Thursday, April 19, 2012

The Genius Maker 4-19-12


I know there were some great things to see in this game and clearly the 3 HR’s by Granderson (along with 5 hits) was a highlight of many.  However, I was very pleased to see the Genius Maker come into a 1 run game and face the 2-4 hitters and mow them down with the best cutter I have seen from him in a long time. The first pitch to Carroll was pretty straight, but then he threw a good one to get him out.  The one to Mauer moved like a sweeping slider and then he threw excellent ones to Willingham to close it out.

Back to the game…Hughes was very frustrating!  Yes, he got a bad break where Nunez continued his awful fielding as he threw a routine play away, but throw first pitch strikes for crying out loud!  Through the first 4 innings he faced 19 batters and 14 of them he threw a 1st pitch ball.   He was settling down a little going into the 6th inning and with a 7-4 lead I understood leaving him in there, but when he walked Morneau I was concerned.  After falling behind 1-0 he came in Doumit powered one out to close the game to 7-6.

Overall, Hughes did not pitch well falling behind, but he did use all of his pitches and showed that his slider and curve can both be used effectively.  He allowed some big hits on his changeup which needs to drop more rather than hang though.  His fastball has enough life, but his control of it is simply poor.  He rarely hit his targets.

Logan, Soriano, Robertson and Rivera shut it down though for the victory!

A few other points:
  1. Jeter had a game tying hit in the 2nd inning after getting a real bad call on a pitch that was on the other batters box; great job overcoming it!
  2. Tex getting his 1st homer was good to see; we need him to be the player he has been (or at least close)
  3. Cano had a very rough game at the plate, but I still don’t understand not playing him in the field.  I understand resting guys, but IMO I let the guys play or take the full day off; all the way off!  No warming up…full rest.  Plus, when you have a terrible LF’r in Ibanez, having Nunez playing for Cano is a big drop off in defense
  4. Speaking of this, I have no idea why the Yankees don’t bring up a good fielding OF’r rather than a pitcher you simply don’t need?  Having Ibanez in LF with a one run lead is just stupid; in fact, I would have brought Cano in to play 2nd base and lost the DH while moving Nunez to LF.  This is a good reason why I wanted the young player on the team
  5. Granderson was phenomenal, but up by 1 and a 2-2 count on ARod in the 8th inning you don’t run until the count is full.  If the count was 0-2, I could see it, but you don’t take the bat out of ARod’s hand there.
  6. The Yankees employed a rare "Tex" shift and Doumit beat them with it (It was a nice piece of "Jeter type" hitting an inside pitch to SS - for a lefty)

2 comments:

  1. I've been thinking about what's going on in LF with Gardner out, and that maybe bringing up a defensive guy isn't the answer. I think maybe the answer lies in your comment about what Girardi should have done defensively late in last night's game.

    They should put Nunez in LF while Gardner is on the DL.

    Me saying this might come as a surprise to anyone who talks baseball with me: I do not like Nunez. He has been a worse liability in the field than any Yankee infielder I can remember. Well, at least any infielder that's played more than 10 games.

    He's not an infielder--he's proven that in my mind. But the Yankees think he can hit, and so far this year, he has. They think maybe he can play the outfield? Now's the time to find out. Put him out there for the next two weeks and let's see if we got a player worth keeping.

    Today's game is just about to start--let's see who Girardi puts in left.

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  2. I think this idea makes sense. I am not giving up on Nunez playing infield as quickly as you, but his track record has been awful. Either way, I would put him out there because there is upside; which was my issue with Ibanez.

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