Someone should find out who the “Whatever” girl is.

It is probably virtually impossible, but darnit, don’t let that stop you, people!!

Until then, I will call her Stella.

Not “Eva”?

Hehe…okay, fine, Eva it is (very nice job, RF)!!

Until we find out who she actually is, of course.

ugh, this lineup looks good.  i’m almost being tricked into thinking they could make a run.  foolish me.

i’m almost being tricked into thinking they could makescore a run.

Fixed.

They’re up against Burnett. Check his career/recent numbers against us. I’m gonna go in a corner and cry.

we’re better than the Jays at every spot in the lineup with the possible exceptions of 5 and 8…..but yeah, AJ.  We lose, 6-4, with a late rally against their pen falling short.

Does Rios still have some crazy-ass hitting streak against the Yankees?

BoSox signed Jason Lane to a minor league deal immediately after Yankees released him.  Where’s PagsRags?

Don’t let Scutaro beat you!

Again.

Where’s PagsRags?

why?

why?

To cry about Yankees overlooking Lane’s potential, of course.

Thank you, Bobby!!

This is the best lineup we’ve seen in a long time, assuming Gojira is Gojira. Could this be the end of WOE?

LEMMIWINKS!!!

A-Rod, seriously, you can’t let that go by.

I don’t know why, but this game is already pissing me off.

did you guys see that pavano might be scratched because of a stiff neck?

....and now it’s *really* pissing me off.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/08192008/sports/yankees/pavano_skips_bullpen_session_125164.htm

did you guys see that pavano might be scratched because of a stiff neck?

You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.  Source?

Man, Burnett looked awesome. He was squeezed on Damon and Abreu just got a slap double (and since Damon was running, he scored easily). He pitched better than the results.

From the Yankees standpoint, I didn’t mind the Jeter K or the Giambi K, but the A-Rod K pissed me off, because Jeter was the first one to see the breaking ball, so I can’t blame him. But A-Rod saw it TWICE (once to Jeter and once to himself) and he was still fooled by it - that’s annoying (not a big deal, of course, just annoying).

....and now it’s *really* pissing me off.

c’mon now ... at least the offense wasn’t totally predictable this inning ... jeter didn’t GiDP with JD on 1st ...

Nice toss by Giambi to Rasner.

Judging by gameday, this ump’s strike zone is the size of a postage stamp.

Okay, Rios still has his 26-game hitting streak against the Yankees.

Okay, Rios still has his 26-game hitting streak against the Yankees.

You make it sound like it’s a good thing.

Son of a fucking bitch.

I can haz color commentary, plz?

“Judging by gameday, this ump’s strike zone is the size of a postage stamp.”

I was wondering how upset to be by the walk to Scutaro and the lack of upset here.

It wasn’t even one of those things where Melky or Gardner would have gotten to it, BERNIE would have caught that.

Damon had the ball in his glove and just dropped it for a two-base error - runners on second and third, but Rasner just threw an amazing curveball to strike out Wells, so now two outs/runners on second and third for Lind.

Thx, Brian.  Stoopid Damon.

Pudge just fucked up a framing opportunity for strike three on Lind. Now it’s 2-2.

Lind grounds out - Rasner picks up Damon.

Yay, D-Ras!

Matsui up second this inning! Woohoo!

If Cano didn’t have bad luck, he’d have no luck.

Do you know, I’m beginning to seriously hate this Scutaro person.

Ugly.

Yanks won’t get another hit off Burnett in this game.  He’s in shutdown mode and so is WOE.

note to everyone, burnett is good.

Instant poll: assuming Burnett opts out and you can sign either one, do you go for
a) Burnett
b) Sabathia

Burnett would probably be the better value, as no way you get Sabathia for less than $22 million.

Burnett could probably be had for $15-18 million.

That’s not to say that I would go for him over Sabathia. I honestly don’t know.

By the way, Burnett would be a moron if he did NOT opt out.

Yay, D-Ras!

yes, but if the yankees pick up burnett, they lose the benefit of him getting to face the yankees.

from mehmattski over at banter:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/pi/psplit.cgi?n1=burnea.01&year=2008

Burnett has a tOPS+ against of 60, the worst of the teams he’s faced more than once this season. The Yankees have hit .216/.259/.353 off Burnett (54 PA) versus .263/.340/.420 against everyone else.

Two doubles for Abreu - nice.

Too bad he didn’t get a dinger there - that would have been out in some parks.

For crying out loud, A-Rod, he’s throwing you the same pitch, just TRY to swing!

In all honesty, I can’t blame WOE for this - Burnett is just honestly this good.

When he’s on, that is - and he is SOOOO on right now.

It’s like Nady had a successful at-bat just because he put the ball in play.

Right after Kay tells the story of A-Rod saying the 3-4-5 hitters need to step up, both A-Rod and Giambi strike out.  Thanks Kay!

Wow, Leiter’s story about his no-hitter is actually quite interesting. He apparently bought his catcher a Rolex.

Yahoo mlb summary of that inning:

- V. Wells singled to left
- L. Overbay grounded into double play shortstop to first to shortstop, V. Wells out at second

Quite a double play it must have been.

I take it Rasner retired Scutaro.

why do I think that Matsui’s knee is 80% and he’s gonna suck?

[56] It was Lind actually.

What the fuck, Pudge?!? You’re a veteran, you have to pay attention!

why do I think that Matsui’s knee is 80% and he’s gonna suck?

His at-bats have looked quite sorry so far.

At least he’s making contact, unlike Damon just now.

so how can everybody else HIT this guy?  does he just only have command against the Yanks?

He’s erratic.

When he’s on, he’s dominating, when he’s not, he gets lit up.

His starts are pretty stunning - 7 innings, no runs, 11 ks then the next game, 7 innings 6 runs.

Somehow the Yankees always manage to get the former…

Good Rasner I take it.

so far.

If you told me before the game started that the Yankees would have 1 run in the 6th inning, I would not have been optimistic, but I’ve got to hand it to Rasner today.

Here’s a hilarious eight-game stretch for Burnett:

Jun 7 BAL 4.1 innings pitched, 8 runs allowed

Jun 13   CHC 5 innings pitched, 2 runs allowed

Jun 19 @MIL 5 innings pitched, 8 runs allowed

Jun 24 CIN   8 innings pitched, 1 run allowed

  Jun 29 ATL   7 innings piched, 0 runs allowed

Jul 4   @ LAA   7 innings pitched, 8 runs allowed (6 earned)
 
Jul 9   BAL   5.1 innings pitched, 7 runs scored    

Jul 13   NYY   W 4-1   W   8.1 innings pitched, 1 run scored

Dammit, A-Rod.

come the fuck on alex.

Jesus.  At least he swung this time.

Yeah, I did appreciate that he swung.

Wow, Burnett is leading the AL in Ks. I did not know that.

according to GameCast ball 1 was right down the middle.

“Yeah, I did appreciate that he swung.”

Right, because it’s two outs if you K looking.

A success for Giambi would be contact.

10K in 5.2IP? Sick. 

Of course a small bonus of all these Ks is that he’s already at 90 pitches, so hopefully he’ll be out of there pretty soon.

An unsuccessful at-bat.

11 K in 6 innings.  Wow.

[72] Well if he wasn’t before this game, he is now.

Right, because it’s two outs if you K looking.

After his embarrassing first two at-bats, actually swinging at a strike was an improvement.

I wonder what the f/x data says for good Burnett vs bad.

y’know, it’s about our hitters too:  we are not good vs. power pitchers (94 OPS relative to league)...the old fellers can’t catch up to that cheese….

“After his embarrassing first two at-bats, actually swinging at a strike was an improvement.”

Sure, more baserunners moved up, more runs scored.

The above thinking is beloved by pitchers.

y’know, it’s about our hitters too:  we are not good vs. power pitchers (94 OPS relative to league)...the old fellers can’t catch up to that cheese….

Shhhhh….we’re admiring Burnett’s prowess.  Don’t go spoiling it with your logic and reasoning.

It was right down the middle, you’re not seriously preferring he take it, are you?

A-Rod’s last strikeout, that is.

Rios’ 2008 reminds me of Cano’s 2008. Also, Rasner’s wallet is the one that say “Bad Motherfucker” on it.

D-Ras is quietly having himself quite the first 6 innings.

I’m preferring that A-Rod not base his swing algorithm on machismo-inspired conventional wisdom.  Obviously he’s not picking up Burnett’s stuff - swinging under those conditions isn’t smart - esp. if it’s just to swing.

He’s clearly throwing strikes, and A-Rod is guessing the pitches won’t be strikes - and that gets him struck out looking twice.

That clearly wasn’t working for him the first two times, so he swung the third time, again, on a pitch that would have been called strike three. How is that a bad thing?

And seriously, batters shouldn’t adjust their approaches based on what the pitcher is doing? I don’t buy that.

because rilke is asserting that A-Rod might not have had any idea if it was a good pitch to hit, so why swing. In other words, take the Giambi approach, don’t swing unless you’re pretty sure you can smash it.

Giambi has struck out swinging every at-bat tonight.

In other words, Burnett is fooling Giambi, so with two strikes, I’d prefer A-Rod protect the plate.

And, again, the pitch that A-Rod struck out out swinging on would have been a strike if A-Rod had taken it.

ok, who wants to see Marte here, show of hands?

Man, Marte coming in now would be hilariously scary.

Well, that sucked.

it might be my imagination, but Good Rasner always gives up a 1-2 run home run.

Rasner has to go from giving up a home run to suddenly getting squeezed by the ump. Great.

Poor Rasner, he really rose to the challenge tonight, at least he won’t get a loss.