Back to reality for the moment, Nick Swisher continued his torrid hitting, knocking in 3 ribbies with a triple and HR. Swisher was playing first base for Teixeira, who was sitting out with a sore wrist. However, Girardi must seriously consider making Swisher the everyday DH/OF with Xavier Nady and Johnny Damon, leaving the fossil, Matsui, buried on the bench. Although Matsui collected his second hit of the season and went 1-4, he looked lost in a couple of at bats. He left a man at third with less than 2 outs in the third inning with one of his patented weak rollers to second. For a man who was so renown for his power in Japan and nicknamed Godzilla, he hits grounders so weak, they wouldn't kill worms.
Jorge Posada continued to drink from the fountain of youth, driving in the 3 other Yankee runs. His 6 RBIs for the season are now only 12 short of Jose Molina's total for all of last season, leaving one to wonder where the Yankees may have finished last year with a healthy Posada. For all the Yankee injuries last season (Wang, Posada, and Arod missing 26 games), this team still won 89 games. Something to chew on, Red Sox fans.
The Yanks did strike out 9 times today, making it 20 Ks in 2 games. Are the Royals bullpen this good?
On a personal note, my wife and I went to an Athletics-Mariners game today with our friends Alan and Amber. The Mariners won 8-5 after pounding the A's bullpen for 5 runs. I almost fainted in my seat when I witnessed Jason Giambi legging out an infield single. I don't recall him doing that in his 7 years with the Pinstripers. The A's lineup is an interesting mix: Matt Holliday, Orlando Cabrera, Giambi and Nomar Garciaparra. This could have been quite the team in these guys prime. My highlight though, was seeing ol' Johnny Wetteland as the Seattle bullpen coach. Yankee fans should remember Wetteland as the 1996 World Series MVP when the Yanks beat the Braves in 6 games.
Note: Neither Suzuki played today. I was disappointed Kurt didn't start. Griffey, Jr. also sat out to Alan's disappointment.
Happy Easter!
Yanks Record: 3-2
Conan said, “…leaving one to wonder where the Yankees may have finished last year with a healthy Posada. For all the Yankee injuries last season (Wang, Posada, and Arod missing 26 games), this team still won 89 games. Something to chew on, Red Sox fans.”
ReplyDeleteChew on what exactly??? All teams face significant injuries during the year and I believe the Sox had their share of them as well and still managed to finish with 95 victories and one win away from their third World Series in five years, leaving me to wonder if Beckett wasn’t hurt would that game have ended differently (maybe we can look at his opening game against Tampa this year for a hint).
In addition to Beckett you had Big Papi’s wrist, Drew’s back, and Varitek’s illness. Maybe Tek’s bat was not missed, but the pitchers definitely were not as productive. Also, before the season even started we lost one of the best post-season pitchers of all time, our 2007 ALCS hero, the one and only Curt Schilling!
Then of course we had Manny playing, or not playing, his way out of town with fake injuries. I remember an interview with Papelbon earlier this year saying he would ask Man Ram which knee hurt and Manny would laugh and say he wasn’t sure…priceless!
So I wonder too where the Yankees would have ended up had they remained healthy…or maybe the bigger question is “where would they have ended up if they didn’t let Joe Torre go?” All the guy does is take teams to the playoffs. I for one and looking forward to the next chapter in the post Torre era and I wonder if the Dodgers once again make the playoffs while the Yankees sit home and watch the post-season on their top of the line televisions that their top baseball salaries allow them to buy, which Yankee head will be called for on this blog? Cashman’s? Girardi’s? Jeter? Posada? Only time will tell, but I for one am really looking forward to it.
Until next time,
Theo Epstein’s Disciple (affectionately know as TED)
Dear TED,
ReplyDeleteGood points all and I sincerely appreciate you keeping me honest. I absolutely agree that Beckett's injury prevented the Sox from repeating as World Series champs. However, you mention the Bosox had injuries similar to the Yanks to contend with, and I must disagree with you that they were on par.
The Sox had Pedroia, the league MVP, and Youkilis, third in MVP voting, healthy and in the lineup all year. I looked up Tek's stats and he played in 131 games last season. If my memory is correct, he doesn't start in Wakefield's starts, which pretty much puts him in the lineup all year. In seasons past, I do recall Tek missing playing time and the Sox really struggled.
I think the Yanks faced exactly the same issue last year without their field general, Posada. The Yankees bottom three in the lineup last year were automatic outs: Cano, Cabrera, and Molina. Posada lengthens their lineup and usually has a career OBP of .380. Molina's for the season was .263. .263! His batting average was .218. God awful.
Also, the Yanks lost their Number 1 ace, Wang. He went on the DL on June 15th and never returned. Granted, the guy is miserable in the playoffs, but he won 19 games in back to back years and was 8-2 last year when he went down. Instead, Yankee fans had to watch a carousel of pitchers that included rookies Hughes and Kennedy who won 0 games between them, Sidney Ponson, and the anti-Daisuke, Kei Igawa.
If the Sox had lost Beckett for the year, I think they would have struggled and missed the playoffs, as well. Clay Bucholz was terrible, Masterson was average as a starter, and Schilling would have been lit up if he had returned. Granted, the man may have responded in the playoffs, but his last healthy regular season was nothing spectacular.
As for Ortiz and Drew - I'll consider Ortiz and Arod's injuries a wash. Drew is always hurt and your boy, Epstein always have the Sox prepared for such an event. Besides, they had Coco-roach who's been a starter his whole career in the wings and signed Mark Kotsay, another full time starter, to play as well.
I'm surprised you didn't mention Lowell's injury, which was probably the Sox' most significant of the year. Again, your boy Theo was prepared when he moved the Big Nugget, Youk, to third and had Sean Casey and Kotsay playing first.
As for Manny, the Sox created their own monster and have no one to blame but themselves. They got an All Star in return with Jason Bay.
For the Yanks to contend this year, their core players must stay healthy. There is no depth in the minors at the positions and Arod's replacement, Cody Ransom, to date has 1 hit in 19 ABs. Not good. So, looking back at last season, Girardi actually performed well and developed a solid bullpen core. I would have hated to witness the debacle Padre Joe Torre would have created, not to mention what young relievers arms he would have ruined for life (see past Yankee reliever graveyard of Flash Gordon, Scott Proctor, Paul Quantrill, Ramiro Mendoza, etc.). So, perhaps the Yanks lack of depth, or inability to recover from unfortunate injuries is the fault of Cashman.
As for who's head I'm sharpening the guillotine for: if you've been reading my blogs, you know I want Hideki's head!
Thanks for reading.
-Yankee Bomber