Results tagged ‘ Curtis Granderson ’
The Brian Cougar Show: Opening Week
To try and bring some order to the erratic nature in which I update this blog, and the fact that I don’t feel like simply recapping every game (Yanks win: GOOD! Yanks lose: BAD!), I’m going to copy Yankees manager Joe Girardi and provide some weekly programming. This doesn’t mean I won’t update during the week if something particularly interesting/infuriating happens around Major League Baseball, but, at the very least, this should guarantee at least one post a week.
Let’s go with this quote from Mark Teixeira after Sunday’s game that sums up the first week:
“We went straight from Spring Training and played arguably the two best teams in the American League, two of our biggest opponents in the division, and won both series,” Teixeira said. “Got to feel good about that.”
Now let me provide a bunch of other words that basically repeat that point. Indulge me!
So, as Teixeira said, after Opening Week the Yanks won two series against their two toughest opponents for the division, on the road, and head home one game behind the mighty Jays (Another hot start to the season for Toronto. Will that immediately hit a wall when they start playing Tampa/Boston/NY? Most signs point to yes, but I’m happy — until they play the Yanks — to see Vernon Wells coming out all gangbusters) for first place in the AL East. Their early success was simple: The four games they received good (Well, A..J. Burnett’s first start was just OK) starting pitching, they won. The two games they didn’t (CC Sabathia on Opening Night in Fenway and Javier Vazquez’s first start), they lost.
Highlights of Week 1:
Robinson Cano looks like he might have a monster year. I realize it’s very, very early, and he got off to a hot start last year as well (and had a very good year, batting average with RISP not withstanding), but this will be his sixth season in the Majors, he’s 27, he’s in a loaded lineup (well, that’s basically true every year) and Girardi has shown great confidence in him by having him bat in the No. 5 spot behind A-Rod. I don’t know if Cano’s OBP is ever going to jump all that much higher than his average, but if he’s hitting .330 and driving in around 100 runs, I’ll take it. The Yanks signed Nick Johnson for the OBP (.367 so far!).
Curtis Granderson should receive a warm reception when he’s introduced for the first time in pinstripes at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday (Godzilla returns!). He hit a home run in his first at-bat of the season off Josh Beckett (although he did fail to get a hit in the ninth inning of that game of Jonathan Papelbon. This caused Joel … actually, I was about to bring up the fact that Joel Sherman of the NY Post, who I usually like a lot, wrote a pretty ridiculous column about Granderson not coming up in the clutch and the ghosts of Johnny Damon and Hideki Matsui after that game. Apparently I was not the only one, and Sherman responded to the many complaints about that column with this quote about writing columns following Opening Day:
“There are few columns I enjoy writing less than the post-game one after the season opener. You feel forced to make huge proclamations based on a single game. It is one of the elements of my business I would change if I was elected newspaper czar. Alas, the job is not open and I am not running.”
I respect that quote. Unlike myself (and about 97% — UNPROVABLE STAT — of other bloggers) Sherman is writing for a paycheck and an editor on deadline … there will be the occasional clunker. In my case, with no deadlines, paychecks (send me money) or editors, all are clunkers. Back to Granderson …
And then Granderson hit a game-winning home run off Papelbon to win the series on Wednesday. He’s Granderslammin’! (Amazing wordplay).
Sabathia, even though he completely ended my plans to go for a stroll through NJ on a wonderful Saturday afternoon, was completely dominant in his second start of the season while no-hitting the Rays through 7 2/3 innings. Not that I was worried after a rough Spring Training and lackluster Opening Day start (He rebounded fine last year), but after two straight years of subpar Aprils, maybe Sabathia will deliver dominant pitching all season long and win his second Cy Young.
Lowlights of Week 1:
Teixeira is on track to make sure his reputation as a slow starter continues in 2010. He did get three hits in Saturday’s win, but he was 0-for-17 heading into that game and went 0-for-4 again on Sunday. However it’s only one week and the Yanks are winning, so it’s not a big deal. My Dad’s suggestion of how team’s should deal with slow starters is to not start paying them until May. I don’t think the MLBPA will go for that.
I did not see Vazquez’s start on Friday, as I was freezing my pantaloons off while watching the Mets (Big Pelf!) beat the Nationals at Citi Field, but his line of 5 2/3 innings, 8 runs shows I didn’t miss much. I’m not worried, but it did cause obnoxious Daily News columnist Mike Lupica to crack this joke: “The Javy Vazquez who pitched Friday night against the Rays in Tampa – I recognized him almost immediately.” Giving Lupica material to make cheap jokes was probably the worst outcome of Vazquez’s start.
Well, that’s it for Week 1 of the “Brian Cougar Show.” I’m happy to let you all know that my fantasy season got off to a fine start (8-1 victory), and unless Howie Kendrick ends up having an MVP year, I don’t think I’ve made any colossally foolish player ms yet (see this post). There was plenty of other exciting action around MLB during Opening Week, but since this post is already incredibly long, you can go look for commentary on all that jazz on the millions of other articles/blogs around the Internet. Do it!
Time to overanalyze Spring Training performances
Early Spring Training thoughts/observations:
Joba Joba Joba: First three batters Joba Chamberlain faced in his first appearance of the 2010 Spring Training season: walk, triple, triple. Joba finished with a line of 1 1/3 innings, five earned runs and three walks. I realize this was his fist game of the year, and he’d been battling the flu, but the thing that bothered me was the one at-bat where, with the count at 3-2, Joba threw a breaking ball and ended up walking the batter (I don’t remember who it was … I’m pretty sure it wasn’t Evan Longoria). While this is only Spring Training, Joba is competing for the fifth starter’s spot, so, in his case, results matter.
I don’t mind that he was hit hard, A.J. Burnett gave up a few hits in his first start on Saturday, but I don’t like the thinking behind throwing a breaking ball in that situation, especially because, if I remember correctly, he shook off the initial sign from Francisco Cervelli. Many people have brought up the fact that Joba has a better presence/mentality coming out of the bullpen, and I think this is a sign of that very thing.
Phil Hughes: The other member of Generation Dos (Goodbye Ian Kennedy) looked fine in his two innings of work. He gave up the somewhat wind-aided home run to center field, but that was the only hit he allowed.
Chad Gaudin/Sergio Mitre/Alfredo Aceves: While the general thinking is the fifth starter will be Hughes or Joba, Joe Girardi has said all along that it’s an open competition. Of these three, Gaudin is the one I’d most like to see win the role. While it seemed Girardi did everything in his power to not pitch Gaudin during the 2009 postseason (one game, and that was the final inning of Game 4 of the ALCS, which the Yanks won, 10-1), Gaudin did a solid job during the regular season. He was 2-0 with a 3.43 in 11 games — six starts — after he came to New York last season, and while he didn’t go deep in any of those games (longest outing, 6 2/3 innings) he also didn’t give up more than three runs. So, if the Yanks were to somehow stick both Hughes and Chamberlain in the ‘pen, I think Gaudin is the best pitcher for the No. 5 spot. I think Ace is better suited for the bullpen. And Mitre looked good the other day, but I wasn’t overly impressed with him as a starter last season (I do realize he was returning from Tommy John Surgery).
Curtis Granderson: Still has zero hits. Another week of that and the media/fans will start freaking out a bit. I guarantee it.
Nick Johnson: His biggest moment of the week was catching his cleat on the turf and hurting his back, which caused him to miss a couple of games (although he said if it was the regular season he would have played). This, of course, was a cause of concern for some due to Johnson’s injury history and because he was brought in to replace Hideki Matsui at DH, who the Yankees let go mostly due to concerns about his knees holding up. I’m not overly worried; again, it’s spring, there’s no reason to try and play through an injury, even if it’s minor.
Finally, my favorite Yankee-related quote of the week comes from Bryan Hoch’s story about the team’s arcade/pool competition. Not surprisingly, it involes Kei Igawa:
Granderson said he spent a good part of the day talking about
non-baseball topics with Andy Pettitte, but the highlight of the day
for him was watching Kei Igawa repeatedly and hilariously struggle at
Indy Car racing.
.
“He kept racing up against the wall and damaging his tires. He
wouldn’t move off of it,” Granderson said. “He had his left hand on the
wheel and he was just cruising like nothing was wrong. He was doing
that for a good three minutes. Everyone was shouting, ‘Turn left! Turn
left!’”
I-GA-WA!
Now that all that NFL stuff is out of the way
Well, with all this Super Bowl broo ha ha (I’m spelling that word how I want) now over, we’re just nine days away from pitchers and catchers reporting to Spring Training. Oh for real!
The Yankees, who see strength in versatile outfielders, will be heading to George Steinbrenner Field in Tampa Bay, with their first Spring Training game scheduled against the Pittsburgh Pirates on March 3.
Last year there were plenty of questions surrounding the Yanks coming into Spring Training after they missed out on the postseason in 2008. How would new free agents CC Sabathia, Mark Teixeira and A.J. Burnett perform in New York? Who was going to be the starting center fielder, Melky Cabrera or Brett Gardner? Who was going to be the right fielder, Xavier Nady or Nick Swisher? Was Jorge Posada’s shoulder healthy? Were Hideki Matsui’s knees healthy? Joba (Joba, Joba): starter or reliever? Was Joe Girardi going to loosen up a bit during his second year as Yanks manager? Girardi also decided to switch Derek Jeter to leadoff and have Johnny Damon bat in the No. 2 hole.* You had the excitement about the new Yankee Stadium. And, of course, there was also the whole A-Rod steroid scandal.
*When it first was announced, I thought it was ridiculous. Until I
remembered all the double plays Jeter hit into in 2008 (honestly, it
was out of control) and the fact that Jeter being on first would open
up the hole at second base for Damon. It ended up working out great.**
**I stole this idea from Joe Posnanski
As everyone knows, whatever needed to be done during Spring Training last year worked out, and the Yankees went on to win World Series title No. 27. There were bumps along the way: A-Rod ended up missing the first month and a half of the season due to hip surgery; Nady was eventually lost for the season due to Tommy John surgery; Joba’s uneven season as a starter; Phil Hughes joining (and solidifying) the bullpen and the bridge to Mariano Rivera. Most importantly, basically everyone on the team, outside of A-Rod at the start of the year, was healthy the entire season.
That, it seems, will be the main concern heading into the 2010 Spring Training: making sure everyone gets to the start of the season healthy. There is some concern about the age on a few players, notably Posada (I guess you could throw Jeter in there as well), and I’m sure some people might be worried about the amount of innings both CC (although he threw a ton of innings in 2008 as well) and Pettitte threw last season, but for the most part, there isn’t much.
The only position battle looks to be over who plays center field, Granderson or Gardner. I believe Granderson will start in left when Gardner is in the lineup, and might shift over to center when Wynn is playing. I’m sure people are going to focus on how Granderson hits left-handers throughout Spring Training. The other two big acquisitions this offseason were Nick Johnson and Javier Vazquez, and they’re both former Yankees who, at this point in their respective careers, you know what you’re going to get: If healthy, Johnson will get on base and Vazquez will strike plenty of people out.
There’s also the fifth starter spot, but I think that’s Joba’s to lose. Unlike Hughes, Joba doesn’t really have an innings-limit any more, so I can’t see them putting Hughes in the rotation unless Joba has a terrible Spring Training and Hughes is absolutely lights out. Or, if Joba struggles, they might go with Sergio Mitre or Chad Gaudin in the rotation, and stick both Hughes and Joba in the ‘pen, but I highly doubt that happens.
I know for some the absence of Damon will be a big story, but I’ve already made my views on the Damon situation known on this blog. I’m sure new questions will pop up once everyone arrives, but I’m much more at ease heading into Spring Training this year compared to the day after the Super Bowl in 2009.
Mets fans on the other hand …
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