TwitterThis And That
26 May 2010
I know this, Nick Swisher has a OPS of over .900. He sees a lot of pitches and he can hit balls over the wall. Oh yes, he is also a switch-hitter. He’s should be the #2 hitter in the current lineup, no questions asked.
Yes, I am a Brett Gardner fan and yes, Gardner has done a lot this year. But, Gardner is not going to hit for power. Ideally, he is going to put up a line of .300/.380/.400 with 50-60 steals. That’s nothing to sneeze at and the Yankees should be thrilled if he does that. That still doesn’t make him the #2 hitter.
It’s always struck me as funny that managers have never embraced the truth about lineups- essentially, the lineup is just a way of handing out playing time. For every spot you move down the lineup, that hitter has about 20 less plate appearances over the course of a season. So, Jeter hitting first would have approximately 60 more plate appearances than A-Rod hitting fourth over the course of a year. The difference between the #2 spot and the #8 spot is 120 plate appearances.
So, it makes a lot of sense to give the "extra" 120 plate appearances to Swisher over Gardner, after all Swisher might park one. And yes, tonight he did exactly that. Using last year’s numbers, Swisher would probably hit five more dingers than Gardner would out of the #2 spot.
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Very nice to see another good appearance from Robertson. I still say he is going to be the "7th inning" guy and maybe even the 8th inning guy when Joba isn’t available. If Gaudin can come in and provide innings, I hope the Yankees consider letting Aceves try out for 7th inning guy. I bet he would be great at it.
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Russo looked pretty good again. I hope the Yankees give him an infield start tomorrow. If his glove can handle that, he should definitely stick when Granderson comes back Friday.
May 27, 2010 @ 19:16:29
That hit off Robertson’s back was pretty scary. It would be quite bad luck if just as he was starting to pitch well, that had actually really affected him and caused him to miss some time.
May 27, 2010 @ 22:59:43
Dylan
You are so right.
I heard on the pregame that Robertson said he was thankful he was wearing a leather belt because that absorbed the impact of that liner.
May 28, 2010 @ 17:31:09
It’s a great place to see a game. It’s got the old time feel of Wrigley while having all the modern amenities. Does not have the grand scale of Yankee Stadium, but is big on charm. Also the location is terrific: very near the heart of downtown.
Given what the Yanks charge for seats, fans should go on the road to see the team. I’d recommend Kaufman Field in K.C. as well. Don’t recommend the White Sox Stadium — no charm to it.
May 29, 2010 @ 09:53:44
Sounds nice. Actually, the blog is going on a baseball park field trip next week, but we aren’t getting to Target Field unfortunately.