Thursday, August 21, 2014

The Daily Dozen - August 20, 2014

The Daily Dozen - August 20th, 2014 - WHITE FLAG EDITION
(Twelve Takeaways for Last Night's Game vs. the Red-Hot Houston Astros)

1. Michael Pineda was dealing again.  He was perfect the first time through the lineup and only allowed 1 run prior to the 7th inning when he was pulled from the game by the Master himself.  Another quality start wasted.

2. The hits just keep coming people.  Derek Jeter went 2 for 4 with a walk and a stolen base last night.  Is there any way he can be convinced to stay one more year??  He now sits at 3,437 hits total for his career.

3. Houston struck first in the 4th inning.  The Yankees showed resilience by scoring in the bottom of the 4th with Stephen Drew's solo shot.

4. Ichiro had a quality game.  He also went 2 for 4 with a stolen base.  In fact, the Yankees as a whole batted well accumulating 10 hits and 4 stolen bases on top of that.  One would expect a win with those stats.  For the record, Mr. Suzuki has 2,815 career MLB hits under his belt.

5. Ellsbury came up with a bunt single plating Ichiro in the 5th.  Some good small ball by Ichiro, Jeter, and Ellsbury that inning.

6. Mark Teixeira comes up empty...again.  Another game, another 0-fer.  It's getting a bit tired.

7. This team strikes out waaaaaaay too much.  Add an additional 8 Ks tonight.  The strikeouts combined with a team .249 average explains why the team is 63-61 and can't beat a crappy team like Houston.  The worst part is they often strikeout back-to-back after guys are in scoring position.  Awful.

8. Up 2-1 going into the 7th.  This is when the season basically ended for the Yankees.  After a lead-off walk issued by Pineda the Binder went to his oft-used bullpen installing Huff into the game.  My nickname for him is White Flag in case you have missed it.  It seems that every time he enters the game, bad things happen.  Playoff teams should not be losing a game 5-2 after being up 2-1 in the 7th...and this is NOT a playoff team.  Thanks Mr. Huff for your "service."

9. Esmil Rogers is terrible.  He is so bad that even the Toronto Blue Jays didn't want him...

10. With men on 2nd and 3rd and 2-0 count, Jacoby swings at 3 straight pitches to strikeout.  This made no sense whatsoever to me.  Don't swing at a pitch until you get a strike in that situation as the man behind you is Teixeira who isn't striking fear into anyone at this point.  If the count is 3-0, Ellsbury likely would have been walked loading the bases for Mark giving him a "shot" at winning the game.

11. How about Gardner's circus catch in the 9th inning going into the stands?  I didn't see it but I heard it was Jeter-esque.  At least the Yankees have that going for them.  Wait...did he injure himself?

12. The Yankees collective record against the 5 worst teams in the AL (22-22) is ridiculous.  They are 1-4 versus Houston, 4-3 vs. Minnesota, 5-8 vs. Tampa Bay, 4-3 vs. Texas, and 8-5 vs. Boston.  Obviously the 1-4 against the Astros hurts the worst, but even a .667 (29-15) winning percentage vs. these teams would put the Yankees at 70-54 and deep into the playoff hunt.  As it is, the Yankees are really one of the worst 5 if you look at their run differential.  They are the only team in baseball with a winning record and a negative run differential, which is only thanks to their starting pitching keeping them in most games.

4 comments:

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