Nobody beats the Viz. Nobody
Posted by: Peter Abraham - Posted in Misc on Jul 22, 2007 
Print This Post
| 
Email This Post
Luis Vizcaino is the first Yankee to win both games of a doubleheader since Lindy McDaniel at Cleveland on May 24, 1970.
Official scorer Bill Shannon awarded Vizcaino the victory in Game 2 based on Brian Bruney getting only one out.
Vizcaino on the day: 2.1 0 0 0 0 2. He has a 1.03 ERA since May 28. That’s nearly two months and that’s beyond coincidence and good luck.
The bullpen on the day: 8.1 9 2 2 1 9. Outside of Scott Proctor and Brian Bruney, the relievers were stellar.
The Yanks now trail Boston by 7.5 games and Cleveland by 6.5.
The Yankees made two smart moves today as well. Sean Henn essentially replaces Edwar Ramirez in the bullpen and gives them a long man. That allows Torre to use the newly effective Ron Villone in late-inning situations if he wants.
And while Wil Nieves is a Hall of Fame nice guy, Jose Molina is a legitimate MLB backup catcher.
Johnny Damon had two bloop doubles today that accounted for four RBI. But the guy has made a career on such hits along with an occasional blast to right field. Whether they were good hits or not, he was on base three times and scored three runs. That’s what the Yankees need out of him.
The game plan has been clear since the break and the Yankees are following it. They need to mash through series against these bad teams then see where they are on Aug. 10 when they face Cleveland.
That means win tomorrow behind Pettitte. Then three out of four in Kansas City. Three out of four in Baltimore (including the suspended game), two out of three against Chicago, two out of three against Kansas City, etc.
If the Yanks are 10 or 11 games over .500 before the day off on Aug. 9, they’ll be right in the mix.
You are right, Pete. Bringing Hughes back up soon, and the Yanks can throw out 4 great starters.. Wang, Clemens, Pettitte, Hughes and Mussina as the fifth. They are set up for the stretch run. If they can only shore up the bench and bullpen…
A lot of people have heavily criticized cashman for the Randy Johnson trade (Mike Pags and his Baseline report front and center) saying the yankees got “nothing” for RJ becasue vizcaino was terrible in the beginning of the season and got demoted to mop up duty, ohlendorf pitched poorly in scranton, jackson even worse and alberto gonzalez barely hit his weight.
The RJ trade looks pretty good right about now.
They saved $16 million on RJ and he’s been on the DL three times with that back that is never getting better. In addition he only quieted down when he got an extension.
Right now an RJ for Viz trade straight up would be heavily in the yankees favor. If the prospects contribute anything (and i don’t think we should write off ohlendorf yet) that trade was a steal.
Cashman deserves credit for that.
i can’t tell you how much i enjoy the seinfeld references.
anyone remember when the dude who played the wiz used to do those commercials for mtv back in the early-mid 90′s? he played a lounge singer guy who would sing the big, grungy “hits” (think stone temple pilots) of the day in a very sinatra-esque manner.
Toby Huss
I think it’s a little much to expect Hughes to be a dominant starter during the stretch of the season when the yankees will be under the most pressure. At this point it’s win every game (obviously unrealistic, but at least win every series) or they don’t have a shot. Even with the Red Sox playing .500 ball the Yankees will have to be superb to catch them. I don’t expect the Red Sox to fall apart like they have in the past. Neither will Cleveland or Minnesota (and definitely not Detroit). Seattle and the Angles are both good teams also. If Hughes can come in and give them quality starts 3 out of every 4 times that’s all you can really ask of a rookie. Will that be enough to get the Yankees into the playoffs? Who knows, but let’s hope so.
I think they still have a shot, but they need to go better than 12-6 in the next 18 games (which is before August 10).
If they only go 12-6, they are 10 games over .500 at that point – which is what Pete is thinking.
The next 20 games after Aug 9 are brutal – including the Tigers plus Boston plus Cleveland twice – that will probably mean they can go 10-10.
That leaves them 10 games over with about 30 games left. They need to get to at least 93-69 (24 games over) for a shot at the playoffs – which would mean going about 22-8 in the month of September.
That would be very tough, and 93 wins might not do it either.
They need to win 10 in a row, and quickly.
Vizcaino for Cy Young!
On the flipside though, if they go 12-6, and then dominate Cleveland and Boston, they’re looking great. Remember, they swept Cleveland in April, and if they’re playing well, there’s no reason why they can’t do the same again in August. If they continue their hot streak over the teams they have to beat, they will all of a sudden look REALLY good…
Newly effective Villone?
Seven IP.
Sample size matters.
Hey, Kasey, I know you are usually the voice of negativity here, but if you enjoy Seinfeld and get the references, you can’t be all bad.
The Viz is fo’real. Ohlendorf is coming around, IMO. He’ll be a good reliever. Alberto Gonzalez is a defensive replacement at best, if his bat doesn’t come around. Phil Hughes will be a huge upgrade over Iggy. That much I do know. There is always pressure when a top prospect like Phil Hughes gets to the majors. Just imagine what the pressure will be like for Joba, Ian Kennedy, Tabata, and Jesus Montero.
Did Britton go on the DL?
I read that on some blog..
If he did what is the injury..
thanks…
they still have 1 to many pitchers….
Villone for anything more then mop up will cost us, watch out…
Stuart–Britton has a strained abdominal muscle. It’s a 7 day DL stint, I believe.
thanks Eroc he has a large abdoman also..
Yeah, he is rather big for a reliever. He might rival Bob Wickman in that regard.
“That leaves them 10 games over with about 30 games left. They need to get to at least 93-69 (24 games over) for a shot at the playoffs – which would mean going about 22-8 in the month of September.
That would be very tough, and 93 wins might not do it either.”
This season may be different. I’m not entirely sold just yet that 93-95 wins will produce the AL Wild Card champion.
But take a good look at the remaining schedule this season. It seems to me that these teams are really going to be beating each other up through Aug and Sept.
For the Yankees to get to 90 wins, they will have to finish 40-26 (which is .606 ball – entirely do-able). The quesion is will 90-72 be good enough? Usually, that would be no way. But I would not be surprised if 90 is the magic number THIS season.
BTW, wild card leader Cleveland would have to go 33-32 to finish with 90 wins. Think it’s totally unreasonable for them to only play .500 ball the rest of the way? Take a look at their schedule……
Let’s assume Proctor gets traded for Wigginton (or any position player). When injuries are healed and all gets settled, our staff and bullpen should look like:
Wang
Pettitte
Clemens
Mussina
Hughes
—
Karstens or Henn
Myers
Bruney or Britton
Villone
Farnsworth
Vizcaino
Rivera
—
I’m going to assume that Farnsworth is currently untradeable. I’ve heard nothing that would lead me to believe any team has any interest, so I’m going to assume we’re stuck with him.
When Karstens comes back, I assume he will be the best candidate for long man/spot starter.
Villone (provided he stays effective), Farnsworth, and the better of Bruney and Britton can share the 6th and 7th inning duties.
Vizcaino and Rivera are the staples.
Provided Farnsworth can find some consistency (and Tyler Kepner’s latest post addresses that) and we can get one useful pitcher between Bruney and Britton, that doesn’t sound like bad pen. If we had to make a move, I’d try to find someone to effectively fill the Bruney/Britton position.
August is our playoffs. This team is going to have be up to playing their A game night in night out. Getting Igawa out of the rotation by then is crucial since I think what Boston is getting out of Gabbard, we’re going to get out of Hughes (or better).
Anyone saying you need 95 wins to get the division or the playoffs doesn’t know what they are talking about. It’s impossible to predict at this point.
All of the good teams in the AL are going to be matching up against one another and beating each other’s brains out head to head.
No one knows how many wins mean what at this point when teams don’t even have 60 wins yet.
I’m not saying everyone is going to be .500 from here on out, but the cream is going to rise to the top and a lot of these teams that are wedged together are going to separate once all the head to head play (especially in the central) kicks in.
All the Yanks have to do is keep widdling away. With Boston and Cleveland slugging it out this week, we have a chance to make up ground on someone every night provided we do our job in KC.
Jim–The Rockies have interest in Farns. I don’t know who we would want from the Rockies besides Hawpe, Fuentes, Holliday, and Tulowinski
The Rockies want the Yankees to pick up half, if not most of Farns’ contract.
Oh crap, you’re right, I did hear about the Rockies. I totally forgot about that.
I don’t think there are any teams out there that want Farns. Maybe the Phillies or Braves but that’s about it. Michael Bourn is available for the Phillies. I would like to have Yunsel Escobar(Braves), but that would be an expensive trade. I think Farns will stay though. He has all the talent in the world but mentally and physically he is a liability. A bad back and showing up your team will get you a one ticket out of town. $5.5 million says otherwise.
^^Rockies is only team that like Farns.
From espn, the actual W-L, vs. pythagorean W-L (based on actual runs scored/given up.
Team—————|actWL|pythWL
Detroit Tigers :57-37, 57-37
Boston Red Sox :57-39, 59-37
Seattle Mariners :54-39, 48-45
Los Angeles Angels :56-39, 52-43
Cleveland Indians :57-39, 54-42
Minnesota Twins :50-46, 53-43
New York Yankees :48-46, 54-40
according to this, the Yanks are the 3rd best team in terms of pythagorean WL. if you believe in regression to the mean, the two teams looking to make the biggest adjustment in the second half are the Yanks (getting better) and seattle (getting worse).
right now the Yanks are tied w/ the twins in both real and pythag. WL. also clev. is playing just slightly over their head.
people say that the Yanks have to win the division to get to the POs, but i see the wild-card shaping up in our favor. i’m not saying we’ll win it (or that we won’t win the division), but i don’t see it being a 4-team race.
clev. has 8 games left vs. the tigers, 4 vs. boston, 13 vs. the twins, 3 vs. the Yanks and 4 @ LAA.
darrin was right. their schedule is brutal. they’ve been winning lots of games in the come-from-behind manner (walk off HRs, hits, etc.) maybe that luck can sustain itself, maybe it can’t. they have 32 of 65 games remaining against div. leaders or good teams. i think they’re going to suck. plus, their home/road WL splits are terrible.
seattle will tank, i think we’re better than the twins, and i think there is a strong possibility that clev. will slip a lot in the 2nd half…
wow, that was long.
Whoa
July 22nd, 2007 at 1:12 am
Newly effective Villone?
Seven IP.
Sample size matters.
Last 13 2/3 IP
6 H
2 R
3 BB
10 K
1.31 ERA
All good moves by Cashman. Let’s hope that Henn does not go 14 days between relief appearances.
That headline would be good IF it wasn’t used in 2000 by Jose Vizcaino after the Yankees picked him up and he helped us beat one of his old team in the Mets in the World Series.
Hi, my name is Jose Molina. I have a 43 OPS+ in 40 games this season. I have struck out 30 times and walked thrice. I’ve driven in 10 RBI. For the more advanced among you, I have a .178 EqA and a 0.4 WARP1.
As far as fielding goes, I’ve thrown out 7 of 25 base runners, and I have a 3 RAA.
Nice to meet all of you. Much love to Chris V. Kisses!