Ballpark Banter- Wednesday review

1) The Yankees and Red Sox met for the fourth time this season on Wednesday night, but it was the first meeting between the two teams in Yankee Stadium. Again, New York and Boston decided to pull an all-nighter. Seriously, it takes less time for Congress to pass a bill than for the Yankees and Red Sox to play a baseball game these days. Wednesday's game was just another one among the four-hour affairs that have become routine when these two clubs meet.

It is beyond absurd that it takes them this long to play a baseball game, and it kills the momentum and fluidity of the game. Baseball has monotone roll to it-- the innings are played out with a tempo and one frame blends right in with the next. That is what makes up the feel of the game and it is important to keep that in persepctive. Baseball games are not supposed to near midnight, but the Yankees and Red Sox play such a methodical and deliberate style of game that you lose feel for the baseball. The games they play resemble a national crisis or some bomb defusion more than baseball. The managers and players seem to be thinking before every pitch-- to the point where they are trying to figure out some mathematical equation, when really, they just need to react and play like they do any other game.

It took Felix Hernandez half the time to throw a complete game against the Oakland A's on Wednesday night, and that made for some great baseball. There could be multiple reasons for why the Yankees and Red Sox play at a snail's pace, but I'm thinking it has to do with the pitching being overly cautious. We know that these are two of the best offenses in baseball, and that these are divisonal games, and that the Yankees and Red Sox are arguably the fiercest rivalry in all of sports. Got it.

But where does that factor in to the pitching gameplan? It feels as if the pitchers are almost scared of everyone from Coco Crisp to Melky Cabrera that walks up to the plate. Nobody wants to get shelled-- like both starts did on this night-- but it is time to stop giving the hitters so much credit. Pitchers need to pound the strike zone and force the hitters to react to their pitches. When both teams walk the world every time they play, the game drags along because it seems like every hitter is Babe Ruth and therefore we gotta pitch around him. It is time to move past that and make these games more enjoyable to watch, because after all, it really is the best series that baseball can offer. Anyways, Yankees took this one 15-9 in a slugfest.


2) How 'bout them Tigers, huh? Huh? Ok, not really, but they are starting to turn this thing around even though they still have a dismal record (5-10). What may be more surprising is that there hasn't been nearly as much talk about Cleveland's struggles, and yet they are dead even with Detroit in the standings now. The Tigers erupted in a 13-2 victory over the Indians Wednesday night, and newly acquired Miguel Cabrera led the charge with a homerun and 5 RBI.

We knew that it was only a matter of time before this lineup woke up, and it appears as if they may be coming out of their spring coma. The good news for the Tigers is that they are starting to get some pitching help to go along with the offense, and now they are poised to play the way everyone expected them to play for the remainder of the season. I love the story of the Kansas City Royals right now, but they are going to have some angry fellows on their tails real quick.

Armando Galarraga made his first start of the year for the Tigers and was outstading-- 6 2/3 inning, 2 earned runs, 6 strikeouts. Galarraga was nowhere to be found in the plans of the Tigers pitchign staff when Opening Day rolled around, but with Dontrelle Willis on the DL and others struggling, the rookie is getting his shot, and made the most out of his first start in 2008. Jason Grilli came out of the pen to pitch the final 2 1/3 innings, allowing 2 hits to go along with 1 strikeout.

Grilli is supposed to be an important piece for the Detroit bullpen this year but has struggled out of the gate (5.87 ERA). With Joel Zumaya and Fernando Rodney down for an unknown amount of time, Grilli's role has been magnified, which may have exposed the righthander in the beginning. In order for Detroit to continue their success though, Grilli will have to adjust to a late-inning role and take on the responsibility of getting the ball to closer Todd Jones. He certainly has the stuff to do it.

What may be more surprising than the records of the Tigers and the Indians so far, is the performance of C.C. Sabathia. The 2007 Cy Young award winner has absolutely no answers for what has occured in his first four starts of the season. Sabathia got rocked on Wednesday, giving up 9 earned runs in four innings, with five walks, and one strikeout. The big soutpaw is no 0-3 on the season with a whopping 13.50 ERA.

There are a couple reasons that could attribute to why C.C. has pitched so poorly this spring. First of all is his walk totals. He has 14 walks this season in 18 innings. The poor command has led Sabathia into numerous jams that sometimes are too tough to get out of before the damage has been done. When command is poor, major league hitters can discard the offspeed stuff and sit on a fat fastball in their happy zone. All of these walks bump the pitch count up, and before you know it, the manager is coming out to get you and the game hasn't reached the fifth inning. Command would not be as much of an issue with a power pitcher like C.C., but that leads me to my second point.

Sabathia has always relied on power stuff-- a high-90s fastball, devastating slider, and a useable changeup. He has always been able to parlay those pitches into a ton of strikeouts. Sabathia's strikeouts this season (14 K's) equal the amount of walks he has given up. A strikeout pitcher will throw more pitches than a finesse guy simply because he will miss more bats. If Sabathia isn't striking many guys out and he's walking a ton, well it is not too hard to imagine the type of results he is going to get-- as we are witnessing right now.

The only other possibility that I can think of is if something physically is wrong with the guy. Who knows if his arm isn't feeling quite right, or if he is just going through a very rough patch when the weather is frigid in Cleveland. Hard to tell. But if the Indians want to contend at all this season, it is time for their team doctors to really start looking into the performance of their ace and evaluating his arm and body. When his big time fastball is absent, and his slider is mediocre, it is time to get checked out.