Curtis Granderson's thank you to Kevin Long

When the Yankees pulled the trigger on three-team trade that brought Curtis Granderson to patrol centerfield, the big question was whether Granderson could hit lefties. The concerns were legitimate as in 2009, in his last season with the Tigers, despite being a 30-homer hitter, against lefties he hit just .183 with two homers and nine RBI.

Granderson's struggles continued through the first half of 2010 with the Yanks:

2010, first half slugging for Curtis Granderson versus leftiesYou can see that there were very few hot spots as Granderson struggled against lefties hitting .207 and slugging .287.

But to his credit, in August, as he was benched, he started working with Kevin Long, the increasingly respected hitting coach for the Yanks.

Take a look at the difference in the first half of this season:

2011, first half slugging for Curtis Granderson versus leftiesBy taking that step closer to the plate, closing his stance and keeping both hands on the bat through his swing, Granderson is having an All-Star season. Just against lefties he is hitting .273, and slugging .648, with nine homers. Granderson still takes constant batting practice against and if he is looking for a thank you present for Long, perhaps a framed picture of this heat map would be perfect.

Jorge Posada's Troubles vs. Lefties

From 2009-2010, Jorge Posada, of the Yankees, batted .273/.349/.485 vs. left-handed pitching.  The switch hitting catcher-turned-DH hit 16 doubles and 13 home runs from the right side of the plate, with a .361 wOBA, compared to a .370 wOBA vs. righties over the same period.  This season, he's hitting .088/.225/.088 vs. lefties in 40 plate appearances.  And while his K-rate vs. lefties from 2009-2010 was a fairly high 27.4%, that number has climbed to 32.5% in 2011, tenth worst in all of baseball.

Jorge Posada vs. LHP (Click to enlarge)

The Yankees were certainly hoping for a much better start to the season from their DH. One thing that might portend better things to come for Jorge is his current BABIP which sits at .262, 46 points below his 2009-10 average. In fact, his 2011 BABIP vs. LHP is .143 compared to .345 from 2009-10. Posada has already seen a bit of a correction over the last month with a BABIP of .396 in 72 plate appearances. While he probably won't be able to sustain such a high average for the rest of the season, expect to see him hit closer to his career BABIP of .317 as the rest of his numbers continue to climb.

Bartolo Colon's Doughnut

Bartolo Colon of the Yankees pitched his first shutout since 2006 on Monday against the Athletics.  Colon allowed just four hits and did not walk a batter.  His kept his approach simple, throw his fastball and keep it away from batters.  Eighty six of his 103 pitches came in as fastballs, varying in speed between 89 and 94 miles per hour.  His location really did the trick, however:

Bartolo Colon, fastball pitch frequency, May 30, 2011.Colon did a great job of being around the middle of the plate without being in the middle of the plate.  His pitches form a delicious looking doughnut, the hole being right in the sweet spot for batters.  That hole is actually formed by his ability to keep the fastball away from both right and left handed batters.  Against lefties, he was able to make the fastball fade away:

Bartoto Colon, fastball movement against LHB, May 30, 2011.Against righties, the pitch came in straighter, but with a little movement away:

Bartolo Colon, fastball movement vs. RHB, May 30, 2011.So in fact, Bartolo threw two fastballs, with slightly different velocities and spin:

Bartolo Colon, fastball spin, May 30, 2011.One fastball, represented by the darker orange, is the classic overhand backspin pitch.  The lighter orange pitch looks like it's thrown at a slightly lower angle, and in some ways looks like a very fast change up.  With the mixing of location, speeds and spins, Colon kept the Athletics off balanced and pitched his best game in half a decade.