First a shout out to B in ALB for yeoman's work these past three games coming through when it counted. Also, a reminder of the great work by Denny in Denville in getting us through the ALDS.
Tanaka - wow. Does he need juice to pitch well? Do regular season games bore him? My, my what he has done post season is the guy we remember that 1st year prior to the injury. So the questions is, if he opts out, do the Yankees look to re-sign him? I find it hard to say no. He has the partial tear, but I heard that it is not uncommon among pitchers. He is 28, seems to be a stud. Do they extend him a couple additional years and bump him to $25 mill per or more?
DH - Have to ride Headley for this last game(hopefully) and then use him against the Dodgers? Seems he has figured it out and is hot again.
Batting order - seems that Judge comes up often as leadoff (perception?). Not sure I like him in the 2 hole. But I know Joe wants him to get as many looks as possible - and who could blame him.
Bird - Looks like a #4 hitter to me. Maybe not this year, but Judge, Bird, Sanchez (3-4-5) looks pretty good to me. Can Didi go to the 2 hole? Lack of walks probably eliminates him and he has about a 16% K rate.
Hicks & Castro - somebody has to be cold and these guys look like it. Castro got the big double off Keuchel yesterday, but his wild undisciplined swings don't work post season. Hicks? Yeesh. He looks the most lost. Looks like he is over swinging and trying for the bomb every at bat.
If they make the WS - any chance Joe picks Heller over Betances for the bull pen. Heller really looked good late in the season and has high octane stuff, too. I'm throwing it out there because Betances at this point is eating a spot and Joe just doesn't trust him at all and you cannot blame him.
Anyway, thoughts for the day.
That's a good point. Makes DB more expendable in that case.
hehe
hehe
Lol I'll never forget Tom Kelly's comment in '96 after the Twins faced him in like May. "That guy belongs in another league". I was like ok Tom a little over the top there? He was spot on.
hehe
Doesn't have quite the pinpoint control MR had, but he's young and that may come. They almost have two complete sets of let inning guys.
Could go:
Team 1
Green
DRob
Chapman
Team 2
Heller
Betances
Kahnle
Or some sort of combination of pitchers for odd and evening nights.
Sometimes I wonder if he feels extra pressure pitching in his hometown.
So he was able to be one of the best relief pitchers in baseball here for 3 years, but all of a sudden he can't handle the pressure of pitching for his hometown team? Really?
Holy Cow! - ( New Window )
And as far as Betances is concerned I think you move him. When he's wild he misses by a mile and then can't get the close call. He can't hold runners on and is a poor fielder. I would look to move him to a National League team for a prospect or use him in a package deal. We have plenty of arms in the pen. If I'm Joe I would consider leaving him off the WS roster. Can always bring him back if there is an injury but he can not be trusted in a high stress situation especially with Sanchez behind the plate. We have enough trouble in that area.
The top pitchers now can blw a 97 mile an hour fastball by you and then get you out with a 90 mph slider down or a ball in the dirt that gets offered at.
The Yankees still K'd a lot yesterday, but in their key at-bats, they laid off potential 3rd strikes to work the count even or full and then ripped the pitch in the zone. That was the difference vs. Game 1.
Or really it was the difference between them and the Astros last night. The Astros were offering at Tanaka's pitches down.
“You’ve got to stay disciplined, but you’ve got to be aggressive,” Greg Bird said. “It kind of contradicts each other, but you’ve got to get him on the plate, and when you do, you’ve got to make it hurt.”
I laugh at the comparisons to both parks. Buck and Smoltz yapping about how small Yankee Stadium is. Oddly it is small for both teams.
And Minute Maid is just as small, save the 25 ft wall in left...
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think it's always better to go for it in a game 6 (e.g., remember the marlins in 2003 with their ace on 3 days rest :-)). but if we get an early lead, and severino doesn't have it; i wouldn't hesitate to make it a bullpen game to end this early (e.g., in the 3rd or 4th inning). i feel pretty confident our hitting will carry over to their park; but of course always nervous since their park is such a band box down the lines :-). also, definitely i'd be ready for a lot of bunts, walks, and attempted steals from them to try and get their offense ready. think no way is verlander as dominant as before; and we score early off of him (probably a hr or 2). as for the ws, i'd take of betances and agree with replacing him with heller. or perhaps shreve. but probably want heller for that k potential :-)
I laugh at the comparisons to both parks. Buck and Smoltz yapping about how small Yankee Stadium is. Oddly it is small for both teams.
And Minute Maid is just as small, save the 25 ft wall in left...
Yep and if the last 3 games were played at Minute Made we would have had at least 3 or 4 more HR's- Frazier and Castro last night, Didi's triple in game 4 and Judge's double in game 4.
And whats even more comical is we hit all of 4 HR's in 3 games, and one was off the restaurant and another was well into the LF bleachers. Naaa Smoltz is still butt hurt from game 3 of the '99 series. He'll never let it go.
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and original, Minute Maid is a band box and then some. Astros blaming the stadium is ridiculous.
And whats even more comical is we hit all of 4 HR's in 3 games, and one was off the restaurant and another was well into the LF bleachers. Naaa Smoltz is still butt hurt from game 3 of the '99 series. He'll never let it go.
He may be butt hurt, but he is a good analyst. Better than the garbage on BSPN...
Too bad Buck has to be there with him. What an asshole!
I like Ron Darling better myself.
Other thing that Fox does well is their sound is really good. They capture the cheering in the stadium well. TBS is bad at this.
Smoltz has improved a great deal. He used to have the motormouth disease most baseball analysts suffer from, but he's figured out that more doesn't mean better. Buck on the other hand I have never liked and never will.
Ortiz is OK, but I'll never stop disliking him. Nothing personal, just business. Frank Thomas actually says something interesting things.....on the rare occasions he speaks. Overall I think the FS1 guys are entertaining.
I think these guys are the best. Lotta hits up on that screen last night. Highlight was Papi wishing he could talk Japanese
It's entertaining stuff though
Hebrew..but...
I'm oddly liking Papi. I can understand him just fine. ARod has been trying to punk him each night. Laughing at Papi doing John Sterling's "Yankees winnnnn, thhhhhe Yannnnkkesss WINNNNNNN!" Even he is cracking up at it.
That ending would never happen today. Everyone would be too busy taking photos and selfies with their phones.
[quote] but if not, you missed out. It's absolutely amazing. Not if you want actual baseball content, but it's great for the humor element. First off, Papi is illiterate. You can't understand a word the guy says and he's constantly fumbling over words. I fully understand that English isn't his first language, but it's hilarious. Frank Thomas just sits in the corner like a lump on a log and Keith Hernandez is constantly touching Papi. Arod is great(although I'm sure he annoys non Yankee fans), but thats about it. THe rest is pure comedy. [/quote
If they ever wanted to do crossover sports, I would pay good money for a PPV event of Papi and Mike Ditka covering a basketball game.
"Israeli" could be Hebrew or Arabic.
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here's what happened 41 years ago last Saturday when we were going for our first pennant in awhile: Holy Cow! - ( New Window )
That ending would never happen today. Everyone would be too busy taking photos and selfies with their phones.
Not to mention no way they let fans anywhere near the field. The Phillies stopped that when they won in '80. Can you believe that mob on the field after the game? it was bedlam. The fans were grabbing the players. Insane.
Funny story about that- in '99 when Robin Ventura hit the famous Grand Slam single in the playoffs, the Yanks playoff game started right after that and they had the bench mic'd and Chambliss was a Yanks coach. Chambliss says to one of the other coaches "Damn they should give him the grand slam!". The other coach says to him "No way you have to touch home plate! I mean you did" Chambliss gets this sheepish look on his face and says "Ummm I never touched the plate"
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In comment 13656234 Stu11 said:
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here's what happened 41 years ago last Saturday when we were going for our first pennant in awhile: Holy Cow! - ( New Window )
That ending would never happen today. Everyone would be too busy taking photos and selfies with their phones.
Not to mention no way they let fans anywhere near the field. The Phillies stopped that when they won in '80. Can you believe that mob on the field after the game? it was bedlam. The fans were grabbing the players. Insane.
Funny story about that- in '99 when Robin Ventura hit the famous Grand Slam single in the playoffs, the Yanks playoff game started right after that and they had the bench mic'd and Chambliss was a Yanks coach. Chambliss says to one of the other coaches "Damn they should give him the grand slam!". The other coach says to him "No way you have to touch home plate! I mean you did" Chambliss gets this sheepish look on his face and says "Ummm I never touched the plate"
Stu, I believe the umps brought Chambliss back out after the crowd dispersed to step on the plate (or the area where the plate should have been...)
That's one of those weird misconceptions a lot of people seem to have latched on to.
That's one of those weird misconceptions a lot of people seem to have latched on to.
the wall is not as "arced", especially in right. the scorebpard make it straight. Also the flatter tiers let the wind currents go down to the fireld. The old structur blocked wind.
My old boss is pals with Reggie Jacskon. When it opened, he told us he paced it off and the #s (to him at least) didn't add up.
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It's the same dimensions (at least, same as those since the early 70s renovations).
That's one of those weird misconceptions a lot of people seem to have latched on to.
the wall is not as "arced", especially in right. the scorebpard make it straight. Also the flatter tiers let the wind currents go down to the fireld. The old structur blocked wind.
My old boss is pals with Reggie Jacskon. When it opened, he told us he paced it off and the #s (to him at least) didn't add up.
Interesting stuff, I stand corrected - there’s been stuff written about the wind factor being different, but didn’t realize the wall arc was flatter.