Sunday, April 24, 2011

The Genius Maker #12

The Yankees came out early and swung at first pitches leading to an early 3 run lead. Bloop single by Jeter followed by doubles by Tex and ARod and then a single by Cano.

The Yanks added to their lead when Martin hit his 5th HR with 2 guys on base. CC gave back 3 allowing a 3 run homer to make it 6-3 before the yanks blew the game open with homers by Martin (his 6th), ARod (who hit his 22nd grand slam of his career which is one behind the all time leader Lou Gehrig), and Gardner (who homered after Martin was HBP after his 2nd homer). Was he intentionally hit? It sure seemed so and the part I didn’t like was that he threw at Martin’s head. After the game Rupe (the pitcher) said he didn’t mean to do it and if he were going to send a message he would never throw at someone’s head. Well, he said all the right things, but what is a pitcher supposed to say, “Yeah, I meant to hit him?” I think he meant to hit him. Earlier in the game Texiera on a double slid wide of the bag (kind of like the dumb slide into home) and his feet went into the 2nd baseman’s feet and they had some words. Who knows, but at the end of the day the Yanks crushed Baltimore. Funny, how 2 weeks ago, Buck was a genius and announcers were saying how it was impossible that nobody gave him a job prior to this. Going 2-10 changes people’s opinions fast doesn’t it? I actually think Buck is a good manager to turn things around, but he is wound a little too tight for a 162 game schedule and he is best to set the direction and discipline and then allow another manager to take the team home. He is still better than most.

Speaking of streaks, the Red Sox have righted themselves and have won 4 in a row. Dice K pitched great yesterday and if he can get his act in gear Boston will be extremely tough.

Other notes:

Gardner doubled and homered in last nights game; his double was a single but his amazing speed was nuts getting a double on a line drive slightly into RC.

Posada is the poster child of why batting average really doesn’t tell you anything and why you need OBP and slugging (or in my favorite case both in OPS) to gauge how well the player is doing. Posada has only 9 hits and is hitting a pathetic .164; however, he has 6 homers and 7 walks for a reasonable OPS of .761. Now compare this to Vlad Guerrero who is batting .266 with no walks and 5 extra base hits giving him an OPS of a poor .671 (which BTW is about the OPS of Swisher unfortunately).

Jeter should not leadoff against righties and the sooner we drop him the better; this is why I suggested dropping both he and Gardner. Jeter’s OPS is no one of the lowest in the AL for qualified hitters. He is 83rd out of 91 and interestingly the 91st guy is Carl Crawford. While I said Gardner is not far off from what Crawford brings (and I got a lot of criticism about that), Gardner, as poorly as he is doing, is doing better than Crawford right now. I know we are only a 1/10 of the season, but while I expect all 3 players in this paragraph to do better the rest of the way, wouldn’t you think Jeter, would be the least likely to do a lot better?

ARod is leading the league in OPS with a 1.309 and incredibly, Russell Martin is 3rd with a 1.132. Tex and Granderson round out the top 10 at 6th and 8th. Cano is 14th with a .906.

Happy Easter to everyone!

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