Game 1: Shairon Martis vs. CC Sabathia Nationals: Martis' changeup and slider were working Wednesday against the Reds. Throwing 63 percent strikes, Martis was only at 81 pitches when he was taken out in favor of a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the seventh inning. His final line: seven innings, three hits, two runs, two walks, one strikeout and a no-decision. The runs came in the second inning when Jay Bruce tagged a high fastball for a two-run home run. "I threw more strikes, was aggressive, kept the ball down," Martis said. "Just one pitch I left up." Yankees: Sabathia held the Red Sox to one run through seven innings on Thursday before it came unraveled in the eighth inning at Fenway Park, as he pushed to a season-high 123 pitches. Boston came back against Alfredo Aceves and tagged Sabathia with his first loss in seven starts, a four-run heartbreaker that left New York 0-8 vs. Boston this season. The left-handed ace faced the Nationals once last season on Aug. 8, hurling a complete-game shutout for the Brewers while allowing five hits and striking out nine with a walk. ---------------------------------------- Game 2: John Lannan vs. Chien-Ming Wang Nationals: Thursday was another solid start for Lannan, who went six innings, allowing five hits and two runs (one earned) against Cincinnati. Lannan trailed, 2-0, upon exiting the game, but the Nationals took the lead in the eighth inning to get him off the hook. It was the first of five Lannan no-decisions that the Nationals have won this season. "John is just doing what he did last year, going out every five days, giving us a chance to win," manager Manny Acta said. Yankees: This is a pivotal start for Wang, as the Yankees are allowing him one more try to prove that he belongs in a big league rotation. They didn't think much of his last effort, when he lasted only 2 2/3 innings on Wednesday at Fenway Park and took the loss, allowing four runs on six hits while walking three and striking out three. The problems have varied, but in basic terms, pitching coach Dave Eiland is befuddled that Wang's arm slot keeps changing and he isn't able to take his good bullpen sessions out to the mound. Wang has not faced Washington since 2006. ---------------------------------------- Game 3: Craig Stammen vs. Joba Chamberlain Nationals: Stammen left with a lead for the first time in his fifth Major League start Friday at Tampa Bay. That lead didn't last long as reliever Joel Hanrahan allowed a run-scoring double to tie the game, preventing Stammen from earning his first Major League victory. Still, it was the 25-year-old's best outing with the Nationals. He allowed two earned runs and struck out a career-best five. His inexperience showed, though, as he walked a career-worst three batters and had difficulty keeping Tampa Bay's aggressive baserunners close to the bag. Yankees: Usually, when a pitcher allows just one hit in a start, it means he pitched a great game. But not for Chamberlain in his last outing, when he surrendered one hit -- but five walks and two hit batsmen -- in just four innings against the Mets on Friday. Chamberlain gave up just two runs, but had to exit prematurely after throwing 100 pitches (52 strikes). ---------------------------------------- My Take: Yankees should sweep this series, it is the Nationals after all. Although with CMW pitching, you never know. Apparently this is his last chance to stay in the rotation, otherwise Phil Hughes moves into the rotation.
Could be the final nail in the coffin for CM Wang. How the mighty have fallen... He looks nothing like he did for the past 3 seasons. I'm down with Hughes though, if the worst case scenario comes true with CM. NYY should win all three against the Nats at home.
Here's the thing. What if Wang dominates the Nats? How much rope does that then earn him to later hang himself? If he beats up Washington, that sends Phil back to Scranton. So do we have to suffer through him getting pounded by real teams for two months just because he could beat the Nationals?
^ Posada is a terrible defensive catcher and every pitcher thinks he calls a terrible game. As is the case with a lot of our players, he is a DH
I've always defended Posada as a fair defensive catcher. Sometimes even a good one. He's definitely never been great, but he's had some pretty good defensive success. I'm pretty sure he started off as a second baseman and converted to catcher in the minors. At this point, it's clear the staff likes working with Cervelli. Given that 1B is no longer an option for Jorge, and there's no way he can play the outfield, like jonny said, he's a DH. Obviously Matsui is done in pinstripes come November. The question now is, does Damon come back as the left fielder, or not come back at all? Either way, he can't be the DH option next year. That will be Posada's full-time job, and he'll maybe catch one day a week. It's way too early to really be talking about it, but it's going to be a very interesting offseason for this team, and for once, it will probably all be internal.
I like Molina defensively. At bat, not so much; though he has had his moments. Cervelli I'm really liking though. And we have guys in the minors who are better prospects.
Interesting. Cappy maybe you can throw together some data here...Compared to his offensive statistics vs. a pitcher's higher ERA when pitching to Posada Is his excellent offensive production (by a catcher's standard) rendered null by his poor defensive play? So I'm thinking something like if Posada is capable of producing .2 runs a game but his pitchers give up 2 runs a game he has no worth as a catcher because of the 1.8 differential. (arbitrary numbers used) Molina is probably worth more as a catcher.
Seriously, though, Baseball Prospectus has Posada being worth about 4 wins over a replacement player this year. (He's been at 5-6 in past years.) Molina's WARP is at 1.8. This metric includes defensive value, although not the difference between the ERA of pitchers who throw to them. I'm not sure how much of that discrepancy you can say is specifically due to the catcher at this point, though. Too much noise in there.
Cervelli has the freshest legs and is the best baserunner of the 3 by far, obviously. Posada is the best hitter of the 3, by far. Molina is the best defensive catcher of the 3, by far. However I would like to see them give Cervelli more time behind the plate as his hitting seems to improve every game. I judge guys on clutch timely hitting not just their average. Cervelli seems to be getting some timely hits of late. Jorge has never been anything more than an average defensive cacther.
Cervelli hasn't shown much of any offensive potential throughout his career in the minor leagues, I find it hard to believe that he's not going to come crashing down to earth hard in the next few weeks. He's a very nice defensive player and can even run a bit which is great, but he's not starting material. Then again it didn't seem like Melky was either and he's been pleasantly surprising his entire career (current slump notwithstanding.) Girardi is a former catcher who was always respected for his game calling ability (that's why he was always considered a future manager and why he was such a natural as a color commentator.) If there's a problem with the way that Jorge calls games I trust he'll be able to take care of it. I think that in reality this is mainly just the New York media trying to create a story because the Bombers have been out of action for a few days, and that the real reason that Jorge's CERA has been high this year is because the pitching staff just hasn't been very good.
Nice work there Cappy! :up: In seriousness though, it's a bit unfair to blame the pitching staff for Jorge's poor defense. Consider that the pitching staff was already improving by the time he returned from the DL. I think it would be hard to argue that Posada brings more defensively than either Cervelli or Molina. Is his lesser defensive skill enough to warrant his losing his job yet? Doubtful. Especially with Matsui still here and healthy enough to hit. As I said earlier though, Posada's future is at DH, as early as next year. It's just nice to know that even if Cervelli tails off a little (which I don't think he's going to) he should still be a capable catcher until one of our higher-rated prospects is ready.
