Pitching and Defense
As we all know, there has been a ton of talk about how the Red Sox worked overtime to fix their defense and improve their pitching over the winter. We're now but one game into the 2010 season and already the Yankees have lost one game because their catcher can't catch baseballs. The winning run scored last night after a wild pitch (that should have been blocked) and a passed ball that bounced off the aging Posada's glove like a brick.
This from Buster Olney this morning, "Posada's glove already a question
Damaso Marte kept his composure after the tiebreaking run was scored in the Yankees-Red Sox season opener. He had meant to throw a fastball low and away, but the pitch got away from him a bit, drifting back high and over the plate. Yankees catcher Jorge Posada reached up, the ball hit him in the thick part of the glove and bounced far enough away for Kevin Youkilis to score Boston's eighth run.
Marte kept a stone face on the mound and in the dugout, as any good teammate would. But it would be interesting to know, behind closed doors, what the reaction was of all the folks in the Yankees' organization, because Posada's ability to handle pitches may well be a growing concern.
Last year, we saw that Posada's struggles to catch the ball eventually became part of the reason Jose Molina was in the lineup as the catcher for A.J. Burnett. We will see, in the days ahead, how Posada's ability to catch impacts the ways Joe Girardi sets his lineup. Francisco Cervelli, Posada's backup, is viewed as a strong defensive catcher, and Girardi -- a former catcher -- will recognize, before others, all the value in a strong defensive catcher."
As we all know, there has been a ton of talk about how the Red Sox worked overtime to fix their defense and improve their pitching over the winter. We're now but one game into the 2010 season and already the Yankees have lost one game because their catcher can't catch baseballs. The winning run scored last night after a wild pitch (that should have been blocked) and a passed ball that bounced off the aging Posada's glove like a brick.
This from Buster Olney this morning, "Posada's glove already a question
Damaso Marte kept his composure after the tiebreaking run was scored in the Yankees-Red Sox season opener. He had meant to throw a fastball low and away, but the pitch got away from him a bit, drifting back high and over the plate. Yankees catcher Jorge Posada reached up, the ball hit him in the thick part of the glove and bounced far enough away for Kevin Youkilis to score Boston's eighth run.
Marte kept a stone face on the mound and in the dugout, as any good teammate would. But it would be interesting to know, behind closed doors, what the reaction was of all the folks in the Yankees' organization, because Posada's ability to handle pitches may well be a growing concern.
Last year, we saw that Posada's struggles to catch the ball eventually became part of the reason Jose Molina was in the lineup as the catcher for A.J. Burnett. We will see, in the days ahead, how Posada's ability to catch impacts the ways Joe Girardi sets his lineup. Francisco Cervelli, Posada's backup, is viewed as a strong defensive catcher, and Girardi -- a former catcher -- will recognize, before others, all the value in a strong defensive catcher."
