Today in The Journal News
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- April
- 29
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Phil Hughes returned to the majors and looked like his old self as the Yankees swamped the Tigers.
Alex Rodriguez took some live hacks yesterday. This notebook also has updates on Jorge Posada, Chien-Ming Wang, Nick Swisher and Jose Molina.
Sam Borden writes that the Yankees didn’t go far enough in their ticket cutbacks.
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on Wednesday, April 29th, 2009 at 8:45 am by Peter Abraham.
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Chad Jennings
Sam Borden
Josh Thomson
arod can’t come back soon enough.
now all we have to do is fix the cf mess and this team is well balanced.
gardner right now has to be taken out of the lineup.give melky a shot & if that doesn’t work look at other options.
i don’t know if ajax is an option but gardners 250 obp will not cut it.
“Alex Rodriguez and the Yankees have moved up A-Rod’s target date and are now shooting for a return to the team sometime in the first week of May, sources say.
Rodriguez and the Yankees were originally calling May 15 the target date for his return, and that is still the publicly stated goal. However, Rodriguez’s progress has been so good, both he and the team are hopeful he can return more than a week earlier than first expected.”
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.c.....index.html
Don’t look now, but Melky’s hitting .325/.413/.625.
Now, I don’t expect that to continue, but if his plate approach from yesterday continues, he has to be the starting CF.
If he swings at eye level fastballs or foot-outside fastballs while up 2-0 in the count…
V -
I was happy to see Melky take his walks yesterday and praying he wouldn’t strike out!
The only thing that saves him from being overly maligned about not being effective with RISP is that the entire team is lacking in that area.
He needs to keep faith in himself and not try to do it all in one swing. He’ll be fine if he does that.
Doreen,
I like your points, but from what little that I saw in the game, he took a bases loaded BB up 5-0 (not against the Red Sox). I dont know what else he did in the game, but that’s like an AROD up 3 or more runs home run.
And, he’s obviously the starting CF. Brett Gardner is a little leaguer, and I hate to insult little leaguers. He cant even use his speed effectively in the outfield or even bother to attempt to steal 3rd the way Jacoby steals home.
hughes last night is a concrete proof of the success of the plan to develop young players.
what’s been lost in this improvement and looking forward is having an edge each and every day and every game.
the yankees seem to have developed a forward thinking that is waiting for players to peel off and new ones to replace them. the idea is the future will be better.
the problem is each year it takes for a hughes to get older and more ready a jeter, posada, and mo is a year older.
keep the forward looking , but get an assistant to cashman who’s only job is paying attention to winning today who oversees making sure the team jells at the right time like the beginning f the year when games matter as much as later, for important series, and peak for the playoffs.
cashman is just asleep at the wheel on giving this team at a hungry edge like the red sox have on a day to day basis. i’m not saying fire him.i’m saying get him some help. he needs to delegate winning everyday while he focuses on the future.
Hughes looks like he’s put on a little weight since we last saw him. Now he looks like a pitcher! Great to watch him shut a good Tiger lineup down last night.
sam, please lay off the crack. The article was right on top of it. The cuts they made to the ticket pirces don’t combat the problem of the average fan. The rich people were the only people that could afford the old ticket prices and the rich are the only ones that can afford the new ticket prices.
Which is fine, more rich people can buy seats, but don’t say this is for the average-income fans, because it wasn’t. They arent lowering the prices of the single ticket games yet either, so have a ball shelling out the 2,625 if you want to go to one game.
So, Randy, Epstein’s a genius, right? I mean, Penny+Saito+Baldelli+Smoltz = GENIUS offseason moves, right?
christina,
instead of swine Sam focusing on the positive of what the yankees did, the story’s got to be negative. Sam might as well work for ESPN, FOX, NBC, or CBS if all he’s going to do is write garbage.
If $325 is too much to pay for a ticket, then the potential ticket buyer isnt a true Yankees fan. I bet when the Red Sox come to play us, the Red Sox fans (tried and true, but scumbags nonetheless) will scarf up those $325 tickets.
Sam (not the great) -
Well, I look at it as “you have to start somewhere.” Do it in a game like last night, get some confidence, and take it into a closer game, maybe.
I don’t see the benefit of turning a positive situation into a total non-accomplishment.
And, Melky did walk 2 times in that inning. Once as the second batter, the second time to walk in a run, which allowed Molina to hit his GS.
Serious question here. I’m going to sound like a complete newb but my friend claims he was able to bring in his own food and drinks into the old Yankee stadium. We have tickets for this Saturday and he plans on doing the same. Is this really allowed? I thought there was no way in heck the Yanks would let you do this.
Also, do they now charge you to see Monument Park or any of the new areas?
I love the idea that anything is a pointless hit, walk or homerun. The way Yankee pitching gets sometimes, a bases loaded walk up 5-0 is not a do nothing run.
I can’t afford $325 dollars seats. So that means im not a true fan……insanely flawed logic..
This is more a function of how bad the pitching has been than anything…
But Phil Hughes has been the 3rd most valuable pitcher for the Yankees so far this season…
no charge to see any area of the stadium and if they are in a clear bag you can bring food in to the stadium…at least I did last week. Anything you bring in beyond a certain size (purse size) needs to be in a clear bag
It feels good to be on the right side of a double digit inning for once.
You’re right Doreen. Maybe he can start valuing every AB in every game. I still hope that Cashman is looking around for a someone else for CF, i dont want Jackson brought up. I still cant believe we didnt bring back Abreu on a 1 yr deal. What a joke. Our depth went to waste, and Nady was a waste to begin with.
randy
I think the Theo is getting more credit than he deserves. Yes they have been doing well since 04 but you could find many cases he screwed up.
That 04 team was more a product of the former GM. He has changed SS as often as people change underwear. Lugo is probably the worst one he has gotten. They owe him 9 mil per and won’t find a team as willing to take him like they did Renteria.
Gange is another one. I could keep going but I think you can see my point.
If you listen to the call in radio here you would think that the callers were some that blog here. One loss and the team is falling apart.
“So, Randy, Epstein’s a genius, right? I mean, Penny+Saito+Baldelli+Smoltz = GENIUS offseason moves, right?”
v-
i agree with you he’s no genius , but he delegates much better than cashman. the red sox have many more layers of help. some how it comes out as a team that has an edge. they kicked the yankee’s ass last weekend. they were ready . the yankees weren’t.
get casman the lone ranger some help. take a look at the red sox front office on mlb.com and then look at the yankees and you’ll see the difference.
“I like your points, but from what little that I saw in the game, he took a bases loaded BB up 5-0 (not against the Red Sox). I dont know what else he did in the game, but that’s like an AROD up 3 or more runs home run.”
Melky also walked earlier in the inning before the Yankees had scored a run. He also got the first Yankee hit of the game off of Jackson.
He looks like a different player so far this year, hopefully he keeps his patience at the plate and doesn’t try to become a HR hitter.
Say what you want about Melky, but right now he is helping more than hurting, and he is far better at the plate and in the field than Gardner.
By some people’s logic, Cano’s .380 is basically a waste, because he doesnt hit well with people on base. But without his .380, there would be far less runners in scoring position. There is no such thing as a useless AB.
“i agree with you he’s no genius , but he delegates much better than cashman. the red sox have many more layers of help. some how it comes out as a team that has an edge. they kicked the yankee’s ass last weekend. they were ready . the yankees weren’t.”
They were ready? They were 1 better pitch from MARIANO RIVERA and 1 non-melting down Burnett away from losing 2 of 3.
Yes, at the end of the World Series, results matter more than anything. However, you can’t expect Rivera and Burnett to put up stink bombs every day (if they do, we’re in trouble).
Says Posada will play today, but why not give him an extra day to heal? Molina is actually hitting, and Posada can always come PH later on, but better to be safe no?
Sam
I don’t see that bringing back Abreu would have helped CF. It would have just added to the glut of CO not help in center.
you are allowed to bring sealed water in. As far as the food goes, technically I don’t think you are allowed. It all depends on the person who’s line you are on. That said, I’ve never had trouble bringing in food.
It doesn’t make sense to me that it’s Cashman’s fault the Yankees were swept and Theo’s responsible for the Red Sox playing so well. The GM’s built their teams but the players have to play. Even the coaches hardly have much effect on the outcome of games. Wins and losses are all on the players.
“You’re right Doreen. Maybe he can start valuing every AB in every game.”
We can.
http://www.fangraphs.com/wins......eason=2009
Melky was the 3rd most valuable Yankee yesterday, after 1) Hughes, and 2) Posada.
A couple of useless grand slams when the Yanks were up 6-0 on Saturday sure would have come in handy!
no one knew that Nady would blow his elbow out. When he is back, and alex is back, and tex and cc get back to where they usually are after april, we will be fine. just have to ride out the usual april woes. should be used to it by now.
If Melky continues to play like he has, he can help this team win games.
He will still have some AB’s where he swings at anything and look horrible at the plate. However, he has exhibited better AB’s (more like his 2006 AB’s) so far this year. A world of difference from last year.
If that continues (big “if”), he’s not only going to be the starting CF for the rest of this season.
Its really up to Melky. Its pretty clear he got his job back. However, with Austin Jackson breathing down his neck within the organization and opportunities to upgrade CF outside the organization, he is going to have to work his butt off to keep the job.
Hopefully, he’s up to the task.
Sam, Tex,
For the most part, a 5 run lead will hold up against any team not named the red sox. against the red sox, im concerned about a 15 run lead.
Really? How bout Cleveland? How bout Tampa? How bout KC?
We lost games to all of them giving up more than 10 runs.
Sam,
Simply because I can’t drop $325 for a 1 game ticket when I work in education, pay a mortgage, and have a baby on the way makes me less true of a fan. Still makes absolutely no sense.
Some people are never happy. If a player is playing well, it doesn’t count, but if he has a bad at-bat in the same situation, he stinks.
So if Hughes pitches that well again, and then he does it again, and again, what happens? We have six starters in CC, Burnett, Pettitte, Joba, Hughes & Wang.
Wang will sort it out and bounce back. He was too good not to. Hughes & Joba will be on limited innings. Joba in the bullpen is a joke of an idea.
Since Wang can’t be demoted, will the team just find ways to DL him and give him a ‘rehab stint’ or two, until someone gets hurt or until Joba / Hughes get close to their inning limits?
Will Hughes be used for the 1st half of the season and be sent down so Wang can be used again in the 2nd half?
Will Joba, Hughes & Wang be juggled at the major league level all year depending on who’s got the hot hand?
Speaking of innings … after missing half a year due to injury, would they want to run Wang right back out there this season for 220+ innings anyways? If Hughes is available and able, would 180-200 innings be better for Wang in the long run?
Would Wang be considered for a trade? If a started becomes expendable in light of the team’s OF weakness, would Kennedy be a better option? I know Kennedy’s unproven but I’ve always preferred keeping Wang to trading him, and still do. There are other ways to improve the OF.
If all six ‘current’ starters somehow remain healthy all year, I see no down side to keeping all six other than finding enough work for Joba, Hughes & Wang. Then, when Pettitte’s contract is up, the rotation looks solid for next year. With Hughes & Joba still being so young they have room for improvement too.
I wonder where the ‘Hughes is overrated’ and ‘Trade Hughes’ crowds will be when Hughes really gets going in ‘10 and beyond. Maybe hiding under the same rock as the ‘Joba belongs in the bullpen’ crowd, once they see Joba developing into a great starter?
Tex,
We gave up 1, 1, and 6 to KC, not 10…and never held a lead of 5 runs in any of those games.
my point was big innings. we give them up a lot and at least once a series it seems.
As good as the outcome was for hughes last night his stuff and approach were even more impressive.
On a night when he didn’t have his best curve ball – the pitch that’s been his out pitch – he was still able to dominate a very good hitting team for 6 innings.
He’s 22.
He made adjustments and focused on establishing his fastball, using his curve enough to keep them off his fastball (though the fastball he k’d polanco on was a thing of beauty…), and mixing in the cutter (which the detroit hitters did not square up well at all).
Just a phenomenal start. I think he was better last night then he was in that second start he made as a pro against texas when he was throwing the no hitter before getting hurt.
That night he was a two pitch pitcher – four seamer and curve. He was dominant that night because his curve was fantastic and he had great fastball command.
What made last night so impressive was that he didn’t have his best curve or even his best fastball command and he was still dominant. That’s just unbelievably impressive.
He now throws two kinds of curves, a cutter, a two seamer, and a change (which he used a couple of times)
If he brings that level of stuff or even better he is going to be terrific. No question.
The most controversial move the yankees had to make (besides the insufferably joba to the pen media controversy…) was whether to trade for Santana.
Last night you saw why they didn’t pull the trigger on the Santana deal.
One of the things Cashman said during the Santana deal was that when they were considering trading away Hughes he felt as if he were trading away a future Cy Young award winners.
Yankees fans and the media ridiculed that notion (michael kay…). But we saw that last nigh.
Imagine having him throw that kind of game for Twins. Imagine having to use Aceves last night and for the rest of the month because hughes was out of the rotation.
He’s 22. And he did that last night without his best stuff.
Of course now because it’s the yankees people will move on to the next fake controversy – oh no what happens when wang comes back!! Joba to the pen!!!! Trade wang. Send Hughes down, etc. etc.
All of those suppositions depend on the assumption that a team can in fact have “too much” starting pitching.
But that simply isn’t the case. There is no such thing as too much starting pitching. And I very specifically mean – starting pitching.
Question – how bad has the bull pen been the past two games?
What a coincidence. They get two quality starts and the pen doesn’t implode. How about that.
SJ –
Melky & Cano appear to have turned themselves around since last year. But it’s not even May yet.
Cano has the higher upside at the plate and has shown he can & should finish a season with a 300+ average. The expectation with him is that he should have one of the higher BA’s on the team. So far it looks like he’s finally on is way without needing such a kick in the arse wake up call again.
Do you see Melky as being on a little hot streak before settling down as a career .270s / .280s hitter or do you see .300 potential there too?
new post
“They were ready? They were 1 better pitch from MARIANO RIVERA and 1 non-melting down Burnett away from losing 2 of 3.”
yeah, and if that iceberg would have melted the titantic would have been in good shape too
Ansky — It’s not a ripe question yet because we don’t know that Hughes can maintain this level of competition, but if he can, if he is 2006 Hughes? I have to consider trading Wang for a young outfielder. The problem is I don’t think we can get enough value for what Wang is really worth considering his current alements. I can’t imagine teams giving us 19 game winner value for him just now. Wang is tradeable to me if we can get a “OF of the future” type of guy. Just my two cents.
CB -
I agree. The outcome was icing on the cake. The performance was stellar.
ANSKY,
I know you asked SJ, and I am no expert, by any means (:lol:) but just casual observation, Melky hasn’t looked particularly “hot” at any point, and I think that’s why people are kinda surprised to see the batting average where it is. So, maybe (?) – maybe it’s sign of true growth rather than a streak? I hope so.
the rs beat on the yankees because arod is out,cf is a mess & our pitching stunk.
to battle the rs you can’t have melky,gardner,pena/berroa in the lineup at the same time.
we will be fine & we have tons of pitching in the minors also.maybe not as much overall talent as the rs but not far behind.
we are right there with cano,wang,hughes,joba,ajax,melancon & more.
what happens if hughes,melancon,joba,ajax,brackman & one or two more turn out to be stars?
we pull even or blow the rs away.
it is early & time will tell based on performance going forward.
the rs prospects are a year or two older than the yankees prospects on average so it is unfair to compare.
bowden is almost 24 yrs old,anderson almost 23 yrs old & so on.
hughes will be 23 in june & we have seen a lot of him since 07.
i believe it is a matter of the rs bringing their prospects up at the right time but the yankees at times bringing in theirs a little too early.
if we can develope a few pitching stars like hughes,joba & a few more,a few position prospects we will be ok.
what a difference one game makes.
francessa on wfan ripping the yankees saying the rs are better on every level & then hughes pitches an absolute gem with melancon doing ok also.
a year ago everybody saying pedroia is much better than cano.right now cano is destroying pedroia.5 hr/17 rbi to 1 hr/7 rbi.
i take cano now in a minute.
The guy who almost no-hit the Rangers showed up again last night. That game was a joy to watch. Hughes had good command and real life on his fastball. The curve that he threw to Polanco was sick. How many time do you see a major league batter duck out of the way of a strike? He got away with a few mistakes, but a little luck never hurts. I think that Hughes could have gone out there for another inning if not for the time that it took for the Yankees to put up 10 runs in the top of the 7th. Good for Hughes and great for the Yankees. The way that Jackson was pitching last night, the Yankees needed a great effort and they got one.
It is becoming increasingly apparent that Molina is a much better catcher than Posada. It isn’t even close at this point. It makes sense that Mussina wanted Molina to catch his games. I would bet that most of the Yankee pitchers prefer Molina, but most would not say anything because Posada is a veteran and a leader of the team. Molina calls a great game. He has soft hands and he is calm behind the plate. Posada always seems to be jumping around back there. At times it seems as if there are some pitches that would be called strikes that are called balls because Posada doesn’t hold the glove still or even try to frame the pitch.
Posada is a much better hitter than Molina, so I hope that Girardi can find ways to have Posada’s bat in the lineup on a regular basis, but I would like Molina to be behind the plate more frequently.
Chambliss; During last night’s post game, YES showed NYY pitchers stats so far this year with Molina and with Posada. There were 4 or 5 stats, I don’t remember them all because they only showed the graphic briefly, but they were decidely in Molina’s favor. He not only had the best % in throwing out runners last year, he also had one of MLB’s lowest catcher ERAs. The one stat for this year that I remember was team ERA with Molina is 2.89 and with Posada it is 7.99. People can say what they want about bivariate stats etc. but there must be something to it.
Please lets use some common sense here. You can use stats to make your point either way. Stats don’t tell the whole story.
Who did Posada catch? I think Wang would destroy the stats for either catcher. Team ERA is bad so it is on the pitcher as well.
I saw to many times when Posada set up for a pitch and it wasn’t thrown in that location. The pitch to Lowell that he hit out was supposed to be low and away. It was thrown up and in. Catchers fault? No.
Pitch to Bay from MO, supposed to be low and away. Instead right down the middle. Catchers fault? No.
“It doesn’t make sense to me that it’s Cashman’s fault the Yankees were swept and Theo’s responsible for the Red Sox playing so well. The GM’s built their teams but the players have to play. Even the coaches hardly have much effect on the outcome of games. Wins and losses are all on the players.”
patrick-
it doesn’t surprise me that those who tend to be sabermetrically inclined think it will all just work out over time, that coaches don’t matter, that clutch and having a winning edge don’t exist.
the point is everything matters. looking ahead, looking behind, and having an edge now.
the yankees have beaten a mediocre team in the mid west one game, but they got their butts kicked when it mattered in the northeast in a big series.
until the yankees can do what they did yesterday in boston in a series that matters we don’t know anything about their ability to win in crunch time.
that said , hughes performance was just what the yankees needed . as i said last night, he was up to 92-93 after 90 pitches with command.
patrick , you should start a movement to get rid of wins and losses as a measure of success because you don’t seem to believe wins matter. maybe just go by bill james pythagorian theorm to create the standings.
i’m just saying all isn’t well just because hughes looks like he’s arrived. he’s one guy. they need to get it going so that they are operating on all cylinders.
with that i’m out of here. work beckons.
randy
I think the first game in Detroit showed some signs that things may be starting to improve.
I think CC pitched his best game yet. And by pitching the CG in gave the BP some much needed rest.
They do need to start hitting but I think you can see some positives.
I think the series against the RS was more the Yankees needing to get there act together rather than the RS being superior. If I was a RS i wouldn’t have been very satisfied with the pitching in the first 2 games.
Isn’t there a saying that you are only as good as you starting pitching? I do think the Yankee Pitching is better than they have shown.
i got kicked out of a game at old yankee stadium for bringing my own food. too bad. i figured the food there was too expensive. plus, i haven’t had a barbeque in a while…
(credits to Steven Wright…)
honestly, never had a problem bringing in snacks/candy. my father is a diabetic, so we pretty much always had a bag of some type of candy with us.