Both teams do something that leaves the yankees in the dust. They have quality at-bats and make contact with the ball.
Some would say; " they put it in play." This makes the game interesting because people have to do something when that occurs. And fans get to watch what happens.
Putting the ball in play puts pressure on the defense. Not the lazy pop-ups to right field, but the screaming line drives hit into the gap. Sometimes the bunts caused the most havoc. Other times, players could smirk with satisfaction as they " stuck the bat out" and poked a dribbler to the open space against the shift.
The thing is; the Yankees strike out a lot. All the time it seems, when it really matters. That puts no pressure on the defense. It stresses nothing. It provides no chance for theYankees.
Much as I love Aaron Judge, he came to mind when Washington or Houston batters laid off sinkers and splitters in the dirt. They forced the pitcher to come into the strike zone or they walked. Aaron would be gone in three pitches, having made no contact.
But look at the real strike-out kings; Gary Sanchez, Giancarlo Stanton, Luke Voit, Edwin Encarnacion, Greg Bird ( I put this in because it is hallowed, and just mentioning this name is spooky). If these guys don't hit a mistake pitch for a homer, they are no threat whatsoever. None.
Seriously, we cannot win with hitters like this. The fans are bored, and the defenses we play against look better than they are.
The new statistic, which should be the basis for player use and evaluations, must be the percentage of pitches they put into play, per at bat. POPAB. Not HRs, RBI's or any of the other old school ideas.
We saw fantastic baseball as Washington and Houston fought it out. We saw everything that is great. Clutch hits, crucial miscues, patience, grit and spectacular defense. From everyone, at every position.
We can't win with the current team.
We can't win unless we are constantly putting pressure on the defense. We need people who put the ball in play and are patient and have good batting eyes.
Home runs, fun as they are, don't even pressure the defense. They just stand and watch it go out.
The latest world series had plenty of home runs. But they mattered. Probably 80% of the Yankee home runs this season did not matter. Had no consequence. We won 8-1 anyway.
In the world series, the defenses were always on edge and a home run was like a free run, granted by an error. Which, often, made the difference in the ball game.
I'll say it again; we cannot win the world series with the current team.
And to all...a good night.
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I agree, Alphonso. We can't win with this team and this philosophy. It just won't happen.
On one end of the ball, we think we can get by with starters who have trouble going 5 innings.
On the other end of the ball, as you say, we can't put it in play.
It's impossible for such a team to make the World Series, much less win it. As we have now seen in 11 of our last 12 playoff appearances.
Yeah, I agree wholeheartedly, swinging for the fences on every pitch is mindless and stupid. How about using their brains and hitting situationally? How about hitting it the other way? We saw Washington bunt, hit into the holes in the shifts, steal bases, drive in runs by hitting into holes, hit home runs the opposite way. What we did not see either World Series team do was swing for the fences on just about every pitch. Nor did we see all the guess hitting that Yankee hitters seem to do. Standing there watching while a fastball goes right down the middle. Sure, sometimes you guess, but most of the time both teams seemed to "see the ball, hit the ball", which is what good hitters do most of the time.
And for stats involving % of balls put in play, batting average does most of that. You can't have a high batting average unless you're putting balls in play most of the time. It's no coincidence that our two best hitters in the playoffs this year were DJ and Gio. Both hit over .300 for the season and they were also the last hurrah for us against the Astros. Gio got on base and DJ hit it out for a short-lived tie game before Chapman blew it against the dwarf.
The Hammer of God
Yes to everything you said, Alphonso.
YES.
ALPHONSO IS CORRECT AGAIN.
WATCHING THAT WORLD SERIES MADE ME REALIZE HOW MUCH WE ARE STILL LACKING IN ORDER TO GO ALL THE WAY.
CASHMAN WILL TELL US, "ONE MORE HIT OR TWO AND WE COULD BE PLAYING IN THE WORLD SERIES."
HAL WILL TELL US, "WE ARE A CHAMPIONSHIP CALIBER BALL CLUB."
THEY ARE BOTH FULL OF SHIT.
WE ARE NEITHER.
NOT ENOUGH CONTACT, TOO MANY STRIKEOUTS.
THESE TEAMS WE JUST WATCHED, SEEM LIKE THEY TRY TO MAKE CONTACT FIRST, AND IF THE HOME RUN COMES, GREAT.
OUR HITTERS HAVE IT BACKWARDS.
THEY TRY TO BLAST IT OVER THE FENCE, ALL THE TIME, EVERY TIME UP NO MATTER WHAT THE SITUATION.
IT'S A SHAME.
OUR WHOLE PHILOSOPHY OF HITTING AS AN ORGANIZATION IS ALL WRONG.
....AND DON'T BELIEVE FOR ONE FUCKING SECOND WE DON'T NEED ONE OF THESE FREE AGENT ACES THIS OFF SEASON.
ALREADY THE EXCUSES ARE BEGINNING ON HOW COLE WANTS TO GO TO CALI, BUMGARNER "ISN'T GOOD ANYMORE", AND STRASBURG "MAY ONLY BE ABLE TO START 12 GAMES INSTEAD OF 32 WITH HIS INJURY HISTORY."
NOTICE HOW BOTH THOSE WORLD SERIES TEAMS DEPENDED ON THEIR STARTERS?
ONCE AGAIN, WE HAVE IT BACKWARDS.
WE CAN'T WAIT TO TAKE OUR STARTERS OUT TO GET TO THE BULLPEN.
THEY TRY TO GET INTO THE 7TH OR 8TH WITH THEIR STARTERS BEFORE THE PEN COMES IN.
WE NEED 2 GOOD STARTERS, COOP CAN'T FOOL US!
I actually think that the Yankee organization from the top down encourages our hitters to swing for the fences on every pitch. It's part of the stupid "money ball" philosophy, taken to new extremes. They don't care if hitters strike out 250 times a year, as long as they hit 50 homers and walk a bunch of times. As intelligent baseball fans all know, hitting 50 homers during the regular season really doesn't mean much in the playoffs. Hitting situationally and hitting homers to the opposite field, which show that the hitter is just making great contact and not trying to hit homers, that's what really wins. This WS just proved that once again.
One other thing about the Nats: they didn't have their two best hitters in the 1 and 2 slots. Which is another stupid invention of the new money ball stat morons. Instead, they had their best hitters where they are supposed to be: in the 3 and 4 slots. Somebody gets on, those guys drive them in. What would have happened if the Nats had Rendon and Soto hitting 1 and 2 in the order? I think Houston wins. What if Houston had Altuve hitting in the 3 or 4 slot, instead of 2? The WS result might have come out differently. So Houston threw away the WS with stupid strategems devised by the money ball theorists. I'm very happy that real baseball strategy, used for over 100 years, won this WS. Maybe we'll see more teams return to sanity again next year. I won't hold my breath on the Yankees though.
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