Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Situational Struggles

The Yankees currently have the second most hits in the league, yet they can't seem to get a hit when it counts. Here are some stomach turning stats from baseball-reference.com:

Yankees RISP:
.223 Avg, .320 OBP (42 for 188, 55 RBI)


Yankees with runners on first and second:
.204 Avg, .315 OBP (11 for 54, 7 RBI)


Yankees with the bases loaded:
.071 Avg, .063 OBP (1 for 14, 5 RBI)

Now compare that to the hottest team in baseball:

Red Sox RISP:
.290 Avg, .419 OBP (51 for 176, 81 RBI)


Red Sox with runners on first and second:
.317 Avg, .414 OBP (19 for 60, 25 RBI)


Red Sox with the bases loaded:
.286 Avg, .464 OBP ( 8 for 28, 22 RBI)


The Yankees get runners past first base, and the offense shuts down. They hit .328 with a runner on first, but .221 when that runner is on second. The Yankees are hitting, but not when it counts most. Their individual averages look good, but the situational averages are terrible.

Look at Cano, he's having a great season hitting .380 on the year. However, if you break that down you'd see that he's hitting .192 with RISP (5 for 26). And when there is more than one runner on the bases, Cano is 1 for 15.

They don?t need to become the most clutch team in baseball, but an improvement has to happen in order for the Yankees to have a chance. Are they looking to hit home runs? Is it just good pitching? Is it just a phase in this long season? Who knows, but hopefully they break out of this pattern sooner rather than later.

Monday, April 27, 2009

Hoping History Repeats

The Yankees are making it a tradition to start off slow and play some incredibly frustrating games.

They signed two players in CC and Teixeira whose April numbers are unbelievably bad.

This team is playing better then past Aprils, but they still can't figure out how to get off the ground.

The offense is clicking, but the starting pitching has been suspect and the bullpen is a mystery. The Yankees seem to have a pen filled with two-faced pitchers. One day you get someone whose lights out, the next they can't make it through an inning.

Will this change? History says so. The last few years the Yankees record has been terrible for April and May, but something clicks and they turn it on.

The division is as tough as ever, so the Yankees can't afford to wait as long as they have in the past to get moving.

Although the games themselves have been awful lately, there is good news under the surface. For one, Mark Teixeira looks to be coming around. Sure over the last 7 days his BA is only .238, but his OBP is .429. He's seeing the ball better.

Matsui has also looked good this past week, hitting .421 with a .450 OBP. Really the only hitter who looks lost is Brett Gardner.

Overall I think the Yankees look better than their record and are poised to go on a winning a streak. These slow starts are annoying but I think this one is going to end much sooner than it has in years passed. If history repeats itself then some important Yankees will flip the switch and get hot very soon.

Hoping History Repeats