Batter's Box Interactive Magazine Batter's Box Interactive Magazine Batter's Box Interactive Magazine
Flush from their confidence-boosting sweep of Tampa Bay, the Jays cruise into the Bronx to take on the struggling Yankees.

Of course, the Yankees remain a dangerous club with a ferocious lineup and two tough starting pitchers sandwiched around a Taiwanese rookie making his big-league debut. Can the Jays put the ball in play and pressure the Bombers' suspect defence?

This week's Scout features a scuffling Godzilla, a surging superstar and some trade talk in the bullpen. It's a critical sink-or-swim weekend for the 12-11 Jays.

On to the Advance Scout!

* General: The Yankees lead the AL in hits allowed, a rather telling indictment of the club's poor defence ... Unfortunately, the Jays draw none of Brown, Mussina or (the injured) Wright, whose poor starting pitching has been holding the Bombers down ... Think the Yankees miss the 4-1 Jon Lieber? ... Offensively, the Yankees have scored as many runs as Boston ... Proof of an aging lineup: The Yankees are the only lineup yet to triple this season ... Ruben Sierra's injured right biceps is feeling good and the veteran is hopeful to return ahead of schedule -- perhaps as soon as next week ... Tanyon Sturtze should be ready by next week. When he returns, the Yankees are expected to keep Buddy Groom on board. So what gives? Well, the Cubs and Giants are rumoured to be interested in Steve Karsay, and the Yankees are reportedly willing to eat salary to make a deal happen ...

* Randy Johnson: Every first inning this season has been three-up, three-down ... Has simply not had the overpowering fastball with which we've always associated the Unit this season ... For that reason, two strikes no longer makes at-bats against him foregone conclusions ... Not everything is hard fastball, hard slider anymore. He throws a slower curve ... Still a fiercely intelligent pitcher ... Amazing movement on his slider. When it starts thigh-high, it's extremely tough on lefties and righties alike ... Likes to backdoor righties with the slider ... Has never been good at stopping the running game despite being a lefty ...

* Gary Sheffield: Sloppy fielder prone to misplays with his glove ... Poor range over his head ... Embarrassingly threw to a vacant second base last night with a potential play at the plate developing and a cutoff already set up ... Good bad-ball hitter that can drive pitches even well out of the strike zone ... Feels like he's getting better extension and plate coverage this year with his shoulder in good shape ... Throw him slow stuff away with two strikes ...

* Derek Jeter: Won't win a Gold Glove this season if his April is any indication. He's had the yips with the glove ... He is, however, a good relay thrower on the double play ... Generally, tremendous approach at the plate ... Remember: His power tends to be opposite-field ... He doesn't always read breaking pitches down very well ... He's seemingly made more outs on the basepaths this season than in seasons past. He was uncharacteristically picked off first last night, although many thought John Lackey balked ...

* Chien-Ming Wang: Age 25 as of late March ... The Yankees' Minor League Pitcher of the Year in 2004, going 11-5 in AA and AAA while tossing seven shutout innings against Australia for his native Taiwan in the Olympics ... Also faced the mighty Japanese club, and wasn't shelled, giving up three runs on eight hits in 6 2/3 IP ... Will probably not be a huge strikeout guy in the majors, relying instead on four pitches and changing speeds ... Pitched very well in spring training and respectably with the Columbus Clippers in his first regular-season starts of the year ...

* Andy Phillips: Likes the ball up, up, up ... Has a classic "wheelhouse" swing ... Good power ... Tries to pull everything -- I mean, everything ... Does not stay down well on low breaking pitches and will swing over them ... Hustles and is eager to impress ...

* Jorge Posada: Good level swing from the right side, where he makes hard contact ... Tremendous ability to spoil two-strike pitches ... More of an uppercut swing from the left side, but he stays down on balls well ... Tremendous faith in his own understanding of the strike zone; doesn't like pitches off the plate and can be caught looking on the corners ... Can be jammed inside, especially as a lefthanded hitter ... Is he entering Catcher Decline Phase? ...

* Tony Womack: Punches at inside pitches effectively and usually puts it in play ... That said, he can't lay off anything on the inner half of the plate or even further inside than that ... Waves helplessly against lefthanded breaking stuff ... Great bunter who regularly bunts for hits. Not a drag bunter; he likes to push it toward third and beat it out ...

* Alex Rodriguez: Good reaction ability at third base ... Obviously, his ten-ribbie performance on Tuesday night was an all-time performance ... Awesome power to all fields and can take fastballs anywhere in the strike zone deep ... Hard to fool on breaking pitches down and in. He sees the ball very well in that zone ... It's almost better to leave breaking pitches up and in, where he prefers to lay off ...

* Tom Gordon: Has rewarded Torre's faith by pitching better lately ... Tighter movement on his splitter, which really tied up Russ Adams last week down and in ... Overpowered Sparky with his fastball, which is still plenty fast ... Much better location in his recent appearances ...

* Carl Pavano: Somewhat slow delivery to the plate from the stretch. You can run on him ... Leaves his two-seamer up in the zone; Rios really belted one such hanger ... Very consistent movement and location with his splitter; Vernon and Zaun both really struggled with it ... Looks like a good signing for the Yanks, unlike so many others this season ...

* Bernie Williams: No longer boasts speed among his offensive weapons ... Not as much power, but he's still quick enough to get around on fastballs from either side of the plate ... Will pull pitches up in the zone ... Continues to draw walks ... When he strikes out, it's usually looking. He can be backdoored ...

* Hideki Matsui: Just 4 for his last 27 (.148), and has gone 18 games without a home run ... Whiffed twice against Chacin -- once swinging on a belt-high breaking pitchand once frozen by a breaking ball down and in ... Can sometimes pull off the ball, especially against lefthanded pitchers ... Deceptively strong throwing arm in left; ask Cat ...

* Jason Giambi: Two hits last night after a 2-for-17 slump ... Has gone eight games without an extra-base hit ... Actually hit against the shift last night, poking an uncontested groundball single to left ...


Advance Scout: Yankees, April 29-May 1 | 10 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
Grimlock - Friday, April 29 2005 @ 05:06 PM EDT (#114306) #
Back up, back up... is it REALLY Bush v. Wang tomorrow night? That's crazy.
Stellers Jay - Friday, April 29 2005 @ 05:07 PM EDT (#114307) #
"Has simply not had the overpowering fastball with which we've always associated the Unit this season."

Good article as always Mike. Has the decline in his velocity got anything to do with the weather this time of year on the East Coast? He's been pitching the last number of years in warm and dry climate year round in Arizona. April in New York is probably a lot harder on the arm than April in the desert.
Mike Green - Friday, April 29 2005 @ 05:15 PM EDT (#114308) #
Pavano's 3 year platoon splits are significant, as they are this year. Facing him in Yankee Stadium, I'd make a special effort to get as many lefties in the lineup as possible. Hillenbrand, Wells and Rios will play anyways...
Mick Doherty - Friday, April 29 2005 @ 05:21 PM EDT (#114309) #
The Yankees are starting to remind me of the Sparky Lyle-Graig Nettles-Cliff Johnson days when management made often bizarre-seeming decisions.

Why send down Colter Bean on *Thursday* when Wang doesn't start until Saturday? You just don't mind not having the extra arm in the bullpen?

Let's hope it works out as well as it did for those 1977-78 Yanks!
Dunny - Friday, April 29 2005 @ 06:04 PM EDT (#114312) #
They have the lineups up on Yahoo...

Menenchino is the DH and will hit leadoff

Koskie sits vs. Unit

Good chance for Frank to get it going.
Dr. Zarco - Friday, April 29 2005 @ 06:11 PM EDT (#114314) #

The Yanks sure have been walking a bunch to start the season. Their team OBP is .365, which leads the league. Their BA is 4th and SLG is 5th. Jeter sure seems to enjoy right-handed pitching. Pretty healthy OBP of .519.

The Yanks also seem to hit righties and lefties approximately equal, being 3rd and 4th in the league in OPS respectively. The Jays however, are mashing lefties so far, giving hope vs. the Unit tonight. Here is their composite line in 189 AB's. .317/.371/.540. All three lead the AL. Jays are 10th vs. righties. Interesting.

Lefty - Friday, April 29 2005 @ 06:55 PM EDT (#114317) #
From the stats above I note Giambi has the fourth highest OBP. A week or so ago I noticed his walk rate was pretty high as well his HBP rate.

As of today Giambi has 15 hits and has 13 BB and 5 HBP. So he gets on base at a higher clip with patience and the Sparky skill of getting between the pitcher and catchers mitt.

If I'm the Jays pitchers for this series I would be challanging Giambi to swing. Looks to me like he has lost a lot of bat speed.
Mike D - Friday, April 29 2005 @ 08:29 PM EDT (#114339) #
Interesting question, Stellers.

My understanding is that cold weather is hard on a pitcher's arm, but not as bad as hot weather; and that cool weather -- like the kind we've had in New York -- is actually *good* for a starter's endurance.

I honestly don't know if a more humid/moist climate makes a difference. Pitchers seem to be able to bring the heat in damp Miami.
Craig B - Saturday, April 30 2005 @ 01:02 AM EDT (#114448) #
The Yankees' pitching hasn't been the problem. It's pretty average. They are above-average in strikeouts and walks allowed, and a touch below average in home runs allowed.

You want the real culprit? Look no further than the horrible New York defense. Last year, the Yankee defense was average performance-wise. This year, the Yankees have a Defensive Efficiency Record of .646, which is by a huge margin the worst in baseball. The Yankees have given up 15% more hits on balls in play than the average team do, thanks mostly (in my opinion) to a slow outfield trio, bad positioning, and of course Mr. Single-Past-A-Diving-Jeter. On the other hand, they're not making a lot of errors, but they are letting the opposition run wild.

So that's why they're 11th in the AL in ERA. A massive over-reliance on old players is partly responsible for them coming to this. There's bad luck, too (they won't have a DER of .646 all year because that's practically impossible). They'll turn it around some, but it's going to be hard for them to keep runs off the scoreboard without moving some good up-the-middle defensive players into their lineup.
Craig B - Saturday, April 30 2005 @ 01:26 AM EDT (#114450) #
I should point out that Mike D already said this. I just wanted to give the numbers.
Advance Scout: Yankees, April 29-May 1 | 10 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.