Wednesday, June 20, 2007
6/20/07: New York Yankees (35-33) at Colorado Rockies (36-34) - 9:05 PM ET **Liveblog**
A. Pettitte (4-4, 2.93) vs J. Francis (6-5, 3.61)
NY Yankees
M. Cabrera cf
D. Jeter ss
B. Abreu rf
A. Rodriguez 3b
J. Posada c
H. Matsui lf
R. Cano 2b
A. Phillips 1b
A. Pettitte p
Colorado
W. Taveras cf
K. Matsui 2b
M. Holliday lf
T. Helton 1b
G. Atkins 3b
B. Hawpe rf
T. Tulowitzki ss
Y. Torrealba c
J. Francis p
“Are you ready to step up.”
When the Yankees finally hit .500 at 31-31 in the midst of a nice winning streak, it felt like they had the ability to go 100-0 in their final 100 games. Obviously, we all know it just felt that way. Since reaching .500 in June, the Yankees have gone 4-2. This team will lose games occasionally, even if they do end up making the playoffs. Avoiding consecutive losses would help keep their playoff dreams alive. Tonight, Pettitte tries to get the team right back on track after yesterday’s loss. However, the Yankee offense needs to do its part too, unlike last night. They need to take advantage of that thin air. They need to pound Francis into oblivion. They need to “step up.”
Pre-game chatter: Rachel has an 11-2 record here at RLYW. I don’t think she’s ready to be a part of consecutive Yankee losses just yet.
I can’t liveblog tonight and Larry’s busy watching the Tigers slap the Nats around. Perhaps SG will quit his job and liveblog. Or maybe he’ll do it after work.
***Keith in***
I’ve got the WABC on the radio (no YES here—I have Dish Network), GameDay in another window, a Yankees beer stein full of Pepsi, it’s dark, and I’m wearing sunglasses. (Okay, just my regular glasses.)
Game on….
Top of the 1st
Suzyn Waldman says that Jeff Francis has a “whip-like motion” and a “whip-like action.” I don’t know why that amused me, but it did. Melky leads off. Waldman seems to think that Damon will be going on the DL because of his abdominal strain.
Now Sterling is calling Francis “sneaky-quick.” Melky grounds out to Tulowitzki for the first out. Under other circumstances, I’d just say “grounds out to the shortstop,” but how often do you get the chance to type a name like “Tulowitzki”? It’s the little things….
El Capitan is up, trying to extend his hitting streak, latest in a series, collect ‘em all.
And now it’s 14 in a row. The good news is Jeter is on first base with a single. The bad news is I had to hear Sterling refer to the “Jeterian swing,” which is quite possibly my least favorite of Sterling’s malapropisms.
Cutter just posted in the comments that therer are 300 registered readers for this site. Suddenly I have performance anxiety.
Okay, I’m over it. Abreu up. He runs the count to 3-2
Then he swings and misses. Sterling says it was ball four. GameDay has it on the outside corner but over the plate. I believe the web site, only because I trust Sterling’s judgment not at all.
A-Rod swings on the first pitch. grounds out to Tulowitzki. That inning sure died in a hurry….
Bottom of the 1st
I still remember listening to the 20-10 game back in 2002. Andy Pettitte started that game, too. Here’s hoping the result is similar, but without the whole other-team-scoring-ten-runs thing.
Tavares grounds out to Jeter on a 2-1 pitch.
The Other Matsui comes up. He hits a foul pop that Andy Phillips catches for the second out.
Holliday also grounds out to Jeter, thus giving Phillips all three putouts in his first 2007 game.
Top of the 2nd
Jorgie Porgie runs the count to 3-1 and then clubs a base hit to left field. BTW, there’s a really nice piece by Jay Jaffe on Jorgie’s Hall of Fame chances on BaseballProspectus.com.
The One True Matsui strikes out on four pitches.
Cano runs the count to 3-0, which is something I really enjoy typing. He gets an infield single on a ball that The Other Matsui can’t handle. First and second, one out for Phillips.
I’ve been incredibly disappointed with Torre’s inability to make use of Josh Phelps, but it was obvious that Torre wasn’t going to use him because he put disproportionate emphasis on his bad fielding. Phillips, at least, will get at-bats.
He runs the count to 3-0 and takes all the way. I honestly don’t understand why anyone ever swings at a 3-0 pitch. If the guy hasn’t come near home plate for three pitches, there’s a good chance he won’t again.
Then Phillips grounds into a double play to end the inning. And that’s another inning that dies like a quail…..
Bottom of the 2nd
Helton gets his 1000th hit at Coors Field on the first pitch to ruin Pettitte’s perfect game.
Atkins strikes out on four pitches.
Waldman and Sterling just took a shot at the media reporting something incorrectly, in this case the reports that Joe Girardi already has the Orioles managing job. Glass houses and stones, guys.
Brad Hawpe, who just had to be made fun of constantly throughout his childhood, strikes out swinging.
Now my favorite Rockie, Tulowitzki, comes up. I love that the Rockies have Hawpe, Tulowitzki, and Torrealba coming up all in a row. Pettitte walks Tulowitzki on four pitches.
Torrealba hits a force-out to Jeter, who shovels it to Cano to end the inning.
Top of the 3rd
One of the Yankee sponsors is a law firm called Segal and Lax. Would you want someone named “Lax” to represent you? Just sayin’...
Pettitte leads off. I wonder if three years in the NL has made him a better hitter. I remember watching him bat in the World Series from 1996-2003, and it was comical.
Apparently not—he strikes out on five pitches.
Melky runs the count to 3-1, then pops out to center field. Francis isn’t throwing strikes at all, and the Yankees really should have some, y’know, runs and stuff.
Jeter grounds out to The Other Matsui. I wasn’t enjoying the get-people-on-base-and-fizzle-out innings, but a 1-2-3 isn’t an improvement….
Bottom of the 3rd
Francis grounds out to Cano.
Tavares strikes out swinging.
The Other Matsui grounds out to A-Rod, who makes a nice bare-handed play. Pettitte has only thrown 36 pitches through three, according to GameDay.
Top of the 4th
Abreu strikes out again.
A-Rod strikes out swinging.
Jorgie grounds out to Tulowitzki. The Yankees are wallowing in lameness.
Bottom of the 4th
Holliday strikes out.
Helton flies out to The One True Matsui.
Atkins flies out to Abreu. Francis is pitching his way out of problems. Pettitte, though, is pitching phenomenally. Four Ks, only one walk and one hit, and 48 pitches in four innings.
Top of the 5th
Now would be a great time for the Yankees to figure out Francis’s changeup.
The One True Matsui strikes out swinging, keeping the theme of the evening going. *headdesk* I’ve never liked Benihana, as I prefer real Japanese food rather than the silly stuff Benihana does for tourists, but even if I was a fan, I wouldn’t be after listening to Waldman shill for them for all these years. Gyuh.
Cano grounds out to Helton on the second pitch. Sheesh.
Phillips grounds out to Tulowitzki. I’m not enjoying his name as much now.
Bottom of the 5th
Hawpe grounds out to Phillips.
Tulowitzki hits a single to left.
I like Marc Feinsand. Sterling says the Yankees need “a veteran” to be the DH and a bench player, and Feinsand instead suggests Shelley Duncan, which makes more sense than finding another over-the-hill player…..
Torrealba hits into a DP, Jeter to Cano to Phillips. How very Pettitte.
Top of the 6th
Pettitte strikes out again.
Melky hits a double to the gap that Tavares lets go to the wall. Let’s see if the meat of the order can actually pick him up.
YES! El Capitan hits a double of his own to score Melky, 1-0 Yankees. Finally.
Abreu needs to not strike out again. Instead he grounds to Francis, who makes a nice grab and then stupidly tries to get Jeter out. Jeter keeps the rundown going long enough for Abreu to go all the way to second on the fielder’s (dumb) choice.
A-Rod walks. It’s only not an IBB because Torrealba didn’t actually stand up.
Jorgie Porgie strikes out. It’s Francis’s eighth K, but at least they got on the board. The way Pettitte is pitching, it might be enough.
Bottom of the 6th
Buh??? Pettitte leads off the inning by walking the pitcher. That’s, er, inauspicious.
Tavares negates the value of the walk by wasting an at-bat with a bunt, compounded by A-Rod alertly forcing Francis at second. Bad bad call by Hurdle there.
Holliday makes the dumb move moot by hitting a two-run homer. Sigh. 2-1 Rockies. Oh, I forgot—The Other Matsui popped out to Jeter before Holliday ruined my evening.
And then Helton piles on with a double.
Atkins gets a hit to left, and The One True Matsui nails Helton at the plate for the third out, which ends the inning and keeps the game in reach. Go go Godzilla!
Top of the 7th
Christ, the seventh already? It was just the second five minutes ago, wasn’t it?
The One True Matsui follows up his great throw with a wimpy groundout.
Waldman and Sterling claim that Helton was safe and the umpire blew the call. Honestly—the Yanks’ umpiring karma has sucked rocks so it’s nice to get some of their own back.
Cano grounds out to The Other Matsui.
Phillips strikes out swinging. Way to step up, guys. Did you not see Rachel at the top of the blog??????
Bottom of the 7th
The One True Matsui continues his efforts to get on Baseball Tonight by making a diving catch on what would’ve been a Hawpe double for the first out.
My mortal enemy, Troy Tulowitzki, gets a base hit.
Torrealba bloops a single that Sterling had convinced me that Melky caught. Two on, and Ryan Spilborghs (yes, that’s really his name) pinch hits for Francis. This is good news, as this means Francis won’t be pitching anymore.
Spilborghs hits a dribbler to Phillips, who gets the forceout at second. First and third, now, with two outs for Tavares.
Tavares gets a base hit to make the game 3-1. You wouldn’t imagine that would be an insurmountable lead for the Yankees in Coors Field, and yet…..
The Other Matsui hits a triple to make it 5-1. For some odd reason, Torre is taking Pettitte out…...
L-Viz in to pitch to Holliday, who promptly gets a hit to score Kaz to make it 6-1.
Helton grounds out to Cano to finally end the nightmare.
Top of the 8th
Presumably Damon will pinch hit for L-Viz in the hopes of starting something.
Yup. And Waldman just said he’s pinch-hitting for Pettitte. Good job there, Suzie.
And Damon grounds out weakly to third. Heck, L-Viz coulda done that….
Melky grounds out weakly to short. Apparently somebody has replaced the Yankees with the Washington Nationals and didn’t tell anybody…..
Jeter is down 0-2 then works his way back to 3-2. Then he grounds out to the pitcher.
Bottom of the 8th
Ron Villone in to pitch for the first time since the 4th of the month. This could be interesting—in the Chinese curse sense of the word…..
Atkins flies out to Abreu.
Hawpe flies out to Melky.
Tulowitzki grounds out to Jeter. Not bad.
Top of the 9th
I’ve decided that Jeter is incredibly annoying in his Ford ads.
Jeremy Affeldt in to pitch. He’s a former Royal. This means he should probably suck.
Abreu is channeling his April self, striking out for the third time in four PAs.
A-Rod goes to 1-2. This is a former Royal, f’cryin’ out loud!!!!!
Then he works the count to 3-2, and then walks. It’s a start.
Jorgie strikes out on three pitches, thus crushing the faint hope the walk gave me.
Matsui grounds out to my arch enemy to end the game.
This is my fourth liveblog and my first loss. I feel—empty.
That two losses in a row, two runs in eighteen innings in Coors bloody Field!
Sigh.
Ah, well. Goodnight, everybody!
***Keith out***
Comments
Didn’t Griffey say he’d never play for the Yankees because the team had a rule banning the children of players from the field during batting practice when his dad was playing for them?
if melky has a high .700s ops and is above average on defense, that makes him an above average cf overall. i don’t see why they couldn’t win with that. i guess you could call it an area to upgrade, but it’s not a problem.
Right now, he has a high .600s OPS, so he is a problem, but not remotely the biggest one.
Didn’t Griffey say he’d never play for the Yankees because the team had a rule banning the children of players from the field during batting practice when his dad was playing for them
You are correct.
Then again, he DID say that, like, seven-eight years ago. So I don’t know what his take on it is now.
Melky’s OPS before tonight was .655. His OPS+ was 78. Correction if wrong.
Didn’t Griffey say he’d never play for the Yankees because the team had a rule banning the children of players from the field during batting practice when his dad was playing for them?
Something like that, but that’s also why he’s sort of like the one that got away. I remember watching his dad when he played for the Yankees, even if barely.
Sheesh!
well, i guess the ops question with melky is how big an outlier you think april is moving forward.
pettitte’s looked kinda done over the last thirty pitches
I don’t like this Yankee team. What happened to the one last week?
This game has the feel of a must win game. I know a two game losing streak isn’t the end of the world, even in the position the Yankees are in, but this feels ominous.
Someone convince that I’m wrong.
I don’t understand leaving Pettitte in this long.
Um, thanks Joe.
Whee…. that’s it for me. I am at SG’s stage 5 and accept the Yankees aren’t going to win the damn game.
It was a nice couple weeks of winning while it lasted, I guess.
Bye-bye game.
I don’t understand leaving Pettitte in this long.
Joe has one group on relievers he uses when the team is ahead or tied. Another group that he uses when they’re behind.
He doesn’t trust the ones he uses when they’re behind.
i think torre’s preoccupied with working out the perfect 2ble switch and hasn’t noticed pettitte needed a fork stuck in him awhile ago.
And they’re back to being cooked. Fantastic.
that was what, the 10th hard hit ball in a row?
sometimes i just don’t understand torre.
On the other hand, you have to give them credit. Only this bunch could forget how to hit at Coors Field.
and now Vizcaino is back to everyday Luis.
just bizarre.
Yeah, it’s Torre’s fault. Either he takes ‘em out too soon or he leaves ‘em in too long.
None of this is on the players. Two runs in 16 innings in Colorado, but it’s Torre’s fault. Duh!
He doesn’t trust the ones he uses when they’re behind.
Which is mostly why I don’t trust Torre.
WTF. Why can’t the Yankees hit like this?
Yup, Torre is never wrong. If he doesn’t have an all-star at every position and a stellar pen, it’s just not fair.
Cutter, exactly. Where the heck is the offense? In Coors Field no less?
I get Torre’s thinking here (and usually, he confuses me).
The risk/reward of leaving Andy (even looking pretty cooked) in to face two relatively light hitters to get one out is better, I think, than compared to pulling him and being forced to use a relief pitcher for one out.
I get Torre’s thinking, but I don’t get the implementation, because it was apparent that Pettitte was done for a while.
Rich, with guys like you it is always Torre’s fault. Just a little balance. And they have scored two (2) runs in sixteen (16) innings.
Vizcaino everyday again.
He has no control and give another run
Rich, with guys like you it is always Torre’s fault. Just a little balance. And they have scored two (2) runs in sixteen (16) innings.
That’s why I argued against him getting fired in April when the starters were on the DL.
But hey, don’t let what you don’t know get in the way of making a baseless point.
Offense = 
Either he takes ‘em out too soon or he leaves ‘em in too long.
no, the offense clearly lost this game. but you are just kidding yourself if you don’t think he left him in too long:
walk
botched bunt
500 foot HR
line out
double
single
out at the plate
fly out
single
single
FC
single
triple
really, you don’t think he needed to come out after the 6th hit in 2 innings?
I think I understand, Clemens is going tomorrow. Torre will need four innings out of the bullpen tomorrow, so he’s saving his best guys.
BTW, had anyone seen Clemens on the bench during this series?
Phillips is well on his way to saving the Yankees season.
Ground out, ground out, ground out. Against LaTroy Hawkins. The fire has gone out.
The lineup just isn’t that great. Offensively you have Jeter and ARod who are forces, Posada is great for a C but hitting over his head so far, Matsui is simply average, Damon is hurt, Melky is poor, 1B is very poor, Cano is poor (this year), and Abreu is good but has no pop. That is a good lineup- not great…in my opinion.
Is Sean Henn still on the Yankees?
That is a good lineup- not great…in my opinion
i tend to agree. the difference is that Cano and Damon suck this year.
i don’t understand these last 2 games.
colorado is not a bad team, but the offense looks like they are sleepwalking.
And Giambi’s absence.
Bon Jovi plays at Rodeos these days?
And Giambi’s absence.
yeah, that too.
When you essentially lose Giambi, Damon, and Cano you are asking a lot out of the rest of the lineup. Lets Hope Andy Phillips figured something out down in PA. I think with a slightly weaker lineup that we had expected we can still win the Wildcard since our lineup is still better than Detroit, as is our bullpen, and I think the case can be made that our starting rotation is stronger as well (especially when Hughes comes back).
Clemens pitches tomorrow afternoon. With the team in danger of falling back to .500, that game shapes up as the kind of big game he was brought in for.
I think it’s time to retire Rachel for good, I have fond memories of her and I see no reason to sully them by linking her with the bunch of clowns who apparently flew out to Coors Field
By the way, they’re dead in the water
Hmm. Get rid of Rach? I think one last shot to inspire the troops tomorrow is due her. She is 11-3.
Bad news. Rodrigo Lopez has a 2.90 ERA. The Rocks haven’t lost a game he’s started since April 10.
Is there any news on Giambi’s health?
It’s not Rachel’s fault we’ve lost the last 2, I say give her another shot tomorrow.
Melky should not be batting leadoff, and Cano has to learn to work the count. He was before my time, but I don’t think Rod Carew jumped at the first pitch and hit a tapper to 2nd every other at-bat.
Posada said that Pettitte was not tired at all, just bad location.
Being tired can lead to bad location.
Pettitte’s postgame comments:
“I threw a changeup to Holliday that cut and really after that I quit pitching, to tell you the truth,” Pettitte said. “I quit throwing my changeup, my sinker cut a couple of times and I didn’t throw my sinker.
“I didn’t throw the ball on both sides of the plate like I should have. When you do that, you make yourself vulnerable to get a lot of hits off you. … Man, I just can’t let that happen and I did and it cost us in a big way tonight.”
Tired or not, it was readily apparent that something was up and he should have been taken out.
Stuff happens. Posada, who should know, said Pettitte wasn’t tired. I’ll take that over fans on a blog as trustworthy.
Stop blaming Torre every time a player falters or something goes wrong.
Stop telling people what to do. It’s really freakin’ obnoxious.
If you want to support Torre (or anyone else for that matter), go ahead.
But when you start attacking people for having a dissenting opinion you are crossing the line.
Why is it that I don’t see people who share my opinion saying stuff like: “Stop defending Torre every time he makes a stupid mistake.”
It’s always the other way around.
Don, I’m not going stop saying what I think no matter what. Capish?
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