4/9/10: Yankees 3, Rays 9

Box Score


Game MVP: David Price, for being the first starter to make it into the seventh inning against the Yanks, although he was assisted by some give-away ABs

Yanks MVP: I''ll say Johnson., only 'cause he broke out of his slump, but nobody really did anything special today

Props To: The Rays, who have half the payroll as our prima-donna team and still can whoop our asses with their fourth starter, even with our full day of rest

Negative Props To: Vazquez for a horrible return debut to the AL East and Girardi for leaving him in WAY too long, despite having a fully rested bullpen at his disposal

***Note: I'd like to preface this post by saying that I did not have visual of the game and was reliant to the MLB.com pitch tracker graphic, which all-in-all I feel is adequate for my purposes. I will do my best to limit these instances in the future, as best I can, but one must keep in mind that I am currently residing in western Massachusetts (ew) and the amount of Yankees games broadcast this area are few and far between.

Okay, I just need to get one thing straight. Your team is coming off a full day of rest. All your arms in your bullpen should be recharged and ready to go (with maybe the exception of Chan Ho Park, who laid down three innings of work on Wednesday). You've got a pitcher making his return debut in the AL East and by the fourth inning, he is laboring. It took good ole Javy Vazquez at least 22 pitches to get three outs in that half stanza; along the way he surrendered five hits, a walk, and five earned runs. Like I said: laboring. So you left him in to get out of his mess. Fine. Fifth inning you put him out there again and it pays off; he sits 'em down 1-2-3. He's okay for now, but keep in mind it's only a three-run game; I'd have my hand on that plug, ready to yank. Sixth inning and you send him out there again. Pitch count is getting high. The game is remains much in reach at a count of 5-2. B.J. Upton steps up and laces the first pitch he sees, a cookie of a fastball belt-high in the middle of the plate, into the gap for a lead-off double. Um, so...now you go to the pen, right? Aceves? Robertson? Mitre? No? Nobody, Joe? Of all the times to leave your starter out there to figure it out, you choose this moment? With a fresh stock of arms to pick from? Are we just giving up the game and saving the bullpen for the remainder of the series?

So you leave him. Gonna let Javy battle his way out of it. I guess you want to show you have confidence in him on the first start. Or maybe you have no confidence in your bullpen. Next batter, is Willy Aybar. And Willy Aybar hits a home run. Wait, let me say that again. Willy Aybar hits a home run. Great strategy, Joe. You left Javy in there and he gets burned by the eighth-place hitter who's looked clueless at the plate all day. Did he get his work in? Do you feel brave for letting him battle it out? Honestly, it boggles my mind, folks.

Here's another thing I don't get: why did it seem that every Yankee who stepped to the plate was swinging at the first pitch that David Price threw up there? They wore John Lackey to the bone on Wednesday, and although they didn't have any runs against him, they forced Francona's hand in the seventh inning and got into the bullpen. In this game, however, against a younger pitcher who's command wasn't exactly Maddux-like, the entire line-up went to the plate the opposite mindset. I mean, they looked like a team compromised of nine Vlad Guerreros the way they were free-swinging up there. Maybe after getting overpowered by price's heat the first time through, they figured their best shot was to jump on the first thing he hurled at 'em. Regardless of the thought-process, it the strategy backfired, and it wasn't until the eighth inning that the Yanks got back to the fiesty, patient batmanship that they're known for. By then of course, it was too late.

I suppose I shouldn't be surprised: the Yanks are for allowing young pitchers to bamboozle them and throw their approach off kilter, especially young lefties. After commendable efforts against Beckett, Lester, and Lackey, it would be David Price, the Rays fourth starter, who gets their goat. Swell.

PLUSES

Well, this should be short. Nick Johnson finally figured out that he had to swing the bat in order to hit the ball. Congratulations Nick! His break out from 0-for-ville was a small bright spot in the dark abyss that was this game. Jeter finally lifted a ball into the air in the eighth inning for his first double, instead of pounding it into the dirt as he had in almost all of his previous ABs in the Sox series. Maybe he'll start getting in scoring position with consistentcy and so that Johnson, Tex, and A-Rod can kill the rally. Speaking of A-Rod, he had another big hit, but in keeping with the trend of the previous three games, it was his only hit. It was well-struck ball, a sort of 2B/3B that Navarro turned into a "HR" thanks to a rushed throw. He fought hard in a decent AB in the second, but got punched out on a borderline 2-seamer; missed a hanging curve in the dead center of the plate in the sixth, then just missed another bullseye breaking ball in the eighth. It's another case of success with failure for the million-dollar man. With Tex looking like he won't have a hit until June, A-Rod's gonna need to start turning some more of those cockshots into four-baggers. Let's go, Mr. Hudson.

MINUSES

Jeez. I mean pretty much the entire team was a minus, save for the ABs mentioned above. Jeter looked like a chump until those final two ABs. Tex continues to look bad. The worst thing about his awful start is that he has been in hitter's counts more times than not. For example in this game, he was tied up by a 1-0 slider middle-in, a 4-semaer inside on a 3-1 count, and a 2-seamer that split the plate on 2-0. Mark, what more do you need? You're getting fastballs in fastball counts and you still can't do anything with them. Shorten up your stroke and just try to take it up the middle instead of taking these long, shoulder-dropping golf swings. I can't imagine he's trying to hit home runs at this point, as much as it appears he is. A single would suffice, sir. Even an infield hit would be positive. Anything but what you're doing.

Cano had his first truly poor showing at the plate in this one. He displayed all the usual symptoms characteristic of his slumps. Bad pitch recognition. Chasing pitches out of the strike zone, particularly high. Overanxious early in the count and hence giving away ABs. In his first apperance, Price simply overpowered him with his 4-seamer and nothing else. The quick and well-timed swing of the previous series was on vacation I guess, although he did hang in there for a single in his last AB (after chasing two bad balls at 2-0 and 2-1). Let's hope he can turn it on again against Wade Davis tomorrow. We're gonna need you to stay hot Robby, especially while the big bats are hibernating. Lay off that high fastball, would ya?

Swisher lived up to the literal meaning of his name today, as he did his best impression of a rusty gate in his last two ABs. After a walk and a first-pitch single through the box, his swing took a sudden nose dive in the later innings. He swung through a fastball down the pipe in his third trip and then waved helplessly at a slider. With the bases loaded and two outs in the eighth and a brand new pitcher on the hill, he did NOT take strike one (OF ALL PEOPLE!); then he chased a ball in the dirt to kill any hopes of a comeback. Swisher dude, the team doesn't ask too much of you does it? You can't at least take strike one with a new arm on the hill in a pressure situation? Where's your head at sir? It wasn't even a fastball nor was it that hittable a pitch. You're supposed to be the smart, patient sage-like hitter, remember? Let's go.

Thames is a benchie. Let's face facts here. He was unimpressive with the teamhis first time around and I don't see much of change in his approach or the results so far. I'm jumping the gun here, fine, but regardless of my overcritical attitude, there has always been something about the guy that's rubbed me the wrong way. I can't help but feeling that's trying to hit the ball 600 feet every time he comes up to the plate. Maybe it's an ego thing. Or maybe that's just how he's always approached hitting. Either way, he should stick to the age-old, tried-and-true philosophy of taking the ball back up the middle, like he did in his final AB, where he was rewarded with a hit. That's also what he should have done with the juicy 2-0 fastball in his first AB, but he tried to do too much and ended up rolling it to the third baseman. The basics, the basics, the basics. Not everything has to land in the bleachers.

I'll finish by asking Girardi one final round of questions: Winn for Thames in the top of the ninth? Why? What's the point? Wouldn't you rather have Thames up there, the guy with more power who's swing is already warmed-up from three AB and who was coming off his best AB of the game? Why sub in a hitter cold off the bench who's probably is only going to single/walk at best? If it was a speed thing, why not wait to see if Thames gets on base and then pinch run? If it was a percentages thing, then I don't know what to say, other then 'you live by the book, you die by the book.' It's called logic, Joe. Brainpower. A sense for the game. Get on that.

Pitching Breakdown

Oh Javy. I hope this doesn't turn out to be the repeated Yankee blunder of bringing a successful NL pitcher over to the AL East, only to watch his ERA skyrocket. If this debut was any indicator of future performance, I'd say he's well on his way to reenacting said blunder. It was looking fairly promising the first time through the order; nothing spectacular but good enough to get through the first 11 hitters without much strain. The fastball was hovering a little high in the zone and he caught a few breaks on some hittable pitches, but he was mixing pitches nicely. Even though not everything was spotted perfectly, he showed that he wasn't afraid to throw any pitch in any count. In fact, he might have revealed too much of his arsenal in the early going.

Perhaps that last statement was what lead to the problems he encountered in the fourth inning. It all started with a dreaded lead-off walk to Zobrist on four pitches. Never a good sign. Then he got uber lucky on a 1-0 slider to Longoria that hung smack dab in the center of the zone. Evan missed it and the bullet was dodged. But in the next AB, Pena made sure his shot hit its target and hit hard. A fastball just above belt high and out over the plate ended up in the seats to tie the game. If you're gonna go upstairs to Pena, you better make sure you get it inside as well. You might as well throw it into the stands yourself if you're gonna come at him with a cookie like that. Also, i think he might have distracted himself a bit with all the pickoff moves to first. You have arguably the most powerful bat in their lineup at the plate, sir. Let's get our priorities straight.

Things just got worse from there. With an 0-2 count on Upton, he leaves another fastball out over the plate that gets roped into center field. Then he falls behind to Aybar 3-1 and gets the out, not through doing of his own, but because Aybar swung at ball four (he made up for it in his next AB though, as was detailed above). Navarro steps in with two down and takes another fat 0-2 fastball into the outfield for a hit. Even scrubby Sean Rodriguez was able to tag the fastball for a flair single. This poop show was capped off by the Bartlett AB. After the shortstop clearly showerd that he was having trouble catching up with the fastball, Vazquez decides that he'll try the change. Not only does he speed Bartlett's bat up, but he leaves the pitch in the middle of the plate to be laced into the gap for a two-run double. What was a 2-0 Yankee lead just a half inning before was now a 5-2 deficit. 5 runs on 5 hits and a walk. Super.

There were two key things that I think caused the collapse in that inning: 1) he began to lose his command of the strike zone, particularly with his heater, and instead of mixing in more of his offspeed stuff, he tried to muscle up and blow people away, causing his fastball to sail flat and high; 2) he refused to throw inside to anybody, allowing the Rays hitters to lean comfortably over the plate and smash pitches at will. Where was the change when Pena was up? Upton? Navarro? All very good fastball hitters, all elated when you served them hard stuff in hittable locations in 0-2 counts. Where were the sliders low-and-away and in on hands? Where was anything in on the hands? You have to own the plate out there, man; otherwise even nine-hole gognogglers like Sean Rodriguez are gonna make you look bad. Buzz someone under their chin. Throw the fastball up AND inside 0-2, not belt high and out over the plate where they can extend and lay the bathead on it. Christ all mighty, did you leave your brains and your balls in Atlanta? Hope not, Javy, otherwise this is gonna be a long season.

Mitre came in and didn't fare much better. The "sinking" fastball wasn't sinking at all, and it was getting slapped around all over the yard by the Rays. The only other pitch he had was the curve, and it too was hanging and not doing the trick. Apparently, he remebered he had a change up in the seventh inning and guess what? He started getting outs. Do you see the correlation there, Sergio? You throw the offspeed pitches, you get good results. You insist on trying to get everyone out with your rinky-dink heater and your equally average curve and you get shelled. Lesson learned? Doubtful. Can't wait for his first start of the year. Should be a blast.