Cano and Mo Steal the Show: Yankees Comeback to Beat the Dodgers in 10 Innings

The Yankees looked down and out when the Dodgers brought in Jonathan Broxton with a four run lead in the ninth inning, but the Bombers soon changed that.

Broxton struck out Teixeira to start the inning, but the wheels fell off the wagon shortly after.

A-Rod singled to left, Robinson Cano followed with an RBI double to right field, cutting the lead to three runs.

After a very lengthy at-bat, Jorge Posada ripped a single to right field, putting runners at the corners with one out, followed by Granderson’s walk to load the bases.

The rookie, Chad Huffman, after a long at-bat, hit a two-run single to right field, bringing the Yankees to within a run of the lead, with Granderson standing on third.

Fellow rookie Colin Curtis grounded out to first base, James Loney’s throw back to the plate was not in time, as Granderson scored to tie the game at six runs a piece.

With Huffman at second and first base open, Broxton intentionally walked Derek Jeter, bringing up pinch hitter Francisco Cervelli, who grounded out to end the inning.

Broxton ended up throwing 48 pitches and allowing four runs in one inning, certainly his worst outing of the year.

Mariano Rivera sent the game to extra innings after a controversial one-two-three inning in the bottom of the ninth, in which Garret Anderson was ejected and Joe Torre voiced his opinions to home plate umpire Chris Guccione and his strike zone.

Teixeira led off the top of the tenth with a base hit to right, A-Rod grounded into a force out, leading Joe Torre to bring in George Sherrill to replace Ramon Troncoso, with Robinson Cano coming up.

At first it looked like a smart move by Torre, since Cano had been 0-11 against Sherrill coming into the game. Apparently, Torre and Sherrill hadn’t received the memo that Cano is the best hitter in the Majors.

After swinging at a slider for strike one, Cano launched his 15th home run to center field, giving the Yankees an 8-6 lead heading to the bottom of the 10th.

Rivera allowed a lead-off single by James Loney, but after Russell Martin was called out on strikes and was ejected for slamming and breaking his bat, Reed Johnson struck out and Jamey Carroll grounded out to Jeter to end the game.

Rivera won the game after pitching two innings for the second time in the past week, each of the last two series have ended in extra innings with Rivera going two innings both times.

The Yankees won their first series against a Joe Torre managed team since his departure from New York, and also managed to keep Manny Ramirez in the park over the three games.

Next up, the Yankees welcome the Seattle Mariners to town on Tuesday, after the travel day on Monday. Phil Hughes will be opposite Cliff Lee, marking Lee’s first game at Yankee Stadium since his dominant performance in game one of last years World Series.

Yankees Notes: Mariano, Granderson, A-Rod, Torre

Curtis Granderson hit another 10th inning home run and Mariano Rivera escaped a bases loaded nobody-out jam as the Yankees won 6-5 in 10 innings last night. You can read about it here.

Here are some notes:

• Both Boston and Tampa Bay lost last night so the Yankees increased their 1st place lead to 2.5 games.
• Rivera allowed a 10th inning hit to Stephen Drew. He kept 24 consecutive batters off the bases before that, a career high.
• In Mo’s last 12 appearances he’s allowed 3 hits, 3 walks, and has a 0.00 ERA.
• C-Grand also won a game on April 7th against Boston with a 10th inning home run.
• Up next is Joe Torre, Don Mattingly, and the Dodgers.
• Torre expects the upcoming games to be “weird” for him.
• Alex Rodriguez, who did not get along with Torre, refused to answer questions about facing his former skipper.

The Yankees have an off-day today and then they go to Hollywood with CC Sabathia on the mound to start it off. To me, the key to that series is AJ Burnett. He’s been very bad lately. If he can turn himself around the Yankees should take that series.

Interleague sets up World Series Rematches for Yankees

 

The Yankees are right in the middle of their interleague games this season, and are heading west to play the D-backs and Dodgers, two former World Series opponents.

Their last two series have been against the Mets and Phillies who were also in the World Series against the Bombers.

The Phillies and Yanks faced off last October, with the Yankees winning the series four games to two in their unprecedented 27th championship. But it was the Phillies who took the three game series this year.

The final installment of this years Subway Series brought the Mets to Yankee Stadium, and both teams had first place in sight heading into this weekend.

The Mets won the first game, but the Yankees would go on to win the final two games of the series, and thus take the top spot in the AL East away form the Rays.  

This was also one of the few years that the Subway Series has had a lot of meaning for both teams at the same time, probably one of the most anticipated match ups between the Mets and Yanks since the 2000 Fall Classic.

Now in first place the Yankees can look forward to a few more World Series rematches out west.

Starting tonight, the Bombers take on the Arizona Diamondbacks in a rematch from that memorable 2001 World Series.

Arizona snapped the Yankees stretch of three straight World Series titles that year, but the regular season match ups between the two have been owned by the Yankees, who have won seven of the nine games against the   D-backs since 2001.

After their stop in the desert, the Bombers head to the west coast for a long awaited and much anticipated series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

This is a big series for several reasons, most of which is that it will be the first the Yankees will take on their former skipper Joe Torre.

The Dodgers also have a legendary “Yankee killer” by the name of Manny Ramirez, who the Yankees are not that excited to see I’m sure.

But the history between the Yankees and Dodgers goes back much further than Joe Torre and Manny.

The two iconic franchises have met in the World Series 11 times, more than any other AL and NL team in the history of the Fall Classic. 

Their first meeting was in 1941, while the Dodgers were still in Brooklyn, and the Yankees took the series four games to one. 

In fact the Yanks won the first five World Series match ups between the two, it wasn’t until 1955 that the Dodgers beat the Yankees.

Don Larsen threw the only no-hitter in postseason history against the Dodgers in 1956, and the Yankees won the title in seven games.

The Dodgers moved to L.A. in 1958, and swept the aging Yankees for the 1963 World Series crown behind the strong pitching of Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale.

The rivalry was renewed in the 1977 Fall Classic, the Dodgers looked like they were going to win it, but Reggie Jackson sealed the deal with his three home runs in game six, thus earning him the nickname Mr. October.

The Yanks beat L.A. again in ’78, and the Yankees had won back to back titles for the first time since since 1961 and ’62.

The Dodgers finally got their revenge in 1981 beating the Yankees four games to two in the last meeting between the rivals.

In 2004 the two met up in an interleague match up for the first time, and the Dodgers won two out of the three games in the most recent non-exhibition games between New York and L.A.

So the looming series out in Los Angeles has a lot more behind it than just the reunion between the Yankees and their former manager Joe Torre and nemesis Manny Ramirez.

Overall this years interleague slate for the Yankees has been interesting and challenging, and you can expect nothing less form the final two series against old NL rivals.

The 2009 Bullpen in Historical and Statistical Perspective

Following up on my comparison between the terrific 2009 rotation with those of the late 1990s, this post assesses the sterling 2009 bullpen and gauges its performance along side the late 1990s dynasty. As with the rotation, the 2009 bullpen compares rather favorably with most years, including the tremendous 1998 team. As with last week’s post, I maintained a similar criteria with a couple important addenda: saves, which to a degree are overrated (see Joe Borowski’s and Todd Jones’s respective numbers for further elucidation, two players for whom sabermetricians ought to invent a category I’ve dubbed the NBS, the Nearly-Blown Save); and batting average against (BAA). The latter especially complements the seminal WHIP statistic to illustrate bullpen effectiveness in keeping batters faced off the bases, for relievers, unlike starters, frequently start stints with inherited runners. They’re not just trying to get batters out but often to stanch rallies.

Year	W-L & Rank (by %)	ERA & Rank	IP & Rank	K/9 & Rank	WHIP & Rank	Saves & Rank	BAA & Rank
2009	40-17 (2)	3.91 (4)	515 (2)	8.4 (2)	1.250 (1)	51 (T-2)	.231 (1)
1996	25-21 (5)	4.10 (5)	518 1/3 (1)	8.8 (1)	1.385 (5)	52 (1)	.251 (4)
1997	24-24 (6)	3.22 (1)	450 1/3 (4)	7.8 (3)	1.339 (4)	51 (T-2)	.243 (2)
1998	28-9 (1)	3.76 (2)	395 1/3 (6)	5.9 (6)	1.293 (2)	48 (5)	.252 (5)
1999	27-14 (3)	3.77 (3)	437 (5)	6.9 (5)	1.309 (3)	50 (4)	.247 (3)
2000	22-16 (4)	4.52 (6)	459 2/3 (3)	7.0 (4)	1.447 (6)	40 (6)	.257 (6)

Why 2009’s bullpen is the best of the bunch: Based on the above criteria, the 2009 Yankees stand out as the strongest, most consistent bullpen. They did the best job keeping batters off the bases (WHIP and BAA), had strong strikeout ability, played a bigger role in the decisions than their predecessors with 40 wins, and had a good ERA (fifth-best in the AL) despite logging 515 innings—far more than any of the rest except the 1996 championship team. In sum, they delivered great results despite the fact that more was asked of them than most other teams. Stocked with the steadily great Mariano Rivera (3-3, 1.76 ERA, 66 1/3 IP, 0.905 WHIP, 9.8 K/9, 44 saves), the 2009 Yankees also sported a top-notch set-up man in Phil Hughes who, after starting 7 games, shifted to the bullpen and blew batters away at a rate reminiscent of Joba Chamberlain in 2007 (12.8 K/9). Realizing a precipitous jump in his fastball’s velocity into the 95-96 range, Hughes fanned batters at a rate of 11.4 K/9 with a WHIP of 0.857 in 51 1/3 IP as a reliever, proving unhittable for long stretches (31 hits allowed).  Particularly tough on righties (.184 BAA/.235 OBP), Hughes at times struggled against lefties, allowing a considerably higher batting (.257) and OBP (.348). He was hard hit in the playoffs as well. But overall, he made Yankees fans quickly forget injured and often inconsistent set-up man Brian Bruney with his outstanding work.

In addition to the dynamic duo of Mariano and Hughes, the Yankees had a deep bullpen last season. Phil Coke was traded to Detroit in the three-way deal that brought Curtis Granderson to The Bronx, and had his struggles down the stretch, limping into post-season baseball with a 4-3 record but an inflated 4.50 ERA with 10 homers allowed, tied for the most among Yankee relievers. Yet it is important to remember that, for several months, Coke was not just the only viable lefty bullpen option, but a very good one at that. With Damaso Marte shelved with a sore shoulder, Coke was very good through June and July before struggling through a brutal August (2-0, 11.17 ERA, 1.655 WHIP, .308 BAA), the one reliable lefty reliever for most of the year. Marte will need to fill Coke’s shoes to round out the 2010 bullpen. Coke was aggressive, challenging batters on both sides of the plate by using both sides of the plate to keep them off the bases.

As I discussed in his 2010 preview, Alfredo Aceves was tremendous, going 10-1 with a good 3.54 ERA and an outstanding 1.012 WHIP. Crucially, Ace was excellent against both lefties (.212) and righties (.228), and his capacity to work multiple innings was reminiscent of Ramiro Mendoza. David Robertson also provided solid relief (2-1, 3.30 ERA, 1.351 WHIP), and his sneaky-fast fastball and sick yakker allowed him to fan a phenomenal 63 in just 43 2/3 IP (13.0 K/9). Robertson was never more clutch than his amazing escape act in the top of the 11^th of Game 2 of the ALDS. After allowing a single to Cuddyer to load the bases with no outs, Robertson set down Young, Gomez, and Harris to keep the game tied at three, before Mark Teixeira crushed a laser to left for the game-winner homer to lead off the bottom of the 11^th.  He has lots of promise, and should see considerable action setting up for Mariano.

It is important to remember the particular conditions under which the ’09 pen labored—an entirely ineffective and eventually injured Chien-Ming Wang, two young starters in Chamberlain and Hughes, and at times brief stints from fill-ins Sergio Mitre and Chad Gaudin—all of whom combined to leave the back end of the rotation in a state of flux for most of the season. The result, from ineffectiveness, injury, and innings caps, was a much heavier workload than one would wish. Yet they thrived under such conditions—for the second year in a row, for the ’08 bullpen was also a strength of the underachieving ’08 Yanks (logging an astronomical 543 1/3 IP, second in the AL, sporting an AL-best 8.7 K/9, a 3.79 ERA, the third-best BAA at .235 and WHIP at 1.270). That certainly carried over to last season, albeit with some players in more prominent roles, especially Hughes, Robertson, and Coke.

Why 1997 ranks second: Anchored by Mariano (6-4, 1.88 ERA, 43 saves, 1.186 WHIP)—as the Yankees’ bullpens have been since 1996—the ’97 Yankees also had the ever-flexible Mendoza (8-6, 4.24 ERA, 1.384 WHIP in 133 2/3 IP starting and relieving), and a tough slew of set-up men in sidewinder Jeff Nelson (3-7, 2.86 ERA, 1.144 WHIP, 9.3 K/9 in 77 games), and the lefty tandem of Mike Stanton (6-1, 2.56 ERA, 1.260 WHIP, 9.5 K/9 in 64 games) and Graeme (“The Albatross,” courtesy of my boy Frank the Sage) Lloyd (1-1, 3.31 ERA, 1.531 WHIP). Although they sported the worst winning percentage of the lot (.500), they had the best ERA (3.22), the second-best BAA (.243), and the third-best K/9 ratio (7.8). They were a tough, well-rounded group that didn’t yield much to opponents.

Commonalities of Greatness

Mariano: It is simply impossible to over-estimate how central Mariano has been to the Yankees’ success by anchoring the bullpen; all else flows from him. Good set-up work means all the more for the Yankees, for Mariano is as close to a sure thing among closers as there has ever been, or will be. He has for the most part remained healthy, and has been consistently great year in and year out—actually lowering his career ERA and WHIP with great and efficient work in the last decade. Thus, the essential ingredient of the bullpen for the Yankees hasn’t changed one whit for 15 seasons now. That’s an incredible privilege.

The K: Unlike with my comparative assessment of the rotations, in which I somewhat diverged from Tom Verducci’s emphasis on the K from alpha starters, the ability of relievers to fan batters in late innings has been fundamental to the Yankees’ success—and I wholeheartedly approve. While regular reader smurfy made a very good comment on the prior (starters) post about ground balls and double-plays over the K with which I agreed, there is a particular value to having good-morning, good-afternoon, and good-night hardball throwers out of the pen, especially since they often enter and must escape jams. The K is a great solution, the ultimate equalizer for relievers. Many of these championship teams, and the best bullpens from those years, could do just that and at a prodigious rate.

Preventing Overwork: This is important for particular players but also for the unit. Joe Girardi has proven far more adept at apportioning relief work than his eventual Hall-of-Fame predecessor, Joe Torre. Girardi has illustrated his gift for detailed preparation for games and players by employing a system with Dave Eiland in which each reliever’s work is charted on index cards, preventing pitchers from being worked into the ground.  This also has its roots in Girardi displaying trust in more and younger relievers than Torre did, with the beneficial result of cultivating and utilizing the considerable depth the Yankees have stockpiled in recent years.

Depth and Flexibility: Related to this approach and the organization’s wealth of pitching talent, this has rendered parts of middle relief interchangeable, with middle relievers who did not perform, such as Jose Veras, Edwar Ramirez, and Jonathan Albaladejo shifted out in favor of Hughes, Robertson, and Coke last year. Despite his renowned reticence about young relievers, Torre too sported and used his depth, with Nelson, Mendoza, Stanton, and for a couple years Lloyd proving very reliable as well as durable. The ability to shorten games has been a Yankees formula for success in no small part because of Torre and how he used his bullpen talent.

They also had players who could work multiple innings (Aceves more recently, Mendoza during the dynasty), and at least one effective lefty who wasn’t just a LOOGY (Coke in ’09, Stanton and Lloyd in the late 1990s).

For 2010, the Yankees’ bullpen would be well served by having its innings cut considerably from the last two years which, combined, saw them log 1,058 1/3 IP. That’s a lot, has ranked the Yanks second and fifth in 2008 and 2009, respectively, and is pushing the envelope of the unit regardless of Girardi’s workload management and overall trust. It would also stay strong should Marte fill Coke’s shoes, especially with a comparable WHIP to Coke’s stellar 1.067—an illustration of the importance of WHIP, which helps explain his effectiveness despite a somewhat high 4.50 ERA. Robertson’s continued development into a strong set-up man with strikeout ability would also put the Yanks in good stead, as would Mark Melancon doing in ’10 what Robertson did in ’09—add depth in middle relief and fan batters with a good fastball and curve. Whoever is not the fifth starter between Hughes and Joba, presumably the primary set-up man for Mariano, needs to keep up the good, aggressive work. With these developments, good health, and of course the greatest of all time lurking and waiting for his Metallica serenade, the Yankees should continue to sport one of the best bullpens in the majors.

Assessing the 2009 Yankees Rotation in Historical, Championship Perspective

Peter Menking has done a terrific job breaking down the current rotation, including today’s post on Joba Chamberlain, to provide readers with a good glimpse into what they may expect from a strong 2010 rotation. In turn, I figured a look back at last year’s championship staff would allow a worthwhile comparison between last season and the impending one, as well as a comparative glance back to the great Yankees dynasty of the late 1990s. In the process, this approach illustrates not only that last year’s pitching was excellent and a crucial element on the road to the World Series, but also that the 2009 staff, most of whom returns in bolstered form for 2010, compares rather favorably in many ways to the great late ‘90s teams.

Some notes on methodology: I utilized a rubric from a post last year at The Heartland, modified from Tom Verducci and Joe Torre’s The Yankee Years. In it (p. 460) Verducci charts pitchers’ W-L, ERA, innings pitched, and K/9 ratio for the Yankee starters from 2001-2007 to contend that as the decade wound on, the Yankees lacked dominant “alpha” starters with strikeout ability, costing them particularly in the playoffs.  I used this then, with some alterations, to compare the 2001-2007 non-championship years to the late 1990s dynasty to illustrate the excellence, reliability, and strikeout-ability especially among alpha starters during the dynasty, and express hope that last year’s team would replicate the dynasty rather than the pretenders of the interregnum, which they sure did. I added two important subcategories—replacement player statistics and WHIP.

Parsing primary from replacement starters provides a more nuanced comparison that confirms but also partially refutes Verducci’s primary premise—that rotations with “alpha” strikeout starters and multiple aces propel teams on championship runs. WHIP and replacement starter categories assess the vital area of rotation depth and to what degree it has determined success, and their overall quality and efficiency with WHIP—to me a seminal statistic.

I categorized as primary starters those who began the season barring injury, being the presumed or career starters, and returning from injury (e.g., David Cone in 1996). Importantly, I broke down last year’s primary starters to both include and exclude Chien-Ming Wang, for his statistics were so anomalous with the rest of his career and, frankly, with what any serviceable starter would provide. This revealed further just how good last year’s staff was despite Wang’s immense struggles, as I will discuss later.

Below are the charts. The first is last year’s primary starters (P), with the number of starts in parentheses. The second chart contains the 2009 replacement pitchers (R), and again the starts following parenthetically. The third compares last year’s primary and replacement statistics with their predecessors from 1996-2000, with the ranks in bold; primary first, then replacement, with primary ranked against primary and replacement against replacement. For the replacement starters, I inverted the rankings for IP from the primary to the replacement starters; that is, for primary starters, pitching more innings ranked that year’s staff higher. For replacement starters, pitching more innings that season ranked them lower. This was to treat as more valuable, comparatively, those staffs that logged more innings, and to devalue those that, for injury or inefficiency, did not and thrust more of the workload onto replacements.

2009 Primary (P)	W-L	ERA	IP	K/9	WHIP
Sabathia (#34)	19-8	3.37	230	7.7	1.148
Burnett (#33)	13-9	4.04	207	8.5	1.401
Pettite (#32)	14-8	4.16	194 2/3	6.8	1.382
Chamberlain (#31)	9-6	4.78	156 1/3	7.6	1.554
Wang (#9)	1-6	11.38	34	5.8	2.176
TOTAL w/Wang (#139)	56-37	4.33	822	7.6	1.387
TOTAL (without Wang) (#130)	55-31	4.02	788	7.7	1.353

2009 Replacement	W-L	ERA	IP	K/9	WHIP
Hughes (#7)	3-2	5.45	34 2/3	8.9	1.500
Aceves (#1)	0-0	8.10	3 1/3	5.4	1.500
Mitre (#9)	3-3	7.16	44	5.5	1.750
Gaudin (#6)	1-0	3.19	31	6.7	1.387
TOTAL (#23)	7-5	5.58	113	6.6	1.566

Season & # Starts	W-L, % & Rank	ERA & Rank	IP & Rank	K/9 & Rank	WHIP & Rank
1996 P (#134)	62-36 .633 (4)	4.38 (5)	809 (5)	6.3 (6)	1.397 (5)
1996 R (#28)	5-13 .278 (6)	9.11 (6)	112 2/3 (2)	5.4 (4)	2.050 (6)
1997 P (#137)	61-34 .642 (2)	3.91 (2)	879 1/3 (3)	6.9 (4)	1.339 (2)
1997 R (#25)	11-8 .579 (4)	5.48 (4)	138 (6)	6.9 (1)	1.558 (4)
1998 P (#142)	79-35 .693 (1)	3.72 (1)	947 1/3 (1)	7.3 (2)	1.230 (1)
1998 R (#20)	7-4 .636 (1)	4.98 (2)	114 (4)	4.0 (6)	1.333 (1)
1999 P (#152)	68-46 .596 (5)	4.31 (4)	945 (2)	7.0 (3)	1.394 (4)
1999 R (#10)	3-4 .429 (5)	4.93 (1)	57 2/3 (1)	6.1 (3)	1.526 (3)
2000 P (#137)	55-51 .519 (6)	4.80 (6)	849 (4)	6.7 (5)	1.409 (6)
2000 R (#24)	10-7 .588 (2)	5.37 (3)	115 2/3 (5)	4.1 (5)	1.504 (2)
2009 P (w/out Wang) (#130; w/Wang in italics, 139)	55-31 .640 (3) 56-37 .602 (4)	4.02 (3) 4.33 (4)	788 (6) 822 (5)	7.7 (1) 7.6 (1)	1.353 (3) 1.387 (3)
2009 R (#23)	7-5 .583 (3)	5.58 (5)	113 (3)	6.6 (2)	1.566 (5)

Why 1998 tops all: The best and deepest staff of these championship teams, 1998 leads more categories than any other. Cone (20-7, 3.55 ERA, 207 2/3 IP), Andy Pettite (16-11, 4.30 ERA, 213 1/3 IP), and David Wells (18-4, 3.49 ERA, 214 1/3 IP) started at least 30 games and threw over 200 innings, while El Duque Hernandez’s ascendancy to alpha (12-4, 3.13 ERA, 1.170 WHIP, the great Game 4 ALCS gem in Cleveland) moved Ramiro Mendoza (10-2 overall/6-1, 3.87, 1.155 WHIP as starter) back to the bullpen, where he spent much of his career (and is why, despite starting the season in the rotation, is slotted as “replacement” here statistically). Loaded with pitching studs, they also had the best run differential (1.91/game) since the equally great 1939 Yankees (a whopping 2.72/game), and an AL-leading ERA+ of 116.

Despite not being a championship team, 1997 exhibited great pitching numbers, had many of the same pitchers from before and after (Pettite, Cone, Wells, Kenny Rogers, Doc Gooden, Mendoza who started 15 of those 25 replacement starts, and Irabu), with Pettite (18-7, 2.88 ERA, 240 1/3 IP) and Cone (12-6, 2.82 ERA, 195 IP, 10.2 K/9) anchoring the staff.

Last year’s rotation ranks very closely behind 1997, to me.  C.C. Sabathia was a genuine ace, going at least 7 innings in 13 of the first 14 starts after the All-Star break to become a flat-out horse, flirting with no-no’s twice against Boston, and dominating in a great playoff run. A.J. Burnett was inconsistent but at times dominant, at his best in that great, 2-0, 15-inning classic August 7 Bronx duel versus Josh Beckett, and Game 2 of the Series. Lefty gained momentum in the second half and clinched all three post-season series with wins at age 37. Joba became shakier as his work became irregular, but had flashes of brilliance, built up innings, took the ball regularly, and has a strong shot to start in 2010. Even with Wang’s historically abysmal starts, the rotation was still very good. Four starters made 30+ starts, something only the ’99 Yanks did, and the ’09 Yanks’ staff was overall superior to 1999’s.

Had Wang thrown just 160 innings—slightly more than Joba did under limitations last season—the ’09 Yankees’ primary starters would have logged more innings than any 1996-2000 rotation. Joba may have been inconsistent, but he, C.C., A.J., and Pettite threw more innings (788) than the top four starters in any rotation from 1996-2000 except 1998 (806 1/3)–with Joba’s work limited. That’s impressive and attests to their excellence and, just as important, durability. Among last year’s replacements, Chad Gaudin was fairly good, Phil Hughes decent before shining in set-up duty, and Sergio Mitre often painful but no more so than Hideki Irabu in ‘97 (5-3, 7.01 ERA, 1.672 WHIP in 43 2/3 IP).

Common characteristics of these terrific teams:

Durability: Most if not all teams had several starters log 28-34 starts and a few from 180-220 innings, if not more. Even the ’96 team had a strong and mostly consistent rotation, with Cone making only 11 starts after a career-threatening aneurysm. Torre had to cobble together starts with young, inexperienced replacements in David Weathers (0-2, 14.81 ERA), Scott Kameniecki (1-2, 13.50 ERA), Mendoza (3-5, 7.35 ERA), off-setting an otherwise strong primary starter performance that year. Overall, they reduced the need to rely on replacements who, other than a maturing, unusually flexible and dependable Mendoza, were usually filler. Great and good pitchers took the ball every fifth day and, more often than not, were healthy.

Out Efficiency: Here is where I differ somewhat from Verducci’s emphasis on the “alpha” strikeout ability. Yes, it mattered much on last year’s team, from the primary to the secondary starters to, as I will show in my next post, the superb bullpen—more than any team from 1996-2000. Yes it helped especially against the Angels and Phillies. Yet Verducci’s focus on 2001-2007 elides the fact that, except for 1998, the late 1990s teams relied far less on the K than the 2001 (7.79 K/9) and 2002 (7.32 K/9) teams. The 1998 team’s primary starters had a strong K/9 at 7.3, but it was also efficiency that won for them and other teams. The 1998 team had the lowest BAA in the AL (.247) yet was 10^th in GIDP induced (118). Not just the K’s, but the combination of strikeout ability and reducing hits and walks, is what matters. In this, Verducci overlooks how plenty of pitchers during these years—Wells in 1998 (6.8 K/9, 1.045 WHIP), Irabu in 1998 (Yes, even Irabu—6.5 K/9, 1.287 WHIP yet didn’t throw a post-season pitch), Pettite in 1997 (6.2 K/9, 1.240 WHIP), El Duque in 2000 (6.5 K/9, 1.211 WHIP)—were good (Irabu) or alpha starters (the others) without just being strikeout artists. Their K/9 ratios hovered near the 6.55 of the 2004 staff that had a 4.82 ERA, and the 6.91 K/9 that the 2003 starters had—that middle stretch when Verducci says the Yanks needed strikeout pitchers. The championship staffs got batters out every which way, not just with the K.

Depth, But Not Overexposed: The horses took the ball, with the late 1990s teams exceedingly reliant on Mendoza for spot starts without relying much on other young, usually inferior pitchers. Last year, the Yanks needed Mitre for just 9 starts, not the 15 that Sidney Ponson threw in 2008 (4-4, 5.85 ERA, 1.638 WHIP), or the 20 from Darrell Rasner in ’08 (5-10, 5.40 ERA, 1.535 ERA), or a not-ready-for-prime time Ian Kennedy for 9 (0-4, 8.17 ERA, 1.916 WHIP). The more inferior (for youth, inexperience, or narrow margin for error) pitching gets seen, the greater the chances it gets hit. Rasner’s first six starts of ’08 were good, most of the rest were subpar to poor, and he wasn’t accustomed to that much work at that level. Last year, the Yanks’ four best made 80% of their starts, paralleling the results especially from 1997-1999—and the championships of the latter two.

One championship does not a dynasty make. Yet with C.C., A.J., and Pettite returning, Vazquez the #4, and Joba or Hughes the fifth starter, the Yankees have more than enough talent to contend for a second straight title after an outstanding 2009 run. C.C. has historically been durable (223 innings over his career, 162-game average). To me, A.J. is the linchpin. The last two seasons are the only two back-to-back 200-inning seasons of his career. When he pitches, he is usually very good, sometimes dominant. Can he stay healthy, reduce the walks and homers, and improve upon last year’s 13-9, 4.04? Can Pettite, turning 38 in June, continue to defy age? Given their stacked offense (915 runs in ’09), if the rotation stays healthy and makes outs efficiently—if they provide the continuity and perennial excellence that the late 1990s pitchers did—the 2010 Yankees have an excellent chance to repeat.

The Yankee Years – A Book Review

The Book: The Yankee Years

The Author: Joe Torre and Tom Verducci

Rating: a preferred read, 4-out-of-5

Published by: Doubleday in 2009

This book is not quite Joe Torre’s memior. His voice is heard throughout the book, but Tom Verducci conducted lots of interviews of players that played under Torre as well as throughout the rest of the league. The story told is about Torre’s relationship with the Yankees from the mid-nineties when he was hired up until just after the Yankees lost the 2007 ALDS to the Indians.

To say the book came out to a flurry of press both good and bad would be an understatement. With the help of the NY Post and the Daily News this book was almost infamous before it even hit the shelves. Despite the media’s focus on the gossip, it is a well written tale that is not just a typical behind the scenes look at the team. It also documents the shift in baseball over the years and how the Yankees were slow to adjust

It also documents the shift in baseball and the Yankees that took place from the late nineties to the 21st century. Baseball was a changing world and neither the Yankees nor Joe Torre were quite ready for the statistical revolution the sport was undergoing. Verducci often compares the Yankees to the Red Sox especially as he is detailing the 2003 and 2004 playoffs where the two teams faced head-to-head in the ALCS twice.

The importance on statistics is not the only shift this book sees, Torre reminisces about the late 90’s teams like they were gods often talking about their “desperation to win” and once the team shifted so did the attitude of George Steinbrenner and Torre’s relationship with the team. Torre never really connected with some of those teams post-2001 and it shows throughout this book.

The second half is really where the gossip starts, as optimistic as the first part of the book was – the second half of this book can get pretty underhanded. From Torre revealing that teammates called Alex Rodriguez “A-Fraud” behind his back, to players problems with Carl Pavano, to dealing with a surly Kevin Brown and his tantrums. Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing that most fans who followed the Yankees everyday didn’t know and there is nothing too horrible, but there is a dramatic mood shift.

The book ends as Torre and Verducci outline exactly how Torre’s relationship with the team split with the final nail seeming to be Torre listing the trust of Brian Cashman. Obviously it takes a very pro-Torre side of the issue. This is going to be the only part that some anti-Torre people might have a hard time getting through.

I’ve always been a Torre fan though I personally felt that while he was still a good manager he wasn’t a good fit for the team anymore. A change was good. That’s why the end was odd for me. Torre was clearly having a harder time dealing with the team in the later years especially with George Steinbrenner starting to take a backseat in the organization. Yet, he is almost attacking the team for not offering him a second year of a contract after 2007. Why deal with everything with such bitterness?

Overall this is a really good book though. Fans should read this book, especially newer fans who weren’t paying attention to the team in the 90’s. This is a pretty unique behind the scenes look at that team that might give you a real appreciation for what the team went through including why the Yankees were able to win despite Steinbrenner and the trades that were and almost were that put those dynasty teams together. Finally it tells you how it all fell apart.

2011 Will Be Joe Torre's Last

According to Bob Nightengale of the USA Today, former Yankee manager Joe Torre has told him 2011, a year in which he is not under contract with the Dodgers, will be the final one of his career.

Two things to keep in mind here. It is weird that he would announce his intentions to retire two seasons before the fact especially when he is not under contract for one of those seasons. The other is that we’ve heard this in the past, once when he had cancer in the 90’s and another time when George Steinbrenner started heavily criticizing him after losing the World Series to the Florida Marlins in 2003.

So it’s safe to say that this is not etched in stone. Torre is getting on in age though, he’ll be 70 years-old this summer, so it should be said that he will walk away sometime soon. He is probably a pretty decent candidate to make the Hall of Fame at this point so he might want to consider stepping away with enough time to actually see himself make the Hall.

Torre left the Yankees after they were beaten by the Cleveland Indians in the 2007 ALDS and signed a three year deal worth $13 million to manage the Dodgers. In his first year managing the Dodgers, they made the playoffs despite their mediocre 84-78 record and failed to win the pennant. Last season the Dodgers finished 95-67, but again failed to take the NL pennant.

Torre on Pettitte: I Don’t Think So

All season Andy Pettitte said it was Yankees or retirement in 2009 until reports surfaced that the lefty could take his act to Hollywood.

Joe Torre doesn’t think that’s going to happen.

“I talked to Andy,” Torre said. “His agent had called the Dodgers to find out about interest, and that’s when I called him. I had talked to Andy much earlier, asking him to come to my (Safe at Home) Foundation dinner. He was always married to the Yankees, the excitement playing for the Yankees.

“I called him only because his agent called (Dodgers’ GM) Ned (Colletti). I certainly would’ve kicked myself (if I hadn’t called). He never said no to anything, but just from talking to him, I know the Yankees are his first choice. I wasn’t about to talk him out it, knowing Andy like I do.”

Torre has always been a good recruiter so he probably has a good feel for where players want to end up. That’s probably especially true in this case because Torre managed Pettitte for so many years.

It seems like it was likely a ploy by Pettitte’s agent in order to get the Yankees to offer the lefty arbitration thus keeping him from taking a pay cut. Now that he was not offered arbitration he is a more attractive free agent, but no offers have come his way. Not even from Los Angeles.

Could Torre Have Gotten Sabathia?

Less than a week ago I ranted about the Yankees not doing enough to woo coveted lefty CC Sabathia and now others have started to catch on.

Richard Justice of the Sporting News thinks the problem isn’t with general manager Brian Cashman, but instead with the absence of former manager Joe Torre. Justice may be on to something.

In the eighties the Yankees had trouble getting some of the top talent in the draft because players didn’t think all the attention was really worth it. In the early nineties the Yankees even lost a bidding war over Greg Maddux to the Atlanta Braves partially because Maddux didn’t feel like New York was right for him.

Then under Torre things changed. As Justice points out he was even able to talk Mike Mussina, who had formally sworn that there was no chance of him becoming a Yankee, into coming to the Bronx. He took him on a personal tour of the area and made sure that he realized there would be no club house issues.

Today there is nobody to do that unless you count LeBron James. Even Derek Jeter said that he had talked with Sabathia on the phone recently, but denied that the conversation was a recruitment call like somehow that was a bad thing.

Once again I’m putting the call out there, the Yankees need to step up their game when it comes to wooing the hefty lefty. They’ve already made $140 million offer and just merely increase that might not be enough. They have to go out there and let Sabathia know just how important his arm will be in the Bronx.

Theo Epstein would have done it and Joe Torre probably would have too. Cashman and Joe Girardi have been mostly absent here and that worries me.