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Back at Elland Road…..

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It’s 19 years since I was able to attend an opening home game at Elland Road, Leeds. It’s around that time that I moved to London from my Yorkshire home. It’s 38 years since the first time I attended an opening game there. I guess that me and Leeds United go back a long way. I always get back to Elland Road but it’s a long time since I’ve seen a game there in August.

Arriving at the ground, I was greeted by the bizarre sight of Nigel Clough (son of Brian) walking the Derby team from the bus towards the ground having insisted that the coach stopped on Elland Road itself for the players to walk the rest of the way. This brought echoes of the film "The Damned United" which I finally viewed a couple of weeks ago and which tells a very different story from the one which I remember growing up. It’s interesting that Nigel Clough was seeking to emulate something which the film says his Dad learnt from Don Revie many years ago but which several Leeds players including Peter Lorimer (who is one of the few Leeds players to have anything good to say about the film) say never actually happened. History, fiction, memory and incident all get intertwined as we get older but by any standards this is a peculiar twist of events.

There will be few Peter Lorimers on display in the Leeds team today but I’m guessing that Lash allowed himself a wry smile when the Derby fans tried to get the Leeds fans going by singing classics like "If you hate Don Revie, clap your hands" and "Brian Clough’s a footballing genius". Something odd about the tenses in both of those and the fans singing them could probably not have been alive when Clough and Revie were at the helms of today’s two sides.

So two teams haunted by their pasts and on this evidence Derby doing much better at trying to recapture glory days than Leeds. Derby went ahead through a goal from ex-Leeds striker, Rob Hulse. Luciano Becchio levelled things only for the referee and his assistant (who had exceptionally bad days) to give a dubious penalty to Derby which carried the three points out of Yorkshire as it ended the scoring.

So who was on duty for Leeds in Simon Grayson’s extensively re-tooled line up?

Goalkeeper: Kasper Schmeichel. A new signing from Notts County who proved a popular choice which might be surprising given that his dad filled a similar spot for arch-rivals Manchester United. Schmeichel was Leeds’ best player on the day with a crucial double-save at one point doing a lot to get the Leeds faithful on his side. After all, you don’t get to pick your parents.

Defence: Paul Connolly, playing on the right side of defence, 27 years of age and recently signed from Derby County! Connolly acquitted himself well particularly in the first half. He played with an arm heavily bandaged and strapped but didn’t seem to notice that too much. He defended well and was a good distributor of the ball.

Federico Bessone, another debutant. The Argentinian who moved from Swansea had a quiet game on the left side of the defence. He did little wrong but his work rate will need to improve if the defensive performance of the team is to do likewise.

Neill Collins who sent some time at Leeds on loan last season and has now joined them permanently, was paired with captain Richard Naylor in central defence. Perhaps it was that Collins was not in his best position but the two looked out of place against the lively and energetic Hulse and Commons. They were outclassed and over-matched with Collins perhaps enjoying the better performance of the pair.

Midfield: Leeds crammed the midfield and all the central midfield players performed well. Jonny Howson, Bradley Johnson and Neil Kilkenny all did their best to feed the wide players and to provide defensive help for those behind them. Unfortunately each of these players is more inclined to push forward which left those behind them a little exposed particularly since the defence was out-matched for speed.

Width was provided by loanee Sanchez Watt and new signing, Lloyd Sam. Sam who has joined the team from Charlton looked like he didn’t know quite where he was meant to be playing and he was the first of the Leeds team to be withdrawn to make room for Aidan White. Sam will have to show much greater confidence and application if he is to succeed in West Yorkshire. Watt did better but seemed a little lightweight and was too easily knocked off the ball. In the second half. Kilkenny was also substituted for another debutant and loan player, Adam Clayton. Clayton did okay but all the central midfield guys looked to have similar skills and with one of the wide players drifting through the game there was too little invention to feed the lone central attacker.

Attack: That lone central attacker was Luciano Becchio who also provided the lone Leeds goal and 90% of the opportunities that came Leeds’ way. He was asked to do too much and when eventually offered a partner in Mike Grella who replaced Howson after 86 minutes, it was expecting too much of his tired legs to take advantage of this very late, almost token, change.

So what does the season hold for Leeds? Despite today’s defeat I don’t think the season is going to be too bad. We have a lot of new players who will take time to find their feet and one another. With a few tweaks, some players back from injury and a lot of settling in, I would expect Leeds to finish in the top half. 

July in the Bronx – The Yankees’ batters

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The New York Yankees went into July in a strong position but during the month they allowed both Tampa Bay Rays and, for a while, Boston Red Sox to close the gap. They addressed some of the problems we’re going to highlight in this review with a group of trades at the end of the month which brought in Lance Berkman, Austin Kearns and Kerry Wood whilst giving up not a lot in return. This has particularly patched the gap left by Nick Johnson’s long and predictable injury. But before all that happened, there was most of the month of July to unfold……

New York Yankees – Batting – Month – July
Name G AB R H RBI 2B 3B HR BB SO SH SF SB BA SLG OBP
Teixeira, Mark 26 96 25 33 26 10 0 8 20 12 0 1 0 .344 .698 .462
Thames, Marcus 9 18 2 6 4 0 0 1 2 6 0 1 0 .333 .500 .381
Swisher, Nick 25 102 20 33 16 10 0 7 10 23 1 0 0 .324 .627 .384
Cano, Robinson 25 98 17 27 18 8 2 6 12 10 0 1 0 .276 .582 .351
Pena, Ramiro 15 26 3 7 3 0 0 0 0 7 1 0 1 .269 .269 .269
Miranda, Juan 10 15 1 4 2 0 0 1 1 4 0 0 0 .267 .467 .313
Granderson, Curtis 26 94 17 25 10 3 2 3 7 21 2 1 2 .266 .436 .314
Rodriguez, Alex 26 105 9 26 31 8 0 5 9 18 0 3 0 .248 .467 .305
Posada, Jorge 21 73 7 18 10 5 0 3 12 18 0 0 0 .247 .438 .360
Jeter, Derek 26 106 22 26 9 4 0 1 10 15 1 0 3 .245 .311 .310
Curtis, Colin 15 34 7 8 4 1 0 1 2 8 0 0 0 .235 .353 .297
Gardner, Brett 25 77 16 17 13 3 0 2 18 19 1 0 6 .221 .338 .375
Cervelli, Francisco 14 42 3 9 2 1 0 0 2 8 2 0 1 .214 .238 .267
Huffman, Chad 1 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 .000 .000 .250
Russo, Kevin 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000
Berkman, Lance 1 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000
894 150 239 148 53 4 38 105 174 8 7 13 .267 .463 .347

Good

Mark Teixeira. Teixeira finally hit his stride in July and produced form which emulated his 2009 season offensively. This year whilst he has been consistently strong in defense, he has just not shown up at the plate. Now all that has begun to change. In July, he led the team in ERA, OBA and Slugging percentage. His 8 home runs were also ahead of the rest whilst his RBI total was second only to A-Rod.

Marcus Thames. Marcus has continued to impress against left-handed pitchers whilst his figures against righties were significantly better in July too. He will continue to be very much a back-up player and in that role 6 hits in 18 at bats will do very nicely indeed.

Nick Swisher. Nick Swisher is another player that has grown beyond recognition since he arrived in New York and this streakiest of players seems to be settling into a nice routine. Going into the season he looked like one of the potential weaknesses in an outfield that was going to over-rely on Granderson. As the season has developed, Swisher has become the guy who is first pencilled in of those in an outfield role. His .324 and increased patience at the plate (we could still use a few more walks from him) were highlights of a strong July.

Ramiro Pena. Pena had his best offensive month of the season and this coincided with Russo being the guy to be sent to the minors when changes were made early in the month. He still has a long, long way to go – no extra base hits and, more alarmingly, no walks on the month – but this was an advance.

Bad

Francisco Cervelli. I think Cervelli is over thinking at the plate and whatever hits he was producing last year and in the early months of the season are drying up fast. This is particularly bad timing for a slump with Posada’s on-going problems meaning that the team must depend on him and .214 on the month with one double simply does not cut it.

Colin Curtis. Curtis lost his back-up spot this month and forced the Yankees into making a move for Kearns and he has no-one to blame but himself. His 8 hits in 34 at-bats simply were too poor to be sustainable as things got tight at the top.

Derek Jeter. Jeter’s worst month at the plate in nearly two seasons in the midst of a season that is all the more noticeable poor because of his heroics in the championship winning season.

Alex Rodriguez. A-Rod’s preoccupation with himself and his tendency to concentrate on his own goals rather than the teams became so obvious with the horrible slump that occurred in the run-up to his 600th home run and ruined his July figures.

Surprises

Brett Gardner. Gardner became the player he was in 2009 in July and consequently, he produced by far his worst month’s figures of 2010. His .221 month means that when Kearns settles in, Gardner will begin to lose playing time.

Juan Miranda. Miranda finally settled into a rhythm in July — which resulted him being reassigned to Scranton. His .267 with one homer didn’t set the world alight but the choice of Berkman – who has never had to play DH – to replace him is an odd one.

Kevin Russo. Like so many other players on the Yankees roster this season a bright start when first called up soon became a gloomy outlook for Russo and whereas he was once getting more playing time than Pena, he now finds his future at Triple-A.

Jorge Posada. Things are not right with Posada. He needs more rest and the fact that he is being used mainly as a DH and that his batting figures are still so poor says everything.

A play by any other name would smell as sweet…….

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 The RSC production of Romeo and Juliet which is currently playing in its Stratford-Upon-Avon base and which will transfer to the Roundhouse in Camden, London  later in the year is a golden opportunity to see one of the finest productions of Shakespeare in many a year.

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The Yankees in June – The Pitching

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The Yankees’ pitching has not been predictable this season. The performances have certainly not been like they were expected to be pre-season. Joba Chamberlain and A.J. Burnett have failed, so far, to live up to their top billing. But also, the appearances of April have not gelled into full season trends with Javier Vazquez particularly overcoming his early season problems. How did it all look during June?

New York Yankees – Pitching – Month – June
Name GP GS GF IP H RA ER BB SO W L Sv ERA OBA
Mitre, Sergio 1 0 1 2.0 1 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 0.00 .167
Rivera, Mariano 11 0 11 13.0 4 0 0 2 16 2 0 7 0.00 .093
Robertson, David 9 0 2 9.0 8 1 1 4 9 0 0 0 1.00 .250
Sabathia, C.C. 5 5 0 37.0 25 9 9 12 35 5 0 0 2.19 .191
Logan, Boone 4 0 1 7.2 7 2 2 5 7 0 0 0 2.35 .250
Pettitte, Andy 5 5 0 34.0 29 15 12 12 33 2 1 0 3.18 .232
Vazquez, Javier 6 6 0 39.0 26 14 14 12 35 3 2 0 3.23 .187
Chamberlain, Joba 12 0 0 10.2 11 5 5 4 10 0 0 0 4.22 .275
Gaudin, Chad 7 0 6 12.2 12 7 7 7 7 0 1 0 4.97 .267
Hughes, Phil 5 5 0 31.1 37 19 18 8 24 4 1 0 5.17 .303
Park, Chan Ho 9 0 5 11.2 11 7 7 4 11 0 0 0 5.40 .250
Marte, Damaso 8 0 0 5.1 2 4 4 5 3 0 0 0 6.75 .125
Burnett, A.J. 5 5 0 23.0 35 29 29 17 19 0 5 0 11.35 .357
87 26 26 236.1 208 112 108 93 211 16 10 7 4.11 .239

Good

Mariano Rivera. Rivera suffered one or two hiccups in May but his long career show that those occasional problems are nothing more than that and he finds it amazingly easy to get back in the groove. In 11 appearance in June, he only allowed six players to get on base and none of them resulted in runs given up. He continues to astound.

C.C. Sabathia. Sabathia took 5 wins in 5 starts after a largely indifferent start to the season. He is hitting his stride excellently as the season reaches its midpoint and a 20 win season looks well within his reach.

Andy Pettitte. Another solid month for Pettitte who is supposed to be aging and consequently fading. Without last year’s self-inflicted burden on his shoulders, he is looking more intimidating, more confident and simply a better pitcher. True growth isn’t found in pills or serum or injection but in overcoming adversity using those natural God-given resources.

Javier Vazquez. And now Vazquez is giving the Yankees the innings and solid pitching that he has delivered for every other team that he has represented but that he has struggled to match in the Bronx. In June, he kept his OBA below 2 and delivered six and a half innings, on average, each outing. That will do very nicely. Thank you.

Sergio Mitre. Mitre must be truly disappointed to be on the disabled list. That’s always a difficult experience but even more so when everything is coming right for you. His final appearance before the injury was as good as anything he has produced for the Pinstripes.

Bad

A.J. Burnett. Burnett got lost in June but there are already signs that his time in the wilderness might be coming to an end. But June saw him deliver a lousy 11.35 ERA and put more batters per innings on base than any other Yankees pitcher. Let’s hope those better days come thick and fast.

Joba Chamberlain. When he’s good, he’s good. But when he’s bad, he is simply awful. And the bad days are outnumbering the good. They failed to make a starter of him and he isn’t the reliever he was. Sometimes you tamper at your peril.

Chan Ho Park. There was a time when Park was a dominating starter. There was a time when Park was a dominating reliever. At the moment he is not pitching well, his mechanics seem all over the place and he is being hit all over the park.

Chad Gaudin. Having released this guy in Spring Training, I do not understand why we brought him back. Having brought him back when there was a number of injuries around, I don’t understand why he is still around now we have more options. He is ordinary when he is at his best.

Surprises

David Robertson. And in June, the 2009 David Robertson reappeared on the roster of the Bronx Bombers. Only time will tell whether the career of Mr Robertson will be more like this guy or whether the pitcher from the previous two months of this season will return. Certainly, this guy is the better one for the Yankees. He gave up one run and averaged a strikeout per innings. He still allowed too many men to get on base but this was a surprising return to form.

Boone Logan. Logan had a good month in June – which resulted in reassignment and another trip to the minors. The need to make a space on the roster for Dustin Moseley was obviously the core reason for this but Logan does bring something to the roster which will be missed. On the other side of the coin, it could be argued that there were times in June when Logan escaped lightly, having put several men on base but managing to get the final out when in difficult straits. There were also times when he was fortunate that others were able to come in and right the ship for him.

Phil Hughes. Hughes won four games in June – but you don’t have to look far to realise that this was mostly down to a very high level of run support. He may still be winning but he is not pitching as well as he was earlier in the year.

The Yankees in June – the batters

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The Yankees had a mixed month in June. Overall, they were very good but they had a couple of dry spells when the bats fell silent and they lost games that, on paper, they should have won. The month finished with 16 wins and 10 losses and with the usual mix of strong performances and under-achievers. Here’s our monthly survey, beginning with the batters:

New York Yankees – Batting – Month – June
Name G AB R H RBI 2B 3B HR BB SO SH SF SB BA SLG OBP
Gardner, Brett 21 60 13 23 7 2 2 1 9 12 0 1 6 .383 .533 .472
Curtis, Colin 7 9 0 3 4 2 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 .333 .556 .400
Cano, Robinson 26 102 19 34 13 6 0 4 9 11 0 0 0 .333 .510 .398
Teixeira, Mark 26 100 19 25 14 6 0 5 13 20 0 0 0 .250 .460 .353
Pettitte, Andy 5 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 1 0 0 .250 .250 .250
Rodriguez, Alex 22 82 12 20 13 6 0 4 8 13 0 1 0 .244 .463 .308
Jeter, Derek 25 103 18 25 8 5 0 3 15 18 0 0 3 .243 .379 .339
Swisher, Nick 26 104 13 25 19 5 1 4 13 22 0 2 0 .240 .423 .319
Granderson, Curtis 26 92 13 22 15 3 1 5 8 25 0 1 2 .239 .457 .297
Posada, Jorge 24 74 10 15 14 2 0 3 14 23 0 2 0 .203 .351 .337
Moeller, Chad 2 5 2 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 .200 .400 .333
Huffman, Chad 8 15 0 3 2 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 0 .200 .200 .294
Cervelli, Francisco 21 61 4 11 6 2 1 0 6 9 1 0 0 .180 .246 .275
Pena, Ramiro 14 22 0 3 2 0 0 0 2 4 1 0 0 .136 .136 .240
Russo, Kevin 13 23 1 3 0 0 0 0 2 3 1 0 1 .130 .130 .231
Thames, Marcus 7 14 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 4 0 0 0 .071 .071 .133
Miranda, Juan 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000
Rivera, Mariano 11 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000
Vazquez, Javier 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 – – 1.000
Burnett, A.J. 5 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 .000 .000 .000
Sabathia, C.C. 5 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000
877 124 215 117 40 5 29 106 174 6 7 12 .245 .401 .333

Good

Brett Gardner. Some where in the close season, someone kidnapped Brett Gardner and replaced him with the guy we’re seeing this season. Still a pest and a nuisance on the basepaths, this guy is now hitting in a much more accomplished way and has raised his average phenomenally. He should be the first guy written into the outfield line up on current form and achieved a .383 BA and a .533 slugging percentage during June.

Robinson Cano. Cano is the American League’s starting second baseman in the All-Star game and frankly it could be no other way. June was probably his weakest month of the season so far. He ONLY batted .333 with 4 home runs.

Mark Teixeira. Teixeira led the Yankees in extra base hits in June. He is still far short of his MVP-like performance in 2009 but his 6 doubles and 5 homers were a significant step in the right direction.

Colin Curtis. Brought in to cover the gap on the bench left by Marcus Thames’ injury, it didn’t take long for Curtis to jump ahead of Chad Huffman in the management’s thoughts on who is the longterm replacement there for the released Randy Winn. Curtis will see limited action but has been effective when called upon.

Bad

Marcus Thames. Thames started the season in very convincing fashion. Injuries meant that he couldn’t be limited to being used against left-handed pitchers and then he was injured himself. An .071 month in 14 at-bats followed by 2 weeks on the disabled list made for a shocking month for Thames.

Kevin Russo. Both Russo and Pena proved that there use as a defensive substitution and late innings replacement is messing with their batting mechanics. Solid defensively, it is hard to see who was the worst at the plate.

Ramiro Pena. See Kevin Russo.

Francisco Cervelli. Like the aforementioned Russo and Pena, Cervelli had a difficult month as a batter. The difference for Cervelli was that, during June, he was the team’s most called upon catcher. Those pundits who said he couldn’t bat are going to be mumbling again unless he break out of this nosedive.

Surprises

Alex Rodriguez. Rodriguez is seeing an end to his power outage (perhaps) but he is still not getting on base nearly often enough. 10 extra base hits but only .244 on the month.

Derek Jeter. Jeter proved himself all over again in 2009 but his 2010 figures are shown a marked slide offensively which detracts from his continued defensive rebirth. Maybe his appearance in the All-Star game will be his springboard to a big second half.

Jorge Posada. Posada recovered from injury more quickly than I expected but his batting performance did not come back with the physical presence. The continued absence of Johnson means that even when not called upon to catch, Posada is uppermost in Girardi’s mind for DH time. On current performances, he could do without that work.

Chad Huffman. Huffman was a disappointment from the get-go. He has no power, isn’t hitting for much of an average. This is what happens when we pick up the castoff scraps from under other franchises’ tables.

The Yankees in May – The Batters

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May was a month when the Yankees had to deal with a lot of injuries and in which the comfortable lead they had achieved in April gradually disappeared resulting in the Tampa Bay Rays passing them at the head of the division. Given the extent of their injuries, they had a reasonable month. Here are the players who were at the heart of it:

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