Monday, July 29, 2013

Thank God for Jeter!

The Good

There were a few positives to take away from the weekend series loss to the Rays, but the biggest has to be the arrival of Jeter.  His first at-bat, he hit a homerun.  His second at-bat he made Soriano hit a homerun.  His third at-bat he got Ichiro to go 4-4, his 4th at bat he made the bullpen pitch a shutout, and his 5th at-bat he drew a walk.  That's the magic of Derek Jeter.  This all led to a walk-off single by Soriano.

Also good, Nova pitched 7 innings allowing just 1 run with 8 strikeouts.  The Yankees lost 1-0, off of their 2-hit effort, but nonetheless Nova continues to impress.

The Bad

I could be wrong, but I think batting Soriano 4th and Cano 3rd leaves a bit of an imbalance.  Soriano is known for striking out a whole lot, so you want someone behind him who will force pitchers to throw strikes.  Wells and Overbay are just not enough protection for Soriano.  Batting Cano 4th may show Soriano some more fastballs he can square up, and for an all-or-nothing type hitter like Soriano, I think this makes the best scenario.

The Ugly

Matsui officially retired, Tino Martinez officially cursed his players out, and Sabathia pitched like he had no sense. 

At Least There Was Some Power

Jeter and Soriano both had homeruns, breaking the Yankees long standing tradition this season to keep the ball in the park.

Travis Hafner 12hr = $24
Vernon Wells 10hr = $20
Brett Gardner 7hr = $14
Kevin Youkilis 2hr = $4
Jayson Nix 2hr = $4
Robinson Cano 21hr = $42
Ichiro Suzuki 6hr = $12
Lyle Overbay 11hr = $22
Brennan Boesch 3hr = $6
Francisco Cervelli 3hr = $6
Chris Stewart 3hr = $6
Ben Francisco 1hr = $2
David Adams 2hr = $4
Curtis Granderson 1hr = $2

Mark Teixeira 3hr = $6
Zoilo Almonte 1hr = $2
Derek Jeter 1hr = $2
Alfonso Soriano 1hr = $2

Total 89 hrs = $178

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

JETER IS BACK!

Rich Mahogany said...

"Jeter and Soriano both had homeruns, breaking the Yankees long standing tradition this season to keep the ball in the park."

The words before the comma triggered intense nostalgia, shattered by the words after the comma.

At this point I doubt Cano, or anyone else in baseball, would protect Soriano. Pitchers would still throw him bad pitches and he would still swing.

Fernando Alejandro said...

You might be right, I think it just highlights the fact that we could still use another big league hitter if we hope to compete! A third baseman would be really great to have.