Bottom of the first, CC facing the Mariners at Safeco. Late game and late gamer. Comment away.
97 replies on “Sorry To Be Late: Yanks-Ms Gamer”
Missed the gamer. 2 on now.Snell starts to fall apart-let’s hope so
Swisher leads the AL in walks?Nice
Guess people must be asleep. Double Jr!!1-0
Bloop double,bad play by Gutierrez,tried to dive,ended up with the ball hitting the grass in front of him and deflecting off his body.
Wild pitch,yeah,Snell is entering dissolution mode. 2-0!!
Awake but on dad duty. Good inning for the yanks, capitilizing on the near miss in center and wp.
Dad duty is important.I’m not a dad but I know as much.;) But everyone else is out. Hope we can add to the lead so CC won’t have to ride a slim one. Again.
2 K’s for CC after the leadoff walk.The Seattle lineup giving him a hard time with a lot of fouls.
2 out walk to Hannahan. Sweeney to 2nd.Come on CC,focus!
Inning over force at 3rd.Good,lets pile up now.
Jeter homer,yeah!!! Double to Day-mon.Gooood start.
Stand up double JD. And another homer,Godzirra!!! The best japanese in the field(that’s excitement talking). 5-0 Bombers one (productive but moot)out.
Where’s krueg,I’m playing lone soldier here man,doing your role. :D
Huge out to left center by Swish. Then Cano 2 out single. Snell woes goes on and on.
Melky still getting on top of high pitches,battles,fouls,walks. goo job Melkman,1st and 2nd. 2 out.
Jr grounds out to Branyan after a mound conference.I don’t think Snell survives the 4th against the Yankees,if much,the 5th.
CC K’s leadoff man.His 5th.Nice groove, but most Seattle hitter have been patient around him so he’s throwing quite a high number of balls imo.
Ichiro singles but erased right away in a DP,way to go,CC!!
Have terrible cell reception and no i-net sdo barely able to follow, but 5-0 is nice. Team is seriously banged up but Jeter continues to produce regardless. He has been superb this year. This is a huge roadtrip culminating in the Fenway series and we need to get off on the right foot in game one here. Keep it up cc.
Moe-lina flyout to LF,Jeter singles to middle,but JD out on a foul pop to 3rd.2out Teix up.
Was at safeco two nights ago. What a great park.
Teix RBI double,that’s what I’m talking about baby. And thank you Verlander for your 100MPH right by the sox today.
I hope to go there next year.Looks great from tv already. A friend has got a suite there.Should be nice.
Hairston is perfectly adequate at third, but it makes you realize how much of a cannon A-Rod has for an arm.
CC might have found a groove,2 outs and 5 pitches.Nice insurance too.Too bad for Seattle.
1-2-3 for CC,7 pitches.He’s got into out making machine.Good D by Damon too.
He’s quite accurate as well,doug(A-Rod),for a powerful arm that he has. But having a 1st baseman like Teix helps a lot infield plays.
1-2-3 for Snell.Swish K’s,Cano and Melky groundout.Ok,he’s thwown 89 pitches through 5IP
Oh no doubt. Also UZR gives Tex no respect.
CC 63 pitches with 2 outs in the bot of 5th.And 6 K’s
Wow,homer to Josh Wilson,#9 of the lineup,with a below .200 avg. Come on CC,focus!
That wasn’t even Jack Wilson? Aww come on.
No Jack.Maybe not even Jack would have hit it a homer. All smoky field from the fireworks,roof closed keep it in.Snell finding a late groove.Too late maybe.
Looking good for the Yanks. I didn’t like dropping a game right back to Boston the day after the series with them. Would be good to get back to 6.5 as they ease into this roadtrip. Another strong inning from CC would be nice before they have to the pen. Any word on Mo’s arm today?
6 pitch 6th to Carsten Charles. See?Just focus,you can do anything,baby.
Am I right that the Yankees only have two guys hitting above .290 on the season (Jeter & Cano)?? They’ve got great balance up and down the lineup with fairly good power 1-9, but that’s kind of a funny stat for them.
IH,don’t know about Mo,not mentioned on tv and I was without I-net for most of the day. But if CC keeps up he should go through the 8th. Only 78 pitches so far.And 2 hits against. He looks quite like the same against Boston. And hopefully no Mo today. We need about 2-3 runs of support and the team should be all right
Thanks MF. Nice to hear about CC. How refreshing is it to have a horse at the top of the rotation after so many years without?!?
Yeah,IH,about the hitting stats. There’s been a lot of games where Damon,Teix for example hit only 1 out of 5 ,but mostly key and clutch hits,including the homers(oh,really?)late in the game.And a lot of Yankees fans having heart problems with all those walkoffs.
Yeah,CC really fills a huge gap. And makes the other pitchers look(and actualy play sometimes) good as well.It’s about presence.Mostly
Insurance,here we go. Godzilla singles JD in,Teix on 3rd none out. Swish(0-2 tonight) up
“Am I right that the Yankees only have two guys hitting above .290 on the season (Jeter & Cano)?? They’ve got great balance up and down the lineup with fairly good power 1-9, but that’s kind of a funny stat for them.”
Just more proof that batting average is essentially meaningless in the face of more useful statistics like OBP.
Not meaningless. Of course it has meaning. I meant useless.
Matsui hit almost hit Teix on the way! And Swish walks for the second time tonight to load the bases.Good job baby. And Yankees against Garrett Olson (3-5, 5.75),gave up a hit to Matsui and BB now.
Melky with a Very Productive Out.
Hairston with the bloop! Jerry! Jerry!
I totally agree with you Andrew.I’m so much more into OBP. Just look at Swish (.246/.848).He’s there when you need him to.Well not aaaalways,but he leads the AL in walks if I’m right.
ThisOffenseRolls…
Almost in the bag(I just don’t wanto to close the bag because there’s room for more runs).Insurance enough for CC to go CG.Unintentional initials rhyme by me.
This offense rolls DEEP.
Hairston’s line drive percentage: 24.3%. 6th in baseball.
CC at 78 pitches coming into the inning. Awes.
Very good by the Yankees getting Hairston. Besides being a heck of an option for fielding he’s fitting right in with the Yankees offense as well.
What a NARSTY curve.
Why is a hurt Derek Jeter still in this game?
And 89 pitches finishing the inning,even more awesome. 2 more K’s, 8 total. You are the man.
What makes you think CC isn’t coming in for the 8th?
Oops – Pena subbed in already for Jeter. Good.
GODZIRRA is destroying Tokyo tonight.
Damn, some long homeruns for the Yankees tonight.
Who me,Andrew? I believe he goes the CG. God-ZIRRA!!! Who is the Japanese that owns Safeco?Matsui tonight
IH,Mo said he woke up yesterday with sore right shoulder,but since he won’t be used tonight,that’s moot. He should be alright for tomorrow though.
Matsui has been just plain raking lately. There is nothing left to say about this offense. Total pleasure to watch.
“Matsui has been just plain raking lately. There is nothing left to say about this offense. Total pleasure to watch.”
Agreed,IH,you could almost say they are running like clockwork. :D
And CC has the 10th K to end the 8th
You might say his bat is just going SEIKO lately, amirite guyz
First double-digit K game of the year for Sabathia.
Looks like Bruney will get the ninth. What a pleasure of a game. You don’t get many of those throughout the season.
Cano’s 50th multihit game of the season. I wonder where I can find the leaders in that stat.
Yeah,maybe Bruney,maybe CC. Game worth saying up late guys. And knowing Verlander OWED the sox with pretty much fastballs earlier…Sweet friday it’s gonna be. And you are right doug. I like my japanese monster more than Suzuki-san.;)
Love this team. But Matsui>Ichiro? I’ll have to draw the line there. Ichiro is unbelievable (though supposedly not that great in the clubhouse).
Andrew,tried to look up on the MLB.com stats page,but I’m quite sleepy to focus on anything,hehe. Theeeeeeee Yankees win!That was close.not
IH,I’m joking,it’s the excitement because Ichiro got owned tonight.He certainly is a level above Matsui. Maybe the first japanese to HOF.I’d like that.Totally deserved
Yeah Mike. Can’t help but wonder what Ichiro’s career stats would have looked like if he had played here from the start. Another win. Awesome.
I wonder as well. Not only him but players like Dice-K and others 30 some year old “rookies” from Japan. Yankees roll. And I gotta roll. Good night guys,have a great one tomorrow.See ya!Thanks yankees for the great friday tomorrow.
Just watched the game on the DVR. Brilliant.
> I hope to go there next year
I try to get to three or four games a year in Seattle. It’s a fantastic stadium, and a fantastic city to visit.
> Ichiro’s career stats would have looked like
Me too, but won’t matter. He’s first-ballot.
This is by no means meant as a shot at SFs, but I don’t put Dice-K (or any other Japanese player…or 99.9% of the players from any country) in Ichiro’s league – though I get your point that it would have been great to see some of the Japanese major leaguers play here from their rookie years on.
Ichiro has put up eye-popping numbers for enough years in the majors that I think he would have been in the top 5-10 of all kinds of impressive all-time offensive categories (on top of his sterling defense) if he had played here from his rookie season. He is definitely a once-in-a-generation type player.
Ichiro is insane: he’s led the league in hits in 6 of his 9 seasons here (including this year). He’s at 1974 hits right now, and the crazy thing is that if he plays until he’s 41-42 he still might reach 3,000 hits. That would be amazing for someone who didn’t start their MLB career until 27.
For comparison, Pete Rose led the league in hits in 7 of his 24 seasons. Rose’s most hits came in 1973 when he hit 230. Ichiro’s 162-game average is 231.
From age 27-35 Rose accumulated 1863 hits, with a BA of .319. In that same time period Ichiro has 1974 hits, and a BA of .333 (this season still isn’t over, either). It’s also worth remembering that Ichiro has the single-season record for hits with 262 in 2004, and he’s the only player with 8 consecutive 200+ hit seasons.
If Ichiro had started in the MLB at age 21 (the age he broke out in Japan), he would easily already have 3000 hits. Considering he’s never been injured I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that he will play into his 40’s, and would have contended for the all-time hits record.
File this under the meaningless tab in your circular file, but the Yankees have the largest lead over any 2nd place team in all of baseball. It means nothing long term because the Sox can erase that in 10 days, but it’s something to certainly be proud of. Hopefully BG comes back soon to give Melky the break he needs, otherwise I pretty happy with the team as it *stands.
*Other than that #5 mess, but what can you do at this point…
Yeah John – and notwithstanding the very true point you make re: the RS capacity to come back, it is great at least that it would take them 10 days and not one good series vs. the Yanks to do it. Bopefully that will still be the case leading into (and even better, coming out of) the upcoming series in Fenway.
i expected to tune into a discussion about how easy it is to hit homeruns at safeco…
maybe this is the year that jeter finally wins that elusive mvp…
It’s the safeco wind tunnel dc, hadn’t you heard?
Jeter’s mvp chances would be helped by history/career honor considerations but definitely hurt by any consideration of “would this team have won as much without him?”. As great as he has been, the Yanks are so stacked this year that I think many writer/voters would answer “yes” to that question and therefore “no” to a Jeter mvp vote.
“because the Sox can erase that in 10 days”
I know you want to do everything you can to hedge your emotions against a collapse, but this statement really stretches reality. The chances of the Sox erasing the lead in ten days is slim to none.
In fact, the chances of the Sox erasing this lead over the rest of the season, much less ten days, are very low.
I don’t think IH’s statement is that unreasonable. The Sox have a 10-game homestand starting a week from today. If they sweep the Yankees, and win 5 of the remaining 7 against Chicago and Toronto, while the Yankees lose 5 of 7 from their current west-coast trip, the lead will be gone.
I don’t think the Sox will catch the Yankees. But with 3 games at Fenway, after a west-coast trip, it’s certainly plausible that the Yanks could go on a losing streak.
Yes, it is unreasonable. Both IH and John’s statements reveal the mentality of years of failure and lowered expectations.
(kidding. Sort of.)
Look, the Yankees are an excellent team. They are pitching deep. They have an excellent offense. They are playing above their expected record, so there could be some regression based on luck, but the idea that the Sox will suddenly win 10 in a row while the Yankees play .300 ball for nearly two weeks is a farfetched one. It’s not that the Sox can’t erase a 6.5 game lead in ten days, sometimes the most unlikely things happen in baseball. But it’s most unlikely, and the odds are as long as they can get. Let’s be real here.
Like I said, teams do not erase 6.5 game leads over the last 45 games of the season, much less a ten game stretch, with any kind of regularity, and certainly not when it is a team like this current Yankees’ squad that is the target.
Can’t we just give the championship to the team with the best record at the end of the season? I hate the roll-the-dice nature of a 5-game series.
yeah, if the Yankees played about .500 ball (which they won’t)- the sox would have to play about .620 ball to catch up – that equates to a 100 win season. Not gonna happen.
in other news – A-Gone back with the sox.
Just for the record, I think it was John’s statement, with which I then concurred. Regardless it is unlikely but certainly not impossible. As I’ve written elsewhere, if the Yanks have the same (or a larger) lead after the Fenway series, I feel great about their prospects for taking the division even with more than a month left in the season.
As long as the Yankees have a larger lead than games left against Boston, I’m comfortable with it. That means they could play the same against the rest of the league, and be swept by Boston twice, and still be in first place. I think this is a good rule of thumb. Maybe someone could make a Comfort+ stat.
Are you guys really having an in depth discussion over my “10 Days” comment? The point of my statement is that the Sox are a good team and at any point the lead can be erased, 10 days from now, 20 days from now, 30 days from now…If you want to focus on the 10 days, then I apologize for giving specifics. Seems like everything I say around here turns into drama…I am starting to feel like YFSF’s version of A-Rod. How about going forward I only state facts, oh yes I did that and that too turned into a long drawn out argument as well. Bottom line, true story, I think the Sox are a very good team that could catch the Yankees at any time. It has nothing to do with recent failures, I just know how baseball works and at any moment teams can get red hot and others can get ice cold…Colorado Rockies, Phillies, etc…it happens. It’s not hedging bets, it’s being honest.
coolstandings also has the sox at 11% for the division, and about 50/50 for playoffs. A far cry from where there were a month ago!
but as Llyod Christmas would say – you’re telling me there’s still a chance! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KX5jNnDMfxA
Alex Gonzalez back to the Sox? Wow. So that makes what, 4 shortstops this year?
Are you guys really having an in depth discussion over my “10 Days” comment?
John, I don’t mean to pick on you, but we deal in a written medium here, so what else are supposed to respond to? If you had written two weeks I would have responded to that accordingly, or if you had said a month I would have taken that into consideration. I didn’t read it euphemistically. I don’t see this as adversarial, either, so I hope you don’t take it this way.
I am averse to claims like “if the Sox make up a game a week they catch the Yankees”, or things like this in general. This is because this type of thing rarely occurs, historically. Losing 6-7 game leads with less than 40-50 games to play is historically rare, so while anything is possible, that’s too vague for me, and disregards the actions on the ground.
Look, of COURSE the Sox COULD catch the Yankees. But 6.5 back is a terrible, yes – TERRIBLE, spot to be in with a month and a half left. While a comeback is possible, it is on extremely long odds. And it is a bet, unless I got really long odds, I would simply not make. And that is coming from someone who would rather nothing else than to be wrong.
You’re such an institgator John.
Rarely…Historically…those were the same things told to me in 2004.
Here’s to hoping you’re correct SF!
97 replies on “Sorry To Be Late: Yanks-Ms Gamer”
Missed the gamer. 2 on now.Snell starts to fall apart-let’s hope so
Swisher leads the AL in walks?Nice
Guess people must be asleep. Double Jr!!1-0
Bloop double,bad play by Gutierrez,tried to dive,ended up with the ball hitting the grass in front of him and deflecting off his body.
Wild pitch,yeah,Snell is entering dissolution mode. 2-0!!
Awake but on dad duty. Good inning for the yanks, capitilizing on the near miss in center and wp.
Dad duty is important.I’m not a dad but I know as much.;) But everyone else is out. Hope we can add to the lead so CC won’t have to ride a slim one. Again.
2 K’s for CC after the leadoff walk.The Seattle lineup giving him a hard time with a lot of fouls.
2 out walk to Hannahan. Sweeney to 2nd.Come on CC,focus!
Inning over force at 3rd.Good,lets pile up now.
Jeter homer,yeah!!! Double to Day-mon.Gooood start.
Stand up double JD. And another homer,Godzirra!!! The best japanese in the field(that’s excitement talking). 5-0 Bombers one (productive but moot)out.
Where’s krueg,I’m playing lone soldier here man,doing your role. :D
Huge out to left center by Swish. Then Cano 2 out single. Snell woes goes on and on.
Melky still getting on top of high pitches,battles,fouls,walks. goo job Melkman,1st and 2nd. 2 out.
Jr grounds out to Branyan after a mound conference.I don’t think Snell survives the 4th against the Yankees,if much,the 5th.
CC K’s leadoff man.His 5th.Nice groove, but most Seattle hitter have been patient around him so he’s throwing quite a high number of balls imo.
Ichiro singles but erased right away in a DP,way to go,CC!!
Have terrible cell reception and no i-net sdo barely able to follow, but 5-0 is nice. Team is seriously banged up but Jeter continues to produce regardless. He has been superb this year. This is a huge roadtrip culminating in the Fenway series and we need to get off on the right foot in game one here. Keep it up cc.
Moe-lina flyout to LF,Jeter singles to middle,but JD out on a foul pop to 3rd.2out Teix up.
Was at safeco two nights ago. What a great park.
Teix RBI double,that’s what I’m talking about baby. And thank you Verlander for your 100MPH right by the sox today.
I hope to go there next year.Looks great from tv already. A friend has got a suite there.Should be nice.
Hairston is perfectly adequate at third, but it makes you realize how much of a cannon A-Rod has for an arm.
CC might have found a groove,2 outs and 5 pitches.Nice insurance too.Too bad for Seattle.
1-2-3 for CC,7 pitches.He’s got into out making machine.Good D by Damon too.
He’s quite accurate as well,doug(A-Rod),for a powerful arm that he has. But having a 1st baseman like Teix helps a lot infield plays.
1-2-3 for Snell.Swish K’s,Cano and Melky groundout.Ok,he’s thwown 89 pitches through 5IP
Oh no doubt. Also UZR gives Tex no respect.
CC 63 pitches with 2 outs in the bot of 5th.And 6 K’s
Wow,homer to Josh Wilson,#9 of the lineup,with a below .200 avg. Come on CC,focus!
That wasn’t even Jack Wilson? Aww come on.
No Jack.Maybe not even Jack would have hit it a homer. All smoky field from the fireworks,roof closed keep it in.Snell finding a late groove.Too late maybe.
Looking good for the Yanks. I didn’t like dropping a game right back to Boston the day after the series with them. Would be good to get back to 6.5 as they ease into this roadtrip. Another strong inning from CC would be nice before they have to the pen. Any word on Mo’s arm today?
6 pitch 6th to Carsten Charles. See?Just focus,you can do anything,baby.
Am I right that the Yankees only have two guys hitting above .290 on the season (Jeter & Cano)?? They’ve got great balance up and down the lineup with fairly good power 1-9, but that’s kind of a funny stat for them.
IH,don’t know about Mo,not mentioned on tv and I was without I-net for most of the day. But if CC keeps up he should go through the 8th. Only 78 pitches so far.And 2 hits against. He looks quite like the same against Boston. And hopefully no Mo today. We need about 2-3 runs of support and the team should be all right
Thanks MF. Nice to hear about CC. How refreshing is it to have a horse at the top of the rotation after so many years without?!?
Yeah,IH,about the hitting stats. There’s been a lot of games where Damon,Teix for example hit only 1 out of 5 ,but mostly key and clutch hits,including the homers(oh,really?)late in the game.And a lot of Yankees fans having heart problems with all those walkoffs.
Yeah,CC really fills a huge gap. And makes the other pitchers look(and actualy play sometimes) good as well.It’s about presence.Mostly
Insurance,here we go. Godzilla singles JD in,Teix on 3rd none out. Swish(0-2 tonight) up
“Am I right that the Yankees only have two guys hitting above .290 on the season (Jeter & Cano)?? They’ve got great balance up and down the lineup with fairly good power 1-9, but that’s kind of a funny stat for them.”
Just more proof that batting average is essentially meaningless in the face of more useful statistics like OBP.
Not meaningless. Of course it has meaning. I meant useless.
Matsui hit almost hit Teix on the way! And Swish walks for the second time tonight to load the bases.Good job baby. And Yankees against Garrett Olson (3-5, 5.75),gave up a hit to Matsui and BB now.
Melky with a Very Productive Out.
Hairston with the bloop! Jerry! Jerry!
I totally agree with you Andrew.I’m so much more into OBP. Just look at Swish (.246/.848).He’s there when you need him to.Well not aaaalways,but he leads the AL in walks if I’m right.
ThisOffenseRolls…
Almost in the bag(I just don’t wanto to close the bag because there’s room for more runs).Insurance enough for CC to go CG.Unintentional initials rhyme by me.
This offense rolls DEEP.
Hairston’s line drive percentage: 24.3%. 6th in baseball.
CC at 78 pitches coming into the inning. Awes.
Very good by the Yankees getting Hairston. Besides being a heck of an option for fielding he’s fitting right in with the Yankees offense as well.
What a NARSTY curve.
Why is a hurt Derek Jeter still in this game?
And 89 pitches finishing the inning,even more awesome. 2 more K’s, 8 total. You are the man.
What makes you think CC isn’t coming in for the 8th?
Oops – Pena subbed in already for Jeter. Good.
GODZIRRA is destroying Tokyo tonight.
Damn, some long homeruns for the Yankees tonight.
Who me,Andrew? I believe he goes the CG. God-ZIRRA!!! Who is the Japanese that owns Safeco?Matsui tonight
IH,Mo said he woke up yesterday with sore right shoulder,but since he won’t be used tonight,that’s moot. He should be alright for tomorrow though.
Matsui has been just plain raking lately. There is nothing left to say about this offense. Total pleasure to watch.
“Matsui has been just plain raking lately. There is nothing left to say about this offense. Total pleasure to watch.”
Agreed,IH,you could almost say they are running like clockwork. :D
And CC has the 10th K to end the 8th
You might say his bat is just going SEIKO lately, amirite guyz
First double-digit K game of the year for Sabathia.
Looks like Bruney will get the ninth. What a pleasure of a game. You don’t get many of those throughout the season.
Cano’s 50th multihit game of the season. I wonder where I can find the leaders in that stat.
Yeah,maybe Bruney,maybe CC. Game worth saying up late guys. And knowing Verlander OWED the sox with pretty much fastballs earlier…Sweet friday it’s gonna be. And you are right doug. I like my japanese monster more than Suzuki-san.;)
Love this team. But Matsui>Ichiro? I’ll have to draw the line there. Ichiro is unbelievable (though supposedly not that great in the clubhouse).
Andrew,tried to look up on the MLB.com stats page,but I’m quite sleepy to focus on anything,hehe. Theeeeeeee Yankees win!That was close.not
IH,I’m joking,it’s the excitement because Ichiro got owned tonight.He certainly is a level above Matsui. Maybe the first japanese to HOF.I’d like that.Totally deserved
Yeah Mike. Can’t help but wonder what Ichiro’s career stats would have looked like if he had played here from the start. Another win. Awesome.
I wonder as well. Not only him but players like Dice-K and others 30 some year old “rookies” from Japan. Yankees roll. And I gotta roll. Good night guys,have a great one tomorrow.See ya!Thanks yankees for the great friday tomorrow.
Just watched the game on the DVR. Brilliant.
> I hope to go there next year
I try to get to three or four games a year in Seattle. It’s a fantastic stadium, and a fantastic city to visit.
> Ichiro’s career stats would have looked like
Me too, but won’t matter. He’s first-ballot.
This is by no means meant as a shot at SFs, but I don’t put Dice-K (or any other Japanese player…or 99.9% of the players from any country) in Ichiro’s league – though I get your point that it would have been great to see some of the Japanese major leaguers play here from their rookie years on.
Ichiro has put up eye-popping numbers for enough years in the majors that I think he would have been in the top 5-10 of all kinds of impressive all-time offensive categories (on top of his sterling defense) if he had played here from his rookie season. He is definitely a once-in-a-generation type player.
Ichiro is insane: he’s led the league in hits in 6 of his 9 seasons here (including this year). He’s at 1974 hits right now, and the crazy thing is that if he plays until he’s 41-42 he still might reach 3,000 hits. That would be amazing for someone who didn’t start their MLB career until 27.
For comparison, Pete Rose led the league in hits in 7 of his 24 seasons. Rose’s most hits came in 1973 when he hit 230. Ichiro’s 162-game average is 231.
From age 27-35 Rose accumulated 1863 hits, with a BA of .319. In that same time period Ichiro has 1974 hits, and a BA of .333 (this season still isn’t over, either). It’s also worth remembering that Ichiro has the single-season record for hits with 262 in 2004, and he’s the only player with 8 consecutive 200+ hit seasons.
If Ichiro had started in the MLB at age 21 (the age he broke out in Japan), he would easily already have 3000 hits. Considering he’s never been injured I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that he will play into his 40’s, and would have contended for the all-time hits record.
File this under the meaningless tab in your circular file, but the Yankees have the largest lead over any 2nd place team in all of baseball. It means nothing long term because the Sox can erase that in 10 days, but it’s something to certainly be proud of. Hopefully BG comes back soon to give Melky the break he needs, otherwise I pretty happy with the team as it *stands.
*Other than that #5 mess, but what can you do at this point…
Yeah John – and notwithstanding the very true point you make re: the RS capacity to come back, it is great at least that it would take them 10 days and not one good series vs. the Yanks to do it. Bopefully that will still be the case leading into (and even better, coming out of) the upcoming series in Fenway.
i expected to tune into a discussion about how easy it is to hit homeruns at safeco…
maybe this is the year that jeter finally wins that elusive mvp…
It’s the safeco wind tunnel dc, hadn’t you heard?
Jeter’s mvp chances would be helped by history/career honor considerations but definitely hurt by any consideration of “would this team have won as much without him?”. As great as he has been, the Yanks are so stacked this year that I think many writer/voters would answer “yes” to that question and therefore “no” to a Jeter mvp vote.
“because the Sox can erase that in 10 days”
I know you want to do everything you can to hedge your emotions against a collapse, but this statement really stretches reality. The chances of the Sox erasing the lead in ten days is slim to none.
In fact, the chances of the Sox erasing this lead over the rest of the season, much less ten days, are very low.
I don’t think IH’s statement is that unreasonable. The Sox have a 10-game homestand starting a week from today. If they sweep the Yankees, and win 5 of the remaining 7 against Chicago and Toronto, while the Yankees lose 5 of 7 from their current west-coast trip, the lead will be gone.
I don’t think the Sox will catch the Yankees. But with 3 games at Fenway, after a west-coast trip, it’s certainly plausible that the Yanks could go on a losing streak.
Yes, it is unreasonable. Both IH and John’s statements reveal the mentality of years of failure and lowered expectations.
(kidding. Sort of.)
Look, the Yankees are an excellent team. They are pitching deep. They have an excellent offense. They are playing above their expected record, so there could be some regression based on luck, but the idea that the Sox will suddenly win 10 in a row while the Yankees play .300 ball for nearly two weeks is a farfetched one. It’s not that the Sox can’t erase a 6.5 game lead in ten days, sometimes the most unlikely things happen in baseball. But it’s most unlikely, and the odds are as long as they can get. Let’s be real here.
Like I said, teams do not erase 6.5 game leads over the last 45 games of the season, much less a ten game stretch, with any kind of regularity, and certainly not when it is a team like this current Yankees’ squad that is the target.
Can’t we just give the championship to the team with the best record at the end of the season? I hate the roll-the-dice nature of a 5-game series.
yeah, if the Yankees played about .500 ball (which they won’t)- the sox would have to play about .620 ball to catch up – that equates to a 100 win season. Not gonna happen.
in other news – A-Gone back with the sox.
Just for the record, I think it was John’s statement, with which I then concurred. Regardless it is unlikely but certainly not impossible. As I’ve written elsewhere, if the Yanks have the same (or a larger) lead after the Fenway series, I feel great about their prospects for taking the division even with more than a month left in the season.
As long as the Yankees have a larger lead than games left against Boston, I’m comfortable with it. That means they could play the same against the rest of the league, and be swept by Boston twice, and still be in first place. I think this is a good rule of thumb. Maybe someone could make a Comfort+ stat.
Are you guys really having an in depth discussion over my “10 Days” comment? The point of my statement is that the Sox are a good team and at any point the lead can be erased, 10 days from now, 20 days from now, 30 days from now…If you want to focus on the 10 days, then I apologize for giving specifics. Seems like everything I say around here turns into drama…I am starting to feel like YFSF’s version of A-Rod. How about going forward I only state facts, oh yes I did that and that too turned into a long drawn out argument as well. Bottom line, true story, I think the Sox are a very good team that could catch the Yankees at any time. It has nothing to do with recent failures, I just know how baseball works and at any moment teams can get red hot and others can get ice cold…Colorado Rockies, Phillies, etc…it happens. It’s not hedging bets, it’s being honest.
coolstandings also has the sox at 11% for the division, and about 50/50 for playoffs. A far cry from where there were a month ago!
but as Llyod Christmas would say – you’re telling me there’s still a chance!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KX5jNnDMfxA
Alex Gonzalez back to the Sox? Wow. So that makes what, 4 shortstops this year?
Are you guys really having an in depth discussion over my “10 Days” comment?
John, I don’t mean to pick on you, but we deal in a written medium here, so what else are supposed to respond to? If you had written two weeks I would have responded to that accordingly, or if you had said a month I would have taken that into consideration. I didn’t read it euphemistically. I don’t see this as adversarial, either, so I hope you don’t take it this way.
I am averse to claims like “if the Sox make up a game a week they catch the Yankees”, or things like this in general. This is because this type of thing rarely occurs, historically. Losing 6-7 game leads with less than 40-50 games to play is historically rare, so while anything is possible, that’s too vague for me, and disregards the actions on the ground.
Look, of COURSE the Sox COULD catch the Yankees. But 6.5 back is a terrible, yes – TERRIBLE, spot to be in with a month and a half left. While a comeback is possible, it is on extremely long odds. And it is a bet, unless I got really long odds, I would simply not make. And that is coming from someone who would rather nothing else than to be wrong.
You’re such an institgator John.
Rarely…Historically…those were the same things told to me in 2004.
Here’s to hoping you’re correct SF!