Sunday, September 5, 2010

Streaking...or so they were.

Baseball, like many games, is a game of streaks. As much as we like to view streaks as “consistency” the two are really not the same, you can win 10 but then lose 9…not exactly consistent. The Yankees right now have won 8 in a row, and 8 out of their last 10. During that time the Yankees have gained 1.5 games on the Rays, have been able to keep the division lead, and have outscored their opponents by 28 runs, 57 to 29.

CC Sabathia has been the only pitcher contributing during the streak tossing 15 innings over 2 games, striking out 14, walking 4 and holding opposing teams to a .182 average. Besides CC, it's been the offense that's led the way and that starts with his battery mate, Jorge Posada. Jorge has hit to the tune of .471, finding himself on base for some pretty important runs.

Robinson Cano has contributed to the success, hitting .313 with 1 homer and 6 RBI.

To steal a line from Yankees radio announcer John Sterling, “Your on the Mark, Teixeira!” and he certainly has been. During the 8-game win streak Mark has hit .500, has an OBP of .615 and is slugging an amazing .950, not to mention he has driven in 8 and hit 2 homers…and he’s also had 3 extra base hits.

Nick Swisher, who has been battling knee issues after fouling a ball of about a week ago, has also helped the cause. Swish has hit .333 while driving in 8 and going deep twice.

The Yankees have also had help from one Marcus Thames. Thames, perhaps a surprise over the last 8, has certainly woken up and showed the power the Yankees had hoped he still had. Thames has hit 5 homers and driven in 9 but it seems as if Thames is homer or bust as his average on this stretch is only .231 and his OBP is only .028 points higher.

The Yankees looked to continue the steak with 16-6 Phil Hughes on the mound, but things didn't work out too well. Hughes wasn't sharp, and the bats took the days off. But I'm sure the will remain plenty hot and they'll start another streak tomorrow.

1 Comments:

William J. Tasker said...

Good post. I still don't blame Hughes. He WAS sharp. I fault him for being young and accepting those fastball calls from Posada on 0-2 counts when a cutter or something else would have made the difference. Bad game management from Posada. Which isn't big news.