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April 21, 2004


Loss Day
by Larry Mahnken

What must it feel like to be Alex Graman today? You've spent most of your life preparing for yesterday, and before you ever throw a pitch, you've been staked to a 7-run lead. Your opponent's lineup is potent, but at least has been stripped of two of it's best hitters, making your task even easier: go five innings, give up six runs or fewer, and you've got your first major league win.

Instead, you leave the game in the third with most of the lead gone, denied your win, and faced with the very real possibility that you've just had your only chance at a major league career, and blown it. With the possibility that Jon Lieber could return on Sunday, and two other pitchers ahead of you on the depth chart, your one and only moment may have just passed.

But hey, the Yankees won, and they scored some runs, too. Everyone except Travis Lee got a hit, and A-Rod's bat woke up a little bit with three singles. And it kind of makes up a bit for losing on Monday, when I expected them to win, because they won a game I expected them to lose.

Hopefully, the offensive outburst will stick, and they'll smack the Red Sox around next weekend at The Stadium. I'd like to see Rodriguez and Sheffield start hitting some home runs before I believe they're out of their funk, but once they do, this lineup will be devastating.

* * *

God, Bernie Williams looks awful out in center. I think we might hear "Bernie plays it on a hop" more often this season than "Past a diving Jeter". How can Joe keep putting him out there when he looks this bad?

* * *

Kaat and Kay took another shot at sabermetrics yesterday, criticizing the Red Sox for directing Terry Francona on how to make his lineup and rotation. Yeah, how DARE they tell their employees what to do! Their job is to assemble the team, it's the manager's job to run it, and if the manager doesn't want to run the team optimally, well, then it's up to the front office to get players that suit the manager's style!

And will these guys stop talking about Hideki Matsui being just as good against lefties as he is against righties? Yes, his batting average was the same .287 vs. both lefties and righties last season, but his OPS was over 100 points higher vs. righties. If the stats aren't showing that he's as good or better against lefties than he is against righties, then how does this skill manifest itself? What's it's value?

* * *

The DIPS Report won't be updated tonight, I've spent the day improving my spreadsheet to track more stats, and I haven't gotten around to making the report page yet. It's April, I doubt anyone will be that upset by this.