-Fresh off taking 2/3 in the Bronx. Really seems like we have a mental edge on the Yanks if there is such a thing. In short, we blew out Randy tues, Schill got beat wed, and a nice comeback win on fri. Ortiz and Loretta were struggling a little coming into the series, not anymore.
-Wily Mo really looks good right now. He looks dialed in since Papa Jack has been working with him on waiting longer and going opposite field. Those line drives he hits must generate backspin because they dont seem to fall. He hasn't even gone on a big HR tear yet which will make him even more of a fan fav. We signed him knowing he could platoon with trot and get the starts vs lefties, but so far with consistent playing time he's killing righties too. It's hard to play part time and keep your timing as a power hitter so you might see a little bit of a dropoff. But we have to remember Trot has been about as durable as a leper in a hottub over the last couple years so its nice to have a big time backup. I'm sure we'll see Wily as a pinch hitter late in games too. In terms of defense, I think he'll be fine. His instincts and angles leave something to be desired but hes got some range and a good arm.
-No need for JT Snow on this team. Youk is good enough with the glove where we are not going to need a late inning defensive replacement. Call up Choi, or someone with a live bat. I think Willie Harris will be up here all year. He swings a wiffle ball bat but hes versatile, fast, and can play late inning D. Dustin Mohr pretty much sucks at baseball.
-Mike Lowell was a salary dump. We were forced to take him and his contract in the Beckett trade and everyone including me thought he was cooked. He hit .236 last yr with no power. Big dropoff from the year before but still atrocious. That said, Lowell is a high character guy, who we were rooting to have a comeback year and its happening. His bat looked slow in spring training but he changed his approach and its working wonderfully. Lowell shortened his stroke and stopped trying to drive the ball, instead just looking to make hard contact to all fields. Lowell has more than half the doubles this year already than he did all of last year. On top of the surprising offense, he is silk in the field. Mueller was sure handed and made some tough plays for us, but Lowell makes the hard plays look routine.
-Youk has arrived. He is a professional hitter with amazing plate discipline. Feel real comfortable when he's up. Our backup leadoff hitter is better than most teams leadoff hitter.
-Coco should be ready by June 1st, set back a few days with the flu. We've been doing real well without him, mostly due to Wily Mo, but it will be great to get Coco back in there. Slick defense and slightly better offense than Damon last year.
-Matsui broke his wrist on a Loretta liner fri night and is out atleast 3 months which is a significant loss for NY. He's a rock in that lineup that you cant count on for his borderline all star offense. Sheffields on the DL too and the word is that it might be worse than they are letting on. And then on top of that Damon's shoulder and foot are bothering him after robbing Mirabelli of a HR on fri. George might panic and move some of the few prospects they have (hughes, thompson, wang, melky, duncan) for an OF. Carlos Lee, Tori Hunter, Shannon Stewart, Abreu, Austin Kearns could be available. If I were them though I'd give Melky or Thompson some consistent time to see what they have and save the prospects.
This is partly the yankees organizational philosophy coming back to bite them. Signing a large number of aging all stars in free agency leads to injuries and makes it impossible for players to outperform their contracts when they are past their athletic prime. Trading prospects for a "win now, buy more later" attitude hasnt faired well either. They got an old Randy Johnson for Javier Vazquez last year and hows that turning out for them? Randy is breaking down, and guaranteed another 16million in 07. Vazquez is unhittable and NY is still paying some of his salary.
-Speaking of Randy, it was his knee thats throwing him off. Here is what Will Carrol, the best in the business for baseball injuries, had to say...
From the very first pitch, Johnson was not extending, appearing instead to shorten his stride to reduce stress on that damaged front knee. Watch Johnson’s leg--it’s nearly straight. He’ll either “pop up” on his follow-through, getting taller, or rotate to the third base side. Both actions take the energy that normally heads to the plate in a delivery and redirects it. While this is taking some of the pressure off the knee, it’s taking velocity off of the ball, and adding stress to the elbow and rotator cuff. Adding insult to literal injury, Johnson’s changed mechanics are also inconsistent, leading to his newfound control problems. Johnson’s release point is more than inconsistent--it's almost random, adding stress to the shoulder. Fastballs from the normal slider release point and sliders from a higher ¾ point are consistent only in their ineffectiveness.The key here is the knee. Johnson isn’t complaining about it, but it seems that Johnson is either due for a refill on his Synvisc injections, or the treatment is no longer effective enough to keep him effective. He’s too crafty and talented to write off without another couple of starts, but you don’t have to be an expert to see when Johnson’s on. The Yankees went ahead and had an MRI on Johnson’s pitching shoulder yesterday to make sure everything was fine, meaning something was bothering him physically. Johnson says that he wants to “put his best foot forward” in his next outing. He’ll need to make sure that's done in combination with a solid knee, good hip turn, and proper energy transfer.
