Two important hitting streaks
Posted by: Peter Abraham - Posted in Misc on Jul 17, 2007 
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The Yankees have won seven of their last nine games and have averaged close to seven runs a game.
Two reasons why are Melky Cabrera and Hideki Matsui.
Cabrera has hit in a career-best 12 straight games (19 of 52) with seven RBI. His batting average has gone from .254 to .275.
Matsui has a 11-game hitting streak (16 of 44) with 10 of the hits either homers (six) or doubles (four). He has scored 12 runs and driven in 10 in those 11 games.
When the Yankees played well last summer, Cabrera was usually involved and that is the case again. He and Robbie Cano may be the two best trade chips Brian Cashman has. But they also are the only two players in the starting lineup who were born in the 80s.
The Yankees need some guys who can gleefully chest bump after a game. Cano and Cabrera have flaws and I’m not sold on either of them. But at least they seem to be enjoying themselves.
Matsui is provided the left-handed power the Yankees throught they had in April and never did. It’s hard to intimidate the starting pitcher when only one guy is hitting homers. Now we’re seeing a team that can fall behind and – single, single boom! – catch right back up.
Here’s a couple of other numbers that caught my eye:
Derek Jeter has sit safely in 77 of the 89 games in which he has had an at-bat.
Johnny Damon is 3 of 18 since the All-Star break and has gotten the ball out of the infield five times. Maybe the Yankees should let him grow the long hair back.
Mariano Rivera’s last 10 appearances: 12 9 1 1 0 11. He’s now throwing his two-seam fastball along with the cutter and proving every day he’s worth an extension.
Kei Igawa has thrown 931 pitches in 51.2 innings. The scout who recommended him shouldn’t be fired. He should be made to watch him pitch.
I’d rather watch paint dry than watch Igawa pitch again.
Please let him join Bean in Triple A Hell.
Pete, I agree with you on Cano and Cabrera. I love their exuberance, particularly Cabrera. I think Cano gets a little bit of a bad rap on effort because he is so fluid and smooth.
I love the idea of making the scout that recommended Igawa watch him pitch. That is definitely a fate far worse than getting fired. He is so dreadfully painful to watch. I hate to agree with Michael Kay, but he was right during last night’s game when he was talking about his terrible body language out on the field.
born in their 80s…heh.
Typo aside, I love this blog.
One of the Jays hit a rocket to center which was caught to end the 4th last night. Igawa looked like he was mentally defeated. His body language said it all. Not that he doesn’t have reasons for feeling that way; He can’t throw low in the zone, he has lousy location up, and he walks too many batters. Other than that, he’s fine. I can’t believe that one of the youngsters currently in the minors could do worse.
This guy is the Japanese version of Ed Whitson. For those of you too young to remember him, he was the free agent most people used to talk about when referring to players who couldn’t cut it in NY.
Okay, here’s the scenario we can all wish for the next time (last time) Igawa starts:
He goes 7 innings, throws 135 pitches, and after giving up 12 hits and 5 walks somehow leaves the game with a 4-2 lead. Kyle Farnsworthless starts the 8th, walks the leadoff man and then allows a single. After a trip to the mound by Gator the next hitter hits the next pitch out and the Yanks trail 5-4. Kyle is removed and as he enters the dugout he throws his glove and hits Igawa, breaking his sunglasses. They get into a fight and though suffering no real damage the result is that they both suffer Pavano-like injuries which put them on the DL for the remainder of the year.
Alex hits a game-winning 2-run homer in the 9th to win the game and the Yanks bring up Britton and activate Hughes and go on to win the division.
One can only dream!
Yes I agree with Pete. Let Samson grow back his hair.
I’d rather trade Farnsworth to Philly for leftover meatloaf.
The thing about Igawa that puzzles the heck out of me is that he is both horrible with minute flashes of brilliance. I don’t know many other pitchers that can hold a 6 or 7+ ERA and strike out 7+ batters a game. It’s frustrating and baffling. I honestly don’t think he’s ML ready and is probably at best a AAA pitcher. Trading him for a mid level prospect would be an upgrade.
Pete, you are selling the Yankees a little short. Yes they have won 7 of 9, but isn’t it more impressive to say they have won 9 of 12? Sorry to nitpick, just my two cents.
If anyone out there has a calculator — assuming neither pitches again — how much did Iguana cost per start versus the Raja?
Look can we stop worrying about how much busts have cost. Why don’t we also calculate how much Proctor and Villone have cost us per inning in the past 15 months?
I’m not sure that’s a fair comparison as the Rajah is definitely not pitching again for the Yankees, whereas, unless Igawa is traded, he’ll probably rear his puckered face again, if only to justify his cost. And even so, with a trade, another team is going to pick up some of the money owed on his contract lessening the blow… but it’s definitely one of the worse players I’ve ever seen signed here. Now… Fukodome… this is a player we *need*.
sunny615, you can’t blame me for hoping
You are right, I definitely can’t Yankee Boy. I’m right along with you on that one.
Bob in NC,
I like that scenario except for one thing–in a fight with Igawa, there is no chance Krazy Kyle sustains any injuries of any kind…not even a bruised buttocks. Only a linebacker stands a chance against him…perhaps we can work Lawrence Taylor into this somehow?
As for everything else Pete wrote, all I have to say is bench Damon, free S.Duncan!!
Better than benching Damon, we need to DL him for 60 days.
Brilliance and Igawa should never be in the same paragraph.
I think that scout already committed hara-kiri.
maybe torre should remove damon from the lead off spot and give melky some time up there . damon says he’s healthy and ready but i dont see it . hey , he bumped abreu a few slots down in the order why not damon . damon is looking weak up there . matter of fact , it looks like the ball is going to knock the bat right of of his hands when he makes ” contact ” . damon isnt helping at this point , he’s hindering . melky , jeter , abreu , arod , matsui , posada , cano , phillips and bat damon 9th for torre’s infamous double lead-off stragey.
Definitely let Johnny Damon grow some hair back! I think I said that a couple of weeks ago, when I noticed he’d cut it even shorter than when he first joined the team.
“Johnny Damon is 3 of 18 since the All-Star break and has gotten the ball out of the infield five times. Maybe the Yankees should let him grow the long hair back.”
He’s the moron who keeps chopping it off. No one said to get a Marine haircut.
“Better than benching Damon, we need to DL him for 60 days.”
That’ll work too!
I was actually thinking about that before…sorry if this sounds like a stupid question but can the Yankees force Damon to go on the DL? I mean I think most of us agree that it is the right move and hopefully the team feels the same. If they approach Damon and ask him to go on the DL and he says no, can they just put him on anyway?
His foolhardy pride about never having been on there, despite the fact that he CLEARLY needs to go on now, is so detrimental to the team and really irks me. Sometimes I want to smack some sense into him, lol.
What is wrong with Damon anyhow? Is he through after many yrs of crashing into walls and teammates? Does he have a tumor on his pituitary gland? The guy had a broken bone in his foot last year and had a great season and was a terrific sparkplug – remember son of Boston Massacre! This year he looks like an old horse that is ready for the glue factory. Is he done or what? What do others think? What about you Pete Abe? Darn… he has 2 years left on his contract at $13 million a year…wonder if that had anything to do with his being overweight and out-of-shape when he reported to spring training. He’s never recovered.