In a year where the Yanks have gotten very little respect from the baseball pundits-including the NY pundits-every win is sweet, Last night's big win was sweet for lots of reasons. Most importantly, Tanaka pitched great.
He was a little rough in his first start in the season opener losing 6-1 to the Blue Jays. He was better though not great-he didn't have to be as the Yanks erupted for 14 runs in the last game of the Red Sox series-and this game he put it all together and was absolutely masterful pitching for 7 innings-in this day and age any time you get 7 full innings from your starter it's a godsend as you can rest your bullpen-giving up just 2 hits with 8 strikeouts and no walks and of course giving up 0 runs.
https://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/new-york-yankees-tampa-bay-rays-350418130/
As this article puts it, he and the Yanks were in 'Seventh Heaven with Chris Young punctuating a 7 run seventh inning with a grand slam.
http://m.yankees.mlb.com/news/article/119119392/with-masahiro-tanaka-dealing-yankees-slam-tampa-bay-rays
Again, this is the year where the NY pundits have decided that the Mets are the relevant team-after 7 years in a row of losing baseball following the Mets consecutive huge chokes in 2007 and 2008. As a NY football Giants and Yankees fan, I've seen this movie before. People come to think it's not fair that the Jets and Mets are always the also-rans and relish declaring it's their turn and the Yanks/Giants are now the also-rans. That was always Rex Ryan's song regarding the Jets-Giants and it was put to bed once and for all in 2011 when he kept talking smack about the Giants before he played them in late 2011. The Giants came into the game only 7-7 but blew out the Jets 29-14 which started their improbable Super Bowl run while the Jets didn't even make the playoffs.
I'm not saying they can't be right that the Mets are going to have a good year and the Yanks aren't going to be that dynamo team we saw them be for 20 years; everyone goes nuts because they missed the playoffs the last 2 years but they ignore that 2013 and 2014 are only failed seasons in Yankeeland, with the team winning 85 and 84 games respectively-while being outscored both years and scoring way under 700 runs both years.
Joe Giradi certainly got as much out of those teams as you can expect but again, if the Mets had won 85 and 84 games the last year the NY media would be cooing over them calling them the 'Amazins' again. Even now, the Yanks have not had a losing season since 1992, Think about that.
We'll see how the Mets do this year. I'll grant they've had a strong start, but they have had a schedule where they've played a lot of weak sisters. I mean they had 3 games with the Phillies and now they're finishing up 4 with the Miami Marlins.
That impressive 9-3 start of theirs includes 6 wins against the Phillies and Marlins. True they did beat the Washington Nationals 2 of 3-a team that they had a lot of trouble with in recent years, and the team that most people expected to win the East; and may still do so as it is very early-and then they lost 2 of 3 to the fast starting Braves.
Look, you can only play who's on your schedule but it's very early. The way that everyone is ready to crown the Mets already, to declare them the Kings of NY based on winning a couple of early games, well, I've seen that movie plenty of times as well.
We're talking about 12 games; if they look this strong after 120 games or even 60 games then I'll have to concede the point-I won't celebrate it but I'll concede it.
As for the Yanks, I think the pundits have also gotten very carried away with burying the team. I mean a 3-6 start to a 162 game season is nothing. The team started 1-4 and the panic button was being pressed. I mean the 1998 Yankees-who won a then record 114 win games-although the Mariners would top that record a few years later with a 116 win season, the beauty there was the Yanks with much fewer wins that year took that team apart in the playoffs besting them 4-1 in the ALCS.
Ok, they're not likely to win 114 games this year but this does underscore the point that 1-4 is nothing. We have heard a lot about their anemic bats this year but the funny thing is, their run production hasn't been that bad at this point. In 11 games they're now 5-6 and they've outscored their opponents 59-53. So they're scoring 5 and a half runs per game. I mean is they do this for the season, I'd be ecstatic as the team last year failed to average 4 runs per game and barely scored over 4 in 2013.
Yes, in that first series against the Blue Jays they're bats were quiescent; for the series they lost 2 of 3 while being outscored 15-8. Yet, even though they lost 2 of 3 to the Red Sox in the next series, they actually outscored the Sox 23-18 thanks to that 14-4 rout is the last game of the series after the Sox took the first two.
Even without that 14 spot in the last game they had 9 runs throughout the first 2 games which is not woeful run support. Far from it-If they can score 4 and a half runs per game for this season it would still be a big step up from the last 2 seasons. The first game of the series, the 19 inning marathon 6-5 loss, they obviously could have won, Then although they lost 2 of 3 in Baltimore the losses were both close-for the series they were outscored just 16-14. Again that's decent run support. Now in the first two wins in Tampa Bay they have 14 runs.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/NYY/2015-schedule-scores.shtml
Again, this is over 11 games which is not a meaningful trend in baseball but it does show that the idea that their bats are anemic has been overdone. Up until this point that hasn't been the case-it was the case in the first series against Toronto but not in any of the subsequent series.
The team certainly found a lot of ways to lose in those first few games of the year but, it was often a case of beating themselves as much as anything. it wasn't that they were scoring no runs but because the defense which coming into the season was supposed to be their strong suit made all kinds of crazy errors and bad plays-obviously Gregorious at shortstop has taken a lot of criticism for bad fielding as well as some base running blunders.
They were not blown out in many of these early games-technically a blowout in baseball is considered a loss of at least 5 runs, so by that criteria they were blown out in just that first game against the Blue Jays where their bats truly were silent.
So in a lot of those games they beat themselves. Also they had some shaky starting pitching in some of the games. In the final game of the Orioles series they lost 7-5 because the middle relief broke down. However, in the games other than that one, middle relief has been a strength.
If the defense stops beating itself and if this is the Tanaka we will be seeing more of, I think they can at least be a decent team-one that wins more than it loses and has a shot at taking the AL East.
Today, they are totally set up thanks to Tanaka's gem last night. The bullpen got to rest and now the pitcher who has been closet to being their ace is on the hill today-Michael Pineda.
P.S. My dream is still that this team wins the East with A-Rod continuing to be one of the best players on the team.
He was a little rough in his first start in the season opener losing 6-1 to the Blue Jays. He was better though not great-he didn't have to be as the Yanks erupted for 14 runs in the last game of the Red Sox series-and this game he put it all together and was absolutely masterful pitching for 7 innings-in this day and age any time you get 7 full innings from your starter it's a godsend as you can rest your bullpen-giving up just 2 hits with 8 strikeouts and no walks and of course giving up 0 runs.
https://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/new-york-yankees-tampa-bay-rays-350418130/
As this article puts it, he and the Yanks were in 'Seventh Heaven with Chris Young punctuating a 7 run seventh inning with a grand slam.
http://m.yankees.mlb.com/news/article/119119392/with-masahiro-tanaka-dealing-yankees-slam-tampa-bay-rays
Again, this is the year where the NY pundits have decided that the Mets are the relevant team-after 7 years in a row of losing baseball following the Mets consecutive huge chokes in 2007 and 2008. As a NY football Giants and Yankees fan, I've seen this movie before. People come to think it's not fair that the Jets and Mets are always the also-rans and relish declaring it's their turn and the Yanks/Giants are now the also-rans. That was always Rex Ryan's song regarding the Jets-Giants and it was put to bed once and for all in 2011 when he kept talking smack about the Giants before he played them in late 2011. The Giants came into the game only 7-7 but blew out the Jets 29-14 which started their improbable Super Bowl run while the Jets didn't even make the playoffs.
I'm not saying they can't be right that the Mets are going to have a good year and the Yanks aren't going to be that dynamo team we saw them be for 20 years; everyone goes nuts because they missed the playoffs the last 2 years but they ignore that 2013 and 2014 are only failed seasons in Yankeeland, with the team winning 85 and 84 games respectively-while being outscored both years and scoring way under 700 runs both years.
Joe Giradi certainly got as much out of those teams as you can expect but again, if the Mets had won 85 and 84 games the last year the NY media would be cooing over them calling them the 'Amazins' again. Even now, the Yanks have not had a losing season since 1992, Think about that.
We'll see how the Mets do this year. I'll grant they've had a strong start, but they have had a schedule where they've played a lot of weak sisters. I mean they had 3 games with the Phillies and now they're finishing up 4 with the Miami Marlins.
That impressive 9-3 start of theirs includes 6 wins against the Phillies and Marlins. True they did beat the Washington Nationals 2 of 3-a team that they had a lot of trouble with in recent years, and the team that most people expected to win the East; and may still do so as it is very early-and then they lost 2 of 3 to the fast starting Braves.
Look, you can only play who's on your schedule but it's very early. The way that everyone is ready to crown the Mets already, to declare them the Kings of NY based on winning a couple of early games, well, I've seen that movie plenty of times as well.
We're talking about 12 games; if they look this strong after 120 games or even 60 games then I'll have to concede the point-I won't celebrate it but I'll concede it.
As for the Yanks, I think the pundits have also gotten very carried away with burying the team. I mean a 3-6 start to a 162 game season is nothing. The team started 1-4 and the panic button was being pressed. I mean the 1998 Yankees-who won a then record 114 win games-although the Mariners would top that record a few years later with a 116 win season, the beauty there was the Yanks with much fewer wins that year took that team apart in the playoffs besting them 4-1 in the ALCS.
Ok, they're not likely to win 114 games this year but this does underscore the point that 1-4 is nothing. We have heard a lot about their anemic bats this year but the funny thing is, their run production hasn't been that bad at this point. In 11 games they're now 5-6 and they've outscored their opponents 59-53. So they're scoring 5 and a half runs per game. I mean is they do this for the season, I'd be ecstatic as the team last year failed to average 4 runs per game and barely scored over 4 in 2013.
Yes, in that first series against the Blue Jays they're bats were quiescent; for the series they lost 2 of 3 while being outscored 15-8. Yet, even though they lost 2 of 3 to the Red Sox in the next series, they actually outscored the Sox 23-18 thanks to that 14-4 rout is the last game of the series after the Sox took the first two.
Even without that 14 spot in the last game they had 9 runs throughout the first 2 games which is not woeful run support. Far from it-If they can score 4 and a half runs per game for this season it would still be a big step up from the last 2 seasons. The first game of the series, the 19 inning marathon 6-5 loss, they obviously could have won, Then although they lost 2 of 3 in Baltimore the losses were both close-for the series they were outscored just 16-14. Again that's decent run support. Now in the first two wins in Tampa Bay they have 14 runs.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/NYY/2015-schedule-scores.shtml
Again, this is over 11 games which is not a meaningful trend in baseball but it does show that the idea that their bats are anemic has been overdone. Up until this point that hasn't been the case-it was the case in the first series against Toronto but not in any of the subsequent series.
The team certainly found a lot of ways to lose in those first few games of the year but, it was often a case of beating themselves as much as anything. it wasn't that they were scoring no runs but because the defense which coming into the season was supposed to be their strong suit made all kinds of crazy errors and bad plays-obviously Gregorious at shortstop has taken a lot of criticism for bad fielding as well as some base running blunders.
They were not blown out in many of these early games-technically a blowout in baseball is considered a loss of at least 5 runs, so by that criteria they were blown out in just that first game against the Blue Jays where their bats truly were silent.
So in a lot of those games they beat themselves. Also they had some shaky starting pitching in some of the games. In the final game of the Orioles series they lost 7-5 because the middle relief broke down. However, in the games other than that one, middle relief has been a strength.
If the defense stops beating itself and if this is the Tanaka we will be seeing more of, I think they can at least be a decent team-one that wins more than it loses and has a shot at taking the AL East.
Today, they are totally set up thanks to Tanaka's gem last night. The bullpen got to rest and now the pitcher who has been closet to being their ace is on the hill today-Michael Pineda.
P.S. My dream is still that this team wins the East with A-Rod continuing to be one of the best players on the team.
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