Monday, July 7, 2014

The Daily Dozen - July 7, 2014

Hello Yankees and GreedyPinstripe fans!

Tonight I am starting a new series entitled THE DAILY DOZEN, which is intended to be a humorous take on each night's game the rest of the season.  It may degrade into a rant at times, but as True Yankees Fans, what would you expect?

Anyways, I have been gone for a month or so as we transitioned into a new home outside of Columbus and I hadn't gotten the urge to set up my home office until last week...so expect to hear and read more from me this season as the Yankees push towards the playoffs in Jeter's Last Stand!

THE DAILY DOZEN
(Twelve Takeaways from Tonight's Game - July 7th, 2014 Edition - The Inaugural)

1. I miss the Chief Wahoo logo.  We have become weak, may I say soft, in the current Political Correctness life and times of America.  That big toothy grin was always the most recognizing symbol for the City of Cleveland for me growing up.  Who in the hell is getting offended by that logo?  Now there is a "C"...really? A "C"....come on Cleveland, you can do better than this!

My five year old could have designed a better logo...just sayin!
2. Derek Jeter is a class act.  When Jete came up to the plate in the 1st inning there were a ton of cheers and a few scattered boos.  My oldest son asked "Why are they booing him?" I calmly responded that it was a sign of respect for opposing players to be booed, because it means that you are really good.  The one thing I have always admired about El Capitan is that he responds like a professional in EVERY situation.  The whole crowd could have been booing him and he would have smiled and went on hitting the ball to right field.  I'm sure he'll leave a few gift baskets in the City of Cleveland on his way out of town...
How many little Jeters do you think are actually running around today?
3. Umpires should wear goggles.  Did anyone else catch the homeplate Umpire stopping the game because he had a bug in his eye?  At least an umpire finally admitted he couldn't see clearly...(wocka, wocka, wocka!)

4. Shane Greene was LIGHTS OUT! Only in the game of baseball would a rookie starter in his first Major League game pitch 4-2/3 innings of no-hit ball while the former Yankee killer (as an Indian) Justin Masterson would give up 5 runs in 2+ innings.  Previously, Masterson had a 3-0 record against the Bronx Bombers with a 0.38 ERA at Progressive Field (formerly Jacobs Field).  Tonight he had a 22.50 ERA.  Only in Baseball.
What an awkward smile ROOK! (Source Photos: ESPN.com)
5. The Yankees cannot score later than the 5th inning.  Okay...I'm "probably" being facetious with that sentence, but it seems that every time the Yankees get up early in a game, they can't seem to add any more runs late to put games away.  Mark my words, it is going to kill the bullpen by the end of the year.
Seriously guys...I pitch like every night with the game on the line!
6. Ichiro has still got it.  The dude is going to play until he is 50.  Seriously, sign him to a 5 year contract now at 2 million per season.  The revenue from the interest in the team with Tanaka and Ichiro on board for the long term will more than pay his salary.  I think Ichiro and Kuroda calm Tanaka as those are guys he can look up to and of course actually understand.  Personally, I want to see Ichiro get to 3,000 hits as a Yankee.  Make it happen CASHMAN!
If he gets to 3,000 hits next season he should be exempt to the facial hair clause...#NappyBeard
7. Daniel Burch is a better predictor than me.  Well not in the Mega Prediction Game, but last week he predicted that Brian McCann was getting ready to turn it on.  I predicted Carlos Beltran was about to start lighting it up.  Well, lo and behold, McCann has been hitting much better as of late and got above .230 tonight---yes, I am actually celebrating that fact.  Beltran has been hitting the ball hard, but like Ellsbury tonight is hitting it right at people.  For the Yankees sake, I hope we are both right in the coming days.
He may have had too much wine in the offseason, but the hangover looks to be over!
8. I still like Nick Swisher.  Swisher is a Man's Man.  I don't know exactly what that means but I've heard it bandied about once or twice.  He played ball for Ohio State, he played ball for the Yankees.  That's good enough in my book.  It's strange that the Indians first two hits tonight were by former Yankees players.  I thought Indians fans hated Yankees!

9. Brett Gardner is the Yankees offensive MVP thus far this season.  The guy is just flat out a complete player.  Sure he still gets caught stealing way too much at this point in his career.  I was hoping that Ellsbury would help him a little bit this season, but he is very consistent at the plate.  He never gives away an at-bat.  He is the ballplayer that I always hoped to be someday.  He was 3 for 5 tonight and raised his batting average to .289, best on the team (barring Ichiro's .304 which doesn't meet the MLB minimum for a batting title as of yet).  Out of the everyday players, he leads the team in average, on-base percentage (.363), OPS (.796), WAR (2.4), hits (94), triples (6), total bases (141), walks (34), and is 2nd in slugging percentage (behind only Teixeira's .452--Gardy is at .434) and stolen bases (15, 8 behind Ellsbury).  Last season, we all asked where the Yankees would be without Cano...well, this year where would they be without Gardner?  Oh yeah...and he also has 3 assists, 158 put-outs, and has played in 88 games.
M-V-P! M-V-P! M-V-P!
10. In order for the Yankees to win games and in turn series, they have to see pitches.  Case in point: tonight the Yankees saw 150 Indians' pitches.  Cleveland only saw 116.  The Yankees won...  The day before versus the Twins they saw 138 pitches...and won...really for the last 5 days the Yankees have been more patient at the plate and have been rewarded with a 4-1 record only losing in extra innings to the Twins on Saturday while seeing 180 pitches.  Earlier in the season and during their losing streaks they weren't seeing nearly as many pitches as one would expect from a veteran Yankees team.

11. As of tonight's win, the Yankees have a 17.1% chance of making the playoffs.  That's not good.  But wait! There's more.  They are only 3.5 games back of the 1st place Baltimore Orioles.  After the Yankees sweep the Indians in this current 4 games set, guess who they get to play?  Yep...the Orioles.  I have a feeling the Playoff % will be a bit larger come the Daily Dozen on July 13th.
These aren't your Daddy's Orioles!
12. I learned tonight that Thursday's game at the Jake (err...Progressive Field) is Dollar Dog Night.  I am taking my oldest son, Gabe, to his 2nd MLB game ever that night.  His first game was the Yankees vs. Braves in Atlanta 2 years ago while we still lived in Tennessee.  Now that I am back in my home state of Ohio, I look forward to taking him and the rest of my ever-growing family to many Yankees-Indians, Yankees-Tigers, and Yankees-Reds games in the future.  Burch predicts we'll eat 7 hot dogs that night by the way...his predictions are usually right!

Follow me on Twitter! I promise to make you laugh at least once each Yankees game! 

@dm23HOF

7 comments:

  1. Great post Knepper, look forward to these!

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  2. I'm going to start campaigning to bring Swisher back to the Bronx. We have a need in rightfield, he's better than a .200 hitter, and he belongs in New York!

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    1. And he's more than capable as a backup at first base. I like the idea, might even write a post about it if you don't mind.

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    2. Please do. I know he wanted to stay with the Yankees, and I'm sure the Yankees would have liked to keep him. At the time, it wasn't a fit. It is now. With Beltran's future uncertain, Tex needing periodic rest, and having to run Ichiro out there everyday, the timing couldn't be better. We could probably get him for minimal prospects depending on how much salary we were willing to eat. Plus, he's probably one of the best clubhouse guys ever.

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    3. Got the post scheduled for Thursday(my writers block is gone and tomorrow is pretty full) and I say we eat salary and trade Roller. Indians are win now and Roller is cheap and Major League ready. Swisher is highest paid player on team where the salary is highest since 2001.. and the team had to let go of Ubaldo Jimenez, etc. because of salary. Plus they are under .500, now is the time to pounce

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  3. I wonder if the Indians changing their name to the Native Americans would affect the way Wahoo is treated.

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  4. They should just change the name back to the Cleveland Spiders...just saying...

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Sorry for the Capatcha... Blame the Russians :)