New York Yankees Gameday Thread

[italstallianion]

I just wish that somebody could kick me in the balls so that I'll feel better.

[jacksonianmarch]

you live too far away, but I'd oblige

[Gom]

This has to be rigged. First' date=' AJ Burnett not giving up a single run to one of the best offenses in the league in (one of) the biggest hitters parks in all of baseball, followed by Burnett somehow going out into the 7th after 100 pitches and getting another scoreless inning, followed by Girardi inserting Aceves (on my roster) who promptly gives up a 3 run HR to add insult to injury. The Yankees continue to f*** me over, in more ways than just winning. Even when they do badly they f*** me over.[/quote']

 

How is this rigged, and how does this affect you?

[jacksonianmarch]

Through 3 rotations, CC and AJ have allowed 11ER in 38IP and have won 4 games.

[italstallianion]

How is this rigged' date=' and how does this affect you?[/quote']

 

 

My other league. He had AJ Burnett and Nelson Cruz, while I had Aceves. In no time I went from up 13-5 to down 8-11. And it's rigged because I have the better team and God is doing what he can to f*** me over, and in this case he worked a lot of magic to f*** me.

[Gom]

Well......you're the idiot who has Aceves.

 

Seriously, that does really suck.

[italstallianion]

Well......you're the idiot who has Aceves.

 

 

 

Hey, to have all of that s*** happen in the matter of minutes/hours just to f*** up my s*** is pretty interesting and funny for anyone that isn't me. Literally the entire week just turned on itself in one magically evil and f***** up afternoon. I would have predicted a lot of strange s*** to happen before I predicted any of this s***.

[Cocos Disciples]

The Yankees are really f***ing good this year.

[Gom]

The Yankees are really f***ing good this year.

 

Amen brother. 110 win team if you ask me.

[yankees228]

The Yankees are really f***ing good this year.

 

Couple points about such a simple statement.

 

It would appear that they've finally combined their financial advantage with excellent decision making. Not only have they built a good team in the two general areas, offense and starting pitching, but they've focused greatly on the two other areas of a team; bullpen and defense.

 

Take last year, for instance. As good as the Yankees were, they didn't really get going until they sured up their bullpen. It hasn't been a great start for them this year, but they're clearly setup to have a solid pen. Then, they also made a real effort this offseason to get better on defense and become more athletic, which they've appeared to have accomplished. They made a couple of moves that weren't fan friendly (letting Damon and Matsui walk), but as the year goes on, I think it will become very apparent that these things were for the best.

 

However, as I posted earlier in the thread, you're never as good as you seem when you're playing well, and you're never as bad as you seem when you're playing poorly. Yeah, when a team is playing like the Yankees are right now, it's hard to imagine them ever struggling. However, when they do inevitably struggle, it reverses itself, and it's hard to imagine with the way they're playing that they'll ever getting rolling again. Fact is, with a few exceptions, this is how it always works. Couple that with the fact that they play in the best division in baseball, and we're not going to see a 110 win team. I would expect, if they remain injury free, that we'll see a similar win total as last year's team.

[Gom]

I don't see why we can't. The Yankees have good pitching. Vazquez will come around. Realize, their two big guns have not produced. I don't expect Cano to keep playing at the level he's playing at, but as he comes to earth, I expect Tex and Arod to heat up. As CC also comes down, I expect Vazquez to pick up.

 

When you think about it, outside of Cano, no one is really killing the ball on offense. Everyone is kind of doing what you expect.

 

That's why I think this team is positioning itself to be a juggernaut.

[jacksonianmarch]

4 straight series victories to start the yr against 4 formidable opponents with two of those series on the road. Cannot complain.

 

The biggest thing is the starting pitching. CC and AJ have put in 4 solid starts out of 6, with NY winning 5 of those games. Pettitte spun two masterpieces, NY winning both. Hughes, though a bit wild, was strong enough to hold a good Anaheim club at bay. The only blemish is Javy who has seemed to flatten out his breaking pitches.

[yankees228]

I don't see why we can't. The Yankees have good pitching. Vazquez will come around. Realize, their two big guns have not produced. I don't expect Cano to keep playing at the level he's playing at, but as he comes to earth, I expect Tex and Arod to heat up. As CC also comes down, I expect Vazquez to pick up.

 

When you think about it, outside of Cano, no one is really killing the ball on offense. Everyone is kind of doing what you expect.

 

That's why I think this team is positioning itself to be a juggernaut.

 

I don't disagree with any of this. They're an excellent team, quite possibly the best team in baseball, on paper.

 

Thing is (and this is obviously assuming they stay healthy), it's so rare to find a team that wins 110 games. I think they're fantastic, but they will struggle. Win totals that high are rather flukey, and I just don't think there's any reason to expect it.

[jacksonianmarch]

Also, y228, if the Yankees do get that good this season, they'll be resting players in droves down the stretch

[yankees228]

Well, Pettitte really doesn't have a fastball today, and Swisher with a really stupid decision in the outfield.

[yankees228]

Well that's a positive sign. Nice shot by Tex.

[yankees228]

Again, I really don't think I've ever seen a worse hitter at getting a runner in from third with less than two outs than Nick Swisher.

[yankees228]

Ah, Tanyon Sturtze. One of the many that can thank Joe for their arm problems.

[yankees228]

The Yankees, despite all of their opportunities, have really allowed the Rangers to hang around. Pettitte is sitting at 82 pitches, so they'll probably look for him to get through the seventh. If he succeeds in doing that it'll probably be a combination of Joba and Marte in the 8th, and then Mo in the 9th.

 

EDIT: That was just so easy, and with Pettitte only a 91 pitches, they'll probably send him out for the 8th.

[yankees228]

Andy really got squeezed there on two straight pitches against Andrus.

 

EDIT: Great work by Andy coming back to get Young. Now Hamilton will be his last batter.

 

EDIT: Fantastic outing. Great start to the season for Pettitte.

[Gom]

110 wins. Watch.

[yankees228]

110 wins. Watch.

 

Hey I hope you're right. Interesting thing is, I don't think we disagree on how good this team is. It's just that, for all the reasons I mentioned, and Jacko's comment about resting players, I don't think it's reasonable to expect a 110 win season. Either way, there is no denying that this team is good.

[Gom]

The thing is that the Yankees are not firing on all cylinders. Arod has one homer. So does Tex. Cano and Posada are the only ones really playing above their career norms, but that is probably offset by Arod and Tex. Pettitte is pitching well, but Vazquez is terrible.

 

This is the team. It will have ups and downs, like every team, but this pitching staff will prevent losing streaks, and the hitting, with the patience up and down the lineup will prevent long slumps.

 

What makes me think this team is a regular season juggernaut is that they are not playing their best. This is about average for them.

 

However, when they get to the playoffs, throw the regular season s*** out the window.

[yankees228]

The thing is that the Yankees are not firing on all cylinders. Arod has one homer. So does Tex. Cano and Posada are the only ones really playing above their career norms, but that is probably offset by Arod and Tex. Pettitte is pitching well, but Vazquez is terrible.

 

This is the team. It will have ups and downs, like every team, but this pitching staff will prevent losing streaks, and the hitting, with the patience up and down the lineup will prevent long slumps.

 

What makes me think this team is a regular season juggernaut is that they are not playing their best. This is about average for them.

 

However, when they get to the playoffs, throw the regular season s*** out the window.

 

I don't think this is average for them. Sure, Vazquez hasn't pitched well in his first two starts, but overall, they aren't going to pitch better than they have in the first two weeks. Also, you're right, Teixeira and A-Rod are going to improve, but they also won't always work the count like they have done recently. When a team is playing like this, it's easy to think that they'll never slump. Again, 110 win season are so flukey. It doesn't make the Yankees a worse team if they only win 100-105 (than if they won 110).

[jacksonianmarch]

y228, I agree that the pitching overall really isnt going to get better. But I think that the grinding nature of this offense isnt going to change. The addition of Nick Johnson, Curtis Granderson, and Brett Gardner have made this offense just a bear to get through. Right now Teixeira, Granderson, Gardner, Swisher, and Johnson are all seeing 4.2+ pitcher per plate appearance. That may drop slightly, but not by much.

 

Also, the bench has morphed into a useful tool as well. Thames can crush lefties, Winn is a late inning pinch runner and defensive replacement, Pena is a slick gloved all purpose IFer who isnt overmatched in the box, and Cervelli is actually a damn good catcher who can hit and walk as well. The team, from top to bottom, is built really well with a lot of redundancy. The Yankees should be well ahead come the ASB based on how Cash built them. That is of course, if the Rays dont just fire on all cylinders and get a bit lucky with their pen. They are the only team, IMO, with the potential to beat us out, but they have a lot of room between their expectations and their potential.

[Tyler Durden]

Yankees aren't even hitting on all cylinders and they look unbeatable. Obviously you are never as good as you seem or as bad as you seem, but this team is scary good.

[jacksonianmarch]

Yeah, the fact that they arent hitting on all cylinders is the scary thing. This is the best top to bottom Yankee team since 1998.

[jacksonianmarch]

Just looked at the offensive numbers. Very interesting.

 

Here is the Yankee line for 2010: .287/.392/.482 for an OPS of .874. That is not sustainable. BUT, look at these numbers, which are kinda strange..

 

9HR in 12 games------0.75 homeruns per game

69 runs in 12 games-----5.7 runs per game

 

In 2009, the Yankees averaged 5.6 runs per game and 1.5HR per game

 

So, while the line will probably drop, the homers will rise and the runs per game should stay about even, IMO.

[Gom]

y228, I agree that the pitching overall really isnt going to get better. But I think that the grinding nature of this offense isnt going to change. The addition of Nick Johnson, Curtis Granderson, and Brett Gardner have made this offense just a bear to get through. Right now Teixeira, Granderson, Gardner, Swisher, and Johnson are all seeing 4.2+ pitcher per plate appearance. That may drop slightly, but not by much.

 

Also, the bench has morphed into a useful tool as well. Thames can crush lefties, Winn is a late inning pinch runner and defensive replacement, Pena is a slick gloved all purpose IFer who isnt overmatched in the box, and Cervelli is actually a damn good catcher who can hit and walk as well. The team, from top to bottom, is built really well with a lot of redundancy. The Yankees should be well ahead come the ASB based on how Cash built them. That is of course, if the Rays dont just fire on all cylinders and get a bit lucky with their pen. They are the only team, IMO, with the potential to beat us out, but they have a lot of room between their expectations and their potential.

 

Ladies and gentlemen....prepare for the end of the world. Hell has officially frozen over.

 

I agree 100% with Jacko.

[yankees228]

y228, I agree that the pitching overall really isnt going to get better. But I think that the grinding nature of this offense isnt going to change. The addition of Nick Johnson, Curtis Granderson, and Brett Gardner have made this offense just a bear to get through. Right now Teixeira, Granderson, Gardner, Swisher, and Johnson are all seeing 4.2+ pitcher per plate appearance. That may drop slightly, but not by much.

 

Also, the bench has morphed into a useful tool as well. Thames can crush lefties, Winn is a late inning pinch runner and defensive replacement, Pena is a slick gloved all purpose IFer who isnt overmatched in the box, and Cervelli is actually a damn good catcher who can hit and walk as well. The team, from top to bottom, is built really well with a lot of redundancy. The Yankees should be well ahead come the ASB based on how Cash built them. That is of course, if the Rays dont just fire on all cylinders and get a bit lucky with their pen. They are the only team, IMO, with the potential to beat us out, but they have a lot of room between their expectations and their potential.

 

That's a good point about the pitches. All I'm saying, though, is that they'll go through stretches where their hitters just aren't seeing the ball as well as they are now, as a collective unit.

 

Either way, I don't think you, Gom, or me disagree at all about how good this team is. They're really good, no question about it. My only point was about them not getting to a win total around 110. But again, either way, they're playing really well, and I expect that to be a recurring theme.