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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!