Yankee thoughts

Am i the only one that thinks Molina is way over rated behind the plate? He has a great arm and thats about it. Every time he catches all the announcers do is talk about how great he is behind the plate but all he really does well is throw. He never gets down to block balls in the dirt, he is very lazy. 2 examples in Joba's last start the play where the pitch got behind Molina and Joba covered home and blocked the plate and the runner on 3rd trying to take home was out. Well that was called a passed ball and if Joba didnt block the plate the runner from 3rd would have been safe and even worse imagine if he would have gotten hurt on that play. Tonite Molina had another passed ball on a pitch in the dirt he tried to backhand, with runners on, and made no attempt to block. Ive seen this happen more often then mentioned here but i cant remember exactly when. Next reason, does anyone else notice how much he moves around while receiving the ball? When Posada is behind the plate he is perfectly still and catches the ball and frames it without hardly moving at all. Watch Molina catching the ball, his whole body moves. Alot of the time he starts in a crouch but then inexplicably drops down to one knee as the ball approaches. Alot of the time his glove will follow the plane of a breaking ball and hell stab at the ball to catch it. That, combined with the fact that he starts in the crouch then shifts and drops his knee to the ground sometimes gets strikes called balls, esp on breaking balls. Hes moving around so much that he negatively influences the call from the ump. The last thing that i see him do that drives me absolutely nuts is sometimes when he is setting up for a pitch he'll set his entire body outside the strike zone but his glove will be in the zone. This baffles me. His entire body is set outside of the strike zone, except for his glove. The pitcher will then hit him in the glove but the ump will call it a ball based on where his body was prob cuz his fat ass was blocking his view. Last point, based on what i see, i dont think he calls a good game. Remember how many times Joba shook him off earlier in the season and it almost seemed like they they had a problem. I dont really dislike Molina that much, I think hes a great backup, I just hate how whenever he is in they talk about how great he is defensively especially saying that he is superior to Posada. The only thing he does better then Jorge is throw. Jorge calls a better game, receives the ball better and blocks balls in the dirt better.

Speaking of Posada, absolutely atrocious that he caught the first game of a double header and had to sit for game 2. Posada should have been the DH in game 1, Molina or Moeller should have caught so that Jorge could have been behind the plate in game 2. The Yankees are still carrying 3 catchers! Why have them if your not going to use them correctly. The correct move would have been to have Moeller start the thurs nite game in Pitt that got rained out. In game 1 of the double header start Molina behind the plate, Giambi at first and Posada as the DH. Game 2 Posada would have been behind the plate.

Recently it has become very popular to bash Jeter, most notably on the defensive side. I know one of the popular baseball prediction publications listed him as the worst defensive SS in the majors. Did anyone see the play he made in the 1st inning of the nite game where he went towards the 3rd base side, gloved the ball and fired an absolute strike to first to get a speedy Castillo by a hair. He made a similar play later in the game, either the 5th or 6th inning most likely. It was a ball that should have been A-Rods, but he missed it and Jeter was right there and got the runner at 1st. Jeter's range up the middle has never been amazing but overall he is far from the bottom of the barrel. The 2nd thing they rip on is his arm and he def has one of the better arms at the position he just doesnt show it off.

Staying on the subject of Jeter, are they any Yankee fans out there with memories that extend longer then 2 yrs ago? For the first 10 yrs of his career he was a late starter who didnt really get hot until June. His last 2 yrs, contrary to his career trends, he got off to a hot start right away. This year, off to a good start, then beamed in the hand w/ a 96 mph fastball. He doesnt miss a game, but then goes into a slump. These ignorant fans are starting to talk about how Jeter is washed up, instead of realizing 2 things, 1st this is basically he is on line with the rest of his career trends and the years where he had the 2 good starts were aberrations and 2nd his hand was fucked up. Jeter is going to hit about .320 and make all those morons saying hes done look like complete idiots. The same argument can be made for Cano. Cano got off to a paltry start, however the same can be said for the last 2 yrs. This yr might have been a little worse then the past, but not by much. Cano does not start really getting hot until July-August. Thats how hes always been, why should we expect different from him. I hate all these dumbass, short term memory, Yankee "fans".