- Yeah, that picture pretty much sums up Game 1 for the Yankees. I'd like to say that Cliff Lee was just better than the Yankees line up and that's the end of the story, but unfortunately I can't. More so than many other teams, the Yankees performance's at home are almost directly connected to the atmosphere created by fans at the stadium. After Chase Utley hit his 2nd home run of CC Sabathia, the air completely went out of the stadium, as did the effort of the Yankees. Down 2-0 with Lee on the mound, it was very obvious from the Yankees body language that they had more or less quit on the game (with Jeter and CC as the exceptions). Whether it was Johnny Damon's bogus non-committal wrist swing on a pitch in the dirt or Melky Cabrera's all-around terrible effort trying to hit off-speed pitches, the Yankees looked absolutely defeated after the 5th inning. I'm not saying the fans' silence was the reason the Yankees gave up, seeing as the players on the field gave them very little to get excited about, but as the fans go, so do the Yanks.
- Phil Hughes is unbelievably terrible. It's been a long time since I've seen a player dominate in the regular season like Hughes did, only to be totally overwhelmed by the moment in the playoffs. What we have seen from Hughes so far this postseason has been a complete overhaul of his pitching method with little rhyme of reason for doing so. Regular season Phil Hughes reared back and challenged batters "hit it if you can" with his fastball and put them away with devastating breaking pitches. Postseason Hughes is afraid to challenge hitters in the zone, tentative trying to work the corners, and if he falls behind in the count the threat of the off-speed pitch goes out the window. The "Baby Rocket" has gone from shutdown bridge man to certified torch man who has zero confidence at the moment. Unfortunately, the Yankees may be stuck with postseason mental midget of Chuck Knoblauch proportions.
- Cliff Lee's backyard wiffle ball style catch in Game 1, while not a big deal, will be remembered by the Yankees next time he comes to the mound. Nothing can motivate athletes more than being humiliated on a big stage, and trust me, that was humiliating.
- I said it before the World Series started and now it's looking like I was right; Chase Utley is the scariest hitter in the Phillies lineup. Ryan Howard and Jayson Werth have flashy power, but they also have constant strikeout ability if they are pitched to properly. Utley on the other hand probably accounted for about 15% of the pitches CC Sabathia threw in Game 1. He fouled off pitch after pitch until CC made a mistake, which was immediately deposited in the right field bleachers. Hitters like Rollins, Howard, Ibanez and Werth can be dummied with good inside-outside pitch variations, Utley can cover the entire plate, spoil good pitches, and hit the ball all over the field. If the Yankees are to win this series, they should focus more on how to get Utley out, and less on the power hitters who follow him.
- Joe Buck and Tim McCarver make me want to beat my head against the wall every time they open their mouths. While newspapers like the NY Daily News have been looking for a nickname for this year's World Series, the correct answer was thrown in their face last night. I'm proud to announce that the 2009 World Series will now be known as "Everyone Loves the Philadelphia Phillies". Well, at least that's what FOX's biased fools in the booth are turning it in to. Apparently they didn't get the memo that the Yankees are in the World Series too and it's not an FCC violation to talk about them without the Phillies involved as well. Though not a direct quote, I distinctly remember hearing something along the lines of "CC Sabathia looks sharp early, but Cliff Lee has clearly been sharper thus far. Had to throw the last part in their didn't you, Joe? The sad part: that comment is closest the booth comes to objectivity on any given night. If you were totally blind and could only listen to the game, you would have thought that Derek Jeter, or "Jerek Deter" as the bumbling Tim McCarver refered to him several times in Game 1, struck out every time at the plate. "Flatline" Joe Buck and McButcher harped on his first inning strikeout at every turn, conviently ignoring Jeter ripping off 3 straight hits after that.
Here's a fun drinking game to play watching the games from here on out: Every time Tim McCarver tries to prove that he knows more about baseball than you by calling out the next pitch, and is horribly wrong, take a drink. As a warning, don't play with hard liquor; you will be belligerently drunk/borderline dead by the 3rd inning if you do. If you get too drunk too early, you miss the best part of the telecast; when McButcher blatantly screws up the catcher's signal and goes totally silent for about 30 seconds. If you're still not completely hammered from the first part of the game, A) congrats, you have a superhuman level alcohol tolerance and B) add this to the rules of the game: anytime McButcher uses the term "close" to describe a obvious play in the field or a pitch they show on their k-zone to be a mile inside/outside, drink. Guaranteed alcohol poisoning by the seventh inning stretch.
Honestly, a booze induced coma serves as a viable alternative to listening to Buck and McCarver on most nights.
No comments:
Post a Comment