The Last Month In Yankeeland
Posted by Steve L. on May 20th, 2011 · Comments (8)
From April 19th through May 18th, the Yankees went 14-14.
Their team ERA during this time was an outstanding 3.21 in 257.6 IP.
Meanwhile, during this time, their hitters had a BA/OBA/SLG line of .253/.342/.425 and averaged 5 runs scored per game.
So, why the 14-14 mark?
The fact that they’ve given up 17 unearned runs over that span surely can’t be helping…
Also, the team’s woes with RISP aren’t fully captured in the slash stats or the number of runs per game they’re averaging.
Your sample is only the last 28 games so the stats I’m about to show below are more inclusive and represent a bigger problem:
Jeter: .167/.240/.214 (50 PA)
Swisher: .179/.294/.231 (51 PA)
Rodriguez: .188/.300/.469 (40 PA)
Cano: .235/.282/.500 (39 PA)
Posada: .167/.394/.250 (33 PA)
That’s not very good with RISP.
Their defensive play has been lacking lately. Jeter is limited. A-Rod, Cano and Swisher have made some ugly errors on easy plays. Cervelli is a joke behind the plate.
Are the errors just things that happen, or, are they not as alert and attentive in the field as they should be? And, if true, is that something that the coaches should be working on?
@ Steve Lombardi:
I don’t think the errors are from a lack of attentiveness. Errors happen.
Steve Lombardi wrote:
I’d imagine Posada facepalms every time one of Cervelli’s throws sails into CF.
Hopefully, he’ll get better, kinda hard to have a defensive catcher that isn’t all that good defensively.
Raf wrote:
And I facepalmed every time I saw Posada let a ball hit him squarely in his glove and he’d drop it or how his token efforts to block balls reminded me of little league…
@ MJ Recanati:
During May 2009, the impending World Series champion Yankees were setting the Major League team record with 18 consecutive errorless games: 662 total chances in 168 2/3 innings of play, recording 506 putouts and completing 163 assists with 13 double plays.
BTW — Posada broke that streak, sailing a throw into CF.
@ Molon Labe:
Interesting. I think I vaguely remember that although, to be honest, we’ve seen so many bad throws from Posada in 2009-2010 that I may be remembering another one.
All kidding aside though, since the principals have not changed from 2009 (save Gardner/Granderson) this team is capable of playing at least average defense. That they haven’t thus far makes me feel like it’s one of those things that’ll get better, as other facets of their game will get better.