Even when he's good, he's bad

July 7th, 2010 - Yankees 6, Athletics 2

Box Score

A.J. Burnett's pitching line last night would suggest another successful July outing for the power righty: 2 runs on 5 hits over 7 innings with 2 walks and 3 strikeouts.  But if you actually watched him work last night and dismissed the apologist banter of Ken Singleton and John Flaherty, you'd know that the Oakland Athletics deserve more of the credit for Burnett's quality start than does the pitcher himself.  Contrary to Mr. Flaherty's analysis, Burnett wasn't spotting the fastball all that well in the early going.  Additionally, he lacked a consistent feel for the slider, and often opted for the curveball as his go-to breaking pitch.  It too was mediocre.  The only pitch that he really had going for him last night was the change-up of all things.  It had good late movement and he was spotting it decently-well, enough so that it kept the A's off balance and allowed many a poorly-located heater to sneak through the zone untouched.  It was the first time all year that I've seen him get results out of his offspeed ball, although admittedly I've missed a lot of his starts.

Anyway, back to the real reason this tattooed meathead was able to go seven strong.  Oakland presented Burnett with a 3-4-5 of Ryan Sweeney, Kurt Suzuki, and Jack Cust.  First off, your catcher is your #4 hitter.  That's a red flag right there.  Unless the guy donning the pads is an absolute beast with the stick, he has no business hitting fourth.  That's not a knock against Suzuki.  He's a hard-nosed player who will give you a quality at-bat and a modicum of power, but last time I checked, he ain't no Joe Mauer.  Ryan Sweeney's your #3?  A guy who's mustered just one round-trippers in 293 at-bats this year?  His circa .290 average makes him a worthy sixth or seventh-place hitter, sure.  But a #3?  Nice try.  And don't even get me started on Jack Cust.  All you need to know is this:  he has hit 1 home run for every 20.5 strikeouts this season.  To be fair, he's on pace for an all-time low in K's, but he's also on pace to hit about 6 home runs.  When you're as one-dimensional as Cust (pure slugger), it sort of helps to make good on your the one thing you can offer your club.

Hey, don't get me wrong.  A.J. wears pinstripes and therefore I want him to do well.  It's great that he got the win last night, but his mechanics looked sloppy and flat-out little-leaguish at times, particularly in the sixth inning last night, where he very nearly lost them all together.  He'll have to do better in upcoming starts against Tampa Bay and Kansas City (who still lead the A.L. in hits and batting average) if he wants to finish out the month of July as well as he has in recent history.  For the record, Burnett is now 7-0 in his last nine starts made in July.  Hey, one month out of six ain't bad.  It's actually awful.

As for the Yankees offense, it was certainly encouraging to see Mark Teixeira go deep for the second time in three games.  Slow down there, big guy.  You might just raise that average over .250 if you keep this up.  Despite a woeful average, the man has still 57 RBIs, good for a tie for 14th best in the majors.  That's almost unreal as the fact that A-Rod sits at 3rd with 67 driven-in on just 81 hits and 14 dongs.  Slowly but surely, the big salary bats are starting to come through for the Bombers.  They really are the key for this team in the second half.  The Yanks are going to have a much more difficult road ahead of them for the duration of the season, and I'd be quite surprised if the starting rotation manages to continues to pitch at the same clip as the first half.  Assuming they do not, this squad is going to need the kind of crushing blows like A-Rod's grand slam two nights ago and Tex's 3-run blast last night to keep them in the win column.  Plus Cano looks like he's on the verge of (or has already stumbled into) one of his ferocious slumps, the kind that he usually hamper him in the early months.

Nick Swisher furthered his case for an All-Star bid adding 3 hits and a home run to his totals.  Does he deserve the vote over Youkilis?  More on that in a minute.  Brett Gardener was the only lefty that Girardi was brave enough to leave in the lineup against southpaw Gio Gonzalez, and he rewarded his manager's faith with a line drive to left field, a stolen base, and a run-scored on Ramiro Pena's bloop single.  Let's not forget the stellar grab he had in the first innings on Coco Crisp's drive to the gap.  Brett has been in my mind the most underrated contributor this year, no question.  A game-changer on the basepaths, an average well over .300, and stellar glovework in left and center fields.  It's time to swallow my words and start giving Brett the props he deserves.  One love, baldy.

Last but not least is the Yanks bullpen.  Marte and Joba combined for 2 innings of 1-hit baseball.  That's what needs to happen for this club on a night-in-night-out basis if they want to compete for that pennant.  So I guess there are really two key factors to look for in the second half: the bullpen and the A-Rod/Tex combo.  If the pinstripes get those two cogs turning, I don't see much standing in the way of a repeat.

Subway Series anyone?  No?  Fine, I'll call it then. Mets-Yanks 2010.  Ten year anniversary of the classic matchup, only this time I'll spot the Queens Queens a run.  Yanks in 5.  Get at me.

And then the heavens opened up and hell froze over...all at once

Yeah, sorry about that Game 2 post. It was too depressing a loss to bother with it again. All you need to know is that C.C. Sabathia was bad and the bullpen was worse. It might have even been the worse loss of the season for the squad, as they plated 11 runs against what is essentially a triple-A team in the Indians and still couldn't hold the lead. Luckily, the bombers redeemed themselves with a big come-back victory yesterday which I will now explore.

But before I do, I have to say that two perfect games in a season is absurd, but two perfect games in the span of a month is unfathomable. Congratulations, Doc. You deserved it. Bradden? You can "suck it."

GAME 3: Indians 3, Yankees 7
Box Score

With two baserunners on and two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning yesterday afternoon, Yankee first baseman Mark Teixeira stepped up to the dish in yet another huge spot. The score was 3-2 Cleveland at that point, as Jeter's two-out, two-run single and Granderson's double off made it a 2nd-and-3rd game-changing situation. Tex had driven in his first run in ten games yesterday after being struck by a pitch with the bases loaded, but the three-hole slugger hadn't done so via a base hit since May 17th. One might say he's been struggling through the first third of 2010, and that's being fairly generous. Now the seventh inning comeback rested on his shoulders. With a bad swing on an 0-1 fastball to push the count to 0-2, it looked like Mark was doomed to fail yet again. However, Indian reliever Tony Sipp let him back into the count by wasting two pitches, and after fouling off a tough 2-2 fastball, Tex unloaded on a hanging slider, sending it deep into the bleachers in left to give the Yanks the lead and eventually the win.

In his post-game interview, Mark claimed that he has had a "good" month of May, even wishing that the next four months would be filled with similar success. Really, Mark? All right, let's have a look. In this month up and through the 30th, he's hit for a .281 BA while recording 6 home runs, 25 RBIs, and 11 multi-hit games, as compared to a .136 BA, 2 homer runs, 9 RBIs, and 1 multi-hit game in April. Statisically speaking, Mark wasn't jesting. He did indeed have a stellar month. But if you look harder, you'll see that from May 9th to May 29th, he had just 2 home runs, that went 10 games without an RBI, and that he had a 6-game stint with just 2 hits. The numbers were there, but the consistency wasn't. And the latter is what this lineup needs out of Mark more than anything.

Why Mark Teixeira is the most valuable sub-.200 hitter in baseball

In yesterday's game against the Chicago White Sox, Yankee's three-hole "slugger" Mark Teixeira bumped his batting average up a whopping 36 percentage points from .153 to .189. He achieved this by going 4-of-5 at the plate, including a 2-run double (just his fifth of 2010) that capped off a 5-run seventh-inning for the pinstripes, shutting the door on the Sox in a 12-3 victory. In his last two games, Tex has increased his average by 39%, his hit total by 55%, and his RBI total by 25%. What a difference a series makes, huh?

Marky T struggled mightily at the start of last season (his debut campaign for the Yanks), and he is struggling even more mightily so far in 2010. At the end of April last year, he had recorded a batting average of exactly .200, an OBP of .367, 3 homers, 10 RBIs, 11 runs scored, 14 hits, and 3 multi-hit games. The consensus in the organization, the fanbase, and the media was that A-Rod's absence was the largest factor in Teixeira's poor start. I had my doubts about this for two reasons: a) he is a notoriously slow starter, especially in April, and b) he had Matsui and Posada behind him in that month. Yes, neither Matsui nor Posada was particularly brilliant, but Tex was definitely getting his share of hitable pitches and was simply failing to deliver...

...much like this season's opening month, only this April, A-Rod has been holding down the clean-up spot in just about every game. So how did Mark's April stat line turn out with Rodriguez hitting behind him? .136 BA, .300 OBP, 2 homers, 9 RBIs, 11 runs scored, 11 hits, and just 1 multi-hit game. Well, so much for the that excuse.

Yet despite all this statistical evidence against him, Tex is still the one of the most valuable players in the majors, even during times like these when his numbers suggest otherwise. On what grounds can I make such a claim about a sub-.200 hitter? First and foremost, you have to look at his defense. In terms of fielding, Teixeira is the best first baseman the Yankees have had since I've started watching the club way back in 1994/5. Yep, that means he's better than Tino and Donny Baseball. His range is exceptional, he makes all his throws with a speedy release and pinpoint accuracy, and he makes difficult scoops, snags, and catches with impressive regularity. Tex is the only starting infielder on the team not to make an error so far this season, and he held the highest fielding percentage of any Yank (excluding the pitchers) last season at .997. That was below only Adam LaRoche and Todd Helton in terms of first baseman who started at least 130 games in 2009.

But beyond the percentages, Tex serves as a kind of calming force in the Yankee infield, a presence that is a definite comfort to pitchers and the rest of the squad. Having him at the bag means that A-Rod, Jeter, and Cano can rush their throw a little more without having to worry as much about the accuracy, because they know the skill of the glove on the receiving end. Pitchers too can be a little more risky with their pitch selection, especially inside to lefties, because they know most balls hit down the line, no matter how hard, have a chance of getting caught. This man has never allowed his brilliant defense to be dragged down by his lack of effectiveness with the bat, and I don't care who you are, that takes a lot of mental fortitude.

Secondly, Teixeira has worked the count on the opposing pitcher more intensely than any Yankee this season, with the possible exception of Nick Swisher. Time and time again, as I've glanced over the Gameday application that tracks pitches, Tex's ABs have jumped out at me, not because of the results, but because of the sheer volume of pitches that this man sees. 8, 9, and 10-pitch ABs are a constant feature of Mark's game, even when the payoff is minimal. He currently ranks 13th in the majors for number of pitches faced, and is far-and-above the leader on the team. If nothing else, Tex consistently gets his walks and has a huge impact on the pitch count of the starting pitcher. A contribution like that cannot go overlooked, although for the most part it does, since it's not a result that shows up in the box score. Does that mean Mark is also missing pitches that he should be driving into the gap instead of fouling to the side? Certainly. However, in this day and age, I dare say many a manager would like to have a guy who makes the pitcher work to get him out, rather than a free-swinger who is as likely to get a hit as he is likely to make an out on the first or second pitch.

The bottom line is that when Mark Teixeira is swinging the bat well, his defense and his approach at the plate are excellent. When Mark Teixeira is swinging the bat horribly, as he has been this past April, his defense and approach at the plate are still excellent. This man does not get impatient or frustrated when in a slump like so many so-called professional athletes do. He does not allow what he does (or doesn't do) at the dish to affect what he does in the field. Mark Teixeira is a smart ballplayer and a professional athlete, and it shows in the way he carries himself and the way he plays the game, even when his statistics don't. That, to me, is the mark (ha! I'm awful) of a great player.