New York Yankees 2010 Season-in-Review

After an MVP-worthy season, Robinson Cano reflects on a season that could have been.

The Yankees 2010 season ended prematurely Friday night with a 7-2 loss to Texas. The Yanks could only manage three hits against Rangers starting pitcher Colby Lewis. It was only appropriate that the Yankees struggled against Lewis considering that they they fared poorly this year against pitching they have not seen before. Prior to the playoffs, only Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, and Lance Berkman have faced Lewis.

The Yankees hit just .201 as a team in the American League Championship Series. Robinson Cano was absolutely lights out at the plate, hitting .348 with four home runs, but was the Yankees only bright spot. The three and four spots in the lineup were totally unproductive in the ALCS. A year ago, Alex Rodriguez hit .365 with six home runs during New York's 2009 World Series-winning playoff run. In this year's ALCS, A-Rod struggled mightly and hit just .190 with no home runs. After sustaining a hamstring injury running to first base in Game Four, Mark Teixeira did not return for the rest of the series. However, aside from his solid play in the field, Teixeira's presence was practically non-existent as he failed to record a hit in 14 at bats.

Pitching was another area of concern for the Yanks in the postseason. In the ALCS, the pitching staff combined for a 6.58 ERA and a 1.67 WHIP. These stats pale in comparison to the 3.26 ERA and 1.26 WHIP the pitching staff combined for in last year's postseason. After fantastic regular seasons, C.C. Sabathia and Phil Hughes were ineffective against Texas in two starts each. Sabathia yielded seven earned runs, 17 hits, and four walks in 10.0 innings against the Rangers. Hughes yielded 11 earned runs, 14 hits, and seven walks in 8.2 innings. After finishing the 2010 regular season with 14 holds, David Robertson, struggled as well. The Rangers tagged Robertson for eight runs in 3.1 innings, including a Game 3 meltdown in which he gave up five runs and recorded only one out.

In the year of the pitcher, the Yankees pitching staff finished the 2010 regular season with a 4.06 ERA (15th overall), a .249 batting average against (8th overall), a 7.20 K/9 ratio (15th overall), and 2.14 K/BB ratio (17th overall). In 2009, the Yankees were 12th in ERA, 5th in batting average against, 3rd in K/9 ratio, and 9th in K/BB ratio. This drop-off is mainly due to the struggles of A.J. Burnett and Javier Vazquez. After being acquired by the Braves this past off-season, high hopes were held for Vazquez's second tour of the duty with the Yankees. However, Vazquez was ineffective out of the gate and was removed from the rotation multiple times during the season. He finished with a record of 10-10, an ERA of 5.32 ERA, a WHIP of 1.40, and 121 strikeouts in 157.1 innings pitched.

Burnett was never removed from the rotation, but he did not do that much better than Vazquez. The lasting impression Burnett left on the 2010 season was when he was removed early from his July 17th start after lacerating the palms of both hands from slamming them in frustration against a clubhouse door. Burnett finished with a record of 10-15, an ERA of 5.26, a WHIP of 1.51, and 145 strikeouts in 186.2 innings pitched. There is no word yet on whether the Yankees will seek to trade Burnett or re-sign Vazquez, but I can't imagine Vazquez will pitch another game in pinstripes.

The future of long-time Yankee pitchers, Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera, are also undetermined. Both Pettitte, age 37, and Rivera, age 40, are free agents-to-be and will certainly consider retirement. Rivera is more likely to continue playing than Pettitte, however, having been quoted saying that he would be interested in signing a one-year deal and mulling retirement on a year-to-year basis. It's hard to imagine when -- if ever -- Rivera will become ineffective as a pitcher. He set a career high of 24 consecutive batters retired this past June and finished the year with 33 saves in 38 chances, an ERA of 1.80, a WHIP of 0.83, and 45 strikeouts in 60 innings pitched. Although Pettitte missed the entire month of August and most of September due to injury, he still turned in another solid year. Pettitte finished with a record of 11-3, an ERA of 3.28, a WHIP of 1.27, and 101 strikeouts in 129.0 innings pitched.

Another long-time Yankee will also be hitting the free agent market this winter. The 10-year contract Derek Jeter signed back in 2001 is finally expiring. After hitting just .270 and slugging .370, it will be interesting to see what kind of contract the Yankees will offer Jeter. A multi-year deal is unlikely and a pay cut is certainly in order.

The Yankees led the majors in runs again this year, but only managed to hit .267 and slug .436 as a team (good for 8th and 3rd in the majors). Compare those stats to the .283 batting average and .478 slugging percentage they were able to combine for as a team in 2009 (2nd and 1st in the majors) and it's clear Jeter wasn't the only Yankee hitter to take a step back in 2010. A-Rod led the team with 125 RBIs, which is remarkable considering he hit only .270 with an OPS of .847 -- 16 and 87 points lower than his 2009 totals respectively. Teixeira led the Yanks in home runs with 33, but also saw a decline in his stats. Tex started off 2010 with one of his patented early-season slumps and did not recover until mid-July. He hit just .256 with an OPS of .846 -- 36 and 102 points lower than his 2009 totals respectively. 39-year-old Jorge Posada struggled at the plate after missing nearly two weeks due to injury back in May and finished with a .248 batting average and an .811 OPS -- 37 and 74 points lower than his 2009 totals respectively. During the time Posada missed, Francisco Cervelli filled-in quite nicely and it will remain to be seen how many games Jorge will be allowed to catch in 2011.

Along with Cervelli, a handful of Yankees made significant improvements in 2010. Nick Swisher set career-highs in batting average and slugging percentage by hitting .288 and slugging .511. Brett Gardner led the team with a .382 OBP and 47 stolen bases -- both career highs. Although Curtis Granderson struggled for most of 2010 and hit only .247, he improved late in the season after working with hitting coach, Kevin Long, on simplifying his approach at the plate. Granderson finished strong by hitting nine home runs and slugging .622 in September. He also hit .357 and slugged .514 in 28 postseason at bats.

The largest strides of improvement, however, were made by 28-year-old second baseman Robinson Cano. After hitting .319 and setting career-highs in home runs (29), RBIs (109), walks (57), OBP (.381), SLG (.534), OPS (.915), and tying his career-high in runs (103), Cano has garnered some serious MVP consideration. Only Josh Hamilton and Miguel Cabrera will challenge Cano for the AL MVP hardware.

Aside from Jeter, Rivera, Pettitte, and Vazquez the contracts of Marcus Thames, Austin Kearns, and Chad Gaudin will expire after the World Series. Lance Berkman, Kerry Wood, and Nick Johnson have club options for 2011, but will become free agents if they are not picked up. With today's announcement that Joe Girardi will be retained as manager for 2011, the off-season focus will be on improving the starting rotation and bullpen, but it would be uncharacteristic of the Yankees to not court a top free agent hitter. Outfielders Carl Crawford and Jayson Werth as well as starting pitchers Cliff Lee, Ted Lilly, Hiroki Kuroda, Bronson Arroyo and relief pitchers Rafael Soriano, Matt Thornton, Jon Rauch, Matt Guerrier, Frank Francisco, and Scott Downs will all be top targets for the Yankees when the hot stove heats up this winter.

Skills practice 10/21

With a break in intersquads, practice was devoted to the basics today. Catchers suited up and received a speech from Volunteer Coach, and former St. John's Catcher, Brendan Monaghan. Coach Monaghan -- also known as Monny (pronounced Mon-he) -- focused on receiving pitches and relaying signs. There has been some miscommunication on signs during intersquads so Monny demanded that signals given by the catchers be simplified. Monny also touched on how the Catchers should be receiving pitches. In doing so, he referred to catching in a way that I have never heard before. Monny drew a parallel between catching and being an artist. Just as artists instinctually brushstroke a canvas to create a painting, Catchers should instinctually anticipate a pitch's movement and position their glove accordingly. Yes, that means Catchers are indeed artists. I wholeheartedly agree with this statement because when I pretend to be a baseball player on my own time, I Catch.



Coach Monaghan conferencing with the Catchers (yes, all seven of them)


After the Catcher's conference, Coach Monny fed balls into the pitching machine and had the Catchers practice their receiving ability by closing their eyes and opening them just as the ball was spat out of the machine. This reminded me of that scene out of the "Karate Kid" when Mr. Miyagi and Daniel tried catching a fly with chopsticks...only with baseballs, and catcher's mitts, and, well you get the point. While the Catchers were doing their Karate Kid thing, Pitchers threw long toss in right field. I threw with redshirt senior Miguel Valcarcel. Miguel, better known as "Miggy", is recovering from massive ankle trauma sustained from awkwardly sliding into second base last year at Pittsburgh. He isn't nearly 100% yet, but he should be able to pitch when the season starts in late February. After pitchers finished with long toss, they went to go lift.

The rest of the position players joined the Catchers after taking individual batting practice. They warmed up briefly and then broke up into groups to hit off of the curveball machine. Anyone not hitting went to their position and fielded any balls hit their way. I did my best to use the fungo bat to hit groundballs to the infielders. And I say "my best" because I am absolutely terrible with the fungo. I'll hit a perfect groundball to third base and then with the next swing I'll hit a ball twenty feet over the shortstop's head.

I'd like to say practice went smoothly, but it didn't. It's only natural to want to fool around when you're working on something so simple as the basics, but Coach Monaghan and Coach Hampton had no patience for this. That's why I believe an Indian Run was scheduled at the end of practice. If you don't know what an Indian Run is, I'll enlighten you. Indian Runs are actually used to train the military. Soldiers line up in single file and begin jogging. The last man at the end of the line then sprints up to front. The new last man at the end of the line follows suit. This is done over and over until the drill sergeant says stop. This was done in today's practice for 15 minutes. My dumbass, so eager to gain respect by the team, joined in. However, the guys were pretty tired from a full day of lifting, throwing, and hitting so the run wasn't too strenuous. I survived and actually was able to go lift afterwards with Catcher Robert Case. I find it amazing that Rob had the energy to lift after the Indian Run since one of his shoes fell off half-way and he finished with just a sock on his right foot.

After the Indian Run, Coach Hampton gathered the guys together and spoke to the team about getting complacent. Coach Hampton -- better known as Bone -- was a fourth round draft pick by the Cincinnati Reds and played four seasons in the minors before having to retire due to injury. He said that without baseball, he knows his life would not be nearly as fun as it is right now. He told the guys that they need to take advantage of the opportunity that baseball has presented them with. "It's not about what baseball can do for you. It's not about how much money you can get out of playing ball," Coach Bone explained, "It's about what you can get out of playing baseball. If you play the game right, baseball will make you a better man. It will make you more disciplined, it'll keep you out of trouble, and it'll make you that much more of a hard worker." Coach Hampton is absolutely right. During my time as a "ballplayer", this was exactly how I viewed baseball. This work ethic has carried over into pursuing a career in the business of sports. Just like the guys will stop at nothing to continue to improve their skills, I will stop at nothing to keep interning and gaining experience.

Tomorrow's practice will also be dedicated to the basics with the Intersquad World Series starting on Tuesday. Teams were picked by junior Shortstop Joe Panik and junior Second Baseman Matt Wessinger. Draft results coming soon.

Red Storm Tip-off 2010

I know this blog is supposed to be about baseball, but the basketball tip-off last night was just too cool to not write about. The expectations for the men's basketball team are very high this year so this was the biggest, most important event during my time as a St. John's student. In previous years, the tip-off was in the cramped field house or there was no event at all (or at least I didn't know about one). ESPN's John Anderson hosted the tip-off, DJ S&S was on the ones and twos, EJ Da Mayor emceed, and Rob Browz was scheduled to perform -- even though he hasn't made a new song in two years.

When I arrived prior to the event, I was told by Karli (my boss) that I was on "pizza duty." Pizza duty may sound mundane, but when you're dishing out slice after slice to underfed college students, it's far from it. However, two things went my way and I was promoted to spotlight duty. The first fortunate occurrence was the original spotlight guy, Chike, coming in late. The second one was Kevin (my boss/flag football captain) looking out for me and making me Chike's replacement. The spotlight was needed only for the player and coach introductions, which meant I only had about 20 minutes worth of work crammed into two hours. But it would be noticeable to the 5,000 people in the arena if I somehow made a mistake (and I say "somehow" because it doesn't take a rocket scientist to operate a spotlight). However, I stayed mistake-free and Kevin and Karli told me that I did a good job.



The men's squad warming up

The spotlight made the introductions a little over the top, but working it got me out of pizza duty so I didn't really mind. Players and coaches came out to the song of their choice and ran through a tunnel created by the cheerleaders and dance team with spotlight shining on them. Senior guard Kevin Clark's song choice probably got the best reaction from the crowd. Being the only whiteboy on the team, Kevin went with "Pretty Fly for a White Guy" by Offspring. Absolutely hilarious.

The scrimmages were more And 1 Streetball than Big East basketball. They were, however, pretty entertaining. Just about every field goal that the men made was a dunk. Freshman forward Dwayne Polee Jr. took the scrimmage the most serious. Just about every time someone would try to pull off a flashy move while he was on defense, he would steal it from them and turn it into a finger roll or a dunk going the other way. The best dunk, however, came from senior guard Paris Horne during the dunk contest. I'm not taking anything away from redshirt sophomore guard Quincy Roberts or Polee, but Paris blew them out of the water when he leapt from the side of the basket, trasferred the ball between his legs and slammed it in with his right hand. The crowd -- including me -- went absolutely nuts. It was the best dunk I've ever seen in person.

Rob Browz closed out the tip-off with performances of "Gimme 20 dollars", "Pop Champagne", "Jumping out the Window", and "Chicken Noodle Soup". Too bad most of the students didn't really care and left as soon as he started performing (the school should have let Fabolous perform). Rob Browz did a pretty decent job though and some random seven year old kid drove the remaining crowd wild with sick dance moves on the court.

Too bad the tip-off only comes once a year because this was a great experience. I believe the tip-off actually succeeded in what it was meant to do -- get students excited for the upcoming basketball season. I know I'm excited. I can't wait until soccer season is over and I can start working basketball games. Speaking of which, I gotta get ready to work tonight's Men's Soccer match.

See ya next time, everyone. Thanks for reading.

Look ma, I got that headset

St. John's Baseball Intersquad Game 4

Practice was moved up from 2:00 to 12:30 today to beat the incoming rain. This meant that I had to leave extra early from making cold calls in the athletics office (how unfortunate). Even though it's frustrating not being able to play, managing the baseball team is by far my most favorite part of the day. Being involved in practices and just being around the game is satisfying enough.


But enough about me, let's talk St. John's baseball. For intersquad games, the position players are broken into two teams (Red and White), which remain the same for each game. Pitchers throw for both teams. The Red team is made up primarily of the guys who started last year and the White team is made up of freshman and guys fighting for playing time. It should come as no surprise that the White team has only won one of the four intersquad games. However, at this point of the fall, the final score is pretty irrelevant. Gaining situational experience, hitters being able to face live pitching, and pitchers being able to face live hitting, is far more important at this point of the Fall. It's been my job to keep official score of the intersquads (see picture below). Yes, I know I just said the score doesn't really matter, but keeping official score allows the coaches to track at bats and pitching performances throughout the fall.


My job during intersquads

Brendan Lobban and Sean Hagan started today's game for Red and White respectively. White drew blood first with an absolute blast over the left field wall by catcher Robert Case. Even with one of the new metal bats with reduced pop (more on these bats in another blog), Rob's home run cleared the fence by a good 15 feet. After giving up two more runs to the White team, Lobban settled down and struck out six batters over 4.0 innings. Those three runs were all White could push across as Anthony Cervone came on in relief and threw 4.0 scoreless, no-hit innings to close out the game.

The Red team's offense scored five runs off of Hagan and freshman Adam Davis. Hagan yielded only one earned run while striking out four. He rated his performance a "B+". After a solid outing in his first intersquad game, Davis struggled, surrendering the lead to the Red team in the seventh inning.

Personally, I thought the intersquad game went smoothly. There were only two mental mistakes that I noticed. While at first base, a runner was unable to see that a hard-hit groundball down the third base line was fair. Thinking it was foul, he stopped halfway between first and second. Had catcher Josh Daniel not been busting his ass down the first base line, the Red Team would have had an easy double play. The other mental mistake was a runner on second misjudging a fly ball to center field and failing to tag up. Coach Blankmeyer, on the other hand, had 15 minutes worth of mistakes to point out after practice. He did, however, give the team the weekend off (except for lifts) so clearly, something was done right today.

Thursday, October 14th's final: Red 5, White 3

Intersquad records to date: Red 2-1-1
                                         White 1-2-1




No, Coach Blankmeyer isn't pointing at me. I don't attract that kind of attention.