It was an action-packed weekend in the world of sports as well. A sloppy Kentucky Derby, won for the 3rd time in 4 years by a horse ridden by Calvin Borel, gave people reason to throw parties and pretend to enjoy mint juleps Saturday afternoon. Later that evening, Shane Moseley hit Floyd Mayweather harder than he's even been hit in the second round but couldn't put him away and lost a lopsided decision to the still-undefeated champ. The NBA Playoffs moved into the second round on Sunday, as the Lakers took the first game of their series with the Jazz to kick off the round of 8.
The Yankees had an eventful weekend as well. Derek Jeter put on a show Friday night as Andy Pettitte got down early but did an admirable job of hanging in there long enough for the Yanks to put some runs on the board and win 6-4.
On Saturday, Javier Vazquez gave up three home runs in yet another poor start and had to be pulled from the game in the middle of the fourth inning. He was saved from taking the loss because the Yanks came back and took the lead on a homer by Nick Swisher, but David Robertson and Damaso Marte combined to give the game back to the White Sox in the 7th inning.
The most lasting impact from that contest however, was not on Vazquez's confidence or the Yankees' record. Curtis Granderson had to leave the game with a strained groin and could be out for as long as a month.
That wasn't the end of the bumps and bruises for the Bombers. Yesterday, Alex Rodriguez was held out of the lineup because he felt some aching in his knee. Joe Girardi said that Alex could have probably DH'd, but they held him back for precautionary reasons. Hopefully it's nothing serious, but any time the word "injury" gets too close to "A-Rod", there is cause for concern.
It turns out that the Yanks didn't need A-Rod or Granderson yesterday as they plated 12 runs in an unmitigated rout of the Pale Hose. If he's really gone for a month, though, the loss of Granderson will catch up to the Yankees eventually. However, if there was a regular who is somewhat replaceable, it's probably him. Curtis was hitting .108/.250/.108 over his last 12 games and .225/.311/.375 (.314 wOBA) on the year. Brett Gardner is probably a bit better defensively than Granderson and has a .411 wOBA at this point, so giving up regular time in center should probably be a good thing. Surely more exposure (particularly against right handed pitching) will bring Marcus Thames (.542 wOBA) back down to earth, but perhaps Randy Winn will finally find his stroke in the opportunities he is given.
Robinson Cano went 2-4 yesterday with a walk, a double and a three run homer, giving him a line of .387/.433/.763 with 9 taters and 21 driven in, leading everyone on the team with more than 25 at bats in all of those categories. The Robinson Cano Show has been extremely enjoyable to watch but the Yankees might be even more encouraged by another performance they got our of one of the products of their farm system yesterday.
While Javy Vazquez has continued to flounder, Phil Hughes has managed to flourish so far this year. He's allowed just four runs in four starts and been downright unhittable, giving up only 10 of them in 25 innings pitched. The flip side is that he's walked 12 batters, but if you are going to allow guys to get on base, you might as well do it via a free pass. Hughes is now 3-0 and would be a perfect 4-0 if the bullpen didn't let him down in Baltimore.
It was an up and down weekend for the Yanks, but hopefully yours was better. I managed to sneak in two rounds of golf, hit up a Derby Day party at FY Crew member Joe's and watch the most of the Mayweather vs. Moseley fight for free on the internet because Time Warner fucked up our PPV (thanks for saving us $55, shitheads!), so I have no complaints. Before we put the weekend behind us, feel free to share your thoughts on it in the comments, personal, Yankee-related or otherwise.
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The 2010 Yankees are certainly strange, aren't they? Derek Jeter continues to put up numbers without seeming to ever make solid, line-drive contact (with the exception of his fine game Friday). Javy Vazquez has had an admirable career and is only 33 years old, but is nevertheless incapable of being better than Sergio Mitre had he been given the starts. The team's best hitter is a second baseman, and the first basement and DH have a combined batting average below .200 with 3 HR between them. For all that, they're the proud owners of an 16-8 record which is just good enough for second place.
ReplyDeleteWell, Friday night I watched Race to Witch Mountain with the kids. The Rock was badass as usual, first taking out an alien assassin, then bringing a tear to your eye when saying goodbye to the (good) teenage aliens.
ReplyDeleteSaturday was a tough one. First, my daughter's fastpitch softball team lost 6-5 by giving up 4 runs in the bottom of the last inning. Then, my son's baseball team got clobbered 13-4.
Sunday was little better. I found out the Yankees were on TBS a little late, but was still able to catch the last 4 innings. I was then able to avoid hearing the outcome of Sharks/Red Wings game 2, watching the Sharks victory on a 4 hour time delay after the kids went to sleep.
Is, that, what you were looking for?
You will be old some day too.
Your welcome.
Did I really type "Your" Welcome.. Yes, yes I did. Gah.
ReplyDeleteJavy was pulled in the 4th, not the 3rd.
ReplyDeleteMode - Yeah, I'm all for some personal sharing in the comments.
ReplyDeletePJB - Fixed. Thanks for the catch.
I like Granderson, but so far this trade of AJax for him, not looking so good. Do you think they'd take Vazquez and give us AJax back?
ReplyDeleteJoe - There's no question it's looking bad at this point but Jackson has a ridiculously high .527 BABIP that's going to have to come way down pretty soon. He's striking out in about 30% of his plate appearances and not putting the ball in play that often is going to translate to a lower batting average. He doesn't walk much or hit for power, so when that average goes down, he's not gonna have much going for him.
ReplyDeleteGranderson has been up and down and is obviously going to be out for a while, but when we check back in September, it will be obvious that he's a better player than Jackson.
They Yanks could probably pull a Vazquez for Jackson deal off. All they'd need to include was Austin Romine and Javy's entire salary.