Yanks crush Indians for fifth win in seven games

It wasn’t even a week ago that we heard lamentations of the Yankees’ poor play of late. They’d lost six of 10. They’d gone 5-10 in their last 15. Someone sound the alarms! Such panic was clearly unnecessary. Even the best teams go through poor stretches. The Yankees, weakened by mostly short-term injuries, fell on some hard times. A team with pitching like theirs, though, couldn’t be held down for long. After a Monday off-day, we saw them turn completely around. They’re now 5-2 since the break after finishing a series victory over Cleveland yesterday.

Biggest Hit: Do not disrespect A-Rod

A little over two weeks ago, on May 14, Ron Gardenhire made a strange move. His team led the Yankees 4-3 with one out in the bottom of the seventh. The Yankees had runners on second and third with Mark Teixeira at the plate, but instead of facing the No. 3 hitter, Gardenhire decided to walk him intentionally, bringing up Alex Rodriguez with the bases loaded. In a few — very few — situations, this might have made sense. Perhaps if, say, Ramiro Pena followed Teixeira in the order. But walking the No. 3 hitter to face the No. 4 hitter? HItters perform significantly better with the bases loaded than with runners on second and third, so the move seemed odd all around. It wasn’t long before Gardenhire regretted it, as A-Rod put the Yanks ahead with the 19th grand slam of his career.

Yesterday’s move was not quite as odd. Rafael Perez had allowed two straight singles to give the Yankees a first and second, one out situation in the bottom of the seventh. He was clearly pitching around Teixeira, and once he fell behind 3-0 he finished it with an intentional ball four. Acta wasn’t going to let Perez face Rodriguez, so he went to the other Perez, Chris, he of the nonexistent control. That move made little sense to me. Perez might have potential, but he clearly has no idea where any of his pitches are going. Why bring him in with the bases loaded, in a tight game?

Perez had a strategy, to keep the ball low in the zone. The problem, of course, is in his ability to keep the ball inside the zone. He missed with the first pitch, got A-Rod to swing at the next, and then missed badly with the next two. Down 3-1, with another run just one more bad pitch away, he went back to the fastball. It did stay low in the zone, but it was so utterly predictable that, even at 95 mph, A-Rod got well out in front of it. The ball leapt off his bat and ended up clearing the fence in dead center. That put the game on ice.

Biggest Pitch: All of Pettitte’s

After 16 years in the bigs, 13 with the Yankees, it’s tough to find new things to say about Andy Pettitte. Yet every time he takes the hill it feels like the Yankees have not only a chance to win the game, but a damn good chance. He’ll throw up the occasional stinker — he relies much more on pinpoint command now, something that just won’t be with him every five days. But even when he doesn’t have everything he’ll battle, leaving those stinkers well spaced out. This season it seems like he’s poised for a gem every time.

Yesterday Pettitte cruised through seven innings. He needed just 90 pitches, and certainly would have pitched the eighth if not for the long layoff during the seventh inning. With all the runs the Yanks put up, I’m sure he didn’t mind. While he seemed to tire in the later innings against Minnesota, this time he was strong through the seventh, using just 11 pitches to induce three easy grounders.

His only mistake wasn’t even that big a mistake. After falling behind Jhonny Peralta 2-1, Pettitte delivered a fastball low in the zone. Very low, even, but it did catch a bit of the plate. Peralta took it the other way, a liner that cleared the right field wall for Cleveland’s first run. That would be all Pettitte would allow. In fact, he allowed only one runner to reach even second base, and that was on bad, bad call. C.B. Bucknor, who blew a few at first earlier in the weekend, said Robinson Cano missed second while turning a double play. Replay clearly showed that he had the ball in hand and his foot on the bag, but Bucknor apparently has a mission to miss as many calls as possible.

It is clear that the umpires face no discipline for their blown calls. Where is the incentive to make the right ones?

Granderson jumping right in

An injury can never really come at a good time. When Curtis Granderson pulled up limping in early May, the Yanks would clearly miss him. In his absence they had to deal with an outfield roulette that was either inadequate with the bat or with the glove. Yet at the same time, maybe Granderson needed a short break. After starting off the season hot he had slumped considerably, falling all the way to .225/.311/.375 before the injury. He’s been back for only four games, three as a starter, but he’s been looking quite good.

Since the return he has gone 4-12 with two walks, a HBP, and three doubles. Even better, three of the four hits, including two of the doubles, came off left-handers. It’s not indicative of a turnaround against lefties, but it’s certainly encouraging. As I said in yesterday’s recap, the Yankees could not possibly have expected Granderson to turn around overnight. But he’s been working with Kevin Long, and perhaps the layoff has given him time to let those lessons sink in.

It’s probably time to give up the dream of Granderson hitting 35 homers this season. In fact, I’d be surprised to see him get even 25. A number under 20 wouldn’t come as a shock, either, given that he’s missed almost a month. Yet Granderson can help the team in so many more ways. As he showed over the weekend, it doesn’t have to be all or nothing. He can smack doubles, he can take a walk. That will be more than enough to set up the middle of the order.

WPA graph and box score

The other day Mike called the FanGraphs box the nerd score. I quite like that. So go check out the nerd score at FanGraphs.

Traditional box at the dot-com.

Up Next

The Orioles ride into town, and they’re bringing their rookie lefty. Brian Matusz against Javier Vazquez, tomorrow at 7.