Monday, August 8, 2011

Embarrasment in Beantown

The Good

Freddy Garcia actually kept us in the game for 5 innings. He allowed just 1 run, and left with the game tied. That is about as well as we could have expected. Gardner and Nunez both hit homeruns, and all of Logan, Wade, Soriano, and Robertson kept the Red Sox off the board, allowing the Yankee offense to get into the game.

The Bad

The Yankee offense didn't get into the game. Teixeira and Granderson, our fearsom 3 and 4 hitters looked hopeless with runners in scoring postion all series, and Cano seemed to be an automatic out in those situations. Eric Chavez went 0-4 with 3 strikeouts as the DH. Good thing we replaced Posada.

The Ugly

Is Marco Scutaro in Mariano's head? I don't understand why the number 9 hitter gives him so much trouble. But it doesn't really matter. When you think of the Yankees this weekend, and really all season against the Red Sox, they're simply out classed. Our hitters look scared against their pitchers, and our ace looks scared against their lineup. Put a runner in scoring position, and you compound the problem. This Yankees team chokes under pressure.

Solace in Charity

At least we can take solace in the $4 going to the Children's Health Fund on Nunez and Gardner's homeruns.

Mark Teixeira 32hr = $64
Curtis Granderson 28hr = $56
Russell Martin 12hr = $24
Alex Rodriguez 13hr = $26
Jorge Posada 9hr = $18
Robinson Cano 18hr = $36
Andruw Jones 6hr = $12
Brett Gardner 5hr = $10
Nick Swisher 14hr = $28
Derek Jeter 4hr = $8
Francisco Cervelli 1hr = $2
Eduardo Nunez 4hr = $8
Ramiro Pena 1hr = $2
Eric Chavez 1hr = $2
Total = $296

2 comments:

Rich Mahogany said...

Weird things happen when the Yankees play the Sox, and most of them are bad for the Yankees.

For example, the Yankees are 0-30 with RISP in games started by Beckett this season.

While today is not the best time to perform an objective comparison of the two teams, it's very tough not to conclude that the Sox get better and the Yankees get worse when they face each other.

The positive notes are:

-The series' effect on the standings and the teams' playoffs odds is miniscule. Baseball Prospectus says the Yankees have a 99.5% of making the playoffs today.

-Garcia showed he can pitch against the Sox without getting completely demolished.

-The bullpen looked fantastic and Soriano did not implode. While Rivera blew the save in heartbreaking fashion, he gave up just one hit, a Fenway-assisted double.

All that said, the Yankees either need to figure out why they play so much worse against the Sox or spend more time praying that the Sox get eliminated in the ALDS.

On a happier note, I ran in the Damon Runyon 5K at Yankee Stadium yesterday and had a great time. I found out about it from RJG so thanks for getting the word out.

Fernando Alejandro said...

That's awesome! I want to run it some year. If it wasn't during my busy period at work, it would be so much easier.

And I agree with your analysis. There were definitely some positives, but at the end of the day, we're 2-10 against Boston this year. We've done much better against other contenders, but the Sox are going to be the team we'll have to climb over to get to the post season. I wonder if this team just doesn't have the heart. They really look like they're playing scared when they're playing Boston.