Saturday, May 26, 2012

UFC 146


Yes I know that this is a Yankees blog but the Yankees game is over, it is Saturday night, and if you are anything like me you have nothing better to do tonight. Im pretty excited about this one because it is all heavyweights on the card. The main event is Junior Dos Santos and Frank Mir fighting in the Octagon for the Heavyweight Championship. 

Who do I think is going to win you ask? I'm glad you asked... because I take any opportunity to bash Frank Mir because I hate the guy.  The WINNER....AND STIIIIILLLL Heavyweight Champion... Junior Dos Santos!!!



Yankees @ A's 5/26/12

UPDATE:

Yanks go quietly in the Top of the 1st. Johnny Gomes added an RBI single in the first to put the A's up 1-0 over the Yanks. 

Cano hits his 7th home run to tie the game at 1 run a piece. 

Jeter puts the Yankees ahead with an RBI single scoring Eric Chavez

Josh Reddick strikes again with another home run. 2-2 tie

You're On The Mark... Teixeira... 3-2 Yankees lead

Alex Rodriguez sac fly adds a run , making it 4-2 Yanks. Mark Teixeira looks like he is heating up and adds a two run single to put the Yanks up 6-2 after 5 IP. 

Derek Jeter hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to give the Yankees their 7th run. Teix adds a two run home run in the 9th to make it 9-2 Yanks

Yanks win 9-2


The Yankees have a quick turn around with their night game last night and having an afternoon game today. Nonetheless the Yankees will send workhorse CC Sabathia to mound to once again be the Yankees ace and keep the win streak alive. Facing the Yankees ace is former Yankee SP Bartolo "Fat Joe" Colon . The game will be on at 4:05 pm ET and will be televised on YES


Derek Jeter SS
Curtis Granderson CF
Alex Rodriguez DH
Robinson Cano 2B
Mark Teixeira 1B
Raul Ibanez LF
Nick Swisher RF
Eric Chavez 3B
Chris Stewart C

So much for this "Chris Stewart is not CC Sabathia's personal catcher" mess huh?

The Better Choice

Player A
This guy is 30 years old, played 6 seasons in MLB with a total of 271 plate appearances in 104 games. His triple-slash in MLB is .206/.272/.288, while averaging just 5 HR per 162 games. In 34 PAs over 11 games this season he's hitting .242/.265/.273, with 1 extra-base hit (a double).

Player B
This guy is 29 years old, and has played 7 years in MLB with a total of 3,323 plate appearances over the course of 830 games. His MLB career triple-slash is .263/.357/.395, while averaging 15 HR per 162 games. In 134 plate appearances in 38 games this season he's hitting .173/.321/.318, with 8 extra-base hits (4 doubles and 4 homers).

Going by their career numbers it's clear who you'd want to be in the lineup more often. The low SLG by Player B is not attractive, but he's certainly the better choice over Player A and his triple-slash of .206/.265/.288.

Who is it?

If you were to take the hot hitter though, who would you want? A guy with a triple-slash of .242/.265/.273 is hardly a great choice, but when you see that Player B has a batting average so far this season of .173 the choice doesn't seem that hard. But how can you ignore an OBP that's 66 points higher? And what about the fact that Player B also has a SLG 45 points higher (although it's nothing spectacular)? The hotter hitter is probably Player B too.

So why is it that some Yankee fans are clamoring for Player A to get more playing time? The short answer... I haven't a clue. I really don't get it. I mean, I'm all for trying to improve wherever possible, but the fact is the Yankees can either use Player A or Player B... there is no Player C. Those that could be considered "Player C" are not only in the minors, but they aren't exactly tearing things up there either.

"I don't get it. I mean... are they cute?"

And keep in mind that this is in regards to a guy that regularly hits 8th or 9th in the lineup. So it's not like the offense is leaning on the guy in this position to carry the offensive load.

If you haven't guessed who Player A and Player B are by this point, then shame on you. Then again we're only talking about Chris Stewart and Russell Martin, so I can't blame you for not caring. Because you really shouldn't care. No matter who starts behind the dish for the team, it doesn't matter a whole hell of a lot. The offense doesn't need them to pick up a slumping offense, or at least they shouldn't need that. The offense needs Mark Teixeira to hit better than .226, they need Alex Rodriguez to have a SLG higher than .444, and they need Nick Swisher to get on base more than 30% of the time.

"My bad"

Russell Martin will get better. Will he hit well enough to garner MVP votes? God no! But when Brian Cashman re-signed him for Joe Girardi and the 2012 Yankees, he didn't do so thinking Russ was a guy that made a good offense great. Martin is there because he's a fine defensive catcher, and the pitchers seem to like him (CC may be the exception). And it didn't cost an arm and a leg, in terms of dollars and years, in order to bring him back to the team either. 

It's no surprise that some Yankee fans are going to get upset over every little thing. But let's use a little more perspective, what do you say?