Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press
If you’ve been married for any length of time, you know you have to choose your battles. You rent the romantic comedy instead of the Tarantino flick, you hang the picture in the hallway during halftime of the football game, and you smile when she asks to share your dessert. You have to draw the line somewhere, though, and it seems like most of us take our stand with the comfort items. It could be a beat up chair, a worn pair of jeans, or an old pair of shoes.
Andy Pettitte is an old pair of shoes. He’s been doing this so long that it’s expected and surprising all at the same time. Sure, the stubble on the jaw is a gun-metal grey now, and his three-year business trip to Houston kind of puts an asterisk on Michael Kay’s constant references to the Core Four, but this is still Andy Pettitte. So when he rattled off eight effective innings on Sunday afternoon in the Bronx, Pettitte looked just like the guy we saw back in 2009 or 2003 or 1996.
He allowed two runs in the third inning on a single, a sacrifice, a double, and another single, but he was coldly effective the rest of the way. He walked Ryan Garko with one out in the fourth, then settled in to retire the next twelve Texas hitters, highlighted by the sixth and seventh innings when he needed only fifteen pitches total to record the six outs.
On the other side of the efficiency coin was Texas starter Rich Harden. Harden’s been on my fantasy team for the past couple seasons, so I’ve seen this game about a thousand times. His stuff is great, far better than Pettitte’s, so he was able to strike out five hitters in only three and two-thirds innings, but the the problem was that he also gave up six walks and five base hits. The strikeouts and walks would naturally lead to a high pitch count, but here’s a hidden stat that doomed Harden: Yankee hitters fouled off 22 of his pitches; Ranger batters managed only three foul balls during Pettitte’s eight innings.
Meanwhile, the Yankees cobbled together five runs with a sacrifice fly here, a bloop single there, and a couple of home runs, only one of which is interesting enough to talk about here. The struggling Mark Teixeira hit his first home run of the season, and as he rounded the bases in his usual high-stepping trot, looking like a man running through three feet of snow, I wondered if he might finally be coming around. I know we all know that Teixeira starts slowly, but just as a reminder, I looked it up. Take a look at where he was on the morning of April 19th in each the past several years. (And to make you feel better, I’ve included his finishing slash stats as well.)
2003: .149/.216/.298 — .259/.331/.480
2004: Injured in April — .281/.370/.560
2005: .224/.308/.397 — .301/.379/.575
2006: .321/.410/.528 — .282/.371/.514
2007: .204/.339/.224 — .306/.400/.563
2008: .203/.282/.375 — .308/.410/.552
2009: .194/.333/.548 — .292/.383/.565
2010: .114/.291/.205 — ????/????/????
The numbers don’t lie. Sooner or later, he’ll be fine. The hitters say that sometimes one swing is all it takes to find what’s been missing; here’s hoping that Big Tex has found it. But back to our game…
Everything ended when another pair of comfortable shoes, Mariano Rivera, trotted in from the dugout and closed things out with a spotless ninth inning. Yankees 5, Rangers 2. As noted everywhere, the Yanks have won their first four series, the first time that’s happened since 1926, and all is happy in the Bronx.
Nice, Hank.
Only I'd probably rather see the romantic comedy, myself. Is it a Billy Wilder?
Tell me... if Moose re-signs in 2009, do the Yanks still go after Andy? AJ? Both Joba and Phil in the BP? My gut says if Moose were in, Andy would be out.
"Spotless???"
Mo was *sublime!* Two backwards Ks, one inside, one outside!
Better than spotless: awesome.
That's my favorite picture of Pettitte. Larry Roibal does one of his great drawings of that pose. Andy's aw-shucks manner is the antithesis of his warrior-like stance, like watching a kung fu artist doing drunken master technique (or the opposite).
I thought his back-door strikes were lethal yesterday. They were literally plunking into the strike zone much to the consternation of the frozen hitters looking to extend their at-bats.
I agree that Pettitte is a keeper, but unlike a pair of old worn-out shoes, he can actually offer some support. He's matured into quite the veteran.
I go with Tarantino.
Will Andy pitch next year? I think if the Yankees play in WS, he might. I think if the Yankees Win the WS, he will (albeit, on a lesser 1 yr contract).
Tim Lincecum has driven in more runs than he's given up so far this season (20 innings). His WAR is 1.0 already, but that's only good for second place among pitchers (CC is tied for third).
[5] So many ifs. The season is a long one. All I can say is that if he continues pitching the way he is and the Yankees end up doing the post season dance, then it would be a shame if he doesn't.
I guess staying healthy is key.
And Gardner is on pace for 103 steals.
[8] Yeah, for some reason I left out my bit about Gardner. ESPN projects him to 112. Which would be, you know, a lot.
Ahh, Gardy. It all comes down to OBP. If he can get on base at a clip of .370 (or even higher)---however ugly the methods---he will get more steals than we have seen an individual Yankee get since the days of Rickey. But keeping up that OBP is the big "if". It is encouraging that he has cut down his Ks so far this season. I'm cautiously optimistic that he makes himself a real asset this season.
.370 seems unrealistic. How about .350?
Also, I haven't checked this but Rebecca reports that Cano briefly had a batting average higher than his OBP. A rarity, but Rob's just the guy to do it.
[9] I think 103 to 112 would qualify as "a whole lot." But would it be "a score-truck load?"
[10] Yes, indeed it does come down to OBP. And the sample is too small to say what Gardy's will look like this year. Between the bunting, a better eye, and better contact, he just might get on enough to get to 100.
But OBP is only one of the necessary conditions for success. The other is base stealing ability. And, by the way, that is not something you can measure with statistics (he is already high in SB%). But you can tell that he is learning quickly. Soon I hope he willstart to look like the great base stealers in that he can avoid getting picked off (yeah, not quite there yet) and steal successfully almost at will. Even if he only gets, say, 60, he will be "a real asset," as you say, because Jeter hits behind him so often.
I really love watching that kind of baseball. He is my kind of player. And I love that he is still pretty rough around the edges, both at the plate and on the bases (not in the field), because it is a real treat to watch a player develop like that. And it is something you dont' get to see a lot as a Yankees fan.
[11] I think he's a very strong candidate for .a .350 OBP. Heck, he didn't do much last season and still managed .345. In the MiL it was around .390. And yes, I'm willingly succumbing to early season fan optimism. So I say he's got a real shot at .370.
Keep slapping those grounders, Gritner!!
[13] Well, for some perspective, Ichiro has a .378 lifetime OBP. To me this makes .370 for Gritner seem unrealistic. But I'm all for April optimism!
Ohhhh. This is not shaping up to be a very good Patriot's Day for John Lackey. I feel bad. He seems like a Patriotic guy.
[14] But you saw the Ron Washington quote comparing Gardner to Ichiro, right?! LOL.
[14] Ichiro has a lifetime .378 OBP (compared to a sparkling .333 BA) because he rarely walks, something I have criticized him for in the past---but that's a discussion for another day.
Given the same amount of playing time, Gardner will walk more than Ichiro. If he can keep his BA up to closer to .300 than .270, he'll get his .370 OBP.
Cano is off to a hot start but I don't see anything different from his typical MO. He's been hot before and it's been impressive but you'd think a guy hitting .340 might get his OBP significantly above .350. It's great if he keeps hitting like this, and I guess he might but I wouldn't count on it.
And until Gardner hits the ball with some authority I'll remain skeptical. I can't see extended success for him with all his bloops and seeing eye singles. I love those annoying type players though.