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New York Yankees: Saving Phil Hughes

Posted by on 20 April 2012, 5:57 am

making a Hughes funny....

The New York Yankees did what they needed to do, win the game and avoid losing a home series to the Minnesota Twins for the first time since 2001.

Phil Hughes was not totally useless on the mound but he was far from good. You wouldn’t know it listening to the YES commentating, as it was honestly painful.

The way Jack Curry, and even Al Leiter were talking about Hughes, you’d think he was the greatest thing since sliced bread.

Everyone knows that Eduardo Nunez made an error in the first, which kept the inning going longer but that is a circumstance not just in baseball but also in life; and pitchers should be ready for it.

Hughes really cannot complain, as he has caused the Yankees enough problems the last two seasons that it is kind of the pot calling the kettle black.

In the end Hughes got the win courtesy of the Yankees bats scoring seven runs. Hughes should buy Curtis Granderson dinner, as the Grandy-man went 5-for-5 with three homers and four RBIs.

This is the same way Hughes won the majority of his games in 2010, but putting a ton of pressure on the hitters to score and continually deplete the bullpen. He did pitch five whole innings in this outing, which makes 13 total innings pitched in three starts. Continue reading ‘New York Yankees: Saving Phil Hughes’ »

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2012 MLB Power Rankings – Week 2

Posted by on 20 April 2012, 1:26 am
The 2012 MLB season is still so young and you can bet that these rankings will look a lot different come June.

So far, in just two weeks this season is already surpassing baseball fans expectations as the competition is at an all time high.

Here are how things are looking at the end of Week 2…..wonder where your team ranked?

Enjoy!!

And feel free to disagree….

RANKS TEAM COMMENTS LAST
1 Texas Rangers Won 6 in a row; 9-1 in last 10. 5
2 Detroit Tigers Close second. 1
3 St. Louis Cardinals Who needs Albert when you got Freese? 3
4 Los Angeles Dodgers Owners brought some Magic, literally. 9
5 New York Yankees Yanks are just warming up. 4
6 Arizona Diamondbacks Ian Kennedy is the real deal. 6
7 Tampa Bay Rays Sweeping of Yanks finally wearing off. 2
8 Washington Nationals Marlins & Dodgers are coming…oh my. 11
9 Toronto Blue Jays Kyle Drabek looking a little like Roy Halladay. 10
10 Atlanta Braves Jones returns and team gets chipper. 22
11 New York Mets Mets fans feeling amazin’ again, watch out. 16
12 Philadelphia Phillies WANTED Ryan Howard, we are behind the Mets. 8
13 Los Angeles Angels Still waiting to click as a team. 7
14 Boston Red Sox Valentine’s Day is not a holiday in Beantown. 13
15 Milwaukee Brewers Bats are doing well but sloppy defense is unacceptable. 17
16 Miami Marlins Drama is settling…back to baseball again. 20
17 Baltimore Orioles Halos will test if the O’s are for real. 18
18 Chicago White Sox Finding themselves but tested Tigers. 23
19 Cincinnati Reds Is the little red machine breaking broken? Mediocrity doesn’t win games. 12
20 Seattle Mariners Thank you Yankees, we love your prospects. 19
21 San Francisco Giants Things have gone from freaky to scary. 14
22 Minnesota Twins M & M boys have played for two weeks with no DL stint. 27
23 Colorado Rockies Age before beauty. 26
24 Oakland A’s Yoenis Cespedes could really help a good team. 28
25 Cleveland Indians 1-4 at home?? Come on boys… 21
26 Kansas City Royals Falling fast in their own house. Regretting Zack Greinke trade now…?? 15
27 Pittsburgh Pirates Waiting for Burnett to revive them…with his bat. 24
28 Houston Astros Imagine this team in the AL? 2013…yikes! 29
29 Chicago Cubs Still rebuilding, is Epstein the messiah? 25
30 San Diego Padres You have to hit the ball in baseball. 30

Continue reading ‘2012 MLB Power Rankings – Week 2’ »

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Can Yankees Phil Hughes not tank tonight?

Posted by on 19 April 2012, 3:43 pm

LAST GAME vs. TWINS:

Phil Hughes during pregame warmups prior to a ...

Phil Hughes during pregame warmups prior to a game between the New York Yankees and Baltimore Orioles on August 29, 2011 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The New York Yankees are down 1-2 games to the Minnesota Twins, so at best they can split the four-game set but that entails winning the game tonight.

Winning is something the Yankees know how to do, and especially against the Twins, but other than CC Sabathia the starting pitching has made that almost impossible. The lack of innings pitched has depleted the bullpen and right before the team heads to Fenway Park and Rangers Ballpark.

The Yankees are sending Phil Hughes to the mound, which is basically as good as forfeiting the series, and handing the Twins their first series win in the Bronx since 2001.

What is mind-boggling is that the Yankee brass, and shockingly a majority of fans continue to support Hughes because they have fantasies that he can win 18-games like he did in 2010.

Yes his velocity is back in the low 90’s, but that is about it.

Hughes has pitched a total of eight innings over two starts, allowing three homers, eight earned runs, 11 strikeouts, four walks and posts an ERA of 9.00. Opposing batters have a .351 average vs. Hughes, so basically with the way the Twins M&M boys are hitting this could be a blood bath.

In his first two starts, Hughes is throwing 64% of his pitches for strikes, as he tends to start each inning with a strikeout. The first batter he faces averages a .182 against him, but after that Hughes gets shelled, so this accounts for eight of his 11 strikeouts.

And the reason hitters succeed vs. Hughes is because he cannot to finish them because off, as they figure him out very quickly. This became clear when I looked at pitch type, number of times thrown and how many resulted in a strike.

2012 - Hughes - types of pitches thrown/pitches thrown for strikes

Out of all the strikes he threw, only six Rays and nine Angels actually swung at the pitch, which indicates to me they watching his location on purpose because 15 total swings and misses is a low number.

Well that is what happens when a pitcher relies on one-strikeout pitch; for Hughes it is obviously his four-seam fastball, and hitters know it is coming inside. Continue reading ‘Can Yankees Phil Hughes not tank tonight?’ »

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Why the Yankees were supposed to lose to Twins

Posted by on 18 April 2012, 4:15 pm
Carl Pavano

Carl Pavano (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

As I was throwing out papers today, I came across the reasons the Yankees were doomed to lose the first game of their series against the Twins.

The notes were a mess; as I had written them late on Sunday night but my reasoning actually turned out to be pretty accurate so I thought why not pass it along. So, here it is just a day and a dollar short….

After wrapping up a tough series against the Los Angeles Angels last Sunday night, the New York Yankees knew the Minnesota Twins were in town for four games.

The Yankees have literally manhandled the Twins posting a 23-4 record since 2009 including sweeping Minnesota in the 2009 and 2010 ALDS.

Still, that was when the Twins were still a contending playoff team, but that has not been the case since last season so winning all four games this week would seem like a no-brainer, right?

Well, not exactly because Monday night the Yankees had all the odds you don’t want stacked against them, almost guaranteeing they would lose.

 What the heck am I talking about?

Here is what I took into account before the first pitch was thrown on Monday night.

1)   Minnesota was already in NYC before the Yankees Sunday night against the Angels had even started.

2)   I find that when a new opponent comes to town after just being swept, the players tend to step it up a bit as they have a chip on their shoulders. The Twins flew in after just being swept in Arlington by the Rangers, add that to their history of losing to the Yankees and you have a team with a lot of incentives to win.

3)   The Yankees have a bad history when playing back-to-back ESPN games, as when they win on Sunday, they tend to lose on Monday. Continue reading ‘Why the Yankees were supposed to lose to Twins’ »

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New York Yankees: Things are about to get harder.

Posted by on 17 April 2012, 3:26 am

Pavano on the hill at Yankee Stadium - 04.16.2012

After a lovely weekend of taking two of three from the Angels, the Yankees looked good minus Phil Hughes.

Last night the Yankees opened a four game set in the Bronx against the Minnesota Twins with a 3-7 loss.

It didn’t help that Carl Pavano (aka. American Idle) was on the mound for the Twins, as considering his history in New York losing to him didn’t sit well with Yankees fans; of course not much does these days.

Minnesota is in town for three more games, and the Yankees have manhandled the Twins over the last decade, winning 33 of their last 44 meetings in the Bronx; so winning the next three games should be mandatory.

Reality is the Yankees cannot really afford to lose any of them, as things are about to get a lot harder starting this Friday when they head to Fenway Park.

Their schedule is about to get kicked into high gear and the Yankees could very well wind up in a hole come mid-May if they don’t take advantage when possible. Figuring out which way this team will go is the million, I meant billion-dollar question.

Attempting to come up with a logical formula of where any team will be a month from is fundamentally impossible and might even send Bill James brain into a tailspin.

Still, like every team, the Yankees have issues that need to be ironed-out sooner than later but time is not on their side…look for yourself. Continue reading ‘New York Yankees: Things are about to get harder.’ »

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2012 MLB Team Preview: Minnesota Twins

Posted by on 26 March 2012, 9:11 pm

Minnesota Twins logo.

The Minnesota Twins plunged to the bottom of the AL Central in 2011 finishing with a 63-99 record, which was the second worst in baseball.

In 2010, the Twins won 94 games and captured their second-straight American League Central title, which is why last season’s fall, came unexpectedly.

It just seemed like everything in Minnesota went wrong at the right times last season, as hampering injuries were ramped.

So, now the 2012 million-dollar question is whether the Twins can get back to being a contender in the AL Central again.

Let’s check it out…

THE POSITIVES:

The Twins seemed to have hit rock bottom, and as the saying goes the only place to go is up, as I don’t see the Twins losing 99 games again in 2012. This team won six divisional title in the past ten years, and all under skipper Ron Gardenhire. And if anyone knows what worked, or what is not working it should be Gardenhire but it seems like the Twins were ok with chalking things up to injuries last season.

Justin Morneau is an all-around great baseball player and with him playing any team would improve. The 2006 MVP and four-time All-Star can rake, as over his career he averages 29 homers and 113 RBIs a season, which includes the last two seasons where he spent more time on the DL than at the plate. Morneau has suffered his three concussions, but the big blow happened in 2010 and he missed half the season. Morneau admittedly is still suffering from symptoms but as of now have been better but the 2010 blow came back to haunt him last season, as he was on the DL for over 90 games. Morneau could be used as a permanent DH, as his bat is one of the best in the Majors and the Twins need all the help they can get. I have a feeling that Morneau will still see time at first-base, which I think is reckless because the odds of him winding up back on the DL become that much higher. I like Morneau and he is a superstar when healthy, as he blows Mauer out of the water. Still, the Canadian-born Morneau was a hockey fanatic growing up so he probably took hits on the ice well before his baseball playing days, which might be why he can’t shake the the symptoms.

THE NEGATIVES:  Continue reading ‘2012 MLB Team Preview: Minnesota Twins’ »

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2012 MLB Team Preview: Texas Rangers

Posted by on 6 March 2012, 11:10 am

Texas Rangers Logo.

Down in Arlington, Texas the last two years have proven to be optimistic yet frustrating.

Last season marked the Rangers second consecutive, yet unsuccessful trip to the World Series.

The franchise had never gotten past the ALDS before 2010, so winning two consecutive American League pennants in their first two visits means it is no fluke and that this team knows how to compete.

Last season the Rangers finished 96-66, which was the second best record in the American League. And in the AL West they left the competition in the dust, as the next best team was the Angels who were 10 games back.

Will 2012, prove to be another year of celebration in Arlington?

Let’s take a look.

THE POSITIVES:

Overall the Rangers line-up, when healthy, is one of the best in baseball. Playing in hitting friendly Rangers ballpark certainly helps, as the team’s overall batting stats are better at home. In 2011, the Rangers finished with the best batting average in baseball posting a .283, and they were the hardest team to strikeout with 930 on the season. Texas finished second in homers with 210, third in RBIs with 807 and had the second best slugging percentage with .800 on the season. And in Ranger Stadium the team is hard to beat, with a batting average just shy of .300.

The Rangers best player Josh Hamilton had a rough off-season, as he fell off the wagon and the concern meter is on high alert. Hamilton’s past does not allow for any slip-ups, but he did this once before during Spring Training in 2009 and went on to win the AL MVP. Turning a negative into a positive seems to be something Hamilton has become very good at. His shame alone should once again make him strive to prove his worth on the baseball field, maybe not another MVP year but a solid one. Also, Hamilton is a free agent after this season and players tend to rev it up in years before they can hit the market.

THE NEGATIVES: Continue reading ‘2012 MLB Team Preview: Texas Rangers’ »

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