Yesterday’s game showed us one thing that we should always remember about baseball: we should remain patient.
The Yankees looked pretty damn bad for most of the game–and we really shouldn’t ignore that–but at the end, they did pull it out.
There was a point in the game during which Jorge Posada should’ve pinch hit for Frankie Cervelli. Later, we learned that Jorge was possibly concussed and was not available. That’s a sidebar, though–I’d like to go back to the game itself.
We must remember that the game is not over until the 27th out is recorded. And the Yankees, because of the way they’re constructed, always have the ability to be in a game. This is because the Yankees employ the greatest run scoring technique available to a baseball team: the home run. Because of their frequent home run hitting, the Yankees can possibly sway every game they play into their favor.
This post, though, is only half about the game today and half about the guy who started the game: Ivan Nova. Ivan Nova once again had a solid outing. He struck out six in six innings, allowed just two runs, and walked only two. So far, he’s pitched well as a Major Leaguer. It’s nice to see this happen. However, me must exercise some more patience here as well.
There’s going to be a time–whether it’s this season or next–in which Ivan Nova is going to run into trouble. His Minor League statistics are solid, but not spectacular. His ceiling is not very high. There’s a chance that what we’re seeing now out of Ivan Nova is the best we’ll ever see out of Ivan Nova. What we have to do, then, is remember that all young pitchers will struggle at some point. It’s easy for us to get pumped about Nova and his good stuff and his instant results, but like we did for years with Phil Hughes and Joba Chamberlain, we must remember that the development of a pitcher is a process.
The team that we love to watch on a daily basis is one of the most patient teams in the league. We constantly laud the team’s ability to take pitches, work the count, and draw walks until they’re ready to knock those guys in with power. We need to take a lesson from our favorite team and be patient. We need to be patient during games. We need to be patient watching players slump and watching players develop. We need to be patient.
Amen.
All sports require patience on the part of fans, management, and ownership, but baseball requires much more. The instant information age makes this difficult for a lot of fans.
When the Yanks were winning from 96 to 2000, my boss at the time (he had a great baseball mind despite being a Mets fan) and I used to talk about how incredibly lucky those Yankee teams were. To win 4 and be one Mariano save from advancing in 97 is something that’s very unlikely to be repeated any time soon. The odds are pretty long against even winning two in a row. oldpep(Quote)
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Girardi made this game frustrating.. he got out managed by showalter..how does he not pinch hit for berkman ,but does so for granderson.? if he does send up thames for lance buck brings in a RHer then, and we don’t lose grandys bat vs a Rher..unless he goes batter for batter..he would then use three pitchers up in the inning.with 3 innings to go..berkman is hitting 167 RHed. anyone one the bench could do that..and he looked real bad again.michael kay is brutal, he says well you don’t want to sacrifice defense, ok so we will stay behind with good defense..if posada was that ill ,did any body go tell showalter he won.t be playing today? also send up miranda till he feels better..whats paramount.. SWB or winning a championship? girardi must have heard from Cash if he held back another injury..girardi like torre always get out managed by seasoned guy..he is a #s guy his moves are based on that, so how does he not hit for berkman..maybe he had a gut feeling..or maybe it was just gas. i hope he takes that cub job..maybe we can give enough money to get tom kelly back into baseball bornwithpinstripes(Quote)
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