Yanks at Rangers

[GotItNow]

I don't disagree with you about Burnett. One bad pitch to Molina and his outing was ruined. If he makes a better pitch or if Girardi goes to the bullpen, the Yankees might have been up 3-2 heading into today. Hughes wasn't great out of the bullpen last year but he did pitch well in relief of Clemens in 2007. He also had a great start against the Twins. I don't really blame him this year because the Rangers were just hitting everyone, Hughes was well past his previous innings and again one pitch today and it's a different game. That curve to Vlad, if it's a quality pitch and gets Vlad out, he would have gone 5 innings and 1 run. I know close isn't good enough, but I do think that Hughes has what it takes to pitch in the post season.

The only guys that had a good ALCS were Cano, Pettitte, Mo and because everyone else was so bad you can put Granderson in that group as well. Wood was ok, CC was ok, Arod was ok, Berkman was ok and Joba was ok. Everyone else wasn't just bad, they were terrible. Arod was getting beat. I think the key difference between last year and this year with Arod was all the rest. Arod was hot last year going into the post season. He was not this year and the rest really hurt his swing. Arod is a streaky hitter at this point and he just could never get on a groove with all the rest. I really think it's a different series if the Yankees weren't off for a week. Baseball needs to fix that. It's a 5 game series, how could the Yankees be off for a week. Still the Rangers out played the Yankees badly in nearly ever facet of the game, so tip of the hat to them. -Jitpal

Just a bad postseason for us, write it off. It wasn't a good representation of the team we have. Rangers were unconscious, it happens.

[Pharmcat]

as funny as it sounds, the yanks really missed Marte in the pen ,he was money in the POs last year

always sad when the season ends

guess i'll have to avoid talk radio the next week or so

[TKF]

as funny as it sounds, the yanks really missed Marte in the pen ,he was money in the POs last year

always sad when the season ends

guess i'll have to avoid talk radio the next week or so

I was out drinking tonight and caught most of the game... Hughes fell apart after that double to bum guerrero.. really, this guy reaches for a pitch way outside and gets a double.. what a hacking bum..

But as you said, we miss marte, but he is useless since he can't stay healthy, but last year, marte owned Howard and neutralized utley, that was huge!! this year our bull pen imploded... as I said, we left too many runs on base and if we can't hit a bum who throws a 87mph fastball with no movement named whatever lewis, then we don't deserve to defend our title.. we will be back next year for #28..

Just hate losing to texas.. such an irritating bunch of hackers... but hey, they got the hits when needed, so I guess I have to give those hackers credit....

[TKF]

Only if we had Matsui. It's not the same when your DH was WS MVP last year to a guy like Thames that batted like .180 .... I think that was the difference offensively.
Bullpen wasn't the same as we didn't have that Joba Hughes like one two punch and last year we had three reliable starters, this year Hughes was a failure and CC was average.

Berkman is pretty equal to Matsui. Tex got hurt, otherwise Thames isn't playing tonight. Wood/Mo > Hughes/Mo, at least in the postseason. Hughes was AWFUL in the postseason last year. Robertson got huge outs last year. The key difference in the bullpens was Marte compared to Logan. Logan was brought in twice to face Hamilton and failed both times. Marte was money last year. We did not have three reliable starters. Burnett was up and down, just like this year. CC was better last year. Pettitte was the same. -Jitpal

While Burnett was up and down both seasons he was much better last year. I think he could have done more in the playoffs this year under different circumstances though. Outside of Wood > Hughes in the playoffs (So far in his career Hughes is downright embarrassing in the postseason), the rest of our pitching staff was much, much worse this year than last. Actually the whole team was worse, Granderson was a step up from Damon in a lot of ways but he wasn't as clutch, same with Berkman/Matsui. Really the only player arguably better this year was Cano.

Last year we got better as the season went on and peaked at the right time. This year we started strong and collapsed.

good post, and honestly, we have to get production from guys like tex.. before the injury he did nothing at the plate.. Jeter was not jeter and A-rod's power was non existent.. cano was a stud and we needed another big bat... I really miss matsui, who comes alive in the playoff's and damon was another big time veteran bat who produced.... cano and Gardner as much as I like those guys, just didn't get the job done in the playoffs...

[TKF]

So now can we put to bed the Sabermetrics bull of Hughes' much overhyped Road stats...

Pretty much the Rangers waited to see Hughes a second time around and smoked him. MAYBE it would have been wiser IF Vasquez and NOT Robertson was brought in. But hindsight is always 20/15 vision.

Still that's not what's bothering me. What is, the HITTING. Where did it go? Curtis Granderson IS the best hitter outside of Cano. Swisher? A-Rod? Thames? Gardner? All .200 or LESS. Unforgivable.Hitting is something you can't blame the manager when you're hitting that poorly. These are NOT kids. These are experienced guys.

Melky Cabrera was released by the Atlanta Braves...so anyone STILL feel Brett Gardner should be protected and not replaced by Carl Crawford when FA begins? (though I see Crawford going to the Angels). While his hustle play was the start of the turn around, an ugly .176 will not cut it. More or less a player who is protected by the line up.

Hughes has great stuff, but needs to learn how to picth with it..

I like gardner, he is from my mothers home town of Holly Hill South carolina, but he is such a hitting liability.. carl crawford would fill his position nicely... A huge upgrade with just as much, if not more speed..

this whole season, I complained about our situational hitting, and all I kept getting back was how we led the league in runs scored.. LOL.. this yankee team could not hit this year when it counted...

[TKF]

And we can talk pitching all we want, but the truth is, this year's team didn't hit.. last year, damon and matsui in this lineup made it tough from top to bottom.. this lineup had holes, and A-rod and others didn't hit.. other than cano and granderson, we had very little offense... Tex is also another post season hitting flop..

We let a BUM, and I will say this to the day I stop breathing, a BUM named colby lewis dominate us, and we let another very, very average pitcher named CJ wilson give us trouble for a game.... This rangers team with that pitching should not be in the world series.. Just think, even if our pitchers go out there and pitch lights out baseball, we scored just 1 run vs a BUM!!! The hitting has to be addressed.... first and foremost.... try to move Burnett and get another arm in here... Lets stop wishing for cliff lee.. he is 32, only seems to want to pitch in post season, and after he gets paid, watch his production drop... I am always leery of these guys who are over 30 pitching for a new contract, but hey, maybe I am wrong here..

Next year fellas, we go for #28.... Lets get it done...

[TKF]

Just venting.. but I also want to note that girardi's intentionally walking guys killed us all series.. Josh Hamilton was batting what? in the low .200's ? he is either hitting a homer or making an out and he is making a lot more outs than he is hitting homers.. cano was hitting much better than hamilton and the rangers pitched to him... so you walk hamilton to get to vlad who swings at every pitch good or in the dirt, and he reaches out and arm swings a double and hamilton scores anyway. right? that inning was a crusher.... putting guys on base in a series like this, where the rangers hit balls , hard or soft found holes is just a HUGE mistake!!!!!

[MiamiNative0722]

I say, yanks need two new starters, two new relievers, and one outfielder

[Pharmcat]

Just venting.. but I also want to note that girardi's intentionally walking guys killed us all series.. Josh Hamilton was batting what? in the low .200's ? he is either hitting a homer or making an out and he is making a lot more outs than he is hitting homers.. cano was hitting much better than hamilton and the rangers pitched to him... so you walk hamilton to get to vlad who swings at every pitch good or in the dirt, and he reaches out and arm swings a double and hamilton scores anyway. right? that inning was a crusher.... putting guys on base in a series like this, where the rangers hit balls , hard or soft found holes is just a HUGE mistake!!!!!

dude it doesnt matter

its all on the O, if they dont show up, it dont matter what else you do

look at the yanks in the POs recently: theyve been owned by colby lewis (twice), paul byrd, a 50 y/o kenny rogers

there is a trend of the O getting owned by guys they should be beating up on

[nykgeneralmanager]

This team flat out didn't pitch or hit. You can get on Girardi for anything, but when you can't touch CJ Wilson, Tommy Hunter, or Colby Lewis in 5 games then you aren't going to win a thing. We should have been swept, just be happy we weren't THAT embarrassed in this series and actually forced 6 games.

Matsui and Damon would have made no difference. Cano was the only guy to hit over .300 in the series. Damon's replacement, Granderson, was our 2nd best hitter. Matsui's replacement, Berkman, was hitting bombs to the warning track all series long. Tex's injury hurt because it forced Thames to then DH, but Tex was 0 for 15 in the series when he went down anyway.

Hughes was bad, the bullpen was even worse. They wouldn't have beaten many teams the way they played this series. Regardless they still made it to game 6 of the ALCS. We'll see how the off-season goes, but there is very little doubt that this team will be back in the same spot next season.

It stinks when the season ends and you want to win every year, but we know that just can't be.

[Pharmcat]

im excited too see montero up next year....thats a nice addition to the O at a cheap cost

btw, is it me or does gardner take way too many pitches, it seemed like in this series, he;d just watch the first 2 pitches down the middle go and find himself repeatedly in 0-2 holes

[TKF]

This team flat out didn't pitch or hit. You can get on Girardi for anything, but when you can't touch CJ Wilson, Tommy Hunter, or Colby Lewis in 5 games then you aren't going to win a thing. We should have been swept, just be happy we weren't THAT embarrassed in this series and actually forced 6 games.

Matsui and Damon would have made no difference. Cano was the only guy to hit over .300 in the series. Damon's replacement, Granderson, was our 2nd best hitter. Matsui's replacement, Berkman, was hitting bombs to the warning track all series long. Tex's injury hurt because it forced Thames to then DH, but Tex was 0 for 15 in the series when he went down anyway.

Hughes was bad, the bullpen was even worse. They wouldn't have beaten many teams the way they played this series. Regardless they still made it to game 6 of the ALCS. We'll see how the off-season goes, but there is very little doubt that this team will be back in the same spot next season.

It stinks when the season ends and you want to win every year, but we know that just can't be.

well I am not sure damon and matsui don't make a difference.. those guys give tough, productive at bats.. too many times, did we leave a guy on third with less than two outs.. swisher, and gardner were dissapoiting. thames , if he doesn't get a fastball is useless..

Hughes was bad, and that was dissapointing after watching him do well vs the twins..

Honestly, it kills me watching the rangers advance.. we are going to see a Rangers/ Giants(possibly) world series, and who cares... the rangers should not beat any of those teams, not with that staff... but who cares.. just dissapointed we could not hit colby lewis for christ sakes..

It stinks when the season ends and you want to win every year, but we know that just can't be.

very true, but I have been spoiled with all of our success winning in the 90's.. I was hoping for a repeat, to defend our title last year and repeat.. it wasn't meant to be.. we will be back next year as you said....

[TKF]

im excited too see montero up next year....thats a nice addition to the O at a cheap cost

btw, is it me or does gardner take way too many pitches, it seemed like in this series, he;d just watch the first 2 pitches down the middle go and find himself repeatedly in 0-2 holes

Brett was very confident with two strikes, but my problem with him is his inability to drive the ball..

[Pharmcat]

question regarding Andy:

Cant we just do half seasons for him? he takes april-june off, and then comes in july to help us in the 2nd half of the season, this way he can spend early summer with kids

this would also work for whatever prospect in the farm that replaces him: pitch for half a season, then go down to minors to fix whatever is necessary b4 inning limit for the year is reached


just a thought

[Mecca]

This FA class kind of sucks, so the only notable offensive player that I'd bring in is a Dunn or a Pena. A big lefty with power. Manny would also be nice, and maybe Peralta for utility.

None of the pitchers interest me, so I hope Andy will return for one more.

[GotItNow]

Victor Martinez and Cliff Lee are coming to the Yanks. That will be the offseason. -Jitpal

Not with Montero coming soon. Maybe that was something The Yanks considered when they offered Montero in the proposed Lee trade. Screw it we can have Lee and Martinez. But not now.

[GotItNow]

I say, yanks need two new starters, two new relievers, and one outfielder

One starter, Cliff Lee. Outfielders are fine. Relievers, we had some starters do well in the minor leagues that won't be ready to do the same for the Yanks but by the end of the year should do great in the pen.