I was pretty irritated last night when T-Clip came out, yes, but maybe this is protection in the long run, and Clippard does seem like he might potentially be a good starter.

1 As long as Clippard doesn't go too far over 100 pitches AND isn't showing signs of fatigue, he ought to be OK. I saw no signs of fatigue, and he had just gotten through the hard bats in the middle of the order. There was no reason to take him out.

Why Torre continually pulled Rasner after 80 pitches is beyond me. He might 'young' in Yankeeland, but he's 26, well past the injury nexus years for pitchers. There is no reason to not let him throw more than 80 pitches.

I even checked his splits - its not a Pedro like thing, where Rasner loses it after 80 pitches. This just makes no sense.

A-Rod looks like he's starting to get hot. A just missed fly ball early in the game, a rocket double, and then a dinger. Hopefully Mr April makes a cameo appearance for a few more weeks and helps chip into the WC deficit.

Or maybe Proctor & Torre have a bet on Scotty pitching 100 innings this year.

With Hughes on the DL, Clip in the bigs, Henn in the bigs, Ohlendorf hurt, Rasner on the DL, and Karstens on the DL, there isn't much else. My count is DeSalvo, Jackson, Chase Wright, and Pete Walker, who was signed a few weeks ago just to hold a spot too.

Once some of the guys come back from injury, and once guys get promoted from AA to AAA, Walker and Runelvys will be gone.

Hernandez's most similar pitcher: Tim Redding. I don't think he'll get as many innings as Redding, unless something really really bad happens.

What's more, there's always someone in the 'pen who's worked to death while someone else is totally forgotten. It used to be Sturtze, now it's Proctor. Meanwhile, Chris Britton sits and waits . . . for what? A 14-run lead that needs protecting?

In addition, if Alex and Cliff are reading this, the link to Pending Pinstripes is wrong. It should be:

http://mvn.com/milb-yankees/

Nice to see.

I honestly think it's just Torre being Torre. Clippard's previous career high is 166 innings. A 20% increase puts him at 200 innings this year.

Well, he's at 59 IP. Even with 25 more starts (highly unlikely), he'd have to average 6 IP in each of them to surpass 200 IP.

Nah, Torre is just being a jackass. And the handling of Rasner further shows that.

70 PA, .369/.414/.646 8 2B, 2 HR, 10 RBI and- FOUR WALKS!

Now, the real question is, what accounts for the improvement?

What's he doing differently?

6 I did forget about Sanchez, seeing he's out for the year - thanks! I also didn't know about Jackson, but given how poorly he's pitched, it doesn't surprise me.

Finally, here's a link that Bama is sure to love: http://tinyurl.com/ysbnlu

With DeSalvo, Lavigne, White and Hernandez joining Chase Wright and Kei Igawa, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre technically has six starters lined up. That extra starter could be insurance in case Roger Clemens isn't ready for Saturday's scheduled start.

Cano, Day Games: 18 G 74 PA .143/.162/.243
Cano, Night Games: 36 G 152 PA .343/.395/.514

Sure those are small sample sizes, and his BABIP is .158 day, .405 night, so both of those are due for a correction.

However, note that 10 of the Yankees 23 games in April were day games, compared to a lower percentage (8 of 28 in April). Also notice that during this hot streak, in the Boston series, he was 2-4 with a HR on Friday night, 1-3 with a triple on Sunday night, but 0-4 saturday afternoon.

I'd say it's something to keep an eye on.

Day: 432 PA, .303/.333/.456
Night: 853 PA, .316/.340/.490

His career rates for walks, strikeouts, home runs, and doubles are all nearly identical day versus night, so maybe I'm not on to something. But this season, it's been a striking difference.

I haven't really noticed, but it does seem like these past days he's been banging a lot of fastballs and more importantly, spraying them all over.

You know why I love to watch this man hit? Because he does it all. Line drives the other way, line drives down the right field line.

Towering flyballs to left, majestic flyballs to right-center.

Actually, it's interesting: he doesn't seem to go up the middle very much, does he? What does that tell us about him?

Whereas Melky, when he's successful, I think goes up the middle consistently. Last year when he was hot, he seemed to hit an awful lot of hard-hit balls back up the middle.

It might have something to do with being such a contact hitter and not walking too often. Hitless nights for him hurt a lot more than a guy who walks a lot. Cano will go 0 for 5 while someone who walks a lot might go 0 for 2.

Here's another site that Karim fans might like (and no it was not started by me...)
http://www.whoiskarimgarcia.com

I especially like the quotes that they call "Karimisms". My favorite is "The greatest trick Karim Garcia ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist."

followed closely by:
"Do you believe in Karim Garcia? YES!!!"
and
"Now there's a steal by Karim Garcia! Underneath to DJ! He lays it up and in!!"

Who knew that Karim Garcia was mentioned in so many famous quotes... but then again, who even knew Karim Garcia in the first place?

22 But Cano is starting to get walks! Maybe he's the new Albert Pujols. Albert's walks increased dramatically after his first couple of years. Would that be cool, or what?
Oh, and, ahem, don't take the comments about Miguel Cairo personally, okay? ;-)

:)

But yes, you're right about how unreal he is when he's on, he's far and away my favorite hitter when he is. Those laser shots to left and left-center remind me of Mattingly, as does his quickness inside.

I really like a see-the-ball-hit-the-ball type hitter--those are the guys I feel most comfortable with in big spots.

God, I hope he continues to develop, especially in the field. He has hall-of-fame tools, imo.

He's really an outstanding second-baseman when he's on as well. He makes really tough plays very consistently.

If someone could just get into his head a little, coach him about the game between the ears, as it were, he'll be headed towards Cooperstown, provided (big proviso, to be sure) he stays healthy.

Don't worry its because I'm a huge Randy fan!

I kid... it was my college number. But I am glad I've seen some really cool Yankees wear it in the last few years. HA!

At Yankee Stadium . . .

Of 13 singles, 6 are to CF, 3 are in the IF (all on the left side), 1 to LF, 3 to RF.
Of 8 doubles, 1 is to CF, the other 7 are pulled to RF.
1 triple, to left center.
No homers at home yet.
Vast majority of his ground outs are to the right side of the infield.
Vast majority of flyouts are to CF and LF.

At Fenway:

5 of 6 singles to CF and LF.
1 double to LF (off the Monster).
1 triple to deep CF.
1 homer to RF.
8 of 9 ground outs to the right side of the infield.
1 fly out to RF, 2 to CF.

He's a different hitter now than he was when he came up. He seems to have incorporated plate discipline without sacrificing aggression. I hope to God Cano can do the same.

And yeah, a lot of Melky's hits up the middle were grounders, is my impression.

Perhaps as he ages he'll become strong enough to get more of those groundballs past the infielders?

Heh heh, good old Cairo!

You'll see, he'll carry this team for the next couple of weeks, mark my words!

He'll be a sac-bunting, move-the-runner-alonging, line-drive-up-the-middle and the other way with RISP machine!

And he'll be the second coming of Mattingly over at the "other" hot corner.

;)

The site I linked to also has a list of the great Sheffield quotes from over the years, which made me think of JL25and3. Here's the link for that: http://tinyurl.com/2gpg5z

So, if his groundouts are all to the right side, I wonder if that tells us he's been trying to pull that outside pitch too often.

What to make of all that?

That said, he does seem to hit more singles to CF-RF in Yankee Stadium than in Fenway.

In the meantime, I'm guessing you're both right, that Cano is trying to pull outside pitches to RF, and half the time he does, he ends up weakly grounding out. The rest of the time he doubles. =)

Ok back to work.

:)

For years I never really questioned Torre's management of his staff, either because his shortcomings were masked by having better pitchers, or because I just wasn't a shrewd enough critic, I don't know.

But I cringe watching him manage it these days, especially given that we're losing.

This inflexibility with Mo is especially dismaying.

The formula's not working, Joe! There are no save situations!

Do you think Mo would object if they decided to start using him in the seventh, when the game's truly in the balance?

I just can't believe he's most helpful to the team in his current capacity--when you're scrounging for wins, you need to be willing to make adjustments to get your best pitcher in games more often rather than just sitting around waiting for things to turn around.

Especially considering that, in the name of "getting Mo some work" he can be brought in in the ninth in a non-save situation.

Well, if that's the case, why not bring him in in the seventh, also in the name of getting him some work, but work that might actually contribute to a victory?

All this formulaic bullshit drives me up a wall, especially when it's not working.

"If I had brought him onto the field and bashed his head in, then all of a sudden, I get sued. That's just the unrealistic part about all of this."

I love the man. I don't think anyone's ever made me look so good, so consistently.

http://tinyurl.com/yrdhvp

The college student who runs the site looked through the last two weeks of Vegas betting on baseball and found the average odds (translated to probability) for all the teams. The Yanks were, on average, the favorite team of bettors. There are also two adjustments, for quality of opposition, and the student comes up with his "Vegas Watch Index" as a kind of power ranking; the Yanks are on top.

Note that (1) our quality of opposition has been nasty, and (2) the Index is suggested as a predictor of future games, taking no account of current standings.
There's something peculiar about the results, but I'm going to think about it a little before saying anything here.

Remember, every time the Yankees make a pitching change, Chevrolet makes a $1K donation to the Joe Torre Safe at Home Foundation.

I maintain that that's the only reasonable explanation for Joe's steadfast determination to use 5-6 pitchers a game all season. I'm seriously worried that come mid-July, the entire Yankees bullpen will be on the DL and the Yankees will be trotting out a rejuvenated Wade Boggs and his oft-rumored terrific knuckleball. Of course, Torre will use him in every game and two weeks later the cycle will begin anew.

I love Joe and I really appreciate all he's done for this team, but it's time to give him a nice cushy front office job and hire someone who knows how to make in-game pitching decisions.

Stretched out: Sean Henn appeared in 16 games for the Yankees in April and May and only three times pitched more than one inning.

But when he was optioned back to Scranton on May 15, he was made a starter. He didn't understand it then, but now he does.

Henn was recalled yesterday and will serve as a long reliever.

"I wasn't happy when they first told me, but I got through it," said Henn, who was 0-2 with a 4.26 ERA at Scranton. "They just said do it. I asked why; they said just do it. I had no idea what was going on."

The Yankees have wanted a long reliever all season. Henn could fill that role.

"I like him out of the bullpen, I really do. He can come in and strike somebody out," Torre said.

What I love are the last 2 paragraphs, the yankees take the time to strech out henn to give joe someone to soak up innings ... and of course joe immediately shows he's thinking of him as "strike somebody out" loogy

I really wish they had made Larry Bowa bench coach rather than Mattingly. Again, I don't know if Bowa's any great genius either, but he's the type to focus on in-game moves a lot more.

Indeed. Bowa's at least had managerial experience, and though he may rub some players the wrong way, IIRC, that's what Torre is there for. Mattingly at 3B coach could also be giving some tips while Cano, e.g., is at the plate.

Part of why leaving Clippard in another inning, or at least 'till he got in trouble, would'a been a good idea.....

I think i like the original connotation better, though, i rather like the mental image of britton sitting around the bullpen playing with a big toy fire truck in the dirt of the pitching mound, then springing to his feet and excitedly yelling "APPLES!!!" whenever the bullpen phone rang ...

Every other manager in MLB uses his best pitchers over who have been their best pitchers in the past. All bullpens are bad--with the possible exception of Boston--but he exacerbates the issue by pulling his starters and going to guys like Villone, Farnsworth, and Vizcaino, when even a majic 8 ball could produce an accurate prediction of the results. The only way we make the playoffs is if our starters can keep the guys in our bullpen worth a pair of old shoes rested, and Joe seems hell bent on preventing that from happaneing. Francona doesn't seem to have a problem going long with Matsuzaka, Beckett, Schilling, and even Taveras. He doesn't flip flop his lineup like he is pulling names out of a hat, and he doesn't offer deep psychological explanations for his decisions. In other words, he's a much better manager, and 4 world series rings wont ever change that.

"Every other manager in MLB uses his best pitchers over who have been their best pitchers in the past."

Come on now, every single one? All of them? You really believe that?

Fine, maybe not all of them. But most managers know bullpens are a neccesary evil, and most of the guys out there suck ass. So, as a consequence, most managers don't carry more bullpen scrubs than they need, and almost every one uses the hot hand over the arthritic wrists of a Ron Villone or Luis Vizcaiano. Mark my words, if our rotation ever gets solidified, Britton, Henn and Clippard will be sent packing, and Viz, Farns, and Villone will remain.

The fact that most any bullpen is bad, is why most managers, in fact maybe all, would have left Clippard in last night. Neither pitch count, nor jams, nor fatigue, can explain what Joe did.

I checked the Boston bullpen by comparison with ours. (What's a good way to do that, by the way? I looked at the stats from the team and summed by hand, which was tedious and means I probably made mistakes.) Their pen has pitched 131 innings, ERA of about 3.6. Ours has pitched 190 innings with an ERA of about 4.5. Yikes.
I know that ERA is a bad stat for relievers, but maybe it's somewhat better if you aggregate the entire bullpen. I think it is.

I agree with the criticism of him this year, and that these are tendencies that have become worse over the last few years. But I strongly disagree with that statement.

Not to be argumantative, but getting hot is not an illusion. Was Arod's April a figment of my imagination? Jason Giambi last summer? It is just impossible to predict, and more difficult to predict the end of the streak.

I agree with your analysis above. ERA isn't the best, but its as good as any. I'm sure others have what they beleive is a better measurement, but I respectfully disagree. I might subtract the stats of Papelbon and Rivera (usually) respectfully, to get a measure of what your bullpen is doing once the starter is pulled.

Either way, our bullpen is a liability, and therefore when a pitcher can be left in through 7 innings, I think he should be. I would have to research it, but I would think there is a correlation between bullpen innings and wins, not that that is earth shattering. With the exception of closers and prospects (for the most part), bullpen pitchers are bad. Not good enough to start, not good enough to close. The modern trend in bullpen use is not only bad for the game, but bad for your teams chance of winning. 100 pitches is an arbitrary number which aplies to the aggregate, not to any specific pitcher, and unless you have a measuremet which is pitcher specific, the 100 pitch count number isnt any more useful than gut feeling. In other words, if your pitcher is going well, leave him in. With todays strength and conditioning, MRI's and the like, guys should be able to throw more, not less. Not 160+, but certainly more than 100 pitches, with factors such as how many jams the guy has been in, past injuries, and how many baserunners have demanded multiple throws to first, more important that pitch count. Joe cannot use these factors because he just doesn't understand them, and he is scared to death to be responsible for any injury. Therefore we will not win if Joe continues to yank pitchers prematurely, and goes to guys who either cant handle pressure (Farns) or guys who just aren't any good (Villone, Viz). Just one man's opinion. It might not work, but it sure as hell would be better than what he is doing.

I like the guy personally, and am thankful for the stability he brought to the Yankees. But when he penciled in Kevin Brown's name in 2004, he became dead to me. I think I can say pretty confidently, that there aren't too many managers that would have done that.

58 Even in the aggregate, ERA is a bad way of measuring a bullpen. Who knows how many runs the bullpen let score that the starters left on base?

If you really want to get into detail, take a look at http://tinyurl.com/2zeqac

Bruney leads the Yanks in WXRL with .625. That is good for 63rd in all of MLB, behind luminaries such as Joe Borowski.

The Yanks have some guys with negative WXRL too (no surprise there), so my guess is they are pretty low in the overall ranks, which I can't find right now.

So, you saw Proctor come in in the 6th yesterday and thought, great move Joe?

I don't mean to be agrumantative, but after ordering EI some years ago, I've watched thousands of games and come to a conclusion concerning Joe. Many teams leave their starters in from neccesity, because their bullpen is even worse than ours. Many of these starters perform as well, or better than your average bullpen, but a byproduct is that your bullpen arms get less use and your starter gets 4 days off before the next start. Joe doesn't fancy himself as managing one of those clubs, notwithstanding the fact that the stats are to the contrary, and he pulls guys and burns every possible bullpen arm, when the performance of most of them is no better than that of the starter would have been, had he left him in the game.

I still think that the stability can't be underestimated. He's never been a very good in-game tactician - hence my suggestion of Bowa as bench coach. But his ability to weather the slings and arrows of Yankee media/fans/ownership - and his ability to shield his players from them - is unprecedented in the Steinbrenner years.

I agree with your sentiment, but most bench coaches are analogous to Vice Presidents, they don't offer contrary advice, and in many cases fear offering differing opinions. The reason Zimmer worked out so well was because Joe actually looked up to and respected Zimmer. The same is not true of Bowa. So, unless they can get Frank Robinson to sit next to Joe, the bench coach is irrelevant.

I'm off to dinner on the West Coast. I'll be DVR'ing the game, so good thoughts all the way around. Go Yankees!

Boston RP Inh Runs Prevented: 8.8
Yankees RP Inh Runs Prevented: -8.1

ugh

Thanks for the reseach. Yet Joe will ignore it completely. Now that's an "UGH!"

Come on man. You aren't serious are you? Whether a hitter gets a hit is not nearly as random as a flip of a coin. And yes, I would say that Arod was more likely to get a hit his next AB this April than he is right now. If you bat .400 for 30 days and .270 for the next 30 days, clearly you have a better chance of getting a hit his next AB during the first 30 days. I'm sure you think that he has the exact same likelyhod of getting a hit at any point during the season, and during any AB, April, July, or September. It is simply not the case. No matter what that math book in front of you may tell you.

There are men out there playing this game, not quarters and mathematical theories. Not that all mathmeatics should be ignored certainly. The fact that most any play in baseball can be calculated and placed into a formula, doesn't mean you can play games out on paper. As much as many of you would like to think you can worship at the feet of Bill James and others, you cannot predict the outcome of games or seasons that way. Not to mention it all but sucks the fun out of watching.