Robinson Cano at the Heart of Two Matters
If there’s good news for the New York Yankees, it’s that, while they’re behind two games to zero to the Detroit Tigers in the ALCS, they haven’t yet started CC Sabathia. The flip side of that, though, is that the Tigers haven’t yet started Justin Verlander, and they’re about to, in Tuesday’s Game 3. The series is by no means over, as the Giants demonstrated in the Division Series round against the Reds, but it’s a little Verlander dominance away from feeling over, and Verlander is frequently dominant. Given the losses and the struggles and the Derek Jeter injury, these are challenging times for the Empire.
In Sunday’s Game 2, the Yankees were shut out 3-0 by Anibal Sanchez and the Tigers’ bullpen. This was a game in which Hiroki Kuroda was perfect through five innings, and still he never pitched with a lead. The Yankees, during the regular season, had the best team offense in baseball. It’s largely gone missing in the playoffs, and though they say pitching and defense wins championships, you also need at least a little hitting too. Sunday, the Yankees had none of it.
What this isn’t going to be is a complete and thorough Game 2 recap. Rather, this post is built around Robinson Cano, and two separate things involving him. The first that we’ll tackle happened in the top of the eighth. The setting: the Tigers are ahead 1-0, with a runner on first and two out. Austin Jackson singles to right, moving Omar Infante up to second, but then Infante rounds second, and Nick Swisher throws behind him. As Infante tries to scramble back to the bag, Cano applies a tag to his stomach. Infante, though, is ruled safe. He is not safe.
Sometimes there are bang-bang plays that are almost literally too close to call. This was not one of them, as Infante was clearly, inarguably out at second base. What that should’ve been was the end of the inning, with the Tigers ahead 1-0. Instead, the inning continued, with Avisail Garcia singling home Infante, and Miguel Cabrera singling home Jackson. The Tigers went to the bottom half in front 3-0, and that’s how the game ended. Joe Girardi was none too pleased in his post-game conference.
On the one hand, the win-expectancy swing of the blown call was just about four percent. After the blown call, the Yankees’ odds of winning stood at 26.4 percent. With the right call, the Yankees’ odds of winning would’ve stood at 30.7 percent. That’s not a big difference, and it was the Yankees who allowed the subsequent run-scoring singles. The blown call wasn’t the only reason the Yankees fell behind by three instead of one.
But without the blown call, it wouldn’t have become 3-0. Girardi was right when he said the call changed the complexion of the ballgame. Yes, it’s true that the Yankees were shut out. Given that, you could say it wouldn’t have mattered if the second-base umpire called Infante safe at home somehow, since the Tigers already had one run and the Yankees didn’t score any runs. But we can’t assume that the Yankees would’ve been shut out in every reality. All we know is that, with the blown call, the Tigers wound up winning 3-0. What we can’t know is what might have happened had something else happened. I’m not trying to argue that the Yankees got screwed out of a playoff game, but one has to acknowledge the potential implications of a bad call like this.
Hell, in Game 1, Cano was ruled out at first on a close play, when replays indicated he was safe. With the right call there, the Yankees would’ve taken an early lead. It’s been two games in the ALCS, and already we have at least two clear umpiring mistakes, one more egregious than the other. We don’t know what this series would look like had the calls been made correctly. And we never will; we’ll just know how this series goes.
I can’t imagine a writing topic less fresh than expanded replay in baseball, and I don’t want to dwell on it, but for the record, replays made it immediately evident that Infante was out at second, and Girardi spent at least 30 seconds arguing before going to the mound and removing his pitcher. Shortly thereafter, Girardi argued again and got himself ejected. Even the TBS broadcast booth argued in favor of expanded replay and you almost never hear that from announcers and ex-players. Ron Darling sounded straight-up embarrassed on baseball’s behalf. Here we had a play — a play that would look like a big play — that was ruled to be something other than what it obviously was, and it’s just difficult to explain why that’s acceptable.
But the Yankees got shut out. We can’t know that the Yankees absolutely would’ve lost had Infante been called out, but we can say that it would’ve been likely. Remember, their win expectancy with the right call still would’ve been just under 31 percent. They still would’ve had to send lefties up against Phil Coke, who was very good. Maybe Coke would’ve made the same pitches, and maybe the Yankees hitters would’ve taken the same swings and non-swings. Maybe it all would’ve ended 1-0, with the Tigers blanking baseball’s best offense.
Alex Rodriguez was booed, because Alex Rodriguez struck out twice, but Rodriguez also singled and lined out to the outfield. This was one of his better games, lately. The problem, as has been the case all postseason, is bigger than just Rodriguez himself. In the playoffs, Rodriguez has a .330 OPS, but Nick Swisher has a .426 OPS, Curtis Granderson has a .438 OPS, and Robinson Cano has a .216 OPS. Cano, as a matter of fact, has set a single-postseason record for consecutive hitless at-bats, with 26. That’s weird, because Cano is a good hitter. The all-time record for consecutive hitless at-bats in the playoffs, combined, is 42, belonging to Dan Wilson, who was not a good hitter. That number is well beyond 26, but Cano’s streak is active, and you expect a lot more from him.
All the right things are being said. To quote the intro to the linked article:
Robinson Cano, the Yankees’ star second baseman, maintained Sunday night that he still felt good at the plate. The team’s hitting coach, Kevin Long, maintained that Cano still looked good at the plate.
Were Cano just beginning his playoff career, he might be developing a reputation. However, between 2010-2011, Cano batted .333 in the playoffs with a four-digit OPS. He can’t be labeled as a choker now because of what he’s already done in the past. Additionally, one of the things that makes this slump so fascinating is that Cano ended the regular season on a tear. Over Cano’s final nine games, he went 24-for-39 with ten extra-base hits. Cano was impossible to get out, and then, for no rhyme or reason, he was impossible to not get out.
You can’t build one of the easy playoff narratives around Robinson Cano. You can’t say he can’t handle the pressure because he handled the pressure in years previous. He handled the pressure of the pennant race at the end of the regular season. You can’t say he entered the playoffs in a slump, because he entered the playoffs as probably the hottest hitter in baseball. Robinson Cano’s current hitless streak in the playoffs is pure, unfiltered baseball randomness, and most people don’t know how to deal with that. People hate being reminded that so much of baseball is random.
Let’s separate Cano’s immediate results from Cano’s box-score results. Here are several .gifs of Robinson Cano’s contact during this skid:
There’s some quality contact in there. In fact, the first .gif resulted in an out when Cano was actually safe. His hitless streak is worthy of an asterisk. But the point is that Cano hasn’t been popping everything up, or striking out, or rolling over on the ball and grounding to second. Cano has hit into some easy outs and he’s hit into some hard outs, and he just hasn’t gotten any shred of luck.
Now, in fairness, Cano hasn’t been showing pull power. There’s some possibility that something’s actually wrong, because Cano hasn’t really been driving the ball to right field. But he feels good, the coaching staff feels good, and the sample size here is very small. Between August 10 and August 19, Cano went 1-for-25. Between August 19 and August 27, Cano went 11-for-24. This strikes me as being a statistical slump that isn’t actually a performance slump. With Alex Rodriguez, there’s more legitimate reason for worry, because he’s coming back from an injury, and his contact rate since returning is well below his norm. Cano just stopped producing out of nowhere, and it looks to be random. It’s just randomness at a time when the Yankees could really use another bat to step up and produce runs. Raul Ibanez can’t do everything. Raul Ibanez can’t even do most of everything, the past week or so be damned.
Seems to me, as far as Robinson Cano is concerned, there’s not a lot to worry about. Cano would most certainly agree with that sentiment. There have been some tough outs, and there have been some tough called strikes against him to boot. Yet what’s done is done, and Cano can’t get these at-bats back, and the Yankees have needed someone besides Ibanez to hit. Instead, Robinson Cano owns the longest single-postseason hitless streak in baseball history. It doesn’t feel the least bit fresh to see the New York Yankees playing in the American League Championship Series. But for so many reasons, these New York Yankees aren’t like the usual New York Yankees.
Phil Hughes has actually been pretty effective lately, and his fly ball tendencies play a lot better in Detroit than they do in the Stadium. The Yankee starting pitching would be a storyline in this post-season if the offense wasn’t completely wasting it. The only chance the Yankees have against Verlander is that Cano wakes up, he’s the only left handed hitter in the line-up with the bat speed and plate coverage to legitimately challenge non-mistake pitches by Verlander. Granderson or Raul might run into one, but they and the rest of the line-up will probably spend the rest of the night hacking helplessly like most of baseball does when Verlander is on the hill.
” but they and the rest of the line-up will probably spend the rest of the night hacking helplessly like most of baseball does when Verlander is on the hill.”
Actually, much of baseball hits quite well when Verlander is on the hill, just not the team playing the Tigers.
Well played sir.
Verlander’s ERA over his last six starts in 0.61. His FIP isn’t much higher. He’s in the middle of one of his runs right now like he had in May and June of 2011. Hard to see a slumping Yankees offense waking up against him.
Well, the Yankee offense has to regress back to it’s true form sometime! ;)
I’m sure it will, next year.
just like Verlander has to regress back to form sometime.
A player being hot is only something that you can look at as history.
What makes you think he’s in the middle of one of his runs and not at the end of one of his runs?
Because he’s led the league in strikeouts over the last four years, and he’s facing a team that is striking out what, 30% of their ABs over the last few weeks?
Because he absolutely owns Cano, Granderson, Ibanez, Ichiro, Teixeira, and Swisher?
Because Jeter is hurt and A-Rod isn’t going to touch him?
Because the Yankees won’t know how to react with a crowd cheering rather than booing?
this. no reason the end of verlander’s run won’t coincide with the end of the yanks’ slump either, right?
“The blown call wasn’t the only reason the Yankees fell behind by three instead of one.”
actually it was. Impossible to score a run with 3 outs.
Run differential by umpire mistakes in the ALCS so far: -3 for the Yankees.
I don’t think “only” means what you think it means. The blown call alone or by itself was not sufficient to put runs on the board for the Tigers. Other events had to happen that could have been prevented despite the blown call. You are confusing necessary conditions with sufficient ones. The Tigers score in that inning only if the ump blows that call. But it is not the case that if the ump blows that call the Tigers score.
Plus to win at some point the Yankees have to, you know, score.
It is the only reason which absolutely without a question should have been prevented, having nothing to do with the actions of the players on the field.
That was his point.
But then his point isn’t in conflict with the quote nor anything said in the article, which is obviously not his intention in the above comment.
Which brings their fifteen-year total down to what, +80? Everybody always claims that umpire mistakes even out, it’s nice to see that finally happening to the Yankees. (And that’s if we’re not counting the very different strike zones Fister and Pettitte got in Game 1.)
Let’s pretend they got the call right and New York is only down 1-0 heading to the top of the 9th. Let’s pretend.
Well, Garcia still gets a single to right, Cabrera still walks, and Fielder still walks. The bases are loaded with nobody out in the 1-0 game in the 9th. Likely same reliever utilization from New York and Detroit scores 2 runs on Peralta’s single.
Still 3-0, just runs scoring in the 9th instead of the 8th.
Um, no.
Different inning, different conditions, different pitches thrown.
It’s not black jack.
Doug Fister and Anibal Sanchez are also pretty good at baseball if you are looking for another reason. Not that anyone knows that there is another team playing in this series.
You spelled “Derek Jeter” wrong.
Who is the other team? The Red Sox? Its gotta be the Red Sox because there is around 2 articles a day on them. The Sox probably don’t have much of a chance against the Yankees because of Bobby Valentine, though.
It shouldn’t have been 1-0. Cano failed to turn a double play that could have been turned. One of the replay angles showed where Delmon Young was on the base paths, and it would have been close, but it could have ended the inning. Cano dropped the ball on the transfer.
Ok, well Prince shouldn’t have struck out with a man on third and zero outs and should have driven in that run before Delmon even had a chance to give Cano the opportunity to drop the transfer. You can’t take mistakes by players on the field and say those events shouldn’t have happened.
By your logic, the blown call should have never even happened because Infante shouldn’t have overrun the bag in the first place. Tigers would have won 2-0 without controversy in your world.
I believe the Yankees would be getting hit in that world too. it’s a funny place.
Yankees can kiss my ***. Where were the calls for replay on the Lew Ford pickoff play, when it looked like he got his hand in before the tag? The Nate McLouth stolen base play, when it looked like Jeter pushed him off the bag? Or a higher res camera/more angles on the Nate McLouth “foul ball” that looked an awful lot like it nicked the pole?
Yankees are so used to every call going their way. Half their players whine and moan about every called strike. And all their players whine and moan about every called strikeout. I swear I saw ARod turn around and say something to the umpire after a SWINGING strikeout. But one bad call gets made favoring the other team and all of a sudden, baseball needs more replay, Joe Torre is basically apologizing, etc. etc. Cry me a river!
Oh, or the discussion of whether Ichiro left his baseline on the dance around Wieters to score that run?
I’m definitely, truly, really really really not a Yankee fan. However, as far as ARod turning around after a swinging third strike–usually when batters do this they are asking the umpire if the ball they swung at was actually in the strike zone.
Or upset about an earlier strike call that the batter felt forced them to defend the plate with a swing at a bad pitch.
You are whining really loud about whining…. No need to cry you a river, you’ve already got a pretty good torrent going yourself.
less QQ, more shutting up
I have yet to understand anyone saying Jeter pushed him off the bag. His foot was behind his…from left to right it was Jeter’s foot, McLouth’s foot and the base, if anything he held it from coming off.
There were no calls for replay because those calls were correct. Everyone saw them in slo-mo. No one agrees with you.
Also noteworthy was Cano’s wear-him-out at bat against Coke in the 7th of game 1. He was facing a lefty, who have given him trouble all year, and he fouled off 7 pitches, including a range of fastballs and curves all over the zone, 6 of which were on some edge of the strike zone, at least on mlb.com. That part is vintage Cano, at least in my mind. Then he had a weak groundout, which of course is not vintage Cano. Maybe there’s some hesitancy in his approach that is tipping the scales, but this argued for him being the same guy, in my opinion.
Totally true, it was a great at-bat, but that little roller looked very familiar of late. I think in addition to a few reasonably-struck balls, Cano has been producing an unusual amount of weak contact.
I will sympathize with the Yanks over blown calls when Jeffrey Maier has shuffled off this mortal coil.
When do we get the article about how the team with the best SP WAR in baseball is shutting down the Yankees with quality pitching?
Because the Tigers didn’t win, the Yankees lost. These are the laws of baseball.
That’s funny when you guys are saying that the yankees lost the game…ha ha ha, but I guess your right when the other team plays better and there always is a WINNER when someone loses and that is the TIGERS!!!! THE FAR BETTER TEAM!!!! Thanks for pointing that out. You’re so observant… hehehehe
I was using typed sarcasm. I figured by saying that it was a law of baseball, it would’ve been picked up on.
Using sarcasm on the net is like feeding tofu to a tiger. If the tiger eats the tofu it might thrive. However, it does not recognize tofu as food. Instead it will eat the person who feeds it the tofu.
The post was upvoted enough that it seems that the average fangraphs user is a vegetarian tiger.
Right you are! Let’s call ourselves Hobbes bloggers: fierce and intimidating but warm and cuddly and heartwarming enough to be the pal of Calvin.
But the Yankees starters have outperformed the Tiger’s starters in both games. For this reason, the Tiger’s starters really are not the story.
No they didn’t. You can argue that the Yankees starters had a better xFIP or something (Kuroda did for sure; not as certain about Pettitte), but when you’re talking about which pitcher had the better game, it was the Tigers pitcher both times because they both pitched 6-7 shutout innings.
JG,
Shutout innings are not just the result of what a pitcher does. Likewise, giving up runs are not just the result of the actions of a pitcher.
It is true that Doug Fister did not give up any runs in his seven innings, however, he did not pitch well. Fister was extremely lucky. He loaded the bases three times. The first time he gave up a hard hit ball that took a great defensive play to just beat the runner at second. The second time he gave up a very hard hit ball that had the fortune to hit his body and bounce directly to the shortstop. The shortstop then threw the ball late to first but the umpire called the runner out anyway (so, without an egregiously bad call Fister would have actually loaded the bases four times). The third time, after putting runners on second and third with no outs, Fister had the good fortune to run into two hitters having historically difficult time even putting the ball in play. If Fister pitched like he did in game one all the time, he wouldn’t last in the game. Giving up that many base runners without giving up any runs is not a repeatable skill.
So yes, Pettitte easily outpitched Fister, because Fister pitched poorly.
Sanchez pitched great. However, Kuroda just happened to pitch a bit better.
There are very few pitchers who will not allow lots of baserunners when half the strikes they throw are called balls.
Jason highlights the baseball commentary about this series thus far. When the Tigers get a benefit from an umpire (the bad call at second or the Cano out call at first) the umpires robbed the Yankees and the outcome of the game isn’t quite true. But when the Andy benefits from a much larger strike zone then Doug Fister got, then it’s a product of Andy pitching much better then Doug and Doug being just lucky to not give up a run…
I got to quit looking up these stories until after the series is over… It’s a bit sad watching the cognitive dissonance getting passed around.
Frank,
Nowhere did I say the umpires robbed the Yankees. I was simply commenting on the fact that Fister did not actually pitch very well despite his favorable results. Sometimes that happens. It’s part of the fun of baseball.
It is you that seems to believe the umpires robbed Fister by favoring the Yankees on ball and strike calls….
The hilarity of this thread is that it really seems to be the non-Yankees fans that are the aggrieved. The Yankees are not winning, and the anti-Yankee crowd seems to be unhappy about how the Yankees are not winning. I would think that this is the dream scenario for the anti-Yankees crowd. Jeter out. Mariano out. The offense setting records for futility. Lots of negative drama with Arod. This is all the things anti-Yankees people love. ….and you are mad that the Yankees-train-wreck-of-your-dreams has become part of the story….
You’re attempting to imply that the box score says Andy pitched a better game, ergo Andy pitched a better game. That’s just not the case. Doug pitched with a much more narrow zone. You can’t compare how Doug pitched against Andy when they didn’t have comparable strike zones to work with. If Fister pitched like he did game one, with a different umpire maybe we’ll see a more normal result because he doesn’t have to work as high in the zone to get a called strike.
Your thoughts are riddled with strawman nonsense. I never said you thought the Yankees were robbed. I said you highlight the commentary about this series thus far. You highlight the bad logic being used to dissect this game with your arguments. But hell… Don’t let me ruin your buzz. If you get off thinking the whole world is sour about the Yankees, even when losing, more power to you.
What was the Oriole’s SP WAR like?
I agree with O’s fan and colin above. Very few games are won or lost on one or two plays. Last night they kept talking about the ninth inning of game one and the home runs and how amazing it was. People, they LOST the game. It was amazing that Ibanez could hit last night with three announcers hanging off his jock the whole game.
How come Cano wasn’t tossed immediately when he was called out on that ball that caromed off Fister and Cano slammed his helmet and screamed “bulls**t” right on the field. Go back to the A’s series and see how many times they complained to the umps about balls and strikes. When did the umps lose all of their spine?
We need more replay like we need more holes in our head. The human element is what gives us things to write about and scream about and laugh and cry about. I can’t see how removing more of that element will improve that.
It always amazes me how few actual baseball rules are known to the general public. Any umpire will tell you that Cano is allowed to slam his helmet, but Greinke is not.
Arguing for “the human element”…
All that said, the Yankee in both this series and the series before have been inept at the plate. The strike out rates and totals for A-roid and Granderson are scary. Yes the Tigers have excellent pitching but this Yankees team has a way of making pitching look even better. It is true that the Tigers won but the story of the series has to been the pure ineptitude of Cano, A-Roid, Granderson and Swisher.
The calls were really bad especially the Infante call but this team has to look in the mirror and take full responsibility for their failure.
Yankees have gifted Detroit games 1 and 2 and probably the series. Detroit has done little to earn the wins they now enjoy.
Have done little besides, you know, pitching exceptionally well, making plays in the field (!), and manufacturing runs. Besides that, though, clearly the Yankees should have won all these games because, well, YANKEES! Right? Right?
AND THE TIGERS HAVE GIFTED A COUPLE LOSSES FOR THE YANKEES…NO NEED TO SAY THANKS
You’re out of your fucking mind.
woo hoo go tigers….yankees suck and tigers are so way better. see ya next yankers
Mmm, your Yankee tears are delicious. It’s almost like a Bordeaux of entitlement.
I do feel bad that the Tigers aren’t getting enough credit for these wins, but honestly…it’s probably because the Yankees offense has been historically bad against 7 average pitchers so far. At a certain point, there is no more tipping the cap. Right now, the story is about the best offense in baseball performing like the Astros.
Not sure why it matters. The Tigers are going to the World Series. Isn’t that enough? I laugh at the people who say ESPN fawns all over the Yankees with coverage. It’s true, but the majority of it is ridiculous negative coverage. A-Rod had only the third worst average in the ALDS on the team, but you would have thought he had figured out how to give you cancer by looking at you.
Six average pitchers plus Fister.
Don’t sell Sanchez short – his stats are average because he’s a bit inconsistent. He can be as hard to hit as anyone when he has all of his pitches going as he did yesterday. Dude threw a no-hitter in his second start.
I shouldn’t have even said “average”… Good-but-not-outstanding is probably better.
So what would be an outstanding pitching staff? One with a better pitching WAR than the best 2012 team pitching WAR in baseball? Even though the Tigers accomplished this best-in-baseball pitching WAR this year with Fister missing significant time due to injury, with Sanchez being a trade deadline acquisition, and with the playoffs meaning that the worst starter(s) are not starting?
Go look up Fister’s numbers over the last two seasons. Average?
In case it’s not clear, my reply above should have been directed at Chris and not JG. I’d agree Sanchez is good-but-not-outstanding.
I understand Fister is above average. I’d take him on my team. I was exaggerating a number by one to prove a point. When it’s 7 starters in a row, it’s usually the hitting.
and it’s funny that when we don’t get any hits for a while that it’s just because the pitcher is pitching awesome but when do it it’s just because they aren’t hitting like they should.. what a joke of these yankees complaining about stupid stuff and LOSERS do always make excuses but they shouldn’t haven’t even been in this series because the orioles hit a home run in that fifth game and it was ruled foul. And there have been numorous calls that have gone the yankees way for at least the last 15-20 years. Maybe yankees should give back a couple of those championships since they didn’t really earn them, it was because of bad calls and the other teams just lost, and it wasn’t the yankees winning. Maybe yankees just should just stay home like little kiddies and cry to their mommies and have some wahhhburgers and some cheesecries.
these statements are rooted in facts, well done.
Phil,
We get it. You hate the Yankees. No need to cry about it. This isn’t ESPN.
You probably shouldn’t confuse “Yankee fans” with internet trolls and stupid things the media says.
The Yankees have not done themselves any favors (nor have the umpires), and they have faced some really impressive pitching performances so far this postseason. I give lots of credit to all of these starters for keeping them so off balance they can’t get out of this funk yet.
The bats are clearly still there, you can ask Valverde and Jim Johnson about that. The starting pitchers have just done a very good job handling this lineup during a time when they are “vulnerable”.
Real Yankee fans don’t panic. We’ve seen enough to know that games and series are “not over til they are over”… So if you see what doing so, feel free to call them out on it.
Re: the argument that we don’t know how things would have turned out if the call was correct… Aren’t we discounting all of the possible options where the Tigers light up Kuroda or Joba or someone in the 8th?
You can’t just say “well, it’s 1-0 Tigers and you don’t know how it would have played out, but here’s fifty outcomes where the Yankees come back and win”
Excuse me, I mean the 9th. For some reason I thought the blown call was in in the 7th. Reading comprehension!
All you can possibly know is that the game should have been 1-0 going into the next inning. Every single pitch that happened after the blown call is changed by it.
Just like when an ump blows a call in the strikezone, then the batter has to expand the zone… then swings at a pitch he normally wouldn’t.
Strikezone for Anibal: http://www.brooksbaseball.net/pfxVB/cache/location.php-pitchSel=434671&game=gid_2012_10_14_detmlb_nyamlb_1&batterX=&innings=yyyyyyyyy&sp_type=1&s_type=.gif
Strikezone for Kuroda: http://www.brooksbaseball.net/pfxVB/cache/location.php-pitchSel=493133&game=gid_2012_10_14_detmlb_nyamlb_1&batterX=&innings=yyyyyyyyy&sp_type=1&s_type=.gif
You see the insane inconsistency? How Sanchez has by my count at least SIX strikes that were called balls, and Kuroda has at most one or two? How Sanchez doesn’t have a single called strike outside of the zone, and Kuroda has about five? Where’s the bitching for this?
Yikes. I thought it was bad on TV but I felt like I was too biased (or possibly misled by TBS’ graphic zone) to be throwing accusations of an unbalanced zone out there. Amazing how good Sanchez was while getting squeezed like hell on the low strikes.
Although to be fair, the Infante play was kind of more impactful than the shitty one-sided strike zone.
Not to put too fine a point on this, but how can you know that “the Infante play was kind of more impactful than the shitty one-sided strike zone.” ?
For starters, Cabrera or Fielder might not have swung at as much as pitches off the plate if they had faith in Kuroda’s zone being called the same as Sanchez’s.
An interesting contrast is Sanchez’s penultimate pitch to Nix in the seventh inning. It absolutely should have been a strike, but the home plate umpire was confused by Nix’s bat hitting Avila’s glove. Sanchez made this a moot point by striking out Nix on the next pitch.
The Yankees could have made the Infante call a moot point by getting Avisail Garcia out. But they didn’t.
Where is the chart for Phil Coke? He was throwing balls a foot outside to the lefties and getting them called too.
The umps have been just all around horrible this entire postseason.
The Fister/Pettitte discrepancy from Game 1 is even larger.
You just wrote 3000 words about Robby Cano.
Well, Cano has played more than a handful of postseason games now and he’s starting to trend (as many players do) as a player who doesn’t hit quite as well in October as he does during the season
Cano is streaky and so it’s still too early to say much of anything but let’s not act like this guy doesn’t give a sense that he won’t be able to replicate his regular season OPS in the postseason ala Bernie and Jeter
He had an OPS over 1 the last 3 postseasons… what trend are you talking about?
I just wanted to point out that if Cano had made the tag with the proper technique he would have probably gotten the call – which isnt to excuse the horrible call by the ump – its just to take the play as instructional. If you make the tag in the correct form you are more likely to get the correct call. According to baseballbytheyard.blgospot.com, the correct way to make a take when a runner is out by a good margin is to place the glove with the ball down on the ground in front of the base something which Cano clearly failed to do. See http://baseballbytheyard.blogspot.com/2011/01/how-to-tag-base-runners.html.
As noted in this AP article, Cano’s tag was basically a “swipe tag.” http://triblive.com/sports/mlb/2775690-85/yankees-call-tigers-girardi-infante-nelson-postseason-cano-detroit-inning#ixzz29P2NLGt5
This improper tag in combination with his failed attempt at turning a double play earlier in the same game makes it hard not to notice that his fielding has been somewhat sloppy in this series and only emboldens the concerns raised by some re Cano’s lacadaisical defense.
…seriously?! It was Cano’s fault he tagged the guy out by more than a foot? …I mean, the botched dp was obviously his fault and highly unlike him, but everyone in the stadium and watching on TV saw that Infante was out except Jeff Nelson. This is hardly Cano’s fault.
Yes, seriously. Just because a baseball player has success with poor technique, doesnt mean its still not poor technique. Regardless of whether the ump made the right call or he didnt (in this case he did not), it was still poor technique. watch the replay online very closely and you will see that had Cano used the right technique he probably would have gotten the call. Its like framing by a catcher. Or a pitcher with good control who gets the calls. Im not taking anything away from the fact that the ump blew it. I am just able to hold both thoughts in my brain at the same time. Bad call. Bad tag. Not that hard.
If the umpire would have called the play with the proper technique (what actually happened) and applied the rule of when you TOUCH THE RUNNER if he’s not TOUCHING THE BASE he is OUT…. then it doesn’t matter where you tag him.
This is the same excuse made for Teixeira diving into first base and getting called out even through he beat the throw.
The ump simply screwed it up.
Why do none of these guys ever get fired is my question. Better than the teachers union over there…
I’m a bit embarrassed to admit that I’ve watched thousands of Major League baseball games, and the umpires generally do a fantastic job of getting the calls right on the bases (balls and strikes, not so much…). A call as obviously wrong as the Infante call almost never happens. I don’t want to see these guys get fired for not being perfect. Their job is impossible, because they can’t be perfect. It just sucks when it happens in important spots in big games, and we remember it. ….James Joyce has a wonderful reputation as an umpire, and he has made countless great calls over his career. He will be forever remembered for one bad call though. Tough job.
“countless great calls over his career”
There is actually no such thing. A game (or individual play) can only be called correctly, or incorrectly. There is no such thing as “better than right”.
What he will be remembered for is blowing a call in a moment when you think he would be paying the utmost attention to detail.
The same reason these calls in the postseason are so blown out of proportion.
Bad calls happen every day, in every game. The entire history of the sport would have to be rewritten if you eliminated all of the bad calls.
We not only want them to get it right, but not act so macho and proud on the field. We are not here to see them and the awy they square off with players and managers today, it’s liek they are provoking trouble.
The way that guy tossed Girardi yesterday in such an important game was inexcusable.
I think an umpire would consider it a great call if it is close, and extremely difficult to judge in real time, and he gets it correct. …you might not consider it great, you might only consider it correct, but then you don’t have to suffer the consequences of the incorrect call. ….Im sure Jeff Nelson is thrilled to be the center of attention….
You guys are silly. The Tigers have pitched great (other than Valverde), the Yankees have pitched great, the Tigers offense has been not great, and the Yankees offense has been slightly worse. The umps have screwed up a couple big plays, which clearly helped the Tigers, but it is unclear by how much.
Conclusion: the performance from both teams has been just about equal, but the Tigers have probably played slightly better, and have also gotten some favorable calls from the umps. Fair assessment?
1 run scored (cano in the second in game 1) and 1 out to end an inning 1-0.
That’s exactly “how much” they’ve been helped.
Beyond that there is no way to know. It is hard to say that either team has played better or worse because the umpires have directly effected the outcome of both games now.
I agree, it has been pretty close. Would the series have changed if the Yankees scored in the first 2 innings of game 1? Would Valverde have pitched to Ibanez if he was the winning run? Would Leyland have taken Coke out against Martin if it were a 1-0? Or would the Tigers have scored anyway with Garcia/Miggy/Fielder leading off the 8th?
I think the dialogue is exaggerated because both games were at Yankee stadium, Verlander hasn’t pitched yet, Jeter isn’t playing anymore, and other than the 9th inning the Tigers have allowed like 8 runs in 7 games and the Yankees have scored about the same. But Phil Hughes goes out and pitches like Pettitte or Kuroda and that dialogue doesn’t mean squat.
Yankee fans.. over the course of 27 championships, 44 league championships, and countless other team accolades, I am sure you got a few calls to go your way that should have gone the other way. It’s okay. We understand that you want ALL the calls to go your way. But, please, don’t whine about bad calls. It’s really unbecoming. Kinda reminds me of basketball where the star player claims he was hacked and all by some scrub player only to not get the call. He wants to go pout.. Yankees, don’t be that guy. I want your team to be beaten. But, really, don’t whine or pout about how a call changed so much. If you were really that good a team, you wont put yourself in a position where one call is the difference.
Are there actually any Yankees fans crying about bad calls? This thread is full of people whining about these horrible Yankees fans, but there don’t seem to really be any miserable Yankees fans. In fact the people complaining about the umpires seem to be Tigers fans and Orioles fans claiming that the Yankees are being favored on ball and strike calls.
As a Yankee fan, I have the fortune of getting to watch my team in the playoffs every year (except one since I have been a teenager. I’ve seen my team get good calls and bad calls. I’ve seen them win series when they weren’t the better team, and lose series when they were a far superior team. I’ve seen them win with the hot hitting of unlikely players, lose with slumps from superstars. I’ve seen my team play enough playoff series to know that when they win they do so with good pitching, great bullpens and timely hits. This current team has the pitching and bullpen. It’s the timely hitting they are lacking. I don’t care about the umpires, and I don’t have any sense of entitlement. I’ve seen the Yankees lose too many series for that. Ironically its the anti-Yankee crowd with the sense of entitlement. It’s because your teams get to the playoffs so rarely that you think you deserve to win the whole thing when you do…
Dude, what the crap is that white thing that flies up and to the right from the umpire in that first gif??
Spaceship.
…the ball…?
As a thoughtful and baseball-savvy Royals fan, all I can say about this Robinson Cano post is BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!
I don’t think anyone would deny that this years Yankee team offense is streaky.One could argue that that is characteristic of a team that relies on the homerun because they are probably more vulnerable to great pitching. And right now they are in a low production streak. Doubtful they will survive. Looking at next year we are at a watershed moment for the NY Yankees. Suzuki, Swisher, Granderson, Kuroda, Jeter are in contract years. With an overinflated 2012 team salary and an ownership that does not share the spending freedom of George Steinbrunner, we could be in for some real changes. I don’t think that Alex, Tex and Granderson are going to get better. GM Cashman has a real challenge to contruct the 2013 team.