Garcia: “Be myself and get those guys out”
Posted by: Chad Jennings - Posted in Podcast on Oct 02, 2011 
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Last time Freddy Garcia pitched the playoffs, it was Game 4 of the 2005 World Series, and Garcia pitched seven scoreless. It was his third win in as many starts that postseason.
“It’s been a long time,” Garcia said. “You always remember good times, when I pitched in ’05. I’m ready to pitch, man. I’m going to show up (today) and do my best.”
Truth is, Garcia was a much different pitcher back in 2005. He was 28 back then, still throwing a little bit harder, more than holding his own in a rotation that almost single-handedly gave the White Sox a championship.
Now 34 years old, Garcia has evolved into a different sort of pitcher, one who leans on offspeed pitches, location and guile. In a year that started with a minor league contract and an invitation to big league camp, he’s earned another turn on a postseason mound.
“For me I got to go, you know, one pitch at a time,” Garcia said. “I cannot live in the past when I used to throw hard and whatever. I have to live with what I got right now, and go with my plans. If I do that, I can be successful. So that’s what I want to do, one pitch at a time, and do the best I can… How many pitchers you know throw hard and they don’t get people out in the postseason, the regular season? So for me, I got to go out there and be myself and get those guys out.”
Here’s Garcia speaking before yesterday’s game.
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Associated Press photo
Right on Freddy.
Execute and the rest will take care of itself.
P.S. It wouldn’t hurt if your team got you a nice early lead.
three things you can count on happening during today’s game:
1. The Yankees will score some runs
2. Freddy will pitch his usual gutsy game
3. The whiners and complainers will be out in full force with criticisms for every 1st pitch swing, every K, and every play (or non-play) that doesn’t live up to their video game experiences.
MG-
If the team gets it done today perhaps CC can deliver the coup de gras
tomorrow.
Wouldn’t that be nice.
MTU,
Glad to know there isn’t enough
canyon to cover the Yankees,
LOL. And yes, I’ve enjoyed all the
tributes.
Like you said, let’s keep winning! I
like our chances with Freddy.
If anyone knows most of the Tiger hitters, it’s Garcia.
Scherzer with his 5.23 ERA away from home, and 19 of the 29 homers given up to lefties, will have his hands full in YS, needing a win and facing all our home run threats from top to bottom in the order.
The whiners and complainers will be out in full force with criticisms for every 1st pitch swing, every K, and every play (or non-play) that doesn’t live up to their video game experiences.
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MG-
Maybe we’ll be lucky and they’ll be watching football. I’ve learned to press the IGNORE button the last few months.
jmv-
Oh there’s enough Canyon. Just not enough of me.
It was my privledge to honor the Yankees in my small way.
Look at all they have given us.
What are the chances we see Montero today? I’d give it 33%.
I’m really looking forward to Garcia bringing the goods today.
RadioKev-
Maybe we’ll see Montero pinch hit. Posada has two career hits vs Scherzer, both of them homers.
I’m really pulling for Garcia. He’s been great for us this year — who would have thunk it? Bombers, give him some runs to work with, like MTU said!
Was there a general sediment in here last night that the Yankees were taking too many first pitch fastballs from Fister last night?
The middle few innings he pitched last night he was just pouring a first pitch fastball over the plate for strike one and the Yanks kept taking it.
Carpenter vs Lee-Going with the Cardinals today to even the series
Hudson vs Greinke- close but Brewers win at home
Any thoughts on the other contests?
Yankee Trader October 2nd, 2011 at 9:18 am
RadioKev-
Maybe we’ll see Montero pinch hit. Posada has two career hits vs Scherzer, both of them homers.
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I was thinking subing Montero in for Martin at some point today. A day game after a night game, and no off days this series.
YT-
I need to see at least one upset this PS as long as it does not involve the Yankees.
I say Carpenter “saws” off the Phillies bats.
Wouldn’t mind seeing the Dbacks knock off the Brew crew today.
By the way, is lot’s beer a good medicine for a sports overload ?
edit: lot’s of. See. I’m startin’ early.
Yankee Trader October 2nd, 2011 at 9:21 am
Carpenter vs Lee-Going with the Cardinals today to even the series
Hudson vs Greinke- close but Brewers win at home
Any thoughts on the other contests?
———-
I’d pick the Phillies over the Cards today. I don’t think the Dbacks stand a chance against Greinke and the Brewers.
They won. In “grand” fashion.
I would hope that that was the general “sediment” here or anywhere else.
Brewers/Phils should be a really competitive and fun NLCS.
I don’t see either of the NLDS series going more than 4 games.
Cards had their shot to make the series interesting up 3-0 on Halladay.
I’d pick the Dbacks over the Brewers. I think the post season game at home for Greinke will have him nervous and not pitching at his best. Not a blow out, but a close game.
I would love to see Lee get pounded by the Cards today, do a reverse of what happened in yesterday’s game. It probably won’t happen, but I would love to see the series there even up off of Cliffy Lee.
“I would hope that that was the general “sediment” here or anywhere else.”
You’d hope lol..
RadioKev-
Martin has faced Scherzer the most. I’d really like to see Montero play today. The Tigers only have one base stealing threat in Jackson.
However, Girardi wants to go to Detroit up 2-0, and Martin will be behind the plate. Maybe if it’s a Yankees romp, he’ll have Montero come in at catcher later in the game.
Last nights win was worth every loss I had to sit through at the Stadium this season.
Duster seemed to be ahead of every hitter for a few innings but Ivan matched him in the zeroes dept. and kept the crowd warm while the the Cano show was warming up.
Can’t believe those fans sat back and didn’t grab that ball off the top of the wall and I can’t believe Leyland didn’t use a lefty with the bases jammed.
By the way, is lot’s of beer a good medicine for a sports overload ?
—————————————————
MTU-
If you don’t mind a whole lotta puking!!
Funny video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgZ21hzpYNs
” Duster” is Fister
Though he did receive a good “dusting off” courtesy of Cano.
Bronx-
Did it ever rain last night in NY?
Even though Alberquerque hadn’t given up a homer this season, he had a recent hip strain injury, and bringing in a rookie to face probably the best left handed hitter in baseball was a bad call. Guess Leyland has no taste for Coke.
Yogi Mantle October 2nd, 2011 at 9:35 am
I’d pick the Dbacks over the Brewers. I think the post season game at home for Greinke will have him nervous and not pitching at his best. Not a blow out, but a close game.
————-
Actually Greinke is 11-0 at home. It’s really unlikely nerves are about to get to him.
And Trader, I know Girardi will want Martin in to start – but he may also see the benefit in giving him a half day. You don’t want to ride the guy too hard.
Big win last night….always good to get that first one.
Today is big also because you have Verlander and CC tomorrow which could go either way and then AJ for take 4. Win today and that looks a lot better.
As predicted…..most like Scherzer better than Garcia today……hopefully the Yanks are going to underdog themselves to the WS.
yt it poured about an hour after the end of the game
From RAB:
Always a high strikeout guy, Scherzer’s strikeout rate decreased for the third straight season, down to a still stellar 8.03 K/9. He’s gotten the walks under control (2.58 BB/9) but is a fly ball guy (40.3% grounders). I guess the best way to describe Scherzer is enigmatic; he had 20 starts of two runs or less, but also nine with five runs or more.
Let’s go Chief!!
Was at the game last, great game after having to sit in the rain.
Fun moment, we had the usual idiot Sox fan showing at the game, red sox jacket and hat at a Yankees Tigers playoff game. They showed a postseason commercial on the big board, had highlights of all the teams, but obviously made before the teams were finalized, Sox and Braves and no Rays or Cards. To say the least this kid did not have a great night and the abuse only came harder when that was played.
Garcia will pitch well – and if he doesn’t have his best stuff, he will battle. Love the guy…………and I hope he comes through in part because few fans had any faith in him. No matter how well he did this season, it seemed like it wasn’t enough for people – he was always the one who was going to be excised from the rotation even though for most of the year he was our 2nd best pitcher.
ok i havent watched more than 5 minutes of football so far this season, so here are today’s picks
lions +2 1/2 over the ‘girls
steelers +4 over the texans
jets +4 1/2 over the ravens
If Garcia has a good splitter, he’ll give the Yanks a good game.
Another great play by Jeter last night. He doesn’t like the way Granderson fielded the ball, so he decides to cut off a ball he’s not supposed to cut off and of course he nails the guy at the plate. People like to say that you can’t see intangibles, well you saw first hand what intangibles bring to the table last night. Jeter is just “baseball smart”.
Villa Nova-Ya October 2nd, 2011 at 9:27 am
They won. In ?grand? fashion.
I would hope that that was the general ?sediment? here or anywhere else.
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Sorry it was early and I drank many of beers last night.
Enjoy the game today… I will be there!!!
remember 2006! we won the first one then the season ended… BIG GAME tonight!
GO GET EM CHIEF!!!
So Cashman was going to throw Banuelos into the fire had he been “ready”…….He’s 21 years old. Do you see the Rays doing this with their pitchers? No, no matter how good they are, they spent sufficient development time in the minors (generally I believe they do spend at least a year at AAA). Do the Yankees have any sort of plan for their young pitchers? It doesn’t seem like it. They like to patch up holes in their major league staff with youngsters which I do not think lends itself to developing these pitchers properly. This is in part why we have a hard time developing youngsters.
So Jeter isn’t done after all?
matt moore is 22 and started game 1 of the alds.
speaking of moore, when he starts his next game he will have more PS innings pitched than RS innings pitched. wonder if that’s ever happened before!
And…………..he went through all the levels of the minors; Banuelos didn’t have that good of a year, spent only part of it at AAA and still the Yankees were thinking of bringing him up here.
Those are the intangibles that people that watch Jeter play every day speak of…..having him out there in big games alone is worth his contract because he never let’s the stage affect him…..he actually plays up to it.
Its going to be very strange when he and Rivera are no longer out there…..
I have a lot of confidence in Garcia…..he knows how to pitch and I think he’ll give us a good chance to win. Hopefully the offense pounds Scherzer and gives him some breathing room.
Can’t say enough how well Nova pitched last night…..and in particular how well he pitched Cabrera…..he pitched him about as well as you can.
So at what point are the “experts” going to acknowledge this kid?
Yogi
I want to see C. Lee pounded for the next seven years
I still think if we win today Uncle Joe should set up CC to face a lesser pitcher than Verlander. AJ versus a mediocre pitcher could be a push in a game 4 situation.
did banuelos skip a level? i musta missed that…
I kind of wish today’s game was a night start time, to give the losing team more time to think about it.
Anyway, looking for good things out of Garcia.
The only blemish from yesterday was Posada. He still has some quality swings remaining from the left side, but the baserunning …
It reminds me of Forrest Gump running the ball for Alabama without a clue as to what’s going on.
nobody’s giving grandy much credit on that relay. he hit jeter right in the mitt, right next to his shoulder, a PERFECT throw just like jeter’s was.
blake – Like you said yesterday, it’d be nice if Nova got the attention after his performance that Fister was getting before his. But, this being NY and all things overrated, that will not be the case. I kinda like him flying under the radar though, it’ll make getting him a World Series W that much sweeter.
I would be stunned if Cano saw a pitch the rest of this series unless absolutely necessary (i.e. bases loaded).
It’s going to be up to A-Rod from now on and Tex to a lesser extent.
The only blemish from yesterday was Posada. He still has some quality swings remaining from the left side, but the baserunning …
—————–
It was ultimately inconsequential because of the balk. Ayala was much more of a disappoint than that blunder, I thought.
I wouldn’t make to much of that…..the Yankees looked and he wasn’t ready. He’s 20…..its fine.
Julio Teheran (20) and Randall Delgado (21) both started games for the Braves who do a pretty good job with pitchers this year. Both of those guys were not ready
# Ys Guy October 2nd, 2011 at 10:35 am
matt moore is 22 and started game 1 of the alds.
———-
Exactly. That’s the epitome of throwing a kid into the fire.
They did the same thing with Price a couple of years ago. Put him in the pen to be their closer in the postseason just one year after he was drafted out of college.
“I would be stunned if Cano saw a pitch the rest of this series unless absolutely necessary (i.e. bases loaded).”
That’s one of the negatives of Cano hitting 3rd. With Alex still struggling to find himself, I think Robbie will get a lot of IBBs this series and the ones that follow. It is imperative that Alex gets going. Otherwise, Robbie won’t get anything to hit.
Moore could be their ace within a couple of years…..he’s that good.
Jeez, Freddy is only 34… Not that old…
Kudos to Tex for taking the lineup move so well. A lesser man would have pouted.
“Jeez, Freddy is only 34… Not that old…”
I know. The way the media talks about him, you’d think he was Wakefield’s age.
Didn’t Madison Bumgarner start in the playoffs as a 20 yr old last year?
If they start walking Cano that’s a dangerous thing as well…..Alex is still Alex and he had some good swings last night and Tex also is swinging the bat better.
The point is the Yankees don’t NEED to throw kids into the fire to win. The Rays and Braves do. Those teams strategies aren’t comprable to the Yankees.
Could you imagine if we had Alex of 2009 and Cano of this year back to back. Holy Ortiz and Manny
“I would be stunned if Cano saw a pitch the rest of this series unless absolutely necessary (i.e. bases loaded).”
Verlander was asked about pitching around batters and he said he trusts his stuff more than he trusts batters to hit it so he doesn’t worry about it. Guess he’ll get a chance to walk the talk tomorrow.
Some pitchers might just have bigger egos than intellects.
pat October 2nd, 2011 at 10:50 am
“I would be stunned if Cano saw a pitch the rest of this series unless absolutely necessary (i.e. bases loaded).”
Verlander was asked about pitching around batters and he said he trusts his stuff more than he trusts batters to hit it so he doesn’t worry about it. Guess he’ll get a chance to walk the talk tomorrow.
Some pitchers might just have bigger egos than intellects.
——–
You’ve got a pretty big Yankee ego if you’re suggesting Verlander, the Cy Young and the most dominant pitcher in baseball, should pitch around Cano.
Alex, in my completely unscientific estimation, still has time to make an impact on this series and the ’11 playoffs.
Cano is a great player.. but even he isn’t going to get 6 RBIs every game this series. Guys will step up. I expect big things from Alex and Tex.
Jeter gave granderson credit for his throw. Like you said, it was chest high. Jeter just had to catch it, turn and get rid of it.
Alex is still off but he looked like he was getting some better swings at the ball last night….I think he’s close….
Always a high strikeout guy, Scherzer’s strikeout rate decreased for the third straight season, down to a still stellar 8.03 K/9. He’s gotten the walks under control (2.58 BB/9) but is a fly ball guy (40.3% grounders). I guess the best way to describe Scherzer is enigmatic; he had 20 starts of two runs or less, but also nine with five runs or more.
——————-
Hopefully we’ll be seeing something similar to what you’re looking for starting next yr with cano and montero. Don’t forget how good cano was in last yr’s playoffs. I’m glad to see him pick up where he left off.
I was also happy to see swish get a hard hit single last night. More than any player on the roster, I think swisher’s performance is all about confidence. He knows he’s been struggling in the post season. The yanks just need him to get one well timed hit with risp and then I think he’ll get hot.
I guess Betsy did not see the rookie, Matt Moore pitch his 2nd MLB start against the Rangers, and win. His 1st start was against the Yankees, and this kid shut us down. But no, the Rays don’t use their rookies. Oh, by the way, didn’t Price make his debut as a closer as a late call up in the WS?
Those were not rookies Betsy?
RadioKev
Just the opposite. I think Verlander would pitch to Cano and not sure Leyland is the type to hold up 4 fingers often for anyone.
Maddon might not let any of the Rays pitch to him but Leyland isn’t Maddon
Triple Short of a Cycle October 2nd, 2011 at 10:49 am
Could you imagine if we had Alex of 2009 and Cano of this year back to back. Holy Ortiz and Manny
—————-
My last comment was in response to Triple’s above comment. I’m not sure how I copied and pasted the comment about Scherzer.
Matt Moore, David Price, James Shields, Jeremy Hellcikson makes for a scary rotation next year.
i agree they will try to avoid pitching to cano as much as they can, but its not that easy. you just can’t say we wont pitch to him. should they have walked him with the bases loaded last night? are you gonna walk him with nobody out and a man on 1st? leading off an inning? with a runner on 2nd and nobody out?
he will get his shots.
Granderson is great at hitting cutoff men.
A great young pitcher on the mound last night, and a future HOF 2B getting the offense going, what a great 1st game. Let’s keep it rolling, GO YANKEES!
If Freddy can go 5 or 6 solid innings with 2ER or less Yanks will roll today.
If it’s close I would have a real quick hook if Freddy starts getting hit hard in the middle innings.
New Post —>
I’d say Verlander can get anyone in baseball out. I think, Cano grounded out to 2nd in his first AB on Friday.
If I were a Tigers fan, I’d want my ace coming at Cano too. It’s a good match up. Cano could win if Verlander makes a mistake, but Verlander hasn’t made many mistakes this season and he’s got a big enough fastball to get away with one.
It will be fun to watch.
nobody knows what causes pitching injuries, guys who are overworked or ‘thrown to the wolves’ get injured, guys who are babied get injured. other guys pretty much never get injured.
in the old days guys started out in the BP and worked their way into the rotation, and sometimes had to spend a year or two going back and forth. tons of them handled it well, but everyone here thinks thats what ‘ruined’ joba.
if anybody know what caused the injuries they would be able to avoid them but when people throw out the ‘they’re gonna ruin the kid’ they dont know any more than the people who are pushing for the kid to be ‘fire tested’
Betsy -
Matt Moore pitched 4 games in AAA, not a year. He was brought up quickly because in was lights out in the minors.
New thread — >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
So at what point are the “experts” going to acknowledge this kid?
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Nova pitched so well to Cabrera that Cab was essentially a non factor. They were ho hum at bats against probably the toughest hitter in the AL. Martinez worked him over pretty good though.
And the kid still has room to improve. Getting Rothschield to develop the young pitchers was a total Cashman coup.
As a side note, I got absolutely smoked, for a couple of hours. last year on another board for claiming that Nova had a better arsenal than Hughes.
Betsy -
Which is why he WASN’T promoted to the majors. They Yankees aren’t clueless, and they were not going to throw Banuelos into a situation he wasn’t ready for. If they thought he was ready, he’d have been called up; he was not and they did not.
***
It wasn’t that Jeter didn’t like the way Granderson fielded the ball (which makes it sound like Grandy did something wrong). From what I heard Jeter say, he noticed how Grandy fielded the ball going back instead of forward and he put himself into position to field the cut-off because he knew by the way Grandy fielded the ball that was the best opportunity to get the guy at home. However, I admit I’m nitpicking- because it was a great play and indeed shows that there are somethings UZR does NOT measure.
By the way, Cal Ripken pushing the Jeter intangibles last night in a big way. Think he’s a fan of Jeter? LOL