Thursday notes: Hughes committed to the change
Posted by: Chad Jennings - Posted in Notes on Mar 17, 2011 
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Phil Hughes said this start was a lot like his previous start. The home run he allowed was on a flat cutter, his fastball command took another step forward and his changeup was inconsistent but effective. He called the outing a step in the right direction.
“The changeup was not great tonight,” he said. “But I threw a couple of quality ones and I just have to be sure that I continue to use it and not fall into that pattern that I did last year.”
For Hughes, the changeup is old news, but it’s also an ongoing situation. Hughes was happy with the changeup when he left camp last spring, then he neglected to use it through the first half of the regular season. This spring he hasn’t been quite as thrilled with the pitch, but he said he’s more committed to using it. He’s seen enough results to know it can be effective.
“I’m going to (throw it) just because I’m going to force myself to,” Hughes said. “Last year I didn’t do that. It might not have been outstanding today, but I’ll have days when it’s good. I saw some results tonight on it. The few I did throw to neutralize those bats that really got to me last year, Joyce and Johnson stand out, those are two guys that really hurt me because they were sitting on fastballs.”
Oddly enough, Joe Girardi singled out the changeup as one of the things he liked about Hughes outing.
“I know people harp on that changeup a lot,” Girardi said. “But he had it at the end of last year and it’s just a continuation.”
• Joe Torre said his return to Steinbrenner Field was a trip he’d been looking forward to making, and it was made more comfortable by the fact he returned to Yankee Stadium last season. “I don’t think the emotion will ever go out of it because of what these 12 years meant to me that I spent here,” he said. “But it’s not sad by any stretch of the imagination; it was a great run. You cant appreciate the good times unless there were some bumps along the way. I wouldn’t change a thing. The last three years were stressful, but that’s all part of it.”
• Torre has been invited to Old Timers’ Day and he plans to attend, which means he’ll be back in pinstripes this year. “Whatever (uniform) they give me,” he said. “As long as they don’t ask me to play, it’s okay. I never did that in a Yankee uniform.”
• I didn’t see it, but the word around the stadium was that Yogi Berra tripped again today, only this time he was caught by Rays manager Joe Maddon. Berra is fine.
• Alex Rodriguez has a home run in three straight games, and he has a hit in each of his 11 games this spring. He’s batting .406.
• Nick Swisher’s go-ahead home run in the seventh inning was only his second extra-base hit of the spring. He’s had more at-bats than anyone else in Yankees camp. The Yankees got the win, 3-2.
• Hughes said he wasn’t too down on himself for the first-inning run. He jammed Johnny Damon, who fought off a single, then Hughes thought he struck out Evan Longoria on a 2-2 fastball but he didn’t get the call. “That run I can get out of my head a little easier than a cutter that was flat and just a bad pitch 0-2,” he said.
• Appearing in a game for the first time since March 4, left-handed reliever Boone Logan allowed two hits but ultimately pitched a scoreless seventh inning. The Yankees had his velocity up to 92-93 mph, a nice step forward from his earlier spring outings. “Sometimes that little extra rest in this period is good for guys,” Girardi said.
• Speaking of Logan: He faced four lefties, striking out Matt Joyce and John Jaso, getting Dan Johnson to fly out and getting Reid Brignac to hit a ground ball to second that went for an infield single.
• The Yankees had only three hits tonight, but two were home runs. The third was a triple by Curtis Granderson, who was left stranded. Of the Yankees five base runners — Robinson Cano walked twice — three scored.
• Joba Chamberlain came through this morning’s throwing just fine and will likely throw a bullpen this weekend. That’s the plan right now, anyway. “See how he feels tomorrow, but today was good,” Girardi said.
• Everything is still on track for Sergio Mitre to pitch tomorrow. He felt fine after yesterday’s bullpen. “It feels like it’s been a long time,” Mitre said.
• Romulo Sanchez has hard-to-hit stuff, but his command is erratic. Tonight he walked three in two-thirds of an inning, but Steve Garrison bailed him out with the final out of the eighth. Luis Ayala pitched the ninth for the save.
Associated Press photos, the one in the middle is of Berra and Girardi with Don Zimmer, at the top is Swisher signing autographs. That’s Hughes at the bottom. And I have no idea why I labeled them in that order, but I’m sticking with it.
Swisher kills the Rays. They could acquire Cliff Lee and he’d homer off him.
Is there some rule that whoever plays St Johns shoots like 80 percent 3 pointers
# GreenBeret7 March 17th, 2011 at 9:52 pm
Giuseppe Franco March 17th, 2011 at 9:45 pm
I’d rather hear GB doing play-by-play than Michael Kay.
I never hear Sterling’s play-by-play, so I don’t hate him like others who do listen to the radio feed frequently.
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Thanks, GF. If I could hook up a mic to this site, I could do recreations….bat hitting bal by Rodriguez “THWACK”, Bat hitting ball off of Rivera on a bad day (think of hitting a mosquito with a rolled up paper) on a good day, “SWOOSH”, vendors hawking peanuts and beer, cotton candy and beer.
———-
LOL. Sounds like you could be the YES version of Michael Winslow (from Police Academy fame).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....re=related
I’ve officially had my fill of hearing about Hughes and the change-up.
I don’t think any pitcher gets micro-analyzed quite like this guy.
Move one.
LOL. Sounds like you could be the YES version of Michael Winslow (from Police Academy fame).
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Either that or watching too many of the old Batman tv shows
# stuckey99 March 17th, 2011 at 10:14 pm
I’ve officially had my fill of hearing about Hughes and the change-up.
I don’t think any pitcher gets micro-analyzed quite like this guy.
Move one.
———
I think Joba could give Hughes a run for his money in the micro-analyzed department.
I’m more interested in his curveball than the change; IMO, that’s more important to his success.
After every game, there’s a thread about the SP – not sure why tonight should be any different
I think AJ Burnett wins the most scrutinzed pitcher award. They even broke it down on the MLB network the last time he pitched.
Phil will get it together. whether it be change up, curve, cutter, whatever. He just needs not to be predictable by relying on only 2 pitches. Glad he’s working on being more well rounded.
Since it’s Hughes that’s doing the “microanalyzimg”, what’s the issue? He’s never satisfied with his performance. It’s better than denying everything.
“Swisher kills the Rays. They could acquire Cliff Lee and he’d homer off him.”
He did hit two HRs off Lee in one game last year. But yes, I recall Swisher killing the Rays the last couple years, especially at Tropicana Field. He even pitched that shutout inning against them!
If Hughes dOes what he Did tonight the majority of games then he will win 20 with the Yanks lineup and bullpen.
On Fox…from Kevin Towers:
“GM Kevin Towers, who spent last season scouting with the Yankees, offers yet another ringing endorsement for the Yanks’ top pitching prospects – and actually likes right-hander Dellin Betances even better than lefty Manny Banuelos. Betances, 6-foot-8 and 245 pounds, “might be King Felix,” Towers says. Banuelos? “Teddy Higuera in his prime,” Towers says, “but with a better arm.”
I hope those comments by Towers doesn’t provoke yet another barrage of unfounded rumors involving Justin Upton.
List of players and their agents
http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/agencydatabase
I’m sure it will, GF. Surprised that Towers would be that openly high on another team’s players. It wouldn’t help him to get them at a cheaper rate. Pat M., I believe had made the Teddy Higuera comparison for Banuelos a month or two ago. Really surprised over the Betances/Hernandez comparison though.
Today. Spring Training or not – love to see this.
CLIFF LEE:
IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA
4.0 7 5 3 1 4 2 5.54
PAPELPUKE:
IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA
0.2 2 4 4 2 0 0 12.60
I dont think the Betances/Felix comparison is all that fair considering that Felix was already throwing 200 innings and dominating in the big leagues at the same age Betances is now. Maybe his upside is somewhere close to that but he has a lot of refinement mechanically to do before he’s there from what I’ve seen. Love the potential though.
Blake, I agree……..but I’d even be careful saying anyone’s upside is even within hailing distance of Felix
randy l. March 17th, 2011 at 10:34 pm
” Randy’s just jealous because Orville Moody took a personal interest in my golf game.”
orville watching you play golf was like people who can’t take their eye’s off a train wreck.
randy l. March 17th, 2011 at 10:34 pm
” Randy’s just jealous because Orville Moody took a personal interest in my golf game.”
orville watching you play golf was like people who can’t take their eye’s off a train wreck.
randy l. March 17th, 2011 at 10:35 pm
so gb7, the yankees are looking good aren’t they .
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Randy, Orville thought so much of my golfing dkills he recommended that I go on tour and teach it in Vietnam.
yeah, really impressed with the pitching right now. I’m happy that they’re now going deeper against the better line-ups and still pitching well. Rodriguez is just out of his mind right now. Not striking out and hitting everything hard up the middle
Having upside of a Felix type pitcher is good but the likelihood of reaching that ceiling is equally important if not more so.
blake March 17th, 2011 at 11:01 pm
Having upside of a Felix type pitcher is good but the likelihood of reaching that ceiling is equally important if not more so.
________________
I’d rather have the upside of Hernandez than the backside of Colon…
Blake, Towers is not one to blow smoke and has quite an eye for talent….especially pitching. He must see something there more than just stuff.
I wonder if Towers just put a bullseye on Cashman (inadvertantly) such that any trade he attempts will have other GMs holding out for these kids.
Brackman has gotten lost in all of this.
There’s a pretty awful game going on on MLB Network. The Padres and Rangers. They’re in the 3rd inning and the Rangers are losing 10-0 after making 5 errors so far. Since I’ve turned it on they’ve made 2 errors. Now the score is 11-0. Yeah they’re so much better than the Yankees.
Bojo, could be…….but other teams would demand them anyway as they’ve done their scouting
Tom in N.J. March 17th, 2011 at 11:09 pm
Brackman has gotten lost in all of this.
______________
If he commands his curve and change–he’ll have plenty of attention soon enough. We might be looking back in July and saying this kid slipped under the radar in ST due to his injury…
Betsy–
Probably right…Personally, I agree with Rich in that I hope we don’t trade any of the top 10.
Betsy March 17th, 2011 at 11:11 pm
Bojo, could be…
___________
Or were you agreeing with me about the upside vs backsiode comment?
Bojo, well some of these kids will eventually be traded, but we’ll see how things go at the deadline. I don’t expect much – other teams demand more from the Yankees than from other teams and I don’t think Cash likes being held hostage.
Utley has left camp with patellar tendonitis in his knee and is going to see a specialist.
Too bad about Utley…a great player whose career started too late and may be ended too soon
I really liked what I saw from Brackman. his first outing he had control, the second outing not so much. But his curve is nasty. Too bad his injury kept us from seeing more of him. Dissapointed that he wont get another inning in ST. But I look forward to seeing him some time this year.
Betsy–
I am glad Cashman is walking away and not giving in. His strategy of developing internally is really starting to pay off.
Too bad we couldn’t sign Cole a few years ago too…people would be calling for breaking up the Yankees if he was in the pipeline.
Bojo, how old was Utley when he reached the majors? Is patella tendonitis serious?
GB – Sad news about Utley. Again, points out that you don’t win on paper.
Joe, what exactly is patella tendonitis? I know it has to do with the knee, but is it serious? I wonder if he’s having knee issues because of his hip issues.
Utley “chased” Placido Polanco out of town in 2005 when he was 26…very late start. IMO, he had HOF talent if his career was long enough.
Is patella tendonitis serious?
___________
Best to ask Joe the doctor.
Good for Phil!
Bojo, thanks!
My pleasure B–
Just waiting to download Archer, and then bedtime… Funny show if you haven’t seen it.
Joe, always hate to see injuries to anybody, but one that appears to be a possible chronic type to a star player who by all accounts is a good guy makes it worse. I think that Beltran is heading down that same road. Grady Sizemore still hasn’t played I don’t think, so he’s another one. I wonder how much those hard slided into 2nd on steal has to do with it?
OK! Download started…good night (again) night people!
test
Guys, this thing keeps eating my posts.
Complications
By Mayo Clinic staff
If you try to work through your pain, ignoring the warning signs your body is sending you, you could cause further tendon damage and other complications, such as:
?Weak leg muscles. As your leg compensates for the pain in your knee, your thigh muscles (quadriceps) and calf muscles can weaken.
?Torn tendon. Your body can’t keep up with the continued wear and tear on your tendon, leading to larger and larger tears in the patellar tendon.
?Chronic knee pain. Knee pain can persist if the factors contributing to patellar tendinitis are not addressed.
Joe, check to see if you have some magic words that the filter thinks is bad like ***Di ck*** Allen. Everything else is showing up from “test” on down to “Guys….”
Last time –
the patella is your kneecap. When you bang your kneecap, it hurts like heck. Tendonitis is inflammation of the tendon that holds it in place. So, your knee hurts whenever you try to flex or extend it.
Utley hasn’t played much this ST, and this is the second or third opinion he’s getting. Doesn’t sound good.
I doubt Brackman is lost in the management’s mind. It’s not like either of the three Bs had a real shot of making the team. Brackman will be in Triple A, and if he pitches well, he could make the team this year. Hardly forgotten if not as hyped as the other two.
as big al says, when you try to compensate for pain, you put other parts of your body at risk. I always think of Dizzy Dean getting hurt in that All Star game, and never being the same (broken toe that he tried to pitch through).
Good night, all.
Got your message this time, Joe. Did you figure out the issue? Every once in a while, my log-in and password disappears (usually after a long and great job of composing a post, that happens) and I lose everythin.
GB7 -
No, that’s Randy screwing with you.
Joe, thanks!
That’s why I thought this could be an effect of Utley’s hip injury………I remember worrying if Phil was going to have arm problems because of physical adjustments he may have made due to his leg injuries. Poor Utley – I really feel for him.
Randy knows better than to mess with me. It was a nasty job, but, I’ve got pix of him and Nurse Karloff in the shower. Not a pretty sight.
GB7 -
Hope he had soap on-a-rope, lol.
Baseball players don’t perform postgame monologues. They respond to questions.
Baseball simply doesn’t lend it self to pitch-by-pitch analysis. Make not mistake, people on the internet abhor a vacuum so things that literally don’t matter get examined and debated to a degree so out of whack people have stopped recognizing it.
Major League baseball doesn’t lend itself to game-by-game or even series-by-series analysis either. ML Baseball is a slow cook game. Trends appear over weeks and months, not games and certainly not innings, and super-certainly not pitches. My god man, doesn’t anyone see this?
Believe me, I know I’m not stopping the game-by-game analysis, but in the name of all that is good and holy I’m going to stop people from putting ANY weight on anything that happens in A baseball game or willingly give my life trying…!!!!!
Betsy -
More info, if you’re interested.
Symptoms
By Mayo Clinic staff
Patellar tendinitis:
Pain is the first symptom of patellar tendinitis. The pain usually is located in the section of your patellar tendon between your kneecap (patella) and the area where the tendon attaches to your shinbone (tibia). During physical activity, the pain may feel sharp — especially when running or jumping. After a workout or practice, the pain may persist as a dull ache.
The pain in your knee may:
?Initially be present only as you begin physical activity or just after an intense workout
?Increase as you step up the intensity of your activity
?Progress to be present before, during and after physical activity
?Make going up and down stairs painful
?Become a constant ache that can make it difficult to sleep at night
stuckey99 March 18th, 2011 at 12:12 am
Baseball players don’t perform postgame monologues. They respond to questions.
Baseball simply doesn’t lend it self to pitch-by-pitch analysis. Make not mistake, people on the internet abhor a vacuum so things that literally don’t matter get examined and debated to a degree so out of whack people have stopped recognizing it.
Major League baseball doesn’t lend itself to game-by-game or even series-by-series analysis either. ML Baseball is a slow cook game. Trends appear over weeks and months, not games and certainly not innings, and super-certainly not pitches. My god man, doesn’t anyone see this?
Believe me, I know I’m not stopping the game-by-game analysis, but in the name of all that is good and holy I’m going to stop people from putting ANY weight on anything that happens in A baseball game or willingly give my life trying…!!!!!
———————————————————————————————————————-
What the Hell are you mumbling and rambling about now?
The answer Betsy, it can be very serious. Utley may be in for a very long recovery period.
Treatments and drugs
By Mayo Clinic staff
Patellar tendinitis treatment is a long process, no matter what type of treatment you’ve chosen. Recovery may take a few weeks or months if the injury isn’t too severe, or as long as a year or more for people who undergo surgery.
Most people with patellar tendinitis find pain relief and improvement using conservative treatment — meaning treatments other than surgery. Surgery for chronic patellar tendinitis (often called patellar tendinopathy or patellar tendinosis) is rarely performed. However, if you have persistent signs and symptoms for over a year, you may want to discuss the potential benefits and risks of patellar tendon surgery with your doctor.
Conservative treatment
The conservative approach to treating patellar tendinitis aims to reduce the strain on your tendon and then gradually build up the tendon’s strength. Your doctor may suggest several techniques to accomplish this, including:
Rest. Rest doesn’t mean giving up all physical activity, but avoid running and jumping. Your doctor can suggest other ways of staying active without stressing your damaged patellar tendon. It’s especially important to avoid any activity that gives you pain.
Adjusting your body mechanics. A physical therapist can help you learn to better distribute the force you exert during physical activity. For instance, an athlete who jumps frequently might learn proper takeoff and landing techniques.
Stretching your muscles. Inflexible muscles, especially inflexible thigh muscles (quadriceps), contribute to the strain on your patellar tendon.
Strengthening your tendon. A physical therapist may recommend specific exercises to strengthen your patellar tendon and the muscles around it. Exercises can also help strengthen your quadriceps. A specific type of exercise for strengthening the quadriceps called eccentric strengthening has been shown in some studies to help treat and prevent patellar tendinitis. This strengthening exercise involves lowering weight slowly after raising it, such as a seated knee extension exercise.
Patellar tendon strap. A strap that applies pressure to your patellar tendon can help to distribute force away from the tendon itself and direct it through the strap instead. This may help relieve pain.
Iontophoresis. This technique involves applying a topical corticosteroid medication to the area affected by tendinitis. A small device then uses an electrical charge to deliver the medication through your skin. Your physical therapist can assist you in the application of iontophoresis.
Corticosteroid injection. An ultrasound-guided corticosteroid injection into the sheath around the patellar tendon can help relieve pain and make it possible to perform strength exercises that otherwise may be too painful. You’ll need to follow activity restrictions for at least three weeks after the injection, including avoiding jumping or running activities.
Massage. Massaging the patellar tendon may help encourage tendon healing.
If you’ve recently developed patellar tendinitis, you can expect at least several weeks or months of conservative therapy before you’ll be able to fully resume physical activity, including jumping. If you’ve re-injured your patellar tendon, the time for healing may be even longer.
Surgery
You and your doctor may consider surgery for your patellar tendinopathy in select cases if more conservative approaches aren’t helping after 12 months of treatment. There is little research into the best surgical techniques for patellar tendinitis, so the procedure you undergo often depends largely on your injury, as well as your surgeon’s preferred method. Surgery may include repairing any tears in your tendon or removing any badly damaged parts of your tendon.
Most people who have had patellar tendinitis surgery are able to resume athletic training within about six months. In some cases, however, recovery may take up to 18 months.
GB7 -
If he doesn’t think baseball leands itself to game-by-game, or series analysis, then what does he expect, season by season analysis only, that’s nuts.
AL, he just needs to stop watching and reading about the games and wait until the season’s final stats appear and mumble then. Talk about a bow-hard.
GB7 -
Its St. Patty’s Day, perhaps a little too much of the green beer.
GB7 -
Perhaps he should only blog about baseball every several months, since everything is in slow motion, it won’t matter.
He’s the east coast version of West Coast and his little imaginary playmates.
Later Al. I’ve got to be up early and finish building my shed out back, then restart remodeling inside the house after a break.
GB7 -
A walk on the 3rd rail should help him out.
Perhaps they’re the book-end kids.
The Lohud Yankee blog comments section doesn’t lend itself to post-by-post or even thread-by-thread analysis.
Good night GB, I’m off as well. Have a lot of yard work to finish before it get too hot. We’re looking at mid 80′s tomorrow, have a good one.
Nick -
Before I go, it was great to see Tony get that big hit off Doc the other day.
I’m sure it was, but not sure what that has to do with me?
Baseball certainly can be analyzed even down to the pitch. or game. or series. You don’t have to discover a trend in analysis, you could simply be looking at a single game for an answer. Why did the other team get 10 hits? Was it because the pitching left too many pitches out over the plate? Were they the same pitch type? Was it simply good strategy by the opposing team?
what is up for discussion in baseball?
Maybe you meant these things shouldn’t be OVER analyzed.
Nick-
I know Tony is SJ44′s nephew, I was just making a point, thought you might have had a chance to see and enjoy it as well, good night.
I feel like, in a way, he is all of our nephews.
Ah, no, I did not see it. But I celebrate all success against any of Cliff Lee’s teammates.
Wang lost his perfect game on his third best pitch, wouldn’t want to think about it though.
The great thing about baseball is that there is something to talk about every day and its such an individual sport that it lends itself to analysis.
Maybe stuckey means they should shut down the blog until… I don’t know, some analysis of the season at the quarter post?
Is that too soon to see trends developing?
Maybe the All-Star break?
Or, see you in October?
I was really pleased by the power behind A-rod’s home run today. Was that too much of a ticky tack analysis?
I can’t really get any deeper into this topic, as I’m too disgusted by the sports media’s obsession with these buzzer-beater shots in the tourney.
These are 40-minute games!
They simply don’t lend themselves to shot-by-shot or even half-by-half analysis.
Hughes finished strong. Last 10 batters were hitless?
Good news about Joba.
And we’re going to need a good Logan.
Glad to see that Towers agrees with me about Betances. Not that I or those who have seen Betances need the confirmation. I love Manny B., but Betances is the most talented pitcher in our system, and his command/control is far better than what he showed in one brief ST outing. He cannot be evaluated based on that outing, but on his body of work last season. If Betances stays healthy, which he hopefully will, watch out, baseball world! He and Manny B. will be a very enviable front of rotation duo.
And we’re going to need a good Logan.
–
Unfortunately we won’t know how good a logan we have received until his Hall of Fame induction speech 20 years from now… or never…
Yankeefem
In the Tampa rotation I would say that Betances was better. He doesn’t have the obvious advantage that Banuelos has that makes him so valuable(being a lefty) but he throws strikes consistently and was never nervous on the mound when he got into a stiuation. Banuelos always seemed to have bad luck on his side, when he wasn’t able to get the strikeouts when he needed them, his infielders let him down by not getting to balls and allowing runs to score(like what happened in the AFL game) I think its unfair to compare them because they are 2 different pitchers so its not right to base what they have done off of eachother. Individually they are both excellent pitchers. And like you said, people who have seen him pitch know that Betances is leaps and bounds better than he was in his ST outings. Its just unfair to see people comparing the two based on a few innings. I’m sure you’re in agreement.
So there’s a 20 year moratorium on any particular baseball topic?
Logan won’t pitch enough innings to matter. None of the relievers will. I doubt ant of the starters will either. Maybe CC?
Those innings are just blinks of an eye. Drops of water in an overheating nuclear reactor.
Nick’s Existential Baseball.
The next Bill James.
Existential Baseball will not tell us any more about what exists in baseball. The game cannot be changed.
If joeman gives a warning about safety to an empty blog can it be heard?
tyanksfan36 March 18th, 2011 at 1:33 am
Yankeefem
In the Tampa rotation I would say that Betances was better. He doesn’t have the obvious advantage that Banuelos has that makes him so valuable(being a lefty) but he throws strikes consistently and was never nervous on the mound when he got into a stiuation. Banuelos always seemed to have bad luck on his side, when he wasn’t able to get the strikeouts when he needed them, his infielders let him down by not getting to balls and allowing runs to score(like what happened in the AFL game) I think its unfair to compare them because they are 2 different pitchers so its not right to base what they have done off of eachother. Individually they are both excellent pitchers. And like you said, people who have seen him pitch know that Betances is leaps and bounds better than he was in his ST outings. Its just unfair to see people comparing the two based on a few innings. I’m sure you’re in agreement.
_______
Manny is very talented and a lefty made even more special by those extra ticks of velocity; he is fearless, has great control/command and has that ridiculous changeup. However, Betances has both the best FB and the best curveball of any pitching prospect in our system and in most other teams’ systems. The smart move will be to keep both of them.
Have a good night.
GB7, are ‘Randy is really old’ jokes the ONLY jokes you understand?
Nick, there are more interesting things than me. Just ask anyone who knows me.
And your “taste of your own medicine’ format jumped the shark about 72 hours ago. You ought to consider retooling.
Big Al, name me a thing you ever learned about baseball during ONE regular season game, isolated from any other?
“Baseball certainly can be analyzed even down to the pitch. or game. or series.”
I don’t argue that it CAN. Just saying it’s utter white noise.
“Why did the other team get 10 hits? Was it because the pitching left too many pitches out over the plate? Were they the same pitch type? Was it simply good strategy by the opposing team?
“what is up for discussion in baseball?”
Things that suggest consequence in a season played everyday over 6 months. Nothing that ever happens in one game means anything until it happens in another, and then another, and then some more after that.
“Maybe you meant these things shouldn’t be OVER analyzed.”
No, no really.
I mean that happens TOO, mind you.
I guess more succinctly, small sample sizes REALLY have little value in a game where seasons are measures in 162 games, years in hundreds of PA and innings.
And anything that happens in ONE game represents too small a sample size to have much of any consequence, or any predictive value.
It WILL be analyzed because there is a market for it, but individual postgame “analysis” simply described what already occurred, it doesn’t suggest anything that might happen again.
Things that suggest consequence in a season played everyday over 6 months. Nothing that ever happens in one game means anything until it happens in another, and then another, and then some more after that.
–
This leaves little to discuss. What are stuckey approved topics? I guess we can discuss: hits, home runs, wins, saves, good catches, rbis, runs, stolen bases because all of these have consequences for the games they are committed in.
And the season at large!
An important lesson has been learned: even robots cry.
but individual postgame “analysis” simply described what already occurred, it doesn’t suggest anything that might happen again.
–
Why is analysis in quotes? You can certainly analyze why things happen in a game, that stuff is interesting.
Trends aren’t the only thing up for discussion in baseball.
All the effort in discussing baseball doesn’t need to be put towards predicting the future.
How can you even spot trends if you aren’t discussing anything on a game by game basis? Should we wait for 30 games to be played and then review them in scrutinous detail to spot the possible trends? Maybe we can observe things that happened and then watch out for them.
I don’t really like to talk about games we lose. But I love the afterglow of a good win. So even if it has no consequence to subsequent games, I’m going to read the post-game threads (and call BS when I see it. )
I’ll also read Chad’s post-game analysis because I’m not always able to watch. And he gives news, insight, and tidbits in a format I enjoy.
In short, Chad (and Sam) rock.
At least Stuckey will always be here to tell us when we’ve gone too far!
Now that I think about it, when he cruelly deserted us over the offseason, the blog took a turn for the worst!
Can we discuss how funny Archer was last night….or should we wait until the end of Season 2?
St Johns down in flames.
Jimmer v Gonzaga should be entertaining.
SJU is my alma mater. I chose them, followed my heart and they broke it!!!
Good morning, morning people.
good morning all
I wish last night’s game would have been televised, sounds like Phil pitched well.
yeah, I had SJU and a few others that didn’t go my way…did anyone actually have Morehouse?
upstate kate -
I was 10-6. Not too too bad, but I picked Utah for a few rounds and they were eliminated.
Who would pick a team with a name like Moorehouse???? LOL
I should have done two brackets, like my husband suggested. One like I did, choosing teams like SJU and Princeton for “homer” reasons, and one using logic. I mean, I saw SJ playing Gonzaga and thought, well, Gonzaga is a pain in the neck team and they always seem to win, but I’ll pick SJ anyway. Good thing I didn’t bet money.
I fully expect my brackets to explode tonight. Not in a good way. So, would that mean they’re going to “implode?” Whatever. Good thing I didn’t bet money.
I did a couple of brackets, some w/ my best guesses of who would actually win, and some w/ who I wanted to win.
Good morning.
I am 14-2 in 1 of my brackets.
I played 3 brackets. The othe 2 are a mess..
good job Fran!
Kate, thanks.
But it can all come tumbling down today.
OK…there’s just too much analyzing the quality of your brackets.
good morning GB…how was your St Pats? Did you see the parade?
So Towers thinks Betances is King Felix, and Banuelos is Higuera.
That’s interesting.
Think he wants one or both of them ?
Kate, not really sure. I’m still waiting on the police reports and incriminating videos.
MTU -
He can’t have ‘em!
GB-
Up all nite runnin’ with the Big Dogs again ?
Killer settin’ the agenda.
I’d be careful with that. You know how Killer is.
Doreen, a day or so ago, you mentioned you had acquired soe of the Monkees songs.
Here’s a Monkeesish song and video for you.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....re=related
Doreen-
He’s just tryin’ to flatter Cashman to try and soften him up.
MTU, I had trouble running with the big dogs myself. I had to hang with the medium size dogs
GB-
From what I know Killer doesn’t share well.
Does have a soft spot for kids though.
GB-
What do you think of the high praise comin’ out of AZ. ?
“Killer’s” not real happy with the twins right now. They broke into his stash of pizza and beer.
GB,
Yea I know Towers has a good eye for pitching talent so that’s certainly a good thing that he would make that comparison……I hope he’s right but in the limited amount I’ve seen Betances he looks like he’s got a ways to go with his delivery and command, that doesn’t mean he wont get there and it may be just because its early and he hasn’t dialed in all those big moving parts.
GB-
That might just tip him over the edge.
GB7 -
Except that was so much better!!!
(It actually reminded me of the scene in A Hard Day’s Night with Ringo.)
MTU, not sure why Towers would say that, but, contrary to what was said about it hurting the Yankees because everyone would ask for them, quite the opposite. This gives Cashman the edge because all he has to do is mention this in trade requests and it could lower the cost of acquiring talent. Towers opinions carry a lot of weight.
Blake-
Several of the people who have seen Betances more often say his control is normally way better than what we’ve seen.
Does he have a quality 3rd offering ?
If not, I rate Banuelos higher right now.
Also, agree with you that is harder for most gigantic guys to get their mechanics in order.
Gotta say I am enormously impressed with Banuelos.
Hope he just stays healthy. He should be a player next season if all goes well.
Doreen, I had never heard that song until I heard it on a Ford Explorer commercial. It has a 60s-70s feel to it.
GB-
That’s one way to return a favor, or repay a debt.
There are others.
Very nice to hear that Joe Torre will be at this year’s Old Timer’s Day … along with Sweet Lou … that should be a special day.
Between last year’s mending of the fences with the Yankees organization after George passed away and his subsequent trip to YS for the momument ceremony and now going to Old Timer’s Day, I would guess that the last step in the healing process and his full return back into the “Yankee Family” will be “Joe Torre Day” and having his #6 uniform retired … I wonder if this will be done before/after he is elected into the HOF in the next few years since he will be going in as a Yankee.
MTU,
He has a pretty good changeup….not as good as his hammer curveball. I really haven’t seen Betances that much so Ill defer to those who have seen him more……Im with you thoug and am just extremely impressed with the polish on Manny B.
Betances has 3 quality pitches. He’s going to be a force within a year or two and his age is not an issue
Yea I don’t see how what Towers said could hurt the Yanks…..someone outside the organization touting your players i’m generally a good thing.
GB-
Nova this season.
Manny next year.
Dellin the year after when AJ disappears.
And the Octopus out of the pen.
I like it.
So call me an extreme optimist.
MTU,
I don’t think.that’s out of the question or unrealistic ……it may not happen but certainly could.
I think that Betances could start the season in NY next season with Banuelos later in the 2012 season.
GB-
I’m greedy. I want that 2nd lefty ASAP.
4th grader hooks up his friends in school coke bust in Washington, DC
Where are the idiot parents?
http://gawker.com/#!5783253/fo.....-at-school
Had forgotten all about Teddy Higuera. The man could pitch, but injuries ate him up rather quickly so the effective portion of his career was relatively short. Didn’t sign with the Brewers til he was 25 and didn’t hit the bigs til he was 26. By the time he was 32, he was pretty much done.
Mell-
Well our guy may hit the majors next season at the ripe old age of 21/22.
Gives him a headstart.
New thread ==>