Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Dispelling From Day One

From Peter, in my comments, responding to me saying how it was A's pitchers' wildenss responsible for the Dunbar win last night:

"Zito sucked, but the Yankees will score a ton of runs against anyone."

It's game one. We need to start dispelling the myths early, Peter. I know all of Red Sox "Naysh" is waking up to that score, 15-2, and assuming that the yanks' have another "murderers' row," and bashed the A's all over the park. I am here to give you the facts. I watched the game. The A's walked nine, hit 3, and made one error, along with another play that could've been called an error. One yankee run scored before they got either a walk, HBP, or E in an inning. Out of fifteen. I'm not going to tell you it was a cheap 15-2 victory. They capitalized like crap on all the miscues. But I just hope people pay attention enough to see that this was far from a relentless attack. Peter, I prefer to flip your statement around to read, "The yanks scroed a ton of runs, but anyone would do that against pitching like the A's had last night." The Dunbar announcers did have the theory that the walks were occurring due to the yanks' hitters being so incredibly awesome. But remember, they have guns to their huge, huge heads in the booth.

Another classic example of yankee nonsense flying under the radar: At one point, Bernie Williams was up with the bases loaded and a full count. He purposely stepped out of the box. The yankee announcers started talking about how that's "what he does" every time he's in that situation, to make the pitcher have to think more about the upcoming critical pitch. Then, before the pitcher could pitch, Bernie stepped out again. Okay, baseball strategy, fine. A little bit of a dick move, but, whatever. Except that the score was 12-1 at the time.


If Manny did this, Kay would be all over him like ugly on Randy Johnson.

Comments:
All I was saying was that, with that line-up, they should have no problems scoring runs. I did not see the game (past my bedtime), just read about it. But we all know the New York club is going to score runs. Don't think I'm saying anything positive about that team from hell.
 
I know. I'm just sayin'.
 
Ah, Jere.. it starts.

As a Yank ie Dunbar fan (whatever), I love your site. Your passion and hatred are entertaining. But at least Peter can say a fair statement. Being a Yank fan, I can honestly say that the Sox are good team who can beat the Yanks on any given day and vice versa. Keep your passion Jere, but you know how you knock certain Yank fans who come off as not very baseball savy, the kind that blindly yell "Red Sox fuckin suck!!". That's how you appear sometimes, when you cannot even bear to say one positive, yet true statement about the Yanks. I hate the Sox w/ every part of my being, but that doesn't keep me from saying that Curt "Praise the Lord" Schilling looked fantastic yesterday, or that when Papi comes to bat against the Yanks I'm scared shit. So be honest with yourself Jere, Zito sucked but Sarloos is supposed to be one of their better long relief guys and he got torched for 5 runs. Trying to lie to yourself about the Yanks not being very good is going to lead to future anger when the Yanks beat the Sox during their meetings this season. Tis' why I know, and accept, that the Sox are a solid team and will beat the Yanks at times this coming season. I guess I'm somewhat of realist.
-By the way, just so you don't go into some diatribe about another anonymous Dunbar comment, my screen name is Bloodyank78 and I'm usually over at Yankfan v. Soxfan or Bronx Banter.
 
The Yankee offense frightens me. I appreciate where you're coming from in this instance, Jere, but I don't see a difference, myself, between drawing nine BBs and capitalizing on all those mistakes off a very good pitching staff, and clubbing 15 HRs. I mean, I see a tangible difference, but not in that lineup. I think, barring injury, their offense is as good as everyone says it is (though for different reasons, probably).

Also, they all looked pretty locked in last night.

That being said- why did the A's start their fifth starter on Opening Day?
 
I clearly did say one (1) positive and true staement about them n this post. Sorry, that's my limit!

And we're only talking about hitting. Yes, they have great hitters. We will see how the pitching works out.

And it's not like I sit there watching the yanks and say, "Oh my god, they're so good! I better lie to myself and others to make them seem not so good." I just see how the game goes and I say what I feel about it. It's just so hard for me to sit at Fenway Park, and hear other Red Sox fans say some positive thing about the yanks that, while somewhat accurate, doesn't tell the whole story, because they don't see the yanks every day, and therefore only repeat what they hear from second-hand reports. Or, like, with TanGorMo. The yankee announcers hyped that up as if it was a guarantee that yankee starters always go 6, then Tanyon pitches a 1-2-3 7th, and Gordon and Rivera do the same in the eighth and ninth. Granted, that was the plan, but it rarely worked out perfectly. Yet that was driven into the media so much that even Sox fans would say "If they have the lead after 6, they're unstoppable." Whereas I saw the reality, which was that it was no guarantee.

Stuff like that. Thanks for enjoying.
 
My last comment was written before I saw BSM's. I hate when that happens.

So, I'm just saying, each rally seemed to start with a walk, or two walks, or an error followed by a should've-been-called-error. I'm not saying they wouldn't have won anyway.
 
You can say all you want about the Zito's pitching or lack of it but to attribute none of it to the fact that a lineup like the Yankees have as being part of it is just stupid.

It's very tough on a pitcher to have to pitch inning after inning to potential threats. A pitcher who gets hit the first inning has the second and third inning to find his location and cool down against mediocre batters.

How can any pitcher be expected to pitch well with the AL Rookie of the year runner up as the worst batter on the team? Zito made mistakes but they wouldn't have cost him the game with any other team. A 3-0 or 4-0 game is not unwinnable when you're one of the best teams on the east coast.

I mean everyone is crapping on the yankees pitching this year but how bad can they be with run production like last night and 45 minute breaks between pitches.
 
Well said, point taken. Any Yankee fan or Sox fan who believes the party line perpetuated by the NY media or the YES Propaganda machine is not watching enough baseball. Sturtze is scary, he's Torre's little pet monkey w/a tired arm.
-by the way Jere, if you're watching the Yanks on YES, put it on mute and play some good music instead. I'd rather stick ice picks in my ears than listen to Michael Kay. Most hardcore Bomber fans can't stand Kay; at least my friends anyway.
-Bloodyank
 
Re: starting their fifth starter

Perhaps Beane was just conceding the loss against what must be NY's best starter. Let's see how the rest of the series goes.
 
first anonymous person--you're putting words in my mouth.

bloodyank--My friend Pat does that, with the music, and always tries to get me to do it. But Kay is like a trainwreck to me, and I need to hear what he says, specifically when he's generalizing about the Sox and Sox fans, so I can do my part to tell the fans of NY how wrong he is. (And so I can debate him should I run into him on the street.)

But, when both teams play at once, it works out, because I mute Kay and listen to the Sox announcers on mlb.tv.
 
Is Michael Kay worse than Tim McCarver?

Speaking of hated announcers, the guy who ran Gold's Delicatessan totally had it in for Howard Cosell with. I remember going in there as a kid and wondering what Howard Cosell must've done to him to deserve it.
 
Kay is worse than McCarver. It is a proven fact, heh heh.
 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
So, I'm just saying, each rally seemed to start with a walk, or two walks, or an error followed by a should've-been-called-error. I'm not saying they wouldn't have won anyway.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Totally- I think I can see your point a bit better- you're not saying that the Yankees offense isn't very good, just that last night wasn't a great example of why. In which case, I think you're generally correct.

Apropos of nothing, however, I do worry that while I think the Yankee pitching is sub-standard at best, I don't think it really has to be much better while pitching in front of that lineup. I think the keys are for Sheffield not to decline, for Giambi to stay healthy, for Damon to stay healthy, and for Cano to develop. If ALL those things break the Yankees way- yikes.

We'll see though, I guess.
 
I agree. Misfortune of some kind or another will have to happen for the Yanks NOT to win their share of games. I just don't think their share will measure up to our share.
 
Also note that Posada's numbers are declining like a mofo.
 
Forgot about Posada. He could become a big-time albatross in the blink of an eye.

Question- unless the gun was wrong, why was no one making an issue out of the fact that Johnson appeared to be hovering around 88 MPH last night?
 
the gun on espn2 had him at around 94-95 when throwing his hardest
 
Jere: You could do what I did for MFY games in NYC -- turn on the SAP (no, not Kay, a different kind of SAP). That way you still get the crowd noise.

Of course, then you wouldn't be able to let us know all the moronic things he says ...

(Grammar Note: If anyone writes stuff like "bat's" and "ball's", please ban him or her.)
 
Good idea. The way to learn a language is to hear it spoken a lot. So I can kill a Blue Jay and an Oriole with one Rockie.
 
you mean double-play Jorge?

redsock- the fun is in NOT banning.
 
I think "hip hip... Jor-ge!" is one of the all-time worst cheers. It's underrated in terms of getting ridiculed, as it usually stays in the upper deck in the Bronx.

Also, redsock/Joyboy, I went to give you my Sox prediction, but got to your site to find that the deadline had passed. I thought we could sent in our guess right up until game time on the 3rd. I didn't read the regular-size print. My guess would've been some number in the nineties I'm sure.
 
Am I the only one still giggling in an awful way about the A's fans chanting "Ichiro! Ichiro!" when Matsui was up to bat late in the game?

And yeah, the Yankees will make a lot of people look bad, maybe. But Zito flatout stunk last night. I'm not sure his curveball was working at all, and when he's just laying that slow fastball in there because it's the only thing he can get over the plate, well, A-Rod's gonna look damn good.
 

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