So does playing the Bosox.

We need more games against KC.

As much as I loathe the unbalanced schedule and think it has made every regular season game v. the Sox extremely tedious, at this point I almost wish the Yankees played Boston every day because it would probably force them to get over their fear of losing to them, thereby enabling them to play up to their true talent level, which they are not doing now.

off day with a win > off day with a loss

When’s the next go around with the AL Central?

Even through all of this suck, we still have the wild card lead. Hey, it’s something.

Some observations from recent games.

Jeter really has played poorly of late. If his ankle is hurt, why did he steal third base earlier in the game with two outs? I think there was two outs at the time wasn’t there?

What became of Melky’s throwing ability?

Why oh why does Girardi continue to put Tomko into high leverage situations? And then after he grooves one to Hanley, he let’s him stay in even longer to allow yet another homer.  This guy is a mop up man at best, period, the worst pitcher perhaps on the team. When you have had a heartbreaking loss the night before, with scoring runs a real chore, and a chance to take the series, why pitch Tomko?  He should be released. 

Let’s review things:

2007 MVP Alex Rod   hitting .220.  This is very serious that he is struggling so and if he doesn’t turn it around, you can say goodbye to even the wild card.
Workhorse pitcher CC-  now injured
2008 Strikeout leader AJ velocity down along with control this year
Wang- former 19 game winner- still winless in June
Bruney-out of action for long period-recovery still questionable
Nady- out of action all season so far
Marte-ditto for the most part

on a postive side

Cano- playing more representative but not making much difference when rest of players are slumping
Damon- playing pretty well for most of season to date
Swisher- hey at least he fooled us in April
Tex- has been everything we could hope for- unfortunately struggling now
Posada- out of action for a month but has returned
Hughes- not getting enough innings despite have pitched well
Pettitte- doing better than I would have guessed

Perhaps others can add or subtract to this list.

Even through all of this suck, we still have the wild card lead. Hey, it’s something.

This is true.  I just wish they were playing well given that we are nearly half way through the season.  June has been pretty crappy.  Ever since the last Sox series, this team has hit the skids.

But a game against an unknown phenom like Tommy Hanson should put them right back on track tomorrow….....

[4] I know the play the Twins in a couple weeks.

[6] On the positive side, according to mlb(dot)com, CC has already said it was just some tightness in his arm that he gets occasionally. Nothing serious, he didn’t want to leave the game, and he expects to make his next start. AJ is coming off two good starts. Wang seems to be getting a little better each time out. Bruney is back off the DL. Nady is almost ready to come off the DL. But I do agree that Tomko needs to go. With an off day today, everyone in the pen was essentially available and Girardi for some reason lets Tomko throw 2 high leverage innings. Time to DFA Tomko, call up Melancon. And I am starting to lose patience with Coke.

On last note, I noticed AJ’s suspension got reduced to 5 games, but I assume that means he starts serving it immediately. He was scheduled to start Wednesday against the Braves but the pitching probables now list that spot as TBD. Can we assume Hughes will be making that start? He last pitched Saturday, but that was only one inning and he would have 3 days rest. He also didn’t pitch the two days before that one inning on Saturday.

And I am starting to lose patience with Coke.

Coke has been a pretty decent reliever over the month of June.  9 IP, 1 ER (last night), 10K’s, 3 BB.  He’s let 3 inherited runners score, but that’s about it.  I think since Girardi figured out Coke’s limits, he’s been doing much better.  I would have liked to see him be left in to pitch to a few more batters last night, but Robertson was a good call.  It would have made more sense to use fully Coke for an inning, Robertson for an inning+, Bruney, and Mo.  You had five innings to go when Aceves was done, and I think those 4 guys could give you 5 innings.

Losing patience with coke? Why? What did he do? He’s been the second most reliable guy in the pen.

I have never known Coke to go with patience.

Coke actually looks like he’s finally turned the corner this month. Tomko is really the last glaring weakness in the pen.

Montero raised his average in AA to .300 and hit another double. And he still has more walks than strikeouts. We’ll be seeing him next year.

#6- Joeln, what’s the data point on Burnett’s decreased (and problematicly so)velocity? According to fangraphs his avg FB velocity is 94.3, same as last year.

It’s probably that AJ seemed like he was always throwing 97-98 against the Yankees last year.

I don’t mind inteleague play I do mind us once again underperforming against a mediocrity.  Toronto had no trouble with Martis yesterday, I’ll bet 80% and upwards of the pitchers that stifled us recently will do worse in their next start.  It was funny to hear Tomko on the post game analyzing his pitches as if his job was secure which I hope its not.

#6- Joeln, what’s the data point on Burnett’s decreased (and problematicly so)velocity? According to fangraphs his avg FB velocity is 94.3, same as last year.

I have no source other than my memory and the adequacy of the reported mph given by Jay announcers. I listen to nearly every game and he consistently was at 96 or better each time he faced the Yanks over the past two or three years. He carried that velocity to the late innings.  Now he seems often at 93-94 as you state.  I think in his first start at Tampa this year when he was so dominant that his fastball was in the 96-97 range.  His k’s are almost always occurring now on the curve.  I can’t recall to what degree he was getting K’s on his fastball but it seems like he did fairly often vs. Yanks.  Given their performance this weekend particularly vs. Johnson, perhaps it says more about the Yanks inability than we would care to admit.

Why oh why does Girardi continue to put Tomko into high leverage situations?

I know yesterday was annoying, and the game Tomko lost in extra inning was too, but Tomko simply hasn’t pitched in many high leverage situations. His LI when he enters the game is behind Mo, Aceves, Bruney, and Coke.

I think at most you could say he’s the 6th option out of the pen (behind all those guys currently, plus Hughes). But in a game when the starter leaves in the 2nd innings, you end up with someone like Tomko pitching in a close game.

Perhaps too, that AJ paced himself vs the league and really let it fly when facing NY?

I was upset with Girardi using Tomko in the 9th on Friday with a 4 run lead even though it worked out.  Tomko should be reserved for blowouts or as a last resort in extra innings or even better for the DFA squad.

But in a game when the starter leaves in the 2nd innings, you end up with someone like Tomko pitching in a close game.

It’s high time the “someone” be someone else.

Another thing is that it probably makes sense to use your lousy guy early in a game as it allows for some time to come back. As hard as scoring runs seems to be though, the last thing you want to do is pitch him after you have gotten a lead and after playing poorly for five games vs crummy teams.

I was upset with Girardi using Tomko in the 9th on Friday with a 4 run lead even though it worked out.

Really? Who would you use there? That seems like an ideal time to give the last man in your pen an inning, the alternative is the Joe Torre/Paul Quantrill plan.

Tomko might merit a DFA, but he’s the last (or close to the last) man in the pen. Who replaces him? Edwar? That just isn’t a role with a huge amount of talent in it.

16. part of that could be different guns. The YES one seems sketchy. I don’t have a problem with his velocity this year, nor do I have a problem with him going to the curve as his out pitch, because a) it’s something else the hitter has to worry about, they can’t just sit on the FB, and b) it’s a pretty bad ass curveball/slider whatever.

AJ has struck out more than 1 batter per inning in 9 of his 14 starts this year. The problem with him is what it’s always been, too many walks. He’s also giving up more HR than I would have expected. Part of that could be the stadium, part of that could be that he’s behind in the count too much.

Frankly, I’m very encouraged by his last two starts, and I think that AJ is what he is. A guy who is gonna be terrific sometimes and crappy other times. Not unlike most pitchers.

i think the real problem a lot of Yankee fans have with AJ is that

a) he makes too much money. (who cares, there are probably 8 guys on the team who make “too much money.”

and / or

b) He’s not as good for us as he was against us. I can understand being mad about that, but as you point out. There are a lot of pitchers with much lower upside than AJ who look like Nolan Ryan when they face the Yankees.

If he had given up a couple of runs, which is not a crazy scenario, and Mo had to rescue him how would you feel?  To me Tomko is for blowouts or as a last resort. Don’t we have 13 pitchers on the team?

If he had given up a couple of runs, which is not a crazy scenario, and Mo had to rescue him how would you feel?

Annoyed at Tomko, but still fine on the concept. I’d rather give the last guy in the pen a chance to get three outs in four-run game before burning through someone who would be useful the next day. Like I said, the alternative is only using the guys you trust in everything except blowouts and last resort and you end up with a Quantrill/Proctor situation.

A four-run lead in the ninth is pretty much the definition of low-leverage situation.  The other team has a 2% chance of winning, and the LI is 0.27.

Two man on and Mo has to come in in a hurry for no reason.  Anyway its important to second guess even when the manager’s decision works out.  I would have used Coke or Robertson not so much for the win but to spare Mo.

but that’s the thing, Mo probably wasn’t going to have to come in anyway.  Tomko is a different kind of un-good compared to Veras.  He hasn’t really walked many people this year (compared to the rest of the bullpen).  His WHIP is high, but it’s still only 1.5.  There was a wide margin of error till the tying run was even in the on-deck circle.  If you put Tomko in that situation 10 times, Mo might have to come in 1, maybe, maybe 2 times.  I’m okay with those numbers.

[10] The allowing inherited runners to score and the inability to throw more than 25 pitches without a complete meltdown are the two things that are annoying me about Coke.

Even if we say Tomko has only been used in 2 or 3 high leverage situations, he has still cost them 2 games and his being around is probably going to cost them more.

5th inning up 2 runs is pretty low leverage.

But in a game when the starter leaves in the 2nd innings, you end up with someone like Tomko pitching in a close game.

I think they could have avoided Tomko yesterday. I was hoping to see Hughes go 2 or 3 innings yesterday after Aceves. He had thrown only 11 pitches the day before, and his last appearance before that was on the 17th. After Hughes, you’re in the 7th or 8th inning, where you can go directly to Robertson, Bruney, or Coke. I suppose it’s possible that they were keeping him ready for Wang’s start on Tuesday, but I’d rather have Hughes pitch with a 3-1 lead in the 5th than in a game where Wang had to be pulled in the 2nd or 3rd inning, where it’d be more appropriate to use Tomko, since they’re more likely to lose that game anyway.

Hughes is not trained as a reliever, and he’s a precious resource, so I was happy not to see him.

5th inning up 2 runs is pretty low leverage.

Yeah.  I’m assuming this is sarcasm, and it’s warranted.  LI is 1.26 for that situation.

I think the reason they didn’t go to Hughes is that he’s likely to get the start on Wednesday at ATL.

Ah, OK. I hadn’t considered that.

“Hughes is not trained as a reliever, and he’s a precious resource, so I was happy not to see him.”

He’s not a baby anymore. I do agree that he’s valuable, but being over 50 you have to realize I grew watching guys like Drysdale, Hunter, Gibson and many others who annually threw 20 or more complete games.  I have a bit of a thing about how coddling we are of every good pitcher.  I missed the last one-half of the game Saturday, but suspected Hughes may have pitched an inning.  If he only threw 11 pitches I would wholeheartedly agree with North Wind. I wouldn’t do it very often though on back to back occasions. That game yesterday was important and Girardi flushed it.  Say what you will about Torre’s deficiencies, he did win playoff births every year as a Yankee, his first one as a Dodger and he has them headed in the right direction even without the “idiot” this year.

I just read Pete A’s latest post. He agrees with several of my thoughts in No. 6.  I agree with him that we need a better player on the bench than Berroa. I would think J. Rodriguez, Miranda or S. Duncan would be much better. Pena can spell A-Rod adequately.

[32] I wasn’t being sarcastic. It’s just the fact that given the state of the game, CC out, Aceves used up, Hughes presumably unavailable, and it being only the 5th inning, Tomko was as good as any option coming out of the pen. Sure I’d rather see Robertson or someone else, but it was use up the pen type of game anyway.

I’m not saying that I think Tomko is good or anything. Just that if he’s in the pen, he has to be used, and it’s unrealistic to say he should be used only when the score difference is +8.

Plus, I rather blame the poor Yankee hitting. Or the error for the actually score difference.

Some questions:

-Brett Tomko- why is he a)on the team, (b)pitching important innings
-Where was Phil Hughes yesterday?
-Angel Berroa: why here, why playing?
-Who hates ARod: Cashman or Girardi?
-Is the relentless stockpiling of catching prospects a brilliant MoneyBall-esque plan to take advantage of an undervalues position?  I hope so because we have a lot of them now…
-If the Yankees win 2 or less of their next 6 games will Girardi be around for the next homestand?  Would anyone care one way or another?

one way or the other…

[34] it seems that the Yankees this year / lately has just been caught unprepared or without direction. Berroa should have been let go along time ago. Even if whoever took his spot would be only a wee marginal improvement, there isn’t any reason to waste a 25 spot.

Not that I’m a big role guy, but the FO should tell Girardi to use Hughes like Joba when he first came up, a 2 innings + guy, and not be in whatever limbo he is now, that he is constantly being held back for Wang/Pettitte/AJ/ and now CC.

I’m not saying that I think Tomko is good or anything. Just that if he’s in the pen, he has to be used, and it’s unrealistic to say he should be used only when the score difference is +8.

I completely agree.  I haven’t really complained too much about his usage, but yesterday I think it really would have made sense to go with Robertson first.  Try to hold the lead, and then maybe you force the other team to go to the second-tier relievers instead of trying to hold a lead with the front-line relievers.  I dunno, with an off day I think you could have gotten through 5 innings with Robertson, Coke, Bruney, and Mo.  Especially with an off-day coming up.

Tue Wang/Hanson matchup could be a problem.  Wed Yank starter is listed as TBD-is Joba NA for some reason?

nevermind i guess Hughes? starts Wed due to Burnett suspension unless they bring someone up from the minors

They could always start Tomko.

They’re saving Tomko for Boston vs Beckett