Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Posada Drills 2 Home Runs In Yanks 9-6 Win


http://espn.go.com/mlb/photos?photoId=2317799&gameId=290901101

this picture belongs to ESPN.comJorge

Posada is working as hard as he can to get onto the same page with A.J. Burnett. I have written my opinion, but Posada has really been improving in my mind.

Jorge has been crushing the ball but that much has already been obvious. He has such a smooth swing the perfect swing for Yankee stadium. The Thing about Jorge's swing is it is a work of art from both sides of the plate.

Tonight going into the game I was mad that he was catching Burnett because of their past in failing to work well together. However Posada turned that around by calling a great game/A.J. was in a jam in the 2nd inning with 2 outs runners on first and second with Orioles slugger Felix Pie to the plate.

A timely visit to the mount by Jorge settled Burnett down as he had already given up a homer to Pie in the first inning. Posada called for a beautiful off speed pitch followed up by a fastball on the hands to get Felix to pop out to Alex Rodriguez.

Alex Rodriguez has really improved on fly balls going after the ball being more aggressive, and taking control on balls over his head. On the pop out by Pie Arod had a long run but showed that his hip is not holding him back at all.

Robinson Cano reached a career high with his 22nd home run of the season in the 2nd inning of Orioles starter David Hernandez. Cano pushed his average up to .320 with a 3 for 4 game game at the plate with his 73 and 74th RBI on the 2009 campaign.

Posada blasted a beautiful shot to right field for his 18th home run of the season in the top of the 3rd inning. Jorge saw a first pitch fastball and was right on it Jorge Posada and Alex Rodriguez have been playing hurt all season bringing the bats game after game.

In the bottom of the 3rd inning Jorge threw a laser to Robinson Cano at second base on a Nick Markakis steal attempt but did not get the call. Before Michael Kay even said anything I knew that he was out. Jorge showed excellent footwork as he fired the ball right on the money.

Posada had an amazing game as he hit his 19th home run of the season in the top of the 5th his 2nd of the game. Jorge's mind seemed to be out of it at the plate as he kept forgetting the count.

Posada thought he had struck out on a 3-1 strike, but it wouldn't matter after he blasted a homer the other way to left center.

Alex also had a big night coming through with a clutch 2 out RBI single off Chris Ray. If you recall there is some history between those two players from the date of April 7th, 2007.

Alex Rodriguez on a 3-2 pitch that game in the 9th inning down by 2 runs drilled a 2 out walk off gland slam to win that game. Arod is now at a .269 batting average for the season looking to continue his clutch hitting.

Nick Swisher has been playing a great outfield for the Yankees the last few games, and is now giving the Bronx Bombers what they have lacked out there for a long time. Swish is turning it up as the season heads to a close, showing that he is ready to step it up.

Swisher came through with a huge home run his 23rd of the year in the top of the 7th inning to give the Yankees an 8-6 lead. The Yankees ended up winning 9-6 with a home run by Eric Hinske as him and Swisher went back to back.

Melky Cabrera had another solid game at the plate going 2 for 4 on the night swiping his 9th stolen base of the season. Melky was really running well tonight showing that he can contribute in different variations.

Burnett did not have his best stuff, but did what he could to hang in there. A.J. struggled at many points in the game, but Posada kept him focused to at least give the Yankees innings in tonight's game.

Burnett allowed 6 runs on 7 hits in 5 1\3 innings to drop his ERA down to 4.29. A.J. has to realize how good he is, and just work on hitting his spots. I know for a fact A.J. Burnett will be lights again this season, and it will be when the Yankees really need it.

The negative things that I noticed with Posada catching are he cannot let his pitchers lay a 2-1 fastball down the middle of the plate. He seems to always put his glove over the fat part of the plate instead of forcing his pitcher to hit a corner.

You can blame A.J. Burnett all you want on that one, but the catcher has to remind the pitcher what to do in that spot...Keep the ball away with runners on in hitter’s counts to guys who love fastballs.

Damaso Marte came in to give the Yankees some big time pitching late in the game to receive the win his 1st of the season.

David Roberston has come out of nowhere making a name for himself as a reliever for Joe Girardi. Robertson has been mowing major league hitters down on strikes at a consistent rate.

David has thrown in over 40 games striking out 58 batters in 38 innings. Girardi looks to get some use out of this valuable arm which has an ERA of 3.46. The young 24 year old will be a talent to keep your eye for the 1st place Yankees.

Phil Coke pitched very well coming out of the bullpen in a spot where he belonged. This was the perfect game to get a guy like Coke some confidence, before you face better teams.

Mariano Rivera earned his 38th save of the season to put him in the lead for saves in the American League. Rivera now has 518 career saves standing alone in the New York Yankee record books.

Rivera's control has been unbelievable only walking 9 batters throughout the season in 55 2\3 innings.

The Yankees managed to save Phil Hughes if they need him tomorrow as they look to sweep the Baltimore Orioles tomorrow. The Yankees remain 6 and a half games in front of the Boston Red Sox for 1st place in the American League East Division.

The final game of this three game series will be at 7:05 pm eastern time as Orioles send struggling 4-11 Jason Berken to the hill to take on potential hall of famer pitcher CC Sabathia.

CC will go into tomorrow's game 15-7 with a 3.56 ERA already giving the Yankees 192 1\3 innings on the season. The 29 year old left hander will look to throw another gem as the Yankees look to beat the Orioles for an 11th time in a row this season.

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