Yankees pregame
Posted by: Brian Heyman - Posted in Misc on Apr 03, 2011 
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Brian Heyman here again. It has been a quiet morning at the ballpark. The Yankees had optional batting practice before the series finale.
Joe Girardi is curious to see what Phil Hughes’ velocity is in today’s start. He was only around 88-90 mph during spring training, although obviously he could have been building arm strength.
“I don’t question that he’ll hit 90,” Girardi said. “You question will he be up to the 93, 94 that he was at last year. The spring of 2010, his velocity was similar to what it was this year and then all of a sudden it jumps. I’ve seen some of our other pitcher’s velocity jump a little bit in their first game. I thought Robertson’s jumped a little bit. I thought Soriano’s jumped a little bit. Sometimes that little extra adrenaline is what gets that going.” …
Girardi put in Eduardo Nunez and Eric Chavez for Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez late in Saturday’s game with the Yankees up big.
“Any time I can give our veteran guys a few innings off, I’m going to try to do it,” Girardi said. “You feel pretty safe with a 10-3 lead. There’s never any lead that’s 100 percent safe. If you can give them a couple of innings, you give them a couple of innings. Last year, a lot of times, we only had one infielder, so I could do one one day and one another day. But now with Nunez and Chavez, you can do both of them at the same time. And I’m going to do that from time to time to try to give them a blow.” …
The Yankees are trying to be aggressive on the bases.
“That’s one of the things that we talked about during spring training,” Girardi said. “One of the things that we wanted to focus on was baserunning and being aggressive and … first to third and doing those type of things, putting pressure on the opposing club. I know that Gardy and Granderson talked a lot about stealing bases during the course of spring training and different things they were going to try to do. I think that’s a healthy competition. We had all our guys working on that.”
Nunez needs to stop being careless when the ball is hit to him.
I hope the Yankees do steal more bases as they have guys that are good baserunners like Grandy, Gardner, Jeter, Arod and Martin.
“does not inspire confidence in pitchers like AJ and Joba”
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I can’t believe people are falling for this crap with AJ and Joba again.
There was a group of people on this board who preferred Cervelli over Posada because of his defense and stuff like “inspiring confidence” in AJ.
This is a stupid argument anyway.
Posada’s not going to catch this year. It’s Martin’s job now.
# LGY April 3rd, 2011 at 12:25 pm
There was a group of people on this board who preferred Cervelli over Posada because of his defense and stuff like “inspiring confidence” in AJ.
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That was a big topic of discussion. Funny how that [predictably] turned out.
The Yanks will be fine if Cervelli reverts back to his 2009 form. But they’ll have some issues if he plays closer to his 2010 season.
Tom–
I agree it is a waste of time. I have my preference and others can have theirs.
Tom,
Good point.
Martin should be evaluated on his own merits. Bringing Posada into the conversation at all is unnecessary.
“… yet I mostly hear Posada dissed for defense by Yankee fans ”
well, there’s a reason why fans have to pay to get near a mlb baseball field.
posada was an average defensive catcher for most of his career who had an above average fire to him and was an extraordinary hitter . he was never on the dl until his last few years. that’s a remarkable feat in it self.posada was a very tough guy and it carried over to the team. he was a leader almost as much as jeter.
without posada, the yankees don’t have all those 5 rings. no way.
so if “fans” want to continue bash him , they are just showing their low baseball IQ.
this is a team that do some special things.
why not focus on the new positive?
the new catcher is russel martin and he has the potential to be a good one.
Martin should be evaluated on his own merits. Bringing Posada into the conversation at all is unnecessary.
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Hear, hear.
Hey Randy–Saying I prefer Martin for this staff, while acknowledging Posada as a near HOFer, is no way bashing Posada. I think you may be over-reacting.
I hope we all will stop referring to Phil Hughes as a ” power pitcher . “
Victor Martinez catching today. Get the running shoes on…..
Francona moved Crawford down to 7th? 2games? Over reaction much. I guess if your not hitting 700 on Boston you get punished
is carl crawford the most expensive #7hitter in history ?
has any manager bailed out on a player quicker than francona?
one of the possible scenarios that crawford would struggle early and red sox nation would turn on him creating even more pressure .
the crawford story in beantown could get interesting in a hurry.
posada was an average defensive catcher for most of his career who had an above average fire to him and was an extraordinary hitter . he was never on the dl until his last few years. that’s a remarkable feat in it self.posada was a very tough guy and it carried over to the team. he was a leader almost as much as jeter.
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Well put, sums up Posada’s career.
I think I’ll refer people back to this comment the next time this comes up.
“Victor Martinez catching today. Get the running shoes on…..”
joe-
he actually came around from mid season on with his throwing. he must have had a sore arm or something in the early season last year.
The “Romeo” part of Ruby’s new handle is particularly ironic in light of the complete dearth of a social life (and the chronic wanking).
Crawford should hit 7th against lefties. Francona is doing this to try and take pressure off him but it really just causes more questions to be asked.
You can like what you’re seeing in Martin now….and still realize that Posada was a great great player and a potential HOFer.
Bojo, I posted to you on the earlier thread. It is unfortunate that any criticism of Posada’s game is automatically deemed to be “Posada bashing.”
It is no secret that he and AJ had difficulties with each other where AJ didn’t have difficulties with the other Yankee catchers. I think it’s a personality thing. In any event, it looks like Rothschild and Martin will be very good for someone like AJ. Joba also.
It’s all good.
Nobody can ever understate what an important part of the Yankees Posada has been, how his fire and passion was so important in getting the Yankees going, how he never took any crap from Sux players and was willing to call them on, how clutch his bat has been at very important moments. But he did (at times) have problems in being second-guessed when he was catching and it caused problems. Couple that with the fact that he took heat for not looking at reports on hitters but went from his memory, there were some unhappy moments in the dugout and I’m sure on the mound.
Nobody is perfect.
Appreciating what Russell Martin does for the Yankees and admiring Jorge Posada are not mutually exclusive. It’s okay to do both, ya’ know
Blake–
I never said he wasn’t. I am not sure what some of you are reading, but you are inferring something I did not say.
I liked Jorge as a player, but he wasn’t great defensively…and my preference at catcher is an excellent defensive backstop who can hit 270 with 20 homers (like Martin can).
That does not bash Posada in any way. If any of you think it does, get over yourselves.
Thanks Trishy.
Yay, reason reigns on Lohud. Mark it down for this date and time.
Bojo,
I didn’t say you did….I was just sayin.
I love this blog, but the daily WCYF/BoJo/Vineyard/Aldo chain reaction and the multiple personality’s constant need for attention is so tiresome.
Longoria to miss up to 3 weeks with oblique injury.
m, I agree. I wish those guys would leave whatever it is between them back on the DN blog.
Fair enough Blakey
This is good news about Longo. The more the Rays struggle early, the better for us.
i love watching crawford stinking it up… just throwing that out there. they may be ok today, though that 7-8-9 isnt very threatening, but then they get to start Beckett and Dice-BB.
could be a 1-4 start for the sux and i can revel in the panic on all of the boston news channels…
With AJ it’s a matter of context and ego.
Are you going to listen to Eiland, Mr nobody and Cervelli the Cheerleader or Rothschild and Martin with their reps?
As in any industry the grapevine functions and people talk.
take the pressure off of him from 2 games?
Fitnesscenter For-Jeden,
Never be happy about an injury. Karma is a funny thing
Hey Tom and M-
I have been trying to ignore the trolls, but they keep trying to provoke me with lies. Sorry it bother syou, but many here also have epic battles. I have kept to my word to not prolong any arguments with them and try to keep my posts to 4 or so replies. I also try to only reply near the end of threads so as to not interrupt the ongoing conversation flows.
If you have any other suggestions, post htme. But going back to the DN after he ruined that blog is not an option.
Then go back to bed. As ‘Georgie Boy’ continues to act like an idiot I will address it.
Case in point.
Triple, you can refer to me as CR for short. I dont believe in that crap, as long as an injured guy isn’t dying, it’s harmless to be happy about it.
Is it just me, or is the ten minutes before the game always the longest ten minutes of the day?
Jack Curry just commenting on Crawford batting 7th. Called it curious for someone whom he thought would be a fixture at top of lineup, especially so heading into 3rd game of season.
randy – It will be interesting to see Martinez vs. Girardi urging Gardner, Granderson to steal more. Nothing like an early season challenge. Just ask Carl Crawford.
Phil’s parents are at the game. Hope they get to see his 1st win of the season.
Let’s go Hughes!
Let’s seeif that culider gives Phil a put-away pitch.
there was that new cutter that got in the kitchen…first pitch change for strike as well….nice
There’s a game thread up
1oorix is
100rix
onehundredareneuf
jim pir-one
:angry: