Pregame notes: “I’m just hoping it brings out the best in us”
Posted by: Chad Jennings - Posted in Notes, Podcast on May 13, 2011 
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Kind of an unusual pregame here at Yankee Stadium. Hardly any players were in the clubhouse when it was open to media — they were in start-of-the-series pitchers and hitters meetings — and the truth is, there wasn’t much that could have changed between the end of the Royals series and the start of this one.
Bartolo Colon isn’t going to address his shoulder surgery until after the game.
No overwhelmingly significant player moves were made this afternoon.
There’s no way of knowing whether the arrival of the Red Sox will snap the Yankees out of their funk.
“I just feel like sometimes when you get in these series, it brings out the best in you,” Joe Girardi said. “We haven’t played our best baseball. There are a lot of clubs, if you look over the first six weeks of the season, that haven’t played their baseball during a period of time. I’m just hoping it brings out the best in us – and not the best in the Red Sox.”
Girardi once again addressed the obvious: “We have not played very well in the last week and a half, two weeks,” he said. That sparked a question about whether that week and a half, two weeks was simply a matter of a veteran team slogging through a chunk of the season.
“I hope it’s not that,” he said. “Because I think all our guys know what it takes. You can’t just try to get through months. You have to take advantage of each month that is in front of you. This is not a young team that got off to a great start and thinks, ‘Wow, we’re always going to play like this.’ Our guys know how difficult this game is, so I don’t think it’s that.”
Here’s Girardi’s pregame audio.
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• Rafael Soriano is available tonight.
• Phil Hughes started his throwing program with 30 throws from 50 feet. “He’ll probably have something every day,” Girardi said. “It’ll continue to progress. He’ll have some off days in there, but I don’t have in front of me exactly what his schedule is going to be, but he did start his throwing program today. I can tell you that.”
• Today was Hector Noesi’s scheduled day to start, so he’s good for plenty of distance out of the bullpen. That’s why the Yankees felt comfortable making only one move today, keeping Amauri Sanit on the roster even though he almost certainly can’t be used for a few days. “Out thought was too we probably wouldn’t be able to use Buddy (Carlyle) for a couple of days either,” Girardi said. “Sanit is a little bit more stretched out than Buddy and we just felt that we have coverage with Hector here today. If we have to make another move, we have to make another move.”
• To be perfectly honest, I showed up at the park today absolutely expecting both Carlyle and Sanit to be gone, replaced by one pitcher and one position player. I still wouldn’t be surprised to see a position player move in the next day or two.
• Girardi said he hasn’t seen any signs that the shoulder surgery story — and whether or not HGH was involved — is affecting Colon’s mindset. “Normal as ever,” Girardi said.
• Speaking of Colon, he was knocked around in his previous start against Texas. “It comes down to basically mechanics,” Girardi said. “Everything being on time, locating the ball, making sure your hand is on top of the ball, not getting under balls, making sure that your front shoulder — pitchers walk such a fine line. When you’re a guy who throws a ton of fastballs, you even walk maybe a little finer line. If you miss on the thirds of the plate or in the middle, they’re going to hit you hard. It really comes down to location.”
• After answering day after day of questions about Derek Jeter, Girardi now seems to be handling a steady dose of Alex Rodriguez questions. “We just went from one superstar to the next about the at-bats every day,” he said. “I thought (his at-bats) were better (yesterday). I thought he had some of his better swings than what we’ve seen. One of the best swings I thought he had was the ball he popped straight up. The ball was a little too high for him to swing at, but I thought the swing was excellent. Maybe last night is going to get him going.”
RED SOX
Jacoby Ellsbury CF
Dustin Pedroia 2B
Adrian Gonzalez 1B
Kevin Youkilis 3B
David Ortiz DH
J.D. Drew RF
Jed Lowrie SS
Carl Crawford LF
Jarrod Saltalamacchia C
Associated Press photos
Alex is getting close…..the funk os almost over.
So somehow this big series will snap the Yankees out of their funk, but not the sox?
There’s 25 players on the yankees right now that you can boo and trash. Perhaps Cashman doesn’t want to use all of the prospects at once. He wants to wait until you tire of booing them before bringing in new ones for you to trash when they don’t strike out every hitter or get a hit in every at bat.
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I’ll only boo Montero when he is old and has nothing left in the tank.
I guess we can consider this a big series to a certain extent, although Tampa is due for a leveling off period and The Bombers are due for a nice run
Jeter OBP vs rhp: .286
Gardner OBP vs rhp: .364
Gardner
Granderson
Teixeira
Rodriguez
Cano
Swisher
Martin
Posada
Jeter
TrentonThunder Phil Hughes Bobbleheads tonight for the first 2,000 fans 6+! #Thunder look to win two in-a-row! http://twitpic.com/4x6guw
I want a Phil Hughes bobblehead.
Erin May 13th, 2011 at 6:11 pm
TrentonThunder Phil Hughes Bobbleheads tonight for the first 2,000 fans 6+! #Thunder look to win two in-a-row! http://twitpic.com/4x6guw
I want a Phil Hughes bobblehead.
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How about a Carlos Silva Bubblehead?
For those who care, Bryce Harper’s playing in Lakewood against the Blueclaws tonight through Monday.
Sir Lancelot Of Pendleton gets Hecor Noesi’s start for Scranton tonight.
GreenBeret7 May 13th, 2011 at 6:16 pm
How about a Carlos Silva Bubblehead?
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LOL
Nah.
With Boston in town I wonder how many blog hits this place gets tonight ??? 800 ???
I hate Boston series.
Who else is looking forward to the 4 1/2 hour games this weekend?
Count me in.
Let’s Go Yankees!!
With the space shuttle’s missions finishing up, NASA has contacted Jesus Montero to help launch new sattellites.
Last night’s blast on video.
http://web.minorleaguebaseball.....d=14747975
Wow, we have one player hitting above .270
GB7
I would like to see that from ARod or Jorge this weekend
gb,
that kid can swing.
i hope this place maintains a little sanity, win or lose. i doubt it, but i hope.
maybe the yankees n more faction will be quieted by a solid win.
GreenBeret7 May 13th, 2011 at 6:34 pm
With the space shuttle’s missions finishing up, NASA has contacted Jesus Montero to help launch new sattellites.
Last night’s blast on video.
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Thanks GB7! That kid has some opposite field power, I did not realize that. I would love to see him in the “show” and see what he can do there. Thanks again.
It’s more than just Rodriguez and Posada that the Yanks need. Swisher’s bat is nearly as critical as those two.
Everyone seems to gloss over Swisher’s lack of success and his bail and wail approach. He’s killing as many or more rallies than anyone. now, he states that he’s just hitting in bad luck? Talk about denial.
RS May 13th, 2011 at 6:37 pm
Wow, we have one player hitting above .270
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The question is why. Here are just some theories that I thought of. Pitchers are throwing the Yankees more strikes. Why? Maybe larger strike zone, able to throw more off speed strikes and make them swing. With the larger strike zone maybe more pitches such as the 12 to 6 curve which went extinct with the small zone of the 90′s and early 2000′s. Not sure…just a few thoughts.
If Swisher were really going all out don’t you think he’d be hitting for more power? He has the highest line drive rate on the team and most of his hits are sharp singles up the middle. I’d prefer it if he were wailing and bailing, maybe then he’d hit a double or HR.
Montero isn’t getting the pitches conducive to pulling pitches for homers or even getting the ball into the air. He’s hitting the pitches they give him and settling on what the give him. for a barely 21 year old, he’s an intelligent hitter and he isn’t pull crazy.
Swisher is having bad luck at least somewhat.
25 LD%
.255 babip
Posada has a bad babip, but his LD% is only 10.7.
It’s more than just Rodriguez and Posada that the Yanks need. Swisher’s bat is nearly as critical as those two.
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Surprisingly, Swisher has the most PAs with RISP on the team so far this season.
Yeah Swish has definitely been hitting the ball hard this season and has run into some bad luck. So, his luck should turn and he will pick up more singles and doubles.
The weird part is that he is just displaying so little HR power.
Montero isn’t getting the pitches conducive to pulling pitches for homers or even getting the ball into the air. He’s hitting the pitches they give him and settling on what the give him. for a barely 21 year old, he’s an intelligent hitter and he isn’t pull crazy.
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That’s good news. There seems to be quite a few new young players coming into the majors who seem more mature as hitters than their age would suggest.
IMO Teixiera tries to pull too much. Also, this may be a poor example but Giambi came to the Yankees and stared to pull everything. When he was with the A’s he used the whole field. The stadium in right is as seductive to lefties as the monster is to righties.
Costas and Kaat doing the game….
nice
Christ…you two are making as many excuses for Swisher and Fat Pete made for Giambi. Being a fun guy wears a bit thin after a while. Right now, he’s as bad as the 2008 White Sox version….without the power.
the 2008 version was incredibly unlucky, which is what him a great buy low.
Its not an excuse, its an accurate depiction of how he is hitting right now. I’ve already said if they could get a guy like Beltran or whomever that Swisher should be the one to have his play time reduced. I think he will turn it around because right now his process is good, the results just aren’t there.
I’m not making excuses.
Swisher has been atrocious and it really is not ok because he is in his prime. His performance should be counted on.
I’m saying that there are reasons to be optimistic about him going forward as compared to some of the other slumping players like Posada for example.
Maybe he should have stayed single, as marriage can be draining to a normal human being but to a major league ballplayer maybe your hitting goes in the ……..
Chad, did you post the game tonight? I don’t see it.