The Daily Dozen - August 27, 2014

The Daily Dozen - August 27th, 2014 - The David Price Gets Blown Up Edition
(Twelve Takeaways from Tonight's Game vs. the Detroit Tigers)

1. The Yankees needed a win tonight to keep their playoff hopes alive.  With the Seattle Canos losing earlier in the day 12-4 to the Rangers, the Bronx Bombers had a chance to cut the lead in the race for the 2nd Wild Card down to 2.5 games and only 2 behind Detroit.  And of course they would have to do it against David Price, who only gave up 1 hit in his last start...

2. My parents were at the game tonight to see Jeter's last game in Detroit.  This is a true statement unless Detroit can catch the Royals in the AL Central.  My dad was rooting for the Yankees and my mom was rooting for the Tigers.  Something about a house divided... By the way, I realized there was a 30 second delay on the ESPN broadcast when I talked to my dad in the 8th inning on the phone.

3. The third inning.  That should be all I have to say unless you have been living under a rock for the last 3 hours.  David Price basically got owned.  The Yankees put together 9 straight hits and 8 runs against the former Cy Young winner including 2 sacrifice flies after he was out of the game.  That inning showed what the Yankees are capable of doing and in my opinion should have been doing all season.  Want to see the inning again?  Check out this picture provided by WFAN:

4. How did the Tigers respond in the bottom half of the inning?  With NADA.  Shane Greene got the shutdown inning, which proved to be very important later in the game.

5. Shane Greene for Cy Young? Rookies have now started 53 games for the Yankees this year posting an impressive 34-19 mark.  That's a .642 winning percentage by the way.  The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim of Orange County of California have the best overall record in the majors and their win percentage is .595.  Shane Greene is sporting a .167 batting average against which is 4th in the majors and a .474 ops by opposing batters which is 9th in the majors.  He finished the game with 7 strong innings with 8 strikeouts, only 1 walk, and 69 of his 101 pitches were strikes.  In fact, he threw a first pitch strike to 20 of the 29 batters he faced.  Most importantly...he is now 4-1 in 9 starts.

He seems a long way from this picture.  Might as well
just change the 'T' to a 'C'. (Photo Credit: MiLB.com)

6. David Price was less than stellar tonight to say the least.  He tied a record for hits allowed in a start with 12 (previously gave up 12 on 4/29/11 vs. the Angels) and had his second shortest outing in his career pitching 2+ inning (the shortest being on 7/4/09 vs. the Rangers).  He also tied a dubious personal record with 8 runs allowed in an inning and shattered the hits allowed in an inning with 9 (the previous mark being 5).

7. Mandatory Derek Jeter Update.  With Jeter's RBI double in the 3rd inning he now has 3,442 hits and 1,295 RBI in his career.  He's predicted to only get 30 more hits according to ESPN, which would leave him 43 hits shy of 5th place all-time.

8. Through 3 innings the Yankees were 8 for 14 with RISP.  This bucked a trend set all year long.  In fact, the Yankees hitters were 8 for 9 in the 3rd inning alone after stranding 2 runners in each of the first 2 innings. In 2014, the Yankees have averaged leaving 3.43 runners in scoring position per game (stats courtesy of TeamRankings.com).  Tonight that number was 2. #RE2PECT

De-rek Je-ter...De-rek Je-ter...De-rek Je-ter...

9. Miguel Cabrera knocks home the first Tiger run.  Of course he did!  He's been money against the Yankees since 2003 when he took the Marlins offensively on his back and delivered a World Series ring to a crappy organization that sold the players like used parts the next offseason.  Cabrera's career batting average against the Yankees is .355 in 51 regular season games including a .323 average against pitchers currently on the roster.  He has batted .371 in 20 games at New Yankee Stadium, which seems anemic to the .409 he hit in 6 games at Old Yankee Stadium.  But this season? He's only hitting .143 against the Yankees.  Yeah...something is probably really wrong with his legs.  I wish I could hit .307 with just my arms.

10. How often do catchers get hit in the groin region by a baseball?  One time too many if you ask Francisco Cervelli!

11. Victor Martinez hit his 26th home run tonight.  This is a career high for him, which seems like an awfully low number for such a good hitter.  But on further inspection, he has had several injuries that have hampered his power.  His previous high was 25 for Cleveland in 2007.  Since then he has hit 2 (injury-riddled season), 23 (traded to Boston in mid-season), 20, 12, 0 (missed 2012 season for Tigers), and 14.  His 162-game average is 21, so Tigers fans have to be feeling pretty good about that.

12. Mandatory Playoff Odds Update.  The Yankees sit 2.5 games out of the 2nd Wild Card position held by the Mariners.  The odds of the Yankees making the playoffs as of August 26th was 12.3%, the highest probability since August 12th.  This percentage will likely jump to 15% after tonight's win.  SO YOU'RE SAYING THERE'S A CHANCE!?!  Baltimore's chances sit at 96.6%  On August 3rd, the Royals had a 16% chance of making it...they now sit at 68%.  Detroit is at 64%. Seattle 49%.