ALCS Game 3 Recap

By
Pat Abdalla
 on October 19, 2009 9:32 PM | | Comments (1)

A deep double by the backup catcher gave the Angels a much needed win over the Yankees in Game 3.
Now, let's look at Andy Pettitte's career.
And stop praising Derek Jeter for routine plays.

  • Sometimes it appears Andy Pettitte is one of the most overrated players of his generation.
    Afterall, his 3.91 career ERA is higher than contemporaries Kerry Wood, Barry Zito and Derek Lowe.
    And he isn't a strikeout pitcher. Or that great a control artist.
    His strikeout-to-walk ratio is even more confounding since it's worse than Brad Radke, Carl Pavano, Ted Lilly and Pasqual Perez.
    When you consider that, you have to wonder what Pettitte's career numbers would have been had he played for a team other than the great Yankees teams and playoff-bound Houston squads.
    However, Pettitte's ability to win - and win when it counts - is impressive and might mean he's not valued as much as he should be.
    The southpaw owns a career .629 winning percentage and 229 victories.
    Only twelve pitchers -- Hall of Famers Whitey Ford, Al Spalding, Lefty Grove, Grover Clevelandv Alexander, Jim Palmer, Kid Nichols, Joe McGinnity, Juan Marichal, and John Clarkson plus Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson and Mike Mussina -- have as many wins and as high a winning percentage.
    Plus, Pettitte's career winning percentage is better than the teams he played during his career, .629 to .587.
    So Pettitte probably deserves the credit he gets.

  • In the third inning, Joe Buck talked about the Angels' stadium history and mentioned Wrigley Field. Don't get confused, he's not talking about Chicago. He's talking about the one that was in L.A.
    The field that he is talking about was home to many minor league teams - and not to mention many movies - and was the first to be named Wrigley Field.

  • Reflecting on Vladimir Guerrero's career, there are several interesting things to point out:

    1. In 1,850 career games, he has struck out just 869 times. Bobby Abreu, who has played in 1,951 games, has 1,518 career whiffs.

    2. However, because Guerrero will swing at anything, he's susceptible to good pitching in the playoffs. That's why his career post-season batting average is 71 points below his career mark.

    3. Heading into this season, Guerrero has been so feared he's led the league in intentional walks four straight seasons. The only other players to match that feat since 1955 are Wade Boggs (1987-1992) and Barry Bonds 1992-1998.

      4. So it was nice to see Guerrero come up with a big hit.


  • The play Derek Jeter made to get Bobby Abreu out at second base in the eighth inning was not a great play by Jeter. Any player who gets that ball, turns around and sees a base runner that far off the base and doesn't nab him should not have made it to professional ball.
    There were no extra smarts on that play. There was no extra effort. There was no extra talent.
    That burden of that play rests on the shoulder of Bobby Abreu, who was trying to do too much and might have cost his team the game.

  • Mike Scioscia's call to pitch out was brilliant. Brett Gardner is a bigtime weapon for the Yankees, and the Angels' nabbing him in that spot was crucial in that it probably kept the Yankees from scoring a run.

  • Mark Teixeira's defense is inspiring. First of all, he does everything so fundamentally sound he should be on a Tom Emanski video. Around the bag, he devours Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez' consistently inconsistent throws. As a straight-up fielder his range is probably better than A-Rod and Jeter. It's not a stretch to think this guy could have played third or short at the Major League level.

  • In the 10th inning, when Mariano Rivera threw the ball away, Johnny Damon showed that despite his waning skills in the field, he's a very heads up player. His backing up the play saved the Yankees that inning. A loss on an error like that could really have sent the Yankees tumbling.

    • Tags:

    1 Comments

    By The Southpaw on October 20, 2009 2:30 AM

    checking to see if the commenting is working now.

    Leave a comment


    Type the characters you see in the picture above.

    Search

    About this Entry

    This page contains a single entry by Pat Abdalla published on October 19, 2009 9:32 PM.

    Indians mulling managerial options was the previous entry in this blog.

    NLCS Game 4 recap is the next entry in this blog.

    Find recent content on the main index or look in the archives to find all content.