for every good thing mussina could tell hughes and kennedy, he’ll tell them something that’s just total baseball bs, so the net result is that listening to mussina won’t net them anything.

that’s why i’m sticking with my belief that he can’t teach them anything.

when neil allen taught wang his sinker, he also told hem to go up and in occasionally to stop hitters from moving up on the plate to get the sinker before it sunk. how would mussina give this kind of advice when he doesn’t believe in going up and in.

what’s hughes supposed to do with a great curve if hitter’s sit on the outside of the plate the way they do with mussina, it’s not enough to give isolated tips. if it’s not part of an approach that works ,what good is it?

1) on WFAN
2) via the AP

Both times he again sounded like an arrogant a** and made things worse.

“O’Neill, a broadcaster for the YES Network, isn’t scheduled to work another game until next week in Chicago.” Hopefully he will make things right then.
Http://tinyurl.com/57vaqh

See also: http://tinyurl.com/65tzjj

You do realize that Hughes has only started 3 games so far this year, right? Anyway, my point is you said Hughes and Kennedy can learn nothing from Moose.

I just pointed out to you where Hughes has said that Moose helped him with his curve which IIRC is considered his best pitch.

What are the chances that every batter that Moose has ever faced blinked at the exact wrong time in their at-bat? His 250 would be a little skewed

what if he tells them it’s not worth pitching up and in to set up their low and away off speed pitches?

umm , hughes era is 9.00. that would be a good story if hughes era was 3.00 .

What youngsters do the Yankees have at their disposal at this point in time? If there were any available young pitching talent in Scranton, bring ‘em up! For all the hype about our depth of pitching prospects, there isnt anyone ready or available at this time.

I think it’s still too early to give up on Damon or Giambi just yet. But the clock is definitely ticking.

Situation/Cano Career Slugging % after reaching that count

First Pitch: .565 (324 ABs/balls in play)

1-0: .498 (614 ABs where a 1-0 count was reached)
2-0: .500 (164 ABs)
2-1: .482 (224)
3-0: .310 (29)
3-1: .394 (71)

So when he works into a hitter’s count, Cano’s slugging % is actually lower than when he hits the first pitch. And also note how it drops further when he gets to 3 balls. Of course some of these ABs result in walks too but he has taken so few BBS in his career that I think it is safe to ignore. So there is no net benefit for him to be in a hitter count since his productivity actually drops realtive to hacking at the first pitch.

The flipside of this of course is that “working the count” sometimes results in taking a strike or two. So lets check results where he is in a pitcher’s count.

Count/SLG % (#Abs)

0-1: .427 (749 ABs)
0-2: .309 (288)
1-2: .375 (349)
1-1: .429 (539)
2-2: .391 (252)

Pretty striking. Not only does his slugging percentage fall dramatically as expected but he is much more likeyl to be in a pitcher’s count than a hitter’s count if he doesn’t put one of the first 3 pitches in play. (As evidenced by only 1002 total ABs at 1-0, 2-0 or 2-1 compared to 1925 ABS at 0-1, 0-2, 1-1 or 1-2 in the situations where he doesn’t put the first pitch in play.)

My intuition tells me that he is fairly unique in this respect. As a quick check, I looked at his polar opposite a Proefssional Hitter (TM) like Bobby Abreu:

First Pitch Career Slg%: .619

After 1-0: .665
After 2-0: .840
After 2-1: .702
After 3-0: .545
After 3-1: .816

After 0-1: .445
After 0-2: .352
After 1-2: .309
After 1-1: .469
After 2-2: .392

Contrary to poular belief, Abreu does not hit well with two strikes. In fact he and Robby post fairly comparable results when falling into pitcher’s counts. But in dramatic contrast to Cano, Bobby becomes a much better, almost Ruthian hitter when he works the count to his favor which compensates for the risk of taking strikes. And this also ignores the considerable number of walks he works from these hitters sounts.

The guy knows pitching. The problem is, he doesn’t have it anymore.

Doesn’t mean he can impart his wisdom on the young kids.