Friday Afternoon Linkapalooza: 5/25

Memorial Day weekend.  Always a good time and this year should be no different.  I'm flying home this afternoon to join my family up at Foxboro for the NCAA lacrosse championships this weekend, which means getting buzzed in the parking lot drinking good beer with my old man and sneaking looks at college girls that I'm probably too old to even be thinking about now.  If the Rangers can pull their heads out of their asses and win tonight, there will also be some serious Game 7 viewing/boozing somewhere with one of my best friends from home.  Good times.  Onto the links!

- On Monday, George S. of Gutty Gritty Yankees, making his Linkapalooza debut, used math and logic to shoot down the MSM hand wringing over A-Rod's early lack of HR power.  What a concept!

- Rich Kaufman of NYYUniverse pointed out the lack of run support that Hiroki Kuroda has gotten so far, which is a very fair point to make.  Yes, Kuroda has been generally bad, but he also hasn't gotten the type of offensive support he probably expected going from the Dodgers to the Yankees.

- On Tuesday, William Juliano of The Captain's Blog looked at the numbers breakdown to try to get to the root cause of the Yankees' recent struggles hitting with RISP.

- Brien Jackson of IIATMS commented on the lack of Brett Gardner in the lineup and how his absence is hurting the team's production.  Who woulda thought that it was the #9 hitter who held the key to the Yankees' offensive success?

- Mustang of It Is High... posted something quick on the Yankee radio broadcast, but the only thing that really matters is the hilariously awesome screen shot of John Sterling that was used.  Good stuff.

- Mike Axisa of RAB looked into how the Yankee lineup is handling pitches in the strike zone, and the numbers suggest that problems there could be a contributing factor to the recent stagnant offense.

- On Wednesday, Steve Goldman of Pinstriped Bible mused on the team-wide issues and what kind of team the Yankees are with them as well as what kind of team they can be without them.

- Michael Augustine of Bronx Baseball Daily handed out his latest round of player grades after 42 games.  Not a lot I can argue with there.

- Frank Campagnola of Pinstripe Alley discussed the disconnect between the eye test and the numbers when it comes to Curtis Granderson's center field defense.

- Mike Eder of TYA broke down Phil Hughes' pitch selection in May to find the adjustments he's made to improve his game.

- On Thursday, Jorge Arangure Jr. wrote a piece chronicling Ivan Nova's path to the Yankee starting rotation.  Regardless of how you feel about how he's pitched this season, this is a must-read and better than anything Wallace Matthews writes.

- Fishjam25 of Yankees Fans Unite continued the Nova discussion by delving into the 2 different Novas we've seen (GB pitcher vs. K pitcher) and stating that Nova needs to find a pitching identity.

- Anthony Rushing of Yanks Go Yard commented on Phil Hughes' strong May and the need for him to be consistent.  It's something we've heard plenty of times regarding Hughes, but it still rings true.

With the Yankees on the West Coast for their first long-distance road trip of the season, it only seems fitting to go with something Cali-themed.  I've already done Biggie this year, but so the F what?  Truth be told, I've always thought this was a better song than "California Love."  There.  I said it.  I ride East Coast 'til I die.



Enjoy your long weekends, everybody.  Happy Memorial Day and go Yankees!