Tuesday, September 5, 2006
36 Minutes of Pleasure
After seven innings, the Yankees were headed to a frustrating loss in Kansas City. Despite managing nine hits in those seven innings against Luke Hudson, they could only score once, as Hudson struck out 10 while walking just one, and pitching his way out of several jams.
Even when the Yankee offense falters, they work pitchers. It took Hudson 113 pitches to complete those seven innings, at which point he was pulled for the Royals bullpen. Then came the top of the eighth, and a 35 minute and 50 second rally that reminded me just how good this offense can be.
With Jimmy Gobble pitching, Alex Rodriguez singled. Jorge Posada followed with a home to right, cutting the deficit to 5-3. Robinson Cano singled, and Melky Cabrera walked. Bernie Williams pinch-hit for Aaron Guiel and worked a full count walk. Johnny Damon singled to score the tying runs. Derek Jeter fanned, but Bobby Abreu then crushed a double to straight center field that scored the fifth and sixth runs of the inning. Jason Giambi grounded out, Rodriguez walked, Posada singled, and then Cano put the exclamation point on the inning with his second hit of the frame, a three run homer. Melky flied out to end the carnage. The Yanks tacked on a run in the ninth and ended up winning 12-5.
Cano’s two hits in the inning were half of his total on the day, and he is now hitting .338/.363/.494 on the season. Yeah, he doesn’t walk, but if that’s the only flaw in his game as a 23 your old second baseman,, it doesn’t matter much. He still doesn’t have enough plate appearances to qualify for the batting title. You need 3.1 plate appearances per team game to qualify. Cano sits at 406 right now, so he’s 15 PA behind being able to qualify. He needs 96 PA over the remaining 26 games to qualify. (thanks to qwik3457bb for doing the math).
You can slowly see Brian Bruney earning Joe Torre’s trust. I’d have left him in the game to start the seventh instead of going to Ron Villone, who is both regressing to his career norms and likely fatigued as well, as he has made 19 appearances since August 1. Bruney has a great fastball. If he harnesses his command he could be a very useful reliever going forward. Not bad for a cheap pickup.
Boston actually won yesterday, so the magic number only went down by one. If the Yankees go 13-13 over their remaining 26 games, Boston would have to go 21-3 to catch them. The light at the end of the tunnel is starting to show.
Update: I just noticed that Dan M. was wondering about Proctor’s splits based on rest, so here they are.
0 days rest
IP: 14.1
HR: 4
BB: 7
SO: 9
ERA: 6.28
1 day rest
IP: 43.1
HR: 3
BB: 11
SO: 46
ERA: 2.70
2 days rest
IP: 20.0
HR: 3
BB: 10
SO: 14
ERA: 4.50
3-5 days rest
IP: 9.1
HR: 1
BB: 1
SO: 6
ERA: 2.89
Seems like Proctor should never pitch on back to back days if possible.
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