Pregame notes: Granderson back up top vs. left-hander
Posted by: Chad Jennings - Posted in Notes on May 07, 2011 
Print This Post
| 
Email This Post
There was no last-minute adjustment this time. When Joe Girardi posted his lineup, he had Curtis Granderson in the No. 2 spot despite the fact Nick Swisher is healthy and the Rangers are using a left-handed starter. Granderson has been a different sort of hitter against lefties this season. His batting average and slugging percentage are actually higher against lefties than righties.
“To see a guy make an adjustment at his age, I don’t think it’s totally uncommon,” Girardi said. “I’ve seen guys that seemed to blossom a little bit later in their career, but you don’t see it every day. I think a lot of times by the time a guy is 27 or 28 you have pretty good idea of what you have, but Grandy made that little adjustment to simplify things and it really helped him.”
Granderson is hitting .276/.323/.759 against left-handers. His career slash line against them is .217/.276/.361. The change started right here in this very ballpark, where Granderson and Kevin Long began a series of mechanical adjustments that have shown lasting results. Granderson said that during batting practice yesterday, the guys around the cage were joking that he was right back where it all started.
“I thought, if things go well, we continue to work on what Kevin Long and myself did in this ballpark in August, there could be good things with it,” Granderson said. “Part of that could be the power, but just the hitting in general, taking advantage of opporunites (against) both lefties and righties, top of the lineup, bottom of the lineup, early in the game, late in the game. There really wasn’t one thing that what we tried to do last year with the changes that we were trying to focus on. Just more consistency.”
That consistency has given the Yankees a new alternative in their vs.-LHP lineup.
“Swish has had a ton of success off left-handers as well,” Girardi said. “I think it just makes our lineup deeper. If you want to pitch around Robbie, you’re getting a guy that’s going to hit left-handers and is a switch hitter. If you want to bring a left-hander in to face Robbie, he’s probably only going to face one guy. It makes our lineup, I think, a little deeper.”
• Girardi checked in with Swisher this morning to make sure he felt well enough to play. “I feel definitely better than I did yesterday,” Swisher said. “Absolutely.”
• Last night, Brett Gardner was trying a straight sacrifice with his first bunt, but he didn’t deaden it enough considering it was Jorge Posada running from second. Gardner’s second bunt of the night — the one he popped up — was Gardner bunting on his own looking for a hit.
• Luis Ayala is scheduled to pitch two innings tomorrow night as the next stage of his rehab assignment with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Girardi said the Yankees have to discuss whether that will be his last rehab outing, and whether they want to bring him back to the big league roster.
• Girardi said he’ll have no updates on Eric Chavez until he gets out of a protective boot in two weeks. The initial diagnosis, though, “was better than we anticipated,” Girardi said.
• Girardi said there was no consideration to calling up Jesus Montero after Chavez went on the disabled list. Bringing up Montero would essentially give the Yankees four players for two spots (catcher and DH) and leave them with just one backup infielder and one backup outfielder. “It’s good to see (Montero) get off to a good start because last year in Triple-A he got off to a slow start,” Girardi said. “It’s good to see him come out of the gates well, and we’ve always thought he was going to hit. That’s the one thing we always thought he was going to do, and he’s been doing that.”
• Probably doesn’t mean a lot for the Yankees because it was looking like he wouldn’t play in this series anyway, but the Rangers officially put Nelson Cruz on the disabled list.
• Another Bartolo Colon start, which means another steady series of fastballs in the strike zone. Colon mixes in occasionally changeups and sliders, but Girardi said he’s pitching more or less the same way he’s always pitched, leaning heavily on the fastball. “A located fastball with movement is still the best pitch in baseball,” Girardi said.
RANGERS
Ian Kinsler DH
Elvis Andrus SS
Michael Young 2B
Adrian Beltre 3B
David Murphy LF
Yorvit Torrealba C
Mitch Moreland RF
Chris Davis 1B
Julio Borbon CF
Associated Press photos
STOP BUNTING
im ok with bunting in the right spots. with po the lead runner its not the right spot and apparently anytime gardner has a bat in his hand is the wrong time bc he has no technique despite what he says he’s working on every ST
They should be bunting with Cervelli and Ramiro Pena, not a guy like Gardner who gets on base a buttload without bunts.
We need a guy who can get on base a buntload without butts.
yeah, but gardner not learning how to use the bunt as a strategic weapon to pull the corner infielders in is just ridiculous. he could hit 20 pts higher.
“Gardner’s second bunt of the night — the one he popped up — was Gardner bunting on his own looking for a hit.”
—————–
He was bunting on his own for a hit by showing bunt? Can’t think of a lot of guys who bunt for hits when they are letting the defense know they are bunting.
I’m gonna have to call BS on that one from Girardi.
yeah, but gardner not learning how to use the bunt as a strategic weapon to pull the corner infielders in is just ridiculous. he could hit 20 pts higher.
–
Unless the times he does bunt replace the PA in which he would get a hit or walk normally. Bunting isn’t like ‘free hits’. How often does Gardner slash one down either line?
“yeah, but gardner not learning how to use the bunt as a strategic weapon to pull the corner infielders in is just ridiculous. he could hit 20 pts higher.”
————-
Or he could his OBP could be 20 points lower because instead of hitting and walking like he normally does he is wasting at bats bunting.
The logic that the bunts will just increase his BA + OBP over what he did last year doesn’t hold. You have to subtract the hits and walks he would have gotten in those situations in which he bunted.
Gardner is more than fine the way he is. Why they continue to waste at bats trying to force him to do something that is no part of his game is beyond me.
have to just agree to disagree there. for a guy with his speed, he puts very very little pressure on the defense, both as a hitter and a baserunner.
http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play......d=14567315
All 27 outs of Verlanders’ no-no, with all the hard hit outs it just goes to show that you need more than stuff to throw a no hitter. Its a special combination of pitchability and luck on balls in play (unless you’re Liriano and you’ve thrown one of the worst no-hitters ever)
it also didnt hurt that bautista is out with the neck thing and lind strained his back and had to be taken out. still, that was impressive.
have to just agree to disagree there. for a guy with his speed, he puts very very little pressure on the defense, both as a hitter and a baserunner.
–
I think he puts as much pressure on the defense while baserunning as Carl Crawford.
whats up with crawford. doesnt want to lead off, doesnt want to play cf? and as you say, doesnt press much while baserunning. i dont get it. r henderson had power but used the bunt, the steal, the big lead, distracted pitchers, just took over games at times. im not saying crawford could ever be as great as henderson, but he should be able to rattle a pitcher alot more than he does. i just dont get that guy. glad the yankees didnt pony up for him even though he’s starting to rake now.
just an hour ago bernadina, who can’t hit a lick, drew a walk and unnerved the pitcher right out of the chute. big lead, drew throws, stole a base distracted the hell out of the pitcher. gardner or crawford should be able to do that and they actually can hit. i dont get why they dont use their speed to the team’s advantage alot more.
whats up with crawford. doesnt want to lead off, doesnt want to play cf? and as you say, doesnt press much while baserunning. i dont get it. r henderson had power but used the bunt, the steal, the big lead, distracted pitchers, just took over games at times. im not saying crawford could ever be as great as henderson, but he should be able to rattle a pitcher alot more than he does. i just dont get that guy. glad the yankees didnt pony up for him even though he’s starting to rake now.
–
Baseball Ref doesn’t have his early career, and I obviously was not old enough to see it, but from 1988 on he never had more than 4 bunt hits in a year. He got a lot of infield hits, but not bunt hits. If gardner is bad at bunting, teaching him to try and slash the ball in certain situations might be preferable.
For example, when there isn’t going to be a force and with 2 strikes, just try and hit it deep in the hole or down the line or on a big chop.
just an hour ago bernadina, who can’t hit a lick, drew a walk and unnerved the pitcher right out of the chute. big lead, drew throws, stole a base distracted the hell out of the pitcher.
–
Gardner draws a ton of throws. You’re lying to yourself if you think he isn’t a distraction at 1st.
Gardner also stole 47 bases… which also must have been a distraction… he also stole 17 of them early in the count…
rickey would square around alot early, especially when he was playing for billy, just to mess with the d. once you have established the ability to bunt, just sliding your hand up the handle gets the 3b leaning in. of course rickey had much better ability to hit the ball where he wanted to than either of those 2 guys.
as for gardner, he never drew anywhere near the throws, and if you watch the pitchers, he doesnt rattle them at all. rickey took huge one-way leads sometimes, obviously not stealing but making the pitcher just hold the ball or step off alot. and he’d waggle his hands, do false-starts, whatever he could do. pitchers would sometimes just statnd and hold the ball for like 20-25 seconds looking over at him, not sure what to do. he got in thier heads.
But Gardner DOES draw a lot of throws, maybe not as many as Rickey Henderson, but more than this Bernadina character. They throw over a helluva lot when Gardner is on base and pitch out and other things.
I want Gardner to THREAT the bunt but not actually lay them down. Or make a singular attempt and if it doesn’t go off, then swing away. But I don’t think the bunt should be a huge part of his arsenal, since he can’t get a feel for it.
And I’ll be happy with the 47 bases he does steal regardless of when they come.
not that i think either crawford or gardner are on his level, but id like for them to watch what rickey did in critical situations because they could both do more to distract the pitcher from the basepaths. one more thing, too, rickey stole alot on the first or second pitch. often he’d steal second on the first pitch then third on the next pitch.
exactly jerk, its not like go up there bunting, sometimes you want to just square or even bunt one foul on purpose, just to get the d leaning.
They should have Rickey as an instructor for Gardner.
Should have DL/d A-Rod.
So much dead weight on this team.
Holy crap, an xbh!