CHICAGO – Perhaps I can blame the lack offensive functionality on the late arrival to Chicago after leaving St. Petersburg.
Word has it that the Yankees arrived at 3 AM, which would have left only 16 hours of turnaround time to get ready for their game Thursday night with the White Sox.
Either that or they simply never read the scouting report of starter Gavin Floyd.
Whatever it was, a combination of lack of sleep and lack of attention mix in with Floyd pitching arguably the game of his life to this point in his career were all contributors to the snooze fest that was the Yankee offense for 7 2/3 innings against him.
It appeared that there was not that much of a plan going him. Noticing closely, the offense has done a unique job of “rope-a-doping” over the first three innings before their trained veteran eyes clue in on what to look for.
On this night, it did not happen.
One by one, they would go back to the bench, either by ground out of fly out and many others would look at called third strikes. Perhaps the home plate umpire was expanding the zone an extra inch or two, but the same courtesy was given to Andy Pettitte as well.
Seven Yankee hitters of the ten who struck out last night while Floyd was on the mound went down looking. That tells you one of three things.
1. The team didn’t get enough rest.
2. The game called by catcher AJ Pierzynski was an unmitigated success
3. They were simply confused.
Now, while I am probably giving as much credit to Floyd’s performance as I probably should, I am not one into praising the opposition without looking my own team first.
That’s just the way it works here.
Only three times did a Yankee hitter work the count to 3-2 and two of those were accomplished by Nick Swisher, who struck out both of those times (three in the game, before hitting the tying home run in the ninth).
The two best swings of the night came from Jose Molina and Melky Cabrera, who each laced doubles into left center. Johnny Damon drove in the Yanks first run with a single, but outside of that, there was not much to be had.
Through Floyd’s first 50 pitches, only 30 were for strikes. However, it was in the middle innings where he began to find a groove, consistently throwing first pitch strikes and forcing hitters to commit to swing early. It took them completely out of their gameplan of wearing down a pitcher and getting him out of there after six innings.
Most teams in the league look very strong when they can hand the ball from their starting pitcher to their top reliever without anyone else getting involved.
Don’t think White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen didn’t know that as kept his starter into the eighth inning last night. Yet, in this case, you give credit where it’s due sometimes and the kid pitched a hell of game.
He should have gotten the win, but with two outs in the ninth, Floyd saw the team blow their sixth game for him this season when Swisher turned around Matt Thornton’s fastball for a home run.
It was not sustainable offense. In the few chances they had to make something happen, they were unable to get that big hit.
Over the course of a season, you will have those things. They usually even themselves out eventually.
As they have this year.
No comments:
Post a Comment