Yanks play this season reminiscent of old days
TORONTO - With each passing game, each passing big hit, clutch out and walk-off blast, the Yankees are pounding the rest of the league into submission as they look like an unstoppable, impregnable force.
They win in all types of ways. As evidenced by their most recent three game sweep In Baltimore, capped by their 10-2 triumph over the Orioles on Wednesday night, there is no one method to their domination.
On Monday, it was Andy Pettitte pitching a perfect game into the seventh inning before an error broke it up. Tuesday, they picked up another rough start from AJ Burnett to slug five homeruns and won 9-6. And here they were last night, with their ace CC Sabathia on the ropes early after being touched for five hits over the first two innings, saw him bear down and never allowed the Orioles to rattle him. He got through that early rough patch and grinded toward another classic seven-inning performance for a Yankee win.
What is amazing is the resilience this team has shown to where they are fazed by nothing. One loss never carries to the next and with the next win, it appears that another win streak is about to begin.
Along the way, there have been several stunning surprises. Chad Gaudin can come in and throw several shutout innings in relief or even start a game and survive nearly going five innings on the road not giving up a run, while attempting to walk the ballpark. Sergio Mitre, who was a prime candidate for the "Bum of the Staff" award just a few weeks ago, came out of nowhere to pitch 6 1/3 innings of shutout ball, yielding only one hit.
Back in colonial times (let's just say "last year"), a start by either of these guys meant danger. The days of sending Darrell Rasner (remember him?) or Sidney Ponson (forgot about him?) brought about hours of agita as the team ravished by injuries and underperformance fell short of the playoffs.
This year, it is as if nothing can go wrong. Mind you, this same Yankee team was under .500 in mid-May and was on the brink after losing series to the Nationals and Marlins.
Then in Atlanta, after losing the first game to the Braves and trailing in the fifth inning 1-0 and having Brett Gardner picked off first when he was clearly safe and Joe Girardi was ejected for pleading his (correct) case, something happened.
What exactly happened we are not sure, but since that moment, the Yankees have morphed into this juggernaut, chasing down the Red Sox despite going 0-8 against them, caught them, passed them and now threatens to leave them and the rest of the league in the dust.
It is unquestionably the most balanced, flexible and powerful lineup the Yankees have put forward on a daily basis since 1999. Every other team after that was either too old, to inflexible or short on quality players.
This team, whenever they take the field is superior to its opponent. It also is not dependent only any single player to produce. Each night, each game, at any point a new hero can emerge as the star and end up with a pie in the face or the famed "championship belt".
One game it might be Alex Rodriguez driving home four runs last night with a three hits. Another night, it could be Mark Teixeira, sending “Tex Messages” into his own personal "Teixeira Terrace" in the second deck or even making a great defensive play to add another part to his MVP building resume.
Of course, there is Derek Jeter, turning in perhaps his best season as a professional in the leadoff spot and is showered with chants of “MVP” when he steps to the plate , with Johnny Damon turning into a superior offensive force this year with his homeruns out of the two-hole.
What about Robinson Cano bouncing back to have a stellar campaign or Hideki Matsui showing that the old man still has something left in that bat of his? Who can forget about Nick Swisher? Here is a man who has changed the personality of the team with his exuberance and naturally fun attitude that has turned the once buttoned-up and corporate Yankees into one big frat house.
The names go on and on, and even the call-ups (Francisco Cervelli and Ramiro Pena) and players acquired in trades (Jerry Hairston Jr. and Eric Hinske) have each played a collective role in the team's success.
For the first time in years, this is truly a team in the full sense. The whole is greater than the sum even if that sum has many great parts. Never before have you seen such talented players fly under the radar.
Think about this, Alex Rodriguez bats cleanup on a team that has the best record in the league, cruising towards over 100 wins and you do not hear anything about him. He his producing at the plate very quietly and is no longer the standout or distraction that he used to be.
So when you see this team each night, they give you a confidence, a belief that no matter the situation, they will always fight out it and come through. They are truly "grinders" in every sense of the word. They scratch, claw and never give an inch.
Their swagger and self-assurance allow them to believe that they can overcome anything. As fans, we used to wait for the roof eventually to cave in, but not anymore. Pessimism has been replaced by overwhelming confidence and belief.
The best example came in a 10-9 loss to the Texas Rangers at Yankee Stadium during the last home stand. Trailing by five going into the bottom of the ninth, the team could have simply gone down 1-2-3 and lived to see tomorrow. Instead, they rallied for four runs to get within one, had runners on first and second with no one out and chance to win. Even though the rally fell short, it spoke to their ability to never give up and fight until that 27th out.
Over the last few years, there were times that the Yankees would be hit with some adversity and immediately fold up. For a team so talented, it is unacceptable in theory but it happened.
Now, there is never a lead too small. When they go down, they get back up. When they are hit, they hit back, and when they hit, it usually isn’t a jab, but a sledgehammer blow.
Who knows where this will lead. In just over a month, they will take the field at Yankee Stadium for Game 1 of the Division Series likely against the Detroit Tigers. Will all of this good fun translate into a memorable October? No one knows for sure.
The way the team has positioned itself, it may just be the year where they get that 27th world championship.
With that, let’s get to some random thoughts…
I am still amazed at how much of a steal the Yankees got when they traded for Nick Swisher and gave up what amounts to a bag of chips and some Skittles.
Look at Swisher’s numbers this season (as of Friday): 23 home runs (20 on the road), leading the team in walks and an OPS among the highest on the team.
One glance at the White Sox shows that if he were playing on that team, he would be leading them in OBP (on base percentage), walks, and OPS (on base plus slugging). You don’t think he would help them immensely?
Sure, the Yankees are paying him the remaining $22 million on his contract, but it is money well spent.
Derek Jeter needs three more home runs to accomplish an incredible team feat. Once he hits his 20th homerun, he will be the eighth Yankee player to hit 20 or more homeruns this season. It has never been done in the history of baseball.
Ok, I know back in May I said that Hideki Matsui was done as a player. Three games later, he hit three homeruns. Now that he has put together a remarkable comeback season, I’m still going to say he is done, but he is trying to sway me.
23 homeruns this year and he has stayed healthy (albeit not playing one game in the field). I don’t know if he will comeback next year due to the team wanting to use the DH as a flexible position, but Matsui is certainly making a case.
My friend Tina was showing her utter disdain for Robinson Cano’s consistent failures with runners on base. This was before he connected a three-run homer to win the first game of the series against the White Sox last Friday. Perhaps with that, the consistent mention of his failures will slowly begin to cease.
I know there is a lot of clamoring for Derek Jeter to be the MVP. Now, while I would love to jump on this bandwagon, I need to slow down for a moment.
Yes, he is having a career year. But unless we are giving out the Lifetime Achievement Award here, he is not (and should not) gather more votes than his own teammate Mark Teixeira. Add to that, Boston’s Kevin Youkilis, the LA Angels Kendry Morales, and my favorite for the award, Minnesota’s Joe Mauer.
Sorry Derek.
Erik Hinske reminds me of two previous Yankees. One is Shane Spencer, who hit 10 homeruns in September back in 1998. The other is Glenallen Hill, who hit 12 homeruns when he came to the Yankees in 2000.
Hinske in 56 at bats has seven homeruns. It is incredible. He doesn’t play for a week and when he is put in the order, he still comes through. I don’t know how he does it.
Pitchers may have a problem when they are on the mound trying to get in sync with Jorge Posada, but I bet you they don’t complain when he hits a two or three-run blast to help them win.
This is what I don’t get: He is killed for not be able to throw out potential base stealers, but as you can see (assuming you are watching these games correctly), the pitchers are not holding these runners on base with lapses in concentration. That is not his fault.
Also, if the pitcher is being bull-headed and wanting to adhere to the scouting report and rather, goes off and attempts to do their own thing (see: Chamberlain, Joba), what else can he do?
Andy Pettitte has pitched incredibly in the second half of the season and has vaulted into the discussion for being the teams Game 2 starter in the playoffs over AJ Burnett, who has slowly begun to scare the hell out of people.
Here is how I would line it up in the first round of the playoffs: Game 1 – Sabathia, Game 2 – Burnett, Game 3 – Pettitte, Game 4 – Chamberlain
You think I would take the risk of Burnett blowing up on the road in Game 3 and swing the momentum of the series? That flammable situation should be avoided at all costs. If he is going to meltdown, let him do it at home, where it is likely the Yankees can have a 1-0 lead in the series assuming Sabathia can out duel Justin Verlander.
Newly acquired Chad Gaudin can get to a certain point. After that, the bottom nearly drops out before Girardi has to go out and rescue him before the volcano erupts.
He can usually pitch two or three scoreless innings. Anything after that is risky. At a point in the third inning in Toronto on Thursday, I contemplated the possibility of him actually throwing a no-hitter. Hell, stranger things have happened. I probably should taken a glass of ice water and poured it all over my head as a reminder of his shortcomings.
Why hasn’t David Robertson been given enough credit?
After a shaky start, Robertson rebounded fabulously and is putting together a very fine season. In his 40 innings of work, he has struck out 60 (K/9 of 13.50) while giving up less than a hit per inning.
The odd thing is that he doesn’t throw 95 and above. At most, he is coming at you with nothing more than a 92 or 93 MPH fastball, but it has been deadly accurate recently painting the corners of the strike zone. Once he is ahead in the count, he drops in his 12 to 6 curveball that freezes hitters and sends them right to the bench.
At the beginning of the year, Brian Bruney was slated to the “eighth inning man” this season. Now, he is in real danger of being completely left off the postseason roster.
There are six men ahead of him on the pecking order, meaning he has no real role unless a game went 13 or 14 innings.
I want to save the latest in the “Joba’s Days of our Lives” drama for another time. It is enough to drive a crazy person nuts.
TORONTO - With each passing game, each passing big hit, clutch out and walk-off blast, the Yankees are pounding the rest of the league into submission as they look like an unstoppable, impregnable force.
They win in all types of ways. As evidenced by their most recent three game sweep In Baltimore, capped by their 10-2 triumph over the Orioles on Wednesday night, there is no one method to their domination.
On Monday, it was Andy Pettitte pitching a perfect game into the seventh inning before an error broke it up. Tuesday, they picked up another rough start from AJ Burnett to slug five homeruns and won 9-6. And here they were last night, with their ace CC Sabathia on the ropes early after being touched for five hits over the first two innings, saw him bear down and never allowed the Orioles to rattle him. He got through that early rough patch and grinded toward another classic seven-inning performance for a Yankee win.
What is amazing is the resilience this team has shown to where they are fazed by nothing. One loss never carries to the next and with the next win, it appears that another win streak is about to begin.
Along the way, there have been several stunning surprises. Chad Gaudin can come in and throw several shutout innings in relief or even start a game and survive nearly going five innings on the road not giving up a run, while attempting to walk the ballpark. Sergio Mitre, who was a prime candidate for the "Bum of the Staff" award just a few weeks ago, came out of nowhere to pitch 6 1/3 innings of shutout ball, yielding only one hit.
Back in colonial times (let's just say "last year"), a start by either of these guys meant danger. The days of sending Darrell Rasner (remember him?) or Sidney Ponson (forgot about him?) brought about hours of agita as the team ravished by injuries and underperformance fell short of the playoffs.
This year, it is as if nothing can go wrong. Mind you, this same Yankee team was under .500 in mid-May and was on the brink after losing series to the Nationals and Marlins.
Then in Atlanta, after losing the first game to the Braves and trailing in the fifth inning 1-0 and having Brett Gardner picked off first when he was clearly safe and Joe Girardi was ejected for pleading his (correct) case, something happened.
What exactly happened we are not sure, but since that moment, the Yankees have morphed into this juggernaut, chasing down the Red Sox despite going 0-8 against them, caught them, passed them and now threatens to leave them and the rest of the league in the dust.
It is unquestionably the most balanced, flexible and powerful lineup the Yankees have put forward on a daily basis since 1999. Every other team after that was either too old, to inflexible or short on quality players.
This team, whenever they take the field is superior to its opponent. It also is not dependent only any single player to produce. Each night, each game, at any point a new hero can emerge as the star and end up with a pie in the face or the famed "championship belt".
One game it might be Alex Rodriguez driving home four runs last night with a three hits. Another night, it could be Mark Teixeira, sending “Tex Messages” into his own personal "Teixeira Terrace" in the second deck or even making a great defensive play to add another part to his MVP building resume.
Of course, there is Derek Jeter, turning in perhaps his best season as a professional in the leadoff spot and is showered with chants of “MVP” when he steps to the plate , with Johnny Damon turning into a superior offensive force this year with his homeruns out of the two-hole.
What about Robinson Cano bouncing back to have a stellar campaign or Hideki Matsui showing that the old man still has something left in that bat of his? Who can forget about Nick Swisher? Here is a man who has changed the personality of the team with his exuberance and naturally fun attitude that has turned the once buttoned-up and corporate Yankees into one big frat house.
The names go on and on, and even the call-ups (Francisco Cervelli and Ramiro Pena) and players acquired in trades (Jerry Hairston Jr. and Eric Hinske) have each played a collective role in the team's success.
For the first time in years, this is truly a team in the full sense. The whole is greater than the sum even if that sum has many great parts. Never before have you seen such talented players fly under the radar.
Think about this, Alex Rodriguez bats cleanup on a team that has the best record in the league, cruising towards over 100 wins and you do not hear anything about him. He his producing at the plate very quietly and is no longer the standout or distraction that he used to be.
So when you see this team each night, they give you a confidence, a belief that no matter the situation, they will always fight out it and come through. They are truly "grinders" in every sense of the word. They scratch, claw and never give an inch.
Their swagger and self-assurance allow them to believe that they can overcome anything. As fans, we used to wait for the roof eventually to cave in, but not anymore. Pessimism has been replaced by overwhelming confidence and belief.
The best example came in a 10-9 loss to the Texas Rangers at Yankee Stadium during the last home stand. Trailing by five going into the bottom of the ninth, the team could have simply gone down 1-2-3 and lived to see tomorrow. Instead, they rallied for four runs to get within one, had runners on first and second with no one out and chance to win. Even though the rally fell short, it spoke to their ability to never give up and fight until that 27th out.
Over the last few years, there were times that the Yankees would be hit with some adversity and immediately fold up. For a team so talented, it is unacceptable in theory but it happened.
Now, there is never a lead too small. When they go down, they get back up. When they are hit, they hit back, and when they hit, it usually isn’t a jab, but a sledgehammer blow.
Who knows where this will lead. In just over a month, they will take the field at Yankee Stadium for Game 1 of the Division Series likely against the Detroit Tigers. Will all of this good fun translate into a memorable October? No one knows for sure.
The way the team has positioned itself, it may just be the year where they get that 27th world championship.
With that, let’s get to some random thoughts…
I am still amazed at how much of a steal the Yankees got when they traded for Nick Swisher and gave up what amounts to a bag of chips and some Skittles.
Look at Swisher’s numbers this season (as of Friday): 23 home runs (20 on the road), leading the team in walks and an OPS among the highest on the team.
One glance at the White Sox shows that if he were playing on that team, he would be leading them in OBP (on base percentage), walks, and OPS (on base plus slugging). You don’t think he would help them immensely?
Sure, the Yankees are paying him the remaining $22 million on his contract, but it is money well spent.
Derek Jeter needs three more home runs to accomplish an incredible team feat. Once he hits his 20th homerun, he will be the eighth Yankee player to hit 20 or more homeruns this season. It has never been done in the history of baseball.
Ok, I know back in May I said that Hideki Matsui was done as a player. Three games later, he hit three homeruns. Now that he has put together a remarkable comeback season, I’m still going to say he is done, but he is trying to sway me.
23 homeruns this year and he has stayed healthy (albeit not playing one game in the field). I don’t know if he will comeback next year due to the team wanting to use the DH as a flexible position, but Matsui is certainly making a case.
My friend Tina was showing her utter disdain for Robinson Cano’s consistent failures with runners on base. This was before he connected a three-run homer to win the first game of the series against the White Sox last Friday. Perhaps with that, the consistent mention of his failures will slowly begin to cease.
I know there is a lot of clamoring for Derek Jeter to be the MVP. Now, while I would love to jump on this bandwagon, I need to slow down for a moment.
Yes, he is having a career year. But unless we are giving out the Lifetime Achievement Award here, he is not (and should not) gather more votes than his own teammate Mark Teixeira. Add to that, Boston’s Kevin Youkilis, the LA Angels Kendry Morales, and my favorite for the award, Minnesota’s Joe Mauer.
Sorry Derek.
Erik Hinske reminds me of two previous Yankees. One is Shane Spencer, who hit 10 homeruns in September back in 1998. The other is Glenallen Hill, who hit 12 homeruns when he came to the Yankees in 2000.
Hinske in 56 at bats has seven homeruns. It is incredible. He doesn’t play for a week and when he is put in the order, he still comes through. I don’t know how he does it.
Pitchers may have a problem when they are on the mound trying to get in sync with Jorge Posada, but I bet you they don’t complain when he hits a two or three-run blast to help them win.
This is what I don’t get: He is killed for not be able to throw out potential base stealers, but as you can see (assuming you are watching these games correctly), the pitchers are not holding these runners on base with lapses in concentration. That is not his fault.
Also, if the pitcher is being bull-headed and wanting to adhere to the scouting report and rather, goes off and attempts to do their own thing (see: Chamberlain, Joba), what else can he do?
Andy Pettitte has pitched incredibly in the second half of the season and has vaulted into the discussion for being the teams Game 2 starter in the playoffs over AJ Burnett, who has slowly begun to scare the hell out of people.
Here is how I would line it up in the first round of the playoffs: Game 1 – Sabathia, Game 2 – Burnett, Game 3 – Pettitte, Game 4 – Chamberlain
You think I would take the risk of Burnett blowing up on the road in Game 3 and swing the momentum of the series? That flammable situation should be avoided at all costs. If he is going to meltdown, let him do it at home, where it is likely the Yankees can have a 1-0 lead in the series assuming Sabathia can out duel Justin Verlander.
Newly acquired Chad Gaudin can get to a certain point. After that, the bottom nearly drops out before Girardi has to go out and rescue him before the volcano erupts.
He can usually pitch two or three scoreless innings. Anything after that is risky. At a point in the third inning in Toronto on Thursday, I contemplated the possibility of him actually throwing a no-hitter. Hell, stranger things have happened. I probably should taken a glass of ice water and poured it all over my head as a reminder of his shortcomings.
Why hasn’t David Robertson been given enough credit?
After a shaky start, Robertson rebounded fabulously and is putting together a very fine season. In his 40 innings of work, he has struck out 60 (K/9 of 13.50) while giving up less than a hit per inning.
The odd thing is that he doesn’t throw 95 and above. At most, he is coming at you with nothing more than a 92 or 93 MPH fastball, but it has been deadly accurate recently painting the corners of the strike zone. Once he is ahead in the count, he drops in his 12 to 6 curveball that freezes hitters and sends them right to the bench.
At the beginning of the year, Brian Bruney was slated to the “eighth inning man” this season. Now, he is in real danger of being completely left off the postseason roster.
There are six men ahead of him on the pecking order, meaning he has no real role unless a game went 13 or 14 innings.
I want to save the latest in the “Joba’s Days of our Lives” drama for another time. It is enough to drive a crazy person nuts.
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