Postseason thoughts
by 3460kuri on Oct 18, 2009 12:57 PM EDT
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Print-Having a bullpen that runs six deep in good, effective pitchers really helps the cause. It's amazing to think that Aceves and Robertson, who slot 5th and 6th in the Yankees bullpen, are arguably both more effective than anybody the Angels have out of theirs (sorry Brian Fuentes, I'm not impressed),
-Not to reignite the Molina vs. Posada debate, but by making Jose Molina A.J. Burnett's personal catcher, Girardi bumped Eric Hinske from the roster to make room for the obligatory third catcher. As a result, Francisco Cervelli actually has the highest career slugging percentage (.354) of anybody the Yankees have on the bench in the ALCS, unless you count CC Sabathia (.391). I'm not holding my breath, but I hope Girardi can find a way to put Hinske back on the roster if the Yanks make it to the World Series, because you're going to need pinch hitters in the NL park.
-I love to keep watching opponents that supposedly do the "little things" right. For all the talk about "Angel baseball" (and "Twins baseball"), it's all been pretty underwhelming. From the baserunning mistakes the Twins made in the ALDS, to the fielding errors we've seen from the Angels, it seems like all of this emphasis and glory is misplaced. Last night, Chone Figgins and Erik Aybar sacrificed three times; I know Mike Scioscia is a "by the book" guy, but giving away three outs with the go ahead run on base and above-average hitters at the plate (both have OPS+ above 100 this year) can't be good baseball, and probably helps the opposing team more than it does yours. Regardless of what traditionalists might say, a team's likelihood of scoring a run is higher with a runner on first and no outs than it is with a runner on second and one out. The "productive out" mentality is a huge fallacy, but if Scioscia wants to keep doing it, I'll oblige.
-I know it's too soon to start making predictions, but are the Angels capable of winning four out of the next five games at this point, especially having to face Sabathia two more times?
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I love the bullpen so far
and I think Girardi has done a decent job and you can’t really blame him for anything as we are 5-0 so far in the postseason. Robertson has absolutely amazed me. Marte was the only one who really worried me after the extra innings game against the Twins. I think Molina is fine as the personal catcher. If that’s what AJ needs to be effective, so be it. I do like Hinske but I can’t see anyone being dropped for him, maybe Guzman but we do need as much speed as possible. These teams are supposed to be fundamentally sound and good defensively and I haven’t seen either. Maybe these teams can’t handle the playoff pressure, playing the Yankees or whatever but I do find it hilarious as they are touted as great defensive teams and then we see them commit so many blunders. I don’t want to predict anything either but that seems unlikely with how this team is playing.
yea we should win in 5.....
and buy black tacos and watch ninja assassin!!!!!!!! YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
this is where we get greedy
and think sweep. If Andy wins (like he does so often in the postseason), then we have Sabathia staring them in the face while we’re one win away. I like our chances right now.
A-Rod’s gonna love going to Anaheim. Crowd is going to hate him there. He’ll just shut them up with more home runs. He owns the Angels. He owns that park. And he owns Jared Weaver.
LETS GO YANKEES!!!!!!!!!
That kid Jepsen in the Angels pen is pretty fuckin good.
he should be closing out games over Fuentes.
Strikeouts are boring- Besides that, they're fascist. Throw some ground balls - it's more democratic.
hitting issues???....
Any of you think that they aren’t hitting like they should? Unlike Game 1 of the ALDS – where they were getting on, getting over, and getting home – we’ve been relying on the long ball pretty heavy. And from Game 2 ALCS – we couldn’t get the hit we needed with RISP….you think the pitching we’ve faced is really that good?
hitting issues
I’m not going to disagree that the hitting has not been the best but your last statement about pitching… “you think the pitching we’ve faced is really that good?” … This is the ALCS and they must not be that bad to have gotten the Angels this far.
Regarding Molina v. Posada
I have nothing against Molina, but is it any coincidence that in the two games AJ has pitched to him, the Yankees have needed extra innings to win? The pitching was excellent, but the loss of Posada’s bat contributed to the scoring difficulties, at least in my opinion. Yes, he came into both games late. But more ABs means more chances for a big hit to start, or continue, a rally. And AJ seems like he’s going to get wild no matter who’s catching.
Regarding big bats on the bench in the WS, well, we know Matsui will be there for the NL park games, right?
That was exactly my thought watching the game on Saturday
I hope everybody who talks about all of the problems with Burnett and Posada remembers the six trips to the mound, two hit batters, and God knows how many wild pitches in the 6th inning.
That is AJ Burnett. His stuff is absolutely wicked, and his control comes and goes. On a good day, he’s unhittable, and on a bad day he can’t find the strike zone; most days, he’s going to have one inning with a couple of wild pitches, hit batters, etc. regardless of who’s catching.
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