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2009 World Series Game 3

sean October 31, 2009, at 7:00 pm 52 LTEs - (Sorry, but the time to add LTEs has expired) ,

Time to find out if holding Hamels back for Game 3 was worthwhile. Despite what some might say, Hamels pitched nearly the same in 2009 as he did in 2008. FIP of 3.72 both years and his xFIP dropped from 3.78 to 3.75. True he had fewer innings, but maybe having a 24 year old pitcher throw 262.1 innings when his previous high was 183.1 wears him out a bit.

Andy Pettitte meanwhile has pitched in the postseason 12 years for 27 total series. His 237.1 innings is more than he has tallied in all but one regular season. So, it is kind of interesting to compare his rate stats from the postseason with the regular season and see how well they match. Even his W-L totals are only two off from his 162 game average: 16-9 versus 17-10.

Go Phillies! Unless you want to prove a point. Then, go Yankees!

Oh It Would’ve Been, Could’ve Been Worse Than You Would Ever Know

ubelmann October 12, 2009, at 10:24 am 60 LTEs - (Sorry, but the time to add LTEs has expired) , ,

APTOPIX Tigers Twins Baseball

Overall, that was an awfully interesting ride for a team who, as the saying goes, was who we thought they were. A weak division gave us a race that the Twins ultimately won, and there wasn't enough magic in the night for the Twins to beat the Yankees. For me, this year's loss was especially painful since it seemed like the Yankees' mercenaries really came through for them.

I'll take the following things out of this series, largely because they are the things I wanted to take out of this series:

1) Mauer hit great, even though the Yankees had every reason to pitch around him and an officiating blunder robbed him of a double.

2) Even though Ron Gardenhire stated publicly that Gomez drives him crazy at the plate, Carlos Gomez hit 7th in the lineup when he did play. Many people will remember his stumble across second base, but I'll also remember his bases-empty, two-out, full-count walk in the 8th that led to a go-ahead run.

3) And then, when Gomez was subsequently benched, we wound up trotting out Jose Morales as a DH in the 8th spot.

4) The Twins' entire postseason roster has 498 career home runs, combined

5) Alex Rodriguez, who hit two back-breaking home runs in this series, has 583 career home runs all by himself

So it probably shouldn't be that surprising that even though the Twins hit .257 in the ALDS--certainly respectable given the Yankees' pitching staff--they only managed 4 extra-base hits in 3 games and none of those hits was a home run. The Yankees had 9 extra-base hits and 6 of them were home runs.

Much has been made of the Twins' mistakes against the Yankees, but it was remarkable that they were in any of these games despite being out-slugged that badly. The little things can make a difference, but the big things make a bigger difference. And if you want that kind of power, you've gotta pay for it.

2009 Exhibition Game 2: Washington Generals at New York Yankees

sean October 9, 2009, at 4:00 pm 462 LTEs - (Sorry, but the time to add LTEs has expired) , ,

Time: 5:07 CDT
MLB.tv and radio

Starters:
Nick Blackburn (4.37 FIP, 4.68 tRA)
vs
A.J. Burnett (4.33 FIP, 4.74 tRA)

Burnett walks nearly as many as Blackburn strikes out (4.22 and 4.29 respectively). He's also been worth just as much as Blackburn. I'm rather glad the Twins aren't paying Blackburn $16.5 million a year.

This is the game the Twins need to win. Not only do the Yankees have a weaker lineup with Molina taking Posada's spot and a right-hander on the mound. Also, Gomez might actually be is starting today, so the (outfield) defense is actually decent. Plus I want at least two games in the Dome to prove Joe Sheehan wrong.

How Do the Yankees Stack Up?

SBG July 9, 2009, at 4:24 pm 9 LTEs - (Sorry, but the time to add LTEs has expired) ,

I just wanted to do a quick analysis and see how the Yankees are doing against the American League teams since, oh, the beginning of the 2002 season. That would be when our boy ScruFi (if you don't what that means, you have started lurking around here post 2006) was hired as the manager of the Minnesota Twins.

Overall against the American League, the Yanks are 646-428, a shiny .601 winning percentage. (I disregarded interleague play for the purposes of this exercise.) But, how does that break down, team by team? Let's look.

Team W L RS RA PCT EW EL Epct Luck
MIN 41 14 317 211 0.745 37 18 0.677 6.83%
KCR 40 16 356 242 0.714 37 19 0.669 4.55%
DET 34 18 282 220 0.654 32 20 0.611 4.28%
CLE 37 20 327 281 0.649 32 25 0.569 8.06%
TBR 88 49 836 620 0.642 87 50 0.633 0.96%
BAL 89 50 799 672 0.640 80 59 0.578 6.22%
TEX 40 24 374 314 0.625 37 27 0.579 4.61%
Total AL 646 428 5964 5062 0.601 617 457 0.574 2.74%
SEA 39 26 367 280 0.600 40 25 0.621 -2.07%
CHW 28 20 256 223 0.583 27 21 0.562 2.09%
OAK 34 25 283 257 0.576 32 27 0.544 3.25%
TOR 78 58 707 628 0.574 75 61 0.554 1.98%
BOS 68 71 715 772 0.489 65 74 0.465 2.41%
LAA 30 37 345 342 0.448 34 33 0.504 -5.62%

As you can see, the Yankees have had a higher winning percentage against the Twins than they have against every one of the other clubs in the American League. Oh sure, the Royals are right there, but let's be honest, the Royals have been terrible the entire decade. (Boy, have they feasted in the AL Central. It's flat out embarrassing.) You will also see that the Yankees have their highest Pythagorean winning percentage against the Twins. Not only that, but the Yanks have won four more games than their gaudy .677 Pythagorean winning percentage suggests that they should have. I took the number of extra wins (or losses) and multiplied it against games played against a particular team to determine "Luck". It turns out that Yankees not only have beaten our squad to a pulp all during the Gardenhire Era, but they've also had their 2nd best luck against the Twins. Oy.

2009 Game 39: Minnesota Twins at New *&^k *&^kees

spookymilk May 18, 2009, at 5:00 pm 481 LTEs - (Sorry, but the time to add LTEs has expired) , , , , ,

AMR weighs in on today's Cup of Coffee:

Someday in the distant future, the Twins will sweep the Yankees in New York, and I will enjoy that immensely. Since I got back into baseball in 2002, the Twins are 5-24 (including playoffs) in either Yankee Stadium 2 or 3.

So many late-inning comebacks, even when the bullpen was good, including that damn playoff loss in 2004.

Two of those wins are playoff wins, courtesy of Mr. Santana in the opening games each time around.  The loss AMR refers to contained Ruben Sierra's 3-run jack off of Juan Rincon, continuing the Twins' unfortunate recent record of postseason futility.

If a foreigner walked up to me today and said, "I want to become a baseball fan, sir.  Direct me to the video archives of a recent series that was exciting enough to pull me in," which of course happens to me three, four times a week, I'd have to direct them to this series.  But as a Twins fan, most of me wants to forget this one.  These Twins are guaranteed some bullpen losses over the course of the season, but never did I assume they'd lose three walk-off games in a row to a team that enrages me simply by existing.

Pitchers:

Glen Weston Perkins
1-2 --- 4.27 --- ERA+ 102 --- BB/9 = 2.3 --- K/9 = 5.1
Most similar pitcher through age 25: journeyman Larry McWilliams (remember him?)

Andrew Eugene Pettitte
3-1 --- 4.00 --- ERA+ 117 --- BB/9 = 3.0 --- K/9 = 5.0
Most similar pitcher, career: Dwight Gooden
Most similar pitcher, former Twin division: Frank Viola (7th overall)

Glen Perkins was born in St. Paul, played for the Gophers in college, and was selected in the first round by the Twins.  Andy Pettitte has made almost 110 million dollars in his career.  If ever there was a Minnesota vs. New York game, this was the one.  Go Twins.  For real this time.

Nothing That a Few Hundred Million Dollars Wouldn’t Cure

ubelmann May 17, 2009, at 4:50 pm 5 LTEs - (Sorry, but the time to add LTEs has expired) ,

Obviously everyone's tired of seeing the bullpen struggle, but the Yankees' bullpen is no better than the Twins' bullpen. I haven't gotten a chance to watch any of the last few games, but I look at the box scores, see who hit the HRs for the Yankees, and the following four names jump out at me:

Mark Teixeira -- $180M/8yr
Alex Rodriguez -- $275M/10yr
Derek Jeter -- $189M/10yr
Johnny Damon -- $52M/4yr

Those four players make about $87M this year, which is about $22M more than the Twins' entire team makes. Damon--the lowest-paid of the group--makes $13M this year. The Twins have paid a player as much as $13M once in their entire history--Johan Santana in 2007.

A lot of people want to try to ignore this issue, like outspending a team 3-1 isn't a ridiculously large advantage, but outspending a team 3-1 is a ridiculously large advantage. I don't feel like I can ignore it. And seeing three straight games come down to the last hit does almost nothing but make me wish the Twins had an extra $130M to spend this year. If you give me CC Sabathia, Mark Teixeira, Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, AJ Burnett, Mariano Rivera, and $80M, then I'm going to build a much better team than if I only have the $80M.

I'm sure that there was plenty of baseball to analyze over the first three games of this series, but I don't really see the point in trying to break it down when none of those little things--even if added together--makes nearly the difference that the payroll difference makes. For the most part, I would rather just sit back, relax, and watch a game between two random teams in the league than I would like to bother watching the Twins play the Yankees. Even in wins, I'm not that satisfied with the feeling that we stole a game from a team we probably shouldn't have beaten, a team that will probably finish higher than us at the end of the season. But there are plenty of games during the season that don't involve the Yankees, so I imagine that I'll get along just fine without those games.

Game 36: Minnesota Twins at New York Yankees

sean May 15, 2009, at 5:00 pm 276 LTEs - (Sorry, but the time to add LTEs has expired) , ,

Time: 6:05 CDT
TV: FS-N HD
Radio: TRN
MLB.tv and radio

Starters:
Francisco Liriano (2-4, 5.75 ERA; 93 tRA+, 4.96 xFIP)
vs
Phil Hughes (1-2, 8.47 ERA; 49 tRA+, 6.91 xFIP)

Hughes last three starts:

IP R SO
6 0 6
4 4 2
1.7 8 0

I think this means he's going to last about a third of an inning and give up 12 runs. With -2 SO.

Neither Hughes (37.2 GB%) nor Liriano (38.5%) are much of a groundball-type pitcher so some souvenirs should be expected. This is Hughes debut at Yankee Stadium!!!!!! (the one that Ruth not-so-sorta-kinda built) as well so... hmmm.. I got nothing on this. He is perfect at home though!

 
Lineups
TWINS
Denard Span, LF
Matt Tolbert, 2B
Joe Mauer, C
Justin Morneau, 1B
Jason Kubel, DH
Michael Cuddyer, RF
Joe Crede, 3B
Carlos Gomez, CF
Nick Punto, SS

YANKEES
Derek Jeter, SS
Johnny Damon, LF
Mark Teixeira, 1B
Alex Rodriguez, 3B
Hideki Matsui, DH
Nick Swisher, RF
Robinson Cano, 2B
Melky Cabrera, CF
Kevin Cash, C

Series Preview in Blog: New York Yankees (5/15-5/18)

Big Mak May 15, 2009, at 9:00 am 5 LTEs - (Sorry, but the time to add LTEs has expired) , ,

I lost this post once, so all I've got is a list of links.

It turns out the Yankees spend way more money than anyone else. Does that mean Yankees fans should feel guilty about it? I know one thing, all that money can't buy Brett Gardner a sense of humor. C'mon buddy, lighten up! Increased payroll also increases expectations, evidenced by this image from nomaas.org:


Click here to continue reading Series Preview in Blog: New York Yankees (5/15-5/18)...

Annual Ritual

SBG February 17, 2009, at 7:33 am 2 LTEs - (Sorry, but the time to add LTEs has expired) , , ,

Some clubs celebrate the return of spring by reporting early for spring training. The Yankees celebrate by showing up at the club's annual "I admit that I've used PEDs" press conference.

Fun with Upper Deck: 2008 Documentary, Game 56

Rhubarb_Runner February 9, 2009, at 5:30 am 3 LTEs - (Sorry, but the time to add LTEs has expired) , , ,

ud-game-562008 Documentary: Twins Game 56

Card #1666/MIN56


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Reason #9,356 to Hate the Yankees

SBG January 30, 2009, at 7:40 am Sorry, but the time to add LTEs has expired

Yankee brass considering putting "Confidentiality Clause" in managerial contracts, preventing them from writing "tell all" books. I happen to think that the new Torre/Verducci book is a stupid idea -- why does Torre want to go down that road, and as for Verducci, well, I suppose there's bucks there, but if you want to make money writing trash, might I suggest romance novels. But, really, we aren't talking about giving away trade secrets or anything here, it's just gossip.

Either I am Wrong, Or…

SBG December 24, 2008, at 11:01 am 2 LTEs - (Sorry, but the time to add LTEs has expired) ,

The Yankees are controlling the media. I read this report linked by E-6 about the Wang signing (one year, $5 million) and I thought, hmmm, that's about right. Then I read this:

His agreement raises the Yankees' payroll to about $164 million for 15 players for next year. That includes pitcher Andrew Brackman and infielder Juan Miranda, who don't figure to be on the major league roster.

What? The Yankees have fifteen players under contract and the total is $164 million? I don't believe it (especially since I was touting a much higher number for 12 players just yesterday ($192.6 million)). Am I wrong, or are the Yankees pulling a fast one?
Click here to continue reading Either I am Wrong, Or…...

Yankees Make PR Move, But Read the Fine Print

SBG December 23, 2008, at 11:15 am One LTE - (Sorry, but the time to add LTEs has expired)

ESPN reports that Yankee Stadium bleacher seats for exhibition opener to cost 25 cents. Cool enough. But it also reports that some seats in the new stadium are priced at $2500 a game. That's over $200,000 for a season ticket.

Reason #3,762 to Hate the Yankees

SBG December 11, 2008, at 8:23 am 19 LTEs - (Sorry, but the time to add LTEs has expired) ,

A month and a half ago, I was back in North Dakota and I met my cousin's boyfriend. My cousin lives in Colorado and this kid is from out there. Nice enough guy, college kid, baseball player, wearing a Yankee cap. My uncle, who's a little less than five years older than me, and I were giving the kid the business about his allegiance to the hated Bronx Bombers. Then, he asked, naively enough, why I don't like the Yankees. He said something like well, the Twins can just go out and sign players, too!

True enough, if Carl Pohlad wanted to, he could spend $200 million a year on payroll almost into perpetuity and he would never run out of money. (Assume that he took, say, $100 million loss every year..., it would take him 20 years to lose $2 billion. There'd still be a huge pile of cash lying around.) Well, that, of course, would be silly, but man, it could be kind of fun, right?
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The Other New Yankee Stadium

twayn October 2, 2008, at 12:57 am Sorry, but the time to add LTEs has expired

In the words of S. R. Hadden, why build one when you can have two at twice the price?

 
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