. Who are these guys playing today?
Nine up, nine down for Randy.
Meanwhile, demoting Smith, who still hasn't given up a run in the majors, is just flat stupid. Ignore the hand he throws with and check out the results!
No Hafner, No Liriano. And to say that this All Star game counts. What a joke.
He seemed like an intelligent and pleasant young man in his Kim Jones pre-game interview, but how is it that the next logical stop after being cut from the worst team in the major leagues is the starting lineup for the Yankees?!?
Be afraid, Guiel is a notorious hard-nosed hustler. He could be hard to get rid of.
G'BOMBi!
Ugh.
35 Yeah - I've noticed that, too. I suppose he's gotta do something for his $10 million. Maybe shooting some promo's for YES? Got a card signing gig in Cleveland? Maybe he hasn't seen his Ohio goomah in awhile? Who knows.
Guiel: .182
Crosby: .250
But I figured they'd want to play Guiel tonight, just to see what he had.
44 Pavano Yankeeography?
But Tim Marchman is their baseball columnist and John Hollinger does hoops. And Baseball Prospectus has a deal with them and they have BP guys rotating doing pieces. For fifty cents they give you a couple of few thought-provoking, alternative sports pieces daily.
I don't agree with everything that Tim or the BP guys' write, but I find their stuff refreshing and good. Tim can be especially cutting. But the newspaper format suits him as well as the BP guys. Goldman had a really good one on the Yanks and Royals today.
Johnson perfect through four.
http://www.nysun.com/article/35532
53 SHHHHHHHH!
http://yankeefan.blogspot.com/
Oh God. They just showed ManRam hitting a bomb in Tampa. He's like a hitting savant. The Rainman of right handed power hitters. Explosive. And oh so humble.
.184/.244/.263 (38 ABs)
This year he's 2 for 8, both singles, no walks.
Guiel's ML career vs. lefties pior to 2006:
.221/.302/.351 (222 ABs)
This year he's 2 for 11 with a double and a walk.
They're both terrible, but Bubba's worse.
Yankee MVP: No votes for Moose?
http://tinyurl.com/gyvk5
(A lot of the subscription only sites allow you in if you get there through Google News.)
Personally, until proven otherwise, I'm expecting the same from Detroit. Everyone has given the AL Central the wildcard just like last season, but I'm not on board just yet. Crazy things happen at the end of the season when the pressure is for real.
he aint good against teams when guys take pitches.. atleast thats a pattern we see this yr
i have no numbers to prove it..
am just going by his pitching against teams like Detroit n Cleveland
quick work cliff..
It's sweet to bring him back down to earth (even though his teammates certainly aided his demise).
Jeter 40.4
Mussina 33.9
Giambi 33.0
Rodriguez 27.8
Damon 23.9
Posada 21.4
Rivera, Wang 20.6
Alex must have been just thinking to himself 'Hey, RJ has a one-hit shutout going'... ;-)
Hilarious Article
considering massive injuries, and the fact that we are still playing competative ball, does Torre get any love? Weigh in please.
Weird series...Tribe defense gives them one win, our pitching craps the bed to give them another win. Then there's a complete 180 and their pitching and defense craps the bed, while our pitching is gutty and lights out in the last two games.
And now he's benched for Ralph Malph:
http://www.lohud.com/blogs/lohudyankees.html
I think the real reason is they wanted an OFer with more pop. Reese and Thompson are not likely to hit much better than Bubba. Guiel has more power.
Plus, he's a veteran. That always counts for something wiht Torre.
Bernie Williams.
Just like the old Bernie Williams… except now he has a girl's arm, no wheels, and the bat speed of a gate that hasn't been opened in ten years. The Yankees actually cut him a couple of seasons ago, but they haven't told him yet. Instead they've just stopped sending him paychecks, like Milton in Office Space.
Cleveland is completely imploding...what a bizarre meltdown the last 2 nights.
From Lohud:
"Jeter now has 233 steals, tying him with Roy White for fourth in team history."
18 away from 2nd place (Willie). Rickey with 326.
123 I disagree about the Kevins vs. Bubba at the plate, in fact that's an argument that goes back to spring training.
109 Cairo's at -2.0 above only Stinnett, Long and Crosby on offense and Sturtze, Erickson, Beam, Chacon and Small on the mound.
Seo sucks, Wright does well against Tampa, should be very good chance to win game 1.
Sunday can really go anyway though.
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