The Yankees 2-1 victory last night was excellent for one main reason (and a few lesser ones)…Ivan Nova was very impressive again. I came away excited after his first outing and this continued on a very hot day where he cooled down the WS hitters. He threw a fastball that was from 93-97 with decent movement. He then takes a little off the fastball and gets more sink on it while also throwing a very good curve at about 83-4 or so. If he can pitch to the corners he will be very good; we should all be excited about this kid.
Lesser reasons – but still exciting:
Joba – Hit 100MPH! He also hit 98 and 99 and threw his slider at 88-90! He seemed to have a little less movement on his slider, but at 90 that could be expected. It was a close game and he came through very well! Back to the excitement, it was a little more like the Joba of old as his mechanics were very smooth and consistent. Eiland must be doing something right and it also shows you the difference in velocity when your mechanics are on compared to when they are off. We are talking about adding 5 MPH to a fastball…that is huge! The key now is to see whether he can continue doing it.
Granderson was only 1-4 but ripped the ball all day
Cervelli was 4-4 and even though he erased himself on a CS, he contributed at the plate for the first time in a very long time (I am still not thrilled with his defense though)
Thames came through with another dinger on a hanging breaking ball he jumped all over…even while getting the rare start against righties (ride the hot hand)
And of course the Genius Maker came on to close out the 1 run save. The walk bothered me as I could not believe they didn’t throw the tailing fastball inside in that AB (the same one that got the 1st out on one pitch), but Mariano came through saving Nova’s 1st of many victories he will have.
White Sox Note:
Floyd pitched a very good game for the WS, he has a very good arm with a lot of movement on his pitches.
Injury update:
ARod should be back next week and Berkman will start a rehab assignment (I believe tomorrow). Pettitte threw more aggressively in his bullpen session and reported no problems. He is probably at least 2 weeks away as he has not been able to run or do anything for his endurance, but that is a great sign. Tex was still very sore (thumb) and could not play. They keep saying he is day to day, but they need to rest the thumb and get it right. I don’t understand this day to day thing as it sounds like he needs at least 3 days to treat it and then take a look at it…GET IT RIGHT!
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I HATED Girardi's decision to pull Boone Logan after one batter. When he did it, I thought we were committing ourselves to Joba 7th, Robinson 8th, and Rivera 9th. As you always say, it seemed to me that Girardi was going to keep putting in relievers until he found the one that didn't have his stuff that day.
ReplyDeleteAfter Wood failed to retire the righty and the left-handed Teahen stepped into the batters box, I was livid. Logan should have been in there for that batter.
Of course it all worked out perfectly, but I would have been ranting in anger about it had it failed, so I might as well rant anyway. I must say though that I didn't consider the fact that Wood would start the 7th and team up with Joba to get it to the 9th without using Robertson.
Great job by our bullpen--I think Joba may have moved ahead of Robertson on the bullpen depth chart.
Last night's plate ump was one of the worst, if not the worst of the season.
An unusual move by whoever was managing the White Sox after Guillen's ejection pinch hitting the right hander for the left hander against Rivera. Good job by Michael Kay pointing out that doing that was a better move back in the days when Mariano was cutter, cutter, cutter as opposed to now, where he's added that two-seamer into his arsenal.
Mariano's cutter has been moving better in his last several outings. That can only mean more fun. :-)
I agreed with you about Logan and said so at the time, I was surprised he was pulled after one batter with so many outs left in the game. Even to stay in the game so that Teahan would ironically be pinch hit for with the righty Carlos Quentin. Quentin is actually better against righties so I understand the move in the 9th inning that was questioned. However, Rivera threw the running fastball in on his hands and he grounded out.
ReplyDeleteThe umpire last night was awful. really seems like we have said that a lot this year.