Game Thread: Weds. 7/5: Rubber Match at the Jake

61 Responses to Game Thread: Weds. 7/5: Rubber Match at the Jake

1. Professor Longnose says:

   July 6, 2011 at 7:17 pm

   Good luck, Phil. We’re rooting for you.

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2. Professor Longnose says:

   July 6, 2011 at 7:22 pm

   Walk, hit. Not looking good.

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3. Professor Longnose says:

   July 6, 2011 at 7:26 pm

   K, but Russell Martin threw the ball into left field on a steal attempt. Damn.

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4. Professor Longnose says:

   July 6, 2011 at 7:30 pm

   Long fly. Gardner stumbled around but got it. I think that makes the second run earned, since it would have been a sac fly if the runner was still on third.

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   Matt Imbrogno Reply:
   July 6th, 2011 at 7:32 pm

   That was an incredibly interesting route by Gardner, haha.

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   Professor Longnose Reply:
   July 6th, 2011 at 7:34 pm

   As Charles Schulz once put it, “a spectacular catch of a routine fly ball.”

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5. Professor Longnose says:

   July 6, 2011 at 7:31 pm

   Another hit. Officially a bad inning, and a chance to let it get out of hand here.

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6. Phil C says:

   July 6, 2011 at 7:35 pm

   Did anyone see the ESPN opening segment? UGH!!! Comparing the Yanks to The Beatles and the Indians to The Who! I found it lame.

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   Professor Longnose Reply:
   July 6th, 2011 at 8:14 pm

   I missed it, thankfully. It sounds ghastly.

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7. Professor Longnose says:

   July 6, 2011 at 7:36 pm

   Not good overall. Some encouraging things, I suppose, including the strikeout, and some ground balls got through, but he still can’t put away guys with 2 strikes on them. How’d he look to you?

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8. Phil C says:

   July 6, 2011 at 7:41 pm

   His fastballs were up.Nerves? At least he mixed in some good curve balls.

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9. Professor Longnose says:

   July 6, 2011 at 7:43 pm

   I suppose first we should worry about his health and velocity, and then go back to worrying about him learning to pitch.

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   smurfy Reply:
   July 6th, 2011 at 8:14 pm

   don’t worry, just watch.

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   Professor Longnose Reply:
   July 6th, 2011 at 8:15 pm

   What?? I don’t understand. What language are you speaking?

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   smurfy Reply:
   July 6th, 2011 at 8:21 pm

   Whoa, did you see that? Jete stabs it, and Cano throws stealth, partially straightarm 180, and comes close. Oh, Isee Cano’s throw on replay and get how he dunnit.

   Whut language? Whatdsyamean?

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   Professor Longnose Reply:
   July 6th, 2011 at 8:22 pm

   That was Jeter’s best play of the year. Really nice.

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10. Matt Imbrogno says:

    July 6, 2011 at 7:43 pm

    I guess LaPorta was closed on that one!

    #languagepuns

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11. Professor Longnose says:

    July 6, 2011 at 7:54 pm

    Damn that they couldn’t get at least a run back in that situation. That could be big.

    A zero for Hughes in the second. So his ERA for this game is 9.00 so far, an improvement over 13.94.

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12. smurfy says:

    July 6, 2011 at 8:09 pm

    Yes, he’s adopting the crafty contact pitcher approach, till he finds his stuff. Nerves are down now, it’s all about location, location, loc…

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13. smurfy says:

    July 6, 2011 at 8:12 pm

    Masterson looks good, right, Professor, right Alex? Lefties were smacking it loudly at first, but quieter recently.

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    smurfy Reply:
    July 6th, 2011 at 8:26 pm

    he doesn’t look nervous anymore. His two seam/sinker is nasty for the righties. Don’t understand why he can’t do something to the lefties with that.

    Coney was saying lefties get a much better look from his sidearm style.

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14. Steve S. says:

    July 6, 2011 at 8:28 pm

    BryanHoch: RT @benshpigel: Hughes according to pitch f/x data a) yet to generate swing/miss on FB and b) his avg FB velo has diminished every inning

    This is exactly what I was worried about. I hope this is wrong.

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    Moshe Mandel Reply:
    July 6th, 2011 at 8:54 pm

    According to Lucas A., who tracks all this stuff, that’s something he’s always done.

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    Steve S. Reply:
    July 6th, 2011 at 9:07 pm

    That’s some good info on the velocity side, but it still doesn’t address the lack of swings and misses. He’s averaged 7.73 SO/9 over his career, but 2.61/9 this year and he struck out just 2 tonight. Again, while generating no swings and misses on the FB.

    http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=7450&position=P#platediscipline

    Here’s the plate discipline stuff. Off the charts this year, saw no difference tonight.

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15. smurfy says:

    July 6, 2011 at 8:38 pm

    Hafner definitely wanted some.

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16. smurfy says:

    July 6, 2011 at 8:41 pm

    and Phil didn’t want any of Santana’s crusher chamber (the plate).

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17. smurfy says:

    July 6, 2011 at 8:45 pm

    Can you hear that echoing evil laugh? Must be from the tunnel of derision. Chris told me what Cleveland fans did to Boomer.

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18. Professor Longnose says:

    July 6, 2011 at 8:45 pm

    Two out in the fifth, bases loaded, I’d take Hughes out. He looks tired.

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19. Matt Imbrogno says:

    July 6, 2011 at 8:47 pm

    Gotta think that’s Phil’s last inning.

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20. Professor Longnose says:

    July 6, 2011 at 8:51 pm

    Tying run at the plate!

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21. Steve S. says:

    July 6, 2011 at 8:59 pm

    5 IP
    6 H
    2 ER
    2 BB
    2 SO

    Phil’s final line looks OK, but I’m still not sold that he’s all the way back. You have a very pitcher friendly umpire in Marty Foster behind the plate, a middling offense in CLE and he still struggled mightily to get through the game. It was OK, but had a 2nd half 2010 feel to it. What’s going to happen the next time he’s getting squeezed facing a good team? He’ll need more than he had tonight.

    One nice thing is he shaved 6 runs off that ugly ERA he had going into the game.

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    Professor Longnose Reply:
    July 6th, 2011 at 9:14 pm

    Are there any radar gun readings?

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    Steve S. Reply:
    July 6th, 2011 at 9:22 pm

    YES had his velocity dropping inning by inning, but he seemed to get a little extra giddy up (92s) after Rothschild’s visit gave him a rest. But he can be throwing 92-93, if the FB has no life on it hitters are going to square it up. See the link above where I replied to Mo. His contact rates are way up, his swinging strikes are way down.

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22. T.O. Chris says:

    July 6, 2011 at 9:05 pm

    Only managed to catch Hughes’ 5th inning tonight, but it sounds like he struggled somewhat. I expected that in his first start back, but at least he held them to 2.

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23. Phil C says:

    July 6, 2011 at 9:10 pm

    2nd, 3rd, & 4th innings were pretty efficient. Struggled in 1st & 5th. I though his curve looked pretty good tonight. But Steve S. is right. Not a great night and he must get better…..fast.

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    Steve S. Reply:
    July 6th, 2011 at 9:14 pm

    He can’t pitch the way he did tonight and get away with it facing a better offense or if he’s getting squeezed.

    If he struggles, you’ll see Nova back here or a deal made pretty fast. Phil has the month of July to make his case.

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    T.O. Chris Reply:
    July 6th, 2011 at 9:23 pm

    Does Hughes have options left? I would assume so, but I’m not sure.

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    Steve S. Reply:
    July 6th, 2011 at 9:28 pm

    I don’t know, but he’s been in the bigs since 2007. I think when you get 3 years of service time you have to clear waivers, but the team can pull you back. Cots has him at 3.113 in service time.

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    T.O. Chris Reply:
    July 6th, 2011 at 9:34 pm

    Yep, he’s out. I guess they could always make up a DL worthy injury if he struggles.

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    T.O. Chris Reply:
    July 6th, 2011 at 9:19 pm

    How was the fastball command? That’s always been my biggest thing with Hughes. People tend to think he has good control when he isn’t throwing balls, but he often very wild within the zone leading to problems. When he has the good fastball he can’t get away with it more, but if he is ever going to be what he and the Yankees want the fastball control is what is going to have to improve.

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24. Professor Longnose says:

    July 6, 2011 at 9:17 pm

    Tying run at the plate again. This time, do something about it, Yankees.

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25. Professor Longnose says:

    July 6, 2011 at 9:18 pm

    Warning track. Arrrrggggh.

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26. smurfy says:

    July 6, 2011 at 9:19 pm

    Boy, from the sound of it, I thought Posada had the game-tier.

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27. smurfy says:

    July 6, 2011 at 9:24 pm

    Chris, looks likeI need to work on my reply command:

    He spotted some, but Coney demonstrated one that was intended for the high tight corner to a lefty leaked back over the middle.

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    T.O. Chris Reply:
    July 6th, 2011 at 9:36 pm

    I think his fastball command is way more important than his velocity. Honestly I think he could pith in the 88-91 MPH range if he had to, with the right control. He’s just always pitched with the control of someone throwing 94-96 MPH.

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    smurfy Reply:
    July 6th, 2011 at 9:41 pm

    Yeah, it looks like command and control is all he’s got, for now, unless he was just too tight tonight.

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    smurfy Reply:
    July 6th, 2011 at 10:29 pm

    Saw him throw a couple nice changeups. Coney said his curve was better at high-70′s than it had been 10 mph slower.

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28. smurfy says:

    July 6, 2011 at 9:38 pm

    Wow, some defense Cleveland showed there.

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29. smurfy says:

    July 6, 2011 at 9:48 pm

    Sergio is getting some nice strikes.

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    Professor Longnose Reply:
    July 6th, 2011 at 9:50 pm

    There is not a place on Earth far enough away to send Mitre. He needs to be shot into space.

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    smurfy Reply:
    July 6th, 2011 at 9:56 pm

    They had the cannon out a some minor league ballpark. I think they were going to shoot the starter out before the game.

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30. RubeWaddell says:

    July 6, 2011 at 9:56 pm

    Well, at least Jete got a hit! 3 away! /sarcasm

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31. Professor Longnose says:

    July 6, 2011 at 10:02 pm

    Gaaaaaaaah!

    One more baserunner and the tying run will be at the plate. That will be at least one interesting at bat.

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32. smurfy says:

    July 6, 2011 at 10:03 pm

    Hey, nobody out. Be a fine spirit lift if they rally. Swish coming through again.

    Get it going again, Brett.

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    smurfy Reply:
    July 6th, 2011 at 10:11 pm

    ooouch, fine backdoor cutter to get ‘im! Phil got one of those, earlier.

    i am an Asdrubel believer.

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33. Professor Longnose says:

    July 6, 2011 at 10:08 pm

    If Gardner gets on, Granderson will be the tying run. It’s a long shot, but it’s possible.

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34. Steve S. says:

    July 6, 2011 at 10:10 pm

    Gardner down looking? I’m shocked.

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35. Mark Finke says:

    July 7, 2011 at 3:12 am

    Not a good outing. Velocity still isn’t there and propably not coming back this year and the way Hughes pitches he can’t survive with 90-92 mph fastballs.
    The curve saved him today!
    I think we see a trade for a starter and Hughes goes back in to the pen or the minors.

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    T.O. Chris Reply:
    July 7th, 2011 at 6:28 am

    It would have to be the pen, he can’t be sent to the minors without going through waivers.

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36. T.O. Chris says:

    July 7, 2011 at 6:29 am

    Jesus Montero has been placed on the DL after a stiff back had him sit out a game or two. Montero thought he would be able to return to the lineup soon, but the team thought otherwise.

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    T.O. Chris Reply:
    July 7th, 2011 at 10:01 am

    More on Jesus. The DL stint is retroactive to July 4th, and he will be eligible to return July 11th.

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