Saturday News: The Tools of Ignorance

There a plan in place to start Hughes and Joba pitching on different days.  My money is still on Hughes to the rotation.

Kevin Long sheds some light on Granderson's issues against lefties:

First, Granderson was standing too far from the plate, which Granderson later said he found interesting because he always thought he stood too close. Second, his upper body tended to lean over the plate as he swung, affecting his balance and causing him to reach for outside pitches. According to the Inside Edge scouting service, Granderson swung and missed on 41 percent of breaking pitches thrown by left-handers. The league average is 29 percent.

I find it telling that with a team of superstars Long is smart enough not to change too much.

Long recommended that he try a more upright stance and that he move a few inches closer to the plate. For the next hour, Granderson sprayed liners all over the field.

Swisher is another Yank who worked on his swing with KLong.

Long would later call Swisher "a man on a mission" trying to fix a mechanical flaw that left him exposed to offspeed pitches from the Angels and Phillies in particular.

"I was just really, really upset with some of the things that were written in the papers," Swisher said.

Who'd have guessed Swish would be the one bothered by the media?

Just as Girardi won't choose the fifth starter based soley on stats, don't read too much into GGBG's batting average.

"We want to see him practice a lot so it’s always a weapon for him," Girardi said, adding, "Any way he can get on base, I’ve said all along, he has a knack for scoring runs because it doesn’t take a lot of hits to get him around the bases."

Spring training is to prepare.  I'll worry about Gardner's average in April.