Friday, April 20, 2012

As Rotation Races to the Bottom, Offense Races to the Top

The Good

With a rotation that's been struggling this year, the bullpen has stepped up and given us the quality innings that our starters have refused to give us. Yesterday was no different as the bullpen combined to give us 3.2 scoreless innings with a save from Mariano. Still the big news from last night was Curtis Granderson who hit 3 homeruns as part of a 5-5 night. The Yankees just edged out the Twins 7-6, but you just don't get there without Granderson's ridiculous outburst.

The Bad

Hughes went 5.1 innings giving up 2 earned runs and got the win, which is good, but he also allowed 4 unearned runs due to a throwing error by Eduardo Nunez in the first inning. It just seems like you'd want better defense out of your utility infielder.

The Ugly

Although Nunez's error extended the first inning, it really served to prove the point about Hughes. When he can locate, he does pretty good, thus the results we saw from the 2nd to 5th innings. However, when he can't locate we see the disaster that was the first inning. I know the error extended the inning, but the truth of the matter is those 4 unearned runs came because the Minnesota Twins were lighting up Phil Hughes' pitches.

Granderson May Put Us Out of Business

With 3 homeruns out of Granderson and another jack by Teixeira, the babies at the Children's Health Fund were given an adult dose of generosity. That's $8 for the younguns.

Raul Ibanez 2hr = $4
Nick Swisher 2hr = $4
Andruw Jones 2hr = $4
Derek Jeter 4hr = $8
Curtis Granderson 6hr = $12
Alex Rodriguez 1hr = $2
Robinson Cano 1hr = $2
Mark Teixeira 1hr = $2

Total 19hr = $38

2 comments:

Rich Mahogany said...

Hughes is frustrating. He threw a filthy curve, but the results weren't there once again.

I particularly enjoyed the kid in the Granderson jersey going out of his mind. That game was probably the highlight of his life, and always will be.

Rich Mahogany said...

Also, it's great seeing the pen carrying over its dominance from last year. I heard Robertson gave up the leadoff double just to give the Twins a chance.