The not-so-fearsome foursome
Posted by: Peter Abraham - Posted in Podcast on Oct 05, 2007 
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Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Hideki Matsui and Jorge Posada were 0 for 14 tonight, leaving 12 men on base. The Yankees aren’t going to win too many games when that happens.
Here is some brief audio from Jeter:
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… and from A-Rod:
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That’s it for the blogging tonight. We had nearly 1,800 comments today, so thanks for hanging out here. More of the same tomorrow with posts all day and into the night.
Don’t give up on your squad yet. I detected not an ounce of panic in the clubhouse. This is why you want Andy Pettitte in pinstripes.
Tomorrow- The Stopper! Can we get the stats on Pettite following a Yankee loss???
0-4
0-2
0-4
0-4
one is not totally like the others, sox fan.
Yankees will come through, they will be fine.
Well I see you havem’t completed or done a postgame anaylsis for game 1. I don’t blame you, you probably went to sleep. Let me sum it up. It was Bald Britney Spears on vicoden with a pint of Brandy ugly.
Where was our Ace. In the bullpen (Joba). This playoff game is further reference why we need these kids to grow up quickly next year. The good thing is they pitch for the Yankees which as an orginization will not allow them to slack off or take their talents for granted. These kids have an even keel and have shown they want to be great quickly.
Our big O was still in the locker room. Today the Yankees had the biggest oppurtunity to go into hostile territory and steal game 1 from the opposing team’s ACE no less. We had CC on the ropes but he boxed his way out of it. Everyone did their job by fouling off good pitches and taking them too. CC helped as well with his erratic control. However, like Clemens did against the Sox in the Stadium he was effective when it counted most.
Wang will never be an Ace until he learns a new pitch. He’s got the fastball, sinker and slider. He needs a good changeup or a cutter or something that will bring his repertoire to a new level. His sinker is devestating when its on and his slider has become a stikeout pitch. Unfortunatley, when his sinker isn’t sinking than he needs to depend on the other pitches. Problem here is that his sinker sets up his fastball and slider. So when it doesn’t sink he gets mashed because his slider isn’t polished to where he throws consistant stikes with them. All that being said, this was Wang’s worst start ever. I’ve watched this team day in and day out for the last 3 seasons and I can’t recall how many times he’s given up 2 jacks in one game.
Torre reached into his big bag of foolishness by not bringing in Visc. With men on base. I don’t remember Ohlendorf EVER coming into a game with inherited runners. He might have done it in AAA but there’s a big difference. If we did it for Joba why not O. He didn’t put the kid in the proper place to suceed.
Hughes must be given a start if we move onto the ALCS. He pitched well tonight besides the long ball. And he has stirkeout stuff. He relies on D but he’s got the goods to get K’s. Hughes has over a 120 inn. less than Wang but is only about 40 k’s from Wangs season mark. We saw how painful it was to watch our hitters to swing and miss and CC’s junk.
The Yanks didn’t prove much against the Indian relief, however by the time they were facing the relief the deficit went from 1 to 5 in a flash. The Yankees abadoned patience and were looking for hits which played into the hands of the pitchers. One good sign was Melky’s AB against Bentancourt. He battled and Rafeal didn’t really look so dominant.
Look for big things tomorrow. As long as we get a good peformance and not another steemer outta our starterthe Yanks got this one. Let’s just hope this isn’t that ugly ass series like last year when the Yanks were thinking about off season plans by the time Rogers was done with them.
Yanks win 7-3.
wrote this peice on another site but I felt like sharing
No panic in the Yankee clubhouse and no panic from me. Never give up and never give in. I am not near a ledge or a roof either. I know that the Yankees are still in great shape and plus, I’m afraid of heights!
Andy should have started this game. Wang should have been saved for game three.
Wang will start game 4, then Pettitte in game 5, if necessary.
molina calls a better game than jorje,watch!!!!
On the game recap on Yahoo! Sports is a quote from Sabathia saying that Posada helped him out of the 5th. Posada is definitely going to be an integral part of the Yankee lineup in Game 2, because A-Rod may continue to get intentionally walked as we saw in the 5th inning. It’s definitely up to Jorge to make Fausto Carmona pay for that should it happen. It could easily happen, because Carmona will be a bit nervous, plus he probably remembers A-Rod’s round tripper off of him in Carmona’s last encounter with the Yankees. No matter what A-Rod’s postseason stats are, would you walk him with an open base to pitch to Posada? Yes, in a heartbeat.
Cataya-
What? Mysteriously Joe is going to plug in Molina before Jorge? Molina is a bench warmer baring any injuries to Posada. And Wang not being able to throw sinkers that sink isn’t a product of a bad called game.
All I wanted was a split in Cleveland. I’m confident that’s what we’ll do.
Wang spit the bit big time tonight and it’s a disgrace. The defense didn’t let him down. The offense for the first 5 innings did their jobs for the most part. Wang dropped the ball big time tonight and if I hear any fan booing Arod over this I will kick them. This one is Wang’s shoulders and if he gets a chance to pitch again in this series, he better get away from that scared “they’re gonna hit me” look he had all night.
Send his parents back to Taiwan. Clearly having them there only served to make him pitch worse.
“Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Hideki Matsui and Jorge Posada were 0 for 14 tonight, leaving 12 men on base. The Yankees aren’t going to win too many games when that happens.”
They’ll win even less giving up 10+ runs a game.
Molina actually does call a better game than Jorge, but I doubt we’ll see him unless it’s Clemens(slim chance), Hughes, or Mussina pitching.
What are the chances Wang comes back on short rest to pitch Game 4?
There are lies, damned lies and then there are statistics!
Statistics can be very useful in suggesting that what has happened in the past is a precursor to what will happen in the present.
But then again there is always the chance of a different outcome with each new situation no matter how similar it is to the past.
I have every expectation that Andy will give it everything he’s got tomorrow based on his past record in big games and this is a BIG game for the Yankees.
Unfortunately, given the recent history of Yankee bats becoming silent in the face of quality pitching in postseason play as well as the regular season this year; will they muster enough runs to for it to matter how Andy pitches?
This is a MUST WIN tomorrow given that Clemens and Mussina are up next after that. Given their recent history I am not at all comfortable with putting the hopes and dreams of the whole season on the line with them.
I imagine I am not the only one who is confounded by the setup of the pitching rotation and game 1 use of available pitchers.
RollEZ,
Jorge is our #1 catcher but,some of the games he calls leaves you wondering.By no means will joe ever replace him,nor do I want him replaced.Molina is just methodical and stealth to me IMO.
_Unfortunately, given the recent history of Yankee bats becoming silent in the face of quality pitching in postseason play as well as the regular season this year; will they muster enough runs to for it to matter how Andy pitches_
Jesse, ironically you’re opinion is based on, uh, um, um.. statistics.
I just got home fom a biz trip. I saw the game in a bar in SF.. If anyone is giving up on the yanks after 1 game they are literaly moron losers. WHo thought they would go 11 and 0 in the playoffs??????
Wang obviously pitched bad, they will be fine… all you need is 1 loss to get all the whiners and losers to post..
the Yanks had there chances and jorge especially di zero and 2nd was hideki.. v=cleveland got the big hits and that is the story..
Is there some kind of contest going on between the New York sportswriters to see who can bash Arod the best? If there is I think you should point out that he didn’t walk fast enough down to first tonight. I mean c’mon, you call that walking? What a jerk Arod is. Those walks were very un-clutch. Not like Posada’s strike out with the bases loaded, I mean a walk there would have scored only one run, and really who cares about one stupid run, right? Or Matsui’s pop up, that guy could have dropped that pop up and we would have gotten like 2 runs. At least Matsui was clutch enough to not walk there. And you really cant criticize a guy like Matsui, just remember all those rings he’s won. You also shouldn’t forget Captain Clutch and his almost super human 0-4. That guy never ever fails when it counts. Never. Ever. And Melky hits eighth so his 0-4 really means nothing. I mean you cant expect a # 8 hitter to actually get on base, that’s just silly.
I’ll take an 0 for 4 with 2 strike outs and 5 men left on base day (which Posada and Matsui both had) over 0 for 2 and 2 stupid, chokey, un-clutch walks any day.
Pete, and everyone. we have a very large Yankees fan group on the popular social network called Faceook (35,000+) and one of our admins named Aditya Bhise posted this:
Yankees in ALDS:
2006 ALDS: W Game 1, L the series
2005 ALDS: W Game 1, L the series
2004 ALDS: L Game 1, W the series
2003 ALDS, L Game 1, W the series
2002 ALDS: W Game 1, L the series
2001 ALDS: L Game 1, W the series
2000 ALDS: L Game 1, W the series
-only aberrations were 99 & 00 and those were two of the best yankee teams ever…plus we owned texas then
1997 ALDS: W Game 1, L the series
1996 ALDS: L Game 1, W the series
1995 ALDS: W Game 1, L the series
and lets throw the two ALCS’s in there for good measure
2004 ALCS: W Game 1, L the series
2003 ALCS, L Game 1, W the series
In my opinion as not only a Yankee fan, but a baseball fan, I hate bandwagoners that give up the second a problem comes along. WE’RE THE YANKEES! stop acting like red sox fans people.
Pete is right, knowledgable Yankee fans are right. If you’ve lost faith after tonight, you’re not a fan.
At the most crucial moment of the game, down 4-3 in the fifth with the bases loaded, Jorge swung at Ball Four and postseason RBI #1. That, I think, was the game. You felt the momentum shift right there. I felt it. And I think Posada and Sabathia felt it too.
As for the Wanger, def worst start of his career…statistics and all. I wonder if having his parents fly from Taiwan to be in the stands for this made him choke.
Talk about pressure.
Yanks will still take this series. Sometime today, I thought, “Maybe it’d be better if they lost and they come out raging in Game Two?”
Now I am sure I believe it.
GO YANKS!!!!
Peter,
Believe me, I’m plenty calm and have plenty of perspective. Like you said, it’s only one game. Win Friday and you go home with a split, which is what you wanted to begin with. BUT…
I said this during Wang’s last start: His velocity is not there. He’s missing 3-4 mph and that sinker doesn’t look heavy at all. Seriously, go back and look at the footage from his last start, and then look at last night’s game. I saw Wang once, maybe twice, hit 93 on the gun. Most of the night he was 91-92. This begs the question – why?
Is he tired? Hurt? Dead arm? These are very reasonable questions and I hope you can help get to the bottom of it. Look at the footage. Look at the gun.
Everyone has bad games, and Wang has been great for the Yanks since the day he got to the bigs. But when someone loses velocity, you have to ask some questions. The Yankees need to look for those missing miles per hour. Maybe it’s lost in the same hole as Phil Hughes’?
Your thoughts would be much appreciated. Thank you.
Jack Helmuth
Brooklyn, NY
Captain America – that was one of the best posts I’ve ever seen on a sports site. Very well said!
stick a fork in the cubs
the cubs are 0-5 in the postseason after trailing 0-2
atleast Lou has Zambrano ready to go in Game four
Thank you Mr. Helmuth.
Pete, I have an idea…why don’t you ask A-Rod why he stinks so bad ? Tell him that his o-2 with 2 walks last night was a major factor in the Yankees Loss and see what he says….WAKE UP !….POSADA and MATSUI were the bats that left 10 men on base between them….A-Rod left a whole ONE MAN ON BASE and his OB PCT. last night was .500 and NONE OF THE BATTERS Behind him came through AT ALL…. You sports writers don’t really like A-Rod…admit it. If you did, you would take this SO OBVIOUS chance to leave him out of ANY BLAME for last night’s loss….because he is NOT TO BLAME in ANY WAY…..It is totally sick that the NY Media seizes every opportunity to bag on the man…If the Yankees TEAM ends up doing poorly in the playoffs ( which I am very sure will NOT happen ) I would bet my last penny that you and the other NY Writers will blame it on A-Rod again ( even if it is NOT his fault ) and that could be the straw that broke the camel’s back. Lay off A-Rod, man !
you people that take this post as Pete bashing A-Rod are ridiculous…
Stop being so damned paranoid
I would think that you now have to replace Matsui with Jason for tonights game. Matsui has just lost everything at the plate. 3 straight strikes without swinging???? He has to get his eyes checked.
Melky is something like 15 for the last 100 at bats. We needed him to at least get on base last night but he has been just terrible. Don’t know what to do with that because you can’t put Damon there either.
Posada took his hacks on very difficult pitches. I wish he would have held up on one of those high fastballs but it still could have been called a strike.
Saucy, apparently you didn’t read the other post/blog pete wrote regarding arods 0-2 night and how he needs to hit.
pete, get a clue! when it comes to last nights game, arod shouldnt even be mentioned…agan, one more time, last night was about WANG, POSADA, MATSUI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!