2012 General Yankee Comments Thread

[Battingly]

How about beating the Orioles first?

Indeed and I'm not counting my chickens, but if we do win this series, what happened tonight in Oakland was pretty huge for us.

[False1]

And yet, he's playing in a more hitter friendly park and still hit .17 points lower than that awful year, along with posting a lower OBP in 2012 and a lower WAR.

We shouldn't be "proud" that Granderson, over the course of 3 seasons with the Yankees, can't even match his lowest BA ever as a Tiger.

Hey, I'm not defending his BA this season. I posted some data in the Granderson thread that his pitch recognition sucked this year (HUGE jump in swinging strikes, swung at more pitches out of the zone, and missed more pitches in the zone). A .232 BA or whatever is abysmal. Fortunately, he hit for a TON of power. I just think folks aren't taking a balanced view of it, and are completely ignoring that last season he was a beast. This season he took a step backwards. Hopefully, he'll be back in beast mode and patrolling LEFT FIELD next season.

And, I still assert that you're just making things up and representing them as facts. I don't believe you can prove that he transformed as a hitter. If you can, please point to when and how. In advance I'll let you know that the data doesn't support such a claim nearly as much as it does that he simply struggled with pitch recognition this year. When he made contact, he actually hit more line drives and less fly balls, but fortunately his HR/FB rate spiked.

Also, according to single-year and multi-year park factors Comerica was more hitter friendly than Yankee Stadium FWIW.

[NYIndian2005]

For the first time in a long time I feel pretty darn good about our pitching if we get to the ALCS

[AuroraBomberalis]

Hey, I'm not defending his BA this season. I posted some data in the Granderson thread that his pitch recognition sucked this year (HUGE jump in swinging strikes, swung at more pitches out of the zone, and missed more pitches in the zone). A .232 BA or whatever is abysmal. Fortunately, he hit for a TON of power. I just think folks aren't taking a balanced view of it, and are completely ignoring that last season he was a beast. This season he took a step backwards. Hopefully, he'll be back in beast mode and patrolling LEFT FIELD next season.

It may sound like I'm bagging on Grandy. The thing is, I like him. I'm upset because I think he's better than this. Even with 43 home runs, he couldn't manage a .500 Slugging... the list of guys who have hit 40 home runs but had a slugging under 500 is very short, and most (if not all of them) strike out at an exorbitant rate.

And, I still assert that you're just making things up and representing them as facts. I don't believe you can prove that he transformed as a hitter. If you can, please point to when and how. In advance I'll let you know that the data doesn't support such a claim nearly as much as it does that he simply struggled with pitch recognition this year. When he made contact, he actually hit more line drives and less fly balls, but fortunately his HR/FB rate spiked.

He's definitely a different hitter now than he was then. The home runs are up, the strike outs are up, the average is down - in a ballpark that is more friendly to left handed hitters. He's too young to be struggling with every peripheral (other than HR).

What's the reason? Not one of us can identify the underlying cause. We can speculate. That's all ANY of us can do. I'm speculating that it's Kevin Long's tutelage. We've heard endlessly about how Long has worked with him to "hook" the ball of lefty pitching, and things of that nature. He seems to be on top of the plate more than ever, he seems to be disregarding the opposite field more than ever, and he's striking out more than ever.

He's better than this, and I want to blame someone.

[Mr Coffee]

For the first time in a long time I feel pretty darn good about our pitching if we get to the ALCS

Yeah. I think it's safe to say that if this year's post-season pitching was at the same level of the last couple of years, the Yankees might have been swept.

[False1]

It may sound like I'm bagging on Grandy. The thing is, I like him. I'm upset because I think he's better than this. Even with 43 home runs, he couldn't manage a .500 Slugging... the list of guys who have hit 40 home runs but had a slugging under 500 is very short, and most (if not all of them) strike out at an exorbitant rate.

Of course he's better than this. You only need to look back one season for evidence. But that doesn't make anything you're proclaiming here true.

He's definitely a different hitter now than he was then. The home runs are up, the strike outs are up, the average is down - in a ballpark that is more friendly to left handed hitters. He's too young to be struggling with every peripheral (other than HR).

You keep saying the average is down, but really last season was in range of his career norm (and higher than his most recent non-Yankee data point). If he gets back to circa .270 BA next season, did he revert back to the hitter he was? Yes, his K rate is up some but so is his power - by a big margin - and again last season his BA was pretty typical for him. So did he just decide to change in June of this season when he started to struggle?

What's the reason? Not one of us can identify the underlying cause. We can speculate. That's all ANY of us can do. I'm speculating that it's Kevin Long's tutelage. We've heard endlessly about how Long has worked with him to "hook" the ball of lefty pitching, and things of that nature. He seems to be on top of the plate more than ever, he seems to be disregarding the opposite field more than ever, and he's striking out more than ever.

Except that Long's tutelage turned around a rather pedestrian 2010 season, helped him put up career best production last season, and in spite of terrible pitch recognition this season helped him sustain a .260 isop. The guy absolutely tortured LHPs last season, and was 33% better than league average this season as a LHB facing LHP.

He's better than this, and I want to blame someone.

Ok.

[enozlac]

What is up with the fans at Yankee Stadium now? You got guys in foul territory knocking players over trying to catch foul balls. Haven't they learned anything from the Bartman fiasco? Home field advantage guys, let Swisher catch that foul ball or at least attempt to catch it.

I don't mind if you put your hand up in the air and try to catch it if it's in the vicinity of you but that douche was basically doing everything short of grabbing the ball out of Swisher's glove.

Save that S*** for when the Orioles RF reaches in there.

[dabomb2045]

What is up with the fans at Yankee Stadium now? You got guys in foul territory knocking players over trying to catch foul balls. Haven't they learned anything from the Bartman fiasco? Home field advantage guys, let Swisher catch that foul ball or at least attempt to catch it.

I don't mind if you put your hand up in the air and try to catch it if it's in the vicinity of you but that douche was basically doing everything short of grabbing the ball out of Swisher's glove.

Save that S*** for when the Orioles RF reaches in there.

Pretty stupid for sure. I was at the game sitting in the upper deck and everyone around me was booing and cursing those idiots.

[False1]

What is up with the fans at Yankee Stadium now? You got guys in foul territory knocking players over trying to catch foul balls. Haven't they learned anything from the Bartman fiasco? Home field advantage guys, let Swisher catch that foul ball or at least attempt to catch it.

I don't mind if you put your hand up in the air and try to catch it if it's in the vicinity of you but that douche was basically doing everything short of grabbing the ball out of Swisher's glove.

Save that S*** for when the Orioles RF reaches in there.

I personally can't get on a fan for trying to catch a ball in foul territory. I'd hope they'd have the presence of mind to get out of the way, but in that moment the ball looks like it's going to land on you, and the one you're referencing (according to Ripken) came back towards the field while in mid-air... so it's possible that when he looked up he thought there was no chance that it was in play, and it just came back to him and instinct kind of takes over. I'm glad Chavez made the play, but let's take it easy on the character assassination of some fan you don't know.

The Bartman situation was not one of humanity's shining moments. Guy was clearly a die hard Cubs fan, just one of the greatest wrong place at the wrong time moments in fan history. It's probably just about ruined that guys life.

[False1]

Pretty stupid for sure. I was at the game sitting in the upper deck and everyone around me was booing and cursing those idiots.

Then I would say that those fans were the idiots.

[enozlac]

I personally can't get on a fan for trying to catch a ball in foul territory. I'd hope they'd have the presence of mind to get out of the way, but in that moment the ball looks like it's going to land on you, and the one you're referencing (according to Ripken) came back towards the field while in mid-air... so it's possible that when he looked up he thought there was no chance that it was in play, and it just came back to him and instinct kind of takes over. I'm glad Chavez made the play, but let's take it easy on the character assassination of some fan you don't know.

The Bartman situation was not one of humanity's shining moments. Guy was clearly a die hard Cubs fan, just one of the greatest wrong place at the wrong time moments in fan history. It's probably just about ruined that guys life.

The Chavez play was fine with me, it was pretty deep into the stands and it was right where the guy was.

I'm talking about the Swisher play though. Swisher might have had room for a play if the guy backed up a step or two, instead he leans forward, pretty much almost pushes Swisher out of the way, then when Swisher goes tumbling into the stands the douche holds the ball up like he is a champ.

[AuroraBomberalis]

The Chavez play was fine with me, it was pretty deep into the stands and it was right where the guy was.

I'm talking about the Swisher play though. Swisher might have had room for a play if the guy backed up a step or two, instead he leans forward, pretty much almost pushes Swisher out of the way, then when Swisher goes tumbling into the stands the douche holds the ball up like he is a champ.

I had a problem with that, too.

Try to sneak the ball in Swish's glove. It probably wouldn't work, but it's worth a shot. This is the playoffs. Swish is sitting there, face-first on the ground, and you raise the ball in the air like a boss like you did something great?

[False1]

The Chavez play was fine with me, it was pretty deep into the stands and it was right where the guy was.

I'm talking about the Swisher play though. Swisher might have had room for a play if the guy backed up a step or two, instead he leans forward, pretty much almost pushes Swisher out of the way, then when Swisher goes tumbling into the stands the douche holds the ball up like he is a champ.

An, my bad. Although I still can't get on that guy. If memory serves Swish would have had to pretty much airmail himself into the stands to really have a shot.

[AuroraBomberalis]

Here's both Ibanez home runs as called by TBS, WCBS Yankees radio, and WBAL Orioles radio:

http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?co..._id=vtp_must_c

[RenoHightower]

Also, the only reason that Swisher even cam close to that ball was that a fan deflected a ball towards his glove.

[ymike673]

Funny thing last night. Sitting up there in the 7th inning I told the guy behind me that we just had to get the game to extra innings and the Yankees would win. He mentioned the O's 16-2 extra inning record but I reminded him that their 2 loses were to the Yankees.

[Mr Coffee]

YES is rerunning the postgame all morning if anyone's interested.

[yankeesrule]

One of the other satisfying things about this win- all those fake fans that started the wave and then left in the 7th or 8th... this win teaches them to never leave early. Not that they care.

[sweet_lou_14]

Yeah. I think it's safe to say that if this year's post-season pitching was at the same level of the last couple of years, the Yankees might have been swept.

Last year's postseason pitching is tricky to rate because it was completely upended by weather. We ended up cutting CC short in Game 1 when he appeared to be rolling, using Nova, and having to start Freddy Garcia in Game 2. Nothing went right from there, including CC himself giving up a critical home run in relief.

But yeah, Pettitte and Kuroda make this year's rotation instantly way better.

[flymick24]

woke up today and yeap..... still have a boner

[Gator's Shadow]

Here's both Ibanez home runs as called by TBS, WCBS Yankees radio, and WBAL Orioles radio:

http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?co..._id=vtp_must_c

The Os radio guys call of the walk off is awesome.

[JL25and3]

TBH, until someone mentioned him earlier today and I checked out his numbers I had no idea how good they were.

Seems like we (or at least me) took him for granted a lot while he played.

I think people's memory of him is also skewed by his last four season, after he hurt his shoulder.

Over the period 1995-2002, Bernie was the best player on the Yankees. He wasn't necessarily the best every year, but over the course of the dynasty I don't think anyone else is particularly close.

[RenoHightower]

I think people's memory of him is also skewed by his last four season, after he hurt his shoulder.

Over the period 1995-2002, Bernie was the best player on the Yankees. He wasn't necessarily the best every year, but over the course of the dynasty I don't think anyone else is particularly close.

I 100% agree. This myth about Mo/Jeter/Posada/Pettitte being the dominant core of the dynasty teams is crazy, since Bernie was the best player on the team over the coruse of those seasons. Jeter was better in 1999, but other than that, Bernie was definitely the guy.

[Yankee Tripper]

Yeah Bernie was by far the best over the course of those season and it really isn't close.

[Mr. Mxylsplk]

Agreed about Bernie. When he started to decline it was certainly steep, but he was simply tremendous during his peak years.