In Advanced Scouting, MLB FanHouse's professional talent evaluator breaks down the playoffs from a scouting perspective.Pointing a finger at a manager is an easy thing to do after a heart-wrenching loss. Sometimes the hard truth of a loss is little more than a lack of execution by the players. The Angels' Game 5 victory came down to a poorly executed pitch from the hand of Phil Hughes. That simple of an answer might be difficult to swallow, but that single offering has, at best, delayed the Yankees' return to the World Series.
Make no mistake, New York is at this point in the postseason because of the performance of its young relievers. But, youthful mistakes and jitters cost the Yankees dearly Thursday night. Until Game 6 begins on Saturday night, the pitch every Yankee should be replaying in their head is a fastball in a 1-2 down the heart of the plate to Vladimir Guerrero.
Should the Yankees be concerned about Hughes, their inexperienced setup man? Well, even though he was one quality pitch from escaping that seventh inning with a lead, there were some definite red flags. Out of the gates against Torii Hunter, the velocity was there at 96 mph with the first three pitches, but it was clear that Hughes was overthrowing. Even his 3-0 cutter was in a poor location, backing up right over the middle of the plate.
After walking Hunter, Hughes seemed in a calmer state of mind against Guerrero. He made an excellent pitch on 1-1 with his curveball, making the Angels slugger look foolish. Then he made the worst possible mistake you can make to such a good hitter in a big situation. Looking to go up the ladder, Hughes instead missed right over the heart of the plate just below belt high with a 95-mph fastball. As good hitters do, Guerrero made him pay with a single up the middle.
Contrast that with John Lackey, the Angels' man with a plan. The Yankees have struggled against the big curveball throughout this series and Lackey went to his often, throwing it an almost unheard of 47 percent of the time on Thursday. That approach kept the Yankee hitters off balance throughout his very strong outing and proved again that pitchers who can use their secondary pitches consistently will give the New York lineup the most trouble.Spotlight Moment
In about as tense a moment as you could have in an October baseball game, Nick Swisher battled Brian Fuentes in the top of the ninth inning with two outs and the bases loaded. The outcome of the at-bat had as much to do with the struggles of Swisher as anything else, but fortunately for the Angels things worked out in their favor.
Swisher, as the numbers indicate, has struggled mightily in this series. He's looked over-anxious and has been out in front of every off-speed offering the Angels have thrown at him. Although he worked the count full, Swisher missed a pitch on 3-2 he likely wishes he could have back. And you can bet that Fuentes would admit that the location could have been better. The Angels closer was far from dominating in this one, and going into the final two games of the ALCS it's going to be very difficult to rest easy if they need to rely on him to close out a game.
Quick Hits
• For the second time in two games, the Yankees opted for an extreme defensive alignment in the outfield against Bobby Abreu and were burned by it. With Abreu up, New York had center fielder, Melky Cabrera drastically shifted toward the left-center field gap. And for the second time, Abreu lined a ball up the middle that would have been either a single or an out against a standard alignment. While Abreu does have the tendency to shoot the ball toward the gap in the left field, he's burned the Yankees by not going there in the last two games. It will be interesting to see if the Yankees stick with their positioning as the series returns to New York.
• If Yankee fans are looking for something positive to take from a crushing defeat, they can look at the awakening of Mark Teixeira and Robinson Cano. Two key hitters in the Yankee lineup, both of them came up with huge hits in New York's six-run seventh inning. The key for Teixeira is approach more than mechanics. As patient as he is, it sometimes can work against him. Against the strike-throwing Angel staff, taking pitches can put him in a hole and that's what has been happening to the slugging first baseman. He was more aggressive in this game and looked far more comfortable.
Frankie Piliere spent the last three seasons working as a scout, most recently in the professional scouting department for the Texas Rangers in 2009. He now serves as the National Baseball Analyst here at FanHouse.
