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Post by qwik3457bb on Oct 15, 2024 16:35:07 GMT -5
Guardians take Cobb off their ALCS roster (injury) and add in Ben Lively. I guess the fingernail/blister problems got him again. Quelle surprise, Cobb is on the IL. |
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Post by qwik3457bb on Oct 15, 2024 16:37:23 GMT -5
In game 2 of the ALCS, the Guardians turn to their current ace, righty Tanner Bibee, to try to even the series. Bibee missed both series against the Yanks this season, so a little background is in order. Bibee was drafted by Cleveland in the 5th round of the 2021 June Amateur Draft from Cal State Fullerton, but they didn’t let him pitch that season after they picked him. He climbed swiftly through the Guardians’ farm system anyway, making 12 excellent starts at high A and 13 more brilliant starts at AA in 2022. For the season as a whole, Bibee was 8-2 in 25 starts with an ERA of 2.17 in 132 2/3 innings, giving up just 101 hits and 27 walks while striking out 167. He started 2023 in AAA, and after just 3 terrific starts there (2-0, 1.76 ERA, 19 K and 0 HR in 15 1/3 innings), they called him to the majors, and he pitched outstanding ball the rest of the season: 10-4, 2.98 ERA, 141 K, 45 and just 13 HR in 142 innings with a solid 1.176 WHIP. This year he’s been nearly as good: 31 starts, 12-6 with 3.47 ERA. In 173 2/3 innings, he’s allowed 150 hits, 70 runs, 67 earned, 22 HR, 44 BB and struck out 187. The HR rate increased, but the WHIP was lower: 1.117. He had a little bit of a rough stretch in July and August, going 3-4 with a 3.99 ERA in 9 starts, and Cleveland sat him down for not quite 2 weeks in the middle of that stretch for what the team described as minor “shoulder tightness”. He recovered down the stretch: in his last 5 starts, 2-2 with a 2.64 ERA, 30 2/3 innings, 23 hits, 9 runs (earned), 3 HR, 9 BB and 31 K’s.
In the ALDS against the Tigers, he pitched good baseball, but Vogt leaned heavily on his pen in both game 1 and game 4. In the first game, he pitched 4 2/3 shutout innings, allowing 4 hits and 1 BB, striking out 6. The Guardians had a 5-0 lead, when with 2 outs and nobody on in the 5th, Bibee gave up a single Parker Meadows. And Vogt pulled him to go to Cade Smith. At 76 pitches. At just 8 pitches thrown in the 5th. Now, Cade Smith has been dominant this season, but that VERY quick hook up by 4 runs makes me wonder if Bibee’s shoulder is completely healthy. In game 4, he had pitched 4 solid innings, allowing 3 hits, 1 run, 2 BB and 3 K’s. Cleveland led 2-1, when Bibee gave up a solo HR to Zach McKinstry, and again Vogt gave him a quick hook. That one was understandable: Guardians down 2 games to 1, elimination game, deep, elite pen, game tied. Still, it’s something to watch tonight. Vogt held back ALL of his top relievers last night, and this will be a modified all-hands-on-deck game to avoid going down 2-0 in the series. I think if Bibee runs into ANY serious trouble at any point, he’ll be lifted early.
Tonight is Bibee’s 2nd career start against the Yanks. His first was last year in just his 2nd start as a major leagues, in early May at the Stadium. He was terrific for 5 innings, allowing just 2 singles and no walks, striking out 5. Leading 2-0 in the 6th, he got Aaron Hicks to flyout, and then Volpe got to him for a solo HR down the line in right. Torres followed by doubling into the RF corner, and Francona pulled Bibee. James Karinchak came in and gave up a RBI single to Rizzo, and Bibee was left with a no-decision. Willie Calhoun (remember him?) hit a solo HR in the 7th, and D.J. Lemahieu (remember him??) got a RBI single in the 8th, and the Yanks won 4-2. So Bibee’s ERA against the Yanks is 3.38, and his WHIP is 0.75. The Yanks team quadruple slash line against him in all of 20 plate appearances is .200/.200/.400/.600.
Repertoire: Bibee is a righty who throws 5 pitches, but in the regular season, he rarely used the sinker, just 9 all season. He was really a 4-pitch righty: 4-seamer, slider, change and curve. He used the FB the most, and it gets below average rise and considerably below average run in on righties. The slider gets below average drop, but near-elite break away from righties, just outside the top 10%. His curve functions almost as a sweeper; he gets much less drop than average (bottom 10% of 214 pitchers who throw one), but elite break down and in on lefties and away from righties (4th most out of the 214 pitchers). The change gets well below average drop (just above the bottom 10% of 341 pitches who throw one) and average tail away from lefties. Bibee’s chase rate is well below average, his FB velocity is above average, and the FB and curve ball spin are both well above average. His extension is solidly above average as well. Bibbe’s average exit velocity is slightly below average, the barrel rate is above average, and the hard-hit rate is below average. His line drive rate is slightly above average (and higher in his two post-season starts), the groundball rate is below average, the flyball rate and popup rates are both above average. His swinging strike rate is above average, but the called strike rate is below average, and the CSW is slightly below average. In luck factors, his BABIP was just above MLB average, the strand rate was slightly above average, and the HR per FB rate was below average. His ERA estimators say he’s been a bit lucky, though part of that luck might be the excellent Guardians’ defense, but even more so, their elite pen (their 26% of inherited runners scoring was 3rd best in the AL this year; the Yanks’ 35% wound up as 3rd worst). The estimators say Bibee’s ERA should have been about 3.69 rather than the actual 3.47 ERA. His pitch mix on the season was: 4-seamer averaging 94-5 about 43% of the time, slider at 86 about 28% of the time, change 82-3 about 18%, and curve 81 about 11%, and those 9 sinkers averaging 94.
In the two postseason starts, he’s made a huge change, putting the sinker back into his repertoire, turning him back into a 5-pitch pitcher. In the two games combined, he threw 53 4-seamers (38%) averaging 95, 32 sliders (23%; oddly coded by Baseball Savant as cutters for some reason, sliders is probably correct because of the difference in velocity with respect to the 4-seamers) averaging 87-8, 25 sinkers (18%) averaging 94-5, 22 changeups (16%) averaging 83-4, and 8 curves (5%) averaging 80.
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Post by qwik3457bb on Oct 15, 2024 16:47:27 GMT -5
Playing the Name Game: A weakish Name Game tonight. We hit Tanner both times the Yanks faced Tanner Houck. I laid it all out in a bit of detail in his first start against the Yanks here:
Tanner Name Game
What else to say about Tanners? Tanner Scott was traded to the Padres in the biggest deal for a reliever at this year's deadline, only to be eliminated by the Dodgers last week…Tanner Banks pitched in relief for the Phillies late this year, he contributed a run and 2 hits to the overall Philly bullpen collapse in his one inning against the Mets in that division series, and now he and the Phils are eliminated. Tanner Roark, who I mentioned had the most bWAR among the pitching Tanners, got traded off the Nationals the winter before they won the title in 2019 for Tanner Rainey, so Rainey got the ring and not Roark…there are still no hitting Tanners. The most famous Tanner is still Pirates manager Chuck Tanner, who was in charge when they won the title in 1979, and still in charge when that clubhouse was wracked by the cocaine scandal a few years later. For details on that, see this Wikipedia page:
Pittsburgh Drug Trials
Tanner is also is the only Bibee in MLB history, although pitcher Jim Bibby is the only Bibby in MLB history. He pitched 12 years in the majors, going 111-101 with a 3.76 ERA for a lifetime 18.6 bWAR. Bibby’s nephew and brother were both guards who had careers in the NBA and both won an NCAA division I Men’s Basketball Championship; brother Henry played for the Knicks and was part of the last Knicks team to win an NBA title in 1973, 51 long years ago. Jim Bibby’s best year was when he made the All-Star team for the only time in his career in 1980 for the Pirates, going 19-6 with a 3.32 ERA, finishing 6th in the Cy Young voting and 14th in the MVP voting. Bringing this around full circle, Bibby went 12-4 the year before for Chuck Tanner and the World Series winning 1979 Pirates, making one terrific start (no-decision) in the NLCS against the Reds, and one decent start and one good but short start for two more no-decisions in the World Series against the Orioles.
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Post by qwik3457bb on Oct 15, 2024 16:48:14 GMT -5
The Yanks send out their ace Gerrit Cole to start game 2 for the Yanks against Cleveland's ace. He was 8-5 in the regular season with a 3.47 ERA in 17 starts and 95 innings during the regular season. In the Division Series against the Royals, he got hit hard but got a no-decision when the offense and bullpen rallied late for a 6-5 Yankees win. He got hit pretty hard in game 5, but still gave up just 1 run in 7 innings to get the W in the deciding game 4.
Cole made one start against the Guardians this year, in August at home. He didn’t have his best command; he didn’t have his best stuff. In 6 innings, he walked 5 and struck out just 2, but gave up just one hit and no runs, and the Yanks shut out Cleveland 6-0. Cole has made 11 starts in the regular season vs. the Guardians, and has pitched very well: 7-2 with a 2.82 ERA. In 73 1/3 innings, he’s allowed just 47 hits, 23 runs (earned), 7 HR, 23 BB and struck out 73. His WHIP against them in the regular season is an outstanding 0.955, and in those games the Cleveland team quadruple slash line against him is .188/.263/.316/.579.
Cole also has four prior starts against Cleveland in the playoff, he’s pitched well in all four and won all four. He had a brilliant game 2 against them for the Astros in the 2018 Division Series, 7 innings of 3-hit 1-run ball, striking out 12 without a walk for the win. The remaining three starts came while he's been with the Yanks. He had another excellent effort in the first game of the 2020 Wild Card Series: 7 innings, 6 hits, 2 runs (earned) 1 HR, 0 BB and 13 K. He pitched another excellent game in game 1 of the 2022 Division Series: 6 1/3 innings, 4 hits, 1 run (earned), a solo HR, 1 BB and 8 K. He pitched another good game in game 4: 7 innings, 6 hits, 2 runs (earned), 1 HR, 1 BB and 8 K’s. The four games combined: 4-0, 27 1/3 innings, 19 hits, 6 runs (earned), 4 HR, 2 BB, and 41 K’s. His ERA against them in the postseason is 1.98 ERA, WHIP of 0.768, a K/9 of 13.5 and a K rate of 39%. The team quadruple slash line in the playoffs against Cole is .186/.202/.337/.539. You can say that in the playoffs, Cole has been “their daddy”, but you could also say that against Cole in the playoffs, the Guardians are DUE.
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Post by qwik3457bb on Oct 15, 2024 16:51:41 GMT -5
Yankees' lineup vs. Bibee:
1. Torres (2B) is 1-3 with a double
2. Soto (RF) is 1-2 with a BB
3. Judge (CF) has never faced Bibee
4. Wells (C) hasn’t faced him either
5. Stanton (DH) hasn’t faced him as well
6. Chisholm (3B) hasn’t, too
7. Volpe (SS) is 1-3 with a solo HR and a K
8. Rizzo (1B) is 1-2
9. Verdugo (LF) is 0-1 with 2 BB
On the bench: Grisham is 1-2; Cabrera is 1-2; Trevino is 0-2 with a K
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Guardians lineup vs. Rodon: Just 5 players on the team have faced him, four are in the lineup:
1. Kwan (LF) is 2-13 with 1 BB and 2 K
2. Manzardo (DH) has never faced Cole
3. Ramirez (3B) hits Cole very hard: 9-23 with 1 double, 1 triple, 2 HR, 5 RBI, 6 BB, 4 K and 1 sac fly
4. J. Naylor (1B) is 2-16 with 1 double, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 1 BB and 5 K with 1 sac fly and 2 GIDP
5. Thomas (CF) has never faced Cole
6. Brennan (RF) is 2-8 with a double, a BB and K
7. Gimenez (2B) is 3-16 with 1 double, 1 RBI, 7 K and 1 HBP
8. B. Naylor (C) is 0-2
9. Rocchio (SS) is 0-2 with 1 K
On the Bench: Hedges is 1-5 with 2 K; Noel is 0-2 with 1 BB; and pitcher Lively is 0-1 with 1 K.
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Post by qwik3457bb on Oct 15, 2024 16:52:35 GMT -5
In other playoff action yesterday:
The Mets came off the canvas after the Dodgers flattened them in Round 1 of the NLCS to even the series with a 7-3 win in game 2. The Dodgers went with a bullpen game, and everyday hero Lindor led off the game with a solo HR. The Dodgers went to current 5th starter Landon Knack as the bulk reliever, but the Mets pounded him for 5 in the 2nd; an RBI double by Tyrone Taylor and capped by an enormous grand slam by Mark Vientos. The Dodgers rallied in the middle innings on a solo HR by Max Muncy leading off the 5th, and after the Dodgers loaded the bases to start the bottom of the 6th, Phil Maton came in, got a popout, then gave up a 2-run single to Edman. After walking Muncy to put runners at 1st and 3rd, but got out of it by getting Kike Hernandez to ground into a 5-4-3 DP. The game stayed that way until the 9th, when Starling Marte singled in Alonso to make it 7-3. Closer Edwin Diaz made it a little exciting in the 9th by giving up a single to Andy Pages, and after he took 2nd on defensive indifference, walking Shohei Otani to put 2 on and nobody out. Edwin gathered himself and whiffed Mookie Betts, Teoscar Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in succession to close it out. The Mets head back to Queens with the series tied, having taken homefield away from LA for now, and with a chance to wrap it up without having to have to fly back to the West Coast.
And, at 7:38 pm at the Stadium, the Yanks have the national baseball spotlight to themselves; it’s Bibee vs. Rodon. See you then.
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Post by chiyankee on Oct 15, 2024 17:53:28 GMT -5
I hope the weather in NYC is better tonight than it is in Chicago right now. It got cold really quick out here. Go Yanks!
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Post by kaybli on Oct 15, 2024 18:19:55 GMT -5
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Post by azbob643 on Oct 15, 2024 18:26:31 GMT -5
I hope the weather in NYC is better tonight than it is in Chicago right now. It got cold really quick out here. Go Yanks! The Hawk... World Series should've been wrapped up by now. |
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Post by chiyankee on Oct 15, 2024 18:34:01 GMT -5
I hope the weather in NYC is better tonight than it is in Chicago right now. It got cold really quick out here. Go Yanks! The Hawk... World Series should've been wrapped up by now. Today is the anniversary of Kirk Gibson's HR of Eckersley at Dodger Stadium. |
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Post by chiyankee on Oct 15, 2024 18:34:48 GMT -5
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Post by azbob643 on Oct 15, 2024 18:37:13 GMT -5
The Hawk... World Series should've been wrapped up by now. Today is the anniversary of Kirk Gibson's HR of Eckersley at Dodger Stadium. Eventually it'll be The Winter Classic....played indoors on artificial turf. |
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Post by Rockaway Park on Oct 15, 2024 18:37:19 GMT -5
I hope the weather in NYC is better tonight than it is in Chicago right now. It got cold really quick out here. Go Yanks! 55 here at the coast. Should be a degree warmer in the Bronx. |
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Post by qwik3457bb on Oct 15, 2024 18:37:46 GMT -5
Yanks take the field. Cole on the mound throwing his final warmups.
Kwan getting ready to get into the batter's box...
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Post by qwik3457bb on Oct 15, 2024 18:38:32 GMT -5
Gametime temp is 56°, as per TBS. No rain expected.
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