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sábado, 18 de junho de 2011

POWER + SPEED = WIN

By Katie Sharp
Following a historically awful sweep by the Red Sox, the Yankees bounced back with a win over the Indians 11-7 last Friday night. The Yankees jumped out to an 11-2 lead thanks to a rare combination of speed and power at the plate, before a meltdown by the bullpen nearly cost them the game.

The Yanks swiped five bases and knocked out seven extra-base hits in the win, and a search of the wonderful Play Index at Baseball-Reference.com tells us that it's the first time a Yankee team has reached both those totals in any game in the Live Ball Era (since 1920).

Yet, the bullpen almost cost them the victory, as they combined to allow five hits, five walks and five runs in the final two frames. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it was the first game in franchise history that Yankee relievers put up that pitching line, in no more than two innings pitched.

GRANDYMAN AND THE MICK
The Yankees continued their winning ways with a 4-0 defeat of the Indians in the second game of the four-game set. Curtis Granderson led the offense with his 20th homer of the season, joining Mickey Mantle as the only Yankee center-fielders to reach 20 home runs within the team's first 62 games.

The game was also noteworthy as it marked the fifth straight contest the Yankees had been hit by a pitch, dating back to the start of the Red Sox series. As my Stats & Information colleague Vince Masi points out in our Guest Yankeemetric of the week, this five-game streak of being plunked is tied for the third-longest by a Yankee team in the last 90 seasons.

BRETT AND THE BABE
Their winning streak was extended to three games on Sunday with a 9-1 rout of the Indians. The Yankees had a season-high 18 hits in the victory, but not one of them left the park. The last time a Yankee team won a game at home with that many hits, and without one of them being a homer, was on July 20, 1973 in 12-2 victory over the White Sox.

Brett Gardner was the offensive star, hitting two doubles and a triple. Gardner became the sixth Yankee left-fielder in the Live Ball Era to have at least two doubles and a triple in a game. As you can see on the chart to the right, Gardner joins an interesting list of names that includes Hall-of-Famers Earle Combs and Babe Ruth.

NO SWEEP FOR YOU
The Yankees couldn’t complete the four-game sweep, however, losing 1-0 to the Indians on Monday night. In our Obscure Yankeemetric of the Week, the Elias Sports Bureau reports that the last time the Yankees won the first three games of a four-game set at home, and then lost the fourth one 1-0, was in August of 1980 against the Mariners.

It was another frustrating day at the plate, as the Yankees were held to five hits and had 10 strikeouts for the sixth time this season. Last year they only had five games of this type (five-or-fewer hits, at least ten strikeouts), and only three times in the Live Ball Era have they had more such games: 1967 (10), 1968 (8), and 2002 (10).

In what many Yankees fans perceive to be a recurring theme this season, the team was once again stifled by a pitcher they had never faced before in Carlos Carrasco. In case you missed the official tally on this stat, this was the fifth time they've faced a pitcher for the first time and they are now 2-3 in those games this season.

THE BATS ARE BACK
The Rangers came to the Bronx on Tuesday for a three-game series and the Yankees welcomed them with a 12-4 victory. The last time the Yankees scored at least 12 runs at home, following a game they were shut out, was in 1996. After being blanked 7-0 on July 25, the Yankees beat the Royals the next day 15-1.

That 15-1 rout marked a significant milestone for the team during that magical 1996 season, as they took an 11-game lead in the division. According to a game story in the New York Daily News, it was the biggest division lead for a Yankees team this late in the season since 1958, when they also won the World Series.

INFIELD POWER
The balls were flying out of Yankee Stadium on Wednesday night, as the Bronx Bombers hit five home runs in another 12-4 win over the Rangers. All five of the longballs came off the bats of the Yankees four infielders – Mark Teixeira, Eduardo Nunez, Robinson Cano and Ramiro Pena.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the last time the entire Yankees infield each homered in a game was on August 22, 1939. Babe Dahlgren, Joe Gordon, Frankie Crosetti, and Red Rolfe each went deep in a 14-5 win over the White Sox.

Eduardo Nunez celebrated his birthday in style, with a home run in the fourth inning. A quick search of the Play Index at Baseball-Reference.com tells us that he's the first Yankee shortstop to homer on his birthday and, at the age of 24, the third-youngest to do it in the Live Ball Era. Only Yogi Berra, at age 22 in 1947, and Rusty Torres, at age 23 in 1971, were younger than Nunez.

TODAY'S DESSERT SPECIAL: GARDNER PIE
The Yankees finished off their 10-game homestand with a dramatic walk-off win on Thursday afternoon, thanks to a run-scoring single by Brett Gardner in the bottom of the 12th inning that gave the Yankees the 3-2 victory.

It was Gardner's third career walk-off hit and all three have come in extra innings. Since he joined the major-league club in 2008, Gardner now has the most extra-inning walk-off hits by a Yankee.

Brian Gordon, a converted outfielder and 32-year-old veteran of 15 minor league seasons, made his debut with the Yankees, pitching five and one-third innings while allowing two earned runs.

The only other pitcher to make his debut in pinstripes at the age of 32 or older, with at least five innings pitched and two-or-fewer earned runs allowed, was Orlando Hernandez. "El Duque" threw seven innings of one-run ball in his first game as a Yankee on June 3, 1998.


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