HIGH AND TIGHT
There has been a great deal of talk lately about how the Yankees hit "too many homers", and thus don't "know how" to score runs any other way. It's a ridiculous argument, one I would like to take on now.
The Yankees don't hit a lot of homers because they're specifically trying to. They happen to have a lot of hitters with power, and a park conducive to HRs. When they get a ball in the air, it happens to carry over the fence with great frequency.
A Major League hitter is typically just trying to get a pitch they like, and hit it hard. Sometimes they make it through the infield for singles, sometimes they go down the line or in the gap for a double or triple, other times they clear the fence for a Home Run, and in about 65%-75% of the cases, they end up in someone's glove. Same effort, varying results.
However, last Wednesday's game crystallized what I think the Yankees problem is: their obsession with opponents' pitch counts.
Royals' starter Vin Mazzaro threw 94 pitches in 4 innings as the Yankees "patiently" took pitches. Despite 6 hits and 4 walks in this effort run up the pitch count, they managed to score only 2 runs, and lost in extras 4-3 when Joe Girardi inexplicably allowed Buddy Carlyle and Luis Ayala to finish the game.
Earth to Yankees: Young Mr. Mazzaro is not Pedro Martinez circa 1997. You do not want him out of the game! You need to knock him out by knocking him out!!!
The Yankee lineup does not look old to me. They look confused, unmotivated, non-competitive, and worst of all, boring.
And here is a potential solution: if Francisco Cervelli is going to exhibit the defense he has displayed as back-up, he is useless, as he provides negligible offense. Jesus Montero can catch once every 5 days and DH the rest. This team needs a shot in the arm.
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