KEY 5:  Ichiro against jam pitches.

This article is one of Jeff Sullivan's best, and that's sayin' a whale of a lot.  In it, he demonstrates that the 2011 Ichiro is having more problems with jam pitches than usual.

Ichiro, relative to other major leaguers, has a super long, super complex swing.  He is using a 1-wood up there -- no, actually, a trick extended-length driver.

His natural 1-wood swing (as opposed to the cut-down, slap-the-ball-through-SS/3B swing) has always had a natural hole on his hands.  

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Of course, Ichiro has been countering this for 15 years.

Normally, Ichiro discourages jam pitches by stepping toward first and smacking inside pitches into the RF bleachers, or down the RF line -- and when he guesses jam pitch he is going to routinely launch a missile.  (Ever see Ichiro step down the 1B line, check his swing, and get a called strike on a curve ball outside?  He was punishing the jam pitch.)

It hasn't been working so far in 2011, because:

1. He seems to have to decide on punishment before the pitch
2. It takes hair-fine, middle-of-season timing to work

Thanks to Sully, we can all enjoy this game-within-a-game that Ichiro plays.

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Me personally, if I were Ichiro, I'd go to that tennis-swing thing where he serves the ball to LF.  Back when he was in Japan, a scout said "he just does that to keep his average up."  Which would be okay with me, his average going up.

But if Ichiro is going to remain ambitious, he'll need to hit a few doubles and HR's to back them off the jam pitches.

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Like Rickey, Lofton, Rose etc., Ichiro's going to play well until at least age 40 ... even if he has to go to his tennis game to do it.  

This is a mini-slump, not the end of Ichiro's career, not anywhere near it.

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KEY 6:  Peguero, Ryan, and Olivo and the "quality AB's."

Another game-within-a-game, as we root for these three guys to get their pitches and then rake them for, hopefully, "hard" RBI's in clutch situations.

Luis Rodriguez has done this all year.  He's in the lineup, too.

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KEY 7:  Ordinary SP's vs the Mariners.

The Yankees' payroll is a thing that worsens the human condition, but Ivan Nova is not a Yankee.  He's a placeholder with a 26:21 CTL ratio.  The M's could beat him.

Burnett and Freddy could be pitching for, say, the Orioles.  My day is made worthwhile by nothing more than the simple 5-second thought that Cliff Lee is not a New York Yankee.  :- )

They say that low-scoring baseball games are more exciting, since each play means more.  Despite that, Dr. D much prefers 8-6 games to 2-1 games.

The Yankees are about 8-6 games.  The Fun Factor is up for me.

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KEY 8:  LRod hitting #2.

For one night, anyway, a pitcher isn't batting at the top of the lineup.  I'm guessing that should be a plus for the M's.

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See you at the ballpark,

Dr D

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