Tagged: Elvis Andrus
Tonight as told by numbers…
As I come down from the heart attack tonights game gave me (in no small part from Elvis Andrus’ leadoff triple), let me take a moment to break down some interesting numbers from the win.
17: the number of Yankees who struck out tonight. 17?!?! How the hell did we win when that many outs were made by the K? 11 of them came via Cliff Lee, then 1 by every last Ranger reliever afterwards. Seriously-when your team strikes out 17 of the other guys, winning should not even be in doubt…and yet…
4: the number of strikeouts the Yankee pitchers got against the Rangers tonight. Big. Fukk. Difference. 4 is also the amount of times the slumping Nick Swisher struck out tonight.
1: only 1 Yankee who hit managed to avoid striking out tonight-Lance Berkman.
6-1: the score after the fifth inning with the Rangers leading and Cliff Lee still pitching.
4: also happens to be the exact amount of wins the Yankees have this month…and we’re almost halfway through the month. Just a point of reference, last month on this day, the Yankees had racked up 9 wins already.
5: the amount of games that the Yankees still lead the Red Sox by
1.5: the current Yankee lead over the Tampa Bay Rays
3: the number of bases that Elvis Andrus ran for to lead off the bottom of the ninth with, putting the tying run 90 feet away with 0 outs.
0: the number of runs that scored after that triple in the bottom of the ninth because Mariano Rivera is cluuuuuuuutch.
4-1: the record the Yankees currently have vs Texas this season.
32: the number of stolen bases Brett Gardner currently has. Good for fifth in the AL.
1: the amount of wins Kerry Wood now has as a Yankee.
24: Rivera now has that many saves.
70: the number of wins the Yankees now have this season to lead the majors.
3 key and avoidable screwups that cost the AL
The streak is over. The NL finally found a way to win, blah blah blah. The AL didnt help its case much last night, and speculations can be made all day over what Girardi and Manuel did or didnt do. However, the following three things DID happen, and ended up costing the AL.
1-Joe Mauer makes a baserunning mistake they teach you not to do in little league.
5th inning. Robinson Cano just hit a sac fly to put the AL up 1-0. Joe Mauer is on 2nd, 1 out. Carl Crawford hits a groundball to short, and Mauer takes it upon himself to go for 3rd, right in front of Hanley Ramirez! Ramirez easily nails him at 3rd for the 2nd out.
What professional baseball player pulls a stunt like that? You go AFTER Ramirez throws to 1st, then you wouldve scored on the Torii Hunter fly ball.
2-Elvis Andrus stole 2nd, then caught off the bag.
Jeter led off the 6th the only way he could, he got a hit. Then in comes Andrus to run for him. He takes 2nd as Konerko strikes out, but he came in to 2nd too fast and slid himself right off the base. Brandon Phillips catches him a mile off the bag and applies the tag. Josh Hamilton then hits a single that wouldve scored the speedy Andrus. Big Floppi strikes out to end the inning.
(For those counting, thats now at least 2 runs the AL lost out on…but was there a way to prevent the NL runs?)
3-Matt Thornton (how the hell is he an all star?) walks the bases loaded despite being ahead in the count 0-2.
7th inning. Runners on the corners, 2 outs. Marlon Byrd steps up to the plate against Thornton. The count quickly goes to 0-2. One more strike and the AL can breathe easy. Thornton then decides hes gonna get Byrd to chase some high heat.
Ball one.
Ok, so, lets try something new. BUT NO! Thronton trys to get Byrd to chase another high fastball!
Ball two.
Alright. Byrd clearly isnt fooled. Go to a new pitch? Nope! Lets try the same pitch AGAIN!
Ball three. Full count.
Thornton finally decides to try a different location. Down and away, and Byrd isnt swinging.
Ball four. Bases loaded. McCann steps up and the rest is history.
Honerable mentions go out to Joe Girardi for leaving David Ortiz to run the bases in the 9th, Joe Mauer for that terrible throw to 2nd that ended up in center field, and David Wright for not taking 3rd on the beforementioned Mauer throw.
Despite the above, im not that bitter. This just means the Yankees wont need 6/7 games to win the world series at home this year.
My awards ballot doesnt look good so far…
I’m 2 for 6…I called it for Tracy and Grienke, but to be fair, they were no brainers (like Pujols will be). So the only question left for me is if Jeter can get enough damn votes and get the award he deserves.
What went wrong?
ALRoY
…yeah, in hindsight, picking Andrus wasnt so smart when I completely forgot there was a pretty successful rookie closer in Oakland. Duuuur! Still, being so good that Texas decided to move all star Michael Young away from shortstop is pretty good reasoning for an ALRoy…
NLRoy
I never claimed to be a close follower of the national league, but I still think Tommy Hanson got cheated out…then again, I dont remember who won it instead and cant be bothered looking it up, mainly as I said before, cuz Im not a big follower of the NL…
ALMotY
Girardi got cheated. Period. Ron Gardenhire of the sh!t 87 win Twins beat him out for 2nd? Pssssssssssh! Bias in the voting…which is bad for Jeter and Tex in the MVP race…
NL CyYoung
Part of me felt I shouldve picked Lincecum, but I went with whatever Cardinal I picked…I vow next year to actually pay attention to the NL a little more…
…If Jeter does get cheated by that little sh!t Mauer, I wont make a post about it, seeing how Ill probably be repeating myself as to why at that point.
Just sayin though:
Jeter led his team to a world championship…
Mauer led his team to a 163rd regular season game…
In the words of Lewis Black: “Theres a big f*ck difference.”
Awards 2009
The Yankees may have the biggest award of the year already on their mantle, but that doesnt mean we cant add a few more, and thanks to Jeter and Tex, we’ve already added 3 gold gloves and 2 silver sluggers! (Seriously though, can everyone please stop harping on how “Jeters getting too old”? The man is the best shortstop in baseball…again)
What else could we possibly add to our 2009 award case?
Cy Young?
…No. Grienke had one hell of a season (and just imagine how good he wouldve been if he werent a Royal). CC may have had an outstanding year, and was ALCS MVP, but Greinke was the best pitcher in baseball. Period.
Manager of the Year?
I’m not sure why everyone suddenly jumps to Mike Scioscia for this award. Sure, he led a team to overcome the death of a rookie and went to the ALCS, but Girardi deserves it even more.
I’ll give Scioscia his deserved props though. Overcomming the death of a teammate isnt ever easy. Nick Adenhart may not have been Thurman Munson-like on that team, but he was still a part of that Angel-family vibe. Plus, this year was the first in a long time that the AL west wasnt pitifully easy to win. The Rangers showed up this time and the Angels were plagued with injuries.
Still…The Yankees utterly failed in 2008 when they didnt even reach October. Girardi thus fell deeper into the shadow of Torre and anything short of a championship in 2009 would mean a pink slip for Girardi. So for him to help pull this team up to #27 was amazing. Plus, he promoted something on this team long since though imnpossible for a New York team: chemistry. Joe Girardi deserves to be MotY…and maybe, unlike as a Marlin, this time he can win the award and NOT lose his job…
MVP?
If I were Derek Jeter, I would loathe the Twins. Then again, they are our personal punching bags every October…but Jeter was suppose to win MVP once before, but got snaked by anti-Yankee voters who instead gave it to some nameless Twin named Morneau, who wasnt even around this October…now this year, Jeter is threatened to get snaked out AGAIN, though by a not-so-nameless Twin.
Both Jeter and Mauer have silver sluggers to their names this year as well as gold gloves, so this one is closer than sportscenter would have you believe. Mauer has had a great year, not just by catcher standerds, while Jeter always has a great year, by New York standerds (which are pretty damn high)
What sets Jeter apart is his intangibles, he always gets a hit when the Yankees need it most, which is a big reason why the Yankees won over 100 games this year and DIDNT need an extra game this regular season. What hurts Jeters cause is that he plays for the Yankees, the most hated franchise in sports.
BTW: Jeter won the Hank Aaron award this year as well (top offensive player)…so, yeah…
Yeah, congrats to Mariano Rivera too, for winning yet another Delivery Man of the Year award…
Im gonna make predictions now…
Rookie of the Year
AL: Elvis Andrus
NL: Tommy Hanson
Manager of the Year
AL: Joe Girardi
NL: Jim Tracy
Cy Young
AL: Zack Grienke
NL: Adam Wainwright
MVP
AL: Derek Jeter
NL: Albert Pujols
The Yankee Hater Hater 