Saturday, May 19, 2007
5/19/2007: NY Yankees (18-21) at NY Mets (26-14) - 7:05 PM ET (Liveblog)
I’m not ready to give up on this team yet.
Lineups
New York Yankees
J. Damon, CF (.256/.355/.355)
D. Jeter, SS (.367/.445/.475)
H. Matsui, LF (.284/.389/.474)
A. Rodriguez, 3B (.310/.391/.658)
J. Posada, C (.370/.430/.575)
B. Abreu, RF (.235/.304/.302)
R. Cano, 2B (.236/.277/.324)
J. Phelps, 1B (.239/.314/.391)
D. Rasner, P (- /- /-)
D. Rasner , P ( 1-2 , 3.28)
New York Mets
J. Reyes, SS (.335/.407/.526)
E. Chavez, LF (.352/.400/.519)
C. Beltran, CF (.299/.388/.541)
C. Delgado, 1B (.213/.298/.320)
D. Wright, 3B (.274/.358/.427)
S. Green, RF (.327/.385/.517)
P. Lo Duca, C (.298/.348/.380)
D. Easley, 2B (.269/.342/.567)
T. Glavine, P (.188/.235/.188)
T. Glavine , P ( 4-1 , 3.31)
Once again, the weather looks like it’s going to be a problem. (edit: never mind)
I’ll be back if they get the first pitch in.
Top of the first: Oops, I guess they started.
Runners on first and second with one out and A-Rod batting.
MLB.tv really sucks. I missed A-Rod reaching somehow. With the bases loaded and one down Posada grounds to Reyes, and they get the force at second, but the Yanks do get a run in and take an early 1-0 lead. Is that the first time they’ve had a lead all season?
With two down, Abreu flies out to CF, just shy of the warning track. Yanks should have gotten more than one that inning. With Rasner going against a good Mets lineup, they need a lot of runs.
Bottom of the first: On a 1-2 count Reyes hits a liner the other way, just over a leaping Jeter, for a single. I’m guessing he’ll steal.
I must be clairvoyant, as Reyes steals easily on the first pitch to Chavez. It’s the 24th SB of the season for Reyes, and the 1,500,784th allowed by Posada this season.
When Clippard starts tomorrow, he’ll be the 8th different rookie to start for the Yankees.
Chavez grounds one sharply through the box and hits Rasner on what looks like the right thigh. Torre and the trainer are out, and this is just what this team needs right now…
It was hit pitching hand that got hit, and Rasner’s out. Already. Ugh.
Mike Myers coming in? Is that desparation I smell?
This could get ugly in a hurry. Myers working to Beltran with runners on the corners and no outs. He gets ahead 1-2, but Myers doesn’t have a pitch he can put hitters away with two strikes. It’s basically just pray they hit it to a fielder.
Myers gets Beltran to fly out to medium-depth CF. Reyes tags and scores easily. I can’t believe Damon even tried to throw home, but he did and it got cut off. So the Mets tie it at 1, and there’s one out now with Delgado batting and Chavez still at first.
Myers fans Delgado with a slider away for out number two.
Wright batting now with two out. He cranks one to left for a two-run HR and the Mets take a 3-1 lead. Yeah, this game isn’t going to end up real well I don’t think.
Cano decides that things aren’t going badly enough and throws a crappy throw on a grounder that lets Shawn Green reach and prolongs the inning. Now Green steals second.
LoDuca rips one to right center where Abreu makes a nice running catch to end the inning. Torre gambled on Myers and it looks like a bad gamble so far.
Top of the second: Someone that looks like Robinson Cano just homered. It couldn’t have been Cano, because he can’t hit. Yanks trail 3-2.
Phelps hitting now. Glavine seems like the type of lefty that Phelps won’t be able to touch. Phelps shows me that I don’t know anything by singling.
Mike Myers will bat now, for the second time in his career. I assume he’ll be bunting. He fakes bunt and then swings, it’s chopped to Easley. They force Phelps at second but the throw to first is wild and Myers reaches. Look for him to steal second and third here with Damon up.
Damon grounds a single into RF, so the Yanks have runners on first and second with one out, and Jeter batting. He fanned the first time up. He quickly falls behind 1-2. Jeter fouls one off, then takes a close pitch low to level the count at 2. The next pitch is grounded to Wright, but a good slide by Damon prevents the double play. So runners at the corners now, with two out and Matsui up.
Matsui grounds one sharply, but right to Delgado, who beats him to the bag to end the inning.
Bottom of the second: This game is really dragging. It’s the bottom of the ####### second inning and it’s already an hour long.
Myers gives up a leadoff single to Damion Easley.
Seriously, Myers should not be out there. How can the Yankees NOT have a long reliever on the roster right now? It makes zero sense.
Glavine bunts, Rodriguez charges in and gets him at first, with Easley going to second.
Cano makes another error, allowing Reyes to reach. Yeah, keep giving away outs.
I probably don’t need to tell you that Reyes stole second there, easily.
Chavez singles in another Mets run, and it’s now 4-2.
See, Myers might be able to give you 4 or 5 innings, but what’s the ####### point if he gives up ten runs at the same time?
I might have to bail on this one soon.
Rasner has a fractured right index finger. No idea of how long he’ll be out.
Vizcaino is warming. When he comes in, I’m definitely bailing.
Chavez tries to steal and Posada makes a good throw on a bad pitch low to nail him. That ups Posada’s caught stealing percent to 3% I think.
Beltran hammers one to left but Matsui is able to catch it with his back near the wall to end the inning. Could’ve been much, much worse that inning.
Top of the third: At this pace the game should be over by midnight.
Good news. The Yankees have made Glavine throw 51 pitches in two innings.
Bad news. They’ve only scored twice despite that.
A-Rod will lead off the third. He really needs to start hitting again. He grounds to Wright, who throws high to Delgado, but Delgado is able to get his foot on the bag.
Glavine’s throwing strikes now, as he’s started Rodriguez and Posada 0-2 this inning.
Posada takes an off-balance swing at a pitch away and chops it through the right side for a hit. What a great season he’s having, in a sea of crappy ones.
Speaking of crappy ones, Abreu grounds into a double play to end the inning.
Bottom of the third: Delgado fights a low pitch up the middle and Jeter can’t get it as it goes into center for a leadoff single.
David Wright hits one to deep CF and Damon gets back to the wall, leaps to make the catch, but it pops in and out of his glove and over the fence. Mets lead 5-2. It would have been a HR anyway, but it could have been a big catch.
Yeah, Myers vs. Wright is working out well. Nice managing.
Myers walks Green.
Let’s see, Torre brought in Myers to to give the team innings. He gave them two, and gave up four runs and is responsible for a runner on first.
Vizcaino in. I predict that the score at the end of this inning will be at least 10-2 Mets.
I don’t think Vizcaino’s struggles can be blamed on ovework, like Joe Buck is doing. I just think he’s not that good. Cashman needs to be accountable for his acquisition. They’re paying him $4.5 million this year (I think) and Chris Britton is rotting in Columbus. Inexcusable.
A tailor-made DP grounder to A-Rod who throws to Cano, who drops the ball on the transfer. They get the force, but he’s killing them today. Good thing he’s hitting so well. Oh wait, he’s not.
A popup to right by Easley is the second out of the inning.
Good job by Vizcaino, going to a full count on Glavine. He does get a grounder back to him and throws Glavine out. Inning over.
Top of the fourth: You know, as badly as this game has gone so far, 6-2 is hardly insurmountable. Well, maybe with the way this team is hitting nowadays it is, but it shouldn’t be.
Someone who looks like Robinson Cano singles. It couldn’t have been Cano, since he can’t hit.
Phelps up. He grounds into a 6-4-3 DP.
Vizcaino will make the third out now. I love the National League.
Vizcaino looks like a righty Bobby Abreu at the plate. Same type of power in his swing. He whiffs.
Bottom of the fourth: Reyes pops out to Phelps for the first out of the inning.
Chavez chops one down the third base line, and it stays fair and he gets an easy infield single as Vizcaino cannot make the play.
Beltran his a solid single to RF and the Mets have runners on first and second with one down, Delgado up. They can probably put this game away here.
Delgado doubles down the RF line past Phelps’s dive, plating another run. Mets now lead 7-2, and have runners on second and third, with one out, and David Wright up again. He needs to hit the deck here.
They decide to IBB Wright after Vizcaino falls behind him. Green will bat now with the bases loaded and one down. Villone is warming in the pen, but they’re sticking with Vizcaino here for some reason.
Green grounds to Cano’s left. Cano makes a good play on the ball, but a bad throw, but Jeter stretched like a first baseman to get the force at second. Another run scores, so it’s now 8-2 Mets.
LoDuca bounces to Jeter to end the inning.
Top of the fifth: If the Yankees don’t score this inning, I’m signing off and going out. I hope that doesn’t reflect poorly on my fandom.
Damon hits a weak comebacker to Glavine for the first out. I really hate this team right now.
Jeter grounds to Wright for the second out. Have I mentioned how much I hate this team?
Matsui hits it well, but right at Reyes on the line for the last out.
I’m done. I hope I miss a great comeback win.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
5/16/2007 - NY Yankees (17-19) at Chicago White Sox(18-16) - Doubleheader (Game 1: 2:05 PM ET)
Your Game 1 Lineups
New York Yankees
J. Damon, CF (.259/.364/.366)
D. Jeter, SS (.375/.448/.472)
A. Rodriguez, 3B (.329/.407/.714)
J. Posada, C (.365/.422/.548)
H. Matsui, DH (.278/.396/.456)
J. Phelps, 1B (.256/.341/.359)
B. Abreu, RF (.236/.312/.291)
M. Cabrera, LF (.226/.284/.292)
M. Cairo, 2B (.154/.312/.154)
M. Mussina (2-1 ,4.76 ERA)
Chicago White Sox
D. Erstad, CF (.250/.297/.344)
J. Uribe, SS (.255/.321/.447)
A. Pierzynski, C (.239/.289/.451)
P. Konerko, 1B (.194/.284/.333)
J. Dye, RF (.203/.277/.382)
R. Mackowiak, DH (.188/.288/.281)
J. Crede, 3B (.205/.254/.295)
T. Iguchi, 2B (.210/.310/.330)
R. Sweeney, LF (.250/.333/.438)
J. Danks (1-4, 4.33 ERA)
Giambi benched against a lefty, Posada moved to cleanup, Matsui DHing, and Melky in LF. Interesting. Back with the first pitch in about 20 minutes.
Pre-game: Just noticed Cairo in the lineup, and it makes some sense.
Career vs LHP
Cairo: .294/.337/.404
Cano: .281/.320/.377
Top of the first: Bernie Williams Johnny Damon leads off the game by taking a fastball high. I thought Danks was a hard thrower, but he’s sitting at 87-88. He’s thrown nothing but fastballs to Damon so far as the count runs full. He gets Damon on a weak swing at a fastball up and away. Looked like ball four to me.
Jeter up now. He takes a curve for a strike then grounds weakly to Iguchi for the second out.
A-Rod falls behind 1-2, then takes a curve for strike three. Danks appears to have a good curve from the couple he threw that inning.
Bottom of the first: Let’s see how the unplanned schedule shift affects Moose today.
Darrin Erstad leads things off. He used to play college football? I had no idea. He grounds one solidly up the middle for a leadoff single after Moose had him 1-2. Looked like a changeup.
The White Sox have a team OBP of .299. That’s like a whole team of Cano’s.
Uribe hits one to center and Damon misreads it at first but recovers to catch it in stride for the first out.
Pierzynski is hitting third, with a line of .239/.289/451. That’s like Abreu on steroids. He flies to shallow left. Jeter and Melky converge on it and then Jeter accedes to Melky at the last second for the second out.
Paul Konerko’s hitting .194? Ugh. Let’s hope he waits until after this series to wake up.
The best thing about the rainout is that last night’s game would have been the Chicago feed on EI. Instead I get Michael Kay. Maybe that’s not the best thing.
Moose fans Konerko with a high curve that he swings under, and that’ll do it in the first.
Top of the second: Posada hits one to RF, and Dye can’t quite get to it. Looks like they were shading Posada to pull and Dye made a dive but it glanced of his glove. Posada chugs into second with a leadoff double. Let’s see how they strand him.
Matsui does his part to strand Posada by popping the first pitch to Iguchi for the first out.
Phelps up and he gets ahead 2-0, then fouls one off. He flies to Dye in RF, and Posada remains at second.
Here’s Bobby Abreu. Kay says he’s in a slump apparently. Wild pitch advances Posada to third with two down, as Abreu falls behind 1-2. Stop me if you’ve heard that before. Fastball on the outside corner gets Abreu looking. Inning over.
Bottom of the second: The whole White Sox team is hitting like a bunch of pitchers. .194, .203, .188, .205, .210. Three of their starting nine have OBP above .300.
Dye grounds to Jeter’s backhand. He actually plants and throws out Dye by a couple of steps.
Makowiak slices one PADJ for a single.
Makowiak takes off on the first pitch and Posada’s throw short hops Cairo and they don’t get him. I think that’s the 850th steal on Posada this year.
Crede lines to Abreu in RF for the second out.
Iguchi grounds one to Rodriguez, who throws him out. Inning over.
Top of the third: Melky tries to bunt his way on and Creded makes a nice charging diving catch. Shame on you Melky.
Cairo up. He can’t do any worse than Cano’s been doing here. He swings through a curve for strike three.
Damon up again. Let’s see if the second time through the order goes any better. Damon grounds to Iguchi, who makes a backhanded play and throw on the run to just get Damon at first. Damon argues, and it looks like he had an argument. Regardless, inning over.
Bottom of the third: This is going to be a long stinking day if this is how the Yankees are planning on playing both games.
Ryan Sweeney leads off the White Sox have of the third. I always get him confused with Mark Sweeney.
The more they show the replay, the more it looks like the Yankees got hosed on the Damon call. Oh well.
Sweeney pops to Cairo for the out.
Erstad falls behind 0-2 then hits a fastball the other way to Melky for the second out.
Another pop out to Cairo ends the third. Good inning from Moose.
Top of the fourth: Jeter hits the first pitch to Erstad for the first out. So far Danks has only needed 33 pitches to get 10 outs.
Rodriguez hits one fairly well, but it dies on the warning track and Sweeney catches it for the out. They’re blaming the wind. The Yankees have two HRs in the last nine games. That’s awful.
Posada continues to be the only Yankee doing anything today, as he singles. He’s now hitting .376 and leads the AL in batting average. Take that Joe Mauer.
Matsui walks, and in a shocking turn of events Danks may have to throw more than ten pitches this inning.
Phelps hits one to center and Erstad is right there to snare it. So much for that rally.
Bottom of the fourth: Pierzynski lines one right to Phelps for the first out.
Konerko puts one over the wall in right center, and the White Sox jump out to a 1-0 lead.
Dye grounds to A-Rod, who fields it on one knee and throws out Dye.
A grounder to Cairo ends the inning, but the White Sox now have what looks like an insurmountable 1-0 lead.
Top of the fifth: Huh? Bobby Abreu hits a HR. The other way? That can’t be right.
Melky doesn’t bunt this time, but flies out to center instead.
Cairo flies out to fairly deep center for the second out.
Damon up and now it’ll be the third time they’re seeing Danks. He pokes one past Uribe’s right for a single.
Jeter follows up with a single of his own, a solid liner up the middle that just missed hitting Danks, who ducked under it. Runners on first and second with two down and the score tied at 1.
Rodriguez up. He had a good cut last time up, let’s see if he can give it a little bit more this time. He quickly falls behind 0-2, then fouls out to Crede down the third base line. It was a weird inning, because the 0 next to New York changed to a 1.
Bottom of the fifth: A flyball in foul territory is caught by Rodriguez, who had a tough time reading it but stumbled under it and got it.
Iguchi follows with a ringing double to right center.
A broken-bat grounder is fielded by Phelps, who lumbers to the bag for the second out, with Iguchi advancing to third with two down.
With first base open, Moose is really nibbling to Erstad and falls behind 3-1. He then catches too much of the plate and Erstad rips a single to RF, and the White Sox get their lead back, 2-1.
Erstad steals right away, and Posada doesn’t even attempt a throw, although it looks like Uribe’s follow-through was problematic.
Uribe hits one deep to LF and does a stupid little pose as he watches it go, ostensibly over the fence for a HR. But Melky’s there, he times his leap, jumps up and pulls it back in to rob him of a HR and to end the inning. Nice.
Top of the sixth: The White Sox bullpen has some talented arms, so if the Yankees are going to pull this one out they should probably try to do something soon.
Danks is pitching carefully to Posada, who walks on four pitches.
He attacks Matsui a curve and then a fastball to get ahead 0-2, then throws another fastball on the outside corner for a called strike three.
Phelps hits one to RF and Dye chases it down for the second out. So after getting a leadoff walk on four pitches, the Yankees have made two outs on four pitches.
Abreu hits another one nicely, going the other way with an outside pitch and poking it in front of the LF for a single.
Melky up. Can he back up his nice catch with a rare offensive highlight? He grounds one inside third and down the line. Crede can’t get it and Posada scores the tying run, with Abreu advancing to third and Melky to second. 2-2.
A single here would be huge, but no one on the Yankees is less likely to hit a single than Miguel Cairo. Well, Wil Nieves. Then Cairo. Cairo’s worked a 3-1 count, then fouls one off. Double-barrel action in the White Sox pen as Aardsma and Logan are warming. A high fastball gets Cairo swinging and that will end the inning. So the Yanks get one, but blow a chance to get more.
Bottom of the sixth: Dear Yankees, you don’t have to give up the lead every single time you take it or tie it.
An opposite field HR by Pierzynski gets the White Sox their lead right back.
Grounder to third and there’s one out.
Dye doubles hard down the line, and Guidry is calling the pen to get someone up.
Moose plunks Makowiak with a breaking ball on the leg. His command’s gone to hell this inning. The HR by Pierzynski was set up when he fell behind 3-1.
A DP here would be nice.
Instead, Crede rips an RBI single, and now the White Sox lead 4-2, and have runners on the corners with one down. They are tatooing Moose right now. This is a team that came into today hitting a collective .220/.297/.360.
They’re going to the pen, and Luis Vizcaino gets the call. This one could be out of hand soon.
A flyball to Melky who catches it and makes a great throw home, but Makowiak just manages to beat it in, and the White Sox go up 5-2. Yanks try to appeal at third, but it’s denied.
Vizcaino gets a grounder to short and that ends the inning. Yanks have three innings to score at least three runs.
Top of the seventh: Danks is at 85 pitches. I’d assume he’ll start the seventh, especially now with a three run lead.
Damon gets a rally started by striking out on three pitches. It bears repeating that the Yankees could have had Carlos Beltran for the a bit more than amount they’re paying Johnny Damon per year if they hadn’t been idiots.
Danks is pulled after the K, and David Aardsma is in. He’s having a good year so far, 26 K is 21 innings.
Jeter grounds out and there are two down. They’re not winning this game, are they?
Rodriguez also grounds out. Inning over. That inning sucked.
Bottom of the seventh: I got distracted by something and missed this inning. It was a shutout inning by Myers and Bruney.
Top of the eighth: Posada fans to lead off the eighth. This team looks dead.
Matsui grounds out weakly to second, and there are two down.
Josh Phelps is allowed to stay in with a righty in, and homers to dead center to cut the deficit to 5-3.
Sox are going to the pen, bringing in a lefty to face Abreu. It’s Matt Thornton, and he does his job, although Abreu hit it fairly well on the line, but right to Crede to end the frame.
Bottom of the eighth: Bruney handles the eighth, with a walk being erased on a CS by Posada.
Top of the ninth: Jenks vs. the Yanks. Let’s see if they can make it interesting.
Hmm, Sox are sticking with Thornton. He retires Melky, and Cano pinch-hits for Cairo. Cano grounds out weakly to Konerko, and the Yankees are down to their last out.
Damon goes down with the bat on his shoulder. Fitting for the lethargic way this team is playing.
I’m not going to be around for the Game 2. I’m pretty happy about that.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
5/15/2007 - New York Yankees (17-19) at Chicago White Sox (18 - 16) - Postponed
They’re still in a rain delay, although YES is saying the game may start at 10 PM. If it does, here are the currently posted lineups.
New York Yankees
J. Damon, DH (.259/.364/.366)
D. Jeter, SS (.375/.448/.472)
A. Rodriguez, 3B (.329/.407/.714)
J. Posada, C (.365/.422/.548)
H. Matsui, LF (.278/.396/.456)
J. Phelps, 1B (.256/.341/.359)
B. Abreu, RF (.236/.312/.291)
M. Cabrera, CF (.226/.284/.292)
M. Cairo, 2B (.154/.312/.154)
M. Mussina (2-1 ,4.76 ERA)
Chicago White Sox
D. Erstad, CF (.250/.297/.344)
J. Uribe, SS (.255/.321/.447)
A. Pierzynski, C (.239/.289/.451)
P. Konerko, 1B (.194/.284/.333)
J. Dye, RF (.203/.277/.382)
R. Mackowiak, DH (.188/.288/.281)
J. Crede, 3B (.205/.254/.295)
T. Iguchi, 2B (.210/.310/.330)
R. Sweeney, LF (.250/.333/.438)
J. Danks (1-4,4.33 ERA)
Pre-game: So much for that.
Sunday, May 13, 2007
5/13/2007 - New York Yankees (17-18) at Seattle Mariners (16 - 16) 4:05pm ET (Liveblog)
Yanks go for .500. Again.
Lineups
New York Yankees
J. Damon, CF (.250/.359/.361)
B. Abreu, RF (.241/.313/.297)
D. Jeter, SS (.376/.447/.475)
A. Rodriguez, 3B (.331/.411/.728)
J. Giambi, DH (.288/.397/.468)
H. Matsui, LF (.267/.391/.440)
J. Posada, C (.369/.427/.559)
J. Phelps, 1B (.270/.357/.378)
R. Cano, 2B (.242/.287/.326)
A. Pettitte , P ( 2 - 1 , 2.72)
Seattle Mariners
I. Suzuki, CF (.279/.350/.411)
J. Vidro, DH (.308/.348/.376)
R. Ibanez, LF (.276/.319/.370)
R. Sexson, 1B (.171/.276/.387)
J. Guillen, RF (.275/.351/.451)
A. Beltre, 3B (.246/.304/.421)
Y. Betancourt, SS (.269/.279/.407)
J. Lopez, 2B (.260/.288/.410)
J. Burke, C (.300/.391/.500)
H. Ramirez , P ( 2 - 2 , 7.62)
Yanks have the pitching advantage, which probably means they’ll get killed.
Pre-game: Cano’s hitting 9th. He really needs to get going.
You know what’d be great? If Jeter made a run at .400.
Here’s a scary thought for you while we wait for the first pitch. Johnny Damon 2007 = Bernie Williams 2004.
Incidentally, after this game, the Yankees have 12 straight games against teams with a collective winning percentage of 62%, including a rough six game road stretch here where they will travel to the White Sox, then to the swamplands of Queens.
Top of the first: Damon slaps the second pitch to LF, where Raul Ibanez is waiting to make the easy catch.
Abreu up, and if he doesn’t K I’d be shocked. He grounds out, also on the second pitch. This game isn’t starting off really well, as Horacio Ramirez has racked up two outs on four pitches.
Here’s Jeter. Jeter also grounds out, although he stretched Ramirez to three pitches.
Bottom of the first: Can I just say I hate the Mariners’ announcers? Pettitte falls behind Ichiro!!!! 3-1, then gets a couple of fouls. Pettitte’s topping out at 91 so far. On 3-2, a slider down gets Ichiro!!!!! swinging for the first out.
Pettitte gets ahead of Vidro 0-2, then misses on two very close pitches on the outside corner. Vidro grounds to Rodriguez for out number two.
A fly out to CF by Ibanez ends the Mariners’ half of the first.
Top of the second: A-Rod hits one up the middle, and Betancourt grabs it and throws him out. I must say that so far I’m not enjoying this game very much.
Giambi grounds out too. It’s Chien-Ming Ramirez, and he’s schooling the Yanks.
I’m just going to keep repeating this, aren’t I. Matsui grounds out.
Coming into this game, the league was hitting .368/.439/.530 against this guy. He’s perfect through two innings.
Bottom of the second: Sexson leads of the second by ripping a single into LF.
Jose Guillen follows up with another single lined to LF. Mariners on first and second with no outs.
Pettitte already at 25 pitches to get three outs. Ramirez has thrown 21 to get six.
Beltre fans for a big first out of the inning. A DP here would be sweet.
A slow roller to third and A-Rod is able to beat Sexson to the bag for the force out. Still Mariners on first and second, but now there are two outs.
Lopez grounds to Jeter, who flips to Cano to force the runner at second and the inning. Pettitte gets out of it, but that inning drove his pitch count up into the mid 30s.
Top of the third
I’m stealing this from twentyseven
Posada will try to break up Ramirez’s perfect game. So far Ramirez has retired every single Yankee he’s faced. He has yet to allow a baserunner.
I’ll give you one guess as to what Posada just did.
Josh Phelps comes up, and he’s hacking from the get-go. Mientkiewicz’s hot streak has Phelps struggling for playing time. Phelps hits it hard to Betancourt’s right, and he makes a great play and throws Phelps out easily for the second out.
Cano up. He grounds the first pitch he sees weakly between the mound and third base, and Ramirez throws him out to end the frame.
Is that eight groundouts out of nine batters? Isn’t this team supposed to be a good offensive team?
Bottom of the third: Burke starts off by grounding one towards third, and A-Rod makes a nice sprawling play to his left and throws him out.
Pettitte falls behind Ichiro!!!!!!!!! 3-1, then gets a fastball on the outside corner to get the cound full. The 3-2 is lined solidly into CF for a single, and the Mariners have a runner on first with one down.
Bold prediction, Ichiro!!!!! will attempt to steal, and Posada will not catch him.
Vidro grounds one deep to third, and Rodriguez retreats back on it to get a clean hop and throws high over Phelps. Suzuki goes to third, and Vidro goes to second. So the Mariners have two runners in scoring position with only one out and Ibanez up.
Ibanez singles up the middle to score Ichiro. Vidro is held at third on Damon, which is shocking. Mariners take a 1-0 lead, and have runners on the corners with still only one down.
Sexson bails out Pettitte by hitting into a 6-4-3 DP to end the inning. Rodriguez’s error was scored as an infield single and then a throwing error, so it’s likely the run would have scored anyway.
Top of the fourth
Call your friends and let them know they have a chance to witness history in the making here. Ramirez is 18 hitters away from a perfect game.
Stop me if you’ve heard this before. A Yankee grounds out. Film at 11. It was Damon if you care.
Let’s if Abreu can break the string and fly out or K instead of grounding out. In a most shocking turn of events, Abreu walks. Maybe getting Ramirez into the stretch will help change the Yankees’ luck.
Abreu should look to steal here.
Jeter hits one decently in the air to CF, and Suzuki snares it for the second out. At least he hit it in the air I guess.
Ramirez will be the first Mariner to pitch a no-hitter since the Big Useless, right? Immortalized with Chris Bosio no less.
A-Rod ruins Ramirez’s chance at a no-hitter with a single to left. Yanks have Abreu on second and Rodriguez on first, with two down and Giambi up. They are getting better cuts with Ramirez working from the stretch.
Giambi grounds it to Jose Lopez for the third out. Eh, at least they got some baserunners that inning.
Bottom of the fourth: I missed a double I guess when I went to grab a snack.
Pettitte walks Beltre to follow that up. He’s laboring today, but given the Yankee lack of offense he needs to nut up here.
The Mariners load the bases, and then Lopez hits one deep to LF. Matsui is able to catch it, but it’s a sac fly and and an RBI, and the Mariners now go in front 2-0. The runners all advance so the Mariners now have runners on second and third with only one out.
Burke grounds to Pettitte, and he fields it and gets Beltre, who moved too far off third, into a rundown for the second out. Two down, runners on the corners, and here’s Ichiro again.
Pettitte gets a grounder to end the frame. I’m a little distracted right now by the sheer idiocy of Sam Perlozzo.
Top of the fifth: Seriously, Perlozzo is a clown. He should be fired.
Yeah, another ground out. I’m about to turn this crap off.
Will the Orioles get a full playoff share from the Red Sox for the way they’re bending over for them this season?
Posada grounds it to Beltre, who bobbles it and then makes a strong flat-footed throw to just catch Posada.
Some days, it’s just not your day I guess.
And Phelps grounds out to Beltre too.
Bottom of the fifth: Since I expect a bunch of gloating Red Sox fans to pop in here shortly, let me remind you all of the ‘Ignore’ feature again. Just click on a username and choose the option to ignore them.
Baltimore’s shittiness and the Yankees’ shittiness have me seriously pondering a Sunday evening bender.
Let me predict this inning before it even starts. The Mariners will get a bunch of baserunners, and Pettite will work out of it for the most part and give up just a run or two.
Vidro grounds out to start the inning. Ibanez pops out to Posada for the second out. A third out is recorded.
Top of the sixth: Let me predict this inning before it even starts. Cano will ground out on the first pitch. Damon will ground out on the first pitch. Abreu will take two strikes and then ground out.
Cano fans instead of grounding out. That’s good, he clearly had a plan to work the count.
If the Yankees can just get a baserunner, they can hit Ramirez. This is so frustrating.
Damon dumps a single into left field, and my hypothesis will be tested.
Damon steals second as the count goes to 2-2 on Abreu. On 3-2, Abreu grounds out weakly to Betancourt. Jeter up with Damon on second and two outs. I’d feel a lot better if Jeter can single in Damon here.
Jeter gets ahead 2-0. Make that 3-0. They’re pitching around him to get to Mr. April, clearly.
On 3-0, Jeter got a green light and hits a hard groundball single to LF, and Damon scores, and the Mariners’ lead is cut to 2-1.
Rodriguez takes one to the warning track in center, but Ichiro catches it to end the inning. At this point, I’ll take the one run.
Bottom of the sixth: I missed the first out because of a knock on my door. Unfortunately it was not Ms. Bellucci.
A groundout by Beltre and there are two quick outs.
Betancourt hits a broken bat grounder right to Jeter’s backhand, and he just completely misses it. Maybe the broken bat screwed him up a little, but that’s a clear E-6.
Pettitte catches Betancourt off first and after a rundown he’s tagged to end the inning.
Top of the seventh: Yankees have to score soon, because Putz is pretty nasty. Ramirez enters the seventh at 73 pitches.
Giambi’s in the hole 0-2. Giambi skies one to center for the first out.
Matsui singles hard to RF. That brings up Posada.
Posada grounds a hard single up the middle and the Yankees have two on with one down. It’s up to Phelps to do something here because we know Cano won’t.
Mariners are going to the pen for Chris Reitsma. I’d assume this means Mientkiewicz will pinch-hit for Phelps here.
It is Mientkiewicz. I’m ok with this move.
I guess I shouldn’t have been ok with it, because Mientkiewicz grounds into a 3-6-3 double play to end the “rally”.
There are games where you just know it’s a loss. This feels like one of them.
Bottom of the seventh: Pettitte’s at 89 pitches to start the seventh. This is probably his last inning one way or another. Then I’d imagine we’ll see five relievers to pitch the eighth.
Grounder up the middle, and Jeter actually gets to it, then makes a spin move and an off-balance throw to get the runner.
Burke hits a changeup to Jeter for the second out.
Ichiro goes right back through the middle and almost hits Pettitte. He’s on with the two out single. Actually, looks like he did nick Petttitte on the foot.
Vidro grounds to Jeter to end the inning. Pettitte did well on a day where he didn’t seem to be sharp. Unless the Yankees can get a couple here he’s not going to get anything but a loss to show for it.
Top of the eighth: George Sherrill will be pitching for the Mariners against Cano/Damon/Abreu. See, batting Abreu second is not smart, because now you’re setting up the platoon advantage perfectly for the other managers.
I hope the Yankees are proud about how they’re embarrassing their moms on Mother’s Day.
Someone who looks like Cano is pinch-hitting for him, because he took the first two pitches. He ends up flying out to LF.
Damon grounds it to Betancourt, but it pops out of his glove and Damon reaches. Let’s see how Abreu makes his out here.
The Mariners’ announcer just said Abreu is slumping “a little”. He did eventually correct himself.
Abreu Ks. At least it wasn’t a double play. They’ll bring in Morrow now to pitch to Jeter with two down and Damon still on first.
I don’t recall if I mentioned it yet, but the Mariners’ announcers are really freaking awful.
Morrow’s really dialing it up there. Consistently between 95-96 mph, and just hit 97.
After falling behind 0-2, Jeter lays off some tough pitches with good velocity and draws a walk. The tying run in Damon moves to second, and Jeter is the go-ahead run at first.
Last year A-Rod couldn’t catch up to real good heat. Let’s see if he can do it now.
He takes ball one, then swings through a 97 mph fastball on the outside part of the plate. 1-1. A-Rod takes fastball low for ball 2, then swings through another one to level the count at 2-2. Next pitch is low and away for ball 3, and the count is full. The last pitch of the AB is a perfectly placed 95 mph fastball at the knees on the black and Rodriguez swings through it to end the inning, and probably any shot the Yankees had at the game.
Bottom of the eighth:
These are the type of the games that are the most frustrating. We know this team is flawed on the pitching staff, and on defense. When their supposed calling card (offense) can’t get more than one f###ing run off a pitcher who came into today with an OPS against of somewhere around 1.000 and waste a well-pitched game, it’s really maddening.
Pettitte still in. He gets a ground out then gives up a single to Sexson. The single knocks Pettitte out and here comes Bruney.
You know, if the Yankees do end up losing this game and dropping to 17-19, any realistic expectation of the next week is going to have them at 19-23 after the next six games. What’s Aaron Small up to these days?
Bruney’s still a tick of command away from being a dominant reliever. Then again, if he had that command he’d never have been available in the first place.
He loses Guillen, missing badly on a 3-2 pitch up. Mariners have runners on first and second with only one out, with Beltre up.
WTF? The Mariners’ announcer just said that Beltre is trying to extend his “hitting streak” to three games? Wait, he got hits in two straight games? That’s incredible.
Beltre grounds to Jeter who steps on second and throws to first for the 6-3 DP. To the ninth we go.
Top of the ninth: J.J. Putz is nasty, but the Yankees will be sending 3 of their best power threats up in Giambi, Matsui, and Posada. Maybe Putz hangs a slider or something…
Putz throwing just as hard as Morrow so far. I don’t like Giambi’s chances of catching up to one. Giambi’s fouled off a couple, as the count is sitting at 2-2. He hasn’t had a good cut yet. And he swings right through one clocked at 95.
Matsui takes a couple of really close fastballs clocked at 97 and 96 for balls 1 and 2. They both could have been called strikes. Matsui takes advantage of the favorable counts (which STILL don’t make up for the horsehit Willie Bloomquist call) and rips a double to right center.
Posada up with the tying run on second and one down. He can’t check his swing on a 96 mph fastball letter high, and falls behind 1-0. He takes next pitch for a ball, then fouls one off at 96. 1-2, and I think a breaking pitch here will get Posada. Another fastball, another foul. Putz tries to sneak a fastball away past Posada, but he fouls it off again. Another fastball misses high, and the count goes to 2-2. This has been an eight pitch AB so far. A nasty split gets Posada swinging for the second out. It dropped a ton and after all those fastballs it was set up perfectly.
Mientkiewicz steps in as the Yankees’ last hope. 17-19 here we come. He takes a fastball on the outside part of the plate for strike one, then checks his swing on a high fastball to level the count at 1. Swings through one at 98 for the second strike, and this one’s just about over.
He fans. Mariners win, which means the Yankees lose. Shit.
You know what, maybe this team just isn’t all that good.
Friday, May 11, 2007
5/11/2007 - New York Yankees (16-17) at Seattle Mariners (15-15) - 10:05pm (Game Chatter/Rantings)
I figured I’d put this up since there’s a few lurkers on the site. Also, there was another blown call by an umpire in the fourth going against the Yankees. That’s 4 in less than a week. Aren’t they supposed to start getting make-up calls soon?
Thursday, May 10, 2007
5/10/2007 - Texas Rangers (13-20) at New York Yankees (16-16) - 1:05pm (Liveblog)
B. McCarthy (2-4) vs C. Wang (1-2)
Lineups courtesy of Pete Abraham:
YANKEES
Damon CF
Abreu RF
Jeter SS
Rodriguez 3B
Matsui DH
Posada C
Cano 2B
Mientkiewicz 1B
Cabrera LF
Wang RHP
RANGERS
Lofton CF
Wilkerson LF
Teixeira 1B
Sosa DH
Blalock 3B
Kinsler 2B
Kata SS
Cruz RF
Laird C
McCarthy RHP
A chance to go OVER .500. Woohoo! Be back later for the game.
I just finished taking my last exam ever (not including the bar) and I’m ready to decompress. Bring on the Yankees whipping boy!
Pre-game chatter: Abreu is hitting second again but I don’t think that will last much longer. According to Sweeney Murti, its only temporary until he hits more consistently. And then its back to the 3 hole.
From Baseball Prospectus:
After Hughes threw on flat ground last Sunday, Will Carroll reported on Monday that the injury may not be as serious as first thought, putting him on schedule to return to the rotation just before Clemens enters it.
Thanks to Cowboy Popup for the link.
Top of the first: Lofton fouled one down the right field line that looked about as close as it gets to being fair. With a full count, Wang walks Lofton which is not a good start.
Lofton steals second. Posada’s throw was a bouncer that actually beat Lofton but Cano couldn’t make the catch. Wilkerson grounds to Jeter behind Lofton for an out as Lofton moves to third.
Texeira taps one in front of the plate and Posada picks it up and tags Big Tex who didn’t move. That’s a big second out.
Sosa grounds one past A-Rod and the Rangers take the lead 1-0.
Blalock bloops a single to left and now there are two on. Not exactly vintage Wang right now. But he’s not getting hammered either.
Wang is throwing a lot of pitches right now. Which sucks since Torre felt the need to use nearly EVERYONE in the bullpen last night. And he gets Kinsler to strikeout swinging. Coulda been better but could been a lot worse.
Bottom of the first: Damon pops up to short. When Damon leads off with a popup, it makes baby Jesus cry.
Abreu lines out to Cruz who dove for it awkwardly.
And Jeter flies out to Cruz. I really hope this isn’t one of those games when the offense takes the day off. They just got to .500. It would be nice to actually go over it. At least Abreu’s ball was hit relatively hard.
Top of the second: Wang gets Kata swinging at a strike 3 change.
Cruz chops one over the mound and Jeter fields and fires to first for out #2.
Laird hits a single in the hole between 3rd and short. I could have sworn that Laird walked on 3 balls against Pettitte in the seventh the other night. When I went to check the YES replay later in the night, they skipped right over the 7th inning. Conspiracy?
Lofton flies out to Melky for the final out.
Bottom of the second: A-Rod hits a semi-liner to left for an out.
Matsui goes down swinging. The offense looks craptastic so far.
The hot-hitting Posada hits a double into the gap in left center. Nice.
Oh geez, Cano still looks lost up there as he swings at a high pitch and pops up. He’s pissing me off.
Top of the third: Wilkerson grounds out for out #1. Wang’s got the sinker working now.
Texeira hits a double to left. Balls.
Quote from Murcer regarding day and night game statistics of Al Leiter, “At night you couldn’t see Leiter’s balls.” Sosa singles on a duck fart to right.
Blalock grounds into a 4-6-3 DP. Sinker-tastic!
Bottom of the third: Doug M. really knocks the crap out of one and pops up to the catcher.
Melky hit a homer to right and some fan made a nice catch. Although, he was an older guy wearing a glove which is pretty sad. 1-1 game.
Damon pops up to nearly the same spot he did in his previous AB. Whatever he’s doing against McCarthy, its not working.
Abreu with a weak swing flies out to left. Something tells me he’s still not seeing the ball right.
Top of the fourth: Kinsler lines what most certainly would have been a double to right if not for the dynamo that is Doug Mient. Very nice grab.
Kata grounds out to Cano who at least contributes something today.
Cruz grounds a soft one to A-Rod who fire it to first in time for the out….
I just got an email from a professor regarding something I need to pick up at school. So I’ll be out for a little. Maybe rLr or Fabian can pick me up??
=================Cutter out
================SG in====
Bottom of the sixth: It’s rally time. Abreu tries to bunt his way on. He’s apparently taking his new role as a # 2 hitter a little too literally.
Doesn’t Brandon McCarthy normally give up like 10 HRs a game? Should that start now?
Abreu grounds out. Jeter tries to get the rally started now. He doubles, and A-Rod comes in. Just a single would be nice here.
A-Rod works back from an 0-2 count to draw a walk, and that’ll bring up Hideki Matsui as the tying run. The Rangers are going to the pen. Matsui fails to deliver, flying out to RF for the second out of the inning. Jorge Posada is the last hope this inning.
Posada hits the first pitch way up in the air and the SS catches it. Inning over. Feh.
Top of the seventh
Couldn’t hide from work. I’m back to see the Rangers have tacked on another run. The good thing about Wang is even when he gives up runs, he will usually rest the bullpen.
It was nice to be .500 for a few hours I guess.
Luis Vizcaino pretty much ends any chance of the Yankees winning this game. I have to go back to work anyway, so at least I don’t have to see the end of this.
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
5/9/2007 - Texas Rangers (13-19) at New York Yankees (15-16) - 7:05pm (“Liveblog”)
I’ve gotta work, so this probably won’t be a liveblog, but I may be able to escape in spurts.
Texas Rangers
K. Lofton, CF (.243/.313/.379)
M. Young, SS (.234/.250/.394)
M. Teixeira, 1B (.263/.360/.441)
S. Sosa, DH (.250/.316/.519)
H. Blalock, 3B (.295/.352/.473)
I. Kinsler, 2B (.275/.356/.588)
B. Wilkerson, LF (.242/.329/.424)
N. Cruz, RF (.200/.273/.243)
C. Stewart, C (.263/.300/.368)
R. Tejeda (3-2, 3.89 ERA)
New York Yankees
J. Damon, DH (.250/.369/.370)
B. Abreu, RF (.258/.336/.312)
D. Jeter, SS (.354/.424/.457)
A. Rodriguez, 3B (.358/.426/.797)
H. Matsui, LF (.259/.413/.448)
R. Cano, 2B (.267/.315/.362)
M. Cabrera, CF (.232/.295/.263)
D. Mientkiewicz, 1B (.230/.293/.392)
W. Nieves, C (.000/.000/.000)
M. Mussina (1-1, 5.73 ERA)
We need to see more of the Moose we saw last time out.
This feels like a must-win game to me. The longer this team is under .500, the more frustrating it is.
Top of the first: Moose goes 2-2, then gets Lofton to fly out. He’s topping out at 88 mph on his fastball so far according to YES, which is ok.
Even better news, as Moose just hit 91 to Michael Young, who fouled it the other way. He lines the next pitch to Cano, who catches it near his feet for the second out.
Teixeira batting now. He grounds one towards first and Mientkiewicz makes a nice diving stop from his knees and flips to Moose to retire the side. Good inning.
Top of the first: 1-6 need to do damage today, because 7-8-9 is hurting. Bold prediction, Wil Nieves will NOT get a hit tonight.
Damon chops one slowly to short. Young had to attempt a barehand pick and throw at shortstop but is unable to handle it cleanly and Johnny reaches. I’d score it an infield single, but I’m just an internet dork.
On a 1-0, Torre tries a hit and run and Abreu fouls what looked like a very hittable flat slider off. The count goes to 2-2, then Abreu lines one to left center field. It splits the OF and goes all the way to the wall, with Damon scoring from first and Abreu getting to second for an RBI double. 1-0 Yanks. Nice job of going the other way with an outside pitch.
Jeter steps in and swings through a 94 mph fastball about belt-high. The nex pitch is another 94 mph fastball that bounces in front of Stewart and goes back to the Toyota ad, and Abreu scampers to third. Jeter swings through another fastball to fall behind 1-2. He’s in danger of blowing a chance a productive out. Instead, he fights off a 1-2 pitch and grounds it past the drawn-in second baseman for an RBI single, and the Yankees now lead 2-0. So far, I approve this inning.
MVP-Rod steps in. The first pitch to him is outside and Jeter takes off on the pitch and steals second. Rodriguez gets ahead 3-1. He can look for a pitch to drive here. Tejeda misses outside to put Rodriguez on first, and Hideki Matsui will bat with runners on first and second and no outs. I fear a double play here.
Matsui stings one down the line into the RF corner for a double. It was hit too hard for Rodriguez to score from first, but Jeter scores easily and it’s now 3-0 Yankees.
Hackinson Cano comes up and shockingly swings at the first pitch, fouling it off. He continues to display his disturbing trend of hitting poorly at home, this year he’s at .210.
Seriously, here are Cano’s career splits:
Home: .274/.299/.423
Road: .347/.373/.523
He grounds out and Rodriguez scores from third. Matsui advances to third and it’s now 4-0.
I remember when Melky was fun to watch play. It seems like so long ago. Tejada appears to be just rearing back and throwing now. He’s getting up to 95. Melky’s fouled off three straight pitches. On the fiftieth 0-2 pitch of the AB, Tejeda moves Melky’s feet off the plate with a fastball down and in. Melky dives out of the way. The next pitch is chopped to second, and with the infield in Matsui can’t score. Two down, and the fearsome Doug Mientkiewicz is up.
He’s on the precipice of a .300 OBP. He gets under one and skies it to right for the final out of the inning.
Four runs. 35 pitches. I approve.
Top of the second: Let’s see how the layoff affects Moose as he deals to Sammy Sooser. On 0-2 Moose goes up and in on Sosa, something he almost never does. Sosa ducks down out of the way. Sosa can’t check his swing on the next pitch, a 90 mph fastball placed perfectly on the outside part of the plate for strike three.
On 1-2 to Blalock, Moose catches the inside corner with a two-seamer, another one clocked right at 90. Moose looks really sharp so far.
Ian Kinsler has 9 HRs? WTF? Moose falls behing him 2-0, then gets two strikes, but Kinsler won’t chase a breaking pitch away on 2-2, so the count runs full. First 3-2 pitch is fouled off, and they’ll do it again. They do it again, with the same result. So they’ll do it again. Kinsler hits a can of corn on the third 3-2 pitch, right into the waiting glove of Melky, and the Rangers are down in the second.
I like the pattern of this game so far. Moose shuts the Rangers down, Yankees score four runs. Moose shuts the Rangers down. What happens next?
Bottom of the second: I’m on pins and needles as I wait to see if Wil Nieves is going to get his first hit in this AB. The suspense is killing me.
I feel badly for Nieves actually. He seems like a likeable player, and a decent glove. He just can’t hit AT ALL. It’s not his fault he’s in a role he doesn’t have the skills for.
I mean even Kelly Stinnett would get a hit once in a while.
The snide continues for poor Wil. I really want him to get a hit before he gets released.
Damon up. Damon goes 2-2 and pops it foul behind the plate, and the catcher loses it and doesn’t even go after it. So Damon gets a second shot. He makes the worst of it by fanning.
Abreu flies out to left to end the inning.
Needless to say, I do NOT approve that inning.
Top of the third:
Moose gives up a leadoff HR to Brad Wilkerson. I have to do that work stuff I mentioned now so I’m going to be a bit sporadic posting here.
Wonderful, Bad Moose has arrived.
Bad Moose gave up another run somehow, but finally got out of the inning. Looks like the Yankees better not sit on their four runs.
Bottom of the third: Jeter gets the fourth started with a leadoff walk. Ball four was a pitch up and in, and I can’t help but wonder if there was some Sosa retaliation involved there. The umpire apparently doesn’t think so, as no warnings were issued.
There’s a sign in the crowd that says “A-Rod hit #16 Today”. I agree with that sign.
Tejeda grazes Rodriguez on the forearm. Looks like it glanced off his elbow pad and did no damage. He goes to first, and Matsui bats with runners on first and second and no outs. He pops the first pitch he sees meekly to Kinsler. So much for this inning….
I hope Cano is happy that he’s let little Dustin Pedroia pass him offensively. He skies out to third and Blalock catches it for the second out.
Melky does about the same thing, only a little further to LF. Inning over. Way to capitalize guys.
Top of the fourth: Moose pitches a scoreless fourth, aided by nice running catch by Melky in center for the third out.
Bottom of the fourth: Last inning really sucked. I hate when the team’s approach deviates from their normal style of wearing pitchers down.
Mientkiewicz goes the other way with a pitch and it bounces into the stands for the automatic double. Nieves should bunt him to third.
He does bunt, and it’s a successful one. Now Damon has to get Mientkiewicz home.
Damon takes strike three, but the ump calls it ball four. Sorry blue, that still doesn’t make up for the horseshit call against the Mariners.
Abreu has a chance to get back in the good graces of the Yankee fans who are ready to dump him here. He gets ahead 3-0, then takes a strike. And he takes another one. Both were borderline. Abreu fails to deliver, but Jeter does, driving in two, and making it 6-2 Yanks.
Say bye-bye to Tejeda, and hello to the Rangers’ bullpen.
It’s C.J. Wilson, here to face A-Rod in a stat-padding situation. The old A-Rod would homer here. The new one will fan. Or he’ll pop out to second. Same thing.
Top of the fifth: Moose enters the fifth at 61 pitches. He asked out at this point last time. I was hoping he could go six, he’ll need an effiicent inning here to do that.
Moose gets the first out, but now he appears to be getting squeezed and is showing his frustration. After what he thought was a called strike three he gets a pop out for the second out.
The next hitter grounds out I think.
Bottom of the sixth: The Yankees didn’t do diddly-poo.
Top of the seventh: Moose is at 74 pitches now. He should be able to get through the sixth if he doesn’t implode.
Moose got an out. Didn’t see how. Bruney’s warming in the pen. Some guy from the Rangers flied out to Melky for the second out. Moose is one out away from a quality start, and he’s got Mark Teixeira standing in his way.
Sorry for the outage. Looks like our server went down. The kind people at our webhosting company informed me that it was due to some technical reason.
We missed Bruney, Farnsworth and Proctor being used in one inning. Yeah.
Farnsworth pitched a rare scoreless inning.
Mo’s in to close it out now. He’s gotten two outs.
BTW, Steve Lombardi pointed out today that Rivera’s FIP is a respectable 4.35. I wouldn’t worry about him yet.
Matsui and Jeter almost collide but Matsui hangs on to make the catch and end the game.
Yankees win 6-2.
Guess who’s .500?
Monday, May 7, 2007
5/7/2007 - Seattle Mariners (13-13) at New York Yankees (14-15) 3:55 pm (Game Chatter)
M. Batista (3-2) vs M. DeSalvo (0-0)
MARINERS
I. Suzuki cf
J. Vidro dh
K. Johjima c
R. Ibanez lf
R. Sexson 1b
J. Guillen rf
A. Beltre 3b
Y. Betancourt ss
J. Lopez 2b
YANKEES
J. Damon cf
D. Jeter ss
B. Abreu rf
A. Rodriguez 3b
J. Giambi dh
H. Matsui lf
J. Posada c
R. Cano 2b
D. Mientkiewicz 1b
I have too many exams to study for but I may throw a few comments in occasionally if one of the other guys doesn’t fill in.
Pre-game chatter: I’ve heard the Clemens “Well they came and got me out of Houston” speech about 500 times now.
Notes from the 1st inning: DeSalvo gives up a run but looks OK so far. A-Rod seems to be pull happy again.
Notes from the 3rd inning: DeSalvo is throwing a lot of pitches now and his ball to strike ratio is suffering. He walks the first two batters and is now facing the heart of the Seattle lineup. It should be interesting to see how he deals with this situation. Well a double play followed by a popup is certainly one way to deal with it. Not too shabby, DeSalvation™. What? Too soon?
Here’s where DeSalvo has been putting the ball through 3 innings:
You can see that he’s not getting a lot of swings and misses. He’s getting a lot of popups and fly balls right now.
Notes from the 4th inning: And DeSalvo adds to that fly ball count by getting 3 in the form of outs in this inning. During the inning a ball that probably could have been fielded by Jeter went under his glove (it looked like) on its way to dead center. It was a tough play as Jeter ranged to his left but the fact that it looked like it went under his glove and wasn’t out of reach is annoying.
Notes from the 5th inning: I can’t remember the last time Posada threw out a runner as I watch Jose Lopez steal second. DeSalvo with 65 pitches through 5 innings with 1 earned run. The Yankee pitchers have now allowed only 2 runs in the last 25 innings.
John Mileskey: Alright, I am trying to figure this thing out. Jeter and Damon just worked a couple walks after the pitcher hit a double. Remember when Bobby hit homers? I don’t.
And BA grounds out after being up in the count 3-1. His absence of power is alarming. It is almost like we traded for David Wright and stuck him in RF.
Top of the Sixth
DeSalvo gets two outs before I can even find the “update entry” button. If he can get Big Sexy in short order he might be able to get through the 7th inning.
Bottom Sixth
Arod leads off, again. Why is he not batting third? And ARod beat out an infield single. Everything in that AB was belt high or above. The Arod of April would have crushed that. I would really like they to send Arod here. I am totally making bagel bites after this half inning, BTW. Is there someone warming in the Seattle pen? I have a feeling Batista is gassed. Why are they not crushing these pitches? they are very, very high. Matsui and Giambi fly out.
Erin Andrews looks especially amazing tonight. Cano is due for something, right? Has he hit the ball hard all season? And he K’s. Cano is really struggling.
Top Seventh: Would you describe DeSalvo as a “young looking pale guy” or a Pale looking young guy?” He is below 80 pitches. I would imagine Proctor in the game if DeSalvo lets anyone reach base. They won’t allow DeSalvo to lose this game.
Bagel Bites, for dinner, and yes, I am nearly 30 years old.
DeSalvo continues to impress. These starters who have been getting murder on the radio and in the press have been fantastic since the Texas series.
And he gets another popup. 8 in a row retired for DeSalvo. If the Yanks score another run, I send him out for the 8th. I would imagine he flew a bunch of family here for the game. They have to be very proud.
Bottom Seventh.
Why is Batista in this game? And Damon trying to bunt, despite the fact that he is 54-60 in his career against Batista, and Batista is out of gas. This is somewhat shocking. Jeter is walked to get to Abreu. Bobby hammers one about 10 feet and Big Sexy goes right home and the Yanks lose a run. How is CJ Henry doing, BTW?
Reitsma comes into the game to get Arod on a pitch he would have hammered a couple weeks ago.
Top Eight Diet Coke plus is a tremendous idea. My 10 cans a day means my body is getting 100x the Magnesium it needs.
DeSalvo out, Big Ninja is in. Posada threw out Bloomquist out by over 5 feet. Jerry Davis should personally apologize to Matt DeSalvo. He has stolen a potential victory.
That was one of the worst calls I have seen on a baseball diamond.
Bottom Eight
Gerry Davis should be pulled off the field. If I didn’t know any better, I would think that Matt DeSalvo shot his dog. Of course, if Bobby Abreu hits a fly ball, Gerry Davis’ incompetence would not matter.
Gerry Davis has even ruined my bagel bites. If umpires miss calls like that, what seperates this sport from Dancing with the Stars?
Alright, I missed a whole damn inning. Here is the recap.
Giambi sucked, Posada sucked, Cano sucked even more than he has recently.
Top Nine What the fuck was that? Was that a straight fastball? That didn’t cut. I feel sick. Stupid Gerry Davis.
Bottom Nine Doug M grounds to second before I can even preview the inning. Damon is up now, and Jeter waits in the wings.
Damon singles on a 3-2 pitch, guessing cheddar all the way. I would imagine Jeter would get on, allowing Bobby to strand two additional runners.
If Damon has a decent read on Putz, I would send him.
Mr. November gets a 2-0 fastball and hits a weak grounder to SS. Abreu up with chance to ground it to either first or second, his choice.
Abreu K’s on a fastball right down the middle. He is like an alien at the plate. What the hell was he looking for? That was a fastball right down the middle?
Postgame
This is a game, earlier in the day, I was prepared to lose. After DeSalvo retired 8 straight, it looked like an solid W.
There is no reason the Yankees should lost that game, none.
Sunday, May 6, 2007
5/6/2007 - Seattle Mariners (13-12) at New York Yankees (13-15) 3:55 pm (Game Chatter)
J. Washburn (2-2) vs D. Rasner (0-1)
MARINERS
I. Suzuki cf
A. Beltre 3b
J. Vidro dh
R. Ibanez lf
R. Sexson 1b
J. Guillen rf
K. Johjima c
Y. Betancourt ss
J. Lopez 2b
YANKEES
J. Damon cf
D. Jeter ss
B. Abreu rf
A. Rodriguez 3b
J. Giambi dh
H. Matsui lf
J. Phelps 1b
M. Cairo 2b
W. Nieves c
Torre is playing Cairo because he’s 4 for 8 against Washburn. Someone needs to introduce the term “sample size” to Joe.
Notes from the 2nd inning: Rasner seems to be pitching well. He’s getting ahead in the count, mixing his pitches well, and inducing ground balls. Hopefully he can keep this going.
Notes from the 4th inning: Rasner is at 42 pitches through 4 innings, with 29 of them being strikes. Meanwhile, the Yankees can’t seem to get anything going against Washburn. Can’t really blame it on the House Money lineup since Washburn has been effective against the entire Yankee lineup mostly.
Notes from the 5th inning: Darrell “Razzle Dazzle™” not only makes it through five innings but does so in only 62 pitches with 4 Ks and without giving up a single run.
Nieves (0-19 this year) may never get another major league hit. I feel bad for the guy.
The Yankees are on the board with back to back RBI singles from the Captain and Abreu. Yes, you heard that right. Abreu finally came through.
For the first run of the game, Phelps unnecessarily bowled over Johjima at home. The play was not close and he was not blocking the plate.
Notes from the 6th inning: Razzle Dazzle™ gets pulled after two men get on with 2 outs. Tricky situation with Sexson coming up. Even though he’s below the Mendoza line, you don’t want him to do the only thing he knows how and make the game 3-2. Anyhow, a great outing from Rasner who is in line for the win.
And Proctor gets the groundout with only 2 pitches to end the inning so all is well. Proctor hasn’t seen the mound in a while so I have no problem with him coming in here. I just hope Joe doesn’t use every other pitcher in the pen to win this game. I’d like to see Proctor pitch the seventh and Bruney the eighth. But Bruney pitched yesterday and Farnsworth is still the designated eighth inning guy so its not likely to play out that way.
Phelps gets plunked in retaliation for taking out Johjima the inning before. I would want my team to do the same so can’t get angry with Washy there.
Notes from the 7th inning: Well Proctor acts like a moron and gets himself thrown out of the game by throwing behind Betancourt with 2 outs. That means another pitcher from the bullpen needs to throw. With DeSalvo going tomorrow, the Yankees would like to have as many fresh arms available as possible. But now Henn is coming into the game. This really pisses me off.
In other news, Pavano is considering whether to undergo surgery which could mean he never again pitches in pinstripes. Given that most of us assumed he would never pitch again anyway, mark me down as someone that could care less.
OK, in the OMFG department, Roger Clemens just told the Yankee fans at the stadium over the loudspeaker that he would “be talking to y’all soon.” The crowd went nuts. I guess he’s back. This is HUGE news. The brief speech was made from the owner’s box where Clemens, decked out in snazzy suit, looked like the sexiest man I have ever seen.
And now Ibanez made another sun-related error and Jeter scores another run on Abreu’s “hit”.
Notes from the 8th inning: Who cares about this game now, Clemens is back! But seriously, this game has featured an entire ESPN segment’s worth of highlights.
Well, you can expect a flurry of news coverage later tonight on Clemens. But this game was certainly encouraging in other ways as well. Hopefully DeSalvo can do a decent job tomorrow and bring this team back to .500.
Friday, May 4, 2007
5/4/2007 - Seattle Mariners (12-11) at New York Yankees (12-14) - 7:05pm (Game Chatter/Liveblog)
C. Baek (0-0) vs Joe Cool (2-1)
Lineups:
MARINERS
I. Suzuki CF
A. Beltre 3B
J. Vidro DH
R. Ibanez LF
R. Sexson 1B
J. Guillen RF
K. Johjima C
Y. Betancourt SS
J. Lopez 2B
YANKEES
Damon CF
Jeter SS
Abreu DH
Rodriguez 3B
Matsui LF
Posada C
Cano 2B
Cabrera RF
Mientkiewicz 1B
It would be great for the win streak to continue, particularly with Igawa throwing a decent game following the last gem. Giambi is notably not in the lineup. However, Torre said earlier today that it was just a leg cramp.
This will likely be a Game Chatter thread but I may chime in a bit if I’m around. The game is on channel my9 tonight.
Pre-game chatter: Not much of a history with Baek but Abreu does have the only Yankee HR off him. Perhaps he’ll get on track tonight.
Notes from the 1st inning: The first out of the game was an All Japanese Connection as Igawa delivered to Ichiro who flew out to Matsui. Abreu may indeed be coming out of the slump as he doubled to deep center in his first AB.
Notes from the 4th inning: I guess this would qualify as one of Igawa’s bad starts. His offense gives him 6 runs early and he gives them all back. Not so Joe Cool.
Notes from the 5th inning: Igawa gives up back to back singles to lead off the inning and once again a starter is pulled before pitching 5. And then Colter Bean comes in and throws 8 straight balls to walk in a run followed by a single to tie the game. Sometimes I really loathe this pitching staff. Hey, Bean follows it up by giving up a 2 run double to center to make it 10-8 Seattle without an out in the inning. You’re now on my shit list, Bean. You can let the door hit your ass on the way out.
Vizcaino is an atrocious pitcher. I really don’t care what his track record is at this point. He does nothing but give up single after single and run after run. But I’d let him stay out there just to take the beating. This game isn’t over and the Yankees could come back, but this is a complete embarrassment.
Notes from the 7th inning: So I went into a coma after the bazillionth Seattle run scored. But I woke up in time to see Damon’s power return. Its a sad commentary when you can score 11 runs in a game and still lose.
Notes from the 8th inning: Stolichnaya is running a large ad on the backstop behind home plate. Not a bad move since the Yankee fans could use a stiff one. In fact, I’m going to run down to the corner store and get some right now. It may come in handy on Sunday and Monday as well.
Thursday, May 3, 2007
5/3/2007 - New York Yankees (10-14) at Texas Rangers (10-16) DOUBLEHEADER - 3:35pm (Liveblog)
If the Yanks can sweep this one—no easy task—they’re probably back on track. If they get swept, they’re just as bad off as they were Saturday morning when they’d lost seven straight. A split is always the most likely outcome in a doubleheader, and if they end up with that, they’re… okay. Considering the start they’ve been off to, they really, really could use a sweep.
Here are the lineups for the first game:
New York Yankees
J. Damon, CF (.229/.349/.329)
D. Jeter, SS (.340/.409/.433)
B. Abreu, RF (.247/.350/.299)
A. Rodriguez, 3B (.371/.432/.887)
J. Giambi, DH (.311/.404/.500)
H. Matsui, LF (.206/.364/.324)
J. Posada, C (.333/.398/.538)
R. Cano, 2B (.298/.343/.383)
D. Mientkiewicz, 1B (.158/.238/.281)
A. Pettitte (1-1, 3.00 ERA)
Texas Rangers
J. Hairston Jr., CF (.258/.314/.323)
M. Young, SS (.207/.228/.333)
M. Teixeira, 1B (.223/.336/.330)
S. Sosa, DH (.244/.309/.547)
H. Blalock, 3B (.253/.307/.396)
I. Kinsler, 2B (.302/.384/.663)
V. Diaz, RF (.000/.000/.000)
N. Cruz, LF (.222/.290/.270)
G. Laird, C (.169/.259/.239)
M. Wood (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
Top of the First: Johnny Damon starts the game by popping out to shortstop. There are apparently three people at this game today. I think there are more people getting paid to be at the ballpark than are paying to get in.
Jeter strikes out on a 3-2 pitch on a ball in the dirt.
It would be nice if Abreu stopped sucking soon. Instead he grounds out to shortstop.
Bottom of the First: Jerry Hairston tries to bunt for a hit but Posada fields it cleanly and nails him at first easily.
Michael Young grounds out to A-Rod.
Pettitte gets ahead of Teixeira 1-2, but ends up walking him. That brings up Sosa, who can homer or pretty much nothing else.
Pettitte walks him anyway. Not smart, Andy.
Pettitte starts nibbling with Blalock, too, but gets strike three called on the outside corner. Too many pitches. Too many pitches.
Top of the Second: Wood gets two strikes on A-Rod and then nails him and the ump with a pitch.
A-Rod goes and Giambi hits a grounder right of second. The shortstop, moving to cover second, can’t get it, and Kinsler doesn’t have time to get Giambi. He tries, anyway, and throws wide. It bounces off of Teixeira towards home plate and A-Rod gets to third. That was unlikely.
Matsui grounds it to second and Kinsler bobbles it, so they only get Giambi at second. A-Rod scores, 1-0 Yanks.
Posada hits it to third on a check swing, and it turns into an easy double play.
Bottom of the Second: Remember Bad Andy? He’s back. Kinsler gets ahead 3-1 and doubles to left.
Diaz grounds it up the middle, and Cano throws him out at first. Kinsler moves to third.
Cruz grounds to third, and A-Rod gets faked out by Kinsler. He hesitates to throw thinking that Kinsler would go home, and never throws to first. Cruz reaches on the fielders choice.
Laird doubles to right to tie the game. Pettitte can’t seem to put anyone away today.
Pettitte walks Hairston a full count. A familiar theme so far today.
Young lines it to third, and A-Rod turns it into an easy double play by throwing to Cano. Well, not that easy, he nearly throws it into right, but Cano snares it and steps on the bag.
Top of the Third: Cano strikes out on a splitter.
Cabrera hits it hard to first, Teixeira keeps it from going into right for a double, but can’t get Melky at the bag, and throws it over Wood’s head. Cabrera stays at first.
Damon pops out to center.
Cabera moves to second on a passed ball, but Jeter pops out to second for the final out.
Bottom of the Third: Andy gets off to a good start in the third, striking out Teixeira.
Sosa reaches on an infield single to third.
Blalock ground to Giambi who is able to turn a 3-6-3 DP to end the inning.
Top of the Fourth: Abreu, who has forgotten how to hit, flies out to center for the first out.
Wood is making the Yankees look silly, he strikes out A-Rod swinging.
Well, Giambi doesn’t look silly. He slams it into the right field seats and it’s 2-1.
Matsui rips it down the right field line for a double, and maybe they can start getting to this bum.
Posada can’t do it, though. He pops out to third and that’s the inning.
Bottom of the Fourth: Kinsler leads off with a line drive to left, but A-Rod snares it at third for the first out.
Diaz strikes out swinging for the second out.
Cruz grounds it to second, but Cano can’t field it cleanly.
=========Exit Larry/Enter SG===========================
Larry had to run, so I’ll take over for a while
Pettitte fans the always dangerous Gerald Laird to pitch around the Cano error.
Top of the fifth
Cano leads off the fifth in a shocking manner, by swinging at a bad pitch and missing it. He then takes three straight out of the strike zone? Will he walk? Nope, he grounds straight down in front of home plate and is thrown out easily.
Melky follows by lining the first pitch he sees into CF. Hairston tries to field it by sliding but can get it cleanly, and Melky gets to third. Could be a double and error or a triple. Melky’s stung the ball well his last two AB. It’d be nice to see him get out of his season-long funk.
Willie Mays Hays Damon hits another fly ball, but this one is deep enough to CF for Melky to tag and score, and the Yankees tack on one more run and now lead 3-1. That’s pretty good, I suppose.
Jeter grounds to short to end the frame. Let’s see if Bad Andy is gone or if he’s just been hiding. At 73 pitches through four innings, It doesn’t look like he’s got more than another inning or two in him at best.
Bottom of the fifth
Hairston hits one fairly well to RF, but Abreu drifts back to catch it for the first out. It’s amazing how throwing strikes works, isn’t it Andy?
Pettitte whiffs Michael Young for his fifth K of the game.
Teixeira lines pitch #84 up the middle for the Rangers’ fourth hit of the game. Mini-Sosa steps in.
Pettitte throwing breaking pitches away to Sosa. Apparently Andy’s stuck in 1998 and thinks Sosa is still dangerous.
Posada can’t handle a 2-2 cutter, which goes for another passed ball. I think that’s Posada’s 95th passed ball of the season but I don’t feel like looking it up. Teixeira goes down to second, and the count is full on Sosa. Sosa makes me look like an idiot by linging one solidly to the right-center field gap for a double that plates Teixeira and cuts the Yankee lead to 3-2. Tying run’s on second now with two down.
Hank Blalock hits one solidly, but right at Abreu for the third out of the inning.
Top of the sixth
Bobby Abreu continues to hit like Doug Dascenzo, grounding out to lead off the inning. Abreu was slugging .293 entering that AB. A-Rod grounds out too. His SLG had dropped to .878 before that AB. He’s a bum.
Giambi hits one right into the shift to end what was a pretty pathetic inning by the 3-4-5.
Bottom of the sixth
Pettitte will start the sixth at 94 pitches. Let’s see if he can get through it without giving up the lead. Then we can watch the bullpen follies.
Kinsler tries to bunt his way on but it goes foul, then follows it up by flying out to Damon in left center.
Bruney and Vizcaino are warming in the pen. I’d guess if Pettitte allows a runner, we’ll see one or the other.
Victor Diaz grounds out to Jeter for the second out of the inning. It was hit pretty solidly and towards his left, but Jeter makes the play. i’ll never question his Gold Gloves again.
Nelson Cruz is all that stands between Andy Pettitte and something that no Yankee pitcher in 2007 has ever done, pitched a quality start. That’s not literally true, but it sure seems like it never happens.
Cruz chops to Jeter for the last out of the inning. Pettitte fought off his early control problems and did pretty well, all things considered. I don’t feel comfortable with a 3-2 lead, so how about the offense tacks on about ten runs here?
Top of the seventh
Mike Wood still out there for Texas. He’s had a lot of movement with all his pitches today.
Matsui starts off my ten run rally by flying out to CF. That was sub-optimal.
Posada draws a walk on a 3-1 changeup, and that’ll be it for Wood. Not sure who’s coming in yet.
C.J. Wilson will be coming in to face Cano. Wilson has walked seven batters in nine innings this season. Cano has walked 40 times in 1100+ AB. Who will win here?
Cano gets hit apparently, near his hand, but he went down to first without making much of a stink so it apparently isn’t too bad. Melky bats now with Posada on second, Cano on first, and one down.
Melky flies out to Cruz on a lazy fly ball down the RF line for the second out of the inning. Johnny Popup steps in. I predict a flyout to 3B.
Damon shocks the world, and pops up to 2B, not 3B. Inning over.
Bottom of the seventh
Let’s see who starts this inning. It could be Pettitte, it could be Bruney, it could be Vizcaino. Or it could be none of the above.
It’s Vizcaino. His peripherals are horrible. 11 BB, 7 K in 15 innings. His low BABIP belies how ineffective he’s been so far. His ERA should be much higher than 5.40.
He gets Laird to fly out to shallow center for the first out.
I thought Vizcaino was a hard thrower, but the guy who pitches for the Yankees is rarely much above 90 mph. I don’t trust him at all.
And my lack of trust is rewarded as Vizcaino gives up a game-tying HR to Jerry Hairston Jr. He of the 30 career HR in 762 games. Thanks L-Viz.
Is there any justification for keeping Vizcaino over Chris Britton at this point? Is there any indicator that this guy is going to be any use to the team this year? I realize he was the “bounty” for Randy Johnson, but he’s awful. He’s horrible. He’s Juan Acevedo and Felix Heredia all rolled into one.
He gets Young to fly out, then gives up a ripped double to Teixeira. Suddenly, Vizcaino’s role on this team is crystal clear. Batting practice pitcher.
Vizcaino manages to retire Sosa to end the inning. But he did his damage by allowing Texas to tie it up. Maybe they can play extra innings in the first game of a double-header. That’s a great way to rest an overworked pen.
Top of the eighth
As much as Vizcaino has annoyed me, the Yankees should be scoring more than three runs off someone like Mike Wood if they are going to win.
Jeter will ead the inning off against Joaquin Benoit. He grounds it to Young at SS, who can’t pick the backhand and he’s on with a single.
Normally, I don’t like bunting, but with how bad Abreu has been lately, I’d at least think about it.
Jeter tries to steal, decides to stop halfway as Laird made a strong throw to seond, and the relay throw back to first is dropped by Teixeira, so Jeter slides back safely. Count has gone to 2-2 on Abreu in the meantime.
Abreu strikes out on a shitty pitch. A-Rod hasn’t homered in 24 AB. He really stinks….
Wild pitch lets Jeter advance to second.
A-Rod grounds out. Jeter goes to third but there are now two down and Giambi up. Rangers decide to walk Giambi to face the ice cold Hideki Matsui. Probably a smart move.
Matsui deals with insult the best way possible, rocketing an RBI double to CF to give the Yankees the 4-3 lead. Bad baserunning by Giambi and Matsui lead to Giambi getting cut down at the plate to end the inning.
Bottom of the eighth
Kyle Farnsworth in to nurse a one run lead on the road? Yeah, I’m looking forward to this.
Blalock lines one hard, but Abreu is there to make the catch for the first out.
Farnsworth’s velocity seems better today than it’s been all year. Last two fastballs were clocked at 98 mph. Unfortunately, only one was a strike.
He gets Kinsler to fly out to center on a 97 mph fastball.
Brad Wilkerson will pinch-hit for Victor Diaz here with two down. He lines one hard up the middle for a single, and the tying run’s on first with two down.
Farnsworth blowing gas past Nelson Cruz so far. Two fastballs right down the middle, both swung on and missed. On 0-2, Wilkerson steals second. Now a single ties the game. He goes slider outside corner on 1-2, and freezes Cruz for strike three.
It’s innings like that that make bad Farnsworth innings all the more frustrating. When he’s good, he’s really good.
Top of the ninth
It’s probably sacrilege to say it, but I don’t trust Mariano Rivera with a one run lead right now. The Yankees need to tack on an insurance run or two here against Akinori Otsuka.
Apparently Texas is sticking with Benoit, not Otsuka. Posada leads off the ninth. He gets ahead in the count quickly 3-0. He takes ball four, but the umpire calls it a strike, then flies out to RF just shy of the warning track.
Cano comes up. I was hoping last game was the start of one of Cano’s ridiculous hot streaks where he laces doubles all over the park, but not today. He lines out to Kinsler for the second out.
Here’s Melky. He nubs one up the third base line and Benoit can’t throw him out. That’s Melky’s third hit of the game, and he’s back over .200 again.
Damon looks like crap right now. They should just DL him if he’s not healthy. He flies out meekly to Wilkerson to end the inning.
Bottom of the ninth
Is WWWMW™ over with? Is Mo beginning to decline? We’ll find out in a few minutes.
Laird will lead off the Texas ninth against Mo. First pitch is a cutter away clocked at 91. Not real encouraging. Third pitch is fouled off and clocked at 94, and that’s a little bit better to see. He gets Laird to chase a 94 mph fastball up around his shoulders. One down.
Kenny Lofton is pinch-hitting for Hairston here. Lofton late on the fastball for strike one. Mo moves him offf the plate, then the next pitch is grounded right to Jeter, who flips to first for the second out.
Young is the Rangers’ last hope. He fouls a cutter away clocked at 94 mph for the first strike. High fastball then another foul, and it’s 1-2.
Young grounds to Cano, who throws him out, and the Yankees take game 1. I’ll never doubt you again Mo.
===================END GAME 1=======================
5/3/2007 - New York Yankees (11-14) at Texas Rangers (10-17) Game 2 - 8:05 PM ET
Game 2 lineups are up:
New York Yankees
M. Cabrera, CF (.217/.258/.253)
D. Jeter, SS (.337/.404/.426)
B. Abreu, RF (.238/.339/.287)
A. Rodriguez, 3B (.360/.426/.860)
J. Giambi, DH (.323/.417/.538)
H. Matsui, LF (.237/.375/.395)
R. Cano, 2B (.289/.340/.371)
D. Mientkiewicz, 1B (.158/.238/.281)
W. Nieves, C (.000/.000/.000)
M. Mussina (0-1, 9.00 ERA)
Texas Rangers
K. Lofton, CF (.253/.320/.345)
M. Young, SS (.198/.218/.319)
M. Teixeira, 1B (.237/.351/.351)
S. Sosa, DH (.258/.327/.562)
H. Blalock, 3B (.242/.295/.379)
I. Kinsler, 2B (.300/.379/.656)
B. Wilkerson, RF (.245/.317/.453)
M. Kata, LF (.292/.320/.542)
C. Stewart, C (.214/.267/.286)
R. Tejeda (3-1, 3.82 ERA)
Moose goes for win # 1. Posada and Damon get the night game off. I’ll be back with the first pitch in about 45 minutes.
They’re in a rain delay. First pitch is scheduled for 8:50 or so now according to the YES studio show.
Robinson Tejeda’s taking his warmups, and they’re just about ready to start. I’m going to be working over the next hour or two, so the liveblog may go dead at times.
Top of the first
YES scouting report says Tejeda has a Godd Fastball. That sounds pretty impressive. Melky leads things off and jumps ahead in the cound 2-0. Leadoff Melky draws a leadoff walk. If he is patient, the hits will come. When he’s pressing, he starts swinging at bad pitches.
Jeter and his 19 game hitting streak up now. He gets brushed back on the first pitch and has to back away from the plate. He follows that up hitting one very well to left, but Matt Kata makes a leaping catch against the fence, and throws to Kinsler who doubles Melky off first. Feh.
Abreu should probably just come to the plate without a bat right now. It really is amazing that this team is on pace to score 940 runs, given how little production they’re getting from some of the key players on the team. Abreu hits one to Young’s backhand, but he can’t pick it cleanly. It was a play a big league SS should make, but Abreu gets a single, and the overthrow lets him advance to second.
A-Rod up. He singles between third and short, but Kata fires a laser beam home and they get Abreu out at home. Matt Kata saved at least three runs that inning.
Bottom of the first
I was nervous about Moose before his hamstring issue. His velocity is not where it was last year, and his effectiveness seemingly suffered for it. While I want the Yankees to win this game badly, I’d rather see them lose a game where Moose pitches well than win a slugfest where he is bad. Girardi is saying he’s going to be on an 80-85 pitch limit tonight, so I figure he should be good for three innings.
He goes 2-2 on Lofton, then gets him to pop out foul to A-Rod in foul territory near third base.
Young grounds the second pitch he sees to Cano, who throws him out.
So far, Moose is throwing lots of breaking balls, and he’s getting everything down in the zone, which is probably good.
Teixeira grounds out to end the inning.
Top of the second
I have a feeling Giambi’s about to go on a little mini-run. Will it start with this AB? Tejeda gets ahead 1-2, then misses up and in and hits Giambi on his right lat. He seems fine.
Matsui stands in now. He goes full count then fans.
Cano follows up with a K of his own. Now we get to the meat of the order, the Mientkiewicz/Nieves two-headed monster.
Wild pitch advances Giambi to second, where he can now score on a triple.
Mientkiewicz decides not to chance a triple, and homers instead. Yanks take the quick 2-0 lead.
==========SG out / Cutter in==========
Nieves struck out swinging
Bottom of the second: Sosa strikes out looking. Good Moose.
Blalock smacks a single to right.
Kinsler strikes out swinging. Good Moose. Blalock steals 2nd.
Wilkerson strikes out swinging. Very good Moose.
Top of the third: Melky flies out to right.
Jeter grounds out to Young at short.
Abreu grounds out to second. Please come back to us, Bobby.
Bottom of the third: Kata hits one back up the middle for a single.
Stewart bunts Kata over. 1-3 for the out.
Kenny Loggins, as my girlfriend calls him, pops out to Jeter in shallow left.
Young lines one to Doug at first for the final out. Young is really struggling this year. Hopefully the Yanks get out of Texas before he gets back on track.
Top of the fourth: A-Rod singles through the hole on the left side. Good start to the inning.
Giambi swings through strike three. Well located fastball inside.
With Matsui up, the ball gets away from Stewart and A-Rod takes second. The first strike to Matsui was inside and complete bull. Get mad Matsui. Get mad. Or not; Matsui flies out to left.
Cano’s plate discipline is very troubling. Lets hope he can get it together here. Of course not as he swings at a completely crappy pitch that actually hits him in the back of the heel. You know your plate discipline sucks when you’re swinging at pitches that hit you. And that was strike three which makes it a dead ball. Inning over.
Bottom of the fourth: Teixera grounds out to Cano for the first out.
Sosa singles to right off of Moose. I don’t like Sosa.
Blalock doubles to left and Sosa holds up at third.
Kinsler hits a sac fly to Abreu in right. Blalock moves to third. 2-1 Yankees
Wilky pops up to Jeter. Inning over.
****Breaking News****
There have been no hamstring injuries for the Yankees yet today. I’ll keep you updated as the game progresses.
Top of the fifth: Doug M. flies out to center.
Nieves strikes out yet again. I’m starting to long for the days of Kelly Stinnett. I don’t want to do that.
Melky lines one out to right for the final out.
Bottom of the fifth: Kata flies out to left.
YES just flashed Moose’s strike-ball ratio. Its very good. This start is encouraging. Stewart pops out to Jeter.
Lofton flies out to Melky to complete a 1-2-3 inning.
Top of the sixth: The Yankees need to start scoring more runs. I don’t think the final score will be 2-1 for some reason. Good start as Jeter singles up the middle and extends his hit streak to 20 games.
Abreu hits one to deep center for the first out.
A-Rod pops out to left. His slugging % is starting to drop a bit.
Damon pops out to second.
Bottom of the sixth: Bruney is in and he gets Young to fly out to Abreu.
Teixera skies a popup to short and Jeter makes the out.
Bruney beans Sosa in the head, it looks like, which causes the helmet to go flying. Ouch. Sosa is coming out of the game. And Torre is taking Bruney out for some unknown reason. I guess he hasn’t reached his quota for relievers in a double-header yet.
And Henn proceeds to walk Blalock. Well played, Joe. Now you have Kinsler facing Henn from the right side with men in scoring position. Bring in the hard-throwing Bruney….oh wait.
Well, Henn gets the job done but now Bruney is out in a one-run game. Which means Proctor will likely get no rest today.
Top of the seventh: Matsui leads off with a double. That run HAS to score.
Cano hits one deep to left and the out is made. Matsui tags and moves over to third with one out.
Tejeda is coming out of the game. Francisco in for Texas. For those who are without the privilege of YES, they just showed a shot of the ball girl down the right field line and she is pretty darn cute. Doug M. strikes out on a curve. Well, no sac fly for you.
Posada pinch hits for the hitless wonder. He will never last the full season if he keeps doing this. And ball four gets past the catcher and Matsui comes in to score. That’s HUGE.
Melky singles to center. Matsui goes to second.
Jeter singles to right-center and Posada scores. 4-1 Yankees.
Abreu grounds out to second to no ones surprise.
Bottom of the seventh: Proctor sighting in the bullpen. Shocker. Henn stays in to face the lefty Wilkerson and he walks him. Not a good idea. Joe comes out to take the ball from Henn. Proctor coming in to pitch. Kata grounds out to first and Wilkerson moves to second.
Laird hits one in the hole passed A-Rod and there are runners on the corners.
Lofton flies out to not so deep left and the runner tags but does not try on the power that is Matsui’s cannon.
Young is up and this makes me nervous. He flies one down the right field line out of play but there is no shot of the ballgirl. Damn. Young continues to foul balls off but none go down the right field line. Young is a souvenir machine. Finally, Young flies one to Abreu who makes the play and Proctor works out of trouble.
Top of the eighth: A-Rod leads off. I’d love to see him drive one to right center. I’m starting to get the feeling that he is pull happy again. Well he actually does hit one to right center but Lofton is under it for the out.
Wilson comes in to pitch for the Rangers. With a full count on him, Damon draws the walk. It would be nice to put up a few more runs and make Mo unnecessary in the ninth.
Matsui’s bat is hot, hot, hot as he drives a single to left. In fact, its hit so hard Damon can only go to second.
Cano knocks one back to Wilson on the mound who start the 1-6-3 double play. That’s a bummer.
Bottom of the eighth: Big inning here. The three run lead is nice but by no means comfortable. Farnsworth is in to pitch. If he can just throw strikes, he should do fine. Hmm, I take that back as Teixera homers to deep right. 4-2 Yankees
Farnsy gets the ol’ backwards K against Diaz.
Blalock swings at a breaking ball outside and flies out to center. Two down.
After an 0-2 pitch to Kinsler, Farnsworth’s left leg buckles and everyone holds their breath. But he’s fine. Kinsler flies out to Abreu on the run and Farnsworth holds the lead, thank God.
Top of the ninth: Maybe they can get that run back. And now the YES camera is showing a really cute girl sitting next to the Ranger’s mascot in the stands. Damn, I need to get down to Texas. Otsuka in to pitch for the Rangers. Doug M. grounds out to second. There goes his shot at a multi-homer game. Or a multi-hit game, for that matter.
Posada lines a double (his eighth) down the left field line. For all the criticism about Posada’s recent play behind the plate this year, he sure is making up for it with the bat.
Melky bounces one to Young at short who just beats him with the throw at first. A bang-bang play that really looked like Melky may have been safe.
Jeter lines one down the 3rd base line which goes off Blalock’s glove and into left field and scores Posada from second. Jeter pulls in to 2nd with a double since it was a hard shot to Blalock’s right side. His bat is smokin’.
Abreu strikes out looking. He is lost.
Bottom of the ninth: Get your brooms handy because Mo is coming in to close out the DH and series sweep. I really cherish every chance I get to see Mo pitch. I guess its because I know one day I won’t be able to. Kind of like that moment in the middle of my Junior year of college when I know there was only one more year left of complete irresponsibility and mayhem.
Damn those broken bat singles. Wilkerson just gets one past Cano and into center.
Double Damn! Kata lines one through the hole between short and third to put men on first and second. Why was Posada setting up outside?
Laird strikes out swinging on an outside cutter. I would think to a righty like Laird, going outside makes sense. But to leftys, I would try to jam them all. But who cares as Lofton grounds into a 4-6-3 double play to end the game!! Yankees win 5-2 for their tenth straight win in Arlington. Nice sweep. Lets hope they can carry this into the weekend.
Liveblog out.
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
5/2/2007 - New York Yankees (10-14) at Texas Ranger (10-16) - 8:05pm (Liveblog)
Andy Pettitte (1-1, 3.00) vs. Robinson Tejada (3-1, 3.82)
So after last night’s gut-punch, the Yanks do the only thing they can: try to keep winning. Andy had his worst game of the season Friday in a loss to the Red Sox, but hopefully he can rebound tonight and help the team win a second straight game. That’s how you get out of deficits, by winning one game at a time.
Forecast is for thunderstorms tonight, so they might not get this in. If they do, I’ll be back at 8.
The game’s in a rain delay, which is good because I had to leave for a bit. My mother got rear-ended and she needed me to drive her car to the car dealership for repair because she hurt her back.
=============================================
Since Larry’s away, I’ll post the news that game has been postponed. (SG)
Rain postpones Yanks-Rangers game
Traditional doubleheader scheduled to be played Thursday
ARLINGTON—Wednesday’s game between the New York Yankees and Texas Rangers at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington was postponed by rain. It will be made up as part of a doubleheader Thursday starting at 2:35 p.m. CT.
Wednesday’s scheduled pitchers—the Yankees’ Andy Pettitte (1-1) and the Rangers’ Robinson Tejeda (3-1)—remain set to start the opener of the twinbill. New York’s Mike Mussina (0-1) will oppose Texas right-hander Kevin Millwood (2-3) in the nightcap.
Sunday, April 29, 2007
4/29/2007 - Boston Red Sox (15-8) at New York Yankees (9-13) - 1:05pm (Liveblog)
Julian Tavarez (0-2, 8.36) vs. Chien-Ming Wang (0-1, 5.68)
Big game today. If the Yanks can win, they’re 4½ games out of first place and the seven game losing streak isn’t a killer. Lose, and they’re 6½ back, and while they can still come back, the deficit looks a lot less manageable.
Wang pitched better than his ERA on Tuesday, but on a 80-pitch limit, he had to leave the game with two runners on and never got the chance to work out of it. Mike Myers ensured that both of those runs scored, and Wang got a loss he didn’t really deserve.
The matchup his really heavily lopsided towards the Yankees today, but don’t expect a blowout. Tavarez gave up 6 runs in his last start, but 4 and 3 in his other two. He’s usually out of the game before things get too bad, and Boston’s better relievers are all rested for this game. The Yankees, with an off day tomorrow and only having used Bruney and Rivera for an inning each will be able to empty the bullpen, too.
Today’s the last game of April. That means, if A-Rod’s going to break Pujols’ record, he’ll have to do it today. Unfortunately, A-Rod’s got himself in a slump, 1-14 since his last homer, with just two walks, 4 strikeouts and no RBI.
I’ll be back at 1.
Pregame: Lineups from LoHud:
YANKEES
Damon CF
Jeter SS
Abreu RF
Rodriguez 3B
Giambi DH
Matsui LF
Posada C
Cano 2B
Mienkiewicz 1B
Wang RHP
RED SOX
Lugo SS
Youkilis 1B
Ortiz DH
Ramirez LF
Hinske RF
Lowell 3B
Varitek C
Crisp CF
Cora 2B
Tavarez RHP
Top of the First: Wang starts out the game by striking out Lugo on three pitches. He’s added a slider this spring, which gives me hope that he could start striking guys out again—which helps my confidence in him remaining a top starter.
Youkilis hits a ball to the warning track that Matsui jumps up and catches on the run. Good thing, too, because David Ortiz crushes the first pitch into the upper deck.
Believe it or not, of the three hitters in the middle of the lineup, Ortiz is the weakest against Wang. Ramirez has a career 1.919 OPS against him, and Hinske has a 1.897. Ortiz is “just” 1.516 now.
Ramirez hits it hard back up the middle and is retired at first for the final out. So Wang escapes without too much damage, but it’s 1-0 Sox.
Bottom of the First: Damon chops the ball right back to Tavarez and there’s one away.
Jeter hits a line drive but it’s right at Manny, and there are two down.
The Yankees’ lineup has hit Tavarez well in the past, but Boston’s lineup has hit Wang a little better. So that evens up the matchup right there. If the Yankees continue their offensive slump, they’re screwed today.
Abreu, who’s killed Tavarez, just continues on not hitting, bouning it back to the mound and the Yanks go down meekly.
Top of the Second: Hinske grounds out to second on a broken bat, and he’s gone. That drops his career OPS against Wang to a mere 1.788.
Lowell ground out to A-Rod, and except for that one pitch to Ortiz, Wang is doing his thing.
And Varitek chops it right back to the mound for the third out. Only four hitters in Boston’s lineup have hit Wang in their career, Youkilis and the other three I mentioned. The rest of the lineup has a .223/.290/.263 line against him, compared to the .525/.606/.949 line of the other four. If Wang can navigate around those four, he’ll be fine today.
Yanks gotta hit Tavarez, though.
Bottom of the Second: Flaherty points out in the booth that A-Rod is trying to pull everything, probably because he was hitting so well he wants to keep it going. Heh. So that old Yogi comment about Mattingly is true—he hit himself into a slump.
He hits himself into a grounder to second to start the inning, and he’s now 1-15.
Giambi grounds it into right, and Cora throws him out easily at first. Two down.
You ever notice that when the Yankees face a crappy pitcher, they either bomb him or get completely shut down? Well, they ain’t bombing him so far…
Matsui goes after 3-1 pitch and grounds out to second, and the Yanks look terrible.
Top of the Third: Coco Crisp hits it into the right-centerfield gap, and it goes to the wall. For some reason, Abreu backs off and lets Damon gets it, and Coco Crisp obviously gets a triple.
A grounder to short scores the run.
Lugo singles to center.
Youkilis lines it up the middle, and now Wang’s in trouble. Lugo goes to third, and here comes Ortiz with one out and two on.
HOLY SHIT! Ortiz nubs it in front of the plate and Posada fires it to first to retire Ortiz. Lugo runs down the line to try and score, and Mientkiewicz throws it to Wang who tags Lugo out sliding into home plate! Double play, Yanks out of the inning! What a choker that fat troll is!
Bottom of the Third: Posada falls behind 0-2, but works out a walk for the Yankees’ first baserunner.
And he walks Cano on four pitches, so you know he’s lost the plate.
Mientkiewicz tries to bunt, but Tavarez throws two pitches low and inside—the second one gets past Varitek, which takes off the bunt, and allows Mientkiewicz to swing.
MIENTKIEWICZ HITS A MOTHERFUCKING HOME RUN! HOLY SHIT!!! HOOOOOOO-LEEEEEEEEE SHIT! 3-2 YANKS!
Damon flies out to center for the first out. Or as Kay calls it, “deep center”. In other words, 20 feet in front of the warning track.
Jeter strikes out on a slider away, and looks pretty bad doing it.
Abreu ends the inning with a flyout to Ramirez. So Doug Mientkiewicz is outhitting the entire Yankees team today. They should play with their dicks hanging out to prove they’re still men.
Top of the Fourth: Manny starts off the innings with a line drive single to center, and here comes the last of the terrifying four, Hinske.
Hinske hits into an unorthodox double play, grounding over to Cano, who throws it over Manny’s head, and then Mientkiewicz chases him to second for the second out.
Lowell walks on four pitches.
Varitek pops out to Matsui to end the inning, and while Wang isn’t his sharpest today, he’s getting it done. A-Rod leads off the fourth, let’s see if his dick is hanging out.
Bottom of the Fourth: On the first pitch he chops it off of Lugo’s glove for a base hit. Hopefully that’ll wake up his bat, and maybe start another rally here.
Giambi rips it into right for another base hit.
Matsui kills the rally by reverting to Groundzilla, hitting it to second and getting just barely thrown out at first. Well, maybe. They called him out, at least.
Posada strikes out to end the inning, and a good opportunity is wasted.
Top of the Fifth: Crisp, trying to bunt for a hit, instead gets hit in the foot and gets first base anyway.
Alex Cora makes Wang pay, ripping it over the rightcenterfield wall, and it’s 4-3 Boston.
Lugo grounds to A-Rod for the first out.
Youkilis walks. DANGER, DANGER, DANGER!
Ortiz hits into another double play! Goodness me oh my!
Bottom of the Fifth: Uh, guys, it’s Julian Tavarez out there. Wake up!
Cano chops out to third, one down.
Mientkiewicz chops it down the line, Tavrez fields it in front of the bag and takes out his legs, but Tavarez tags him as he’s going down. Kevin Youkilis decides to be a little bitch and complain to Mientkiewicz, because apparently you should just not try to get on base.
Damon grounds out to little bitch, and the Yankees are just terrible today.
Top of the Sixth: Ramirez rips it into right-center, but Abreu chases it down and snares it on the warning track before running into the wall. For someone often described as wall-shy, that was a nice play.
Hinske has owned Wang in the past, but so far today he’s been shut down. Wang’s actually been pretty solid against the tough part of the lineup, but it’s been Crisp and Cora who’ve killed him.
Lowell walks with two outs.
On a 1-2 the ball gets past Posada, and a base hit will score a fifth run.
Varitek pops it up to shallow center, but it stays up just a little too long to get down, and Damon chases it down to end the inning.
Bottom of the Sixth: Tavarez is still in there, which I don’t know if is a good or bad thing. The Yanks SHOULD be hitting him, but they aren’t. Jeter grounds out to short, but Lugo throws it past Little Bitch, and Jeter’s on with the tying run.
Okajima comes in, and I don’t think THAT’S a good thing, especially with the slump Abreu’s in. Hopefully he can work a walk, or at least not ground into a double play.
Bobby tries to bunt, but bunts foul. He tries again, but the pitch is away and he pulls back. A third bunt attempt rolls foul, and now there will be no bunt. And he takes strike three looking. He’s 0 for his last 19, and it’s getting to the point where he shouldn’t be batting third. Well, it’s probably past that point.
A-Rod rips it past Lugo for the second time, and the Yanks have a rally going again.
On a full count Giambi swings through a pitch over the plate, and there are two down.
Matsui chops it out the mound, and that’s the inning. Maybe they should fire Torre after all. Just so he doesn’t have to watch this shit.
Top of the Seventh: Proctor comes into the game to replace Wang, because it’s not a game unless Proctor gets into it. He gets Crisp to pop out to left for out number one.
Cora rips another one, this time off the top of the wall and he’s into third with a triple.
Lugo flies out to right and the throw is offline, so Boston leads 5-3.
Little Bitch grounds out to short, and the inning is over. But the Yanks, they be in big, big trouble. And it’s entirely their own fault.
Bottom of the Seventh: Okajima stays in. It’s irritating that a guy who wasn’t that good in Japan is dominating in the U.S., though I guess that should end eventually.
Posada strikes out swinging on three pitches.
Papelbon is getting up in the bullpen for two innings of work, so as Cano grounds out to Little Bitch, this game is just about over.
Phelps pinch-hits for Mientkiewicz. Kay says that this isn’t necessarily the right move because Okajima can get righties out, totally ignoring that, even considering the homer earlier, Mientkiewicz sucks ass.
Phelps strikes out swinging, and that’s it for this game.
Top of the Eighth: Henn comes in to face Ortiz. Nice that Torre always finds a way to use as many pitchers as possible.
Ortiz raps a single to center to start the inning.
Ramirez homers.
Well, the Yanks really shit the bed today. I’ve gotta get ready for work, and that’s all I’m doing for this game today. Later, everyone.
Saturday, April 28, 2007
4/28/07 - Boston Red Sox (15-7) at New York Yankees (8-13) - 3:55pm (Liveblog) FOX
T. Wakefield (2-2) vs J. Karstens (0-1)
Lineups once again courtesy of Pete Abraham at LoHud:
YANKEES
Johnny Damon DH
Derek Jeter SS
Bobby Abreu RF
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Jason Giambi 1B
Hideki Matsui LF
Jorge Posada C
Robinson Cano 2B
Melky Cabrera CF
Jeff Karstens RHP
RED SOX
Julio Lugo SS
Kevin Youkilis 1B
David Ortiz DH
Manny Ramirez LF
J.D. Drew RF
Mike Lowell 3B
Coco Crisp CF
Doug Mirabeli C
Dustin Pedroia 2B
Tim Wakefield RHP
Doug M. out; Giambi in at first.
Be back for the first pitch in a few.
Pre-game chatter: They need a win in the worst way.
Derek Jeter has a .825 OPS against Wakefield in 81 AB. A-Rod has 5 HR in 63 AB against Wakefield.
Top of the first: Dear Lord, please guide Karstens’ arm to victory today. Somehow. Instead he takes one off the knee on a liner from Lugo. Why must Thee mock me? Karstens stays in the game with Lugo on first base since Jeff couldn’t make the play after getting hit. I doubt Karstens goes more than 4 or 5 innings today given the circumstances now.
Youkilis rips a single to left and Lugo moves up to second. Lugo was running on the pitch but the ball was hit hard enough to Matsui to keep him from going to third. Torre is now taking out Karstens and bringing in Igawa. Igawa will get all the time he needs to warm up now. Poor Karstens. He was obviously having problems after getting hit.
And Igawa gets the 4-6-3 double play. Lugo moves to third. Nice.
The count is even against Manny at 2-2. An out here would be tremendous. But Manny walks on a 3-2 curve in the dirt. Better than letting the Yankee killer do his thing, I guess.
If Igawa can keep his pitches down, particularly to righties, he could have a good day. AND HE STRIKES OUT DREW to end the inning. Joe Cool it is.
Bottom of the first: They have Yogi reading off the Yankee lineup on FOX. Pedroia read off the Red Sox lineup last inning. Pretty even I guess.
Damon pops out to Lugo at short. One Down.
Jeter grounds one to Lowell who oles it and the ball goes off his glove. Jeter makes it to first without a throw. Jeter then proceeds to steal second.
The slumping Abreu walks which brings up the king of April. No more boos from the crowd. The count runs full. Getting Wakefield’s pitch count up means nothing. He could throw 200 pitches if needed. And he strikes out A-Rod. The runners were going and Jeter is gunned out at third. Blah. Jeter was out by a mile which is truly amazing given the knuckleball. Inning over.
Top of the second: Lets see if Igawa can keep the magic going. And he gets Lowell to fly out to Abreu. One down.
Coco Chanel grounds out to A-Rod. Two down.
Mirabelli is apparently trying to kill A-Rod as he lets go of his bat on a swing and a miss. The bat lands right where A-Rod was playing as he runs out of the way. 1-1 count. After two nice outs, Igawa walks Mirabelli.
Pedroia digs in. Hey, stand up, Dustin! And Igawa strikes him out swinging on a fastball. Inning over. Joe Cool continues to look…..cool.
Bottom of the second: Giambi steps in and on a 3-2 pitch he grounds to Youkilis who tosses to Wakefield at first for the out.
Matsui digs in and plunks a single into left center. I’ll take it.
With Posada up, Matsui steals second on the knuckleballer. But it doesn’t matter much since Posada walks on the next pitch.
On a 1-0 pitch, the ball gets away from Mirabelli and the runners move up. Lookin’ good. Perhaps the Sox would like Josh Bard back. Cano strikes out on a bad swing at a nasty knuckleball. 2 gone.
Melky hits it well but its right at Drew in right. This team can’t catch a break.
Top of the third: Igawa strikes out Lugo swinging at a fastball to start the inning.
Youkilis walks on a 3-1 pitch up high. Not good with Ortiz and Manny coming up.
But Ortiz hits into his second 4-6-3 double play of the game. Inning over. Joe Cool on.
Bottom of the third: Yankees need to start scoring runs while their pitching is holding up. Damon walks to start the inning. I will assume he’ll be running at some point. Wakefield seems to think so as he throws over to first.
Jeter lines a single to left and there are runners on first and second. I like what I see. With that hit Jeter extends his hit streak to 16 games.
Abreu bunts one foul on the first pitch. Why? Now he’s in the hole 0-2 as he swings and misses at pitch 2. Abreu then hits into the 6-3 double play. He absolutely sucks right now. But nobody is booing him.
A-Rod hits it hard to left but Manny tracks it down for the final out. Son of a bitch. I thought that was at least a double the way it jumped off the bat.
Top of the fourth: Igawa is really keeping the ball low. If he can do that and control his curve he might find himself back in the rotation. Of course as I say this, he throws one WAY over Posada’s head. With a full count (after being 0-2) he STRIKES OUT MANNY SWINGING on a pitch down and in.
And he strikes out Drew swinging!!! I like this Igawa. Where’d he come from?
Lowell breaks up the perfect inning by hitting a double into the gap in left center.
Posada lets yet ANOTHER ball go through his legs and Lowell moves to third. Doesn’t matter as Crisp pops up to Cano behind first base. Glad Cano made the play because Giambi looked confused going for the ball.
Bottom of the fourth: Giambi leads off by skying one to Coco Crisp in center.
I hate these interviews with the managers during the game. They always manage to miss a pitch. Wakefield walks Matsui and I’m not sure what the count was since they were chatting it up with Terry.
And Posada drills one DEEP to right and its GONE! Yankees lead 2-0! It was a dancing knuckleball that came in on Posada. He somehow got good wood on it.
Cano follows up by flying out to Crisp in left center.
Melky pops out to Crisp in shallow center to end the inning. But the Yankees have broken through. Can Joe Cool keep the Red Sox on ice? Stay tuned.
Top of the fifth: I just noticed that Igawa is pitching from the stretch. How long has that been going on? Who cares as he strikes out Mirabelli to start the fifth.
Pedroia flies out to center for out #2.
Igawa’s control seems to be lacking as he faces Lugo. But he gets the wife-beater to line out to Cano. 1-2-3 inning for his coolness.
Bottom of the fifth: Top of the order up to bat. Damon lines a single to right for his first hit of the day. Sweetness.
Jeter grounds one to Lowell AGAIN, who bobbles it AGAIN, and everyone is safe. The Yankees need to jump all over Wakefield now and take advantage.
Abreu, for some inexplicable reason, bunts to Wakefield who gets the force at third base. What a waste of an AB. I want to hurt him.
Someone needs to take Abreu aside and explain that what he’s doing won’t help anyone.
A-Rod strikes out swinging for out #2 in the inning. I’m still steaming about the Abreu bunt.
Giambi walks to load the bases and Matsui come to the plate.
Matsui hits it well but right at Coco in Crisp for the last out. That inning was completely wasted by the Yankees. And it all started with the retarded decision by Abreu to bunt. If they lose this game, Abreu should be horsewhipped.
Top of the sixth: Youkilis pops up to shallow right for out #1. Now on to the big two.
Ortiz pops out to Giambi as he hangs over the rail in foul territory to make the catch. Igawa has REALLY done the job today, regardless of what happens from here on out. He’s kept the ball low and although his control hasn’t been spot on, he’s made pitches when he’s really needed to.
But he issues a 4-pitch walk to Manny. Not ideal but better than most outcomes likely from Manny. However it brings the tying run to the plate.
Drew grounds out to first for the final out. Igawa should get a medal for this performance.
Bottom of the sixth: Posada leads off and works a 3-2 count. And he walks. Well done Jorge.
Cano hasn’t looked very comfortable at the plate lately. I hope he catches fire soon. But he taps one to Wakefield who bobbles the ball and has to go to first for the sure out. Posada on to second.
Melky hits a duckfart down the left field line which drops in fair territory and then goes into the stands. Posada scores and Melky goes to second with a grounds rule double. 3-0 Yankees.
Donnelly comes in to replace Wakefield and gets Damon to pop up for out #2.
Jeter bounced one up the middle and Lugo fields BUT BOBBLES IT and Jeter beats the throw at first!!! Melky moves to second. All the breaks are going their way now.
The bunter is up. And the bunter walks which loads the bases for A-Rod. SET THE RECORD!!!
A-Rod pops out to Lugo in shallow left to end the inning. Donnelly probably put some foreign substance on the ball…. Yanks lead 3-0 after 6.
Top of the seventh: Cy Igawa is still in the game. Lowell bounces one to the left side and it goes off A-Rod’s glove and into left. Its called an error. Blast.
Crisp lines one down the left field line and is almost interfered with by the ball boy. The umpire calls no interference and Crisp is held to a single. Crap. Igawa is taken out of the game to wild cheers from the fans at the Stadium. And rightly so. If he can pitch like that every fifth day, this team will have filled another hole in the rotation.
Bruney comes in to pitch in a very tense situation. For some reason, Mirabelli is still hitting even though Wakefield is out of the game. A double play would be just marvelous. Instead, Bruney blows a 95 mph fastball by him for strike three. 1 out.
Eric Hinske comes in to pinch hit for the midget. Hinske pops up in foul territory off third base and A-Rod makes the play for out #2.
Lugo grounds to Jeter who flips to Cano for the third out. Well done by Badass Bruney.
Bottom of the seventh: Romero in to deal to the Giambino. Jason walks to lead off the inning. And Doug M pinch runs for Giambi. I still think its too early for this. But whatev.
Matsui grounds to the pitcher who gets the force out at second but Matsui beats the throw to first. For some reason Youkilis tries the ol’ “fake like the ball got by you” trick. Matsui wasn’t even looking so that’s idiotic.
Posada goes down swinging for out number two on a pretty nasty curve.
Cano grounds one two inches in front of the plate and is thrown out by Mirabelli. His ABs are really starting to concern me.
Top of the eighth: Farnsworth in. Hold your breath. And Youkilis hits a single to left field. He might have been able to stretch it into a double but thought otherwise. I hate you Kyle.
Farnsworthlessness walks Ortiz and brings the tying run to the plate in the form of Manny. I really really hate you Kyle.
Manny caught looking. That is extremely shocking. I’m shocked.
Drew hits a slow one to Jeter and he tosses to Cano at second for the force. Runners on 1st and 2nd with 2 gone now.
Lowell hits a soft single to right and the Sox are on the board. 3-1 Yankees. Ugh.
Farnsworth strikes out Crisp looking. Crisp didn’t like it and throws his bat and helmet down. Froeming throws the chocolaty cereal man out of the game. I still hate you, Kyle. 3-1 Yankees.
Bottom of the eighth: Kyle Snyder in to pitch for the Red Sox. Melky flies out to center for the first out.
Damon strikes out swinging for the second out.
Jeter grounds one up the middle and Lugo fields it but can’t make the throw. Basehit.
Abreu flies out to Manny to end the inning and his struggles at the plate continue. Oh where have you gone Bobby?
Sandman time…..hopefully.
Top of the ninth: Rivera in to close. This would certainly mean a step in the right direction in many respects if he can get the job done. I see no reason why he can’t, other than a hidden injury he’s not telling anybody about.
Rivera deals to Varitek and the count is now 1-1. He’s hitting 94 mph on the FOX gun. Varitek breaks his bat hitting a bloop single to right. Sweet merciful crap, this isn’t going to be easy.
As Mo deals to Cora I notice that he’s not hitting his spots so far. But the velocity is up. Cora taps a bouncer to Mo who throws to second for the fielder’s choice. But Cora makes it to first without a throw.
Lugo hits a slow grounder that A-Rod has to charge. He makes a gorgeous throw to get Lugo. Varitek to second with two out.
Youkilis pops it up to end the seven game losing streak!!!
I’m not quite sure what this feeling is. But it feels good. Lets hope it continues….
Liveblog out!
Friday, April 27, 2007
4/27/07 - Boston Red Sox (14-7) at New York Yankees (8-12) - 7:05 pm (Liveblog)
D. Matsuzaka (2-2) vs A. Pettitte (1-0)
Here are the lineups courtesy of Pete Abraham:
YANKEES
Damon CF
Jeter SS
Abreu RF
Rodriguez 3B
Giambi DH
Matsui LF
Posada C
Cano 2B
Mientkiewicz 1B
Pettitte LHP
RED SOX
Lugo SS
Youkilis 1B
Ortiz DH
Ramirez LF
Drew RF
Lowell 3B
Varitek C
Crisp CF
Pedroia 2B
Matsuzaka RHP
I’ll be back shortly before the first pitch.
Hey all. Cornelius “Cutter” Tootsburger here tonight for your Liveblogging pleasure. Actually, that’s not my real name, although I kinda wish it was. You can call me Jonathan, since that’s what my mother’s been calling me for 26 years. If you search the RLYW member list you won’t find me. I’m a ghost. I’m the Kamino of the RLYW archives. (If you understand this reference you are a total nerd.)
When I’m not trying to rid the world of maritime oil spills by creating a rubber bladder system for oil tankers, I attend law school classes.
But enough about me. Who cares about me? I don’t even care about me. I care about the Yankees and providing a quality Liveblog tonight. Larry told me not to suck. If I do, keep your mouths shut.
The Yankees are riding a 6-game losing streak and are in last place in the AL East. It’s hard to pin a game in April as a “must win,” but this one comes close, especially with Karstens going up against Beckett tomorrow.
So away we go. I’ll try to keep the non sequiturs to a minimum.
(Disclaimer: The previous sentence does not constitute a binding contract. The writer can not guarantee the validity of any promises made in this thread. Purple monkey dishwasher.)
The game is on my9 tonight with a postgame on YES.
Pre-game: Its only April but A-Rod is leading the AL Triple Crown race (.378 BA (1st), 14 HR (1st), 34 RBI (1st)). The only player even close is Vlad and he’s 8 HR back!
The Red Sox have a .843 OPS at friendly Fenway but only a .691 OPS on the road. And their OBP split is .376/.321.
Top of the first: Lugo leads off and takes a strike. Lugo takes strike two on the outside corner. Lugo chops one to Jeter who gets it to Doug M in time for the out.
Pettitte starts out 3-0 to Youk. Well my9 was wrong. It was a 2-1 count which went to 3-1 and then a walk.
Ortiz steps up. Strike one, Ortiz taking the fastball all the way. 0-2 as he takes the second pitch. Flaherty mentions all Pettitte’s strikeouts have been to right handed batters this year. STRIKE THREE, Pettitte gets Ortiz swinging on a cutter down and away.
Andy starts Manny out with 2 balls. Manny lines a 3-1 pitch up the middle and there are men on 1st and second with 2 down. Manny seems to kill the Yankees no matter how much he’s slumping.
Drew hits a grounder to Doug M. who plays it off his chest and takes the out at first himself. A bit rocky but the results are good.
Bottom of the second: Damon leads off for the Yankees against the dreaded Dice-K while my9 shows Schilling chomping on sunflower seeds in the Sox dugout. Damon strikes out looking on a suspicious strike three call. Looked inside and Damon thought so too.
Jeter lines a single to center. Looks like he’s back to form.
Abreu in the hole 1-2. Seems to be a low strike zone tonight. Abreu strikes out swinging on a changeup.
A-Rod dinks a grounder to third. Lowell catches it bare-handed and just gets the future Triple Crown winner at first.
Top of the second: Pettitte falls behind to Lowell 2-0 but gets him to ground out to Jeter.
Andy falls behind 3-1 to the lesser Captain. They’re showing the 4 HR from in a row from last weekend for some reason. Boo. Strike three swinging; Pettitte’s 2nd in as many innings.
Crisp digs in. Damon’s upgrade grounds a single past Jeter in the hole.
Pedroia swings for the fences and softly lines one out to Abreu. Nice bat flip. Inning over.
Bottom of the second: And Kay brings up the bloody sock. My question: why wasn’t the scar properly dressed?
Giambi slices one to left for a single.
MATSUI vs. MATSUZAKA: The SHOWDOWN! Who will survive? Matsui flies one out to Crisp. 1 out.
So far it seems that Diasuke has been throwing a lot of off speed stuff. Posada hits a hard liner to dead center but Crisp is able to make the out.
Cano in the hole already 0-2. And Cano strikes out on a ball in his eyes. That’s happening far too much this year.
Top of the third: Pettitte starts out 1-1 to Lugo who hits the 3rd pitch to right for a single.
Pettitte misses high to Youkilis on the first two pitches and Posada goes out for a talk. Pettitte misses high again and its 3-0. Not good. Youkilis hits a 3-1 pitch into the left field seats. Even more not good. 2-0 Sox.
Ortiz grounds out to Cano who was playing deep. 1 out, thank God.
Manny hits a soft grounder to Jeter who throws him out. 2 outs, thank God.
Drew hits a fly ball to right field. Since its nowhere near a wall, its an easy out for Abreu.
Bottom of the third: Yankees are now 21 outs away from extending the losing streak to 7.
Mientkiewicz strikes out looking on 3 straight pitches. I’m pretty sure they would rename the ‘Mendoza line’ the ‘Mientkiewicz line’ if it wasn’t such a bitch to say.
Doug M. has some words for the home ump. Seeing as he never hits anyway, he should just shutup.
Damon works the count full on Dice-K. And he works a walk.
Jeter takes the first two pitches and its 2-0. He taps one to Lugo who juggles it like a hot potato and everyone’s safe.
Abreu has been striking out too much lately, it seems. Lets hope he reverses that trend here. He does, but its much worse as he grounds one to Lugo who takes the out at second himself and then fires to first for the double play. Ouch.
After 3 innings, Red Sox 2, Yankees 0.
Pitch counts:
Pettitte: 56
Matsuzaka: 42
Top of the fourth: Lowell flies out to Damon to start the inning.
Pettitte gets Varitek swinging on one in the dirt. 2 outs.
Crisp strikes out looking to end a 1-2-3 inning. Good job by Pettitte to get Daisuke back out there quick.
Bottom of the fourth: A-Rod leads off. Prepare for launch? Nope, but he works a 3-2 count into a leadoff walk. Good start.
Giambi walks on 4 straight balls. Dice-K throwing a bunch of breaking pitches in the dirt.
I would pay good money to see Matsui go deep here. However, he doesn’t look that comfortable against Dice-K. 2-2 count as Matsui fouls a few off. At least he’s really making Matsuzaka work as the count goes full. BALL FOUR! Bases loaded, folks.
Posada digs in. I’m all tingly. Posada gets jammed but manages to dunk it in front of Manny! A-Rod scores and all the runners move up one. Hooray! 2-1 Sox.
Cano looks terrible as he swings through strike two. Ugh. 1-2 count. And, not surprisingly, Cano strikes out on ball three.
Oh look who it is. A double play just waiting to happen. Yet, he spares us with a high popup in the middle of the diamond. Man, he sucks.
Damon works the count full with the bases loaded. This is tense. Holy shnikees, Damon kind of check swings at the pitch and singles to right!!! Two runs score and the Yankees take the lead!!! Runners on the corners now as Jeter steps in.
Jeter slaps one through the hole on the right side and drives in another run! Drew bobbles it in right and Damon makes it to third. 4-2 Yankees. Woohoo!
Abreu’s woeful hitting continues as he pops out to short left. But the Yanks take the lead in the inning.
3 good things happened in that inning: the Yankees took the lead, Matsuzaka’s pitch count skyrocketed, and RLYW registered its 200th member. I’ll leave you to decide which was most important.
Top of the fifth: Pettitte deals to Pedroia for strike one. On the second pitch, shorty tries to bunt but it goes foul. Go ahead, do it again. Instead he flies out to Abreu in right. 1 out.
The count goes to 1-2 on Lugo who fouls one out of play to the right side. The count evens up at 2-2 with a cutter inside. With a full count the ump screws over Pettitte on a borderline pitch and Lugo walks.
Lugo steals second and a not so hard hit ball goes under Jeter’s diving glove in the hole. Lugo advances to third. Crap.
Ortiz singles a line drive up the middle and Lugo scores. 4-3 Yankees. Double crap.
Pettitte goes 3-0 to Manny. This is getting worse by the second. Even worser as he walks Manny and the bases are loaded with only 1 out.
Pettitte strikes out Drew on a slider low and outside. Phew. Still not out of it though.
Nutty fudgekins, Pettitte throws 3 straight balls to Lowell. ITS LOWELL! Unbelievable. He walks him and the score is tied. That’s what you get for falling behind 3-0. And because of that, Proctor begins to throw. Paging Dr. Andrews…..
And on a pitch to Variteck, the ball gets between Posada’s legs and goes far enough to allow Ortiz to score. You have to be kidding me. How many times has that happened this year already? Sox lead 5-4. And Pettitte walks Varitek which means the bases are loaded. And Joe comes out to take the ball. Great. Proctor in. I need a beer.
Proctor gets Crisp to fly out to center. Horrendous inning. Sox lead 5-4.
Bottom of the fifth Well the Yankees find themselves behind again but at least Daisuke’s pitch count is at 83 already.
A-Rod steps in and takes strike 1. After fouling off the second pitch A-Rod takes a pitch low and away. Count at 1-2. Dice-K throws a 59-footer and its 2-2. Another pitch way outside and short and its full. A-Rod CLEARLY checks his swing but Fleming Froemming at first punches him out. Jerk.
Giambi grounds out to Lugo who is really playing second base because of the shift. Two gone.
Matsui flies out to Crisp and the Yankees go down 1-2-3. Fantastic job by the 4-5-6 guys.
Top of the sixth: Proctor still in and gets Crisp to ground out to Jeter.
Lugo hits one out of the park. 6-4 Sox. Urge to kill rising. Proctor left that one up for him.
On a foul ball from Youkilis that reaches the seats, Doug M. falls into the camera well trying to make a play. He may suck at the plate but at least he gives it his all on defense. The count goes full and Proctor gets Youkilis to fly out to Damon in right center.
With Ortiz coming up, Torre takes the ball from Proctor and gives it to Sean Henn. Apparently he doesn’t trust Myers in this spot anymore. Also, Henn pitched yesterday so Torre figures he’s rested.
The count goes full on Ortiz and he walks him. Eh, better than giving up a dinger.
But now he must face Captain Jack Sparrow, er, Manny Ramirez. I’m not sure how accurate the stadium gun is but last night Henn was hitting 95. After getting ahead 0-2, the count goes full as yours truly tries to stay awake. But I’m abruptly awoken by Henn striking out Manny swinging. 6-4 Sox.
Bottom of the sixth: Posada grounds out to first as the Yankees inch closer to a 7 game losing streak.
Dice-K’s pitch count is up to 109 as Cano fouls a few off. His control seems to be suffering a bit in these later innings as the count runs full. And Cano gets the hat trick, striking out for the third time; this time looking. The bottom of the order sucks.
Speaking of sucking, Doug M. steps in. I think the only way for him to contribute would be to bull rush the mound and tackle Dice-K. that would accomplish two things: Mientkiewicz would get thrown out and Mientkiewicz would no longer be in the game. Instead, he ground out softly to first.
Top of the seventh: Henn gets Drew to ground out to second. Henn has been pretty valuable to this team so far.
And Henn strikes out Lowell which is something Pettitte should have done two innings ago if he wasn’t gassed.
Varitek pops up to Posada and Henn has a 1-2-3 inning. Sweet. If the Yankees weren’t on the verge of a 7 game losing streak I’d be thrilled.
Bottom of the seventh: If the Yankees are going to make a comeback, now would be the best time with Matsuzaka out and the top of the order coming up. Timlin in to start the seventh for the Red Sox.
Damon grounds out to Timlin for out number one. Not a good start.
Jeter drops a bloop single in front of Drew in right. Bloop and a blast, anyone? Apparently Abreu has other plans as he shows bunt. WTF…. Abreu strikes out swinging. Yeesh, he sucks right now.
The man, the legend, Alex Rodriguez steps in. A-Rod grounds to Lowell who goes the short way to get the out at second. This blows.
Top of the eighth: L-Viz on for the eighth. Crisp tries to bunt his way on but Posada guns him out. One down.
Pedroia lines a double into the corner in left. It would be sweet to see a Yankee double at some point.
Lugo lines a double past a diving A-Rod and Pedroia scores. I hate you, L-Viz. 7-4 Sox.
Youkilis hits a sky-high popup to Damon in center. Two down.
Ortiz walks after the count runs full. But wait, that’s not all! Lugo steals third on the pitch! And it doesn’t seem like anyone gives a damn.
Manny lines out to center and the inning is over. Red Sox lead 7-4. I feel like breaking something.
Bottom of the eighth: Okajima in to pitch for Boston. The left-hander has done well against the Yankees so far this season. But he starts out Giambi 2-0. Giambi miraculously lines a single through the shift. Prolonging the agony?
Matsui lines the first pitch on the ground to Okajima who struggles with it but recovers to make the out at first. Giambi on to second.
Okajima seems to have a decent curve but has missed with it so far and falls behind 2-0 to Posada. Okajima gets Posada to strike out on a slow curve down and in. Two down.
Cano continues to not contribute by flying out to center. Its getting hard to watch this team without projectile vomiting.
Top of the ninth: Hey, who’s the guy on the mound? Its Mo! I forgot he still played for the Yankees. Drew leads off. On a 1-2 pitch, Mo gets the backwards K with Drew down looking. One out.
The rest must have done Mo some good because his cutter looks like it has more life than the last time we saw it. But I spoke to soon as Lowell slaps a single to right.
Oh balls, Varitek singles right up the middle over Mo’s head. Lowell moves to second.
And now Crisp singles to right center and Lowell scores with Varitek moving to third. Nothing, and I mean ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, is working for the Yankees right now. This is as bad as it gets, people.
Crisp steals second and the Yankees bring the infield in for some reason. On a 3-2 pitch, Mo walks Pedroia. Yes, you read that correctly. This is UNWATCHABLE. Torre gives Mo the hook. That’s something you rarely see. But then again, so is a 7-game losing streak from a $200 million dollar team.
Myers in. Hmm, Joe must want to see another Grand Slam. After getting ahead 0-2 on Lugo, the count goes full. And Myers walks in another run. Now its downright embarrassing. Utterly unwatchable and embarrassing. 9-4 Red Sox.
Youkilis grounds out to second and another run scores. 10-4 Sox. Shoot my face.
Ortiz steps in. This should be good. The great one lines a single to right and another run scores. 11-4 Sox with runners on the corners. The horror.
FINALLY, Manny grounds into the fielder’s choice. Ortiz out at second. Its one thing for this team to be struggling. Its quite another thing for them to be sucking entirely. Last place and it shows.
Bottom of the ninth: Why bother?
Ha, Doug M. thought the same thing and struck out looking on 3 pitches. This is really becoming one big sick joke from top to bottom.
Melky walks.
Why is Jeter batting? He lines out to center. One out away from officially ending one of the worst games I’ve ever seen from this team.
Abreu continues his great hitting by dinking a grounder to Piniero who throws him out at first for the final out. Sox win 11-4.
Make it stop! Make it stop!!!
I have no idea where this team is heading. Something has to happen because they look absolutely lifeless right now. I think it was Fabian who said it before but if its not one thing, its another. Tonight it looked like everything went wrong. If by some miracle they can manage a win tomorrow with Karstens on the mound, maybe it will partially erase tonight’s nightmare. Otherwise, I may have to go into therapy, the kind with electrodes.
Liveblog over.
Thursday, April 26, 2007
4/26/07 - Toronto Blue Jays (10-10) at New York Yankees (8-11) - 7:05 pm (Liveblog) - Philip Hughes’ First Major League Start
With a 90% chance of rain, they might not get this game in tonight, but if they do, we’re going to try something a little different for this special event.
Nobody here knows Philip Hughes better than Fabian McNally, so he’ll be joining me for the liveblog. Other RLYW posters may also join in on the commentary, and hopefully you’ll join us too. It should be exciting.
Bottom of the First:
Larry Mahnken: Sorry I’m late, guys. I’ve been sick since my birthday and… I’m having issues. Anyway, Hughes doesn’t have an auspicious debut. Two runs in the first inning. Yikes. Fabian is having a problem with the game not being on TV. Apparently, this is the only time in the last three years that he hasn’t gotten “My 9” for a game. Tonight. Fabulous.
SG: MLB.tv is a real pain in the ass sometimes…
Top of the Second:
Larry Mahnken: So the top of the second goes much smoother for Hughes than the first, as he notches two Ks. OK, we should be going a little more smoothly now, everything’s finally in place. Hopefully the Yanks can wake up the offense. WTF is Mientkiewicz doing batting second?
Fabian McNally: Test.
SG: That inning worked out pretty well.
Fabian McNally: I’m here. 2 innings in, 3 phone calls to the phone company, and countless failed MLB.TV attempts later, I’m watching Phil Hughes’ debut. I’m just happy to be here.
Bottom of the Second:
Larry Mahnken: A-Rod leads off with a bloop single down the line. Flashbulbs going off all over the place.
Fabian McNally: Everything is going right for A-Rod right now, except the strikeouts, good job with the steal.
Larry Mahnken: After Giambi pops out foul, A-Rod takes things into his own hands and steals second. Hey, remember when this team had more than one offensive player?
Fabian McNally: I wonder what Hughes’ pitch count limit is?
Fabian McNally: To be fair, Larry, Jason has been pretty useful thus far and Hideki walks, he’s been useful in his small time I think, and Jorge is up next, useful as well. It’s Melky dragging us down. And Doug adfoiajewoaf
Larry Mahnken: Matsui walks on a full count, fighting back from 1-2. Good job by Matsui. I think a lot of people are discounting what Matsui can do for this team because he missed so much time last year. He’s definitely a streaky player, but while his glove is below Melky’s, his offensive upside is so much higher.
Larry Mahnken: Damn, Jorge chops into a DP to kill the rally after just missing a double.
Fabian McNally: Jorge ripped one just foul. It would have been nice if that dropped in. Instead, we get a 4-6-3 DP. More Phil!!!
Fabian McNally: I’m loving the HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGHES cheers. Hughes knows Lind from AA last year and gets him twice. Loving it!!!!
Top of the Third:
Larry Mahnken: Hughes has 40 pitches through two innings, and as Fabian wondered, he’s probably on a pitch count of some kind. I’d guess it’d be between 90-100, since he’s not injured or anything, but they don’t want to push the kid. That should get him through five, maybe six if he becomes really efficient. Hopefully that’s it for his runs allowed.
Larry Mahnken: Yikes, on a 2-0, Hughes gives up a monster shot to Rios that just goes foul. The next pitch is a flyout to deep center.
Larry Mahnken: Another strikeout for the kid! That’s four through three innings, with no walks yet. Despite the two runs, Hughes is looking great to me.
Fabian McNally: Wells pops it up to the LF stands. The wind is blowing really hard because everyone thought it was Matsui’s ball well into fair territory.
Fabian McNally: I might just be a Hughes fan boy, but I feel he’s getting a bit of a rookie strike zone as wells lines a 3-1 pitch to CF for a single. Even on Gameday, some of these balls have been within the strike zone.
SG: I agree with Fabian about the rookie strike zone. Hughes looks like he’s not getting the corners so far.
Larry Mahnken: Vernon Wells breaks Hughes’ consecutive outs steak with a single up the inning, and here’s Frank Thomas again. Let’s see how he approaches him this time.
Fabian McNally: Santana is better against right-handers, but whatever.
Larry Mahnken: A first pitch popout to center! I’m really impressed with this kid’s poise. He looks better out there to me than Igawa or even Pavano—poise-wise, not just stuff—and I think he’s pitching his way into the rotation right now.
Bottom of the Third:
Larry Mahnken: If the Yankees don’t get some hits off of Burnett, they’re going to ruin Hughes’ debut. Having Mientkiewicz and Cairo in the lineup doesn’t help. Especially with Mientkiewicz batting in front of Abreu and Rodriguez—WTF??? Cano strikes out. Not helping.
Larry Mahnken: Cairo pops out, and here’s Damon again. And if he gets on… that brings up Mientkiewicz. I seriously don’t get that decision AT ALL.
Larry Mahnken: Kay is under the impression that Johan Santana won the Cy Young Award in 2005.
SG: Why is Damon hitting 8th ahead of Mientkiewicz?
Larry Mahnken: Now he’s probably trying to figure out who actually won in 2005, because he paused a long time after seeing the graphic that Santana won in ‘04 and ‘06.
SG: Abreu’s hitting .381 with RISP this season. TEH CLUTCH!!!
Larry Mahnken: After Damon walks, Burnett apparently things that Mientkiewicz is Jeter, because he falls behind 3-1.
Fabian McNally: My comment about Santana being better against right-handers was this inning. Anyway, having to discuss a 3-1 pitch to Doug is a bad idea considering how spectacularly terrible a hitter he is. Making it worse, Burnett walks him on a curveball. Why he is trying to get fancy with Doug is beyond me.
Larry Mahnken: And he walks him on a curve in the dirt! Insane!
John Mileskey: Why would you throw one one of the worst hitters in the world a 3-1 breaking ball?
Fabian McNally: Hey, if Hughes isn’t going to get those calls, it’s only fair that Burnett doesn’t get them either. 3-2 to Bobby.
Larry Mahnken: Crap, Bobby Abreu wastes a 3-1 opportunity with a groundout to second.
SG: Burnett’s bitching about the strike zone now, and the ump isn’t happy about it. Not smart A.J. Not smart.
Fabian McNally: Bobby grounds out and more Hughes!!!
Larry Mahnken: This lineup is designed to get A-Rod lots of ABs leading off innings.
John Mileskey: Cashman should have traded for the Bobby Abreu who hits homers.
SG: If you’re wondering why Mientkiewicz is batting second, it’s because he has this line against Burnett: .429/.556/.571. How many AB? 7. Urgh.
Top of the Fourth:
Larry Mahnken: I think Fabian would take a Yankees loss just to see Hughes more.
Fabian McNally: Call me crazy, but the first pitch was called a strike and then it wasn’t. I don’t know.
Larry Mahnken: See, SG, that’s why you statheads don’t know anything! You nerdy nerds, telling Torre to bat Doug Mientkiewicz second over 7 ABs!
Fabian McNally: Aaron Hill is popped up for what looks like an out and then the wind pushes it to the stands. Awesome.
Larry Mahnken: Wow, My 9 just showed side-by-side pictures of Clemens and Hughes, and their throwing style is almost exactly the same. Hughes gives up his first walk to start the inning.
SG: Hughes at 66 pitches. I’d assume they’ll keep him under 100.
John Mileskey: That split screen was the greatest thing My9 has ever done.
Fabian McNally: 68 pitches for 10 outs, no good. We’re going to have to improve on that.
Larry Mahnken: As badly as Igawa got hit this week, I don’t know if I like starting Karstens over him on Saturday.
Larry Mahnken: A couple of groundouts and there are two outs with a runner on third.
John Mileskey: Hughes is done after this next inning. But that is ok, he has proved he can get major league hitters out. Arod and Giambi have to get it done this inning to take our boy off the hook for the L.
Fabian McNally: A-Rod is going to have to find a way to create 3 runs here to make sure Hughes gets the win in his debut.
Larry Mahnken: A popout to right ends the inning. 77 pitches through 4 for Hughes, which means that the fifth is probably his last inning. Hopefully the Yanks can put some runs on the board here and make his first start a win.
Fabian McNally: So close.
Bottom of the Fourth:
Larry Mahnken: A-Rod CRUSHES one to center, and to the shock and chagrin of everyone, it dies on the track and is caught by Wells. One out.
John Mileskey: If ARod was clutch he would have hit that ball harder. Clearly, he sucks.
Larry Mahnken: God DAMN it! Giambi bloops it down the left field line, but it way too slow to take advantage of the shift, and is thrown out at second.
John Mileskey: The Yankees have two shortstops capable of making that throw, one of the WAS STANDING RIGHT NEXT TO CAIRO WHEN HE LOBBED THAT BALL OVER THERE!
Fabian McNally: Jorge looked good against Burnett last time up, hopefully he can make something happen here.
Larry Mahnken: Burnett has 35 strikes and 35 balls tonight. And the Yanks have two singles. They’re letting him off the hook, to say the very least.
Larry Mahnken: And Jorge lets him off the hook again. Maybe they should just take every pitch.
SG: You know what’d be nice? Hughes pitches a scoreless fifth and the Yankees get five in the bottom of the fifth.
Top of the Fifth:
Larry Mahnken: Hey, you know what Hughes needs? To get robbed by the umps some more. The first base ump says that Mientkiewicz got pulled off the bag on a throw by Cairo, but the replay sure looked like that foot was on the bag.
Fabian McNally: Miguel Cairo’s “arm” doesn’t help out.
Fabian McNally: I promise you guys, Hughes is actually solid at holding runners. Jorge is just not having a good night back there. Single up the middle for the 3rd run. Crap.
Larry Mahnken: And that turns into a run, as McDonald steals second and scores on a single up the middle.
SG: What happened to Posada’s throwing this year? He’s been awful compared to last year.
John Mileskey: Did they not know hughes was 13 pitches away from 90 pitches? Why was no one warming?
Fabian McNally: Adam Lind having 2006 flashbacks.
Larry Mahnken: Seeing what’s happening to Hughes this inning, I’m thinking maybe the team babied him a bit too much. You don’t want him throwing 120 pitches, but if he can’t throw 90 pitches without getting worn out, you haven’t stretched him out enough.
Fabian McNally: It would be nice if Vernon Wells grounded into a DP here. Slaps it into CF and that’s probably it for Hughes. Yep, well, solid debut, IMO. I think he should stay up.
SG: Even though Hughes isn’t a flamethrower like Felix Hernandez, he seems to have the ability to get people to swing through his pitches. I think I like what I’ve seen tonight.
Larry Mahnken: A base hit to left center and that’s it for Hughes. This line is probably going to end up looking a lot worse than it really was. He’s given up three runs in 4.1 innings, and it could end up at 5. So BoSox fans will jump on that, but that’s because they didn’t pay attention to what actually happened tonight. Hughes should stay up. He’s not going to be giving up 4 homers in a row.
John Mileskey: Vernon Wells just texted me. “Im in ur houze and killing ur hughez!!!!”
Fabian McNally: I think Hughes acquitted himself well. He’s going to be a guy that needs the bullpen a bit, especially in the early going, but as far as stuff, he’s got better stuff than just about anyone else we have. Like Kay said, he did a good job. Solid debut.
Larry Mahnken: Hughes gave up 7 hits, but six of them were singles, and only one walk.
Larry Mahnken: Dear God, Posada can’t throw to save his life.
Fabian McNally: I have a meeting to attend, so best of luck to the Yanks and see you all later.
John Mileskey: Well, that was not cool. Hughes showed a little bit of what makes him the #1 pitching prospect in baseball, but just a little bit. Good enough to keep him up. Who thinks the Yanks should go to Tandem starters?
Top of the 7th:
SG: The Yankees are staring at their sixth straight loss now, after not losing more than four in a row at all last year. WTF?
SG: At some point, Joe Torre needs to stop playing the matchup game and burning through all his relievers. I think it is easier for pitchers to pitch longer outings less frequently than to pitch every other day, even if the stints are shorter.
SG: Toronto’s got the bases loaded against Scott Proctor, but he induces a fly ball to shallow center, shallow enough that Damon can’t even be tagged on. Unfortunately, Proctor follows up by bouncing a curve that lets the Jays score a run. 5-0 Jays, and this one’s slipping away.
SG: Proctor gets a fly out to LF, but the wild pitch prior allows it to be an RBI sac fly instead of a harmless fly out, and the Jays tack on another run and now lead 6-0. This team is really frustrating to watch right now. Shades of 2005.
SG: It’s too soon to be super meaningfull, but Aaron Hill’s off to a fine start this year. If last year’s defense was legit (right now he’s about average by zone rating), he’s a pretty good player.
Bottom of the 7th:
SG: It’ll be Posada, Cano, and Cairo to lead off the bottom of the seventh. B.J. Ryan’s out, but the Jays bullpen is still pretty solid, so they need to try and do some damage here. I have no idea if Ron Guidry is a good pitching coach or not, but he certainly seems more animated than Mel Stottlemyre was. You always see him talking to pitchers in the dugout between innings, much moreso than Mel. Posada falls behind quickly 1-2, then takes a hook for called strike three. So much for getting things started. Cano grounds the first pitch he sees out to second, and now if the Yankees are going to rally, it’s going to have to start with two outs and Miguel Cairo hitting. Yeah, and Wil Nieves is going to get a hit one of these days.
SG: Cairo makes some kind of out, but I blinked and missed it. To the 8th.
Top of the 8th:
SG: At some point, it’s not going to be early any more. Every game the Yankees fall behind now is a game they have to be better than Boston than going forward. This is frustrating. Mike Myers gets the top of the 8th rocking by giving up a leadoff single to Jason Smith.
He recovers to get Jason Phillips to ground out, with Smith advancing to second.
SG: Myers gets John McDonald to pop out to Mientkiewicz for the second out of the inning.
SG: Myers retires all the righties he sees, and gives up a hit to the only lefty. Inning over.
Bottom of the 8th:
SG: Burnett’s been relieved by Jeremy Accardo, who I believe came over for Shea Hillenbrand.
SG: Damon flies out to RF, shy of the warning track for the first out of the inning.
Mientkiewicz does what he excels at, and makes another out. Two down, and I’m about to turn this crapfest off.
SG: Abreu made an out I think, I missed it. To the ninth.
Top of the 9th:
SG: Myers remains in to mop out the rest of this game. I agree with this. No sense using anyone else in a game that is very unlikely to be a win.
SG: Well, I got a phone call and missed the end of the game. Yanks lose. Again. Footage at 11. I’m going to be gone for the next four days, and will miss all the games against Boston. Iam expecting a Boston sweep. So anything else will be good news I guess.
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
4/25/07 - Toronto Blue Jays (10-10) at New York Yankees (8-11) - 7:05 pm (Liveblog)
A.J. Burnett (1-1, 5.57) vs. Andy Pettitte (1-0, 1.78)
We miss one lousy game and it costs A-Rod his hitting streak! Great, I bet he won’t hit another homer this month. Choker.
You don’t want to call an April game a must-win, but this sure feels like one. You don’t want to lean on the 20-year-old kid to stop a six-game losing streak, and you don’t want to risk facing Boston with a seven-game losing streak.
They’ve got their B-lineup out there, with Mientkiewicz playing first instead of Phelps, but everyone else is in tonight:
From Lohud:
Damon CF
Jeter SS
Abreu RF
Rodriguez 3B
Giambi DH
Matsui LF
Posada C
Cano 2B
Mientkiewicz 1B
I’ll be back at gametime.
Monday, April 23, 2007
4/23/07 - New York Yankees (8-9) at Tampa Bay Devil Rays (7-11) - 7:10pm (Liveblog)
NYY: K. Igawa (1-0, 6.06) vs. TB: C. Fossum (1-1, 6.11)
After a really lousy weekend, let’s see if the Yankees can get their groove back tonight. Your lineups:
NY Yankees
M. Cabrera cf
D. Jeter ss
B. Abreu rf
A. Rodriguez 3b
J. Giambi dh
H. Matsui lf
J. Posada c
R. Cano 2b
J. Phelps 1b
Matsui’s back, but Damon’s out again. Swap Damon back in for Melky and that’s the best lineup the Yankees can run out there right now.
Tampa Bay
R. Baldelli dh
B. Harris ss
C. Crawford lf
T. Wigginton 1b
D. Young rf
A. Iwamura 3b
E. Dukes cf
J. Paul c
B.J. Upton 2b
Elijah Dukes is hitting .190? Apparently he got all his hits against the Yankees.
I’ll be back around the first pitch.
Pre-game: Peter Abraham’s reporting that Phil Hughes will be called up to start on Thursday. Farewell Chase Wright, and good luck.
I have this perception that the Yankees can’t hit Fossum, but in his career he’s got a 4.57 ERA against them.
Top of the first Melky steps in and takes two pitches outside to quickly get ahead 2-0. He follows up by taking a called strike then fouling a pitch off, so now the count is even at 2-2. He takes a fastball high for ball 3, then grounds one up the middle for a leadoff single.
I thought the season was cancelled after the Yankees got swept in Fenway, so I’m not sure why this game is even being played.
Jeter quickly undoes all of Melky’s good work by a) hacking at the first pitch b) grounding it right to Upton, who turns the double play. So two down, none on, and I’m displeased.
Abreu up now, and Fossum is working him away. Abreu also works the count full, but grounds to third and is thrown out to end the inning. Kei works TSCC over very nicely, and fans him on a breaking pitch down and away for out # 2.
Bottom of the first Let’s see what Igawa does tonight. While his last two starts were encouraging, I’m still a skeptic.
Igawa’s hair is awfully long for a Yankee. How unprofessional. What’s next, facial hair below the earlobe? It’s anarchy.
So, someone browsed onto this blog using the following search
http://www.google.com/search?q=chase wright sucks&hl=en&start=10&sa=N
I hope he found what he was looking for.
Igawa starts off behind 3-1, but gets Baldelli to pop up a high fastball to Cano for the first out. Brendan Harris follows up by ripping a single into right-center off a high fastball clocked at 88 mph.
Carl Crawford battng now. I have no idea how he rates as far as foot speed. It’d be nice if they would mention it.
Ty Wigginton hitting now, and Igawa gets ahead of him 1-2 right off the bat. Wigginton is one of those guys that I know isn’t that good, yet he scares me for some reason. Wigginton rips one down the third-base line, but A-Rod makes a nice diving stab to his backhand side and rifles one over to first to end the inning. Not a bad start by Kei.
Top of the second A-Rod leads off the second and falls behind 0-2 right away.
A-Rod takes two pitches low, then lines ANOTHER homer into the LF seats. We are witnessing a historic run by one of the all-time great players in baseball history. I hope the people that wanted to run him out of town are eating their words right now.
1-0 Yanks.
Giambi follows up by hitting one solidly towards left-center. He chugs out a double, and cracks me up while doing it.
Matsui’s back, and he’s batting. Let’s see if the time off got him out of his slump. He works a four pitch walk.
Posada’s also back, and he basically channels Wil Nieves and fans for the first out.
Robinson Cano at the plate, in the stadium where he made his MLB debut. It must sort of suck to have your first major league game be in the Tropicana Dome. Probably not as much as the double play that he hits into to end the inning. So the Yankees get a HR, double, and walk, and then nothing.
Bottom of the second Igawa retires Delmon Young on the first pitch. Is that the first time the Yankees have gotten him out this year? Iwamure stands in now, and Igawa’s command has seemingly gone to crap as he missed badly on almost every pitch, and walks him on five pitches.
Elijah Dukes bats now, and Igawa misses low on the first pitch. He misses with the next two pitches, and he’s not even close to the plate right now. He pours in a strike on 3-0, but Dukes was taking all the way. He loses Dukes on the next pitch. That was sub-optimal.
Guidry and Posada go to the mound to talk to Igawa. Guidry’s saying a lot, and Igawa’s just nodding. Whether he understood a word Guidry said, I have no idea. Paul grounds one past a diving Jeter to drive in the runner from second, and knot the game at 1. I don’t think Gator told Igawa to give up an RBI single for some reason.
B.J. Upton skies one in foul territory and Josh Phelps makes a decidedly ungraceful catch for the second out of the inning.
Baldelli cranks a shitty changeup for a three run HR and the Rays take a 4-1 lead. Maybe they should cancel the season.
After giving up a three run HR, I always like to see a pitcher come back and walk the next hitter. Igawa’s already thrown 47 pitches. Looks like another long night for the pen. Proctor should be good for an inning.
Harris steals second, but TSCC flies out to Melky for the third out.
That inning stunk.
Top of the third Josh Phelps leads the third off with a ringing double into left-center.
Melky tries to drag bunt his way on but Fossum makes a nice play and is able to get him at first. Torre is giving Melky a talk afterwards. Not a very smart play IMO, especially after he had singled to lead off the game.
Jeter flies to Dukes, Phelps tags and Dukes throws a laser beam home. Phelps just beats the tag, and the Yankees get a run back, 4-2 Rays.
Abreu flies out to right to end the third.
Bottom of the third Ooh, Nicholas Cage has a new movie out. Or it’s just the same movie he keeps making all the time with a different title. What’s the difference?
Igawa starts off where he left off by missing the strike zone badly to Wigginton to open the third, but Wigginton pops out to shallow right on the next pitch.
If I were the Yankees, I’d get Jimmy Key to talk to Igawa a little. Their stuff is similar, Key could help him adjust to the majors.
Igawa gets Young to chase a breaking pitch in the dirt for the K. The ball bounced, but Posada was able to throw out Young easily for the second out.
Iwamura singles the other way, bringing up Elijah Dukes.
Igawa gets Duke swinging to end the frame.
Top of the fourth I’m going to guess that A-Rod will not homer here. I guess right, as he dunks a single to LF instead.
Giambi fists one that drops in front of Dukes. Rodriguez read it off the bat and goes to third. Dukes makes a strong throw to third, Rodriguez beats it and slides past the bag, but gets his hand back in before the tag is re-applied. First and third, no outs, and Godzilla up.
Matsui hits a sac fly to center and Rodriguez scores from third, making it 4-3. Posada follows up by hitting into the Yankees’ third DP of the game. Clutch.
Bottom of the fourth Weird. Igawa throws a first pitch strike. He gets Paul to fly out to Abreu for the first out.
Igawa’s already around 70 pitches. He needs to be efficient here if he’s going to last to the sixth.
B.J. Upton hits a low line drive that stays inside the foul pole and ends up as a HR, and the Rays get a run back, and now lead 5-3.
Baldelli hits one just as hard, but lower and it gets into the LF corner for a 2B. This isn’t really the type of efficiency I was hoping for.
The Yankees need to sign up Brooks Kieschnick and anyone else who can play a position and pitch. Maybe David McCarthy is floating around somewhere. Their pen can’t take this crap.
Igawa gets an out, but it’s another hard hit ball, and he’s not fooling the Rays this time around the order at all.
Colter Bean is warming in the pen.
TSCC grounds one to Jeter, who throws him out to end the inning.
Top of the fifth Cano leads off the fifth nicely, by hitting a homer to dead CF. If he can get his power going, it’d be nice. 5-4 Rays.
Phelps grounds out to short for the first out. Melky follows up by fanning, and Jeter hits with two outs and none on.
Jeter fails to extend the inning, bouncing to third and getting thrown out.
Bottom of the fifth Igawa starts the fifth at 88 pitches. Let’s see if he can close out the inning.
Wigginton takes him to the warning track but Melky is able to chase it down for the first out. Wigginton just missed that one.
Young follows up with a single to left.
Iwamura splits Melky and Matsui for his second hit of the game, scoring Young from first and giving the Rays a 6-4 lead. That’ll do it for Igawa, and Colter Bean comes on.
Not a good showing by Igawa tonight, but given the type of his pitcher he is, not surprising. When he has his command, he’ll be ok, when he doesn’t, he’s going to get torched.
Bean is an interesting guy to watch. his motion is not nearly as extreme as someone like Chad Bradford’s, and he doesn’t throw as hard as even Bradford does. It’s tough to argue with his statistical ledger in Columbus, but I just don’t think he has good enough stuff to succeed at the major league level.
Bean fans Elijah Dukes looking for the second out.
Josh Paul singles to LF, Matsui ‘s throw beats Iwamura home but bounces off the turf and Posada can’t get a handle on it and get the tag down in time. 7-4 Rays.
Upton grounds out to end the inning, but the Yankees keep fighting an uphill battle in this game.
Top of the sixth Abreu leads off the inning with a double. A-Rod follows with another base hit, but it was hit too hard and Abreu has to stop at third. Jason Giambi steps up as the tying run.
Giambi singles in Abreu and the Yankees have scored a single run in each of the secnd through sixth innings.
Matsui hits a sac fly to Dukes in CF, and Rodriguez tagged and advanced to third, again just barely beating out another strong throw by Dukes.
Posada lines out and Cano steps in. I’m going to be in and out for the next hour, mostly out.
(Fabian in)
Cano is hit on the forearm by a pitch, bases loaded. I hope this HBP has no lingering effects.
Josh Phelps gets the count to 3-0 and then fouls off a couple. He then takes one just a bit low and the Yankees cut the lead to 7-6.
Melky with the bases loaded and I’m predicting DP. Strike one to the outside corner. And what do you know he grounds into what would have been a DP had there not been 2 outs. 1 run to go, hold em Colter.
Bottom of the 6th: Rocco Baldelli strikes me as the type of hitter that Colter should be able to deal with. Righty batter with little discipline. A-Rod shows off some athleticism on a high hop and throws Baldelli out. I would love to see A-Rod’s defensive numbers thus far because he’s looked good.
Another righty batter is up, I’m guessing this is Josh Paul. Joe Girardi alerts me it’s Brendan Harris. Harris singles through the left side and Torre is coming to take Bean out. I wouldn’t do it, but hey. I don’t think Crawford is a good enough hitter to make this move and use more bullpen guys, but it’s only Mike Myers coming in, so what the hey.
Carl Crawford, Mike Myers. Myers goes outside with the first pitch. 1-0. He then pops Crawford up to A-Rod. I even have confidence in A-Rod’s ability to catch pop ups. Joe Girardi agrees. I love Alex.
Brian Bruney is in now. Bruney has been spectacular in the early going. He gives up a line drive single to LF for Wigginton though.
Delmon Young is up. I would think Bruney should handle him. He gets ahead, but then allows Young to work the count full until getting him to ground out to Jeter. Solid job by the pen.
Top of the 7th: Jeter lines a single up the middle. Probably the hardest I’ve seen him hit the ball this year other than the home run. Alex’s hot start has hid the fact that outside of him, the rest of the lineup isn’t hitting as we thought they would…I think.
Abreu swings and fouls off the first pitch before taking the second. He takes 2 more and it’s 3-1 with A-Rod looming. Alex is the man, it can’t be said enough. Unfortunately, Bobby messes things up and grounds into a double play started by the 1B.
I’m curious about A-Rod’s numbers with 2 strikes this year as compared to years past. The count is 1-1. Subjectively, it seems like he’s done most of his damage with 2 strikes. The third pitch is way outside, 2-1. Swing and a miss on a pitch diving to the low inside corner for strike 2. The next pitch is outside, 3-2. Camp then strikes him out on the same pitch he got him to swing and miss on for strike 2. The only flaw in A-Rod’s game at the moment is the high strikeout total.
Bottom of the 7th: So…I forgot I was liveblogging. There’s a guy on 1st, I don’t know how and the count is 2-2. Dukes drills it to CF over Melky’s outstretched glove. The guy on first was Iwamura and he’s now at third, Dukes on 2nd with a double. He can hit the Yankees really well, but apparently everyone else has him figured out.
I don’t know what just happened, but we’re on commercial break. I think I have liveblogging ADD. Okay, according to Kay, the Yankees took Bruney out in the middle of a 2-0 count to the current batter, who is Josh Paul.
Vizcaino continues to make one think of F-Rod by walking the batter. The last pitch looked kind of close at least. Baby steps. Upton…up.
I just realized there’s no one out. This sucks. The first pitch to Upton is a strike. Upton’s little toe tap is weird. The next pitch is high and the count is 1-1. B.J. rips one down the left field line and 3 runs score on the double. Shit.
Vizcaino then proceeds to fall behind the next batter, 2-0. He pores one in the strike zone 2-1. Then Baldelli grounds out to SS, but he doesn’t really ground out because he beats the throw out. Awesome. This inning gets better and better.
Runners at the corners and the count is 1-0 to a Devil Rays batter. I feel like the D-Rays are made up of a bunch of infamous black guys and nameless/faceless white guys. Baldelli steals 2nd and no one cared to prevent it. Rocco isn’t a nameless/faceless white guy. The count is 2-1 and the nameless/faceless white guy pops up to Jeter. 1 OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Yankees now intentionally walk Carl Crawford. Vizcaino’s stat line must be horrid at this point. No one’s warming in the bullpen either so he’s going to have to just take one for the team. T.J. Beam might be getting called up soon the way these guys are being burned through. The count is 1-1 to Ty Wigginton. Ty fouls one off and it’s 1-2. It’d be nice if Vizcaino could pick up an out of some form here. GIDP!!!!!!! INNING OVER!!!!!!
Top of the 8th: Jason Giambi shows bunt, but he kids, he kids. The count is quickly 2-1. 3-1. Salas walks Giambi. There is one of those walks I was talking about in the comments.
Hideki Matsui is quickly down in the count 0-2, but then lays off a pitch and it’s 1-2. The next pitch is up and away, 2-2. Another pitch sails high and the count is full. The Devil Rays have terrible pitching. The full count pitch is outside and Matsui walks.
Michael Kay is speculating that Damon might pinch hit for Phelps when it’s Phelps’ turn, but I can’t understand why he would pinch hit for Phelps over, say, Melky. Anyway, pitching change time.
Brian Stokes, coming off an awful outing against the Indians, comes in to solve the Devil Ray problems. This should get interesting. The first pitch to Jorge is a ball low and in. 1-0. Posada then pops the second pitch up to Iwamura. Nice.
It’s Robinson Cano’s turn to try and be a hero. He swings at the first pitch, of course, and fouls it back. Cano then lines one to CF for a base hit. Giambi had to stop at 3rd because he didn’t know if the ball would drop and Elijah Dukes has a cannon.
Damon is pinch-hitting for Phelps and I cannot understand why. Even if this works, doens’t it make more sense for Damon to hit for Cabrera? I guess you could say you want to play for the now and Damon gives you a better chance now, but I don’t like this move. The count is 2-1. Damon fouls 2 pitches in a row off and it’s 2-2. Damon then proceeds to pop out to Iwamura, amongst the fans. Melky time…
Cabrera lays off the first pitch for a ball, low. The second pitch is fouled off and the count is 1-1. I really feel like this is where Damon should have been hitting. Next pitch is a strike on the low-inside corner. Melky then strikes out on a high fastball. I’m disgusted.
Bottom of the 8th: Mo Time. Delmon Young is quickly disposed of.
Iwamura is up now and Mo gets him to 0-2. He strikes him out on 3 pitches.
0-1 to Elijah Dukes. Dukes grounds to A-Rod who attempts a Jeterian play, but he doesn’t get it done and Dukes is safe at first. However, it appears Doug M. might be hurt. I don’t wish injury on any player…but…I don’t wish injury on any player.
Josh Paul takes strike 1. He then grounds out to Jeter on a high hop and this game is a half an inning closer to finally ending.
Top of the 9th: The count is 2-2 to Jeter, as I finish up an argument with the girlfriend. SG is checking back in any moment now.
=========Exit Fabian/Enter SG===========
Best of luck in your argument Fabian, but you’re not winning.
I’m back to watch the last three outs of a disappointing game.
Well, Jeter strikes out looking so it’s the last two outs.
Al Reyes is a former Yankee BTW. He’d be their best reliever right now.
I’d like to thank Mariano for picking a lost game to stop giving up runs. Thanks Mo.
Abreu prolongs the agony by drawing a walk.
A-Rod prolongs the agony by hitting his 14th HR of the season in a lost cause. 10-8 Tampa.
Giambi waves at a fastball away for the second out. Not a good pitch, probably would have been ball three.
It’d be nice if Matsui can at least get on base here. If he decides to ever get a hit that for extra bases too that’d be cool.
Matsui flies out to end it. The offense is doing their part now, but you can’t keep propping up a shitty pitching effort.
Boston now leads the AL East by five games. No team has ever come back from a five game deficit in April, EVER. It’s over…
Wang’s back tomorrow. Things will get better.
Sunday, April 22, 2007
4/22/07 - New York Yankees (8-8) at Boston Red Sox (11-5) - 8:05 pm (Liveblog)
Chase Wright (1-0, 5.40) vs. Daisuke Matsuzaka (1-2, 2.70)
Boston hasn’t swept the Yankees in a three-game series at Fenway since 1990, when the Yankees were 67-95 and the Red Sox won the AL East. The last time they swept the Yankees at The Stadium was in 2004—after which Boston was 4½ games ahead of the Yankees, who were 8-11. And while Boston won the World Series that year, the Yankees won 101 games and the AL East. It would be a huge bummer if the Yanks lost tonight, but it’s not a disaster.
I’m interested in seeing what the Yanks can do against Matsuzaka. I strongly feel that they can hit him, but it’s also their first time seeing him, and that gives him a big advantage.
I’ll be back at gametime.
Pregame:
Lineups courtesy of LoHud
YANKEES
Johnny Damon CF
Derek Jeter SS
Bobby Abreu RF
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Jason Giambi DH
Robinson Cano 2B
Doug Mientkiewicz 1B
Melky Cabrera LF
Wil Nieves C
RED SOX
Julio Lugo SS
Kevin Youkilis 1B
David Ortiz DH
Manny Ramirez LF
J.D. Drew RF
Mike Lowell 3B
Jason Varitek C
Coco Crisp CF
Dustin Pedroia 2B
Still no Jorge—no surprise—so Matsuzaka gets a breather in the back of the lineup. But that top of the lineup is looking fine.
Top of the First: So here’s the Yanks’ first look at Matsuzaka.
The first pitch is a strike, and the second misses inside. The third is way inside, and Damon has to skip out of the way. Johnny chops the 2-1 foul. He pops the 2-2 up to the middle of the infield, and there’s the first out.
Jeter starts by looking at a breaking ball outside for ball one. A fastball bears in on Jeter, but low and too far inside, and it’s 2-0. Jeter gets a good swing on the 2-0, and flies out to Drew. Good start for Matsuzaka.
Abreu gets ahead 1-0 but takes the second pitch for a strike right down the middle. He swings over the top of a nasty screwball, and takes the 1-2 outside. An outside slider misses to run it full. Abreu fouls off the payoff. The next payoff is outside. 16 pitches through three batters for Matsuzaka, and here’s Our Lord And Savior.
Matsuzaka throws the first pitch at A-Rod’s head and hits him on the elbow. Oh good, he’s a headhunter.
Giambi takes the first pitch for a strike. The 1-0 is in the alley for a two run double and… once again, the Yankees are hitting Boston’s “ace” pitchers.
Cano ends the inning with a groundout to second, and the inning is over, but I like what I’ve seen from the Yanks so far.
Bottom of the First: If Wright leaves this inning tied, I’ll be impressed.
He walks Lugo to start it off. Not a good idea.
He gets ahead of Youkilis 0-2, and on a 1-2 Julio Lugo steals second easily.
And now the count goes full, so Wright seems to have a pattern. Hopefully that includes only giving up 3 runs in 5 innings.
And there’s the second walk. I’m guessing that this won’t end as well as Tuesday did. Not with Ortiz, Ramirez and Drew coming up.
Hey look, there’s ball one. And ball two.
On 2-1, he gets a high popup to right, and Abreu holds Lugo at second. One bullet dodged.
Manny gets ahead 2-0, but he pops a 2-1 up to right, and again Lugo stays at second.
He gets ahead of Drew 0-2, could he actually survive this inning without giving up a hit?
Well, maybe not. Drew runs it to 3-2.
And he gets him swinging at a slider low and away! Wow! Chase Wright is having the greatest week of his life.
Top of the Second: Well, Matsuzaka should have a 1-2-3 here, the Yankees’ bottom of the lineup sucks hard right now. Mientkiewicz grounds out to second for the first out.
Melky rips a ball to center, but Pena chases it down and grabs it just in front of the Monster for the second out.
Nieves rips the ball to third to end the inning. Only 7 pitches, which will help him stay in this game for a while.
The thing that scared some people about Matsuzaka was that he’s an unknown. You’ve never seen him before, especially against the Yankees, and especially with all the hype, you worry that he could be Pedro Martinez, or even better.
He’s not Pedro Martinez. When the Yanks faced Pedro, even though they had a good record in the games he started, I still felt the Yankees needed to shut down Boston because there was no way they were going to hit this guy. They can hit Matsuzaka.
Bottom of the Second: Boston can probably hit Chase Wright, too. Two runs ain’t gonna win this game.
But Wright strikes out Lowell swinging with a great changeup.
Varitek gets ahead 2-1, but pops out to Abreu. Man, Sox fans gotta be pissed right now. This is what it feels like to be an Orioles fan when Adam Loewen pitches against the Yankees, huh?
He gets ahead of Wily Mo Pena 1-2, but ends up walking him, too. Apparently he’s only good when he starts out behind in the count!
Dustin Pedroia rips a ball down the left field line for a two out double. He’s been slumping, but he’s going to come around eventually and be a solid hitter. That may be the start of it right there.
Lugo grounds it hard to Jeter, who backhands and throws him out at first to end the inning.
Second time around against Matsuzaka coming up. Let’s see who gets the benefit of the second look, the pitcher or the hitters.
Top of the Second: Well, Damon looked good his second time around, driving a single right up the middle on an 0-1.
A cell phone with the Nokia ring goes off. I half expect a British Guy with a giant cell phone to start yelling, “HELLO?! I’M AT THE GAME! THE GAME!”
And Matsuzaka hits Jeter on another inside pitch, and there are two on with nobody out and the big guys up.
Abreu fouls a fastball back on the first pitch, then chops the 0-1 foul.
After two pitches way high, Matsuzaka throws a high splitter and gets the third strike. I remember from Irabu that Japanese pitchers love to do that. I also remember from Irabu that while that works sometimes, it also results in long home runs sometimes.
Here’s the biggest batter of the game so far, A-Rod.
Matsuzaka is working down in the zone to start, wiht a ball and a strike called. The 1-1 is on the outside part of the plate, and A-Rod fouls it back.
The 1-2 is on the inside corner for strike three.
Now Giambi takes a strike, and Matsuzaka looks to be hitting a groove. The 0-1 is high, and the Giambi fouls off a pitch. The 1-2 is way outside, and Giambi takes it. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Giambi swing at a pitch in that area, I don’t know what Varitek was thinking. He throws the same pitch, and Giambi takes it again for a full count.
The payoff is blooped to shallow right, and Pedroia, because of the shift is almost able to get it, but he can’t and Damon scores to give the Yanks a 3-0 lead.
Cano almost rips a double down the line on the first pitch, but it’s just foul. The 0-1 is fouled away, and Matsuzaka has thrown 20 pitches both times against the top of the order. He gets Cano swinging on a pitch at his eyeballs.
A slightly wasted opportunity for the Yankees, they could have had a big inning, but they still got one run out of it. It was also a big inning for Matsuzaka, who struck out the side after letting the first two batters reach.
Bottom of the Third: If Chase Wright can get two outs without giving up a run, his ERA will at that moment be lower than Matsuzaka’s. Just sayin’.
Youkilis rips a ball to right, but Abreu chases it down for the first out. One more out.
Of course, it’s Papi up, so he’ll probably give up the run here. Instead, he pops it up to left, and Melky gets it! Second out!
And there’s the run. So at least the ERA was there for one batter… Manny hits it over the Monster.
And there’s another. Drew looks bad on a couple of swings, but then rips it into the right-centerfield seats and it’s 3-2.
And there’s ANOTHER. For eight outs Chase Wright was stealing the show, but now he’s looking like a rookie again. You can’t fool good hitters with changeups forever, and he’s not.
There’s a FOURTH straight homer. Is anyone even warming up? Wright’s career is ending before our eyes.
Wily Mo Pena strikes out swinging to end the nightmare, but Chase Wright it probably walking off of a Major League mound for the last time right now.
Top of the Fourth: Matsuzaka probably will have another 1-2-3 here, but a run to tie would be huge for the Yanks.
Mientkiewicz RIPS one to right-center, and it bounces into the stands for an automatic double! Now here comes a certain bunt from Melky, and a non-run-scoring out from Nieves!
Matsuzaka starts Cabrera out with a strike on the outside. He misses outside on the next one, and it looks like Torre is just going to try to get Cabrera to hit it to the right side. And he does, grounding out to first for out number one.
Nieves rips the first pitch foul down the left field line.
Morgan is saying Matsuzaka doesn’t have his good fastball tonight, so I’ll buy that, and withhold ultimate judgment on him until the Yanks face him Friday.
Nieves rips another live drive, but again it’s caught. Man, he’s snakebit. The Yanks will need another hit from Damon to tie it.
Jon Miller described both the boos Damon received and the cheer he used to from Boston fans as “lusty”. That sounds dirty.
Damon rips a hard grounder to first to end the inning, and the Yanks let Matsuzaka off the hook again.
Bottom of the Fourth: It’s Colter Bean!
At this point, I don’t expect Bean to really be that good, but it is true he’s never gotten a fair shake. If he can pitch well here, he might finally get it.
He misses waaaaaaaaay outside on an 0-2. The count goes to 2-2, and Pedroia hits it to left, but Melky chases it down for the first out.
Bean is a guy who has to hit the corners to be effective, and while he’s done that in the minors, it’s no sure thing he’ll be able to do that in the Majors. While most contenders probably wouldn’t be able to afford to give a guy like him a shot, the Yankees should have, with the crap they were bringing out of the bullpen the last two year. Now that they actually have a good pen, it’s unlikely he’ll get a regular spot unless he pitches really well.
Nieves hurts his left hand somehow as Lugo tries to bunt, but it’s unclear what happened. Josh Phelps is grabbing his equipment, but Nieves is going to stay in. And Bean walks Lugo.
Youkilis hits a slow grounder to short, and the Yankees nearly turn the DP.
I can see Ortiz hitting it a long way here. A soft-throwing righty submarine pitcher doesn’t impress a good lefty hitter.
Ortiz DOES hit it hard, but it lands on the warning track and bounces into the seats, costing Boston a run. For now.
Everyone thinks Chad Bradford when they see Bean, because they both are guys with medicore stuff who throw sidearm. I don’t think he’ll be that, because Bradford is a groundball machine and Bean seems to throw too high to be that. But he does get Manny on a tapper back to the mound to end the inning.
I don’t think he impressed Torre much with that inning, but it got the job done.
Top of the Fifth: Francona says between innings that Matsuzaka is pitching a bit excited and is missing up and away to lefties (and in to righties). Hmm… that doesn’t sound good.
Here’s a big inning for him and the Yanks, with Jeter, Abreu and God up.
AND JETER TIES IT! We’ve been waiting for Derek’s first homer, and he got it in a great spot, smashing it just over the monster.
Abreu takes a fastball right down the pipe for his second looking strikeout.
Matsuzaka’s been surprisingly efficient tonight, only about 3.3 pitches per PA. He gets A-Rod to hack at three pitches away for the second out.
Giambi’s been up twice with two outs and driven in runs both times—but there are no baserunners this time. He falls behind 0-2 and pops out foul to Varitek on a 1-2. So Matsuzaka gets through the heart of the order efficiently, but gives up a home run to Jeter to tie. He does seem to be pitching better as the game goes on, so maybe what Francona said is right, and he’s settling down.
Bottom of the Fifth: Bean is back for his second inning, now with a chance for a decision.
He goes full on Drew, though, and walks him on the payoff. If he doesn’t throw strikes, Bean is nothing, but if he throws it over the plate, he seems likely to get killed by Major League hitters. This is the tightrope he walks.
Lowell flies out to center for the first out.
Scott Proctor is up in the bullpen, but so is Andy Pettitte! Well, that’s unexpected.
Bean falls behind Varitek 3-0 and gives up a stolen base to Drew.
Varitek walks on a 3-1, and there’s two on for Pena.
Bean’s faced eight batters and walked three. Not long for this game is he.
Pena’s a hacker, and while Bean wasn’t really in the strike zone that PA, he gets the K anyway.
He throws a couple of sliders on the corners to get ahead of Pedroia 0-2, and then gets a grounder to Jeter to end it. That’s probably all we’ll see of Bean this year, but he’s got a chance to win if the Yanks can push one across this inning. It’s the bottom of the order, though, so don’t count on it.
Top of the Sixth: One thing I’ve been definitely wrong about with Matsuzaka today is that he’d throw a ton of pitches. Maybe he expected the Yankees to be very patient and he’s adjusted his style because of it, which also may be why they’ve hit him reasonably well.
Cano brings that Pitches/PA down some more, but he gets a base hit to left on the first pitch. I’ll take that trade any day.
They’re talking about Matsuzaka’s 250 pitch game in high school. That’s worth mentioning of course, but I hope they don’t talk about that his entire career. I mean, it was HIGH SCHOOL!
Mientkiewicz bloops it to right, and it drops in front of Drew! Cano, guessing that Drew wouldn’t get there, runs all the way to third. He came really close to looking foolish, though. Drew has a little more range than Cano thinks he does, apparently.
Cabrera hits into a double play to kill the rally, but Cano scores on the play, and they’ve taken the lead again.
Nieves comes up with two outs and nobody on having hit two scorchers, but he pops that one up and the inning’s over. Matsuzaka has only 88 pitches, so he’ll be in for the seventh to face the top of the lineup again. I was definitely wrong on that one, but that HAVE hit him.
And here comes Andy Pettitte!
OK, do NOT panic! This was Pettitte’s throw day anyway, he was going to throw the pitches about to come whether they were in a game or not. Might as well use them.
Bottom of the Sixth: This kind of has a Game 7 feel to it with Pettitte coming out of the bullpen.
Lugo rips the first pitch Pettitte throws to right for the first out.
He starts Youkilis off 0-2, but he can’t finish him off and ends up walking him.
Ortiz is up, but before anyone can get excited he grounds into a DP to short on the first pitch. “And Ortiz comes up short in the clutch again!” Oh, wait, you mean that we’re not supposed to highlight every single clutch failure? Hmm, I guess I was misled the last couple of years watching A-Rod.
Top of the Seventh: Damon leads off and works the count to 2-2, but Matsuzaka gets him looking with a nasty forkball in the strike zone.
Jeter doesn’t work the count nearly as well, and grounds out to short for the second out.
Bobby Abreu comes up with a chance to redeem himself. He’s looks like Matsuzaka’s been fooling him tonight striking out twice looking.
He takes the first five pitches to run the count full, then fouls off the first payoff. But he strikes him out swinging on the next one, with another nasty forkball.
That’s probably it for Matsuzaka. Despite the five runs, I don’t think there is any doubt coming out of this start that he’s a good pitcher. But hopefully, people will be a little more realistic in their expectations for him now.
Here comes Scott Proctor to start the seventh against Manny, which means that it’s about to be 5-5.
Bottom of the Seventh: Manny tends to crush Proctor, so I don’t have high hopes for this AB. Proctor gets ahead 0-2, but on a 1-2 he gets a single past Cano.
Proctor goes to 1-2 on Drew, too, but he gets a double just off of the wall and the Red Sox are in position to take the lead back. Sheeeeeeeet.
Proctor needs a strikeout here, or at least a popup.
Instead, he gives up a 3-run homer, and the Yankees have almost certainly lost this game now.
That’s it for Proctor. Good job, Scottie.
The injuries to the rotation really killed them this series. If they’d gotten decent pitching the last two days from their starters, they’d probably have won both games. Instead, they’re losing, and the bullpen is burned.
Vizcaino gets Varitek to ground out to second for the first out.
The way the lineup comes around, the Yankees have 7-8-9 coming up for the ninth, unless they can get some baserunners.
Pena strikes out for the second out.
Pedroia gets a base hit to center.
I really hate playing the Red Sox. Even when the Yankees win, it’s always stressful, because the games feel more important. It feels better than normal when they win a series, but it just takes so much out of me.
Lugo takes a 2-2 pitch barely low, then draws the walk.
Sean Henn is up in the bullpen, getting ready for mopup duty after Youkilis’ double.
Fortunately, he saves that for another day, chopping out to Jeter at short. Yanks probably need a run here, or at least a couple of baserunners to turn the lineup over.
Top of the Eighth: Matsuzaka comes out again for the eighth! That’s a surprise to me. He’s over 100 pitches, but maybe he’s in just to face A-Rod.
A-Rod’s hitting streak is on the line here, and on a 2-2, he keeps it alive with a single to right! That brings in Giambi with a chance to tie, but it won’t be off of Matsuzaka.
Another Japanese pitcher, Okajima, comes in to get Giambi. He’s looked very impressive this series, but hopefully Giambi can get one.
The Yankees’ hitting line against Matsuzaka tonight was .296/.367/.481. They’ve hit .282/.353/.442 this season, so he was a little below average for the night.
Giambi pops it up, and there’s the first out.
Now it’s up to Cano, because you know Mientkiewicz isn’t going to do anything.
He rips it into left center and it drops for a base hit, so the Yanks have first and second with one out. And I’m right—Mientkiewicz doesn’t do anything. Posada pinch-hits.
And Posada draws a full count walk to load the bases! Now here comes Melky with a last chance to make an impression with Matsui coming off the DL tomorrow. A fly ball off the wall would be HUGE right now.
He’ll be facing Brendan Donnelly, who he’s singled against in his only matchup last August.
It was an infield single, though.
Melky hits a hard grounder to first, but Boston only gets the runner at second and the inning continues with A-Rod scoring. That finishes Matsuzaka’s line: 7 IP, 6 ER.
Josh Phelps pinch-hits for Nieves. With Posada lifted for a pinch runner, he’ll have to catch, while Cairo plays first.
Donnelly gets ahead 0-2, and then Phelps lines out to second, where Pedroia catches it with a dive!
That saves the lead for Boston, but at least the Yankees have gotten within one and have the top of the lineup up in the ninth. But it’ll be against Papelbon.
Bottom of the Eighth: So the Yankees have faced Boston’s top three pitchers this weekend. They’re looking likely to get swept, but this is a positive:
Boston’s starters’ ERA this weekend: 6.53. And Matsuzaka’s ERA is 4.00.
Henn comes in to start the eighth. Ortiz pops it out to left center. Not OUT out, but for an out.
ESPN points out that this is Phelps’ first game catching since 2001. I’m guessing Boston will be running if they get on.
Joe Morgan with a little revisionism there: the Yankees had pitching last year, during the 5 game sweep, Boston didn’t. Um, Boston started Schilling, Beckett and Wells in three of those games. The Yankees started Sidney Ponson in the second game! Boston didn’t have great pitching, but neither did the Yankees. This isn’t the “opposite” of last year.
Manny singles to center, and Drew chops out to third. Lowell comes up in a big spot. If he singles, it’s going to be tough for the Yankees to tie. Well, it’ll be tough anyway, but it will be a lot tougher to score two.
Henn falls behind 3-0, and walks him on a 3-1 pitch. So the big AB shifts to Varitek.
On the first pitch he grounds out to Jeter, and the Yanks have their shot. But it’ll be against a great closer.
Top of the Ninth: Damon, Jeter, Abreu and A-Rod. The Yanks have it lined up for a rally, but Papelbon’s only given up one hit and four walks to the first five guys lined up this inning.
The top three are .077/.250/.077 against him.
Damon swings over a couple of Papelbon pitches to fall behind 1-2. A couple of foul balls and a ball low, but Damon finishes the PA by flying out to Manny in left.
Jeter has only one hit against Papelbon, but that hit was the one that tied the game in the Sunday win last August. It wasn’t a very hard hit, if I recall correctly, Trot Nixon gave up on it.
Papelbon blows Jeter away with straight heat, and it’s up to Abreu to redeem himself and bring A-Rod up for a last shot.
And he does! Abreu had his hands full, but Papelbon only throws two pitches over the plate, walking Abreu on six pitches.
Alex starts by swinging over a slider, then fouls back a fastball. I wonder if Yankees fans will blame A-Rod if he strikes out here?
Instead he chops out to third, which ends the game, and the Yanks have been swept.
As far as getting swept goes, this wasn’t so bad. Which is to say, it sucked ass.
But the Yankees hit Matsuzaka, they hit Beckett, they hit Schilling. If they had anyone decent starting today or yesterday, they probably would have won.
They’re 8-9, they’re 4 games out, but they’ll survive this. And they get their chance for revenge in five days.
Friday, April 20, 2007
**LIVEBLOG** Yankees (8-6) at Red Sox (9-5) - 7:05 PM
So, there’s like this kinda important game tonight…
Truth be told, it’s not any more or less important than yesterday’s game against Cleveland, but c’mon it’s Boston and they are teh suck!
Liveblog below the fold…
PRE-GAME
Pete Abe already has the lineups, showing just what a big game it is…
YANKEES
Johnny Damon CF
Derek Jeter SS
Bobby Abreu RF
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Jason Giambi DH
Jorge Posada C
Robinson Cano 2B
Melky Cabrera LF
Doug Mientkiewicz 1B
Andy Pettitte LHP
RED SOX
Julio Lugo SS
Kevin Youkilis 1B
David Ortiz DH
Manny Ramirez LF
J.D. Drew RF
Mike Lowell 3B
Jason Varitek C
Coco Crisp CF
Dustin Pedroia 2B
Curt Schilling RHP
Rasner got optioned today and COLTER BEAN HAS BEEN FREED!! Abraham says that Bean or Britton will get sent down later tonight free up a space for tomorrow’s starter Jeff Karstens.
Abraham is also reporting the team is preparing to “build some hurting bombs,” by watching the ill-fated sixth installment of the Rocky series.
From a lineup perspective, I’d rather see Torre play the hot hand in Phelps than the strict platoon with Misspelling, but overall it’s not bad. Also, is this the Sox’ House Money™ lineup? Seriously, even as bad as Misspelling is - how much better is our 7-9 than theirs?
Here’s some numbers and knowledge for you…
On A-Rod: .351/.418/.965 overall… close and late: .308/.333/.615 ... RISP w/ 2 outs: .600/.667/2.400… w/ Runners on: .429/.500/1.357
Oh, and this… the Yankees are on a seven game winning streak in Fenway. Boston’s last such streak against (sort of) major league teams was in July 2005 when the won eight against Tampa, Minnesota and Kansas City. Yes, I’m aware they won nine in a row at home against the Nats, Phillies and Mets last year, but games against the JV don’t count.
Back with more near game time ...
Top of the first
Stupid delivery guy… missed most of the first two ABs, but Damon grounded to Peoria and Jeter popped out.
Abreu hits a deep-ish fly to center Crsip handles for brisk inning.
Another reason to prefer the Yankees to the Sox - what the hell is with the green jerseys? Honestly, that’s clown shit. Like wearing suspenders and a belt… just ridiculous.
Bottom of the first
So, do the green jerseys mean Boston is tanking tonight?
Pettitte matching Schilling so far, inducing a weak grounder to Jeter WHO FIELDS IT CLEANLY AND THROWS WELL TO FIRST!!
The Greek God of Melodrama is rolling around after getting grazed.
ESPN crew talking about the “history” between these teams in batters getting plunked. For those of you keeping score the Sox are leading in batters drilled 4,369 to 5.
Ortiz walks… bringing up a hobo in a Ramirez jersey.
And that’s why the homeless shouldn’t be signed to big contracts.. as the indigent migrant worker bounces into a 6-4-3 DP.
Top of the second
A-Rod’s coming up… that obnoxious Sox site that sold out to the Globe was encouraging fans to serenade him with “Mister April.” I say good, because if they are chanting, they aren’t throwing pizza or beer at one another.
Couple of breaking balls so far for A-Rod… I expect him to see a steady diet of spinners today and this weekend.
Big noisy out to the centerfield track… and A-Rod goes down.
What normally would be a shallow flyout goes to the track in left… I hate this park.
The Sox are honoring Red Auberbach tonight.. the Yankees are paying homage to Mike Greenwell by flying out to the warning track repeatedly.
Bottom of the second
JD Drew singles to right center and surprising remains upright and uninjured.
We’re into the AAA portion of the Sox lineup now as Mike Lowell strides to the plate.
Lowell bounces into a Jeter to Misspelling DP - three straight plays without an error ought to lock up a third straight gold glove for Jeter.
Captain Bohunk is up… there’s nothing more retarded in baseball his “C” ‘Tek should get 2 minutes for jackassery.
And he grounds out to A-Rod, as this game maintains its unusually brisk pace.
Top of the third
My wife’s out of town, so I ordered dinner from an all buffalo wing place tonight… I’m expecting to regret that decision soon.
On the Greenwell thing, that comes from a good friend of mine (a Sox fan) and former baseball teammate who called warning track shots “Greenwell homers.”
He also tried to argue on occasion that Gator was better than Donnie Baseball. I suspect he was drunk at the time. Speaking of, happy birthday Donnie!
The dread-locked tranny playing left for Manny short hops it and Cano is on with a single. Yeah, Pedroia is soooo much better than Cano. Cano should just slit his wrists rather than share the field with the great Peoria.
Youkilis should write ESPN to stop with that “holding the runner on” camera angle… because it shows all of America he has a dumps like a truck, truck… ass like what, what, what?
Melky singles up the middle - the kids are alright, the kids are alright.
Misspelling should be bunting here…. AND HE DOES!
Mr. Green Tea ain’t got nothing on me!
Damon grounds to short…. Cano scores. POSITIVELY DAMON-IC!! Too much?
Kruk and Baker yammering about how Damon was trying to ground out there to bring the run in. I’m pretty sure he’d rather have put one in the gap, but that’s just me.
Schilling walks Jeter… wonder if he’ll blog about how that made him feel?
Unlike his autographed copy of the BK value menu, Schilling has lost the strike zone a bit.
And Abreu can’t hold up… strike three inning over.
Bottom of the third
Coco Crisp strikes out… yeah, he’s easily going to be better than Damon. The Boy Genius rules!
Peoria swings as hard as he can… and pops foul to Posada. He reminds me of a less-talented Andy Stankiewicz.
Pettitte struck Lugo out there on a 2-2 pitch, but the plate umpire was distracted by a bumblebee… so Mr. Exonerated Wife-Beater walks.
Ravech: “Jeter’s going to have to make one of those Jeter plays.” Unfortunately he did and threw the ball toward Fitchburg instead of second. Youkilis reaches on the play.
Ortiz fails! Ortiz fails! He’s a bum, he’s a bum! Opt out! Opt out!!
Top of the fourth
A-Rod is seriously on fire. Like its absurd. 11 homers, 27 RBIs… he just blasted one of the Monster. Just a shot.
The fairweathers and tab mediots are going to miss him when he’s gone.
Giambi should go apply for work as a Gloucesterman right now.. cause he is totally fishing.
What the hell is Manny wearing on his head? Seriously, he looks like he should be washing windows a car detailer?
Posada doubles to the corner, brining Cano up - who grounds to Youkilis at first.
Melky flies out to center to end the inning. 2-0 Good guys.
Bottom of the fourth
This SportsCenter commercial reminds me of one more thing to loathe about the Sox - stupid-ass mascot.
Posada is out and Nieves is in… that’s not good.
Even with Nieves in the game.. the Yankees still have the best catcher on the field. Pettitte hasn’t seemed to miss a beat here as the panhandler looks at strike three.
Good call there as Abreu plays it on the hop. Nice sales job by Bobby though.
“Now batting, for the Pawtucket Red Sox, third baseman Mike Lowell….”
I hope someone missed a sign there, because Drew just got screwed ... yikes.
Thanks for running out of an inning Boston!
“Now batting for your Portland SeaDogs, catcher, Jason Varitek….”
Well shit… Bad Andy, no pizza. Bohunk homers, though in a real park, Abreu might have a play.
I won’t tempt fate here, but Crisp was this close to being a Lowell Spinner.
It’s getting close to alcohol time in the McNally house - should I go fermented or distilled?
Crisp puts it in play! The WEEI callers anoint him the next Mike Greenwell. And Jeter fires it to Misspelling, and the inning is over. Tied at 2.
Top of the fifth
It was pointed out that Kay is a Jinx… well he totally is - he jinxed Wright the other night by bringing up Hafner’s lack of Yankee Stadium home runs. His head is so big, I have no idea how he gets up his ass.
The question has been posed “Why not both?” relative to distilled vs. fermented… well here’s why not: I’m almost 30, my wife’s not here to tend to my drunk ass and I have to get to participate in a yard sale tomorrow morning. So it’s one or the other.
For specific choices, its some crisp hard cider or red wine on the fermented side… or 12 year old Jamesons or some 10 year old single malt scotch I can’t spell. So there it is.
After Misspelling flies out “as far as he can hit the ball” i.e. two steps from the track in center.. Damon looks at strike three. Awesome.
Posada’s got a bruised thumb… he’s been taken for X-Rays as a precaution. Sweet.
Jeter singles to left… bringing Abreu up with two down.
An Abreu Walk then BOOOOM
A-Rod’s a beast… Not clutch my left nut.
Giambi singles…. looks like fat man’s running out of gas.
And I went with the Jameson’s if anyone cares.
Nieves grounds out to end the inning. 5-2 Yankees.
Bottom of the fifth
Peoria flies out to Abreu… he’s a surefire hall of famer.
Jameson’s is smooooth. I debated breaking into some of the good red wine, but I don’t think Mrs. McNally would appreciate that much.
Big catch there by Damon and a nice 1-2-3 inning. Good job Andy.
Top of the sixth
The Yanks go 1-2-3.. the old man called so not much happened.
Bottom of the sixth
Old Man’s on the phone so here’s a break in the liveblog.
Seventh inning
Jamesons 2 - McNally 0
Decent bullpen management by Joe, since Proctor will probably be available for tomorrow.
Top of the eighth
A-Rod keeps scalding the ball and scores on a Giambi single… its now first and third with two down and Misspelling up.
Snyder walks Misspelling… the bases are drunk with Yankees for Damon.
Remember when Snyder was starting for Boston last year? That was awesome.
Damon grounds to Cora, who’s in for Peoria.. who is resting his hall of fame bound self.
Bottom of the eighth
This is why the Yankees signed Myers… to give up hits to Papi. Bring on L-Viz!
Okay, send L-Viz back… give me the Hammer of God.
This one’s on me guys… the wife called - she’s a jinx I think.
“Dear Joe,
Please stop pulling the infield in when Mo is pitching. IT NEVER WORKS.
Signed,
Everybody”
Great plan by Robby there… great play. Nieves has a hose - that’s his second CS tonight.
Mo throws over Cora’s head… some douche in the stands jumps up like he’s going to fight Rivera. You’re awesome buddy.
Top of the Ninth
Okajima in the game to close.. and the mighty Joel Pineiro warming… I have a good feeling.
Jeter grounds out to Cora - two outs left.
Abreu just took two of the worst swings ever there. Just horrendous.
And Bobby takes a walk… and guess who’s coming to dinner?
A-Rod looks at strike one… and ball one in the same spot.
Is it just me, but do any of these Japanese players “pound the zone.” 3-1 to A-Rod.
Count full.. heart pounding.
A-Rod gets jammed… and honestly, you’re all surprised. My how things have changed.
Jason Giambi can tie this game with one swing… wha? he’s where? Kevin Thompson?!? Ack… 0-2.
Now its 1-2… and Yes he did.
What a shitshow this was. Time to drink more.
Thursday, April 19, 2007
4/19/07 House Money Day - Cleveland Indians (9-5) at New York Yankees (7-6) - 1:05pm (Liveblog)
It’s House Money Day, and here are your lineups.
Cleveland
G. Sizemore cf
D. Dellucci lf
T. Hafner dh
V. Martinez c
R. Garko 1b
C. Blake 3b
J. Peralta ss
M. Rouse 2b
J. Michaels rf
F. Carmona p
NY Yankees
J. Damon cf
D. Jeter ss
B. Abreu rf
A. Rodriguez 3b
J. Giambi dh
R. Cano 2b
M. Cabrera lf
D. Mientkiewicz 1b
W. Nieves c
D. Rasner p
The Yankee offense is rolling, leading the majors in runs per game. Let’s see if they can keep it going today. Back in 10 minutes with the first pitch.i
Pre-game Michael Kay and Paul O’Neill are the announcers today.
I’m not really looking forward to watching Rasner vs. the Indians, but maybe he’ll surprise me.
Rasner’s pitched 9.2 innings on the year, and has allowed 13 hits, 2 BB, 2 HR, and 3 K. While his ERA of 4.66 is fine for a fill-in, the peripherals are not a good sign for long-term success.
Top of the first:He starts of Sizemore with a fastball away for strike 1. He goes to a full count then comes inside with a fastball, and Sizemore drops a double into the gap in right center.
Dellucci steps in. Jeff Karstens is in the dugout, getting ready to be activated in time to get shellacked on Saturday. Dellucci’s fouling off pitches, and Rasner’s pitch count is going to be about 50 by the time this inning is over. The Yankees need a good long outing from Rasner today so the pen will be in decent shape heading to Fenway.
After a full count, Dellucci lines one to Cano, who makes a little leaping catch and is able to double Sizemore off second. Nice.
Hafner now batting. He gets Hafner to ground out 4-3 to end the inning.
Bottom of the first: Fausto Carmona. Is this the clown that kept blowing saves against Boston last year?
Damon leads it off. Carmona looks like a hard thrower who suffers from some control issues. He’s sitting at 94, throwing nothing but fastballs so far. He falls behind Damon 3-0, throws two strikes, then walks him.
Jeter comes up with delusions of bunting on the brain, I’m sure. Carmona gets a first pitch fastball on the outside corner for a strike, which ends any chances of Jeter bunting. Carmona’s keeping an eye on Damon, having thrown over twice now. Jeter gets sawed off and chops to Peralta, who flips to second for one. Jeter is called safe on the relay to first, but it looks like he was out to me. I’ll take it.
Bobby Abreu comes to the plate and immediately takes ball one. High fastball misses for ball two. Fastball on the outside corner is a strike, then a breaking pitch away is ball three. Abreu can look for a pitch to drive here. He doesn’t drive it, but grounds one past first that almost hits Jeter, who would have been called out. Jeter was able to jump over it and get to second.
A-Rod up. Let’s see what he does here. He ends up striking out on a 94 mph fastball in on the hands after taking four pitches, two strikes, two balls.
Here comes Giambi. Let’s see if he can pull Carmona’s fastball. He does pull it, on the ground, but right into the heart of the shift, and gets thrown out. At least they made Carmona throw 25 pitches that inning…
Top of the second: Victor Martinez hits a weak grounder to A-Rod on the first pitch he sees to lead off the second, and gets thrown out 5-3.
Garko steps in, and takes an 88 mph fastball on the inside part of the plate for strike one. Rasner gets ahead but then plunks him on the elbow.
Has anyone been talking about the lack of offense in the AL this year? Entering today the AL average hitter was hitting .247/.318/.392.
Casey Blake hitting now. He’d kill for a line of .247/.318/.392.
Rasner is getting ahead of everyone, but when gets to 0-2, he doesn’t have the pitches to put people away, so he has to keep nibbling and trying to get them to chase. It’s a little frustrating to watch.
He shuts me up by fanning Blake on a hit and run, and the Yankees are able to catch Garko in a rundown. Posada throws to Cano who, flips to Mientkiewicz, who applies the tag for what I think is the most exciting play in baseball, the strike ‘em out, throw ‘em out DP.
Bottom of the second: Cano leads things off in the second. Although they are different stylistically, Cano reminds me a lot of Alfonso Soriano. When he’s going well, rocking line drives from foul line to foul line, he’s a pleasure to watch. When he’s not, he can be really annoying to watch.
Consider me annoyed, as he chops weakly to second for the first out.
Speaking of annoyed again, here’s Melky. I’d really like to see him start hitting. Malkey rewards me with a bloop single to CF, but Doug M grounds it to first, and they fore Melky at second.
Wil Nieves at the plate. His next hit will be his first as a Yankee, despite getting time in 2005 and 2006. Nieves hits it about as well as he is capable off, which means its a flyball that died in left center field, about 300 feet from home plate, in the glove on an OF. Maybe next time kid.
Top of the third: Jhonny Peralta gets things going in the top of the third, and he whiffs. Since I accused Rasner of not having a pitch to put people away, he’s struck out two. He gets Rouse to fly out to shallow center for the second out, and Michaels will bat with two outs. Michaels grounds out 4-3, and Rasner has his best inning of the day.
Bottom of the third: Damon gets his second look at Carmona now. I haven’t looked at the #s yet, but it seems that most of the Yankee offensive damage this year has come on the second and third trips through the order. He breaks his bat and hits a little dunker into RF for a leadoff single.
Jeter batting. Damon takes off on the first pitch, and Martinez’s throw isn’t even close as he steals second. Jeter hits one pretty well the other way, but Michaels is able to flag it down in RF. Damon advances to third on the play.
Abreu up, and the Indians are bringing the infield in with one down and Damon on third. Abreu grounds a 2-1 pitch through the drawn in infield. I can’t say for sure that it would have been fielded if the second baseman was back at normal depth. Likely not, it was hit pretty hard. Yanks take the 1-0 lead.
A-Rod up. He’s now 0 for 4 with 4 Ks in his career against Carmona. Make that 0 for 5 with 5 Ks, but Abreu does steal second on the play.
Giambi bats with Abreu on second and two down. I’d imagine he won’t get much to hit here. Carmona’s not happy with the last two calls he’s gotten against Giambi as he’s fallen behind 3-0. Giambi flies to short left and Dellucci makes a nice sliding catch to get the third out. Carmona’s performance so far has lowered his ERA to 8.59. Not bad.
Top of the fourth: Rasner gets Sizemore to ground to Cano, who flips to Mientkiewicz for the first out. Rasner’s now at 49 pitches.
On a 2-2 pitch, tries to sneak fastaball inside on Dellucci, who cracks it into the RF seats to tie the game at 1. Feh. That one skimmed the wall on its way out, but it counts.
Here’s Hafner, a very scary fella. He lines one the other way for a single.
It should be noted this is the second time through the order for Cleveland now, and Rasner’s struggling a little bit more, although it seems to be of his own doing. He’s losing the strike zone now, and walks Martinez on four pitches.
Rasner’s working a lot slower this inning, and the Yankees aren’t wasting any time in getting the pen moving. Brian Bruney is loosening now.
Garko gets plunked, and Ron Guidry goes out to talk to him. Since the Dellucci HR he’s been a different pitcher.
I can’t read lips, but whatever Gator told him took about 3 seconds.
Whatever it was worked, for one batter at least, as he gets pop out to the tarp down the first base line, and Doug M makes a nice catch leaning on the tarp. One out away from pitching out of a mess, and here’s Jhonny.
Rasner fans Peralta to end the inning. The last two pitches were clocked at 90 mph even. Good recovery there. But, the Tribe tie it up.
Bottom of the fourth: Cano the singles hitter leads it off. If he can get on it lets the Yankees clear the black hole that is MelkMinkNieves.
Cano hits one up the middle pretty sharply, but Rouse is able to recover when he can’t pick it cleanly and throws him out.
Melky follows up with a single. I’m amazed. Maybe Mientkiewicz won’t hit into a 1-6-3 DP here, and I’ll be even more amazed.
Mientkiewicz is 2 for his last 24, which qualifies as red-hot for him. He flies out to Dellucci for the second out. Melky was running on the play and returned to first.
Nieves up. I would be shocked if he doesn’t make an out here. He hits the first pitch to second base, and the force Melky.
Top of the fifth: Rouse leads things off by hacking at the first pitch, and flying out to Melky for the first out. Everyday Mike Myers is loosening now in the pen.
Melky’s 2 for 2 has raised his average to .212. Mientkiewicz’s 0 for 2 has lowered his to .147.
A groundball single that Cano can’t quite get to ends Rasner’s day. He wasn’t bad, but I guess they don’t want to take any chances here.
Myers in to face Sizemore. He starts him off with a strike, then follows up with three straight out of the zone. Grady hits it well and the crowd groans, but Damon is able to make a nice running catch in right center field the wall for the second out.
Myers then gets Dellucci to ground right back to him to end the inning. If the Yankees are going to score, now would be a good time.
Bottom of the fifth: Carmona begins the inning with 77 pitches through four, so the Yankees can probably get him out of the game here with a little rally.
Damon tries to do his part, working a full count before flying out to CF for the first out.
Jeter grounds to Peralta who fields it and bobbles it a little, but still recovers in time to get Jeter. Two down, Abreu up.
Abreu grounds out to Garko.
Yeah, when I said rally to knock him out of the game, that wasn’t quite what i had in mind…
Top of the sixth: Hafner singles up the middle against Myers. That was the first hit Myers has allowed in the last 22 batters he’s faced.
Torre keeping Myers in against Martinez. I don’t like this in a tight game. If he gets him out, then that means that it’s more likely to keep happening, and if he doesn’t, that means something bad is going to happen here.
Myers ends up hitting Martinez on the leg, putting two on with no outs. Myers out, Bruney in.
Bruney has had much better control this year, which has been the biggest thing holding him back. Garko’s really battling him here. Lots of fouls. I think Bruney’s thrown about ten pitches now to Garko. Garko wins the battle, grounding one between third and short. Melky charged in, which kept Hafner at third. So the Indians have the bases loaded, and no outs. Blake up.
Blake rips one on the line, but right into A-Rod’s glove. One down.
Bruney doesn’t look like he has his good fastball today. He’s been mostly 93-94 on his fastball, and is not getting many swings and misses.
Come on Bruney. Rasner struck Peralta out with a fastball. Why can’t you?
He does the next best thing, getting Peralta to pop up. Infield fly rule is called, and Cano makes the catch for the second out. One more out to go. Sean Henn warming in the pen.
Bruney gets Rouse to pop out to Melky in LF to end the inning. Great job pitching out of a bases-loaded, no out jam in a 1-1 game. He deserves a win for that effort. If the team can score for him here, he might get it.
Bottom of the sixth:
Giambi to lead things off. I’d imagine Posada will hit for Nieves if they get to that point.
GIAMBI MAULS IT. UPPER DECK! 2-1 YANKEES!
Giambi’s now hitting .259 /.355 /.519
Cano and Melky go out meekly, so meekly that I missed it while typing about how great Giambi is. I apparently also missed A-Rod not striking out to really lead things off.
Top of the seventh: L-Viz in. While his ERA is nice, he’s walked 4 in 8.2 innings and only struck out two.
He walks the leadoff hitter. That was sub-optimal. Sizemore follows up with a ringing double in the gap in right center. Abreu picks it up off the wall and throws in, and the Indians hold Michaels at third for some reason.
A Dellucci grounder brings the tying run home. 2-2, Sizemore goes to third on the play.
After a mound conference, they decide to walk Haftner and set up the double play.
Victor Martinez hits one into the right center field bleachers for a three run HR, and the Yankees now trail 5-2. Shit.
This game went to hell quickly, huh?
L-Viz recovers to strike out Garko. That almost makes up for giving up four runs.
Another K ends the frame, but the damage is done.
Bottom of the seventh: I miss a Josh Phelps PH appearance because someone came to my door, but I am in time to see Posada fly out for the second out. This game is really going to leave a bad taste in my mouth.
Damon doesn’t help things with a weak fly out to end the inning.
Top of the eighth: Funny how O’Neill is talking about how hitters don’t like seeing Farnsworth. I don’t like seeing him either.
After one out, Farnsworth gets a popup foul on the third base side, but A-Rod can’t make the play thanks to fan interference. Farnsworth ends up walking the hitter. Jason Michaels flies out for the second out.
Farnsworth adds to his legend by balking. He gets out of the inning, but this game’s basically over. I’d be shocked if the Yankees get a baserunner over the next two innings.
Bottom of the eighth: Rafael Betancourt in for the Indians. Jeter up. He fists ones to RF and Michaels catches it for the first out.
Abreu falls behind 0-2, then takes three straight out of the zone. On a full count he lines a base hit to RF.
A-Rod up, with his 17 game hitting streak on the line. He gets under the first pitch and pops out to Blake at 3B for the second out.
Giambi up. He takes strikes two and three, and did not agree with either call. Inning over.
Top of the ninth: Sean Henn gets the ninth. He gets Dellucci to K on a slider down and away for the first out. Haftner and Martinez follow up with singles, and there’s runners on first and second with one down.
Henn gets Garko to ground out 5-3, with the runners advancing. Henn needs to get out of this here.
A weak grounder to short and A-Rod cuts in front of Jeter to make the play, but his throw is high and Blake beats it. They give him an error on the play, although it was close. More importantly, it’s now 6-2 instead of 5-2, and the Yankees’ comeback chances are that much worse.
Inning finally ends on a weak liner behind second that Cano catches.
Bottom of the ninth: Joe Borowski in to get three outs before giving up four runs.
Cano steps in. He pops to shallow center, three Indians converge and almost collide, but Sizemore is able to make the catch.
Melky now batting and quickly down in the count 0-2. He grounds out to Peralta for the second out.
Josh Phelps is the last hope.
This game sucked ass. Hopefully the weekend goes better.
Phelps decides to prolong the agony by homering in a lost cause. 6-3 Indians.
Posada decides to prolong the agony by lining a single up the middle. Now Johnny Damon is the last hope.
Damon decides to prolong the agony by drawing a walk.
I think I mentioned last week how when the team is trailing late, I always just root for them to get an opportunity to bring the tying run to the plate. Well, he’s there now.
Jeter decides to prolong the agony by singling in a run, and making the game 6-4.
Damon is at second, Jeter is at first, and Abreu is up. He falls behind quickly 1-2.
Abreu decides to prolong the agony by singling in Damon. It’s now 6-5 Indians and A-Rod comes up with the tying run on second.
Wild pitch moves the runners to second and third.
HE HOMERS. HE HOMERS! YANKEES WIN!!!!
The agony is no longer being prolonged.
Wow. Just Wow.
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
4/17/07 - Indians (6-3) at Yankees (5-6) - 7:05 PM EDT **LIVEBLOG**
Hello ladies…my name is Sean McNally, you may remember me from such other nature films as “Earwigs, Ew.” and “Man Vs Nature… The Road To Victory.”
Wait! That’s not it!
My name is Sean McNally, and I am a Motivational Speaker! Now, let’s get started by me giving you a little bit of a scenario of what my life is all about! First off, I am 35 years old.. I am divorced.. and I live in a van down by the river!
Nope! Get me rewrite!
My name really is Sean McNally, and in addition to liveblogging for you all tonight, I contribute over at Baseball Think Factory and allegedly over here too.
So that out of the way, here’s tonight’s liveblog…
PREGAME
Pete Abe is not at the game, but he’s gamely gotten the lineup posted at his blog..
Yankees
CF - Johnny Damon (.290/.389/.484)
SS - Derek Jeter (.319/.407/.340)
RF - Bobby Abreu (.261/.333/.348)
3B - Alex Rodriguez (.372/.453/.977)
DH - Jason Giambi (.205/.286/.364)
CA - Jorge Posada (.366/.422/.512)
2B - Robinson Cano (311/.360/.356)
LF - Melky Cabrera (.190/.222/.190)
1B - Doug Mientkiewicz (.138/.219/.138)
LHP - Chase Wright: (1-0) 0.00 ERA 14 IP 19/1 K/BB @ Double-A Trenton
Thoughts: Wright’s comparables in Yankee blog land have ranged from Erik Bedard to uh, not so much.
Over at BTF, Indians maven Dan Lee points out that
According to bb-ref, Wright is the 40th pitcher since 1961 to make his MLB debut as a starter against the Indians.
The last six: Wes Obermueller, Kevin Gregg, Dave Gassner, Ervin Santana, Justin Verlander, Dustin Moseley. They combined to allow 21 runs in 30 innings.
Of course, Lee points out this means nothing, but if I told you right now you could get a four run, five inning performance out of Wright, how many of you would take it immediately?
The Yankees as a team are hitting .270… if you take out Doug Misspelling’s mightly 4-for-29 - that goes up to .280.
Back with more near game time ...
More pregame…
Here’s the Tribe’s lineup:
CF - Sizemore
LF- Michaels
DH - Hafner
CA - Martinez
1B - Garko
RF - Blake
SS - Peralta
2B - Barfield
3B - Marte
Also… the Yankees.com preview lists New York as 6-5… guess aren’t recognizing Marco Scutaro’s homer. Good for them. I hope that works out.
Top of the First
O’Neill and Kay yakking for YES/My9…. Kay is calling out Jeter’s defense - I fully expect him to be shot during the commercial break.
It’s Bob Sheppard’s 57th season and there’s some sort of ceremony coming up. Question for the crowd: When the “Voice of God” passes on, should the Yanks go with a Sheppard impersonator, or a totally new PA announcer?
Jackie Jensen was the first Yankee Sheppard ever announced - interesting.
Grady Sizemore draws a walk on what is generously described as borderline. Those of us watching the game call that “strike three.”
Paul O’Neill talking about roving instructor being in town to calm Wright down… I wonder if he measured the mound for him a la Norman Dale?
Remember when we all wanted to go get Jason Michaels instead of Johnny Damon… those were fun times.
Once Wright settles down, I think he’ll be okay - he’s missing now, but not by much. Truth be told - a second-year player gets a lot of these calls.
And he makes Hafner look bad on a 2-1 breaking ball, then gets a bouncer to Cano - who makes his only play at first.
Congrats Chase - you’ve popped your cherry.
V-Mart bounces to Jeter - WHO FIELDS IT CLEANLY! THEN MAKES A GOOD THROW! Two down, but all things considered, not that bad.
Martinez is kind of hobbling/limping - I don’t think his hammy is 100%. Thanks Bud Selig and Mother Nature.
Not a bad inning by Wright - two walks (only one really but plate ump is a schrutebag), not hits and just one run. Good job Rook.
Bottom of the first
Kay prattling on about Mariano’s blown save… Dude, it happens - let it go.
Damon runs the count full and works a walk. If his legs are good - Damon should be off like a freshman’s prom dress.
The Nats are losing 3-0 in the first… I could have gone to the game - I’m feeling good about liveblogging tonight.
Perfectly executed hit and run.. meaning Damon gave himself the green light and kept Jeter from bouncing into a 3-6-1 DP.
Kay just called a foul ball to the bend on the RF line “deep.” He’s been studying his Mel Allen playbook.
Abreu fans on a lousy swing.
“This is why I’m hot…This is why I’m hot…This is why ... This is why .. this is why I’m hot.”
What a terrible intro song. A-Rod, hot as he’s been got a tepid response.
So naturally, he blasts a liner to left and it’s 1-1 now.
Giambi’s been struggling something awful, so a knock here would be good.
I might start the runners, just to screw with the shift-playing Indians.
Giambi walks on a strike and a not-checked swing.. bases drunk with Yankees for Posada.
O’Neill was walking about how in the outfield you’d get cold because you weren’t moving. I call BS… O’Neill was always moving - so long as “practicing your swing with your glove in between pitches counts as moving.”
Westbrook needs a map because that’s the only way he’s going to find the strike zone.
“No Michael, you don’t green light Posada since he just walked the bases chucked.”
Jorge fouls off ball four… no more SportsCenter commercials for you.
Then he hits a fly ball to center, Jeter and A-Rod tag… 2-1 Yankees.
Cano grounds out to Peralta, who goes the short way to Barfield at second. Westbrook threw 30-some odd pitches, but Cleveland’s only played like two games, so their whole ‘pen is rested.
Top of the second
Dan Iassogna’s behind the plate… his strike zone is apparently the width of the ball and the height of the ball right down the middle.
When we’re reminiscing about Wright’s career on Chase Wright Day…. remember that Casey Blake was the first guy to get a hit off of him.
Kay is dissembling right now - Paul Byrd’s almost five-inning no-no would not have counted. He’s forgotten the indignity we foisted on the immortal Perez brothers when we struck them from the record book.
Wright walks Peralta on four pitches, laboring under the impression that he’s still worth a damn.
Barfield swings just like his dad… and misses just like him.
Misspelling catches a Barfield foul pop… good thing we have such a fantastic defensive first baseman for that play.
Melky grabs a fly ball off the bat of UBERPROSPECT Andy Marte. O’Neill is using a Oijia board to channel Joe Morgan in lobbying for sac bunts.
Sizemore swings like a man… I have fantasy conflict here.
Kay: Sizemore is quite the fan favorite, especially among the ladies. The No. 1 selling item: Mrs. Sizemore t-shirts.
O’Neill: Well that’s the most important thing to you, isn’t it?
Kay: Selling T-shirts? Sure.
I’m 110% sure O’Neill was talking about being able to score an abundance of trim… but that’s just me.
Mr. Sizemore flies out to Cabrera who makes a nice running play.
Bottom of the Second
The Melk-man delivers! A soft bouncer to Garko.
If Yankee fans had one ounce of sense - they’d boo this guy so mercilessly A-Rod would feel sorry for him.
A liveblog tip of the cap to Weekly Journalist.. who found a girl he hopes won’t eventually leave him for Grady Sizemore.
Do you believe in miracles?!?! No, I believe that blind squirrels eventually walk into acorns (Or balls that would be caught in other parks).
Damon follows up Misspellings miracle with a double to right.
During the mound conference - Weekly posits that his engagement is the new “Kowalsky sucks” - thoughts?
Skippy’s replacement just had the choice to give the ball to a dude or some chick… he chose poorly. If you look quickly, he’s aging 1,500 years in 90 seconds right now.
Jeter clutchly bounces to short… advancing Damon. A-Rod would be lynched had he done that.
Why does Abreu insist on bunting and stuff…especially when he can drive singles to right and drive in runs. 4-1 Yankees.
Abreu steals second… He’s the fattest looking speedy guy I’ve ever seen.
BAM! A-Rod is a beast… He should just flip off the entire stadium while he rounds the bases.
A-Rod’s on pace for 324 RBIs this season… and 108 homers. He’s terrible I hope he opts out.
Giambi singles to right - Westbrook has two pitches working right now: his jackball and his squatball.
Posada hits his 200th career homer for the Yankees… but more importantly - that’s a homer and three RBIs for “Not Real Yankees” in my roto league.
Jake Westbrook is going for a hot shower and some cocoa. In comes Jason Davis.
By request - A-Rod is hitting .400/.510/1.093… he sucks.
Davis should get the team out of it, but Marte prolongs the inning with a bad throw.
Popup to Marte ends it… 8-1 Yankees. Now the rook needs to go 1-2-3 to really sew this up.
Top of the third
Wright needs to just throw strikes here… he doesn’t seem real good at that.
So can we get some liveblog grades here? Sort of a mid-term report.
Abreu snags it on the lip of the track… in my house we refer to that as “Mike Greenwell power.”
O’Neill is mocking Kay’s mispronunciation of the work “D-O-N-K-E-Y.” I heart Paulie.
Paul now calling Kay out on jinxing Wright by talking about Hafner’s lack of Yankee Stadium homers. If there were a just God, Kay would be electrocuted during the half inning.
Misspelling saves another Jeter error… it looks pretty, but it was real close to ugly.
Wright fans Garko to end the inning - minus the Kay-induced bomb by Hafner, not a bad inning.
Bottom of the third
Misspelling pops up.. that’s more like it.
Kevin Long looks a little like Luis Sojo - except jowlier.
Damon makes it two putouts for Michaels with a soft fly to left, bringing up the Captain.
And yes he did… Jeter check swings through strike three… 8-2 Yankees.
Top of the fourth
Trivia question - how many guys from Yankees 1951 lineup that Sheppard announced earlier are in the hall of fame?
Blake bounces one off the wall behind Melky for a double.
Peralta swings at a ball over his shoulders for strike three.
Barfield bounces out second to first.. Marte up with a chance to trim it to a four-run lead.
Marte singles… driving in Blake and its 8-3 New York.
Wright defends the honor of Weekly Journalist and strikes out his fiancee’s would-be suitor to end the inning.
Bottom of the fourth
My dad called. Nothing happened.
Top of the fifth
Wright gets through it… still on the phone. He’s in line for the win.
Bottom of the fifth
I told you right now you could get a four run, five inning performance out of Wright, how many of you would take it immediately?
Good deal huh?
Apparently Sterling was yapping that Chase Wright was Sean Henn’s high school teammate… somehow we missed that, but that’s pretty freakin’ cool.
Misspelling pops out again… this is more what like we remember.
Looks like Bruney coming in, the kid done good. The kid done good.
Top of the sixth
It sounded like Damon made a nice play I was picking my wife up from the Metro. No runs scored… still 8-3.
Bottom of the sixth
Abreu gets his second hit off of someone’s glove. A-Rod up with one out… if he hits into a DP, he gets booed here.
A-Rod pops up…. no boos.
And there is no way Bruney is Cashman’s best move… don’t forget, he got an actual living ballplayer back from the Reds for Tony Womack.
Giambi pops up to end the inning.
In other news, the precocious Pens can’t get it done against Ottawa - and now lead the series 3-1.
Top of the seventh
Grounder to Jeter for the first out… oooh collectible cups!!
Myers in… no cool “Halloween” music though.
Heads up play by Posada there… and the inning is over 1-2-3.
Bottom of the Seventh
Roberto Hernandez is 1,000 years old… and his hair is straight out of the EA Sports facial feature generator.
It’d be rude to pick on Roberto here.. given that he’s a senior citizen and all.
The Red Wings game drops in about 10 minutes. If the Yankees go big here, there’s a chance I kill the liveblog.
Two runs score as Chuck Knoblauch Josh Barfield heaves it into the stands.
Top of the eighth
Pretty nice pick by A-Rod there… bit shaky on the throw. One more out left in this liveblog.
And Myers fields and fires…. inning over.
Liveblog over! Liiiiiiiiiiveeeeeblog over!
Seriously kids, its been real - but I need to watch a real TV for a while not MLB.tv. If things get tight, I’ll be back. But its 10-3 Yankees now.
Sunday, April 15, 2007
4/15/07 - New York Yankees (5-5) at Oakland Athletics (5-7) - 4:05 pm (Liveblog)
Hello All, Richard “RB in NYC” Barbieri here to Liveblog today’s game. Larry, our esteemed leader, is apparently on his deathbed so the rest of the RLYW staff is busy angling behind the scenes to ascend to the throne. This leaves humble ol’ me to do the game today so you can look forward an exciting mixture of unwarranted early season panic and admonishment of others for unwarranted early season panic. Good times.
Today’s Lineups:
New York Yankees
Damon CF
Jeter SS
Abreu RF
Rodriguez 3B
Giambi DH
Posada C
Cano 2B
Cabrera LF
SG’s Whipping Boy 1B
Pettitte LHP (1-0, 1.64)
Oakland Athletics
Stewart LF
Swisher CF
Kielty RF
Piazza DH
Chavez 3B
Ellis 2B Crosby SS
Walker 1B
Kendall C
Scutaro SS 2B
Harden RHP (1-1, 1.38)
Pre-Game: According to my back-of-the-envelope calculations, the Yankees are currently on pace to match the ‘62 Mets error total of 210. On the plus side, A-Rod is on pace to hit 113 home runs this season, so I guess things balance out. When he’s healthy, Rich Harden is probably one of the best pitchers in baseball, but he’s never topped even 190 innings. For his career he sports an ugly 5.40 ERA against the Yankees, which means we can look forward to eight innings of scoreless ball today.
In honor of Jackie Robinson Day, Milton Bradley will be wearing number 42 for the A’s while Cano, Jeter and Joe Torre will be wearing it for the Yankees. (Rivera, of course, will also be wearing number 42.) Robinson deserves all the praise he gets for his contributions to both baseball and society, even if he was out back in ‘55.
Finally, on account of the set-up of my apartment, I will be Liveblogging—that’s probably not a word—based on the dulcet tones of John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman. In addition to game commentary you can also expect updates on the words of wisdom dispensed by “Walding.”
I’ll be back for the first pitch.
Top First: The offense better wake up, since Guidry is probably the Yankees’ best option at third starter right now. Apparently my list of players wearing number 42 (from MLB.com, incidentally) was incomplete. Damon leads off and takes a first-pitch strike. He flares back to Harden for the first out.
Jeter steps in. He falls into a hole, 1-2 and flies out to left. Abreu runs the count full as Walding reveals the Yankees’ hotel is apparently in San Francisco. Apparently they agree with Gertrude Stein when it comes to Oakland. Speaking of no there, there Abreu swings and misses for strike three.
Bottom First: Stewart, who kills Pettitte (career 1.045 OPS in 54 AB) leads off. Like his counterpart Damon, he takes a first-pitch strike. Jeter makes another error as the ‘62 Mets and their 210 errors tremble in fear. Chase Wright is apparently coming up for the start on Tuesday.
Swisher at the plate and the count goes to 2-1 on a high-and-tight fastball. Swisher doubles down the left-field line but Melky’s quick throw keeps Stewart at third.
Kielty swings through the the first pitch. He ends up hitting a sac fly which not only scores Stewart but also advances Swisher to third. I haven’t been keeping track of unearned this series, but Oakland must have a bunch. They’re a really awful offensive team.
Yankees try the appeal at second, no such luck and Piazza comes up. He wastes little time lining a ball of Cano’s glove and it’s 2-0 A’s. If this keeps up, I may not last until the third.
Eric Chavez knocks a single into left field and I am rapidly running out of words to describe hits. Bobby Crosby is up, and Walding notes he was supposed to get the day off, which is why Ellis was in the line-up but Ellis is still sore from being beaned by Bruney. Crosby goes down swinging.
Todd Walker up. He grounds out to Jeter, who manages to make the play. I’m as surprised as you are.
Top Second: A-Rod, also known as the entire offense, stands in. He strikes out, as Yankee “fans” in bars everywhere boo.
Last night’s hero, Giambi, up. He also strikes out and this has a chance to be a very quick game. And proving me right, Posada grounds out to second on the first pitch.
Bottom Second: According to father, the Yankees have the appearance of a team already on the plane. That’s probably a bit harsh—Harden is a fine pitcher—but it might be less so once the later innings role around. Kendall leads off. He singles and brings up Marco Scutaro, who has my favorite current baseball name.
Pettitte checks Kendall, who was a really great base stealer until he suffered that gruesome injury a few years back. Now he’s solid, but nothing amazing. Scutaro strikes out looking as I go looking for pictures of Kendall with his foot flopping around. And here we go.
Stewart back up. He singles bringing up Swisher, who my mother opines has a terrible name, “especially for a man.” Mr. Bad Name grounds into a nicely turned 5-4-3 DP and the inning is over.
Top Three: Cano who was on base five times yesterday leads off. Like everyone who isn’t a Dustin Pedroia fanboy, I was pleased to see Cano taking some walks. Of course, he decides to swing at the first pitch here and grounds out 3-1. In case anyone was wondering that last double play was sponsored by some ambulance chasing law firm.
Melky up. He lines up the middle and Harden attempts to field it but instead it bounces off his bare hand and bounces to Crosby. Melky beats it out as Walding discuss how pitchers shouldn’t do that but can’t help themselves. The Whipping Boy flies out on the first pitch, which, increasingly, is a recurring theme. Because, you know, when a guy is dealing, you might as well let him throw as few as possible.
Damon up. He falls in an 0-2 hole and takes a pitch in the dirt for a ball. Damon misses the next one, and after Kendall throws down the inning is over.
Bottom Three: Kielty, whose name gives me some trouble spelling for some reason, flies out to Abreu. After that happens, Walding informs us that had the Yankees turned a triple play, some guy would have won $10,000. They really need to figure out a way to do that before the first out.
Piazza grounds to Pettitte who throws to Whipping Boy for the second out. Sterling calls Pettitte “Andrew” and manages to throw me. Who the hell is Andrew? He gets ahead on Chavez and then levels the count at 2-2. Chavez then triples into the gap in right-center. Given he also homered against Igawa, apparently he doesn’t hit lefties, unless they have NEW YORK written across the chest.
Crosby grounds to Jeter, who again makes the play. I think that’s two in a row for the Captain. Gold Gloves all around!
Top Four: In addition to the Yankees’ trouble, my fantasy team is sinking like a stone. Walding is discussing domes they like and don’t like. The Kingdome was a loser, apparently, but everyone loves the Triple H. Jeter runs the count full. And he walks, apparently the only guy who remembers how you score runs without hits.
Abreu up. Harden seems to have lost the plate to some degree, which can only be a good thing for the Yankees. Sterling advocates the hit-and-run. Good thing Joe wasn’t listening, as Abreu misses it and goes to 2-2. On the 3-2 Abreu stirkes out as Jeter is caught stealing second. A-Rod drops in a single but with two outs the chance of something coming from this inning is low.
Giambi gets ahead in the count 3-1 and fouls it back to run the count full. Giambi strikes out on a high fastball.
Bottom Four: Pettitte is at 46 pitches already, which is a bad sign given I’m sure they’d love for him to get seven. Perhaps listening to the Yankees’ wishes, Walker pops out on the first pitch.
Kendall falls behind 0-2. Kendall grounds one of Pettitte’s glove, Jeter fields it and throws him out. Since Jeter has now made three plays with no error, I’ll cease mocking him.
And the Captain rewards my lack-of-mock by getting Scutaro on a groundball. Nice inning for Andy, just eleven pitches. 55 through 4 beats 46 through 3.
Top Five: Walding manages to get their Grand Slam Inning promotion (someone hits a grand slam, someone else wins something—a car, I think) before Posada finishes his AB. He walks, so that Grand Slam is still in play.
Cano up and flies out to Swisher, so there goes the grand slam. I’m also getting reconcerned about Robby. Speaking of people I’m concerned about, Melky grounds into a double play and we go to bottom half of the inning.
Bottom Five: Stewart grounds out to Pettitte to begin the inning. Brief break as my computer room gets cleaned. Abreu makes a catch on someone, and I gather that ends the inning. Onto the sixth!
Top Six: If anyone is wondering, the answer to this week’s Yankee trivia question is Doc Gooden. The Whipping Boy leads off. AND HE LINES A LEADOFF SINGLE!!!!111oneoneone.
That ends a 0-for-24 streak for Mientkiewicz and he reintroduces himself to first base coach to Tony Pena. Like seemingly every batter, Damon is quickly down in the count. Damon pops a single to right, and Mientkiewicz goes to second. Maybe he could’ve gone to third, but he probably is having a hard time remembering the order in which one runs the bases.
Derek up. He appears to not be bunting, which is good. Of course, now he’s down in the count 0-2 which is not. And Harden strikes him out so the burden shifts to Abreu. The female half of Walding responds to a story with that can only be called a cackle. That was disturbing. Abreu tries his best to hit into a double play to Scutaro but Walker botches the play. Mientkiewicz can’t score, however, first and third for A-Rod.
Harden throws a wild pitch, the ball bounces right back to Kendall, he throws to Harden and Mientkiewicz is out at the plate. I’m sure someone will find a way to blame Alex for that.
Bottom Six: Andy is actaully pitching pretty well, although Oakland is a terrible offensive team. How bad are they? Well, they’ve only scored ten runs off the Yankees in 29 full innings of trying. Given the frequent stumble-bumery of the Yankee defense, that’s awful.
Piazza grounds out to start the inning. Pettitte gives up his first walk to Chavez but starts Crosby off with a strike. Chavez steals second on the second pitch, he stole that on Pettitte, he had a HUGE jump.
In something that makes this seem like a baseball game in a David Lynch movie, there is apparently a fan playing tunelessly on a banjo under the Yankee radio booth. Crosby strikes out, so all is not totally wrong with the world.
Todd Walker, who has bounced around like crazy lately, comes up. Despite Walker’s troubles with lefties, Andy goes to 3-1 on him. He battles back to retire Walker on a comebacker.
Top Seven: Reading it over, some of my comments last inning may not have been 100% lucid. Sorry about that. I hope the Yankees score some runs here, Andy deserves a win.
My cousin suggests the Yankee Radio Network broadcast should feature a segment called “Obvious Thoughts With Suzyn Waldman.” Today’s obvious thought was that the errors have led to runs scoring, and that in general, errors can led to runs.
I mention this because A’s skipper Bob Geren, the trainer and Kendall are out with Harden for some reason. He remains in the game, however. A-Rod leads off the inning with a double. Maybe they’ll actually get this run home.
Harden exits the game. I think technically this is an injury, but Joe Kennedy was already warming so he shouldn’t need too long. This was probably Harden’s last inning anyway, but getting him out of the game should benefit the Yankees.
This pitching change is brought to you by Geico, whose official mascot I met the other day. Apparently Joe Kennedy is a big model airplane/car guy. I enjoy bits of trivia like that, but when a guy has just come into the game, I’d prefer to know what he throws.
Giambi basically blasts one through the shift, but Alex had to hold up so they have first-and-third, no one out with Posada up. Posada is starring in a couple of very amusing SportsCenter ads, worth looking out for. Meanwhile, in his other job, he goes to 2-2 and fouls off a couple of pitches to stay alive.
Posada LINES A DOUBLE DOWN THE LEFT FIELD LINE! A-Rod scores easily, Giambi goes to third. Time for Cano to step up.
Cano steps up indeed and lifts a sac fly to deep right field. In fact, it was deep enough to move Posada to third. Game is tied and a sac fly gives the Yankees a lead.
Melky up, and he lofts a high fly ball to center. Swisher appears to be battling the sun, but he catches it. No chance of catching Posada who jogs home and the Yankees take the lead. Good job by the kids to get those runs home.
Mientkiewicz strikes out to end the inning.
Bottom Seven: Pettitte is at 81 pitches. Waldman continues her Mastery of the Obvious by pointing out Joe would love to Andy to go two innings and turn it over to Rivera. Kendall leads off and runs the count full. He flies out to Abreu for the first out.
Scutaro up, and Andy goes full on him as well. Scutaro fouls off a couple, including one pop up into the first base seats, which is no mean feat in Oakland given the acres of foul ground. CALLED strike three. Two outs.
Harden apparently left with tightness in his right shoulder. That’s a bad sign for the A’s, but worse for poor Harden who just can’t stay on the mound. Stewart up and like everyone else this inning, the count goes full. He flares one to the hole between short and third and A-Rod makes a nice leap and comes down with it. Into the eighth.
Top Eight: Speaking of my friend the Geico gecko, you know what I could go for? Some insurance runs. Now let’s all groan at that transition and watch Damon lead off the inning. And he draws a walk.
Other people wearing 42 today is somewhat disorienting, YES just had a shot of Torre talking to Pettitte and I couldn’t figure out why (a) Rivera was in the dugout still and (b) He appeared to have both shrunk height wise and grown width wise. Igawa is up in the bullpen, Walding speculates he’s just getting his throwing in.
Kennedy out of the game after that walk, his 2004 season in Colorado just looks more and more like a fluke every day. Kiko Calero, another one of baseball’s great names, comes into the game. Jeter is bunting, which sure is annoying. Even Sterling is arguing against this plan.
Jeter doesn’t bunt and what do you know? Lines a single to the outfield, Damon goes to third. And that’s why you don’t bunt, Derek!
Abreu up. He falls behind 0-2 and strikes out—his third of the day—when he really needed to just hit a fly ball, or even a ground-ball DP. On the other hand, A-Rod is up now, so things aren’t all bad.
And A-Rod crushes one to deep right-center field and Swisher makes a fantastic play to save a double (it would’ve just hit below the top of the wall). Damon nonetheless tags easily, and the Yankees get that insurance run. Calero out of the game and Jay Marshall in to face Giambi.
Marshall is a LOOGY and looks like a mirror image of former A (and current O) Chad Bradford. He falls behind Giambi but gets a weak groundout back to him to end the inning.
Bottom Eight: This also known as “The Nervous Inning” as Joe tries to piece together three outs before going to Rivera. Proctor is first to attempt it, facing Swisher. Pettitte pitched a helluva game, by the way. He deserves a W. Proctor falls behind 2-0 and Swisher lines an absolute shot but right at Cano who makes the play and literally stumbles backwards doing it. One out.
Proctor strikes out Bobby Kielty whose name is still giving me trouble. Two out.
Piazza up. And Proctor strikes him out too. That was a fantastic inning, not nervous at all. Nice job.
Top Nine: I wouldn’t mind another insurance run here. Don’t want to be greedy though. Posada leads off, Marshall still in the game. Posada singles on a ground ball just past the outstretched glove of a diving Crosby. He might have beaten it out anyway. Just kidding.
Cano up. He hits into a double play, so not his best effort but Marshall is a tough AB for any lefty. Melky grounds out to third and it’s time for the Sandman.
Bottom Nine: Mariano Rivera, the greatest closer who ever lived, enters the game as I look for him to nail it down 1-2-3.
Eric Chavez leads off. I know Chavez popped out to end the 2000 ALDS off Mo, but otherwise I don’t know his record vs. Rivera. Whatever that record is, it’s now plus another out, as Chavez grounds out weakly to Cano.
Crosby comes to the plate. Rivera gets ahead 1-2. He gets squeezed on ball bwo, but it doesn’t matter as Crosby flies out to Abreu. Todd Walker represents the A’s last hope and singles to left.
Kendall up, he’s unlikely to hit a game-tying HR, given has four total the last three years. Nonetheless, he is the tying run and Rivera falls behind 3-1. Mo gets what looks like a make-up call on the 3-1 and the count runs full. Walker has advanced to second on defensive indifference. Kendall fouls off a couple of pitches to stay alive at 3-2. Kendall draws a walk and an extra base hit from Marco Scutaro might tie the game.
Rivera starts Scutaro off with a strike. Scutaro fouls off the second pitch and he is behind in the count 0-2. Scutaro broke his bat and returns to the dugout to replace his lumber. And he lines a home run down the line to win the game. Fuck.
That’s the end of my Liveblogging, obviously I don’t have the touch.
Saturday, April 14, 2007
4/14/07 - New York Yankees (4-5) at Oakland Athletics (5-6) - 9:05 pm (Liveblog)
Larry went and got sick on us, but as luck would have it I’m nursing a wicked hangover so I’ll be your liveblogger tonight. Between the crappy way the Yanks have played the last couple of days and my hangover, I may be extra cranky today, but maybe the Yanks won’t play like garbage tonight.
Your lineups
NY Yankees
J. Damon cf
D. Jeter ss
B. Abreu rf
A. Rodriguez 3b
J. Giambi dh
R. Cano 2b
J. Phelps 1b
M. Cabrera lf
W. Nieves c
Oakland
S. Stewart lf
N. Swisher cf
M. Piazza dh
E. Chavez 3b
T. Walker 1b
B. Crosby ss
T. Buck rf
J. Kendall c
M. Scutaro 2b
Pre-game: Peter Abraham has rare good news in Yankee-land. Chien-Ming Wang threw 56 pitches in an extended spring training game and racked up five innings, with no hits allowed and six Ks. More importantly, he felt good afterwards. Hurry back Wang.
I’m happy to see Doug Mientkiewicz and his .125/.192/.125 on the bench where he belongs.
No Posada tonight, and Darrell Rasner’s still got some blister issues. Good thing it only affects the one plus pitch he has in his arsenal. Rasner may be forced to take one for the team today with the bullpen weary, but Oakland’s not a great offensive team so maybe it won’t be that bad.
I’ll be back with the first pitch in about 30 min.
Top of the first: Joe Blanton starts it off against Johnny Damon. Damon fans on a 1-2 pitch down and away, but Derek Jeter follows up by grounding a single to RF. Bobby Abreu up now. He chops it to Mark Ellis, who turns the 4-6-3 DP. Great start boys.
Bottom of the first: Let’s see if Rasner can lower that 10.38 ERA. First pitch fastball to Shannon Stewart is a strike. Next fastball is hit pretty well to right-center, but Johnny Damon is able to get to it. That’s a triple if Bernie was in center. Nick Swisher and his flowing locks step in now. Rasner’s throwing strikes so far, four of his first five pitches have been strikes. Make that six of his first seven.
Swisher dunks one the other way to LF, and it bounces between Melky and the foul line. Melky cuts it off, but can’t get Swisher at second. Mike Piazza up now with a runner on second and one down. Rasner gets Piazza to ground one to Jeter, but it handcuffs him and he bobbles it, and everyone’s safe. Swisher went to third and it looks like Jeter was thinking about throwing there and it may have messed him up. Grumble grumble. First and third, one out, and Eric Chavez up. I don’t like how this is shaping up…
Chavez hits it well the other way, but Melky is able to get it shy of the warning track. Swisher tags and scores, and it’s 1-0 Oakland. Todd Walker up. I was about to make fun of Walkers .231 average and OBP, until I realized the Yankees’ primary 1B has a .125 average and .192 OBP.
Rasner’s fastball is sitting around 87-88 so far. His curve comes in around 73, so there’s good separation there.
Walker singles to center to keep things going. This Oakland team is averaging less than four runs a game, but they look like the ‘27 Yankees against this pitching staff. Rasner gets ahead of Bobby Crosby 0-2, then tries to sneak a fastball away past him. Crosby pokes it down the line past Josh Phelps for a double, and Oakland gets another run. 2-0 Oakland. Travis Buck singles to LF, and Oakland tries to score two more runs, but Melky is able to gun down the trailing runner to end the inning at 3-0 Oakland.
This game’s off to a rousing start.
Top of the second: The good news is that despite giving up three runs in the first, Rasner lowered his ERA to 8.44 since all three runs were unearned. Alex Rodriguez fans on three pitches to lead off the inning, and I’m starting to think I may not make it to the end of this one. Giambi flies out to CF for the second out. If Giambi’s still trying to go the opposite way more, he should stop, because it ain’t working. Carlos Baerga steps in, and hits a weak roller to second to end the inning.
Bottom of the second: Jason Kendall works a full count and then grounds to Robinson Cano, who matches his keystone buddy by bobbling it, and Kendall reaches. Someone with pedestrian stuff like Rasner needs his defense to make those plays.
Scutaro hits one hard but right into Melky’s glove. A’s are up to their second time through the order now, and Rasner’s gotten four outs and thrown 30 pitches to get here. Ugh.
It’s a miracle. Shannon Stewart grounds to A-Rod, and he doesn’t bobble it. Instead he turns the 5-4-3 DP. Cano’s throw to first wasn’t great, but Phelps made a decent stretch to grab it.
Top of the third: Phelps leads off the third. Let’s see if he can do something that Mientkiewicz is incapable of, and hit one out of the infield. Nope, grounds up the middle and Bobby Crosby makes a nice play to catch Phelps by half a step. Melky hacks at the first pitch and sends it the other way, Stewart is able to chase it down in foul territory for the second out. Wil Nieves steps in looking for his first Yankee hit. I figure he’ll get it by July. On 3-2 he grounds one just foul down the third base line. Awfully close. His second 3-2 attempt ends in a popout to Scutaro. Not much life in the batting order the first time through.
Bottom of the third: Rasner starts Swisher off 2-0, but gets him to fly out to medium center to lead off the inning. Rasner was mainly working fastball/curve the first time through the order, but he’s using the changeup more now. He gets Piazza to pop out to Cano for the second out. Pitching to Chavez now it looks like he’s lost the strike zone. Hope it’s not the blisters. He works back from 3-1 and gets Chavez looking at a fastball on the outside corner for strike three.
Through three innings:
Pitches-strikes: Rasner 47-31, Blanton 32-21.
Top of the fourth: You know what’d be great? A hit or two. It won’t be from Damon, who pops out meekly to short for the first out. Blanton’s not overpowering them or anything, but they’re not getting good contact against him. Jeter flies out to Buck in RF for the second out. It would take this team three seasons to score 1000 runs. Blanton makes Abreu look bad, swinging at a changeup down to end the inning.
Bottom of the fourth: Walker hits a fly ball to LF and Melky makes a nice running catch in foul ground. He’s not hitting at all, but his defense continues to be great. Rasner works to Crosby now. Rasner’s been quietly effective after the first inning. Crosby fights off a bunch of pitches but ends up flying out to Cano in foul territory for the second out. Buck flies out LF and Melky chases it down again to end the inning.
Here are the up to the second Yankee AVG/OBP/SLG for the starting nine today. Abreu and Giambi really need to get it going.
J. Damon: .320/.393/.560
D. Jeter: .350/.435/.375
B. Abreu: .282/.348/.385
A. Rodriguez: .361/.455/.972
J. Giambi: .200/.300/.314
R. Cano: .282/.317/.333
J. Phelps: .222/.364/.222
M. Cabrera: .176/.222/.176
W. Nieves: .000/.000/.000
Top of the fifth: A-Rod leads it off and crushes one into the seats. 3-1 A’s. Giambi drops below a .200 average if he makes an out here. He hits it well, but Swisher flags it down in center for the first out. Cano singles the other way between third and short. It’s a bonafide Yankee explosion. I’m really pulling for Phelps to do something here, because I’ve had about all I can stand of the Doug M 1-3 show. On 2-0, Phelps takes a strong cut and fouls it straight back. He misses a slider up on the next pitch, then fouls a changeup down and away off to keep the count at 2-2. He takes a fastball that just missed the outside corner and the count goes full. He fouls off a 3-2, then draws a walk. Let’s see if Melky can rediscover some of his 2006 magic. Melky gets ahead 2-0, then hits a solid single to LF driving in Cano and it’s now 3-2. John Flaherty making a good point about how once Blanton has had to start working out of the stretch, he’s not been as sharp. All I want Nieves to do here is not hit into a DP. I get my wish, Nieves pops up to first. Damon up with the tying run on second but two down. Damon’s not looked good against Blanton so far, but perhaps the third time will be the charm.
Blanton’s thrown 30 pitches this inning, after throwing 41 through the first four. Good stuff. Damon gets to a full count, but then takes a called strike three to end the inning. Yanks get two runs and and get Blanton’s pitch count up, so I approve that inning.
Bottom of the fifth: It’s cliche, but it’s also true. Rasner has to hold the A’s here. He gives up a single to Kendall instead. Scutaro hits the ball well again, but right to Damon for the first out. Rasner’s been throwing strikes for the most part tonight. Rasner is treating Jason Kendall like he’s Rickey Henderson. He’s thrown over to first about 57 times. After a long AB, Stewart ends up flying out to CF for the second out. Swisher up. He’s by far the scariest guy in the Oakland lineup to me. I’ve been commenting on his long hair, but he’s actually growing it for a good cause (wigs for cancer patients). Good for him. He grounds to Cano for the third out.
Rasner’s really battled back nicely from the first. He’s at 77 pitches now, and should be able to go at least one more. I’m not sure who’s available from the pen tonight, but hopefully Farnsworth isn’t.
Top of the sixth: Jeter leads off by grounding out 4-3. Is it too soon to say Abreu is slumping? Because he is. He grounds out 4-3 too. Sean Henn looks to be loosening in the pen, thus answering my question about who is available tonight. A-Rod steps in with two down and none on. His HR last time up put him ahead of Manny Ramirez on the all-time list at 471. He draws a two out walk. He’s going to be walked a lot until Giambi starts going. I thought Giambi had a good swing last AB, so maybe this is where he gets started. Giambi rewards my faith by flying out to LF to end the inning. Maybe they ought to stick him at first tomorrow.
Bottom of the sixth: I’d probably try to keep Rasner out there for one more inning, but let’s see what Torre does here. Rasner does start the inning, gets one out, and then is pulled with the lefties coming up. He did pretty well overall. With better defensive support he’d probably have a 2-0 lead. He lowers his ERA on the season to 4.66. In this day and age that’s worth $10 million a year.
Sean Henn comes on and gets a grounder to Cano for the second out. He did finally get that K I wanted him to get, but 1 in 8 innings is still not confidence-inspiring. He gets another groundout to Cano, who recorded all three outs that inning. On to the seventh. The Yankees need to try and score here before they get to the Duscherer/Street portion of the Oakland pen.
Top of the seventh: Blanton’s still out there, starting the inning with a pitch count of 94. Cano leads off by swinging and missing at a neck high fastball then taking 3 straight out of the zone. He fouls off the fifth pitch and works the count full, then calls time and steps out. He steps back in, fouls another one off, steps out again, steps back in and fouls another off. Good AB so far. Cano takes a fastball low for ball four. Now I wait for Adriana Lima to call me. Phelps steps up and is hacking from the get-go. He fans, then Melky gets robbed by a diving catch by Swisher. Two down, and the rally is basically over before it started. Posada pinch-hitting for Wil Nieves now. Posada rips a double down the RF line and Cano was running on the pitch and scores from first! 3-3 ballgame. Nice.
Blanton out, and something called Jay Marshall is in. He looks like a tall, skinny version of Mike Myers, sidearming lefty. Damon looks rather uncomfortable against him, and ends up grounding to Chavez to end the frame. We’re all knotted up though, so that’s good.
Bottom of the seventh: Hey, David Ortiz hit a 3-run HR with his team already winning 5-0. I can’t wait to see the Boston papers rip him for padding his stats tomorrow.
Henn still in. Let’s hope he doesn’t lay an egg. Get it? Henn? Egg? Crosby hits one well, Jeter makes a nice diving stop and throw but the throw short-hops Phelps and he can’t scoop it. I think that was a scoop-able ball, and Phelps does get an error. Buck follows with a ground ball single that was hit just far enough to Cano’s left that he couldn’t get to it. First and second, no outs, and Torre pulls Henn for Scott Proctor. Kendall tries to bunt but pops it in the air, and Proctor makes a nice running catch and almost crashes into A-Rod in the process. The ball may have been fould, but nice play. Scutaro flies out deep to Abreu in RF at the edge of the warning track, and Crosby tags and goes to third, but there are now two down, and Shannon Stewart up. Proctor goes full on Stewart, with Swisher looming on deck. Proctor gets Stewart to ground a slider down that probably would have been ball four over to third, and A-Rod throws him out. Good job by the Proctologist to get out of that inning.
Top of the eighth: Please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score please score.
Yay, Alan Embree is in. Jeter doesn’t realize it and flies out to right center for the first out. Let’s see if Abreu can do something good here. He does do something good, lining a single off a fastball up and away into LF. I’m wondering if Abreu should look to steal here. On the one hand, you get to scoring position, on the other hand, you probably take the bat out of your best hitter’s hands. Embree’s just pounding Rodriguez’s with fastballs, and he’s fouling them off.
Abreu did take off on the 1-2 pitch, but Rodriguez fouled it off. Crap, A-Rod swings through a 1-2 fastball for the second out. It was about letter-high and on the outside part of the plate. Giambi steps up. One nice thing about Giambi never getting on base is he can’t be pinch run for. It ends up not mattering as Abreu gets picked off going for second.
Bottom of the eighth: Proctor facing Swisher to start things off, and starts off behind 2-0. He works back with two fastballs, one swung on and missed and one placed on the outside corner to level the count at 2-2, then misses low and away with a slider to run the count full. Swisher fouls off the first 3-2 pitch, so they do it again. Mike Myers is warming. Swisher fouls off another one, then grounds out to Cano for the first out. Piazza up. Piazza hits a long foul the other way, then gets jammed and pops up to Cano for the second out. Torre will go to Myers now. That’s the best I’ve seen Proctor look this season, good job by him tonight.
Myers starts off Chavez with two pitches out of the strike zone. That drives me nuts. You have one job, to retire lefties. How do you not throw strikes? Count goes full and he ends up walking him. Lame. Walker up. Maybe Myers won’t walk him.
L-Viz is warming in the pen. I’ll take May 16 for his eventual Tommy John surgery.
Myers throws two strikes to Walker, but Chavez steals on the second one. If they get Walker it doesn’t matter. Myers tries to get Walker to chase two pitches out of the strike zone, but he doesn’t. Count goes to 2-2. Walker fouls off a couple of 2-2 pitches, and Posada and Myers are having a mound conference.
Walker ends up hitting it hard up the middle but Robinson Cano gloves it and throws him out. End of inning.
Top of the ninth: Bold prediction. The Yankees will not score this inning. Embree still in, Giambi back up. I predict a lazy fly to LF. Yanks can’t seem to hit Embree’s fastball today. Why didn’t teams have problems hitting it when he was a Yankee? Giambi hits one into the shift in short RF, and Scutaro tosses him out. Cano up. He’s laying off some close pitches in the last few AB. Maybe someone knocked some sense into him. Cano’s battling Embree here. Fouled off several two strike pitches and has worked the count full. Cano walks again after a great nine pitch AB. Maybe the Carlos Baerga comparisons got to him.
Huston Street coming in now, and Ken Singleton is saying this means that Mientkiewicz will be pinch-hitting for Josh Phelps. Why? Do they want to ground into a 1-6-3 DP?
It is Mientkiewicz. In a most shocking outcome, he doesn’t hit into a double play, instead lining out to LF. 0 for his last 22. But it doesn’t matter, right? This team’s going to score 50 runs a game. Melky takes a big healthy rip on a 1-0 pitch, but fouls it off. He’s had better AB lately.
WTF? Cano goes for second and gets thrown out by Kendall for the third out. I’m not sure if that was a straight steal or a botched hit and run. It was stupid whatever it was.
I’m not sure I want to watch the bottom of the ninth…
Bottom of the ninth: L-Viz is in the game. It’s his 8th appearance. The Yankees have played 10 games. So he’s pitched in 80% of the games so far. He gets Crosby to pop out to A-Rod for the first out. Buck is up. Vizcaino can’t retire Buck, as he walks him on a full count. Vizcaino’s command looks bad today. It’s not possibly fatigue-related, is it? A’s hit and run with Kendal up and the ball is popped to shallow RF. Abreu runs in and can’t make the play, which he should have made. It would have been a DP. Instead, Abreu gets an error, the A’s get the winning run at second base with one out and Scutaro up. F###ing hell.
Scutaro flies out to Damon in shallow center for the second out, and it’s now Steward vs. Vizcaino with two down and the winning run on second. Stewart taps to Vizcaino who throws him out to end the inning. All’s well that ends well, I guess.
Top of the tenth: Yay. Free baseball. Melky tries to bunt his way on to start things off, but it goes foul. It’s too bad we have to wait 8 more hitters until Doug M is up…
Kyle Farnsworth is warming in the pen. So that means this game ends in the tenth one way or the other. Melky fans, one down. Posada is able to single to left, and that brings up Damon, who’s hitless in the series. He whiffs on the same changeup that got Melky. Jeter up. Let’s see if he can make up for his first inning error that gave Oakland their three runs.
Jeter grounds to Bobby Crosby who flips to second to force Posada, except he makes a bad throw! Posada goes to third, Jeter goes to second, and Abreu gets to bat with the go-ahead run on third and two down. Street pitching Abreu carefully with first base open. 2-0 to Abreu. Damn. Street comes with a changeup on 2-0 and drops it in for a strike. 2-1. Two more pitches out of the strike zone and Abreu walks, and that brings up A-Rod. I’m guessing one way or another he’s going to be a cover boy again tomorrow. Let’s go Alex!
So much for that, as he pops out to Crosby.
Bottom of the tenth: Exit night. Enter light. That’s ‘Enter Sandman’, the Kyle Farnsworth edition. It’s not a question of if Farnsworth will blow this game, it’s a question of how. Will he give up a 500 ft HR? Will he walk the bases loaded and then hit a batter? Will he he give up a single and then throw three wild pitches? The possibilities are endless.
Swisher grounds to Jeter’s backhand. He tries to make his jump throw play but Swisher beats it out. So the winning run is on first with no outs. I predict wild pitch. He retires Piazza, who could not check his swing on two sliders in the dirt. One down, Chavez up. I’m changing my prediction to a double, and Swisher scores from first.
After retiring Piazza, Farnsworth’s ERA on the year is 9.64. Good work Kyle. And he’s fallen behind Eric Chavez 3-1, but Chavez bails him out and pops out for the second out. That’ll just make the HR he gives up here even more painful.
I wonder what Farnsworths’ Ball/Strike ratio is. I’d be shocked if he threw even 50% strikes. I’m also noticing that Farnsworth’s velocity is down this year. He’s been 92-94 this game. Last year he was 95+ almost all the time. Farnsworth fans Walker to end the inning. I always believed in you Farns. Good job.
Top of the eleventh: The Yankees have to score this inning, so Mo can close it out and we can all go to sleep happy to support a team that’s a .500 team. Lenny Dinardo is in the game. I’m pretty sure someone at SoSH touted him as a future Hall of Famer at one time, so he must be good. He falls behind Giambi 3-0 right off the bat, but fights back to 3-2. He gets Giambi to chop back to him and throws him out for the first out. Cano up. Mo is warming in the pen. He may be coming in regardless of what happens here.
Cano has to homer here, because we all know Mientkiewicz isn’t going to do anything. He singles instead, which sets up Mientkiewicz for his standard 1-6-3 DP. Can he turn 0 for 22 into 0 for 23? I think he can. He does go to 0 for 23, but he hit that ball reasonably well. It was within 10 feet of the warning track. Melky grounds out to end the inning. That inning sucked. Come to think of, this game sucks.
Bottom of the eleventh: Mo is in. In a tie game on the road. I’m expecting earthquakes and tornadoes now. Three pitches, one broken bat, and one down. He walks Buck on four pitches? Odd. Kendall up, and they try a hit and run but it’s fouled off. Mo’s not really sharp command wise tonight, although it’s understandable since he hasn’t pitched in a while. Kendall lines one, and Jeter makes a very nice leaping catch for the second out.
Assuming Mo gets out of this inning, he’s thrown a fair number of pitches now. I don’t think they’d ask him to pitch the 12th, so who does? Can they bring Vizcaino back in? Mo retires Scutaro on a foul pop out to Mientkiewicz, and we head to the twelfth. This game is never going to end.
Top of the twelfth: Posada is up, and Brian Bruney is warming in the pen. Seriously, how is the Yankee bullpen going to suvive the kind of workload they’ve been under? Posada hits one fairly well, but not well enough, and Stewart catches it on the edge of the warning track in left.
BTW, I don’t think the bullpen use is Torre’s fault. It’s the starters not lasting deep into games. DiNardo hits Damon on the elbow, and the Yankees have a runner they can strand. Jeter hits a liner that Crosby knocked down and he forces Damon at second. Jeter is able to reach before they turn the play, and Abreu’s up. Abreu grounds out to the pitcher. On to the bottom of the twelfth, where we can all watch Brian Bruney’s arm come of its socket.
Bottom of the twelfth: Bruney’s in. Miguel Cairo is warming in the pen. Has Posada caught more inning than Nieves now? If they’d have just started Posada would they have scored enough to have already won this game? Bruney fans Steward for the first out. Here’s Swisher. Bruney gets him to popup towards second base, and Jeter grabs it for the second out. Piazza up now, and he fouls out. On to inning #
Top of the thirteenth: A-Rod leads it off against Cy Dinardo. Dinardo gets a breaking ball over for a called strike three. Giambi up. I predict he will not homer here.
Forget the not. I mean, I predict he will homer here. And he does. 4-3 Yankees. I predict Cano will not get a hit here. But he does get a hit.
No sense predicting with Doug M. I know he will not get a hit, ever.
Ugh, another botched hit and run and Cano gets thrown out again. Mientkiewicz takes one for the team, but there are two down. I predict Melky will not get a hit here. He doesn’t, grounding out.
To the bottom of the thirteenth we head. Do they try another inning out of Bruney?
Bottom of the thirteenth: Yep, it’s Bruney. He falls behind Chavez 3-0 right off the bat. Not good. Leadoff walk, and he missed badly on the last pitch. This is not Brian Bruney. This is Kyle Farnsworth in disguise. He starts Walker off with his fifth straight pitch out of the strike zone, but then throws two straight strikes. The 1-2 is popped foul between 3rd and home, but Posada can’t make a play on it. Still 1-2. Walker’s hanging tough, fouling off pitch after pitch. He’s now fouled off at least 300 pitches by my count. Walker hits one well but just got under it. I thought it was gone at first, but Abreu was able to catch it in front of the wall for the first out. Whew. Crosby hits another high fly ball, this time to LF, and Melky gets to it for the second out.
ONE MORE OUT!
Bruney starts Buck out with a fastball for a strike, then gets him to chase another for strike two. One strike away. Misses up with a fastball, 1-2.
FASTBALL OUTSIDE CORNER CALLED STRIKE THREE! YANKS WIN!
That win hit the spot. Thank you and good night.
Friday, April 13, 2007
4/13/07 - New York Yankees (4-4) at Oakland Athletics (4-6) - 10:05 pm (Liveblog)
Kei Igawa (0-0, 12.60) vs. Dan Haren (0-2, 0.69)... wait, what?
Kei Igawa got knocked around by the O’s last weekend, but the Yanks did come back to win on Alex Rodriguez’s totally unclutch walkoff grand slam. On the “bright” side, the O’s have a better lineup than the A’s do, so we should expect him to do a little better than he did. God, I sure hope so.
Dan Haren’s numbers are deceiving. For one, he faced Felix Hernandez on Opening Day, and then he faced John Lackey in his last start. So there’s the 0-2 right there. On the other hand, that ERA isn’t indicative of the runs he’s allowed. He gave up 4 unearned runs to the Mariners and one unearned run to the Angels, so his “runs allowed average” is really 4.15. Still, that’s very good in the AL, so the Yanks have their hands full tonight.
I guess it should be a slow chatter tonight—it’s Friday, it’s late, and it’s Kei Igawa. But I’ll be here for the whole thing, internet connection allowing.
Pregame: On the pregame show on WCBS, Torre said that Moose is going to throw on Sunday to see how he feels, and that they’ll make a decision from there. Torre: “Well do the safest thing.”
Torre says that Pavano’s soreness is in soft tissue, not his elbow (but near his elbow), whatever that means. They’re pushing him back to Tuesday.
Karstens will pitch Monday and Wang will pitch Tuesday, and Torre feels they could be back in the majors right after that.
Lineups, via LoHud:
Yanks:
Damon CF
Jeter SS
Abreu RF
Rodriguez 3B
Giambi DH
Posada C
Cano 2B
Mientkiewicz 1B
Cabrera LF
A’s:
Ellis 2B
Swisher CF
Kielty CF
Piazza DH
Chavez 3B
Crosby SS
Walker 1B
Kendall C
Buck RF
Man, the MLB.tv pregame commentary looks straight out of the 80s.
Top of the First: The Yanks have struggled against Haren in the past, but hopefully they can make up for getting shut down by Ortiz Thursday by getting to Haren.
MLB.tv Premium is really good quality. I’ve got the game patched through to my television while I type on my monitor, and the picture quality is similar to watching a game on videotape. Not bad for an internet live broadcast.
Damon just missed a double on a 1-1 pitch, and on a 3-2, takes strike three over the inside corner, one away.
Now Jeter bounces a 1-1 to Bobby Crosby for the second out.
Abreu runs the count full, and then rips a ball to dead center. Swisher, taking a pretty poor route to the ball, can’t catch it, and it bounces back towards the infield over his head. Abreu stops at second, because why try with two outs?
A-Rod, who is a bum, draws a five-pitch walk. Giambi’s struggled so far except for Opening Day and last Saturday, and is 1-14 against Haren. Here’s a big chance to turn that around.
Giambi gets ahead 2-1, then Haren throws a ball in the dirt past Kendall, moving the runners up and running the count to 3-1. Maybe Abreu should have tried for third…
The 3-1 is a strike right over the plate, and Giambi takes the 3-2 to left for an easy out. So, no support for Joe Cool yet.
Bottom of the First: No shades for Kei today, which sucks. Yeah, I know why he wore them Saturday—the wind—but it would be awesome to see him pitch in shades all the time. Unless he keeps sucking.
Igawa starts Ellis off with low stuff, but only gets the first pitch in for a strike. But he gets Ellis to pop up to Melky.
He starts Swisher off with a great offspeed pitch for a strike, then a fastball down the middle for another. He then misses with three straight to run the count full, then walks him after a foul ball.
Igawa’s lost the strike zone after looking pretty good for his first few pitches. He falls behind Kielty 2-0, and then nearly gives up a double to left. A beautiful curve over the plate evens the count 2-2, though. He then gets a slow chopper in front of the plate, and Igawa throws Kielty out at first.
And once again Igawa loses the plate, issuing a four-pitch walk to Piazza, bringing Chavez up in the same situation Giambi was in.
Igawa gets ahead of Chavez 1-2, and induces a foul popup behind third in foul territory. A-Rod, who sucks, runs it down and grabs it for the final out.
A good inning for Kei? Meh. But he got the job done.
Top of the Second: MLB.tv has this Pac-Man-looking thing running during commercial breaks, with a baseball as Pac-Man, bases as powerups, and I think gloves as the ghosts.
Haren totally owns Posada on three pitches, striking him out swinging.
Robby Cano takes a strike. Huh?
He then hacks at a pitch that’s a bit high to fall behind 0-2. Well, they certainly aren’t threatening Haren this inning. Another foul by Cano. Haren throws it way high, over Cano’s head, and Robby takes it for ball 1. Robby then swings through a splitter on the outside part of the plate, and there are two away.
And once again Haren’s ahead 0-2, and then gets Mientkiewicz on a check swing at a ball in the dirt. Looked a little sketchy to me, but then Oakland hasn’t shown a definitive angle. Why would they?
Bottom of the Second: I realized this morning that Robby Cano is disturbingly similar to Carlos Baerga. Discuss.
Igawa starts Crosby with a fastball at the knees, which apparently missed low. He throws another pitch to about the same place for a strike, then gets a foul ball for the second strike. The 1-2 is lofted out to Abreu for the first out.
Todd Walker swings at the first two pitches and is behind 0-2. After a ball low, Walker swings through a slider for strike three.
Igawa’s finding the zone this inning, he’s quickly ahead of Kendall on two pitches taken. The 0-2 is lined right to Jeter, and Igawa is mirroring Haren. He looks vastly better tonight than he did last week.
Top of the Third: Melky hits it hard back to the mound to start the inning, but Haren throws it low and past first base. The ball rolls all the way towards the Yankees’ bullpen, and there’s a ton of foul territory in Oakland. Melky runs all the way to third base, and the Yanks are off to a good start this inning.
For the second time, Damon runs the count full on Haren, and the 3-2 is low for ball four this time.
Haren slips off the mound as he throws the first pitch to Jeter, which is low. Geren and the trainer (who I think managed the Indians in Major League) are out to check him out, but he’s fine.
The count goes to 3-2, and Damon takes off—but Jeter fouls it back. Seems that Johnny’s legs are fine. Johnny goes again and Jeter just misses a two-run double down the right field line. The third 3-2 pitch is low, and the bases are loaded with no outs for Abreu, A-Rod and Giambi. The Yanks should get a run out of this, but hopefully they can break it open.
Haren’s 60th pitch is inside to Bobby. The 1-0 is hit high to medium-deep left for a sac fly, but it keeps the runners at first and second. The Yanks have one run, but a DP could get the A’s out of the jam.
Haren has been a little wild since slipping on the mound, and he falls right behind A-Rod 2-0. Rodriguez just misses a high fastball, fouling it to the backstop. He fouls back the 2-1, also. The 2-2 is driven to center, but not that deep. Damon moves to third, but A-Rod just missed it.
Now it’s up to Giambi again. As soon as I said that Haren was a little wild, he hasn’t thrown a ball. It’s 0-2 to Giambi, and there’s a ball inside. Haren misses high, and his 70th pitch is fouled away to keep the inning alive. And now Giambi takes the next pitch for ball 3. But Giambi taps the 3-2 pitch back to Haren, who jogs over to first and flips it to Walker for the third out. Only one run, but Haren is not long for this game—72 pitches through three innings.
Bottom of the Fourth: Like I said, Igawa is looking much better today than on Saturday. He starts Travis Buck with a strike looking, then gets a fly out to center.
He’s quickly ahead of Ellis 0-2—and he’s looking REALLY good right now. Oops, spoke to soon, Ellis drops a base hit in front of Damon.
Igawa falls behind Swisher 2-0, but he fights back and gets his second strikeout for the second out.
On a 2-2 to Kielty, Igawa gives up his favorite play, a short popup down the right field line… but Cano gets it this time! Three innings, one hit, no runs, and Igawa is looking sharp. I guess it is to early to ask how you say “bust” in Japanese, Mr. Generic MLB.tv Preview Guy.
Top of the Fourth: After looking awful in his first PA against Haren, Jorge runs the count full after falling behind 1-2 this time, and draws the walk.
Haren must really be having command problems as he runs the count full again on Cano, but Robby, apparently trying to pretend he’s disciplined, takes strike three right down the middle. He took five pitches that AB, only swinging at one.
Again Haren runs the count full, and Jorge takes off for second to try to avoid a GIDP. Mientkiewicz fouls it off, and Jorge drags himself back to first. The same thing happens on the next pitch, and the next, and HEY, THAT worked out REALLY well, Joe. Mientkiewicz lines out to left, and Posada isn’t able to get back to first, and Torre just managed his way out of an inning.
You know, sometimes you shouldn’t manage with the expectation that your batter will hit a ground ball.
Haren, with 92 pitches through four, probably only has one inning left in him.
Bottom of the Fourth: Igawa goes full to Piazza to lead off the fourth. Piazza hits a deep fly ball to right… and there’s that wall-shyness that Phillies fans bitched about. Abreu, not sure where the wall is, misses the catch, and Piazza ends up on third to start the inning when he should be out.
Chavez hits a slow ground ball to Mientkiewicz, who dives and tags Chavez just before he reaches first base on a dive. But Piazza ties the game, and there’s one away.
Despite losing the lead, Igawa doesn’t look bothered by the error, and he strikes out Bobby Crosby swinging. And then he gets Todd Walker on the first pitch on a fly to Damon.
The A’s ain’t that good a lineup, but Igawa is throwing strikes and looking good.
Top of the Fifth: Melky leads off the fifth with a leadoff popup. Damon’s up, and on Haren’s 100th pitch he grounds out to second for the second out.
On a 2-0 pitch, Jeter hits a hard out to first, and the Yanks are gone quickly. That’s probably it for Haren, but if the A’s want to push it, I think his arm could take one more inning without a problem.
Bottom of the Fifth: The Yankees’ starters seem to have a pattern of bad in their first start, good in their second start. Here’s hoping that happens with Rasner tomorrow.
Igawa gets Kendall to ground out to Jeter to lead off the inning.
And just as I say that Igawa’s pitching well, he falls behind Buck 3-0, then hits him with a 3-1 pitch.
Ellis flies out to Abreu for the second out, and Swisher bounces out to A-Rod for the third out.
So Igawa’s dropped his ERA all the way down to 6.30 today—to be fair, it should be lower, as a failure to give Jeter an error last Sunday cost him an earned run.
Top of the Sixth: The A’s send Haren out with 103 pitches on his arm after all, and Bobby Abreu leads off with a base hit on the 105th. Obviously Geren wants to get Haren a win after 18 innings of a 1.00 ERA.
It’s not working. A-Rod takes ball 1, then rips a single to left. So instead of giving Haren a slight chance to win, he’s given him a good chance to go 0-3. With an ERA of 1.00 (at this point). Good job.
Here’s Alan Embree—hey, he sucks ass!—to pitch to Giambi, and there’s another base hit! Now the Yanks have the bases loaded with no outs for Jorge… and there’s another single!
Dan Haren is now 0-2, with a chance to go 0-3, with a 1.50 ERA. I’m sure he’s glad he came out for the sixth.
Robby Cano is bizzarely taking everything now, and it pays off this time as he walks on four pitches, bring home the third run, and finishing Haren’s line, bumping his ERA to a horrible 2.00.
Doug Mientkiewicz, trying to be the opposite of Josh Phelps (all glove, no offense), grounds into a DP, which brings home another run, but now there are two outs.
Melky ends it with a popup to right, but the Yanks break the tie and give Igawa a 4-1 lead.
Bottom of the Sixth: Igawa starts the sixth off with a hard groundout by Kielty to Jeter.
Piazza falls behind 1-2 but lines a bullet to left-center, past a lunging Melky, and to the wall for a double.
With 90 pitches on Igawa’s arm, Gator comes out to give Proctor a little time to warm up.
On a 1-2 pitch, Chavez checks his swing on a ball in the dirt, and they say he held up. The next pitch… homer. That makes a great-looking start by Igawa look kind of mediocre, but it was one of only three hits he gave up.
On one hand, the A’s can’t hit worth a damn, so 3 runs isn’t that great. On the other hand, two of the hits came from Piazza and Chavez, who can hit.
On the whole, I’d say it was an impressive, promising start by Joe Cool. He’s clearly not going to be an ace, but as a fourth starter? I can deal with that.
In comes Proctor, and on a 1-2 pitch he freezes Crosby on a 93 MPH high fastball for strike three.
Proctor’s been up and down so far this year. He gets Todd Walker to 2-2, but gives up a single to left.
Proctor goes full on Kendall, who drives it to the warning track in left center. Melky chases it down, and the inning ends. The Yanks gave back two big runs, but they still have the lead, 4-3.
Top of the Seventh: Lefty sidearmer Jay Marshall comes in for the 7th, and gets Damon to ground out to short for the first out.
Apparently, someone forgot to turn on the lights when they took Marshall’s Gameday picture. He turns out the lights on Jeter (oh, HAHAHAHA!), striking him out for the second out.
He then strikes out Abreu swinging, and one wonders why Geren brought Embree into the game instead of him last inning. Not that I’m complaining…
Bottom of the Seventh: Torre decides to punt the game, because, you know, who needs wins? It’s Kyle Farnsworth in a one-run game, and this can’t end well.
Ball One.
Ball Two.
Foul! And it was over the plate, too!
And then… Ball Three.
Foul Ball, and then a popup to shallow left! Whew, The Professor tried his best, but he still managed to get an out.
Here’s a shock, ball one to Ellis. And ball two.
Ball three way inside.
Soft fastball for a strike over the plate, and then a foul line drive down the left field line.
Now Ellis flies out to Damon, and Farnsworth is succeeding in spite of himself.
Nick Swisher up… ball one, two, and, Good News, Everybody! Tied Game. Swisher homers to right center.
And here’s a shock… ball one to Kielty, followed by his good friend, ball two. Here comes Guidry to deck Farnsworth… and oh, I guess he just wanted to talk.
I guess it didn’t work. Ball three. Ball Four. Mike Piazza up.
And Farnsworth gets ahead 0-1! STOP THE PRESSES!
And then Piazza pops out to left, but that just ruined this evening for me. Jesus, Joe, what the hell was that?
Top of the Eighth: Dustin Duchscherer is in to face A-Rod, who’s got a chance to be Mr. Clutch again. And he comes through again, ripping a first pitch single to left.
Giambi tries to bunt to the left side to exploit the shift, but, well, he’s Jason Giambi, and that’s why he doesn’t bunt. And now he’s behind 0-2, taking the second pitch for a strike. And that’s why he doesn’t bunt.
And on a 1-2 pitch Giambi rips a double down the right field line, moving A-Rod to third, AND THAT’S WHY HE DOESN’T BUNT!
The point of the shift isn’t just to turn some Giambi singles into hits, it’s to get Giambi to try and bunt, to try and go the other way… so he doesn’t hit home runs.
Torre lifts Giambi for Kevin Thompson at second… let’s see how that plays out. Posada up with no outs and two in scoring position.
Posada rips a 2-1, but it’s snared by Todd Walker for the first out. Bad luck.
Now Cano is intentionally walked to load the bases and set up the DP for Eyechart, something he seems not unlikely to provide for the A’s.
Mientkiewicz hits a little blooper to the middle of the diamond, which drops between three infielders, and they throw A-Rod out at the plate. And there are two out for Melky.
The A’s had a brain fart there. They should have thrown to third and then to second for the double play. Well, let’s see how this turns out for them…
And Melky grounds out to second, and the Yankees blow a golden opportunity. They’re going to lose this game, you know it.
Bottom of the Eighth: Mike Myers comes in to face the lefty Chavez.
After falling behind 3-1, Myers induces a groundout to Jeter up the middle, and Torre lifts him for Luis Vizcaino.
Vizcaino throws a first pitch ball to Crosby, but then gets ahead 1-2 and induced a fly out to Damon in shallow right-center for the second out.
And Vizcaino gets it done, inducing a ground out by Todd Walker to send it to the ninth.
If Torre had brought in Henn or Bruney an inning ago, we’d probably be getting “Enter Sandman” ready. Instead, we’re tied.
Top of the Ninth: I remember in the early 90s how it always seemed that Devon White, Roberto Alomar and Joe Carter were coming up in the ninth whenever the Yankees played Toronto in a close game. I’m guessing there are a lot of AL teams who feel that way about the Yanks right now.
Damon leads off, but he grounds out to first for out number one.
Jeter rips a 1-1 pitch to right for a base hit, and barring a DP, A-Rod will come up this inning.
On a 2-1 pitch Jeter takes off on an apparent hit and run, as Abreu swings at a pitch high to even the count 2-2.
And Abreu nearly ends the inning with a grounder to second, but Jeter holds up and makes Ellis throw to second, which gives Abreu time to get to first, bringing up A-Rod.
With Josh Phelps on deck, the A’s certainly aren’t going to intentionally walk A-Rod, but they’re probably not going to give him anything to hit.
And while the A’s do pitch around A-Rod, falling behind 3-1, A-Rod still puts it in play on a pitch over the plate, grounding to short and ending the inning.
Bottom of the Ninth: It’s crunch time now, Vizcaino comes back for the bottom of the ninth to face the bottom of the A’s lineup and Mark Ellis.
Kendall’s not much of a threat to end it here, but he is a solid hitter. But Vizcaino doesn’t really give him a chance to hit, walking him on five pitches.
Buck sac bunts on the first pitch, and the A’s are a single away from victory.
The first pitch is outside, and it might be a good idea to walk Ellis, to set up a DP. That run doesn’t mean anything anyway, but if you walk Swisher after him, you’re in big trouble.
Instead he gets a groundout to Jeter, which keeps Kendall at second with two outs, but the A’s have a good hitter at the plate, and all they need is a single.
Now the Yanks intentionally walk Swisher after the first pitch misses low, setting up a force out, and bringing Kielty to the plate from the left side. Kielty is weaker from that side, but then, he still gets hits sometimes.
But Louie gets him to ground out to second, ending the threat.
BONUS CANTOS! Or whatever. Free baseball.
Unless you live in Australia and have to pay for bandwidth. Sorry about that, bud. It’s Australian for “ripoff”.
Top of the Tenth: MLB.tv seems to have forgotten for a few minutes that they keep playing when it’s tied after nine. So they don’t show Kevin Thompson until he’s already walking back to the dugout after a strikeout. Maybe it’s a media conspiracy to keep KT off the radar…
I guess I neglected to mention that Kiko Calero came in last inning, and he gets Posada to ground out to first for the second out.
Cano keeps on taking pitches, going for a three-walk night. He takes the first two pitches for balls, then the third for a strike.
Robby finally swings, and drops it into center for a base hit. That brings in Doug Manwhocan’tgethitz, trying to be a hero. Be a hero, Doug.
Cano steals second on a 1-2 pitch low, and the Yanks are a single away from Rivera. Be a hero, Doug.
Instead he pops it up foul outside of third, and Eric Chavez makes an amazing catch, batting the ball in the air with his glove and catching it with his bare hand before it hits the ground for the final out. Way to come through, Doug. I bet Torre’s still no closer to giving your ABs to anyone else.
Bottom of the Tenth: Brian Bruney comes into the game three innings later than he should have. I bet he gives up a homer here, just to spite me.
Well, Piazza takes a whack at it, but pops it up to center on a 2-2 pitch, and there’s one out. Here’s a story that’d write itself with Chavez coming up, though.
Bruney’s a stud who throws heat, though. He blows three straight pitches past Chavez, and there’s two down.
He gets ahead of Crosby 0-2, but gives up a ground ball single up the middle, which Jeter, who was inexplicably playing Crosby to pull, was unable to get anywhere near.
The Yanks apparently forgot to cross Farnsworth off of their “available pitchers” list on the dugout scorecard. Maybe they’re hoping to bring him back in. I doubt the A’s would stop them.
Walker works Bruney full, but bounces out to first, ending the inning.
We got to the 11th and Huston Street vs. the top of the lineup.
Top of the 11th: Melky starts the 11th off with a grounder to first.
Damon falls behind 0-2, but works the count full—the third ball on a pitch that really looked like it was over the inside half of the plate. No matter, he pops out to Chavez in foul territory, and there are two away.
The Yanks are really making a poor showing. The bullpen and lineup saved Kei Igawa’s bad start last week, now Farnsworth and the lineup have wasted his good start.
Jeter is able to work a two-out walk, bringing up Abreu and maybe A-Rod.
Nope, no A-Rod. Abreu flies out to deep center, and the inning is over. C’mon guys, I’m sick and need to sleep.
Bottom of the 11th: Interesting that YES is promoting MLB.tv as a way to watch the Yankees, as fans in New York can’t watch the Yankees on MLB.tv EVER. Of course, YES is broadcast outside of the Yankees’ broadcast area too, if you have a dish, but still.
Bruney gets ahead of Kendall 0-2 and blows him away at 1-2. This guy is impressing early.
But on a 2-2, Travis Buck rips a ball into the right centerfield gap, and he gets all the way to third with one out.
Fuck.
And Bruney hits Ellis with a pitch, which sets up the double play… but if he hadn’t been hit, this game would be over.
And now Bruney seems to have lost the plate, throwing the first two pitches to Swisher low.
And in response to that, they intentionally walk Swisher, bringing up Kielty with a chance to win the game.
Kielty fouls the first pitch back.
He swings through the second one, 0-2.
And there’s the ballgame. Doug Mientkiewicz dives to field a hard-hit ground ball, and can’t throw out Buck at the plate, and the Yankees lose.
Fuck you Kyle Farnsworth. Fuck you Joe Torre. What the FUCK was that?
That was totally worth staying up until 2am for. Even if they won… damn, that sucked.
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
4/11/07 - NY Yankees (4-3) at Minnesota (4-3) - 8:10 pm EDT (Liveblog)
Mike Mussina (0-1, 13.50) vs. Ramon Ortiz (1-0, 2.57)
Larry’s working, so I’ve got Live Blogging duty again tonight. It’s a potential House Money™ game, but I don’t think we’ll get a House Money™ lineup with the off day tomorrow.
It would be nice to see the Yanks sweep the Twins tonight, but honestly, I’d rather see the Yankees lose a game where Mussina pitches well than see the Yankees win a game where Moose fails to impress. Of course the best case scenario is Moose pitching well while the Yankees light up Ramon Ortiz like a Christmas Tree.
Ortiz has returned to the majors after spending last year in the minors (NL East), and pitched very well in his first start against Baltimore, holding them to two runs over seven innings. He was once a fairly highly touted prospect who drew comparisons to Pedro Martinez, since he’s Dominican and throws a changeup. In his career he’s got a 4.84 ERA and at age 30 odds are he’s not going to get much better than he’s been. He’s always been considered to have pretty good stuff, without the results to back it up.
Ortiz has a pretty significant platoon split over his career
Vs R: .269/.322/.442
vs L: .278/.352/.484
According to Cutter in the earlier thread, Alex Rodriguez has hit 8 HRs against Ortiz in 48 career AB. While batter/pitcher matchups are usually pretty meaningless due to the small sample size, that’s pretty eye-popping. We’ll see if he can continue to build on his outstanding start to the season tonight.
Anyway, as I mentioned, the most important thing that I’d like to see come out of this game is a better outing from Mike Mussina. Last year, Mussina rebounded from a disappointing 2004 and 2005 to have a great year. So far this season in spring training and his first start, he’s missing a few MPH off his fastball. While Moose can survive without a great fastball, the more velocity he has, the more separation he can get with his changeup and the more effective he can be overall. I also think that the fastball velocity or lack thereof is at least a partial indicator of Moose’s health, so when I see him sitting at 85-86 instead of 89-90, I have to wonder if he’s completely healthy. I won’t panic if he doesn’t pitch better tonight, but I’ll feel a lot better if he does.
I’ll be back before first pitch with the lineups.
Pre-game: Interesting stat on the pre-game show, Damon, Abreu, and Jeter have scored more runs than three teams (including the Twins).
Since Kyle beat me to the lineups, I won’t post them here. It’s the standard starting nine against a righty. Congratulations to Melky for reaching the Mendoza line. Perhaps Jason Giambi and Doug Mientkiewicz will join him there tonight.
Top of the first: Well, I missed the first 2 AB, which apparently ended in outs. I am back in time to see Abreu ground out.
Bottom of the first: Moose starts Castillo off at 1-2, with 86 mph cheese, then gets a chopper to Cano for the first out.
For whatever reason Moose is nibbling against Nick Punto, trying to get him to chase curves away. This is the Nick Punto who’s hitting .148 /.233/.222. He misses low with a 3-2 fastball to walk Punto. Feh.
He recovers by getting Joe Mauer to chop a changeup back to him on the first pitch, and turns it into a 1-6-3 DP. That’s sort of 3 up, 3 down, I guess.
Top of the second: A-Rod steps in, and quickly gets ahead 2-0. I think he may not get a pitch to hit in this AB. Ortiz comes back with a called strike and then a fastball fouled off. He catches the insidte corner with a fastball for called strike three. One down, and Jason Giambi steps up. Giambi grounds the first pitch to Justin “MVP” Morneau, who flips to Ortiz for the second out. So far Ortiz looks like Pedro. Posada pops up to left for the third out. Two innings, twenty pitches. Ortiz’s fastball has good tailing action today, moving in against righties.
Bottom of the second: Moose has a little more juice on his fastball this inning, last pitch was 89. He gets Cuddyer to ground out on a fastball low and away on a full count. And it’s Justin “MVP” Morneau up. He hits one to left center, and Damon camps under it and grabs it for the second out. Moose falls behind Torii Hunter 3-0, but works his way back to 3-2. Three straight fouls by Hunter, then he rips one over Jeter’s had that gets past Melky for a double.
Jason Kubel steps in with the go-ahead run on second and two down. Kubel was on the fast track to the majors a few years ago before a nasty knee injury that cost him 2005.
Moose is really nibbling. Can’t seem to command his curve or changeup so far. Kubel rips one towards right center, but Robinson Cano makes a great leaping catch, saving a run. He’ll make a fine .280/.320/.400 hitting first baseman one day.
Top of the third: It’s scoreless through two, but Ortiz is pitching much more efficiently than Mussina, with 20 pitches to get six outs compared to about 35 for Moose.
Cano takes strike one. Is it just me, or is Cano taking the first pitch a lot this year? Cano fans on a bad pitch down and away. He’s hack-tastic. That’ll bring up Doug Mientkiewicz. Mientkiewicz chokes up on his bat like he’s Felix Fermin. Doug grounds out, which is shocking. Melky steps up and hits it fairly well, but right into Cuddyer’s glove in RF, and Ortiz is perfect through three innings. Congratulations to him.
Bottom of the third: As I was getting ready to mock the Twins for having a DH with a career OPS+ of 81, he hits a solid single to RF. Casilla follows up with a single to CF, and Moose isn’t fooling anyone right now. Luis Castillo up with runners on first and second and no outs. Moose must think it’s the sixth.
And Moose is being pulled from the game after a mound conference with the trainer, Torre, and Guidry. Can’t tell from the last pitch what he hurt. Didn’t seem like he was making any strange motions with his arm.
Sean Henn comes in with a rough situation to deal with. Two on, no outs, and a tie game.
I may be a bit slow on the play by play, as the Seattle/Boston game has my attention, but I won’t say why.
Henn gets a popup to Jeter for the first out. Henn then gets another popout, and Jeter makes a great running catch and doubles up the runner off second to end the inning. For all the flak Jeter gets for his defense, from me included, he makes that play as well as anyone. Henn gets out of the jam with Jeter’s help, nice job.
Top of the fourth: Damon breaks up the perfecto with a sharp single to center, and Jeter steps in. Let’s see if he bunts…. He walks, and my blood pressure remains stable. First and second, no outs, and Bobby Abreu up. Bobby lines out to right, and Damon tags and goes to third, and MVP-Rod is up.
PRODUCTIVE OUT! PRODUCTIVE OUT! Rodriguez gets under it a bit and flies out to Hunter in center, and Damon tags and scores the first run of the game. Buster Olney was right all along.
Second time through the order the Yankees seem to be getting better cuts against Ortiz. They need to score off him though because the Twins bullpen is all sorts of nasty. Giambi flies out to end the inning, but at least they scored one.
Bottom of the fourth: If you have access, watch the Boston game now.
Well, so much for that. Felix Hernandez loses his no-hitter in the bottom of the eighth. Back to this game.
Henn’s been effective in his role so far, but I’d feel a lot more comfortable with him if he’d strike out a batter at least once. Two up and two down, and Henn continues to survive by being the ultimate BABIP pitcher. Henn retires the side in order. To the fifth we go.
Top of the fifth: Posada leads off and is late on an Ortiz fastball on the outside corner. He chops the second pitch up the middle but Castillo is able to flag it down and throw out the speedy Jorge for the first out. Cano strikes out again, and I’m starting to get a little annoyed/concerned.
Ortiz is really mowing through the lineup, he’s at around 55 pitches through five innings. This is not the Yankee gameplan. They must have a flight to catch.
Mientkiewicz grounds out, 6-3. Inning over.
Bottom of the fifth: I’d imagine they’ll try to squeeze one more inning out of Henn before turning the game over to ProcVizFarnMo or some such.
Henn’s fastball is a quality pitch, sitting consistently at 93 or so, but that seems to be the only good pitch he has. His slider looks a little flat and hittable to me. He gets Torii Hunter to fly out for the first out.
And as I mock his slider, he throws a nasty one to Jason Kubel who flails at it helplessly.
Moose supposedly has some sort of hamstring issue. I think the Yankees need to incorporate the hurdler’s stretch into their pre-game activities. This is somewhere around the 57th hamstring issue the team has had.
Back to back hits after the first out, so runners on first and second with one out. Torre sticking with Henn. Henn rewards Torre’s trust by getting a grounder and then that elusive K. To the sixth.
Top of the sixth: Sean Henn is making a name for himself, and it’s a great thing to see. How about the Yankees get some insurance runs here? Damon starts it off right with a single between first and second. Unfortunately, Jeter follows up by flying out to shallow center.
Missed the rest of the inning, but the Yankees didn’t score, so I guess I didn’t miss anything good.
Bottom of the sixth: Nick Punto leads off against Henn with a double, and Joe Mauer bunts him to third. Henn gets pulled with Cuddyer due up. Scott Proctor is in, trying once again to recover the magic of 2006.
Proctor gives up a single, which ties the game. Mientkiewicz stops a hard grounder for the second out, and you can see Proctor is not happy with himself. A little popup to Mientkiewicz ends the inning, but the Twins tie it.
Top of the seventh: Ortiz is still dealing, and fans A-Rod to lead off the inning. This would be a good time for Jason Giambi to remember that he’s Jason Giambi. He flies out for the second out, but Posada hits a hard broken-bat single to RF with two down.
Cano hits the first pitch right to second base for the third out. When Cano is going well he’s a treat to watch, but when he’s not he’s frustrating. He really needs to work on his selectivity if he’s going to maintain his standing as one of the best second basemen in baseball. You can’t hit .342 every season.
Bottom of the seventh: L-Viz is in, and Torre’s testing his rubber-armedness from the getgo. He’s on pace to pitch in about 130 games this season. Two fairly quick outs, and Alexi Casilla steps in. He’s a .500 hitter on the season. Scary.
He can’t hit for crap, but Mientkiewicz just made an outstanding diving catch to rob Casilla of a sure-fire double. We head to the eighth.
Top of the eighth: Ortiz may or may not be out, but the Twins bullpen is pretty tough in its own right. Ortiz is at 83 pitches, so they may try to squeeze one more inning out of him. And they are trying to squeeze one more inning out of him. Ortiz’s fastball is moving all over the place tonight. He’s topping out around 93, but the batters are having a lot of trouble getting good wood on his pitches.
Mientkiewicz flies out to LF for the first out. He’s not much of a hitter, is he? That brings up Melky, whose stay at the Mendoza line was a short one. Melky flies out to Kubel for the second out. At this pace, Ortiz could pitch 20 innings. Damon ends the inning, and I get the sense the Yankees are on borrowed time tonight.
Bottom of the eighth: Looks like Kyle Farnsworth will be coming in to face the top of the Twins order. Farnsworth walks Castillo on four pitches, three of which were not even close. That was sub-optimal. Castillo steals seond on the first pitch. Posada made a good throw but Farnsworth let Castillo get too big of a jump. Now the Twins are looking to bunt him to third with Punto, who rolls the first attempt foul for strike two. Farnsworth follows up with a sharp slider down and in and gets Punto to chase. That brings up Mauer with the go-ahead run on second and one down. Mauer is able to take a fastball away the other way for the RBI single, as Melky’s throw home was offline. Twins 2, Yanks 1, and Joe Nathan warming. Not good.
Another single, another run, and this one is probably over. It was only a matter of time before the bullpen gave up some runs, but this game probably comes down to scoring just one run off Ramon Ortiz.
Morneau pads his stats with a meaningless RBI double, 4-1 Twins. Shit. Farnsworth’s throwing BP now, as Hunter doubles off the baggie for the fifth Twins run. Torre heads to the mound to pull Farnsworth.
I wouldn’t be too hard on Farnsworth. He managed to get an out.
Mike Myers in to get the last two outs. I’ll re-iterate again that I think using Myers in low-leverage spots to save the pen is pretty smart managing by Torre. As a sidearmer who doesnt throw hard, he should be able to handle the extra workload. It gives him more value than a strict lefty specialist would have, in the role of staff saver. If a few righties light him up in low leverage spots, who cares?
He gets those elusive two outs. Let’s see how meekly the Yankees go out in the ninth.
Top of the ninth:
Jeter’s not going out meekly, as he singles to center to break his O-fer. All I ever hope for in bleak situations like this is that the team gets the tying run to the plate. Abreu smokes one, but right into Luis Castillo’s glove for the first out. Let’s see if Rodriguez can hit a meaningless HR here. Well, he hits a meaningless automatic double. Runners on second and third with one out. One more runner gets the tying run to the plate. Giambi pops out the first pitch, and I think he’s starting to press a little. It’s up to Posada now. He flies out to shallow LF to end it. Twins win.
Frustrating loss, but any time you can take two out of three on the road against a good team, in the big picture you have to be happy with it.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
4/10/07 - NY Yankees (3-3) at Minnesota (4-2) - 8:10 pm EDT (Liveblog)
Andy Pettitte (0-0, 3.60 ERA) vs Boof Bonser(0-0, 3.00)
When I ran the Diamond Mind Projection Blowout for 2007, the Twins projected as the class of the AL Central. A large part of that had to do with good projections for their young starters, including Matt Garza, and tonight’s starter, Boof Bonser.
The scouting report on Bonser, from Wikipedia:
Bonser’s pitching repertoire includes a live fastball, with a fair amount of movement, in the range of 91-94 mph. He offsets it with a 78-80 mph slider, which often breaks sharply downwards, and also occasionally throws a changeup. He often establishes his fastball to get ahead of hitters, and then throws the slider down and in to left-handers or down and away to right-handers, forcing them to chase it. While none of his pitches can be considered overpowering, Bonser has shown an ability to record strikeouts in critical situations, once pitching his way out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam by striking out three Seattle Mariners’ hitters in a row in his second Major League start on May 27, 2006.
The Yankees haven’t faced Bonser yet, which is always a concern.
Andy Pettitte will be trying to rebound from a poor first start, which I also had the misfortune of liveblogging. Pettitte’s spring training was truncated by back spasms, so he was on a strict pitch count. The weather wasn’t very cooperative either, so I’d expect him to be better today. He looked strong in an inning of relief on sunday on his scheduled throw day, which is encouraging.
Pettitte’s made 10 starts against the Twins at the Metrodome, and pitched 69 innings, with a 3.78 ERA and a 4-4 W/L record.
And your lineups:
Yankees
J. Damon cf
D. Jeter ss
B. Abreu rf
A. Rodriguez 3b
J. Giambi dh
J. Posada c
R. Cano 2b
D. Mientkiewicz 1b
M. Cabrera lf
Minnesota
L. Castillo 2b
N. Punto 3b
J. Mauer c
M. Cuddyer rf
J. Morneau 1b
T. Hunter cf
J. Rabe lf
M. Redmond dh
J. Bartlett ss
I’ll be back before first pitch for the Live Blogging festivities.
More Pre-game: So, Alex Rodriguez is on pace for 135 HRs. I bet he’d opt out if he does that.
Michael Kay and John Flaherty in the booth today. Someone should let Kay know he doesn’t have to make every road trip.
Good to see Jeff Weaver stepping up against the Red Sox today. Thanks Jeff.
They keep showing tough guy shots of Bonser on the Twins network, but his name is BOOF. No matter how tough you may think you look, if your name is Boof, you’re not tough.
I still don’t know how they think an open-air stadium in Minnesota is a good idea, but hey, it’s not my problem.
Top of the First:
Johnny Damon steps in and takes a strike to get things started. And he lines out on 1-1 to Torii Hunter in center for the first out. He hit it solidly at least.
Derek Jeter steps up now, and swings through an outside fastball for strike one. Three pitches, Jeter’s swung at all of them, fouling two off. Make that four pitches, the fourth grounded past Morneau to RF for a single.
And Bobby Abreu pops the first pitch out to LF.
Bonser’s hitting 94-96 on the Fox Sports Northwest gun. Alex Rodriguez has the count to 3-1. A-Rod chases a changeup in the dirt for strike two, setting up the full count.
GONE. Rodriguez smokes a 2 run jack off a fastball into the LF seats. 2-0 Yanks.
Jason Giambi up. I know it’s only six games, but I’m starting to get worried about Giambi. He really completes this lineup, and I’d like to see him start hitting more consistently. Instead, he grounds out for the third out.
Bottom of the First:
I am in awe of what Rodriguez is doing right now. This is why booing him is idiotic. This is one of the most talented players in the history of baseball.
Pettitte starts off Castillo with a ball and a strike. And he eventually fans him on what looked like a cutter down.
Pettitte’s topping out around 90 so far. Seems to have good command of his fastball, but not the breaking pitches. Punto grounds out to Mientkiewicz for out # 2. Joe Mauer up. Pettitte now getting it up to 92 against Mauer, who chops it to Cano who shovels to the 1B for out # 3. Good inning for Andy.
Top of the Second: Let’s get some runs. We want to bring back the March to 1000™.
Posada flies out to CF for the first out. The Yankee scouting report seems to indicate swinging early against Bonser. They’re hacking like a team full of Canos. Mientkiewicz grounds out on the first pitch.
Melky Cabrera up. Melky needs a hit more than anyone, but I’m happy to see he’s still showing some plate discipline. Works the count to 3-1, then sends one up the middle past a diving Bartlett for his much-needed hit, and knocking in Robinson Cano, who had singled before Mientkiewicz grounded him over to second. 3-0 Yanks. Johnny Damon up, and breaks his bat grounding out to first.
Still, another run scored that inning. Always good.
Bottom of the second:
Michael Cuddyer up, and Pettitte’s working him with fastballs away on the first 3 pitches. Unfortunately, he comes inside on the 2-1, and Cuddyer rips it down the third base line and off the bag for a leadoff double. And here’s Justin “MVP” Morneau. Pettitte gets ahead 0-2, then misses low with breaking pitches trying to get Morneau to chase. Comes back with a fastaball away on 2-2 that gets fouled off. I’m guessing curve down here.
And it was a curve down, but Morneau grounded to Cano in the short OF turf, advancing the runner to third with one out.
Pettitte’s slider is really dropping sharply today. Bert Blyleven is raving about it. And he uses it to fan Torii Hunter for the second out. Big out with the runner on third.
I have to say I’m enjoying the Twins broadcasters, although it gives me less stuff to make fun of than a YES broadcast typically does.
Josh Rabe is up in a key spot. He’s Rondell White’s fill in. It looks like Rayb, but it’s pronounced Ray Bee apparently.
Pettitte works around the leadoff double by fanning Rabe on a slider down for the third out. Who does he think he is, Carl Pavano?
Top of the third:
Jeter grounds the first pitch of the third to Jason Bartlett for the first out. I must say I don’t like this swing at every single pitch approach, even though they’ve scored three runs in two innings. Abreu takes three pitches, before flying out to Rabe in LF for out # 2.
Alex Rodriguez up again. Can he homer again? Nope, flies out just short of the warning track in RF. Slacker.
Bottom of the third:
Pettitte gets a groundout to leadoff the third.
Another grounder, this one to SS, and Jeter uses the turf to bounce it over to Mientkiewicz for the second out. Castillo follows up by flying out to Damon in center for the third out. Nice easy inning for Pettitte (and me).
Top of the fourth:
Giambi grounds out leading off the fourth, and I am still worried about him. Posada does the same. I’m not worried about him.
Cano doesn’t ground out, instead striking out on a 2-2 pitch. I’d tell you more about the pitch but Fox Sports Northwest felt we’d be better served looking at the umpire’s ass.
Bottom of the fourth:
Nick Punto rifles a single to CF to lead off the Twins’ half of the fourth, setting the table for Joe Mauer. He singles to LF, so runners at first and second with no outs.
Pettitte gets a grounder to Cano who shovels to Jeter for the 4-6-3 DP (a pitcher’s best friend). So two outs, Punto on third, and Justin “MVP™” Morneau up. And MVP™ grounds out to Mientkiewicz for out # 3. How’s he going to get RBI doing stuff like that?
Top of the fifth:
Doug Mientkiewicz’s nickname should be Bathroom Break. I have no fear of missing anything interesting when he’s batting.
He does manage to draw a four pitch walk, so that’s good. Melky follows up with a solid single lined up the middle. Good stuff from Melky so far today, as he gets his average up to .174. That’s Tony Womack-like.
Damon takes a belt-high fastball over the baggie in RF for a three-run Boom off Boof, and it’s now 6-0 Yankees. Nice.
Jeter follows up with a grounder to short which he beats out. The throw was bounced and not scooped, but he may have beaten it anyway. He follows that up with a steal. Stealing, up by 6? He’s asking to get beaned.
Abreu corks one to CF, but Torii Hunter makes a nice leaping catch about ten feet in front of the warning track for the first out. Jeter tags and advances to third. They’re intentionally walking MVP-Rod now to get to the slumping Giambi. Expect to see that a lot until Giambi makes them pay.
Boof’s day is done. Better luck next time Boof.
Giambi goes the other way where a shortstop would normally be playing, plating Jeter. Posada follows up by hitting into a DP to end the inning. 7-0, Yankees.
Bottom of the fifth:
Pettitte’s at 61 pitches, 38 strikes through the first four innings. He gets the first out on a grounder to El Capitan. Another grounder, another out. Pettitte’s got a 9-1 G/F ratio so far. With two outs Mike Redmond singles between third and short. Pettitte sacks up and gets a high popup to short RF. Abreu chases it down for the third out.
Top of the sixth:
Robinson Cano may not walk all year. He may get 275 hits though, which is fine. He singles to LF to lead off the sixth. And that brings up Bathroom Break™. Shockingly, BB™ hits into a DP. A glorious homecoming it has not been for Doug so far. Melky’s up, creeping towards the Mendoza line. He seems to be swinging with a bit more force now. I like to see that.
Melky grounds out to end the inning, and his average plummets to .167.
Bottom of the sixth: Pettitte continues to get ground outs. His ball/strike ratio isn’t great, but he hasn’t walked a batter. I’m very happy with how he’s looked so far. Two up, two down, both on grounders. Pettitte walks Mauer with two down. He’s at 84 pitches now, and probably starting to get a little fatigued. He quickly gets ahead of Cuddyer 0-2. Cuddyer grounds to Jeter who forced Mauer at second for the third out. Go Andy go.
Top of the seventh: Johnny Damon leads off against Pat Neshek, who throws 95mph from the side. He perplexes Damon for called strike three, and that brings up Jeter. Neshek fans him with a nasty side arm slider. He’s got to be tough to pick up. Abreu picked him up pretty well, flying out to CF about five feet shy of the warning track for the third out. We go to the bottom of the seventh! A little place I call Pavano-land.
Bottom of the seventh : Pettitte out after 96 pitches, and Scott Proctor in. It may be too soon to say it for sure, but I get the sense that Proctor’s fallen down the pecking order of trust behind Vizcaino and Bruney.
Proctor decides to get even further down in the pecking order by walking the first two hitters he faces with a 7-0 lead. That’s unacceptable Scotty. He gets a fly out to Abreu for the first out, but Vizcaino’s warming now.
STRIKES! DO YOU THROW THEM MOTHER ####ER?!?
Another fly out to Abreu, two down. Proctor’s one out away from pitching out of a self-induced jam. Jason Kubel is pinch-hitting for Bartlett. Kubel hits a flare single to RF to plate one run. 7-1 Yankees. Proctor being pulled for Vizcaino.
Scott Proctor, you’ve been Sturtzed.
Since Luis Vizcaino is still giving me Felix Rodriguez vibes, I may start calling him L-Viz.
Abreu chases down a long fly ball for the third out of the inning. Abreu made all three putouts that inning.
Top of the eighth: Two more innings to go. Seven runs is enough to stay on the 1000 run pace, but it’d be nice if they could tack on a few more to help the pythagorean record out.
A-Rod up leading of the inning. Will he pad his stats here? Nope. Juan Rincon blows gas by him for the first out. Further proof that Rodriguez does all his damage in the early innings. Giambi working the count to 3-1 now. Takes another strike, then walks. Six pitches, no swings. Posada up, and he joins the party with a single to right, leaving Abreu (surprisingly) and Mientkiewicz (not so surprisingly) as the only hitless Yanks.
Cano up, with his .333 average and .333 OBP. And he fans. Mientkiewicz up now, and I can barely contain my excitement.
Mientkiewicz rewards my excitement by hitting one about 60 feet on a hop, right into Rincon’s glove, who throws him out. He’s been solid on D tonight though.
Bottom of the eighth: Who will it be? It’s the eighth inning with the lead, so you will it be the Eighth Inning Guy?
Nope, sticking with L-Viz. Mike Myers should be warming in case. L-Viz whiffs Punto with cheese down the middle for the first out. Joe Mauer up now. Mauer hits it pretty well to right, but he got under it a little and Abreu was able to jog over and catch it towards right center for the second out.
I suddenly have a hankering for Cargill, and I don’t even know WTF it is…
Cuddyer lines one to left and Melky makes a nice running catch for the third out. His defense has been rock-solid this year in LF and CF.
Top of the ninth: How often does it happen that someone makes a nice running catch on a liner by Mike Cuddyer and then leads off the next inning with his third single of the game, raising his average to .188 in the process? Only once that I’m aware of, and you just saw it.
Damon ruins all of Melky’s glory by hitting into a 4-6-3 DP. Er, actually, he beats it out, and then Jeter singles. Runners on first and second with one out for Bobby Abreu, who’s still hitless but has about 10 putouts in the last couple of innings.
Abreu singles the other way under the glove of Nick Punto, scoring Damon with the Yankees 8th run of the game, and putting them on pace to score 1134 runs this season.
Alex Rodriguez is up in a tailor-made stat-padding spot, but he walks instead. Kevin Thompson will bat with the bases loaded and one out, pinch-hitting for Giambi. The Yankees need all the runs they can get with Mariano Rivera warming.
KT does a nice piece of hitting, and lines one over the third baseman to score two. 10-1 Yankees, and they’re now on pace to score 1180 runs.
Posada Ks for the second out, and Robinson Cano comes up. He’s 2-4 with a double and single, but also two Ks today.
Cano strikes out for the third time in the game. Three more outs to go…
Bottom of the ninth: Mo in. It’s always a treat to watch Mo pitch, even when it’s not a pressure situation.
94 mph cutter cracks Morneau’s bat and gets a hump-backed liner to Cano for the first out.
Another 94 mph cutter gets chopped to Cano for the second out.
After a full-count, Mo gets a lazy can of corn to Melky for the third out.
And that’s your ball game. Yanks 10, Twins 1. Thank you, and drive home safely.
Monday, April 9, 2007
4/9/07 - New York Yankees (2-3) at Minnesota Twins (4-1) - 7:05 pm (Liveblog)
Carl Pavano (0-0, 8.31) (probable) vs. Sidney Ponson (0-0, -.—)
The Baltimore Orioles waited and waited for Sidney Ponson to put it together. He had the stuff, but not the results. Even in the minors he wasn’t that good, but the O’s kept waiting on that stuff. That’s the thing with good stuff, you can suck out loud for years, but someone will always be willing to give you a shot on the off-chance that you’ll learn to pitch.
Then, in 2003, Ponson seemed to make it work. He was good for the Orioles in the first half of the season, and good for the Giants after the O’s traded him at the deadline. Then, one day, someone came up to him at the buffet and said, “Hey, aren’t you Sidney Ponson?”. He realized that he was, in fact, Sidney Ponson, and promptly started sucking again.
He was terrible in 2004, and terrible in 2005, when a pair of DUI arrests resulted in the O’s voiding his contract. The Cardinals took a chance at the start of last season, got a few good starts out of him before he imploded, and then the Yankees took a crack at him, with similar results. Now the Twins are giving that stuff another shot, making him their fifth starter. We all know how this is likely to turn out in the end.
However, that doesn’t mean he’s going to get shelled tonight. Ponson’s track record against the Yankees is mixed. Overall, he’s 6-12 with a 4.63 ERA, but he’s gone into the seventh more often than not, and gives up three or fewer more often than he gives up more than three. Bobby Abreu, Jason Giambi and Derek Jeter have all owned Ponson, but oddly enough, Alex Rodriguez has a .185/.217/.415 line against him in 65 ABs.
So while the Yankees should tee off on Ponson tonight, don’t be surprised if he pitches fairly well. But even if he doesn’t, that isn’t a guaranteed victory for the Yankees. The Twins are under no illusions about Ponson’s track record, and if he’s lousy, they’ll pull him before things get out of hand.
So despite the ineptitude of his counterpart, Carl Pavano is still going to need to have a solid outing today. The Yankees aren’t under any illusions about Pavano, either, but they could really use 6 innings with 3 or 4 runs allowed. If he can do that, it should be enough.
Pregame: Lineups are posted:
Yanks
Damon, CF
Jeter, SS
Abreu, RF
Rodriguez, 3B
Giambi, DH
Posada, C
Cano, 2B
Mientkiewicz, 1B
Cabrera, LF
Twins
Castillo, 2B
Punto, 3B
Mauer, C
Cuddyer, RF
Morneau, 1B
Hunter, CF
Kubel, LF
Redmond, C
Bartlett, SS
It’s an ESPN game tonight, and it’s Dave O’Brien and Rick Sutcliffe. I don’t know if I’d prefer Sutcliffe or Joe Morgan for the unintentionally hilarious commentary. Well, there should be plenty of stupidity to comment on tonight.
Sutcliffe, back in 2003, gave us the gem that most of Derek Lowe’s ground outs are on ground balls. Let’s hope for more of that.
Top of the First: Johnny Damon is back in the lineup, and on the third pitch he drop a double onto the right field line, while Erin Andrews blabs on and on, mentioning something about Torre wanting to get Hideki Matsui off of her feet. I’d like to get her off of her feet, if you know what I mean (I would enjoy having sexual intercourse with her).
Jeter, who probably will have or has done it with the lovely Miss Andrews hits a slow grounder to the right side. It’d be tough to get him, but Bartlett can’t field it and it’s a single. Damon alertly gets over to third, and the Yanks are off to a good start.
Abreu keeps it going ripping a single to center. Hunter bobbles it, but Jeter stays at second. Don’t really wanna risk that with A-Rod up, despite his oddly awful numbers versus Ponson.
A-Rod’s numbers drop even more, as he hits a soft fly ball to Cuddyer, and Jeter goes to third.
Giambi’s another guy with great numbers against Ponson, but he’s off to a pretty bad start this year. He has been very valuable on in two of the five games, but his overall numbers stink. But he walks here, and the bases are loaded with one out for Posada, who is having a great start this year.
After a visit from Rick Anderson, Ponson throws a 96mph heater over the plate for strike one, but on the second pitch Posada drives it over Kubel’s glove for an automatic double—which O’Brien correctly calls (usually guys call it a ground-rule double, which it isn’t). That didn’t really cost them a run, as Giambi wouldn’t have scored from first on that.
Cano swings at the first pitch and flies out to shallow left, and that won’t be enough to get Giambi home. Great job, Robby.
Ron Gardenhire is channeling Leo Mazzone… aw, crap, Sutcliffe just said that. I take it back.
Mientkiewicz, whose name I can spell without any problems, bounces out to short, and that’s all the Yanks get. I can’t help but feel they let Ponson off the hook that inning, and it may come back to bite them. Hopefully they can tag him again in the second, and get a good lead before the Twins’ bullpen comes into the game.
Bottom of the First: Pavano is off to an ominous start, falling behind Luis Castillo 3-1, the only strike being on a foul bunt. Castillo pulls back a bunt on a 3-1 strike, but chops it into the middle of the infield on 3-2, and Jeter doesn’t bother to throw. Yippee. He’ll be on third soon enough.
Pavano falls behind Punto 1-0 right away. Punto fouls another pitch off, and after a few throws to first, he flies out to Melky in left. One down.
Pavano gets Mauer to hit it right back to him, starting an easy double play. That was surprisingly good, though I’d like to see Carl have better command. Well, duh. Good start to this game so far.
Top of the Second: Melky takes a couple of pitches for a 1-1 count, then chops it to Bartlett for the first out.
Damon rips the first pitch through the infield for a single, and he’s looking amazing so far this year.
Sutcliffe is commenting on how sweaty Ponson is already. Yeah, that’s because he’s a big fat pig, Ricky. Fat people sweat when it’s snowing.
Jeter flies out to right. Well, they’re letting him off the hook this inning.
rilkefan asks in the comments why it’s not “ground-rule”. A ground rule double is ball in play called a double because of special rules for the stadium. If you’re playing in a dome with catwalks over the field, there are ground rules for what happens if the ball hits the catwalk. If the rule is that the ball is a double, then a ball of the catwalk is a “ground rule double”. If a ball bounces out of play, it’s an “automatic double”. Fan interference is, of course, just fan interference. Contrary to popular belief, that doesn’t result in an automatic double, but rather in an umpire’s discretion as to where the batter and runner would have ended up without the interference. It’s just that usually the umpire judges the runners would only get two bases.
Abreu runs the count full, fouls some pitches off, and then hits an automatic home run to right. I guess they aren’t letting him off the hook. 5-0.
A-Rod comes up and his numbers inexplicably drop even more against Ponson. That’s just… weird.
Bottom of the Second: Well, Pavano’s set up to win right quickly, but he gives up a leadoff double to Cuddyer.
Despite the double, I think Pavano needs to rely on his stuff here and not try to paint. If he gives up a homer, it’s still a 3-run lead. But you don’t want to give them good counts and free bases, setting up a huge inning.
Well, it works out for Pavano, he falls behind 3-1, but gets the “MVP” to pop up to right. Abreu’s got a good arm, and Cuddyer stays at second.
Rick Sutcliffe apparently called up Derek Jeter and suggested he wear #42 on Sunday to honor Jackie Robinson (my personal life hero), and Jeter pointed out that Rivera already wears that number. I mean, knowing everyone’s number isn’t a requirement of this job, but Mariano is a Hall of Famer, and he’s fairly well identified with the number. What a nitwit.
Now Hunter, who will also be wearing 42 on Sunday, grounds out to Jeter, who alertly chases down Cuddyer, who un-alertly took off for third.
Kubel then flies out to Melky at the warning track, and the threat is over. Pavano isn’t looking great but he’s getting results. Good enough for me, so far. Just four more innings out of him, even if he gives up 4 runs, and I’ll be thrilled.
Top of the Third: Now Ponson has better stuff than Pavano, and he relies on it against Giambi in this AB, striking him out on five pitches.
Posada follows that up with a walk.
Cano actually takes a pitch! Of course, it’s a strike. He hacks at the next one, and bounces to second. He just beats the return throw to first, but Posada is out at second.
Mientkiewicz rips a low liner to right, and Cuddyer bends down to catch it in at medium depth. So the Yanks don’t touch up Ponson this inning, and while 5-0 is a nice lead, it’s not a safe lead. Not with some of the hitters Minnesota has, not with Glass Ass on the mound.
Bottom of the Third: Posada’s contract is up this year, and I think there’s a good chance Cashman lets him walk if there’s a bidding war. He’s getting near the age where he should be dropping off offensively soon, and he’s no great shakes with the glove. I hope Wil Nieves doesn’t end up being the replacement, but I’m not seeing who else they can get. I’d probably focus on defense, because they have plenty of offense, especially if they keep A-Rod, but it would be sad to see Jorge go.
Mike Redmond bounces it up the middle, and while I’m beating a dead horse, Jeter gets there a little late. He’s forced to make a throw on the move, and bounces it to Mientkiewicz. But Eyechart is able to scoop it, and there’s one away.
Now Pavano gets Bartlett to strike out looking, and he’s looking very strong this inning. Castillo bounces another ball in the infield, but A-Rod gets this one and fires him out at first.
You know… I think Pavano’s gonna be eligible for a win tonight. Amazing. He’ll probably be on Letterman next week because of it. If he gets the win, he’ll probably be on Leno, too.
Top of the Fourth: Ponson’s first pitch to Melky is juuuuuuuuust a bit inside. The count goes full, but chops it easily to the alleged MVP. One down.
Damon grounds out to short, and he’s gone for the first time. Two down.
Now Ponson plugs Jeter, and here comes Abreu again. But Ponson gets him looking on three pitches, and Sir Sidney seems to have settled in before things got too out of hand. Let’s hope the Yanks don’t regret that.
Bottom of the Fourth: Pavano’s settling in, too, and gets ahead of Punto 0-2 right away. He gets him to fly out to Cabrera easily for the first out. Only 37 pitches so far, too. Six innings? Hell, why not seven? Maybe… eight? Yeah, probably not eight. Lets still focus on five.
Mauer takes a strike then two balls, but hits a little flare to Jeter for the second out.
Pavano really does have talent. He’s not a really good pitcher, but he’s fully capable of being a quality middle-of-the rotation starter if he’s doing things the right way. And he gets Cuddyer to ground out sharply to Mientkiewicz, who flips it to Pavano for the last out. 45 pitches and no runs through four innings. It’s really not that exceptional, but it does feel like a cool drink of water after a week in the desert.
Top of the Fifth: A-Rod grounds to Bartlett, and he’s now 0-3, but Bartlett fumbles it, so at least he’s on base. It’s bizzare enough for him to have a batting average under .200 against any pitcher in 70+ ABs, and really unusual for a batter like A-Rod doing that against a pitcher like Ponson.
Giambi hits a single through the infield to right, and A-Rod goes to third, so they’re back in business right away.
Posada flies out to Kubel, and there’s one away, A-Rod and Giambi stay put.
Cano… wait for it… swings at the first pitch and fouls it off. He swings at the second one, too, and flies out to right. A-Rod moves up, but there are now two away.
And Mientkiewicz ends the inning with a ground out to Bartlett, and they don’t get anything out of the first-and-second nobody out start.
Ponson, however, probably only has one more inning left in him.
Bottom of the Fifth: Pavano starts out the magic inning with a pop up by Morneau to shortstop. So far, so good.
Sutcliffe is raving about Pavano, but I’ve got to say that a team like the Red Sox would have torched him by now. But he’s doing a pretty good job, I can’t really complain. Torii Hunter rips a base hit past Pavano into center, and there’s one on.
Hunter takes off for second on a 2-1 pitch that’s high, and so’s the throw. A good throw and Hunter’s out, but instead there’s a runner on second with one out.
Kubel rips the 3-1 pitch into center for an RBI single.
Pavano better get out of this inning in the next two batters, or this could get ugly.
Instead he gets JUST what he needed, an easy grounder to Jeter, who steps on second and throws out Redmond at first for the inning-ending-DP.
Five innings for Pavano, just 56 pitches and one run. That should help silence a lot of doubts about this team.
Top of the Sixth: Who would have thought that both Pavano and Ponson would still be around in the sixth? Especially after the first?
Sutcliffe just called Ponson a workhorse because he has 28 complete games. Somewhere an old pitcher is laughing his ass off.
Melky grounds out to short for the first out.
Damon runs the count full, and takes the 3-2 low for a walk.
Remember what I was saying about umpire’s discretion with fan interference? Yeah, watch the Blue Jays highlights tonight.
Jeter falls behind 0-2 and grounds it through the infield into right field… but they nail Damon at third. Jeter alertly moves to second, but there are two outs.
Abreu chops it up the middle, Bartlett tries to keep it out of center but it caroms off him into right, and Jeter scores the sixth run of the game—Abreu has 4 RBI today.
You know, A-Rod is due to hit Pon… and he HITS A BOMB TO RIGHT! FOUR HOME RUNS IN THREE DAYS! 8-1, PLAYER OF THE MONTH, EARLY M-V-P FAVORITE.
That’s it for Ponson, they probably should have pulled him a little earlier. Matt Guerrier is in to face Giambi, and he’s ahead of him 1-2.
Giambi breaks his bat on the 1-2, and chops out to first. Inning over, but they’ve got a good cushion for Pavano now.
Bottom of the Sixth: So now all Carl needs to do is throw strikes. He starts the sixth off with a fly out to center, and he’s now officially the most durable Yankee starter.
Erin Andrews comes on to talk about Jackie Robinson and Robinson Cano… and she makes me feel all funny in my special places. I’m such a pig.
Castillo chops ANOTHER ball in the infield. Jeter gets this one and nails him at first.
Now Punto hits an easy grounder to Mientkiewicz at first, and he’s through six with less than 65 pitches. Glorious.
Top of the Seventh: This game seems to be moving briskly for a Yankees game.
Posada gets ahead 3-1, but swings through a pitch then flies out easily to Hunter. One down.
Cano takes the first two pitches! But then he grounds out to second. Two away.
Mientkiewicz ends the inning with an easy grounder to the false-MVP.
Bottom of the Seventh: So, the Yankees bullpen comes out for their third inning of work… wait, what? Pavano’s still in there? AMAZING.
Oddly enough, double-barreled action in the bullpen, despite less than 70 pitches. Sutcliffe comments that Pavano may be getting tired as he’s missing up and away. Still, that’s awful. You’ve gotta have more than 70 pitches in your arm, at the VERY least.
Mauer drives 3-1 pitch over Damon’s head in dead center for an easy double.
Tired or not, he’s ahead of Cuddyer 0-2 quickly, and gets him swinging on a great offspeed pitch.
The MVP-thief pops up in front of the mound. A-Rod wants none of that, Posada takes a look, but Mientkiewicz, who knows how to find a ball in this roof, calls him off and makes the catch for the second out.
Now Hunter hits a hard liner to left, and it’s over Melky’s head for an RBI double, and it’s 8-2.
Sutcliffe comments on what a good outfielder Melky is as they show the replay of Melky missing the line drive, falling down, and letting the ball get past him on the carom. What Sutcliffe said may be true, but there sure was in incongruity between the words and the image.
Now Pavano is behind Kubel 3-1, but he lines out to Damon in center.
So all considered, it’s been an outstanding start by Pavano. No walks, only 6 hits, and he didn’t throw a lot of pitches. It’s a 6-run game, so I’d put him out there for the eighth with only 79 pitches, but if that’s it, I give you a standing ovation, Carl. Without standing up. Or clapping. But good job, anyway.
Top of the Eighth: Melky Cabrera chops the first pitch by Dennys Reyes to third, and there’s one away quickly.
It looks like Pavano’s done, though considering all the work the bullpen’s had to do, I would really have sent him out for another inning. Well, maybe Sutcliffe is right and he is getting tired. That would be troubling, though.
Damon breaks his bat and grounds out to second and there are two away.
Should we start up the “March to 1000 Runs” again? the Yanks are on a pace for 1107 runs at this point.
Jeter gets another hit, and his numbers are getting back up there. Here’s the Offensive Player of the Game, though, Bobby Abreu:
It would have been nice to see Sheffield with the Yanks this year, only to see what that lineup would do to pitchers. 1000 runs would be a lock, wouldn’t it?
Abreu takes three straight balls, then two straight strikes. He swings at ball four to end the inning, and we go to the bottom of the eighth.
Bottom of the Eighth: Brian Bruney comes in for Pavano. I’d say Bruney is probably the “weak link” of the bullpen… well, maybe that’s Myers, but still, the way he’s pitched, that’s pretty damn good. Hell, he could also be the second-best reliever they have.
He gets Redmond on a 98mph heater on the outside that he couldn’t hold up on. One away. This guy will just throw it by you!
He falls behind Bartlett 2-1, but gets a chopper to Cano for the second out. No earned runs allowed since Thursday, folks.
And now he gets the third out on a ball up the middle that Cano makes a nice play on. Three more outs and they’re back at .500, and this will be the first game to be unequivocally thrilled about.
Top of the Ninth: Pat Neshek comes in to face A-Rod, who is on a pace for 135 homers and 351 RBI. It’s only 6 games into the season, but I have to believe he’ll keep that pace off. A-Rod draws a walk, and he’s on again.
I should point out that when I play MLB ‘07: The Show on “rookie” level, those numbers are pretty low for me.
Giambi pops up a 2-2 pitch for the first out. Farnsworth is up in the pen. Okay, he’s probably the Yankees’ “worst” reliever.
Posada drives one to deepish right-center (or as Michael Kay calls it, DEEEEEEEEEEEEP right-center), but Hunter gets it for the second out.
Cano is hacking again, falls behind 0-2. Unlike Soriano, who also never walks, Cano makes regular contact. If he can add some power, he’ll be a fine hitter, but the lack of walks will always mitigate his value. Fortunately, being a second baseman gets a lot of that back.
The 1-2 is chopped to Castillo, who throws Robby out at first, and we’re on to the finish. Three more outs for Pavano’s first win in two years.
Bottom of the Ninth: Here’s Kyle Farnsworth, whose pants look like mine feel when I see Erin Andrews.
He starts off the inning with a four pitch walk. Lovely. But I’m guessing they’re not going to give up 6 runs this inning.
He falls behind Mauer, but he gets him to chop out to second for the first out.
Sutcliffe thinks that Jeter would have won the MVP if he’d won the batting title. It didn’t help Mauer.
Cuddyer hits it to first, and it caroms off of Mientkiewicz. He recovers and tosses it to Farnsworth for the second out, though.
Another grounder to Mientkiewicz by the Phony-MVP, and that’s the ballgame.
That was an outstanding game for the team all-around. Nothing that we’ll remember in a month, but they’re at .500, and they played spectacularly.
Good night, folks. Hope you enjoyed this one, too.
Sunday, April 8, 2007
4/8/07 - Baltimore Orioles (1-4) at New York Yankees (2-2) (Liveblog
Erik Bedard (0-1, 11.57 ERA) vs. Darrell Rasner (0-0, -.—)
Happy Easter everyone. I will be your live blogger today. You may remember me from such previous entries as “Top 10 Yankee Home Runs” and “How Buck Showalter Ruined My Childhood.” I am in DC, so I am watching on MASN. It is the Angelos version of YES, except they have the Nats too. Gary Thorne joined the team this year. Which is nice, Thorne is a decent announcer, but he is really a hockey guy. Buck Martinez is terrible, terrible, terrible, and Thorne isn’t working this series.
Pregame: I am not as high on Bedard as others. I think Loewen has a better upside. I am probably alone in that opinion. All 3 Yankee outfielders are dinged, but the Yanks are not in a position to make DL anyone (says Torre). So expect a slowed Damon in CF and a Cairo in LF. I would be thrilled if the Rasner gives us 6 IP. Thrilled. I’ll be back at 1 for the game.
Lineups…..
Roberts
Mora
Markakis (I am a fan)
Tejada
Huff
Gibbons
Millar (I am not a fan)
Patterson
Bako
Cabrera (really? leadoff?)
Jeter
Abreau
Arod
Giambi
Phelps
Cano
Cairo
Nieves
O’s Pregame Coverage: Amber Theoharis is alright. And she is eastern orthodox. Double points for that. Danny Baez is being interviewed about the 8th inning last night, which I think is pretty solid of him. I certainly would not want to talk about it if I were him.
Jim Hunter: Hairpiece, not a hairpiece?
GAME ON!
Top 1st: Roberts hit a hard grounder to Phelps. Rasner is throwing strikes, gets two out in 5 pitches. Markakis smokes one down the line for a single. Can Markakis play CF? He obviously wouldn’t play it with Patterson there, as Patterson is probably one of the 3 best defensive CFs in the AL. If he could play CF though, he may be an extremely attractive Free Agent in a few years. I am a fan of his bat.
Bottom 1st: You guys are going to have to help me with the MPH, as MASN doesn’t offer a radar gun. What was Rasner hitting? Mid 80s? 87-88? Melky leads off with a single. Bedard is really pitching Jeter very well here, he missed with the 2-2 fastball, but he was really set up for it. 3-2 now. And Jeter singles 1st and 3rd for the obviously hurting Bobby Abreau. I am glad ARod is going to bat in the first, I am looking forward to the ovation.
Nice ovation, too cold to be raucous. And ARod homers again. He is DIALED IN! I thought Phepls was supposed to be a power hitter? he ends the inning with a lame grounder to third. One more thing about ARod’s homer, he has hit 4 this year, one to left, two to center, and on to RCF. When he hits the ball to center, he is a totally different batter.
He is very close to being feared again.
Top 2nd: Rasner doesn’t look like he should be getting outs, but he is. And now, he isn’t. I dislike Millar almost as much as Showalter. he is a dead pull hitter, and even that outside fastball is able to be pulled when its only 45 mph. However. Rasner is able to recover and get Patterson on a pitch that was intended to strike the Durham Bull Mascot in the head. Is there anyone who swings at higher fastballs than Corey Patterson?
Bottom 2nd: Cairo saw 4 pitches. Which is better than seeing three, so that is something. Will Nieves has a nice head of hair.
Top 3rd: Roberts seemed to have struck a hottie in the head with a line drive. She appears to be ok. Roberts calls a late time, something that Bernie excels at. I swear Buck Martinez will not shut up about Mora’s bunt base hit. This guy has mentioned every time Mora does anything. Its official, I love Nick Markakis. he gets another hit with 2 outs, and Vitamin B12 is up. Orioles seem to excel at that sort of bullshit offense, but Rasner overcomes the bloop double down the line and throws 2 excellent hooks to Huff, striking him out.
Does Markakis steal bases? Do you think if I ran into him at a bar we would strike up a conversation. I wonder if he quotes Caddyshack. I bet he does. And I bet we could totally be best friends and play golf and Madden and drink fine domestic beers.
Bottom 3rd. Melky Ks leading off. He is not going to be much more than a 4th outfielder until he can hit that pitch. Jeter hits a flyball to right that caused some excitement in the crowd. The Bobby flies out harmlessly to left.
Top 4. If Rasner isn’t coming back, that is news to the MASN crew, and to Joe Torre, because Ranser still seems to be there. And Millar doubles into the corner after a harmless popup to Gibbons. When Millar succeeds, the American people lose. You just can’t walk Corey Patterson. You just can’t. Paul Bako homers. Paul Bako and Kevin Millar? How is this possible? Buck F. Martinez continues to claim the Yanks pitched around Corey Patterson. Why the fuck would the Yankees do that? There is no way he was pitched around.
Bottom 4. I strongly doubt the Yanks will be held to three the rest of the game. The last time Paul Bako homered, Reagan was alive, sort of. Arod is having a very nice AB. He looks very calm out there. Bedard really got away with one there. a fastball right over the middle. Giambi rips one but it is stolen by Markakis. And Bedard has retired 10 in a row.
Nick Markakis makes me feel funny on my insides. 11 in a row for Bedard, with the shitty bottom half coming up in the bottom of the fifth.
Top 5. 2:20 too early to start drinking on Easter? Because I have to come to terms with my manlove of Nick Markakis. Remember when Miguel Tejada was a hitter to be feared? Bruney and Henn warming up. Bruney was impressive yesterday, and Henn looked alright on Friday. I really really like the pen. I am not too sure about the long term ability of Henn though.
Awesome, Camden Yards is letting people bring their own food and drink to the game. Scotch and cokes all summer for me. Maybe a gin and tonic too. but would they test for alcohol if a lime is in the bottle? Too obvious?
Henn comes in for Rasner, Rasner was alright, just alright. Henn gets Gibbons to pop it up. Millar is up now. He has only seen two pitches today. Ho can Millar and Patterson walk in the same game? Its an Easter Miracle! I am getting that beer, right now.
Pettitte is up in the pen. Pettitte is up in the pen. He has 1 career save, against Baltimore. Phelps with a great play to save a couple runs.
Bottom 5. 11 in a row for Bedard, if Cano gets on , Cairo and Nieves should both sacrifice bunt. Cano does get on, and Cairo is not bunting. I hope he strikes out, so he doesn’t hit into a DP. Buck Martinez actually admited he was wrong, which was nice. Great job by Cairo not causing 2 outs. Hey, its Melky, and its an 0-2 count. thats not surprising. And he strikes out, I have 0 confidence in him.
Top 6. Pettitte is in the game. He gets Bako to pop out on one pitch. He is working pretty fast. And he Ks Roberts. FWIW, he looks much better today than he did against the Rays. And of course, he walks Mora right after I type that. Andy has no chance against the future Hall of Famer Nick Markakis. In what may go down as the biggest upset since the Colonies upset the British Empire. Andy gets Nick to popup.
Bottom 6. Snow? The hell? Yankees are really going to struggle against lefties this year. The Yankees have trailed in the seventh inning every game this season? correct? Bedard is cruising. I am impressed. I may have to change my opinion of him.
Top 7. Proctor in. I am not expecting much from him this season. Good hustle by Tejada there. I wouldn’t worry too much about that error. Things like that happen, an error on a popup usually doesn’t repeat itself too much. Who is the manager in Pittsburgh? he fucking is killing me, he needs to get Duke the hell out of there, he is killing my fantasy team.
An intentional walk to Gobbons is pretty smart with one out. Proctor should be able to throw cheddar by Millar. But Millar gets a low fastball and drives it to CF, and its 6-3, and it looks like another L is looming. How many more innings can Bedard throw? Patterson walks twice, which is a sure sign the end near. Proctor needs to work faster, especially on a cold day like this.
Hey, its Kate Smith! Time for a bathroom break.
Programing Notes from around the country: Goosen just made another birdie, and is three under for the day. And the Pittsburgh bullpen hates me.
Bottom 7. Giambi Ks. Phelps hits a grounder up the middle. Posada is going to PH for Posada, which means Damon PH for Nieves? Why would they not walk posada? Damon is downright Nieves-like against lefties. Posada is hanging in there. How many times did Posada have to see that curve before he laid off it?
Top 8. Proctor again, I would assume. I assume wrong. Its Myers. Damon takes over in CF. How does everyone feel about Roberts? I think he lost whatever it was that he had.
I like that Torre is using Myers for an inning at a time. Why is Bruney up twice. There is no reason for him to be up twice in one game. there has to be someone else available.
Bottom 8. Damon, Melky, Jeter. This is the inning it has to happen. These little ones have to get on base for Bobby, Alex and Jason. I give Damon a 0.00% chance against Walker. Buck Martinez talks much too much. More snow, and Damon is doing a better job of fouling off some pitches. My father, who is visiting, just ran downstairs to tell me Goosen has taken the lead in the Masters.
And Damon gets a standup triple. Nicely done. I apologize. They are conceding the run. Melky just needs to not K. Nice AB for Jeter there, as he flies out to left. Bobby needs to get on. Otherwise ARod bat does not represent the tying run in the ninth. Excellent job by Abreau. Arod gets his chance against Chad Bradford.
If Arod Ks, it will be on Sportscenter, mark it down. And Arod walks. And there is not a snowballs chance Giambi bats faces Bradford. I like Parrish, I think Giambit should sit on a fastball though. Parrish is making Giambi look silly with the first couple pitches. Nice looking slider on Parish. Nice AB for Giambi. I am guessing Baez is not available today. I don’t think Parrish is going to get Phelps out on a bad pitch. This is why Jeter should not swing at that first pitch from Walker.
Top 9. Myers stays on for the ninth. I think he pitched a couple multi-inning outings last year. And if anyone is going 2 innings today, I think Myers is a good choice. He pitched 4 2/3 total innings in 70 appearances last year. Its hard to get on the bullpen, but they are killing me with the walks of this terrible batters.
Why does MASN not put up the Radar numbers? seriously? Its ridiculous. What was the MPH on the first pitch to Millar? Millar pops ut, and we go to the bottom of the ninth.
Bottom 9. Cano, Posada and Damon against Ray. Could be worse. I would imagine one of the first three get on, and Melky ends the game with a ground out to third.
Ray throws a nice pitch to Cano on 1-1, Cano tapped the ball out to Gomez. Posada is up again. He is probably going to make Ray work. Posada makes excellent contact, again. I believe I said earlier than Patterson was one of the top defensive 3 CFs in the AL. He may be the best.
I forgot Melky would not be batting RH when I made that prediction, let me change my prediction to a K.
Melky grounds out to 2b on a fastball at the belt, right down the middle. Really poor homestand for the Yanks, all things considered 5 games in 7 days, and 2 wins, and 0 wins from their starters.
I had fun, and I will be back eventually. Someone will be live blogging tomorrow. Pavano vs. Ponson may take 8 hours.
Friday, April 6, 2007
4/6/07 - Baltimore Orioles (0-3) at New York Yankees (1-1) (Liveblog)
Adam Loewen (0-0, -.—) vs. Mike Mussina (0-0, -.—)
Last season, Adam Loewen was 4-5 with a 5.98 ERA and a 1.57 WHIP against everyone but the Yankees. Against the Yanks, he was 2-1 with a 2.52 ERA and a 1.24 WHIP.
Yeah, that was frustrating. They were able to score 4 runs in 5 innings against him the first time they faced him, but in the three starts after that, he had a 1.80 ERA and a 1.05 WHIP, while going into the seventh all three times. The Orioles have high hopes for Loewen, who is just about to turn 23, but as a guy who walked over five guys per 9 in the minors, he probably won’t be that good. And really, a guy who walks five per nine innings is someone the Yankees should crush. Instead, they only got him for 17 hits in four starts, and only five of those for extra bases (all of them doubles). That’s not gonna cut it.
So hopefully, they’ll get even with him tonight, and smack him around a bit.
Earlier, Boston lost 2-0 to the Rangers to fall to 2-2 on the season. It’s a little early to be scoreboard watching, of course, but it’s always nice to see Boston lose. I watched some of Daisuke Matsuzaka’s first start yesterday, and while I was impressed, I wasn’t blown away. Red Sox fans are ready to anoint him as the new Pedro, but I wouldn’t go that far. For one, it was the freaking Royals, so lets take the results with a grain of salt. Hideo Nomo threw a no-hitter in his first start as a Red Sock against the Orioles, and was generally mediocre that year.
I think Matsuzaka will be very good this year, and he’s probably Boston’s best starter. He’s certainly better than anyone the Yankees have right now, but he’s no Pedro. I’d say he seems more like David Cone to me, which is someone who anyone would want, but I’m not sure I’d pay $18.5 million a year for him—regardless of the “luxury tax discount”. And he looks like someone the Yankees could very well beat the living crap out of—he works the corners a lot without pinpoint control, and he’s going to give up a bunch of home runs. If they don’t pound him, they could also get him out of the game in the fifth a lot—he throws a TON of pitches.
Still, that’s not to denigrate Matsuzaka. I wish the Yankees had him, and I’m pissed the Red Sox do, but he’s not a Pedro-like “oh crap, how are we gonna beat this guy” kind of pitcher (although, of course, the Yankees do manage to beat Pedro more often than not). Red Sox fans will call me myopic and biased for saying that, but c’mon, I just said the guy is a 26-year-old version of a borderline Hall of Famer. If you think that’s an insult, who’s being myopic?
One last thing: I think it’s fair to say Greinke pitched better than Matsuzaka—if you consider that he faced the Red Sox (with Ortiz, Ramirez and Drew), while Matsuzaka faced the Royals. 7 innings with 8 hits, 1 walk and 7 Ks and no homers against that lineup is damned impressive.
OK, enough about the enemy. I’ll be back at game time for some liveblogging.
Pregame: The O’s have some good hitters, and several of them have pounded Moose in their careers. Hopefully Good Moose shows up tonight and can keep them quiet, but combined with the poor track record against Loewen, I’m feeling a bit pessimistic tonight.
Living in York, PA right now, I’m stuck with the MASN feed, so I won’t be able to comment on Kay and friends. I’d say that’s a blessing, but the O’s announcing team sucks, too.
Starting Lineups:
Orioles:
Brian Roberts-2B
Melvin Mora-3B
Nick Markakis-RF
Miguel Tejada-SS
Aubrey Huff-1B
Jay Gibbons-LF
Kevin Millar-DH
Corey Patterson-CF
Paul Bako-C
Yankees:
Melky Cabrera-CF
Derek Jeter-SS
Bobby Abreu-RF
Alex Rodriguez-3B
Jason Giambi-DH
Hideki Matsui-LF
Jorge Posada-C
Robinson Cano-2B
Josh Phelps-1B
They seem to have a much healthier attitude about losses in Baltimore than in New York. Yanks fans are fretting about one loss in April—O’s fans are largely looking at their 0-3 start as “well, its’ just three games”. Which is true, although the O’s are going to finish fourth or fifth this year.
If the Yanks lose tonight, the media is going to go nuts. Ridiculous.
Top of the First: Moose starts Roberts out by missing outside and high, and then gives up a bomb to left-center for a double. Not an auspicious beginning…
Mora lays down a perfect bunt down the third base line which dies on the grass, and Posada just eats it. First and third with nobody out. They better pound Loewen or they’re gonna be in trouble.
Mussina is having big problems with control so far, he falls behind Markakis 3-1, and then gives up a hard double to right on a full count, and it’s 2-0 already. Well, I’m sure this is all A-Rod’s fault.
Tejada grounds out to Cano on the first pitch, but that moves Markakis to third with one out.
Huff chops it down the first base line, but Phelps grabs it about halfway up the line and holds Markakis at third, so there’s two out. Moose has to get Gibbons here, or at least not give up a hit.
Mussina gets Gibbons to pop out to shallow right-center, and he’s out of the jam without too much damage, but he’s going to need to make some adjustments next inning or this will be a short outing—and a loss.
Bottom of the First: Melky starts off the game by taking the first five pitches and walking. That’s a good start. Here comes a sac bunt, though.
Well, Jeter doesn’t show bunt, surprisingly, and takes one in the dirt. Six pitches, no swings—and just one strike. Jeter swings at the second pitch and fouls it off his foot. The O’s PBP guy comments that that hurts on a cold night, and Buck Martinez fires right back “that hurts on a warm night, too.”. Heh.
Jeter goes to 2-2, and then lines out to Brian Roberts, who throws to first to double off Melky. That’s the second time in three games Melky has been doubled off base unconventionally, and the Yanks are letting Loewen off the hook for his walks again.
Abreu also goes to 2-2, and then lines out to a diving Mora… and it’s gonna be one of those nights.
It’s all A-Rod’s fault, of course. We can add two more covers to that counter tomorrow.
Top of the Second: Christina Aguilera is in the stands. Moose gets ahead 1-2, then ends up walking Millar. Probably distracted by X-tina.
Patterson bunts hard to A-Rod, who just gets him out at first. The way Moose is pitching, I can’t really complain about the free outs.
Moose has no command tonight—probably the cold weather, but you’re certainly going to hear a lot of chatter about him being a creature of habit and being upset about getting pushed back a day by Wednesday’s rainout. I really hope it’s the cold weather, the Yanks need Moose to be solid this season.
He falls behind Bako 3-1, but gets him to swing and miss then take strike three looking.
Mussina has fallen behind six of nine batters so far, and now he falls behind Roberts 3-0, and ends up walking him. He gets to 0-2 on Mora, though, and gets him to pop up to Melky to get out of trouble.
Bottom of the Second: A-Rod takes a strike to start the inning. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
Then he rips a double down the left-field line! Yay! But it was only the second inning, so it doesn’t mean anything. Unless he makes an out. Then he sucks.
Giambi works the count to 2-2, and then bounces out to second, moving A-Rod to third.
The crowd is awfully quiet tonight. They’re probably all freezing.
Matsui rips it into left-center to drive home A-Rod, but it doesn’t get into the gap and Godzilla is held at first. 2-1 O’s.
Jorge falls beind Loewen 0-2, and after a ball in the dirt and a foul off, gets blown away by a high fastball.
Robby hacks at a bad pitch and falls behind 0-1. Loewen throws it again, and Cano doesn’t offer. On a 1-2 pitch, Cano rips it down the right field line, and Matsui gets sent all the way from first. The throw is way offline and gets past Bako, and the game is tied 2-2. You gotta love Robby.
Phelps bounces out to third, and the inning is over. But they got three hits off of Loewen that inning, two of them doubles, so it looks like they might have finally figured him out. Let’s hope.
Top of the Third: Moose starts Markakis off with a big knucklecurve for a strike, but on a 1-1 count he doubles down the left field line. Argh.
And now Moose hits Tejada in the elbow, and there are runners on first and second with nobody out. I repeat: ARGH.
Huff bounce up the first base line again, which moves the runners up, and then Gibbons singles to left-center to make it 4-2. Damn you, A-Rod.
Moose is over 50 pitches already, but the way he’s pitching, that won’t matter. His command has been awful today, and hopefully it won’t be too big a deficit when he finally gets pulled. Millar gets ahead 3-1, then walks on a full count. Yay, Bad Moose.
Moose gets ahead of Patterson 0-2, but he gives him a fat pitch for an RBI double, and it’s 5-2. So that’s 17 runs allowed in just over 20 innings. That won’t win you a pennant.
Mussina finally gets the second out by striking out Bako, but at this point, maybe they shouldn’t have traded RJ. I mean, what’s the worst that would have happened? Pretty much this.
And now Roberts, in his third AB already, strikes out looking. But that was a crappy inning. If Mussina can’t hold them scoreless in the fourth, this will just be a horrible game.
Bottom of the Third: Melky takes his sixth straight pitch, but then grounds the 1-0 to first for the first out.
On a 1-1 pitch Jeter doubles down the right field line to pass Donnie Baseball on the all-time hit list, and bring a little life into the crowd. Well, very little. It’s still very quiet. Let’s see if Bobby or Alex can wake them up.
Abreu works a walk, so now the tying run is up. AND IF A-ROD DOESN’T GET A HIT HERE, HE’S A BUM.
A-Rod gets hit on the first pitch to load the bases. BUT HE DIDN’T GET A HIT. HE’S A BUM!!!
He should have swung at it and homered. Ortiz would have.
Has a GIDP ever been more certain?
Well, I guess Loewen could walk him. I mean, he does that a lot, and so does Giambi. And now it’s 2-0.
Loewen comes inside and Giambi fouls it off. Probably ball three, but close to Giambi’s happy zone… and now Loewen throws inside again and catches the corner to make it 2-2.
Now Giambi pops it up for the second out. What a bum. A-Rod, I mean. You can’t expect Giambi to get a hit every time—but look at A-Rod standing on first… bastard should have stolen home.
And Matsui bounces out to second, and the Yanks waste the rally. Good job.
Hey, will Giambi be in the headlines for that pop up? I bet you he won’t be.
Top of the Fourth: Well, the Yanks wasted a great opportunity, but Mussina looks like he’s going to make it not matter, giving up a base hit to Mora to lead off the fourth. At this rate, it won’t matter how many chances the Yanks get to score, it won’t be enough.
He gets ahead of Markakis here and strikes him out swinging, his fourth of the game. That may look like a good K rate, but he has faced 21 batters.
The O’s PBP batter comments on how clever the Yankees fans are tracking Moose’s K’s with Bullwinkles. Apparently this is his first visit to Yankee Stadium. Welcome to New York.
Now Tejada pops out to A-Rod, which gets some cheers. Were those supposed to be sarcastic because of the Opening Day error? That would be pretty weak.
Mora steals second on a delayed steal, and Posada throws it way off the bag. He probably wouldn’t have gotten him anyway, Jeter wasn’t anywhere near second.
And great, there’s a base hit in front of Melky and it’s 6-2. Super.
A flyout to Melky ends the inning. They can score 6 runs—that’ll probably be around what they average this year—but if they have to do this every night, they’re in big, big, big trouble.
Bottom of the Fourth: Yanks need to do something this inning. Jorge starts it out with a walk.
Robby falls behind 1-2, then Loewen makes the most pointless pickoff throw ever. IT’S JORGE POSADA! Robby flies out to center.
Now would be a good time for Josh Phelps’ first Yankee hit, and there it is! Yanks have another rally chance here, though they’ll probably need a double or deep single to score.
Melky falls behind 0-2 and then taps out to Loewen, but at least it wasn’t a double play. Jeter’s got a chance to be clutch here, get the Yanks right back into it with a base hit.
O’s PBP guy points out that Jeter’s 33 in June. I’m 30 a week from now. I feel old from both of those things.
Jeter gets ahead 3-1, but grounds out to second to end the rally.
All jokes aside, if A-Rod had done what Giambi did last inning, that would be on the cover of the post tomorrow. If he did what Jeter did there, he’d be crucified. Instead, Jeter and Giambi get the proper response—“Awwwwwwwwww… shit.” A-Rod gets merciless boos. Go to hell, people.
Top of the Fifth: This game is dragging. 1:40 and it’s not half over. Well, it’s over for Mussina, who was just terrible. That 13.50 ERA sums it up pretty well.
Sean Henn comes in, and he needs to keep this game at four runs.
Millar bounces out to A-Rod, and there’s one away.
Patterson bounces out to Phelps, but almost beats it out while Phelps considers tossing to Henn. Well, hopefully that’s a lesson learned.
Henn falls behind Bako 2-1, but gets another groundout to first. With plenty of time, Phelps tosses it to Henn and the inning is over. FINALLY, a 1-2-3!
Bottom of the Fifth: Well, the Yanks are getting some hits off of Loewen, and getting some walks, but they’re hitting like crap in the clutch—and hell, it ain’t even A-Rod’s fault! Still, they need to break out of it or they’re gonna be 1-2 and the media will start the panic.
Abreu doesn’t help things, grounding out to first. Here comes A-Rod, in a non-clutch clutch situation. They need him to get on base, preferably with home run.
Instead, he falls behind 0-2 and strikes out swinging on a ball in the dirt. Well, there’s your photo for the cover.
And Giambi pops out behind third. So while Loewen hasn’t been as “dominant” as he normally is against the Yanks, he’s getting the same damn results. What the hell?
Top of the Sixth: One pitch, one out—Roberts pops to Cano.
Action in the Orioles pen. I’d say that was good news, but I can’t imagine the O’s spent all that money on their pen for nothing.
Henn’s pitching well, but Mora works him for 11 pitches and then singles to right. Bad in multiple ways—a baserunner, and a lot of pitches.
Markakis gets ahead 1-0, but pops out to Melky in center, and there are two away.
Tejada pops a 1-2 up to Cano behind first base, and the inning is over without any damage. Henn is probably earning Torre’s confidence very quickly, which is good news for Scott Proctor… but probably bad news for Sean Henn if nobody else pitches well…
Bottom of the Sixth: Loewen is finally out of the game, and in comes John Parrish. Matsui grounds to short, but Tejada bobbles it, then inexplicably throws to first anyway, and throws it away. Two errors on one play for Tejada, and Matsui is on second.
Jorge quickly grounds out to Tejada, though, and Matsui stays put on second.
Cano gets ahead 3-0, but since he’s fatally allergic to walks, he gets the count to 3-2. Fortunately, he’s also fatally allergic to strikeouts, and singles up the middle for his second RBI, and it’s 6-3. Now it’s a ballgame again.
Phelps has a chance to start a big rally, but he strikes out swinging on a pitch in the dirt. Two away.
Parrish throws one way over Bako’s head, and now the fourth run is in scoring position, if Melky can get a hit.
Instead, he pops up on a 2-0 to Markakis in right, and they only get one run. Still… it’s something.
Top of the Seventh: Henn’s out there for his third inning—that’s a big help to this team right now—and he starts it off with an easy flyout by Huff to Godzilla.
A second-pitch grounder to first by Gibbons and there are two away. I really like Henn so far. I’ve gotta say that Cashman did a great job with the bullpen while not spending any money.
Millar’s up—the O’s announcers are surprised the Yankees fans boo him just for being an ex-Red Sock. I don’t think it’s because he was an ex-Red Sock, it’s because he was such an obnoxious one. Well, he’s retired with a fly ball to left, and Henn has a fantastic outing. I have to imagine that’s it for him. He really bailed the bullpen out tonight after a short start by Mussina—he might earn himself a start if he keeps pitching like this while the rotation keeps struggling.
Bottom of the Seventh: Well, here’s Chad Bradford, who is death on righties.
Jeter gets a base hit to right, nonetheless, and Abreu comes up—and Bradford historically sucks against lefties. So I guess we should expect a GIDP.
Instead, it’s a base hit to right, and here’s the headline for tomorrow. A-Rod gets a standing ovation, but if he doesn’t get a hit, he’s dead. And he swings through the first pitch.
Again: Bradford is usually death to righties. A GIDP wouldn’t be a shock.
Now A-Rod fouls off the second pitch, and it’s 0-2 right away.
And he swings and misses at a breaking ball away, and THERE’S your cover photo.
Now here’s Jamie Walker, who owns Giambi, and Jason hacks and misses the first pitch.
There’s strike two called. Well, at least the Yankees are looking really, really bad in losing.
Foul tip. Still 0-2.
Fastball up and in, Giambi swings through it, and there are two outs. Hey, where are the boos? This is the second time Giambi’s done nothing in a huge spot!
It’s all up to Matsui now, and he runs the count full after getting ahead 2-0. Despite the tying run being at the plate, the crowd is incredibly quiet.
Matusi takes the pitch low, and now Jorge has a chance to tie it with a double to right-center, or something.
He rips a single to right center, but it’s a bit too hard to send Abreu. But they get it to 6-4 with Robby able to tie it with a single… and two more innings to go.
Cano falls behind 0-2 again, and this time pops it up to short. But they do get a run, so they’re in it at least.
Top of the Eighth: Yanks need a quick inning here, and Mike Myers gets Corey Patterson to pop a bunt up to Phelps in foul territory.
Bako dribbles it back to the mound, and there are two away.
Torre leaves Myers in to face Roberts batting right-handed, and he falls behind 3-1. I’m not sure why he’s doing that, and now Roberts walks.
Apparently Torre doesn’t understand the term “LOOGY”, but at least he’s not completely clueless in this case. In comes… Scott Proctor. Hopefully for just one out, to be followed by Mariano after the three-run rally in the bottom of the inning. Eh? Eh?
I notice that traffic seems to have perked up a little bit the last half hour. You bandwagoning bastards.
Mora crushes one to center, but Melky chases it down, and the Yanks are coming back up to face Danys Baez.
The first two batters—Phelps and Melky—have never faced him. And Jeter has a career .438 OPS against him. Not really encouraging.
Bottom of the Eighth: Christina Aguilera is still at the game. And there’s nobody sitting around her. Maybe she smells. She certainly doesn’t look happy. Probably because it’s cold, and she’s tiny. Tiny people don’t like the cold.
Doug Mientkiewicz pinch-hits for Phelps—he’s got decent numbers against him, at least—but he flies out to left. Well, he’s been useless so far.
Melky hits it back to Baez, and there are two away.
And Jeter taps out to Baez, and that’s the eighth. Super.
Well, if Abreu gets on, A-Rod will have a chance to be the goat again. Yippee.
Top of the Ninth: Proctor gets Markakis to fly out to Melky to start the ninth. If the Yanks have any chance—and they have a very tiny one—they need to get one more scoreless inning of relief here.
Tejada takes a big hack, but pops up to Matsui. Two away.
And Huff pops it up to Eyechart. A spectacular job by the bullpen tonight at least. Now, here’s one last chance to make it worth something.
Bottom of the Ninth: My internet craps out just in time for me to not post about the Yankees going down meekly in the ninth.
Overall, that was a crappy game. Mussina was awful, but I really think that’s more because of the weather than anything else. Of course, isn’t the kind of weather you might encounter in, say, October? Um, yeah.
The bullpen was spectacular. A-Rod and Giambi were really dreadful, and Matsui and Jeter really hurt them in some big situations. Should they have won this game? Yeah, probably—they let Loewen off the hook a couple of times, and only squeezed one run out of some other rallies.
A-Rod’ll be the goat, but this was a team loss. But I wouldn’t panic yet. It’ll get better.
Thursday, April 5, 2007
4/5/07 - D-Rays at Yanks (Liveblog)
Pregame: We won’t be liveblogging every game, but we’ll try to do these when we can.
And Yahoo’s got the lineup posted.
NY Yankees
R. Cano 2b
D. Jeter ss
B. Abreu rf
A. Rodriguez 3b
J. Giambi dh
H. Matsui lf
J. Posada c
D. Mientkiewicz 1b
M. Cabrera cf
A. Pettitte p
-Robinson Cano is pretty much the opposite of a prototypical leadoff hitter. I supposed batting Jeter leadoff makes too much sense. If Tampa had a lefty in the pen, this would actually be a good way of breaking up the lefties and righties, but it’s not a big deal anyway.
-No Damon again tonight. I guess any worries about playing time for Melky were unfounded.
-So, anyone wish the Yankees had bid $52 million for Matsuzaka?
YES Pre-game show: Kim Jones looks chilly. Damon apparently has a strained calf. According to David Justice, Damon should be careful. Thanks David.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, Andy Pettitte used to pitch for the Yankees. I GET IT!
Carl Crawford should just get his name changed to “The Speedy Carl Crawford’ already.
They aren’t going to DL Damon yet, so, the Yankees’ fourth OF right now is Miguel Cairo? I like Miggy even though I know he stinks, but ugh.
Top of the first: Pettitte takes the mound to begin his warmups and gets a standing O.
First pitch fastball to Carl Crawford is a strike. Second pitch is chopped to Pettitte for the first out.
Why is Ben Zobrist batting second for Tampa anyway? Apparently it’s to ground out to Cano for out # 2.
Jonny Gomes rips the first pitch he sees for a single. Runner on first, two outs, and Ty Wigginton up. And Wigginton pops out before I can even post about Gomes. Good return for Andy so far.
Bottom of the first: Jae Seo getting ready to face leadoff Robby. Robby hits an infield single.
And Jeter bunts for the first time this year, and I get mad for the first time at a Yankee game this year. Seriously, why would you bunt in the first inning against a bad pitcher when you were an MVP candidate? It makes no sense. None.
Bobby Abreu up. I love Bobby. He’s much easier to root for than Gary Sheffield was. And Abreu flies out the other way for out # 2.
Amazingly, Alex Rodriguez hasn’t been booed yet. Let’s see what happens after this AB. Well, he hits an RBI double that could have been caught, and they cheer him. For now. Yanks 1, Rays 0.
Giambi flies out to center to end the first. Yankees seem to be making decent contact against Seo. Should bode well for the rest of the game.
Top of the second: Pettitte battles Delmon Yong before retiring him on a grounder to Jeter, who is on pace to be 100 runs below average by zone rating this year through 1 game. He follows that up by getting Elijah Dukes to ground out on the first pitch. Lots of grounders tonight so far.
Pettitte’s throwing strikes, but he seems to be lacking velocity tonight. Topping out around 89. And as I talk about how he’s throwing strikes, he walks Iwamura.
And now he’s behind 3-0 to Upton. Forget what I said about him throwing strikes….
Cano ranges far to his left to field a gronder from Upton, but loses the ball tranferring from glove to hand and Upton’s safe. They scored it a hit, but it should have been made.
And that’s a new one. “Over a leaping Jeter!”. Rays tie the game at 1-1 on a single. Pettitte’s really laboring now, and is on an 80 pitch count. So he should be good for another inning after this.
Suddenly I miss Jaret Wright. Pettitte looks terrible right now. 34 pitches in the second inning after needing only eight in the first.
Yanks get lucky on a pitch in the dirt that didn’t get far enough away from the plate for Upton to score. He tried anyway, Posada flips to Pettitte covering at home, and the Yanks are out of the inning. That inning sort of sucked.
Bottom of the second:
Hideki Matsui leads off the second. I have no rationale for it, but I think Matsui’s going to have a big year. It won’t start with this AB, as he takes a called strike 3.
Posada works the count to 2-0, then lines a single between third and short. Nice opposite field stroke there.
And Doug Mientkiewicz strokes a single to RF. I think best case for Mientkiewicz is the Yankee version of John Olerud. I’d take that.
And Melky and Cano both fail to advance the runners, inning over. Jae Seo is well on his way to career win # 26.
Top of the Third: Ben Zobrist grounds routinely to Jeter, but he can’t pick it cleanly and and Zobrist reaches. So Jeter’s now on pace to be -200 this year.
Joe Girardi “The Yankee defense was not great last year.” Really Joe?
Posada one ups Jeter with a passed ball. Zobrist’s now on second with no outs, and the whole Yankee team looks flat. Pettitte gets what looks like a gift call on 3-2 to Gomes for strike three. I’ll take it.
This game is painful to watch. Zobrist makes a move for third, Pettitte catches him and throws…. TO THE WRONG BASE. Gah.
Infield brough in in the third inning. Bad move. I’m not sure who’s available for the middle innings today, although I’d imagine it’ll be Sean Henn first.
Young ropes an RBI single to CF, 2-1 Rays. Pettitte’s homecoming is not going very well.
DP Grounder gets out of the inning. I blame Pettitte for not picking up Jeter there.
Bottom of the third: The Yankees have to score here. If you don’t get to a pitcher like Jae Seo early, you may as well just go home.
And Jeter gets it started with a sharp single grounded between third and short.
Abreu hits one pretty well the other way, but TSCC chases it down.
Alex Rodriguez is hitting .500 this season. If he does that, he’ll be the MVP.
Rodriguez pops up in the infield, and they don’t boo him? Wow.
I have a hunch Giambi’s going yard here. Giambi flies out to CF instead. So much for that….
Top of the fourth: Pettitte’s thrown 62 of his allotted 80 pitches so far to get 9 outs. Wonderful.
Iwamura lines out hard to Rodriguez at third. One down.
Pettitte fans a ninja for out # 2.
Pettitte gets a popout to Jeter for the third out. Good inning there. Now, how about that 1000 run offense showing up?
Bottom of the fourth:
I just realized that if this was Randy Johnson pitching instead of Andy Pettitte, we’d probably be happy with four runs in two innings. I don’t miss that guy at all….
Matsui up. He was killing the ball in the spring, but looks like he’s a little off-balance right now. Hideki grounds to Wigginton who makes a nice diving stop, and then a throw to Jae Seo, who was late covering. Matsui is not credited with a hit.
Posada follows up by lacing a single into RF. First and third, no outs. I predict the first triple play of 2007.
Mientkiewicz’s lack of power fools Dukes, who stops coming in on the ball because he knows a major league hitter would not hit a ball that weakly. It dunks in, and Yanks tie it at 2. Melky up.
Melky advances the runners by grounding to first, bringing up Robinson Cano, Hitting Machine.
And what do Hitting Machines do? They hit. RBI single for Cano, 3-2 Yanks.
Posada’s getting White Out put on his fingers, they’re saying Pettitte may be having trouble picking up the signs.
Jeter hustles and beats out a DP grounder, allowing Mientkiewicz to score from third. 4-2 Yankees.
Hustle giveth, and hustle taketh away. Jeter gets caught stealing, Inning over. But three run innings are good.
Top of the fifth: Does Pettitte have another inning in him?
Pettitte’s out to start the fifth, but The Daily Proctor is warming in case.
TSCC easily beats out an infield single.
Zobrist bunts and Pettitte’s shuffle throw gets knocked out of Mientkiewicz’s glove by Zobrist. Crawford gets to third, runners on the corners, no outs, and Pettitte’s day is done.
He didn’t pitch really well, but he’s working his way back from back spasms and it’s apparently somewhat cold in the Bronx tonight. Regardless, there’s just something right about seeing Pettitte back in a Yankee uniform.
I have no idea yet if Scott Proctor is for real. I sure hope he is. We’ll find out soon. A steal puts the tying run on second.
Proctor’s throwing breaking balls more than fastballs tonight. Interesting.
And Proctor gets Gomes to swing at a breaking pitch in the dirt for out # 1. Good break and rotation on that pitch. They’re saying it’s a curve, but it looks like a slider to me.
Wigginton flys out to RCF, which brings in TSCC from third and lets Zobrist advance to third. Two down, Proctor pitching to Young.
And Posada with his fifteenth passed ball of the game lets the tying run home.
Jeter can’t get Delmon Young at first on a grounder that’s scored an error. Mientkiewicz didn’t scoop what looked like a scoopable throw.
Proctor’s done his job at least.
Posada throws out Young on the steal attempt, but the Rays tie it at 4.
Bottom of the fifth:
Bobby Abreu works a full-count walk. That’ll bring up Public Enemy # 1.
And Public Enemy #1 grounds into a double play.
Giambi up. And he fans. To the sixth we go.
I may be a bit slow to update over the next hour.
Top of the sixth:
And that’s why I worry about Proctor. He gives up a go-ahead HR. 5-4 Rays.
(Fabian): Past a lunging Jeter.
Top of the eighth:
I’m back, just in time to watch the New RuN Fairy give up the lead.
Can they pull Posada? He’s been absolutely horrendous behind the plate tonight.
Vizcaino = Felix Rodriguez.
Tampa takes the lead 7-6, but two pop outs have the Yankees on the verge of not putting the game out of reach. I don’t like the Gomes vs. Vizcaino matchup.
Gomes had a heart attack? I had no idea. Good for him to work his way back from that.
This is a must-win game with Cy Loewen going tomorrow. Vizcaino needs to stop the bleeding right now.
And he does, with a fly out to melky.
Bottom of the eighth:
You know what’d be cool? Yankee runs.
Mientkiewicz tries to get the party started. Is it bad when your first baseman is your worst hitter?
The reason i’m not as down on the Mientkiewicz signing as many are is because of that. I think he can get on base at a reasonable clip.
WTF??? WHY ARE YOU GIVING AWAY ONE OF THE SIX OUTS YOU HAVE LEFT? ASININE. GRRR.
If that was unclear, Joe Torre felt that a bunt by Melky after a Mientkiewicz walk was a smart play. They didn’t even advance the runner, just handed a young pitcher who walked the leadoff hitter a free out.
Thankfully, Robinson Cano, Hitting Machine, just did what Hitting Machines do. He singles, runners on first and second, and Captain Clutch batting. He’s 2 for 4, with 2 errors.
I’d like to congratulate Michael kay for getting under my skin after only two games. Good job Michael.
Jeter grounds out to the Stokes, but he messes up and tries to force Melky at third. Everybody’s safe!
Abreu up, bases loaded, one down.
Abreu grounds out and they force Melky at home. And it’s Hero or Goat time for Mr Cover Counter.
And Rodriguez pops up to second on what looked like a very hittable pitch. Crap.
Top of the ninth:
Will anyone ask Joe Torre why he gave away an out that inning? I wonder…
Kyle Farnsworth in to pour gas on the fire.
Two up, two down. Farnsworth’s wearing glasses tonight. Maybe he should always wear them.
Dukes draws a walk with two downs. He looks like a player.
Farnsworth fields a chopper for out # 3.
Cool Giambi’s leading off next inning. Well, he should be, but he’s not.
Bottom of the ninth
How about a walkoff win in the snow? Is that too much too ask?
Josh Phelps pinch-hitting for Cairo. He’s applying for his True Yankee™ membership card with this AB.
Phelps works the count full. The drama is building.
And he fans on an 88 mph “fast"ball for out #1.
That brings up Godzilla. And he grounds out to B.J. Upton for out #2.
Posada flies out to end it. Just a little under what would have tied the game.
Yanks played like garbage, they deserved to lose.
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
4/4/07 - D-Rays at Yanks (Liveblog)
Pregame: Game postponed due to rain.
Well, that was easy! Later, folks!
Monday, April 2, 2007
Opening Day!!! (Liveblog): Tampa Bay Devil Rays (0-0) at New York Yankees (0-0) - 1:05 pm
Scott Kazmir (0-0, -.—) vs. Carl Pavano (0-0, -.—) (probable)
Man, am I excited about this. The one advantage of getting older is that the offseason doesn’t seem as long each year. The ONE advantage.
This is a team built for the regular season. With this lineup, they’ll win a lot of games even if the pitching is lousy, and the pitching shouldn’t be lousy. Unfortunately, it shouldn’t be great, either, which could hurt them in October. But by then, they might have Clemens, they might have Hughes, and they might have swung a trade for some other genuine stopper. Or maybe even somebody they already have could turn into a stopper. Let’s not forget that Carl Pavano gave up only one run in nine innings to the Yankees in the 2003 World Series. Hey, stranger things have happened.
I’ll be updating this post as the game goes on, so join in for some chatter in the thread. It’s a celebration, bitches!
Pregame: Buster Olney (who looks and sounds sort of like Patton Oswalt, except he’s not funny), just called Hank and Hal Steinbrenner “Hank and Hal Swindal”. Maybe this explains why Steve is getting divorced. (Do they allow gay bigamous marriage in Florida?
Top of the First: Here’s the first pitch from Pavano… and it’s a ball! That won’t get anyone on your side Carl…
Base hit to left on the third pitch. And ESPN showed Crawford running out of the box instead of the ball being put in play. Do we have FOX producers running the show at ESPN this year?
And right away Crawford steals second… this is an ominous beginning.
Pavano falls behind Zobrist but comes back and strikes him out swinging. Pavano seems to be working the outside corner today. If he can hit that spot he’ll do reasonably well.
Baldelli flies out to deep left. First deep fly of the year, I thought I was gonna have a heart attack. I guess I just have no confidence in Pavano.
A foul popup on the first pitch to Wigginton—Pavano’s gonna get out of this without a run! And A-Rod misses it! Yeah, that’s not gonna help him out, either.
BTW, why is TY WIGGINTON batting cleanup for the D-Rays? THAT’S not impressive. Well, Pavano gets out of it anyway with a tapper back to the mound. One inning down, no damage. Yet.
Bottom of the First: Damon comes up and takes three pitches before offering at anything, then bounces the fourth pitch through the right side. A good start there. The D-Rays have a good shot to win if Kazmir keeps his pitch count reasonable, so the Yanks need to work it.
Jeter’s up—he got robbed of the MVP last year, but I don’t think he’s going to repeat that performance this year. He pops out to right…
Abreu—I think HE’S gonna have a big year. There’s really no pressure on him here in NY, and I think the first half last year was something of a fluke. I see him hitting 25 homers again, with an OPS around .950. THAT’S not fair. He works the count to 2-2 after falling behind 0-2 and hits a single to left, setting up the first “clutch”-ish situation of the year for A-Rod.
And A-Rod gets a standing ovation! C’mon Alex, do something big.
Ever notice that when Abreu takes pitches for strikes he’s being patient, but when A-Rod does he’s choking?
I have a feeling that they’re going to take away that error on A-Rod after the game. Wait, it’s A-Rod, they probably won’t.
And A-Rod strikes out on a pitch off the plate that he probably shouldn’t have swung at…
And A-Rod gets booed! Jeez.
Giambi works the count to 3-1… and rips an RBI single to right-center! Kazmir is really throwing a lot of pitches this inning, and now the Yanks lead. So far this game is going well for everyone but A-Rod…
Now Godzilla has worked the count full on Kazmir… here comes his 30th pitch of the inning… and it’s ball four!
There’s Donald Trump in the owner’s box… he’s not bald. I guess he won that Wrestlemania thing. What a shock.
Posada pops up a 2-2 pitch to end the inning, but with two runs on the board and 35 pitches on Kazmir’s arm, that was a very good first inning. For everyone but A-Rod.
Top of the Second: Delmon Young pops up to right center on the first pitch for the first out. Things are going okay for Pavano so far, though I think a better lineup than this probably would have hit him so far.
Iwamura grounds out to short… and Jeter throws it in the dirt, and past Phelps. Well, I guess there’s someplace Mientkiewicz would help.
And for some reason ESPN shows A-Rod in the aftermath of the error. What the fuck?
Dioner Navarro runs the count full… and pops it up to Jeter.
This liveblogging stuff isn’t easy…
The D-Rays’ lineup isn’t really that scary, but looking at some of these kids, you get the impression that that is going to change soon. Dukes walks to bring up Upton, and Pavano is in a little trouble with two outs.
And Upton hits it PAST A DIVING JETER! First of the year! It’s now 2-1, but Crawford pops out to Damon on the first pitch, so the Yanks still lead.
Bottom of the Second: Kruk calls Robinson Cano a “young Bobby Abreu”. Well, which is it, a young Abreu, or a young Carew?
Cano strikes out on three pitches. He ain’t no Abreu.
Here’s Phelps, who I’m glad they picked up. We’ve already seen that his defense sucks, but if he can put up an .800+ OPS, I’ll take it. I’d rather see him out there than Mientkiewicz.
And he draws a walk. Patient, powerful, lousy defense. He fits right in here…
Damon pops the second pitch up in front of the plate for the second out. This inning isn’t going quite as well as the first. Still, Kazmir’s near 50 pitches already.
Jeter falls behind 0-2 and then gets nailed in the shin, so the Yanks have a little two-out rally working here. And Abreu dribbles a 1-1 pitch third to end it.
Top of the Third: Zobrist runs the count full but grounds out to Jeter. Another low throw, but Phelps digs this one out. Jetes is giving Phelps some practice over there today.
Baldelli pops up to Phelps… and limps back to the dugout. Wow, that’s the last thing the D-Rays need. Hopefully Pavano doesn’t start having empathy pains.
Wigginton grounds out to A-Rod, and the third is over quickly and painlessly. Here comes A-Rod to lead off the third…
Bottom of the Third: A-Rod hacks away this time and quickly falls behind 0-2. And he strikes out on a check swing—but they don’t call it a swing. But he grounds out to short anyway.
Kazmir is looking a lot better than he did in the first, which really isn’t surprising, getting ahead of Giambi now 0-2, and the sets him down looking on a 1-2 at the knees. Think the Mets wish they still had this guy?
Godzilla ground out to first on the second pitch, and that’s it for the third.
Heh.
Top of the Fourth: Pavano is over 50 pitches already, so he’s not going to go deep today. He’s looked okay so far. He strikes out Young here, and there’s one away.
Well, he doesn’t look so good there, walking Iwamura on four pitches… but he gets out of it with a first-pitch double play to short.
Bottom of the Fourth: Posada leads off the fourth with a homer to right-center, and the Yanks lead 3-1! Jorge’s 36 in August, so he’s going to be slowing down at some point—probably around August—but he’s still got a big bat.
I’m surprised they didn’t give him a curtain call. 
Cano flies out to left for the first out.
Olney’s in the booth for ESPN now saying that fans are gonna chant “opt out now!” if he struggles. He said that in the pregame, too. Ahahahaha, Buster, you’d so clever!
Phelps walks on five pitches again… boy does he fit in well.
Now Damon walks… man, I love this lineup.
Jeter strikes out looking on a borderline pitch. The fans boo the ump, but if A-Rod had taken that, they’d be booing him. Just sayin’.
Abreu grounds out to first to end the inning, sparing A-Rod more boos if he makes an out. And if he hit a homer, they would have forgotten it fifteen minutes later anyway.
Top of the Fifth: Elijah Dukes crushes his first major league homer to dead center to lead off the inning. This kid has great power, I didn’t think that one was gonna go when he first hit it.
And B.J. Upton rips a single to left… uh-oh. Carl may implode here.
And now Upton is at second… D-Rays can tie the game without a hit now.
Crawford ties it with a single… and they get him caught in a rundown… but Phelps throws it into the outfield! Yikes. This isn’t so good.
Zobrist bunts it… but it bounces up and hits him—AND he was standing on home plate when he hit it. He gets called out for ONE of those things.
Crawford nearly gets picked off at second. That was close.
And now Baldelli singles to left to give the Rays the lead. Crap, there’s the Pavano we all think we vaguely remembered. And there he goes.
Pavano gets some boos as he leaves, but he didn’t really pitch that badly. He just wasn’t that good. He does get some applause, too.
I’d like to take this opportunity to give a shout out to Chrissy, the official hot babe of the Replacement Level Yankees Weblog. No real reason, I was just chatting with her on AIM.
Brian Bruney comes in and strikes out Wigginton, but lets Baldelli steal second while doing it. And Young singles to left to drive him home… this has been a horrible inning.
Young tries to steal, but Posada finally get someone out, and the inning is over at last. The Yanks can make up two runs, but man, that shouldn’t have happened.
Bottom of the Fifth: A-Rod flies out to right to lead off the inning. Giambi bounces out to Kazmir. Not good.
Matsui strikes out to end the inning. That was weak.
Top of the Sixth: We seem to having some server problems now. Yay.
I’m going to check that out right now… the liveblog can wait.
Well, that seems to have only been a hiccup. Things seem to be okay for now. We’ll have to keep an eye on that.
Sean Henn comes in and does a decent job, and keeps the score 5-3. It’s starting to get to crunch time—hopefully this is Kazmir’s last inning.
Bottom of the Sixth: Melky came in for Damon in the top of the sixth. I dunno why, but that can’t be good.
Posada works the count full, and rips a single to left to lead off the inning. Kazmir is over 100 pitches now, so Cano might be his last batter.
Robby nearly swings at the first pitch, which also nearly hits him.
Update on Damon: cramps in his calf. Well, you don’t wanna take any chances there. Melky can handle leading off and center just fine.
Robby singles to right, so this could be the rally they need. That’s it for Kazmir, and in comes Shawn Camp. Tampa Bay has a lousy bullpen, so the Yankees better hit them.
Server problem: The problem seems to be with our hosting service, whose homepage is also down. Hopefully this won’t be an ongoing problem.
Eyechart comes up and lays down a sac bunt, then Melky gets hit with the first pitch, and Jeter runs the count to 3-1 with the bases loaded. A base hit to center ties the game at 5, which makes up for that error earlier.
On a personal note, there’s a girl with a nice ass outside of my window.
Maddon goes the pen again. This could be a big inning.
Top of the Seventh: Not sure where Larry went, so I’ll take over. -SG
Vizcaino’s first regular season inning as Yankee goes well. 3 up, 3 down. You can feel the trust building already.
Bottom of the Seventh: While Larry chases down the girl with the nice ass, Alex Rodriguez leads off the bottom of the seventh with a “single” that should have been fielded by Ben Zobrist.
Giambi up…
Rodriguez with an unclutch steal of second base.
And Giambi drives him in with the single between the second base bag and the second baseman. 6-5 Yanks.
Posada lines out to RF, and Delmon Young makes a sick throw in and almost doubles Giambi off first.
Robinson Cano batting, and he pops up to BJ Upton for the third out. Top of the eighth coming up. Will it be Proctor or Farnsworth coming in?
Top of the Eighth:
And it’s Farnsworth. When else would you expect the Eighth Inning Guy™ to pitch?
Is Farnsworth throwing a splitter now? The pitch to fan Baldelli was a 92 mph pitch with nasty downward drop.
A single is followed by a popup to Cano. Two down, Wigginton on first. Farnsworth looks like he’s got good command today.
And Farnsworth gets out of the inning with a grounder, 4-3.
Bottom of the Eighth:
Mariano’s warming in the pen. Ruddy Lugo in for Tampa, facing Doug Mientkiewicz. Mientkiewicz absolutely crushes one about 20 feet, but BJ Upton can’t pick it cleanly.
And Melky sacrifices Mientkiewicz to second. I think that’s smart. When you’re facing a bullpen like the Devil Rays, you have to try and score by any means necessary.
Jeter up, new pitcher coming in for Tampa. I’m sure whoever it is is awesome. He is Juan Salas.
Jeter grounds out and the crowd showers him with boos for failing to come through in the clutch. Let’s see if Abreu can pick him up.
Bobby Abreu is so freaking awesome. He singles in Mientkiewicz, Yanks 7, D-Rays 5. Metallica’s tuning up in the garage.
And with the game already well in hand, A-Rod hits a meaningless HR. Yanks 9, Rays 5.
Giambi flies out to center. To the ninth we go… Will it be Mo or Rasner?
Top of the Ninth:
Exit light.
and Mo Ks his first opposing hitter of 2007 on four pitches. He’s hitting 95.
Call him bus driver because he’s taking the D-Rays to school. Two up, two down, both on Ks.
YES gun may be fast, but they’ve got Mo at 97.
And he Ks the side. Yanks win on opening day. Yay!