Daily Archives: July 3, 2007

Who are these guys and what have they done with the 2007 New York Yankees?

The Yankees jumped out to an early 1-0 lead last night when Johnny Damon and Melky Cabrera singled and Damon scored on a groundout. Chein-Ming Wang made that hold up by limiting the Twins to a double through the first three innings. In the fourth he ran into some trouble, walking the first three men and giving up a single to Justin Morneau, but he escaped with the lead because the first walk was erased when Jorge Posada caught Jason Bartlett stealing, and Torii Hunter followed Morneau’s bases-loading single by grounding into a double play. Wang got another DP following a leadoff single in the fifth. By then his lead had swelled to 3-0 thanks to a two-run Robinson Cano home run in the previous frame. Wang pitched out of trouble again in the sixth and then the Yankees went to town dropping a five-spot on Carlos Silva and Juan Rincon in the bottom of the inning.

The onslaught started when Jorge Posada hit a single to center that bounced past Torii Hunter allowing Posada to head to third as the Yankee dugout erupted in laughter as the sight of their 35-year-old catcher running out a would-be triple. Posada actually had two triples last year, but had gone three years without one before that (and remains without one this year as the hit was scored a single and a two-base error). Posada scored on a wild pitch, but the bases didn’t remain empty for long as Hideki Matsui doubled and Bobby Abreu, in the midst of another three-hit night, singled him home. Andy Phillips then flew out to the warning track in left driving Silva from the game. Abreu greeted Rincon by stealing second. Rincon reacted by hitting Cano in the foot. Johnny Damon moved the runners over with a groundout, and Melky Cabrera drove them home with a single, moving to second on the throw home, which Cano avoided by sliding outside of home plate and sticking his left hand in between Joe Mauer’s leg and tag. Derek Jeter then singled home Melky to complete the scoring.

Wang, Scott Proctor, and rookie Edwar Ramirez each pitched a scoreless frame to wrap things up, Ramirez dazzling by striking out the heart of the Twins’ order on 14 pitches in his major league debut. Ramirez is exactly as advertised. His uniform hangs on his skinny frame, but he throws 90-mile-per-hour fastballs mixed with sliders then puts hitters away with a changeup in the high-70s that just falls off a table when it reaches the plate. Michael Cuddyer, Justin Morneau, and Lew Ford (hitting for Torii Hunter who was ejected in the eight for jawing at home plate umpire Ron Kulpa from the dugout) each went down swinging, missing Ramirez’s change by a good foot each.

Some other items of note: Alex Rodriguez went 0 for 4 and came out of the game after popping up to end the Yankees’ sixth-inning rally, but didn’t seem to be favoring his sore hamstring. He’s expected to DH tomorrow, and remains one of just two players to start every game this season (Ichiro Suzuki being the other).

Johnny Damon has a hit in six of his last seven games (including the suspended finale in Baltimore), but he’s only hitting .267/.333/.400 over that span and did not play in the only game the Yankees won against Oakland over the weekend. Melky Cabrera, meanwhile, is hitting .320/.378/.469 since taking over in center field on June 1. In 1994, a 25-year-old Bernie Williams hit .289/.384/.453 in his fourth major league season, which made that the best year of his career to that point. At age 22, Melky Cabrera may just have arrived as the Yankee center fielder of the future.

In these first two games against the Twins, Derek Jeter is 5 for 10 from the three-hole. Robinson Cano, who was 2 for 22 coming into the series, is 3 for 6 with a homer and a walk while batting ninth. Hideki Matsui has figured out that he’s trying to pull the ball too much. Matsui, who had a single and a double in his last 23 at-bats coming into last night’s game, had a single and a double in last night’s game alone. Finally, Bobby Abreu, who was 4 for 41 coming in to this series, got a pep talk from Roger Clemens prior to Monday night’s game (Clemens told him he was the hitter he had feared most when facing the Phillies the last few years, and that he needed to go back to being that guy) and has gone 6 for 7 with a walk and a monster home run in the first two games against the Twins.

It’s my belief that Abreu is the key to the Yankees’ season. The offense seems to go in which ever direction he goes. Indeed, during last night’s game, YES posted a stat showing that Abreu has hit roughly .350 in Yankee wins and roughly .150 in Yankee loses. As the Yankees saw down the stretch last year, when Bobby Abreu’s on his game, he’s a difference maker. Alex Rodriguez may be having a monster season, but with Jason Giambi out possibly for the season, and Damon making me wonder how Kevin Thompson or Shelley Duncan might do as the everyday DH, Abreu needs to be the Bobby Abreu Clemens remembers.

Here’s hoping facing Johan Santana this afternoon doesn’t undo all of that good stuff.

The Yankees continue their quest to gain ground on the Twins tonight as Chien-Ming Wang faces off against Carlos Silva. Last year this would have been a mismatch, but Silva has rebounded from his disastrous 2006 season to be roughly league average. The most noticeable change in his game is that he’s posting his highest walk rate as a starter (remember, this is the guy who walked just nine men in 188 1/3 innings in 2005). It could be that, after a season of serving up meatballs (246 hits and 38 homers in 180 1/3 innings in 2006), Silva has figured out that there’s a limit to pitching to contact.

Chien Ming-Wang, who is just a year Silva’s junior, has been exploring similar things this year, using his slider to increasing his strike-out rate by more than a K per nine innings, though that’s been countered by a corresponding reduction in his ground ball rate. Curiously, with Silva walking more men and Wang striking out more men, the two have very similar peripherals (Silva has exactly one more walk, strikeout and home run allowed, albeit in 8 2/3 more innings). Wang’s still the better pitcher, of course, and holds a comfortable advantage in hit rate, ERA, and WHIP. In fact, Wang has failed to complete the sixth inning just once in his 12 starts this year and has allowed more than four runs just once, while Silva has done each four times. Since May 16, Wang has posted a 2.64 ERA in eight starts, going 6-1 with one no decision while allowing just two home runs in 58 innings.

Of course, the big story tonight will be how Alex Rodriguez feels the day after straining his hamstring in a collision with Justin Morneau at first base. If Alex Rodriguez misses a significant chunk of time due to the injury, the Yankees can chip away all they want, but all they’ll have to show for it is a pile of rubble. One thing’s for sure, Miguel Cairo will be starting at third base tonight.

By the way, for those who stay up late enough, I’ll be making an appearance on Steve Thompson’s show on WCCO radio in Minneapolis tonight at midnight to talk Yankees. You can listen live on their website.

Roger Clemens pitched a strong, efficient game against the Twins on Monday night, good enough for win #350 in his storied career, as the Yanks rolled 5-1. Clemens needed only 97 pitches to complete eight innings. He was helped out by an aggresive Twins offense; normally, Clemens uses up close to 100 pitches to get through five or six innings. But his splitter was working and the Twins were duly impressed.

It was a much-needed win the Yanks, but then again, aren’t all their wins much-needed these days? Bobby Abreu absolutely plastered a ball high into the upper deck in right field and had three hits all told.

However, it wasn’t a free-and-easy night as Alex Rodriguez came up lame with a strained hamstring after colliding with Justin Morneau at first base. He was able to walk off the field on his own. Still, the thought of Rodriguez missing a significant chunk of time is disheartening to say the least. He’ll be checked out by a doctor today. Hopefully, he’ll just miss a few games. Even if they have to shut him down until after the break, so be it, so long as he’s not gone for a month or more. Pete Abraham is cautiously optimistic at best.

Drag.