Last Night In Funny Euphemisms

Good morning Fackers. We're just two games into the 2010 season, and we already have an early contender for line of the year.

In the bottom of the ninth last night, Mariano Rivera caught Jacoby Elsbury looking at strike three for the second out of the inning. Instead of busting the lefty in on the hands as he usually does, Mo dropped his cutter over the outside corner for the final strike.

In the YES booth, a discussion ensued about Mo's use of the backdoor cutter. Ken Singleton dropped this gem on us:

"When he decides to go back door they just stand there and take it"

Whoa, easy there Kenny. He must have spent the Monday off day watching the complete series of Oz on DVD.

I don't think Singleton's line last night tops Michael Kay's "He dropped a deuce on him" from last year, but it's the early leader for best line of 2010.

Are Throws To First A Waste Of Time?

You know the scene. The Yankees are on the road, it's late in the game and the opposing team puts a speedster on base. The pitcher throws over to first once, the runner retreats safely. He throws over again and it's not even close this time. The crowd starts to boo. And a third time. The boos get louder.

Even as a fan of the team throwing to first, I sometimes get annoyed with the process. It breaks up the flow of the game, it seemingly never works, and yet teams continually do it. Is it actually effective as a tactic or is it another practice in baseball that's done because it's always been done?

As of late June (can't find more recent stats), both Andy Pettitte and A.J. Burnett were near the top of the league in pick-off attempts. Burnett had a game this year against the Angels in which he threw to first base 24 times in 7 innings. They do get results though, as Pettitte is tied for the AL lead with 8 pickoffs this year while Burnett is not too far behind with 5. However, Burnett has more pickoffs where the runner was tagged out diving back to first base (4) than Pettite (3), probably because runners are more wary of Andy's move. Five of Pettitte's PO's were of the variety that CC Sabathia recorded against Jacoby Ellsbury last Sunday Night in which the runner was going on motion and got caught stealing.

We all know that pickoffs are pretty rare. Pettitte has allowed 178 runners to reach first base this year via single, walk or HBP and has nabbed less than 5% of them, or fewer than one every 3 starts. Much of the time the throws to the base are called from the bench and it's not especially close. You essentially never see a runner picked off the second time the pitches tosses over to first base.

But yet it's still done. Does it have a purpose even if they aren't catching the runners getting too greedy with their lead very often?

John Dewan says yes (h/t BBTF). When looking at data from 2002-2009, they've found that a runner's stolen base percentage actually does decrease when one throw to first base has been made. It goes down slightly with each throw after that, but not significantly. Check out his post for the numbers.

Runners steal at a 65% clip against Pettitte and Burnett which means the league is ineffective by sabermetric standards at swiping with them on the mound. Whether we like it or not, all those throws to to first base do serve a purpose (besides just slowing down the game).

Sabathia 1, Ellsbury 0

Amidst what was universally considered an abysmal performance (on Twitter at least) by a typically poor broadcasting team, there was a moment in the first inning when Jon Miller and Joe Morgan were actually -- insightful. (That sound you hear is Ken Tremendous rolling over in his digital grave.) With CC Sabathia ahead in the count 0-2 against Dustin Pedroia, Miller asked Morgan about Sabathia's move to first base because Jacoby Ellsbury was one steal away from breaking the Red Sox single season record.

Morgan responded by explaining how Sabathia was varying his leg kick in an effort to keep Ellsbury off-balance. Sabathia followed by delivering a pitch with almost no wind up, which would have been almost impossible to steal on. On the ensuing delivery, Sabathia raised his knee as if he were starting a wind up, which was exactly what Ellsbury was waiting to run on. Unfortunately for Ellsbury, Sabathia was one step ahead of him and instead of throwing to the plate, he fired to Mark Teixeira at first, who threw to Derek Jeter just in time to beat Ellsbury to second.

What was great about this sequence was the timing. Miller brought up the point, Morgan was spot on with his analysis and two pitches later, something relevant to their conversation actually happened. They didn't belabor the point incessantly only for it never to happen like so often occurs.

I'm a pretty serious baseball fan but I'll admit that I don't often notice the interplay and mind games that occur between a prolific base stealer and the pitcher trying to keep him at bay. Perhaps it's because aside from Brett Gardner, the Yankees haven't had a truly frightening speed threat in the line up since Rickey Henderson. Tim Raines was in his mid-to-late 30's when he joined the Yanks, Alfonso Soriano wasn't on base enough and Steve Sax and Roberto Kelly had their moments, but none of those guys stole more than 45 in a season wearing pinstripes. And the most recent of that group, Soriano, has been gone for 6 years already.

That moment last night represented what broadcasts are supposed to do and what Miller, Morgan and Phillips fail to do with remarkable consistency: convey things to the people who are watching that they didn't already know or wouldn't typically notice. It's difficult to do in baseball, but it shouldn't be as difficult is the Sunday Night Baseball crew makes it seem.

Swept Away

As far as sweeps go, that one was pretty bad. It occurred against the Red Sox, involved a blown save by Mariano Rivera, a fackin' Kevin Youkilis walk-off homer onto Landsdowne St., a grand slam by Jason Varitek, games called by Tim McCarver and Joe Morgan, and the coup de grace, a fucking steal of home by Jacoby Ellsfairy. 

It's only one run. It didn't decide the game. I'm guessing it probably won't happen again. But that perfectly placed the poo cherry right on top of the shit sundae that was this series. If you look closely at the replays (or watch the end of the slideshow below), you'll see that he tripped about 10 feet from home plate, which actually helped him barely sneak under the tag. The expression on Andy Pettitte's face pretty much says it all: 

It looks like he just watched someone kick his dog. Although, to complete the analogy, Pettitte would have been holding the leash when it happened. 

The only thing that eases the pain is the fact that this weekend was absolutely beautiful this weekend here on the Eastern seaboard, and still is. Would you trade three Yankee wins for three straight days of 50 degrees and rain? I'll get back to you in September. 

It's still April, and the Yanks are 9-9. They are heading to a pitcher's park and will have their ace on the hill tonight. I just hope this is the last sweep at the hands of the Sox this year, because this is (not surprisingly) the only song in my iTunes library that has anything to do with sweeping. 

[Disclaimer: It's only a little over a minute long, but please be sure to remove all sharp objects from your reach, because this show is about three times more depressing than I intended it to be.]

Take A Bow

Dear Jacoby Ellsbury,

Thank you for giving us a reason to hate your fucking guts. In the meantime, suck a bag of dicks.

Cordially,
Fack Youk

That Baseballing Contest Was Most Unpleasant To Witness!

Can anyone explain this to me? Why, why, why, why would Joe Girardi, when Jonathan Albaledejo was 0-1 on Jacoby Ellsbury, bring in Mariano Rivera for one out in the bottom of the eighth inning? Alby had already got three easy outs (one in the 7th) before accidentally nipping Nick Green on the thigh with a 0-2 two-seam fastball that moved in just a little too much. Joe let him stay on the mound, throw over to first, and even get ahead on Ellsbury. Then, to every one's surprise, he walked out to the mound, talked to Jon for a second and tapped his right arm.

I like Girardi as a manager. I was fully on board with his hiring. But all this meddling with the bullpen is not only frustrating to watch, it's costing the Yankees games.

In a 4-2 game, Ellsbury represented the tying run. This year he has TWO doubles, ZERO triples or home runs and is slugging .304. What was Joe worried about? The count was already 0-1. Why not let Albaledejo try and get through this at bat? Because even if he did get a hit, chances are it would have been a single, which would not have scored Nick Green from first.

I'm not against using Rivera for more than three outs. That's one of the many abilities he has that separates him from other closers of this era. But there is no justification for bringing him in the 8th last night to face a shitty hitter. It was at someone else's expense as well. You can see the look on Albaledejo face. He looks dejected... embarrassed, even. He was throwing well and got pulled in the middle of a fucking at-bat for no good reason in Fenway park. Can you blame him?

I can't help but wonder if Alby got that out, and Mariano was reserved for the 9th inning that perhaps this wouldn't have happened:

Maybe this comes across as second guessing, but it was mind boggling at the time and it's not the first occasion this year when his bullpen management has squandered a late lead.

After Bay hit that home run, there was sense of inevitability to the outcome. Although the home team's advantage in extra innings is only 52/48, it feels much greater. The visiting team, in effect, has to play their hand first while the home team has the chance to respond. All it takes for the road team is one mistake, kind of like the one Damaso Marte made to Kevin Fackin' Youkilis.


/punches self in face repeatedly