Pregame notes: Look for a mistake, hit that mistake
Posted by: Chad Jennings - Posted in Notes on Oct 18, 2010 
Print This Post
| 
Email This Post
Marcus Thames has odd career numbers against Cliff Lee. Thames is a career .147 hitter with 15 strikeouts against the Rangers ace, but of his seven hits, three have been home runs and two have been doubles. Thames has a career .500 slugging percentage against Lee.
There is a lot of good and a lot of bad in those numbers, and in some ways, that makes Thames exactly the kind of hitter the Yankees want in the lineup tonight.
“The guy’s got good stuff, but when he’s made some mistakes, Marcus has got him,” Girardi said. “We talk about a guy that, when he makes mistakes, you’ve got to get him. Marcus is that type of guy.”
The Yankees have a patient lineup. Brett Gardner is off-the-charts patient. Nick Swisher is patient. Girardi singled out Alex Rodriguez and Jorge Posada as hitters who show quite a bit of patience from time to time. Against Lee, Girardi said, those hitters need a slightly different approach.
The Yankees plan to be more aggressive tonight. Not aggressive to the point of always swinging at the first pitch, but to the point of always being ready to swing at the first pitch.
“We have guys that will go up, take a pitch and try to work the count,” Girardi said. “When we say ‘Be aggressive,’ it’s being ready to hit the first pitch. If it’s not your pitch, don’t swing at it. But just be ready to hit the first pitch… Chances are you’re not going to get (a seven-pitch at-bat) off of him.”
The Yankees came from behind against Lee back in August. The rallied a little bit against him in Game 5 of last year’s World Series. How did they do that?
“We had good at-bats,” Girardi said.
• Girardi has not decided who will catch A.J. Burnett tomorrow. “We’ll worry about that tomorrow,” he said.
• Any chance he changes his mind about the Yankees Game 4 starter? Girardi laughed. “We are on rotation is probably the easiest way for me to put it,” he said.
• Lance Berkman is a career .375/.375/.625 hitter in eight career at-bats against Lee, but Girardi said he never considered taking Thames out of the lineup. “Marcus has been our DH against lefties this whole time,” Girardi said. “He’s done a good job. I don’t see any reason why we would change.”
• While he stood by his decision to go with Burnett in Game 4, Girardi said A.J.’s somewhat wild sim game might have been a product of his time off. “I think it played into it,” Girardi said. “The only thing he had done was some light bullpens. He couldn’t really get the work he would normally get in between starts because he was active in the bullpen for us. He couldn’t throw a 35-40 pitch side session, because he wouldn’t have been available the next day for us.”
• Ron Washington said he went with Mitch Moreland at first base today, “Simply because of the at-bats he’s been giving me, how he’s been hanging in there.”
• Washington, doing his best John Sterling impression: “You are very reassured that you have a guy like Cliff Lee, but as I said, it’s tough to predict baseball. You can have your very best out there and things don’t go your way. You can always do things right in this game, and you still get bad results.”
• The Yankees have been pitching very carefully to Josh Hamilton ever since Hamilton homered in his first at-bat of this series. “We all know the numbers he put up against right-handed pitchers,” Girardi said. “He hit over .400 from June to August, and those three months are probably as good as any player has ever had. You have to be careful.”
• Girardi talked pregame with Hal Steinbrenner. He said the conversation was nothing out of the ordinary, just a general chat about the state of the team. “It was a good conversation,” Girardi said.
• Have the Yankees always had the POW/MIA flag, the Purple Heart flag and the City of New York flag at the top of the stadium in right field? They’re there now, which seems new, but I might simply have never noticed them.
• Tino Martinez is here to throw out the first pitch.
Associated Press photos of Cano, and of Martinez with Reggie Jackson
SJ, do you think it will matter to Lee if the Rangers beat the Yankees and get to the WS in terms of whether he’d be more inclined to stay in TX?
SJ, do you think it will matter to Lee if the Rangers beat the Yankees and get to the WS in terms of whether he’d be more inclined to stay in TX?
Money talks.
/Forever in blue jeans
even after reading Girardi’s quotes about the best way to attack Lee I’m sure it will take about 5 pitches in the 1st inning (max) before the blog starts complaining about not working the count on Lee…
0 Days, 1 Hour, 15 Minutes until Game 3 of the ALCS.
Betsy,
No. He will take the best offer.
Hal: So, Joe. Incarcerated Bob says you’ve been telling your closest associates that you’re going to leave the Yankees. Is that correct?
Joe: Who’s Incarcerated Bob?
Even if the best offer is from the Nationals?
mercenary.
Does Bret not understand that trading for Santana/Roy Halladay also required top prospects and then having to sign him??? For a lot of money??? The yankees werent going to let Lee walk, he would have got his deal after the season.
Every baseball player is literally a mercenary, including Bernie Williams, Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte, A-rod, Cano, Posada, Mariano Rivera
if I’m Cliff Lee I already have a good friend (CC), another starter with the same agent (AJ), and a winning tradition in the Bronx.
In Texas I have very high heat (one reason he didn’t pitch very well there in the summer) and new ownership without much of a track record.
His best chance to win multiple rings in his career is in New York, by far. He doesn’t need the money and most assuredly wants multiple rings and the Hall of Fame. Both of these have a chance in New York and there is basically no chance in Texas; he’s coming to New York unless the Yankees won’t pay him (which is highly unlikely).
Hi Chad,
Here are Ruby Tuesday’s Five Absolute Certainties for tonight’s game :
(One) The Texas Rangers will lead by three runs (at least) by the end of only the first or second inning .
(Two) The Yankees starting pitcher will have an E.R.A. of twelve point zero zero (at least) for the game .
(Three) Cliffie Lee will strike out ten Yankees (at least) .
(Four) Cliffie Lee will pitch a complete game shutout .
(Five) The Texas Rangers will win this game .
Why is dude’s name incarcerated bob? I did not know they let you tweet on Rikers Island.
Isn’t everybody a mercenary?
Anyway, Lee will be this decades David Cone….
An actual absolute certainty:
Ruby is home alone, again.
In a perfect world, all these multiple-name crackpots would turn out to be one a**hole.
…and that a**hole’s fingers would fall off.
Chad – I seem to recall those flags always being there.
I have to say, there is a lot of psychopathology out there. Reading too many of the comments here the past couple of days, it seems that they’ve all come to roost here.
(this one’s for you CR9)
0 Days, 1 Hour, 12 Minutes until the first terrible ball and strike call of Game 3 of the ALCS.
Tom in N.J. October 18th, 2010 at 6:49 pm
Isn’t everybody a mercenary?
*********
Nope.
Tex turned down the Nationals highest offer.
Bernie turned down the Sox highest offer.
‘rumored 7 year 90 million dollars’ (Bernie gouged the yankees for 7 years 87.5 million)
Yankees topped the Red Sox offer when it looked like he was leaving.
I think Bernie talked to the Boss.
Bernie turned down a 60 million dollar deal from the yankees. A mercenary if I ever saw one.
Tex turned down a chance to play for his home town Orioles.
Bret
I think your confused as to the definition or mercenary.
A mercenary is anyone who doesn’t sign with the Yankees.
Lee rarely makes “mistakes” and rumor us he’s never walked a batter.
The Yankees need to get to him early on before he settles down.
Andy will need to be very good. Like 7 IP/ 0 runs good.
Keep those antlers off the bases.
If I were a yankee and I hit a late inning, lead taking/extending HR, I’d sprint around the bases with hand antlers. I really hate that antler/claw crap.
How come no one is talking about how many pitches Cliff Lee had to pitch in Game 5 against the Rays? Going 9 innings obviously affected Roy Halliday and I’d be curious to know how Lee performs the start after he throws 120 pitches, especially late in the year – a year that he’s had back problems.
Jerkface October 18th, 2010 at 7:04 pm
If I were a yankee and I hit a late inning, lead taking/extending HR, I’d sprint around the bases with hand antlers. I really hate that antler/claw crap.
———————————————————————————————–
I find it interesting that the majestic creatures they see themselves as emulating on the base paths are also good enough to be blown away, stuffed, and hung on their clubhouse wall.
We should have been eating Venison this series.
Not Chicken.
A mercenary is anyone who doesn’t sign with the Yankees.
———-
They turn into mercenaries because the team usually can’t/won’t afford to sign them. They Yankees tend to not have mercenaries because if they play well at all they end up getting signed.
If you want to be the best you have to beat the best. Before we deified Lee Let’s see if we can beat the tar of him tonight.
As far as FA goes with Lee, time will sort it out. He will be a Yankee or he won’t. The whole thing has been played out so many times on this blog. Just wait and see what happen…
The Yankees don’t do antlers, claws, cowbells, hankies, rally monkeys, or any other latest sensation type of minor league promotion. The fans energize the team without the use of silly distractions.
Damon and Swisher did that, um…..cunning linguist…thing last season.
Hey Eduardo,
I think some of your best posts were when you needed someone to agree with yourself.
This one’s not really an oldie but it’s definitely a goldie.
” stuckey99-
There is a definition of “hero” in Webster’s dictionary. I refer you to LGY post October 13th, 2010 at 11:13 pm. The views of CR9 fall under the criteria set forth by Webster’s. Clare and GB7 do not ultimately define what a hero is. ”
Tom in N.J. October 18th, 2010 at 6:44 pm
Money talks.
/Forever in blue jeans
*************
That song is so underrated
It’s also good for karaoke
Then let’s hope the Yankees make the best offer……………either way, the fact that he was upset at not being traded to NY in July means nothing.
Texas will be a contender for a long time…………and the division is not as brutal as the East. The Yankees are certainly no lock to make the playoffs every year as they have been, not with the Jays and Orioles knocking at the door.
Also, Lee’s struggles probably had to do with his back…….
Texas will be a contender for a long time
–
Nah. Why do you say that?
Why should Tex have accepted the offer from the O’s ? They stunk.
Why should Tex have accepted the offer from the O’s ? They stunk.
-
If he wasn’t a mercenary he would have taken it, and according to Trisha the O’s are amazing. Just imagine if they had Tex!
Why nah? They apparently have an unbelievable farm system, for one. They’re going to be good.
Jim October 18th, 2010 at 7:07 pm
How come no one is talking about how many pitches Cliff Lee had to pitch in Game 5 against the Rays? Going 9 innings obviously affected Roy Halliday and I’d be curious to know how Lee performs the start after he throws 120 pitches, especially late in the year – a year that he’s had back problems.
—————-
he hasn’t thrown as many pitches as 120 almost all year but in 2009 he threw 3 great games after 120+ pitch starts, all on regular rest so I doubt it’s an issue at all.
I don’t get why fans begrudge players the right to make $$……….anyway, I won’t call them mercenaries because that makes everyone in the world who takes a job for money a mercenary. It has a negative connotation………..Now a player who takes more $$$ from a crap team instead of slightly less from a contender? That’s just dumb.
Pre-show is on. Wind is whipping and Eckersly’s hair is paying the price.
Why nah? They apparently have an unbelievable farm system, for one. They’re going to be good.
–
They won’t be contenders for a long time. As they win their draft picks will get lower, reducing the system, the players who are currently good will sign elsewhere, because no matter what they say they won’t maintain a 200 mil payroll. And their young players will take time to coalesce into a functional group. Much like the Tampa Rays, they will have 2-3 year windows of ‘contendering’, where in everything needs to go right. Followed by years of being a regular 80 win team.
We will see how big Nolan Ryan’s pocks are when Hamilton and Cruz are eating up arbitration and hitting free agency, same with Feliz and CJ Wilson.
Also their division, while not the East, is not a slouch. Oakland is trouble some because of their park, and the Angels and Mariners both spend 100 mil on their payroll.
The Rangers are good…THIS YEAR. They had almost all the same pieces minus cliff lee, and didn’t make the playoffs last year. They made the playoffs this year thanks to the Angels glorious down fall.
TBS screwed up. They went to Lee video. Who’s voice was superimposed? Cashman’s. Talking about Pettitte.
The Rangers won 90 games, color me scared, contenders!!!
More like right place right time.
Enjoy the game folks.
May good fortune smile on our Yankees tonite.
Enjoy the game all!
Jerkface, the AL West just isn’t that great.
I think that’s taking a pretty negative tack on the Rangers………..and the Rays for that matter. Even so, the Yankees are not guaranteed to be contenders. Only one team can win the division and only another team can win the WC – if indeed the WC comes out of the East. I don’t think there will ever be another run like the Yankees had, of making playoffs 15/16 years or whatever it is.
We’ll see what the Yankees do with Lee, but I don’t think they’ll go WAY overboard to get him. If the Rangers or some other team want to do something stupid and Lee wants the $$ more than he wants to come here, than so be it.
The Rangers had the Angels and the Mariners in significant bad years for them.
I don’t think the Rangers are going to contend all that often. The Angels will make some adjustments and be the division winner again. They used this year to save some money, saw that they didn’t do well, and will go after some pieces to knock off Texas.
Jerkface, the AL West just isn’t that great.
I think that’s taking a pretty negative tack on the Rangers………..and the Rays for that matter. Even so, the Yankees are not guaranteed to be contenders. Only one team can win the division and only another team can win the WC – if indeed the WC comes out of the East. I don’t think there will ever be another run like the Yankees had, of making playoffs 15/16 years or whatever it is.
We’ll see what the Yankees do with Lee, but I don’t think they’ll go WAY overboard to get him. If the Rangers or some other team want to do something stupid and Lee wants the $$ more than he wants to come here, than so be it.
–
Betsy, look at the AL Central. The Tigers spend a lot of money, where does that get them? Just having a farm system, and a payroll, does not give the Rangers anything. You know why I would consider the Yankees to be contenders for all eternity? Because they will DO WHATEVER IT TAKES to win.
No other team in baseball shows that. If the Yankees have a problem, they trade for it or sign it for more money than anyone else has.
The yankees consistently put better teams on the field than everyone else in baseball. The rangers have always been in striking distance of the AL west. They are not going to be contenders because of 1 year in which they actually struck.
The yankees and red sox are on a whole different level from the Rangers. The rays are gutting their team next year. They had a 3 year window to compete, and they missed it.
The Jays have to prove all the guys in their lineup that had career years are more than one hit wonders before they are any sort of threat.
The reason they were projected to be so awful this year is. Because the talent simply wasn’t there. Then out of nowhere Jose B is smashing 50 bombs.
For all those that dare not venture into the void known as “The Game Thread”, wish those that do good luck.
You also are ignoring the rest of the AL West. The teams are not ‘great’, but the Mariners and Angels spend money. More money than the Rangers do now. And the rangers bumping up payroll is only going to MATCH those teams.
This just in!
We may win – or we may lose!
Ok, we’ll see about the Rangers. None of us knows what Lee is thinking, but I think there is something to the fact that he’s bonded (or whatever) with his teammates. If the Rangers make an a fair offer, I can definitely see him staying. I’m not getting my hopes up just to have them dashed, lol.
The Jays have excellent young pitching……..
I mean even Jose Molina had a very good year offensively by his standards.
Too many things went right for the Jays this year.
The jays have always had an excellent something…or a dangerous something…or a good something. I think you’re confusing ‘being an average to above average team’ and ‘going to the playoffs’ Betsy…
West Coast Yankee Fan October 18th, 2010 at 7:48 pm
This just in!
We may win – or we may lose!
*****************
To quote Jimmy Dugan in the classic “A League of Their Own”……..
“We’re Gonna Win!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
Jimmy Dugan may have been Tom Hanks’ best role.
Possibly, Jerkface………I did feel the Jays would be good this year, though
Well, I guess we are going to see if my plan works. Washington will definitely take Lee out now.
Can the Yankees sign Jose Molina for one game tomorrow?