Every Saturday here at The Bronx Insider, I'll list a few 'Short Hops,' or oddities from around baseball, courtesy of athlonsports.com. Here are this week's:
- The first-place Rays hit the midway point at 49-32 -- the best ledger ever at that stage by a team that had the worst record in the majors the year before.
What makes that even more improbable is that they don't have a hitter among the A.L's top 10 in batting, doubles, extra-base hits, hits, OPS, RBI's, total bases, or walks; nor a pitcher in the top 10 in ERA or strikeouts.
Carlos Pena and B.J. Upton his 70 homers in 2007, and they're on pace to finish with fewer than half that many. Carl Crawford is 40 points off his batting average of the last three seasons. Potential star Rocco Baldelli hasn't played a game. Ace Scott Kazmir missed a month. Both last year's and this year's closer, Al Reyes and Troy Percival, respectively, have been on the D.L. twice.
Manager Joe Maddon says it's been an "anonymous" first half. "There's no one guy having a killer season," he says, "which makes it more appealing to me that we're at this juncture, knowing somebody's going to turn into a beast in the second half."
- Lance Berkman now has a better career OPS (.983) than Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio, Stan Musial, or Alex Rodriguez.
- A peculiar coincidence in Carlos Delgado's 9-RBI insurrection against the Yankees last friday: with the same swing that broke Dave Kingman's Mets record for RBI's in a game, Delgado passed him for 34th on the all-time home run list.
- Orioles pitcher Daniel Cabrera has struck out 14 times in 14 career at bats. That makes him the only player in history with that many K's in fewer than 20 ABs. He did, however, get down a sac in 2006.
- Mark Ellis owns the highest road batting average in the A.L. (.339) -- and the lowest at home (.193).
- The margin between the N.L. hitting leader (Chipper Jones at .394) and the A.L. leader (Joe Mauer at .323) is an absurd 71 points -- the exact difference between the career batting averages of Manny Ramirez and Jose Molina.
Happy July 4th everybody.
In honor of the holiday, let's take a look at some memorable Yankee moments that occurred on this date:
1930- George Steinbrenner is born.
1939- It's Lou Gehrig Appreciation Day at Yankee Stadium and the Iron Horse's uniform number 4 becomes the first ever to be retired. After emcee Sid Mercer informs the sell-out crowd the man of the hour is too moved to speak, Gehrig changes his mind when Skipper Joe McCarthy encourages him, and delivers the keynote address in baseball history describing himself as "the luckiest man on the face of the earth."
1983- Dave Righetti no-hits the Red Sox at Yankee Stadium, 4-0
1984- Yankee hurler Phil Niekro strikes out Ranger Larry Parrish to become the ninth major league player to reach the 3,000 strikeout milestone.
2003- In a 10-3 victory over New York, the Red Sox score all their runs with the long ball hitting a record seven home runs off the Yankees. Prior to the Independence Day fireworks, the Bronx Bombers had given up six homers in a game four times including twice to Boston (1997 and 1977) and Cleveland (1970).
2006- Yankees owner George Steinbrenner's 76th birthday is less than festive, as the Indians provide all of the fireworks in a 19-1 Independence Day rout over the Bronx Bombers. The victory is the Tribe's most lopsided victory at home since 1950.
For the 38th time this year, the Yankees scored three runs or less. This time, it was at the hands of the Boston Red Sox.
It was about this time last year that I became worried about whether the Yankees had enough to make the playoffs. They were under .500 in July for the first time in a decade, and a lot of the players weren't producing. I remember sitting at camp, and all of the non-Yankee fans were convinced that this was the year the Yankees would not play in October.
But the team fought through the long days of summer and ended up with 94 wins and the Wild Card.
This year, the same thing is happening again. The Yankees' record is a little better (45-41) than it was last year at this point, but the same problems exist. The offense just isn't getting the job done, and it seems the pitching doesn't do enough when the offense isn't there.
The major problem that exists this year is the Tampa Bay Rays. Last year, the Yankees had three teams below them and only one team above them to chase. Now, they have two teams. The American League East is now the most competitive division in baseball because of the advent of the Rays.
It's too late to say that it's "still early." If the Yankees want any shot at October, they need to start producing now. And this is the series to do so.
This is a good one:
Mariano Rivera became the first pitcher since 1916 to have three or more losses in a season despite posting an ERA below 1.
Rivera is currently 2-3 with a 0.96 ERA.
In 1880, Tim Keefe had six losses despite posting an ERA of 0.86.
After losing two of three to Texas, the Yankees now have to play a tough four-game series against the Boston Red Sox at the Stadium. Here are the pitching matchups for the series:
Tonight, 7:05 P.M.: Jon Lester (6-3, 3.48 ERA) vs. Andy Pettitte (9-5, 3.98 ERA)
Tomorrow, 1:05 P.M.: Josh Beckett (7-5, 3.65 ERA) vs. Darrell Rasner (4-4, 4.22 ERA)
Saturday, 3:55 P.M.: Justin Masterson (4-2, 3.75 ERA) vs. Mike Mussina (10-6, 3.87 ERA)
Sunday, 8:05 P.M.: Tim Wakefield (5-6, 3.72 ERA) vs. Joba Chamberlain (2-2, 2.22 ERA)
My Prediction: The Yankees and Red Sox split the four-game series.
Final Score: Yankees 18, Rangers 7
Yankees: 45-40
Rangers: 44-42
W- Ramirez (2-0)
L- Madrigal (0-1)
Offense: Well, they say hitting is contagious, and the Yankees proved that tonight. After four consecutive games of scoring three runs or less, the Yankee offense emerged from their dormancy and scored a season-high eighteen runs. Jason Giambi led the charge, with a grand slam and six RBI's overall. Alex Rodriguez also hit a three-run home run, the 535th of his career. Johnny Damon went 3-for-6, Cano went 2-for-5, Abreu went 2-for-5, and Brett Gardner picked up his first career hit. Three different Rangers pitchers gave up six runs, and the offense seemed to just be on fire in tonight's game. Finally, the Yankees have some momentum as they head into the Boston series.
Pitching: In his second start with the Yankees, Sidney Ponson struggled through five innings. His line: 5 innings, 9 hits, 7 runs, 3 walks, 1 strikeout. When he left the game, the Yankees were trailing 7-6, but the offense and bullpen picked him up. Edwar Ramirez pitched two shutout innings in the sixth and seventh, leading way to scoreless innings from Kyle Farnsworth and LaTroy Hawkins. Of late, the Yankee bullpen has been dominant, and all of the pitchers are filling their respective roles with success.
Final Notes:
- Before the game, Hank Steinbrenner had several words for the team. "We've got to start hitting," he said. "They've got to start waking up." Consider them wide awake.
- The Yankees' 18 runs were the most since they beat Tampa Bay 21-4 last July. That was the game Shelley Duncan hit two home runs.
- Melky Cabrera, who is 0 for his last 19, got the night off.
I am big into baseball statistics, and while some are very random and pointless, others are very telling.
Over at baseballmusings.com, you can enter a specific lineup with the players' respective on base and slugging percentages, and by clicking a button, it will tell you the most effective lineup to use.
So, I entered tonight's lineup:
LF Johnny Damon
SS Derek Jeter
RF Bobby Abreu
3B Alex Rodriguez
DH Jason Giambi
C Jorge Posada
2B Robinson Cano
1B Wilson Betemit
CF Brett Gardner
The lineup analysis showed that the above lineup would score (on average) 4.5 runs per game. Not bad, but not great either.
So then, the lineup analysis showed the most efficient lineup, which looked like this:
LF Johnny Damon
DH Jason Giambi
RF Bobby Abreu
3B Alex Rodriguez
C Jorge Posada
1B Wilson Betemit
2B Robinson Cano
CF Brett Gardner
SS Derek Jeter
This lineup, according to the site, would average over 4.9 runs a game.
Obviously, Joe Girardi isn't going to bat Jeter ninth in the forseeable future. But the analysis is certainly telling.
Three games, four runs, seventeen hits, three losses.
Over the past few games, the Yankees have pitched extremely well. But the offense just can't get anything done. Another loss tonight brings their losing streak to three games, and all three losses have occurred the same way- the offense doesn't come through when they need to.
It worries me that the Yankees don't have what it takes to manufacture runs in late-inning situations. It's not like they have needed a big rally these last few games, just some hits and productive outs.
Simply, they haven't gotten the job done, and with the Rays surging in the East, it is going to be a tough second half.
Last night, Brett Gardner made his major-league debut in the leadoff spot.
The last player to make his major-league debut batting leadoff in a game with the DH was Michael Ryan, who did it in September of 2002. Since 1973, it has only been done 60 times.
After splitting four games against the Mets, the Yankees return to Yankee Stadium for three against the Rangers (42-41). Here are the pitching matchups for the series:
Tonight, 7:05 P.M.: Scott Feldman (1-3, 4.60 ERA) vs. Mike Mussina (10-5, 3.93 ERA)
Tomorrow, 7:05 P.M.: Kevin Millwood (5-4, 5.08 ERA) vs. Joba Chamberlain (2-2, 2.03 ERA)
Wednesday, 7:05 P.M.: Luis Mendoza (1-2, 5.40 ERA) vs. Sidney Ponson (5-1, 3.50 ERA)
My Prediction: The Yankees win two out of three games. One of the wins will be a walkoff win.
