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Tuesday, April 22, 2008

New York Yankees(10-10) at Chicago White Sox(11-7), 8:11 pm **Live Blog/Game Chatter**

NYY: Chien-Ming Wang (28, RHP, 3-0, 3.81) vs.  CHW: The Big Enigma (36, RHP, 1-1, 4.34)

The White Sox are one of baseball’s early surprises.  Whether they are actually this good remains to be seen of course.

Lineups…
NY Yankees
Damon LF
Jeter SS
Abreu RF
Matsui DH
Posada C
Cano 2B
Giambi 1B
Ensberg 3B
Cabrera CF

Chicago White Sox
Swisher CF
Cabrera SS
Thome DH
Konerko 1B
Dye RF
Pierzynski C
Quentin LF
Crede 3B
Uribe 2B

Who the hell is that at catcher, and what has he done with Molino/Moello?  Alex Rodriguez gets a night off with the strained quad, but it doesn’t sound to be too bad.  I’m not sure if TBE is a power pitcher or not, so I’m not sure if we should be happy or not that Giambi is starting tonight.  No Chi Sox lineup available yet but I’ll post it later.  Go Yanks.

I’m going to give the liveblog a shot until the Yankees start getting pasted.

Top of the first
Johnny Damon leads off with “double” under the glove of Paul Konerko.

Derek Jeter falls behind 0-2 then hits a humpback liner right into Juan Uribe’s glove for the first out. 

Bobby Abreu will try to get Damon in now.  He takes a pitch on the outside corner for strike one.  He can’t check on a high pitch and he’s down 0-2.  Who is this guy throwing strikes and what has he done with the Big Enigma?  I’ll admit to still having a soft spot for Contreras, even though he never ended up being what was expected.  Abreu hits a similar flare to Jeter’s and Damon holds at second but it just gets past the OC for a single and Damon advances to third.  I predict a double play.

Matsui tries to hit into the double play but Konerko can’t field it.  Uribe gets it but they can only get the force, the run scores and the Yankees have a 1-0 lead. That’s as many runs as they usually score these days.

Jorge Posada steps up.  He’s catching.  It’s a miracle.  He bloops one that falls just in front of Nick Swisher.  Runners on first and second with two down.  The Yankees aren’t exactly killing the ball, but I’ll take whatever offense I can get.

Hackinson Cano up.  Contreras is throwing a lot of slow curves but he has no command of it so far.  Hackinson gets ahead in the count 3-1.  I predict a 4-3.  Contreras looks just like Simon Adebisi.  Cano fouls off a very hittable pitch to run the count full, then fouls off another.  At the very least they’re getting Contreras’s pitch count up, he’s at 21 pitches already.  That’s like 1/3 of an inning for Phil Hughes.  Cano waves through a fastball away and that’ll end the inning.

Bottom of the first
Nick Swisher is only hitting .246 this season, but has a nifty .421 OBP.  He’s like Jason Giambi plus about 20 singles.

Wang on the road is always an adventure.

Since I have DirecTV I have the option of the Yankee or White Sox broadcast.  I’m thinking of putting on Hawk Harrelson just to make fun of him.

Morgan Ensberg at third pays off right away as he boots a grounder.  Swisher reaches on the E-5.  Hometown scoring says it’s a hit, but it’s not.

Another first pitch grounder by the OC right to third, but Ensberg plays it well and turns the 5-4-3 DP.  Yay.

Jim Thome takes one low.  Then he takes another low.  And then he takes another one low to get up in the count 3-0.  The automatic is taken for a strike then the 3-1 pitch is fouled off.  Full count fastball misses low and Thome reaches where he will proceed to clog the bases.

Thome should try to steal here.  So far Wang’s command is all over the place, but he just threw a sweet slider to go up on Paul Konerko 1-2.  Sinker in is fouled off and another 1-2 pitch is forthcoming.  Sinker misses in to level the count at 2.  Very close to a strike.  Another sinker misses way in and now the count is full.  Konerko corks one to CF that drops in front of Melky.  Thome was running on the pitch and goes to third.  Cabrera came up throwing but his throw hit Thome and gets past Ensberg.  Thankfully it was Thome and the play was backed up so the White Sox didn’t score, but now Jermaine Dye will hit with runners on second and third.  Melky gets an E-8 for allowing Konerko to go to second.

Dye takes a slider for a strike then swings over a sinker down to fall behind 0-2.  Wang’s pitch count is getting up there now too.  Pitch in the dirt but Posada blocks it.  Dye doesn’t chase a slider away and the count goes to 2-2.  Wang’s over 20 pitches now.

At this pace this game is going to take 4.5 hours.  Full count pitch is grounded to Jeter’s right and he throws out Dye to end the inning.  2 hits, 1 BB, but no runs.

Top of the second
You know what’d be great here?  Lots o’ runs.

I’m going to go out on a limb and predict Jason Giambi will hit one right into the teeth of the shift.  Just about everyone thinks the Yankees should cut him, but I still think he’s got something left. He smokes one the other way for an opposite field HR and the Yankees go up 2-0. That HR does not help his BABIP though.

Ensberg gets his hacks now.  He works the count full after falling behind 1-2.  Ensberg swings over a low fastball for the first out. 

Here’s Melky.  He hits a can o’ corn to LF for the second out.  This isn’t the way to score lots o’ runs fellas.

Damon grounds out meekly to end the frame, but the way the Yankee offense is going one run has to be considered a rousing success.

Bottom of the second
A.J. Pierzynski up.  I will not attempt to spell Pierzynski again tonight.  He hits one fairly solidly to right-center but it hangs long enough for Abreu to get there and make the catch. 

Carlos Quentin will bat now.  He grounds one sharply up the middle.  Wang deflects it slightly but not enough and rolls on into CF for a single.

Here’s an actual quote by Hawk Harrelson comparing Alex Rodriguez to Joe Crede a few years back.  “They’re guy’s a better hitter, our guy plays better defense.” Crede doubles down into the LF corner but Quentin holds at third.  With one out the ChiSox have the tying runs in scoring position and Juan Uribe up.  Uribe hits one down the line on an 0-2 pitch.  It’s a double and it will tie the game at 2. We’re going to be here all f’ing night, aren’t we?

Swisher up now for the second time today.  Wang’s command sucks and he’s giving up rockets.  I liked the other version of Wang better. Swisher fouls off ball four on a full count and Wang’s up over 40 pitches.  Who does he think he is, Ian Kennedy?

Seeing Joey Cora on the White Sox bench is really angering me.  That slide into first was horseshit. 

Weird play, as Swisher’s bat breaks mid swing before he hits the ball and he is down swinging.  The OC grounds to Jeter, who doesn’t have to move at all as he fields it and throws him out.  Inning over.  Finally. 

Top of the third
Through 2 painful innings:
Wang: 47 pitches, 31 strikes
TBE: 39 pitches, 24 strikes

The Captain steps in.  He has 11 RBI?  That seems like a lot.  He grounds one weakly towards third and Joe Crede makes a nice short hop pick and throws him out easily.

Abreu pops up weakly to LF for the second out.  That’s like three pitches and two outs.  Yuck. 

Gojira hits a fly ball to RF that carries down the line and Dye can’t get to it.  Good throw in holds Matsui to a single though, and here’s Posada, who has been the worst offensive catcher on the Yankees so far this year.  He bloops the first pitch to shallow LF and Quentin makes a nice sliding catch to end the inning.

Bottom of the third
Wang needs a quick inning here but quickly falls behind Thome 2-0.  He recovers to fan him and then gets Konerko on a deep fly to the warning track in LF.  Dye follows up with a big double to CF and Wang isn’t fooling anyone right now.

AJP bats now. Wang is running deep counts against everyone.  Full count splitter gets AJP swinging and the inning is over.  Wang can’t go much more than five at this pace.

Top of the fourth
Does Giuseppe Franco think all Yankee fans are bald?  YES can’t sell any other spots to anyone else?

Cano leads off with a very nice opposite field double that bounces between the LF and CF and rolls to the wall.  When Cano’s going well that’s the kind of hit he gets, so maybe that’s a good sign.

I’m going to go out on a limb and predict Jason Giambi will hit one right into the teeth of the shift.  High fly ball to Dye in RF for the first out of the inning.

Ensberg grounds out to short and Cano advances to third, but there are two outs now.  Come on Melky, get him home.  Contreras is throwing a nasty forkball now but Melky’s hanging tough.  Nine pitches into the AB Melky can’t check his swing on a pitch in the dirt and the inning is over. Feh.

Bottom of the fourth
Wang is at 65 pitches through three. 

While I discuss the wonky Ignore feature Wang gets two quick outs, which is good, but they are on fairly deep fly balls which isn’t really that good.  Grounder to Cano ends the inning, the first 1-2-3 of the game.

Top of the fifth
Johnny Popup is up.  That’s what my brother calls him anyway.  And guess what, he pops up to LF for the first out.  Jeter chops one up the middle and the OC makes the play to retire Jeter.  Two quick outs for TBE.  But hey, at least the Yankees got Loaiza for him.

Abreu made some kind of out but I was making some white tea and missed it.

Bottom of the fifth
Wang gets a grounder to second for the first out.  The White Sox have activity in their pen, which seems odd.  TBE seems to be settling down.

O. Cabrera singles in front of Damon and here’s Thome.  Wang falls behind him 3-0.  Thome takes a big swing at a sinker out of the zone on 3-0, then takes one high and away for ball four.  So runners on first and second, one down and a ground ball double play would be really nice here.

I said double play, not double.  Konerko cracks the first pitch down the LF line for a ribbie double.  Thome goes to third and the Sox are up 3-2. That stinks.

LaTroy Hawkins is getting loose in the Yankee pen now. 

Wang throws three straight sliders and gets Dye swinging for out number two.  AJP grounds to Cano for out number three.  Could’ve been worse. 

Top of the sixth
Matsui gets on the hip to lead off the inning.  Posado will try to do his Molino/Moello impression now.  Instead he does his Raul Mondesi impression, grounding into a double play.  That hurts.  Cano lofts one to RF for the final out of the inning.  That also hurts.

Bottom of the sixth
Wang starts the sixth at 89 pitches.  It’s not inconceivable that he could end up with a quality start here.  Too bad his offense sucks.  High fly to RF for the first out.  A couple of singles and the Sox have runners on first and second with one out.

Wang gets a K and a comebacker to get out of it.  It wasn’t pretty, but he got through six.

Top of the seventh
Contreras still out there, and he’ll go after Giambi.  Giambi hits a little flare right to the second baseman in short RF.  F’ing shift.

Ensberg finally doesn’t make an out, drawing a walk.  Double barrel action in the White Sox pen with Boone Logan and Octavio Dotel.  I forgot the White Sox gave Dotell a riiculous amount of money.

Melky bloops one to LF and Quentin plays it on hop.  It’s rally time!  First and second, one out, and Johnny Popup due up.  Smell the runs!

TBE departs.  Solid game from him, and yet another FU for the asinine Loaiza trade.

Boone Logan, aka Billy Traber comes in.  Actually, I think Logan has better stuff than Traber.

Johnny Popup hits a weak-ass grounder that is so slow to get to short that he beats it out.  Bases are loaded for Cap’n Jetes with one down.  Out goes Logan and in comes Dotel.  He’s had his struggles so far this year.  Dotel’s stuff looks good so far as he throws a ball and then gets a called strike.  Good movement.  Jeter swings through a high fastball and he’s down in the hole 1-2.  Big pitch here.  Dotel misses low and in and the count evens at 2.  Jeter swings and misses at a letter high fastball and now the Yankees need a hit from Abreu.  Expect to read nothing about Jeter not coming through in the clutch tomorrow.

Abreu gets ahead in the count 2-0. THEN BOOM!  HE GOES OPPOSITE FIELD FOR A GRAND SLAM!  YANKEES LEAD 6-3!!!!

That was… unexpected.

Matsui draws a full count walk and Posada will take his shot now.  Ozzie Guillen has seen enough nd they’re pulling Dotel.  Matt Thornton is in.  Jorge hits one right to the second baseman who was shading him towards the middle and that’ll retire the side.  I approve that inning.

Bottom of the seventh
Wang’s done, do the Yankees go with Joba for two or try to squeeze an inning out of Bruney here? 

It’s Traber in to face Thome.  This is why he’s on the team.

Dear Billy Traber,
Your job is LOOGY, not LNOGY. 

Love,
SG

Brian Bruney throwing strikes is weird, but I’m not entirely convinced this is really Brian Bruney either.  So much for strikes, he’s missing badly to Konerko.

Whaddya know, it is Brian Bruney.  Konerko walks and the White Sox bring the tying run to the plate with ZERO outs.  Let’s just bring in Farnsworth and get this over with.

Bruney gets a pep talk then goes after Dye.  Joba starting to heat up as the count goes to 2-2 on Dye.  Blazing fastball right down Broadway and Dye swings right through it for the first out.

AJP grounds one sharply to first.  Giambi dives and gets a glove on it but can’t handle it cleanly.  Cano gets the carom but there’s nobody at first to make the out, so the bases are loaded with one out.

I guess you can quibble about not starting the inning with Joba, but if he’s going to go in the rotation the other parts of the pen are going to have to be able to get through spots like this.  Joltin’ Joe Girardi has seen enough and he goes to get the ball from Bruney.  Here comes Joba.

Joba starts of Quentin with a filthy slider that is swung on and missed.  Another slider misses low to level the count at 1.  Nipple high cheese is swung through for strike two, and then a slider and Quentin cannot hold his swing.  Appeal to the first base ump rings him up, and there’s two away.

Fastball on the black at the knees and Crede swings through it for strike one.  Another fastball, same spot, same result.  Fastball way down and away is taken for a ball.  Fastball up and away misses and it’s 2-2.  A curve here would be absolutely unfair.  Two more balls and Crede walks to force in a run, and the White Sox close to with 6-4. Juan Uribe pops up the next pitch and the inning is over.

Top of the eighth
Thornton still in and he’ll face Cano.  Cano works to a full count, then fouls off a couple before drawing a walk. 

Giambi already got his hit for the day so expect him to make some sort of out here.  He Ks looking.  But hey, he’s in there for his defense anyway.

Ensberg up against a lefty, which should be good news.  And it is, as he rifles a single past short and the Yankees have a rally going with runners on first and second and one down and Melky up.  Melky grounds to Crede who forces Ensberg at second.  Runners on the corners and two outs, and Johnny Popup is up.

Johnny Popup pops one up but it goes over the fence and the Yankees have a three run HR and a grand slam tonight after not hitting either prior to tonight.  It’s 9-4 Yankees, and it’s almost Hawkins and Farnsworth time.

Jeter grounded out to end the inning.

Bottom of the eighth
Joba is still in, which is ok with me, but I don’t want to see Mo tonight.

He gets an out of some sort.  The OC singles hard to LF and Joba goes after Thome.  High fly ball to RF and Abreu gets it for out number two.  Konerko cranks one to the warning track in CF but Melky camps under it for out number three.

Top of the ninth
Bobby Abreu leads off against Mike MacDougal.  I love you Bobby.  Bobby flies out but I still love him. In a manly way of course.

Matsui walks, which will bring up Posada.  I’d send up Moeller here.  Posada flies out.

Cano gets one more shot here with two down.  He grounds out to second for the 75th time this season.

Bottom of the ninth
We often ask the question, is this game Farnsworth-proof?  I’ve run some statistical analysis that shows that the only games that are truly Farnsworth-proof are games that are over.  Expect pie charts soon.

But Joe Girardi’s going to ask the Farns to get three outs before giving up five runs here.

Does anyone know the name of the event where Farnsworth throws the ball and the umpire sticks his arm out and makes a grunting kind of sound?  Grounder to third, where Alberto Gonzalez has taken over with Ensberg moving over to third.  He makes the play like vintage Pat Kelly.  One down.

AJP takes Farns yard and the White Sox now trail 9-5 but I don’t mind. Up by four, throw strikes.  If they hit ‘em, so be it.

Farns decides to piss me off by walking Quentin.  Another grounder to third and there are two down, but Mo’s warming in the pen just in case. 

High fly ball to right field and Bobby Abreu catches it for the final out.  Our long national nightmare is finally over.  I can liveblog and the Yankees can win.  Thank you and good night.