Confidence

I always wonder why some people don't consider certain wins to be more important than others. I was having a conversation with a buddy of mine who said "a win is a win and a loss is a loss". His point was that at the end of the season, it is the number of games won as compared to the number of games lost that determine whether a team advances to the post season. No one will likely remember in October, an outfield catch in April that allowed a team to win a game against an seemingly insignificant opponent. Ultimately, this may be true except for the overwhelming effect of confidence.

Most will agree that a victory over an arch rival or a win that breaks a runaway losing streak can boost a team's confidence. And so much of sports (and life, for that matter) is about confidence. Those who have it will always have an edge over those who do not. Yesterday afternoon's 6-to-3 Yankee win against Cleveland may make only a small difference in September but, for at least some Yankees, it may help to turn things around.

The players who really performed yesterday were the very players that needed to perform. Giambi and Cano especially but it was nice to see something from Betemit too. Sometimes a home run or a key hit is all that is needed to bring a player around. I heard a statistic during the broadcast yesterday indicating that only one other Yankee in the last 80 years had performed as poorly at the plate as Cano and Giambi have at this point in the season. That one other player, whose name I can't remember (I wonder why?), played in the '60s.

My point is this... Cano is not a .172 hitter and Giambi can do better than .163. In the same way that a team's average in September has a way of "correcting" itself, so does a player's batting average. If you believe this, and there is no reason why someone shouldn't, then there are some Yankee hitters that are going to have to make a turn around real soon. And this will happen... it is inevitable. All that is necessary is a turning point. Hopefully yesterday's game was just that. Confidence. It is a powerful thing.

Now, on the same topic, I wanted to address the Joba fist pump that seems to be resurfacing to the headlines. Nothing more than confidence. For the very best players, a sport can be such an emotional thing. The pressures, the anxiety, the unpredictability. One pitch can mean a win or a loss... it is as simple as that. Greg Cohen did an great job in his blog yesterday analyzing the incident. I agree completely with his post, so I won't bother re-hashing it but you can find it here. While you are at it, check out another take on the issue here.

So the Yankees face Detroit tonight to see if they can give some payback for last week's licking that they took when they faced the Tiger's in the Bronx. Wouldn't it be nice to build a little more confidence?