Cano	2007	2008
BB%	5.9	6.2
K%	13.8	13.2
LD%	16.9	17.4
GB%	52.2	51.1
FB%	30.9	31.5

Don't let NoMaas fool you. Robinson Cano hasn't been the worst player in the league, just the most unlucky.
We'd expect BABIP to be LD% plus .120. Robbie's expected BABIP is .284, his actual is .156.

It's not very consoling on a night the Yankees sucked, but maybe it will help me sleep.

Seattle brings its anemic offense into town tomorrow: Bedard v Wang, Hernandez v Mussina, Silva v Rasner. We're 2 under .500 and 4 back of the first place Rays.

Driving home last night, I listened to John Sterling on the post-game show talk about Runners Left on Base. The Yankees left a lot of runners on base, especially in the 7th, 8th, and 9th. This true, but let's not confuse a description of the situation with analysis.

Runners Left on Base is one of my least favorite numbers (I differentiate between numbers and stats, stats tell us something, numbers happen).

Last night, the Yankees left 10 runners on base. They've left 109 men on base this season (about 7.3 per game).

Last season the Yanks left 1,265 runners on base (7.8 per game). While I haven't done the math (H+BB+HBP-GIDP-RS) for the entire league, I'm willing to bet that number leads the league, because the only way to score runs is to put men on.

It's a good thing.

LoHud: Somebody's getting traded. Posada's clearly not ready to come back and catch every day.

Update
So the question is pretty simple: who is rebuilding and/or has a catcher to spare who'll be a significant improvement over Chad Moehller?

The first name that leaps to my mind is the Tiger's Brandon Inge. Owed $18 million over the next 3 years for slightly below average production, my first instinct is to pass, especially since I seem to recall him making a stink about not wanting to go back behind the dish.

The Orioles are rebuilding, and Ramon Hernandez figures to be available; on the other hand, the third highest paid O will rake in nearly $16 million this year and next, and like Inge, Hernandez slugged below .400 last season. Pass.

John Buck of Kansas City is an intriguing name. He turns 28 this July and has never figured things out with the bat (last year he set a career high with a 90 OPS+, meaning he was only 90% as productive as the average major leaguer). I'm not really familiar with his defense, but he must have a decent arm- he caught 29 of 77 would-be base stealers the last two years (compare to 70 of 166 for Posada). Buck is also playing on his first arbitration contract ($2.2 mil), so he's only going to get more expensive for the Royals. I wouldn't sell the farm for him, but I'd offer cash plus somebody in the McCutchen/White category, a 25 or 26 year old starter who could be an innings eater or shift to the pen. File it under: unlikely.

The Giants are supposedly in the market for a lefty swinging 1B. Happily enough, I know a switch hitting infielder who rakes righties for a .266/.345/.460 line. Whether Brian Sabean would take the WB in exchange for relief from Bengie Molina's $12 million salary over 2008 and 2009 is another question (but anyone dumb enough to trade for A.J. Pierzinski deserves a phone call). Can't rule it out.

Pittsburg's Ronnie Paulino is another starter who posted a sub-.400 SLG last season. He turns 27 next Sunday, so he's close to maxing out his potential while also on the cusp of arbitration (this is his third full season). Plus he plays for the Pirates, so you have to figure he's available. For the price of an arm, I'd do it.

All that said, I expect the Yanks to just hold down the fort with Chad Moehller (AAA) and whatever they can find on the waiver wire; Posada figures to be back in a few days (or he needs to be on the DL) and Molina is signed for $2 million per year, 2008 and 2009.

So the Yanks backs finally woke up as they salvaged the final game of the series and avoided the sweep.

And now they fly to Boston.

I could tell you about tomorrow's matchup between the red hot Chien-Ming Wang and the struggling lab-top thief Clay Buchholz; Wang has shown great resourcefulness in altering his approach to keep the Sox hitter's uncomfortable, while the Yanks have never seen Buchholz in person.

I could write 200 words about the big question mark of the series: which Mike Mussina will face the Red Sox; which Josh Beckett will the Yankees see? I gave Moose a hard look after his last start. Beckett, meanwhile, couldn't get through 5 in his last start (92 pitches).

Or I could focus on the Sunday night game (because Lord forbid that the Yanks get a getaway day game) when childhood Sox fan Phil Franchise will get his first start at Fenway against the $1,000,000 Man Daisuke Matsuzaka.

But this entertains me more:

The Yanks split the four game series with the Rays- twice looking lousy and twice looking brilliant.
I predict more of the latter going forward.

And now we start what amounts to a 20 game road trip in 21 days. I know the Yanks play 2 games at home during that stretch, but against the Boston Red Sox with no travel days until April 21st (between series in Baltimore and Chicago). Did I mention that every single getaway day is a night game? Oh, I did? I'm sure I mentioned it during the offseason, too, but I'm not going back to find that post.

First, Phil Hughes squares off with the saber-metrically inclined Brian Bannister.
IPK pitches for redemption against Zack Greinke.
Finally, Andy Pettitte will face of with fellow southpaw John Bale.

The Royals are real pushovers- just ask the Detroit Tigers.

Against a Blue Jays team whose pitching staff might just be the class of the American League (when healthy) the Yankees looked pretty good.

Ok, so Mike Mussina looked mediocre- 3ER (1 unearned) in 5.2IP, but that's going to be enough for the Yankees to win most days.

Meanwhile, CMW and Franchise looked exactly the way we want them to: combined 13IP 10H 4ER.

The strong performances by Wang and Hughes has allowed the bullpen to look its best too. Joba and Mo both looked good, and Ohlendorf brought that bowling ball in from the pen to record his inning of work in only 9 pitches (2 groundouts and a K). I'm not going to get too worked up because I know Ross needs to polish that splitter, but I'm allowed to be excited any time we take 2 out of 3 from a good club.

And a good club is what we face next in the Tampa Bay Rays. The probables:

IPK against junkballer Andy Sonnanstine (who handcuffed the Yanks last August- 2 hits, 8IP).
Andy Pettitte will come off the DL to square off with former Dodgers wunderkind Edwin Jackson.
Wang will enjoy the Yanks only April daytime getaway day by facing the Rays' James Shields (whom the Yanks have owned, lifetime 0-4 8.53 ERA). I expect a pitchers' duel decided in the bottom of the ninth.

Just got home from the Stadium a few minutes ago, read through all the comments, and decided to throw a few thoughts into the Intertubes before heading to bed.

So here we go, bullet point style: