The Girl Who Loved Andy Pettitte

Mariano Rivera is probably the greatest relief pitcher of all time, and he also is usually excellent in tied games. This season, though, not so much. And that means he should not be put in them anymore! Usually I would just say “small sample size”, but this is how he’s done in tied games this year:

August 1st - 1IP, 2H, 1R, 1BB, 1K

July 19th - 1IP, 2H, 1R, 0BB, 3K

July 9th - 2IP, 0H, 0R, 1BB, 5K

July 6th - 2IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 2K

July 1st - 1IP, 3H, 1R, 0BB, 0K

June 9th - 1IP, 1H, 1R, 0BB, 2K, 1HR

June 7th - 1IP, 1H, 1R, 0BB, 1K, 1HR

May 29th - 2IP, 1H, 0R, 1BB, 3K

May 22nd - 1IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 1K

May 13th - 1IP, 3H, 1R, 0BB, 1K

Total (Tied Games) - 13IP, 12H, 6R, 3BB, 19K, 2HR

Total (All Appearances) - 48.1IP, 30H, 8R, 5BB, 58K, 3HR

I don’t know if Mariano is approaching these situations differently, or what is going on here (I don’t think he ever goes into a game thinking a particular situation is more relaxed than any other and he has put in a few awesome tied game appearances this year) but it’s a strange phenemenom and he doesn’t have to pitch in the 9th inning just because it’s a tied game and he’s Mariano Rivera.

Joe Girardi has been excellent with the bullpen this year, but he’s very stuck on this much like he puts Andy back out to pitch when he’s at ~100 pitches and has had nothing all day. It’s the two things about him I’ve found very strange.

It’s very easy to second guess when things are said and done, but for example last night a better approach would probably have been to put Jose Veras in against the bottom of the order that Damaso Marte faced with Marte and perhaps Mariano warming up. Marte is a very good pitcher, and both Mark Teixeira and Vladimir Guerrero have slightly worse splits against left-handed pitchers.

The Detroit Tigers have traded veteran catcher Ivan Rodriguez to the Yankees for hard-throwing reliever Kyle Farnsworth.

Rodriguez, a 14-time All-Star in the option year of a $50 million deal he signed with the Tigers in Feb. 2004, will step into the hole in the Yankees’ lineup created by Jorge Posada’s shoulder injury.

Posada had arthroscopic surgery on his right shoulder Wednesday. The rehab time is about six months.

The 36-year-old Rodriguez, who has won the Gold Glove award 13 times, was hitting .295 with five homers in 82 games this season.

The story on this apparently is that Dave Dombrowski called up and asked about Farnsworth, not that he was being actively shopped. Good job shipping Rowdy Kyle while his value was still high, this should be helpful for both teams. I’m thinking newly acquired Damaso Marte will fill Farnsworth’s shoes (yes he exploded the other night but he is a rather good pitcher) and Mark Melancon will be a September callup.

“Advice Number One: Strike out Ortizinator.”

Hey, he did it!

- D. Marte relieved J. Veras
- D. Ortiz struck out swinging

I hope Girardi isn’t tempted to use Marte as a LOOGY because he is too good for that, plus the Yankees gave up too much in the trade for Xavier Nady + LOOGY.

Andy Pettitte’s command is still a bit lacking but he made it through to pull in his third quality start in a row. The homerun Melvin Mora hit was off a good pitch, not the meatballs he had been leaving up there for a few starts in late April.

Here’s his line for the night:

A. Pettitte (W, 5-5)  	6.2  	8  	2  	2  	1  	3  	1

What I liked about this was the cutdown on walks, what I didn’t like was something the line itself doesn’t show: his 8:8 groundball:flyball ratio which is usually better than that. I consider this an effect of him being lucky last night but hey, I’ll take luck. If he is going to have a lot of 3K/1BB nights (and most of his starts will probably be similar) then it can’t stay that way, though.

Oh and wins are the worst stat in baseball but Andy Pettitte is now #5 on the Yankees all-times win list.

I didn’t like Mariano Rivera coming out for the 9th inning after pitching two the night before, but I am guessing this is partly because of the off day today. His velocity was sitting where it always sits, which is marvelous but I am a little nervous about what this kind of use will do to him in the long run. It would have made more sense to allow Joba Chamberlain to throw the rest of his pitches in a game situation instead of in the bullpen but this might have been a reaction to the LaTroy Hawkins Save Situation Experience from the previous night.

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With all the dumb things that happen in New York, at least we never have controversies about whether banning players is booed or not.

Paul DePodesta explains the reasoning behind acquiring Cha Seung Baek. It’s a good read–actually his whole blog is a good read.

Mariano Rivera called a meeting with Joe Girardi his fellow relievers before last night’s game.

Jason Giambi hit homeruns out of Camden Yards on two consecutive days. I guess he’s hitting pretty well lately.

I don’t really have the words in me to explain my frustration and anger at this game, so make due with a picture.

The Yankees game yesterday was pretty ugly, not much to say there except the hitters still are not alive and Kyle Farnsworth is still no good.

Ian Kennedy didn’t start the game because of the threat of rain, but did pitch three innings and looked good after the first. His command was much better than in his first outing, with any luck this will continue and the team will get a lot of solid innings out of him this year.

Last night’s game and Kennedy’s first outing have shown the Yankees could use a long reliever/spot starter in the bullpen. Jeff Karstens is hurt so while fans are saved from that potential headache, the alternatives are Darrel Rasner (completely league average, would not be bad necessarily) or Kei Igawa (who knows what you will get out of him when he comes into a game, starts a game, or throws a ball off the mound in general).

The problem is to make room for a long reliever they’d have to make room for one, and the two people who I’d most like to see out of the bullpen (LaTroy Hawkins and Kyle Farnsworth) aren’t about to be shuffled out. This leaves Brian Bruney, Russ Ohlendorf, and Billy Traber as candidates. Bruney has had a good showing so far since he has stopped the “throw as fast as he can approach” and Traber is the obligatory lefty so Ohlendorf would probably be the choice. Really though I wish I lived in a world where it would be Farnsworth, I know that they want to get something out of him but I don’t know if there is anything to get.

Pitching is not really the issue, though, the offense is and that’s not as easy to “fix”. The season is not even 10 games old but I don’t think it’s too early to be just a little concerned. After three weeks if things haven’t changed my concern will be kicked up several notches, however.

…

Ozzie Guillen quote of the week:

“You play against A.J., you hate him. But you play with him, you hate him a little less.”

Geoff Young at The Hardball Times examines the question Does Trevor Hoffman Struggle in Non-Save Situations?

File this under things that never in a million years needed a wiki entry.

Hank and Hal have new titles in the Yankee organization.

Now that we’ve seen the entire rotation at least once (Wang twice now), here are some observations:

Chien-Ming Wang - Looked very solid twice now, against teams with differing levels of offense. If he continues to be able to use his slider and changeup the way he did in his first two starts he’ll do well and hopefully make John Heyman eat his stupid words.

Mike Mussina - I hope it was just the weather because his fastball was topping out at 86MPH, and that is not going to cut it over the course of the season if he can’t spot it perfectly. Still, he did not look horrible.

Phil Hughes - Didn’t really go to his change, but his other pitches looked good. He’s brought back the slider and used it well. His fastball was a few ticks below his norm but hopefully that will change as the season goes on. He’s young, so I’m not concerned that he isn’t throwing 93-93MPH out the gate as a starter. If he continues to mix up the pitches he should have a successful season.

Ian Kennedy - Kennedy doesn’t have really good stuff and so he relies on his command, and his first started showed what can happen to him when that’s off especially since he is a rookie and isn’t going to get any generous calls from the umpires. He can and will pitch better than he did, and hopefully be a solid 3 or 4 in the rotation.

Andy Pettitte - His command was off a bit, he wasn’t able to use his repertoire of pitches as effectively as usual and then he ran out of gas. The horrible defense behind him did hurt him a bit but the homerun Gomes hit was a hung pitch. He’ll be better in subsequent starts unless he is hurt.

Bullpen Notes

LaTroy Hawkins had an okay first outing (1.1IP 2H, 1ER) and a bad second outing (.2IP, 6H, 6ER, 1HR) that wasn’t helped by Kyle Farnsworth coming in and letting all the inherited runners score. It’s too early to freak out but I am somewhat concerned.

Mariano Rivera was throwing around 90MPH in his first two outings, today he was back to his normal 93-94MPH. He is having no trouble locating pitches, hopefully this keeps up and everyone is happy.

1B Jason Giambi - If he is healthy, there is no reason (or justification) to keep him out of the starting lineup. Not the hitter he used to be, but still useful.

2B Robinson Cano

3B Alex Rodriguez

SS Derek Jeter

RF Bobby Abreu

CF Melky Cabrera - I love Melky a lot, but don’t be surprised if he is traded during the season to make room for Brett Gardner or Austin Jackson if either of them make significant progress in their development.

LF Johnny Damon

C Jorge Posada

DH Hideki Matsui - His knee problems make him a liability in the field but he still wields a very good bat.

Bench
3B/2B/SS Wilson Betemit
1B/COF Shelley Duncan
3B/1B Morgan Ensberg - Has impressed with his hitting this Spring Training.
C Jose Molina

Notes: Most of the lineup and bench is a no-brainer, there was really only one spot up for grabs. It’s a little strange to see Betemit in a utility role but nobody else fits. He’s a much better hitter than your average utility man at the very least.

Rotation
S1 Chien-Ming Wang
S2 Andy Pettitte
S3 Mike Mussina
S4 Phil Hughes
S5 Ian Kennedy

Notes: Nothing surprising here. Look for either Mussina or Kennedy to move into the bullpen when Joba moves into the rotation.

Bullpen
Joba Chamberlain
LaTroy Hawkins
Kyle Farnsworth
Mariano Rivera
Scott Patterson - Jeff Karstens has done a wonderful job of pitching himself off the team and they seem to be rather intrigued by Patterson.
Billy Traber - Obligatory LHP in the bullpen, not just a LOOGY.
Edwar Ramirez - This is probably his last shot, his change is too good to not take one more chance.

Notes: Patterson is just a random guess for longman since Karstens has done so poorly. If Ramirez doesn’t pan out he’ll be quickly replaced by Albaladejo, Ohlendorf/etc. Unless the bullpen completely and totally fails Joba will be moved into the rotation around early June.

Mike Mussina pitched 2 2/3 innings today, and looked okay. The most notable thing about his outing was the number of hissy fits he threw about the calls the homeplate umpire was making. His line for the day:

                IP      H       R      ER      BB      SO      HR
Mussina 	2.2	2	1	1	2	5	1

His fastball was hitting 88/89, which is typical. His curveball looked very good, but it’s always been his best pitch so when it doesn’t that means bad things. I don’t like the idea of Mussina being #3 in the starting rotation, but I will acquiesce that the team doesn’t really have a choice since Joba is starting in the bullpen. Ideally, he’ll get moved into the #5 spot in late May or early June and Joba will get put into that #3 spot. As a #5 starter, Mussina would get additional rest which I think would make him valuable to the team but with a regular workload I’m very nervous.

…

Jon Heyman has an interesting piece about Alex Rodriguez and the days that led up to his re-signing with the Yankees. While Heyman is not a guy I like (especially because of his ridiculous anti-Bert Blyleven stance), it’s a good read.

Joe Girardi is really serious about “fixing” Kyle Farnsworth. I don’t know if it’s possible, but if Farnsworth improves just a little bit it will be helpful for the bullpen.

Matsui will be making his debut tomorrow, this probably means unless his knee really flares up he won’t be starting the season on the DL.