~~~What’s up with the lack of posting on this site lately?~~~

Vacation week for me. Pace should pick up around next Tuesday.

Bailey…don’t you think Flaherty would be so much better if he just took off his rose colored glasses once in a while and gave us the unvarnished observations of a very bright former catcher? Girardi plays that same game but at least i know why with him…he wants the manager’s gig.

No one here is suggesting his overhyped, I point out that if anything, Austin Jackson is overlooked. he’s got a very good shot at being our next big OF to make the bigs. he’s likely to make it before Tabata does.

Also, Curtis Granderson is most definately the second best CF this year in the bigs behind Ichiro. while Placido Polanco is having the year of his life as well. 1 through 5, the Tiger’s OPS+ is 133, 127, 133, 168, 131. but the rest is just bad … Pudge 89, Casey 95, Inge 88, Monroe 67 (Thames 108, but limited sample and terrible OBP)

In comparason, the optimal yankee lineup is something like

Melky 114, Jeter 126, Giambi 135 , A-rod 177, Matsui 139, Jorge 153, Cano 128, Betemit 113 Abreu 117.

the gross part is that the Yankees could actually throw out a lineup where the worest hitter is OPSing at 13% above average. it’s clearly different, the Tigers are very top heavy while the Yankees are essentially holess. but strangely the Yankees have been more inconsistent in scoring than the Tigers. and small doesn’t have a lot to do with it, considering that the Yankees are (again) amoung the top 5 in SBs, while the Tigers are in the bottom half.

I’d say Magglio Ordonez with his .355 and 100+ RBIs is pretty scary too and Guillen always seems to get big hits for that team. Other than that nobody else in that lineup really “scares” me though.

And Maybin is only 20 so he must be doing something right, I wouldn’t call him overhyped at age 20, it’s obvious that the projection for him as he gets older is why there is so much hype now, you can’t really base it on the stats alone, it has to be the stats and his age. Most hitters don’t start their peak until 25-27

Maybin had 6 games in AA, where he hit 4 HR , had a 1:1 K/BB ratio, and pretty much destroyed everything he saw.

He’s rushed a bit, but not really Melky bad rush. considering that Melky didn’t really have that great of a season in AA and A+ the year before that to warrant such calls. Maybin’s season though, does deserve a Sept call up, only that it happened about 10 days early.

As for the Tigers: they’re second in scoring in the bigs, only behind the Yankees. but yes they are essentially 5 very good hitter and 4 weak to awful hitters. they’ve been living on the extremes for the past two season. in 06 they had THE WOREST K/BB ratio in the bigs BY A MILE but they managed to be above average in scoring by torching a ton of HR. this year it’s kinda the same, (though K/BB not as putrid) still though, it’s hard to see a team carrying 2 guys with OBP under .300 and 2 more barely over .300 being true offensive juggernauts. but the fact is that 1 thruogh 5 they are indeed very very strong (Granderson , Polanco , Sheffield, Ordonez, Guillen. everyone of them OPS above .900 except for Polanco. who’s not hitting for much power but with a rigged average. )

Still though, the Yankees with their full lineup should easily outhit them if they’d been healthy and together all year. (they are doing so even without their 06 OPS leader for most of the season, and Abreu / Damon hitting career lows )

Maybin “looks” great. He has a frame that makes you say wow. He’s a tall, strong-looking athlete. But, holy crap, was he overmatched last night. He’s only had a week or two in AA (according to the crew). You can’t do that to a kid. You can’t expect him to go from A-ball to the majors in a week — especially not to this series, where Yankee Stadium was like a playoff game.

Pettitte seems better than ever to me. He doesn’t throw as hard, but he’s so much smarter, and he still keeps it simple. He still has that fluid motion and pounds the zone.

I know John Flaherty kept calling the Tigers an offensive juggernaut, but I just don’t see it. The only guy who scares you in that lineup is Sheffield. They have a nice offense, with some decent hitters, but they don’t look too scary to me.

Oh and Steve, on Maybin.

born 4/4/1987
this season. in A+ (FSL)
304/.393/.486

some Austin Jackson dude on the Yankees A+ team in the FSL born 2/1/1987

325/.370/.552 (actually he’s slumping a bit lately so it’s a bit lower than that, but not by a whole lot)

and they say Yankee prospect are always overhyped.

I thought Robertson pitched well enough last game… that and it was clearly a libral strike zone that worked in the favor of finess guys (which holds very true for Pettitte too. and in reality, if Moose had that kind of strike zone in game one he probably would have done significantly better)

But come on, the remaining 2 pitcher for Detroit is Chad Durbin and Bonderman, Durbin is a guy we should easily touch up on , and while Bonderman killed us last year in the ALDS, he’s pretty crap career wise in YS and he’s struggling just as badly as Wang have been lately (and over a even longer stretch)

This was a huge game by Pettite, he really stepped up big tonight.

I’m going to the game on Sunday I can’t wait.

What’s up with the lack of posting on this site lately?

MJ – They ditched “My Momma’s Name Is Marilyn” Monroe for his performance and attitude.