2011 Baseball Season/Off-Season Discussion

[pilferk]

History has just been made in the Bronx. For the first time in baseball history the Yankees have hit 3 grand slams in the same game. Cano, Martin and Granderson. Wow!

And I was in the stadium to see it!

What a game!

We were about to bail going into the 4th inning, but wanted to feed the kids before we left.  We'd sat through the 90 minute rain delay and it was already about 4:20.

By the time we'd chowed down on our cheesesteaks and garlic fries.....the sun had come out and it was (almost) a brand new ball game (7-6).

Stayed for the WHOLE game after that.  Jones' home run landed about 6 rows in front of us.  And seeing Jorge at 2nd base was the weirdest thing ever.

That may have been the "funnest" game I've ever seen live.  The Kids had a blast (and, apparently, so did the Yanks).

[pilferk]

Yeah, most of his starts have been good since he came off the DL. So i'm chalking it up to a bad start. He just didn't have his command today. You gotta remember he was out for awhile. This is like his April.

I'm not sure about that. I think Nova has pretty much earned the no.2 spot in the playoffs.

It's his second bad start against Oakland.

Even Hughes said it:  something changed with the Matsui at bat (where Hideki fouled off like 9 pitches).  You could see it, too, while there.  He couldn't locate well after that.

FYI:  From in the stadium, the home plate ump looked lousy and the 2nd base ump looked like he COMPLETELY blew the call in the 1st inning (Oakland runner looked clearly out stealing 2nd...as the ump fell on his ass).  How did it look "at home"?

[tim_m]

History has just been made in the Bronx. For the first time in baseball history the Yankees have hit 3 grand slams in the same game. Cano, Martin and Granderson. Wow!

And I was in the stadium to see it!

What a game!

We were about to bail going into the 4th inning, but wanted to feed the kids before we left.  We'd sat through the 90 minute rain delay and it was already about 4:20.

By the time we'd chowed down on our cheesesteaks and garlic fries.....the sun had come out and it was (almost) a brand new ball game (7-6).

Stayed for the WHOLE game after that.  Jones' home run landed about 6 rows in front of us.  And seeing Jorge at 2nd base was the weirdest thing ever.

That may have been the "funnest" game I've ever seen live.  The Kids had a blast (and, apparently, so did the Yanks).

Lucky you! I'm glad you and your family got to see history. That's pretty damn cool.

[tim_m]

Yeah, most of his starts have been good since he came off the DL. So i'm chalking it up to a bad start. He just didn't have his command today. You gotta remember he was out for awhile. This is like his April.

I'm not sure about that. I think Nova has pretty much earned the no.2 spot in the playoffs.

It's his second bad start against Oakland.

Even Hughes said it:  something changed with the Matsui at bat (where Hideki fouled off like 9 pitches).  You could see it, too, while there.  He couldn't locate well after that.

FYI:  From in the stadium, the home plate ump looked lousy and the 2nd base ump looked like he COMPLETELY blew the call in the 1st inning (Oakland runner looked clearly out stealing 2nd...as the ump fell on his ass).  How did it look "at home"?

Yeah, he simply just didn't have it yesterday. He typically can hit the corners, yesterday he was all in the middle of the plate and by the time the 3rd inning came around his velocity was down a little from all the pitches he threw. So they were getting hammered. Maybe the A's just have his number this year.

[Falcon]

History has just been made in the Bronx. For the first time in baseball history the Yankees have hit 3 grand slams in the same game. Cano, Martin and Granderson. Wow!

And I was in the stadium to see it!

What a game!

We were about to bail going into the 4th inning, but wanted to feed the kids before we left.  We'd sat through the 90 minute rain delay and it was already about 4:20.

By the time we'd chowed down on our cheesesteaks and garlic fries.....the sun had come out and it was (almost) a brand new ball game (7-6).

Stayed for the WHOLE game after that.  Jones' home run landed about 6 rows in front of us.  And seeing Jorge at 2nd base was the weirdest thing ever.

That may have been the "funnest" game I've ever seen live.  The Kids had a blast (and, apparently, so did the Yanks).

Awesome.

Fucking awesome.

[Falcon]

It's "Willie McGee" night in STL this evening, are the Yankees planning one as well fellas?

Sorry guys, couldn't resist.

[tim_m]

Ivan Nova has just won his tenth in a row to go 14-4. He's the first yankee rookie starter to win this many in a row since Whitey Ford in 1950. Is he ROY? I think he is.

[pilferk]

Ivan Nova has just won his tenth in a row to go 14-4. He's the first yankee rookie starter to win this many in a row since Whitey Ford in 1950. Is he ROY? I think he is.

Yup.

I don't think even think there's another serious contender.  This kid, had he not been sent down, could legit be chasing 20 wins. 

[faldor]

Ivan Nova has just won his tenth in a row to go 14-4. He's the first yankee rookie starter to win this many in a row since Whitey Ford in 1950. Is he ROY? I think he is.

Yup.

I don't think even think there's another serious contender.  This kid, had he not been sent down, could legit be chasing 20 wins. 

Jordan Walden is having a pretty good season as the Angels closer. 

Nova is on a pretty nice run, save for one bad start at KC.  Wins aren't always indicative of how god/bad a season a pitcher is having, though a 14-4 record is pretty impressive.  But just look at John Lackey/Josh Beckett.  Lackey has 12 wins and his ERA is barely under 6.  Beckett has 11 wins and an ERA below 2.50.  If Nova continues to finish strong, he'd be a strong candidate.  Don't know if he's a slam dunk though.

[pilferk]

Jordan Walden is having a pretty good season as the Angels closer. 

Nova is on a pretty nice run, save for one bad start at KC.  Wins aren't always indicative of how god/bad a season a pitcher is having, though a 14-4 record is pretty impressive.  But just look at John Lackey/Josh Beckett.  Lackey has 12 wins and his ERA is barely under 6.  Beckett has 11 wins and an ERA below 2.50.  If Nova continues to finish strong, he'd be a strong candidate.  Don't know if he's a slam dunk though.

Walden's had a decent season...but not good enough to outpace Nova.

The other 2 legit contenders would be Hellickson and Pineda.  Nova is distancing himself from them.  They both STARTED strong, but cooled off a bit as the season went on.  Nova has done the exact opposite (so far).  That strong "kick" is likely to win him the award.

The "if" in all this is that Nova continues to pitch well and win games.

The proverbial "if the season ended today" would see Nova win, IMHO.  Hellickson would be second...and he's probably the guy who could take it from Nova's hands down the stretch.

[tim_m]

Ivan Nova has just won his tenth in a row to go 14-4. He's the first yankee rookie starter to win this many in a row since Whitey Ford in 1950. Is he ROY? I think he is.

Yup.

I don't think even think there's another serious contender.  This kid, had he not been sent down, could legit be chasing 20 wins. 

Scary to think if he wasn't down for a month he could be neck and neck with Verlander. I think sending him down for a bit was good for him though. It gave him a chance to work on some of his pitches and some other stuff. Before he went down he would have trouble when he got in a jam. Now the kid has learned to pitch his way out of a jam. The poise and fearlessness this kid shows at 24 is impressive. I don't know if the yanks plan to skip any of his starts the rest of the way but if he makes all of his last 6 starts he could finish at 20-4. You also have to take into account where would we be without his 14 wins. Would we only be 2 games back of the sox? I don't think so.

[tim_m]

Ivan Nova has just won his tenth in a row to go 14-4. He's the first yankee rookie starter to win this many in a row since Whitey Ford in 1950. Is he ROY? I think he is.

Yup.

I don't think even think there's another serious contender.  This kid, had he not been sent down, could legit be chasing 20 wins. 

Jordan Walden is having a pretty good season as the Angels closer. 

Nova is on a pretty nice run, save for one bad start at KC.  Wins aren't always indicative of how god/bad a season a pitcher is having, though a 14-4 record is pretty impressive.  But just look at John Lackey/Josh Beckett.  Lackey has 12 wins and his ERA is barely under 6.  Beckett has 11 wins and an ERA below 2.50.  If Nova continues to finish strong, he'd be a strong candidate.  Don't know if he's a slam dunk though.

Its not just wins though. After his win last night his ERA is down to 3.96. For a 24 year old rookie who had only like 5 starts coming into the season that's damn impressive.

[faldor]

I wouldn't say his ERA is impressive. Its good, and has been getting progressively better. But he's got a ways to go to get to "impressive" range in the ERA department. Someone with a record as good as his, you would expect to have an ERA around 3. I doubt he'd be 14-4 pitching for a lesser team.

[tim_m]

I wouldn't say his ERA is impressive. Its good, and has been getting progressively better. But he's got a ways to go to get to "impressive" range in the ERA department. Someone with a record as good as his, you would expect to have an ERA around 3. I doubt he'd be 14-4 pitching for a lesser team.

Well for a kid that had only made a handful of starts coming into this season i'd say it is. Also considering where his era was when he started on this win streak. Lets see where he gets it in his last 6 starts. I don't know if he has enough time to get it to 3 but maybe under 3.5.

[pilferk]

I wouldn't say his ERA is impressive. Its good, and has been getting progressively better. But he's got a ways to go to get to "impressive" range in the ERA department. Someone with a record as good as his, you would expect to have an ERA around 3. I doubt he'd be 14-4 pitching for a lesser team.

Keep in mind, the kid's ERA in June was 3.5.

In  July, it was 2.25.

In August it was around 3.5 (not sure what the last start did to that...probably bumped it a bit).

He struggled early, but has improved, mightily, since the end of May.

Since he's come back from the minors...he's been the Yanks 2nd best pitcher (after CC).  And his run support has NOT been stellar.

He's 6-2 in games where they score between 3 and 5 runs. 

If you look at Hellickson AND Pineda's stats concerning run support, they're pretty similar to Nova's.  Only Pineda's w/l really suffers  from poor run support...and not all that much.  And Pineda's stat's aren't really better than Nova's...except in Strike Outs.  IMHO, he's a distant 3rd behind Nova and Hellickson.

[tim_m]

I wouldn't say his ERA is impressive. Its good, and has been getting progressively better. But he's got a ways to go to get to "impressive" range in the ERA department. Someone with a record as good as his, you would expect to have an ERA around 3. I doubt he'd be 14-4 pitching for a lesser team.

Keep in mind, the kid's ERA in June was 3.5.

In  July, it was 2.25.

In August it was around 3.5 (not sure what the last start did to that...probably bumped it a bit).

He struggled early, but has improved, mightily, since the end of May.

Since he's come back from the minors...he's been the Yanks 2nd best pitcher (after CC).  And his run support has NOT been stellar.

He's 6-2 in games where they score between 3 and 5 runs. 

If you look at Hellickson AND Pineda's stats concerning run support, they're pretty similar to Nova's.  Only Pineda's w/l really suffers  from poor run support...and not all that much.  And Pineda's stat's aren't really better than Nova's...except in Strike Outs.  IMHO, he's a distant 3rd behind Nova and Hellickson.

Actually his last start dropped it slightly. I remember checking what it was prior to the game starting it was 3.97. He was up to 4.01 when he struggled early but settled down so much he dropped it by .5. That's what impresses me so much about him since he came back up. He was shaky in the first two innings but he was able to make the adjustment to get in 7 quality innings. You can't teach poise like that either you have the ability to make the adjustment if a pitch or two isn't working or you don't. The fact that he has that ability at only 24 is very impressive. CC didn't even have that at that age. This kid is the real deal IMO.

[GeorgeSteele]

My first inclination after seeing that Hellickson's ERA was a full run less than Nova was to conclude that Hellickson has been much better this year.  But Hellickson benefits from one of the highest bullpen strand rates in the league (81%), while Nova's is at 71% (which below league average).  Basically, much more of Nova's baserunners inherited by Yankee relievers score in comparison to Hellickson. 

[pilferk]

My first inclination after seeing that Hellickson's ERA was a full run less than Nova was to conclude that Hellickson has been much better this year.  But Hellickson benefits from one of the highest bullpen strand rates in the league (81%), while Nova's is at 71% (which below league average).  Basically, much more of Nova's baserunners inherited by Yankee relievers score in comparison to Hellickson. 

The single most impressive thing about Hellickson is the number of batters he walks...or rather, the number he DOESN'T walk.  Guy has walked 11 batters all year....which is impressive.

Everything else, though, is pretty much right in line with Nova....realizing Hellickson has pitched about 20 more innings than Nova has because of Nova's stint in AAA.

And Nova has won more games.

[faldor]

Hellickson is going to be hurt by his record, but he does have better overall stats in the other departments.  But 14-4 is hard to ignore.  Walden has some nice numbers as well, but I don't think 26 saves is quite enough.  36 would be a different story, not sure if he has enough time to get there.

As has been pointed out though, Nova is pitching very well of late.  If he can continue on that path and bring down that ERA and WHIP, I think he'd be a safe bet.  But he's still got some work to do.

Well, CC finally beat the Sox last night.  Not sure what to take out of that start though.  Quite a strange one.  Gave up only 2 runs and had 10 K's, yet he gave up 10 hits, walked 2, and hit 1 (intentionally to lead off game?).  Very inconsistent line there.  How often has a pitcher struck out 10 guys AND given up 10 hits in the same game?  Not something you see every day.  It was another example of the Sox not getting the hits when it mattered most, and conversely CC limiting the damage and bearing down with runners on base.

[tim_m]

Yeah, very odd start but pretty typical of a sox/yankees game as far as the number of hits and pitches thrown. I wasn't sure he was gonna make it through 5 to get the win but he battled through 5 with 126 pitches. It was hotly contested game with people being hit left and right. The next two should be interesting. Btw, what are your thoughts on what happened in the 8th when Girardi was ejected? I think he had a right to be mad that was clearly a swing.