Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Boone Logan's Deceptively Down 2013

(Courtesy of Getty Images)

(Originally published at IIATMS/TYA)

At first glance, it appears as though Boone Logan is having a career year in 2013, the type of season that could and should get him a very good offer from a team or 2 after this season.  No longer being run out there a million times a week by Joe, Logan has put up new career bests in ERA (2.15), K rates (32.4%, 11.97/9), and BB rates (5.8%, 2.15/9) in 29.1 IP over 44 appearances, and his 3.31 FIP is just off his career high set in 2011.  By all general accounts, Logan is putting together another very good and slightly underappreciated season.

The Straight Up Most Ridiculous Anti-A-Rod Article I've Ever Read In My Life

I knew this was coming.  I predicted it.  But even I couldn't predict something of this magnitude, especially from someone who seems to be a relative nobody in the Yankee MSM world.

/says the guy with the most generic-looking blog template out there and no Twitter account

Jason Keidel of CBS NY just put himself on the map with his Alex Rodriguez smear article last night.  I'm talking in a big way.  I don't know what it takes to get into the NY media secret society with the Lupicas and Maddens and Marchands of the world, but I have to think after a piece like this Keidel is well on his way to getting an invite to a future society function.  The dude clearly has what it takes to hang with the big boys in the A-Rod bashing world, almost Mike Trout-like in just his raw, A-Rod bashing tools.  I'm actually going to link to this because it really does need to be read in its entirety to get a full appreciation for how over-the-top and ridiculous it is, but after the jump I'll tackle the highlights.

A Strict "On Field Only" Analysis Of A-Rod's First Game Back

(Courtesy of Getty Images)

It may have slipped past you yesterday, what with ESPN and the rest of the MSM completely ignoring the story, but Alex Rodriguez actually made his 2013 season debut last night.  The collection of circumstances surrounding that debut are their own topic of conversation, and one every other MSM outlet seems to be covering just fine.  For the purposes of this post, what you think about A-Rod as a person and whether you think he deserves to be on the field is irrelevant.  He is on the field, it looks like he'll be eligible to be for the rest of this season, and the Yankees can definitely use him.  Focusing strictly on what he did on the field last night, here's what I thought about Alex's first game back.

Kuroda, Nova, And Pray For Rain

It's been 1 turn through the rotation since I wrote my post calling out the Yankee rotation for its downward trend in July.  In that last turn, here's how the results broke down:

- Kuroda/Nova: 14 IP, 9 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 16 K

- CC/Hughes/Andy: 11 IP, 28 H, 17 R (all earned), 7 BB, 9 K

Hiroki Kuroda and Ivan Nova pitched near identical gems just 2 days apart, holding their opponents scoreless and yet they only came up with 1 win even though they deserved 2.  The other 3 combined for a 13.91 ERA and 3.18 WHIP in fewer total innings than Kuroda and Nova pitched, and each got the loss they undoubtedly deserved.  Obviously wins and losses are far from the best way to judge pitching performance, but when it's the kind of performances shown above they're more than accurate.  That's not night and day, it's night on the darkest side of the moon versus day on the surface of the sun.

It's hard for a team, any team, to stay competitive when 60% of its starting rotation is pitching this poorly.  It's even harder for a team to stay competitive in that situation when its offense is as weak as the Yankees still is.  They're now 6-10 since the ASB, the worst record in MLB.  It's not hard to understand why.

Game 111 Wrap-Up: CHW 8 NYY 1

(Courtesy of the AP)

Alex Rodriguez Alex Rodriguez Alex Rodriguez Alex Rodriguez Alex Rodriguez steroids steroids steroids Biogenesis suspensions appeals suspensions appeals suspensions appeals Alex Rodriguez Alex Rodriguez Bioigenesis.  That was basically the story in the baseball world yesterday, but for a few hours around 7 PM Central time that took a backseat to the actual game on the field, a game that A-Rod was playing in and batting cleanup.  A name that did not appear on the lineup card was Derek Jeter's, as he was put on the DL for the umpteenth time this season for his calf strain.  With the spotlight solely on him, A-Rod had a quiet first game back as the Yankees went down in even quieter fashion.

Game Notes:

- Andy Pettitte did his best to take some of the focus off A-Rod with a BABIP luck-aided 3-run bottom of the 1st.  Aided or not, it was another poor 1st inning for Andy, who set a new Yankee record by giving up a 1st inning run for the 7th straight start.

- A-Rod stepped in to mostly boos to lead off the 2nd, and after taking 2 balls he swung at a ball in and blooped it into left field for a single.  It wasn't much, but it was a hit and A-Rod's 2013 was off and running.  Naturally, the team still failed to score on a 2nd and 3rd and nobody out situation.

- There was nothing fake about the beating the White Sox put on Andy in the next 2 innings.  A lot of runs, a lot of hard contact, and no 2-strike location from Pettitte, who had 7 runs tallied against him on 11 hits in just 2.2 innings before hitting the showers.

- Really nice job by Jose Quintana, who held the Yankees scoreless through 6+ innings before finally surrendering a single one on a Brett Garder sac fly in the 7th.  One more former pitching prospect finding success elsewhere.

- Nice job by the bullpen, giving up just 1 more run in 5+ innings of relief of Pettitte, even if Preston Claiborne and Shawn Kelley really had to work to avoid major damage.  At least Joe didn't have to burn D-Rob or Mo.

- A-Rod hit a few deep flyballs in his next 2 ABs before striking out looking in his final at-bat in the 8th.  Final line 1-4 with a single and a few plays at third base.