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Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Yankees (32-32) @ Athletics (34-29), 10:05pm **Liveblog/Game Chatter**

NYY: Chien-Ming Wang(28, RHP, 6-2, 4.57) vs. OAK: Dana Eveland(24, LHP, 4-4, 3.82)

Lineups…
New York Yankees
J. Damon, LF(.326/.392/.508)
D. Jeter, SS(.276/.331/.379)
B. Abreu, RF(.289/.349/.467)
A. Rodriguez, 3B(.317/.394/.591)
J. Giambi, DH(.254/.389/.556)
J. Posada, C(.311/.370/.514)
W. Betemit, 1B(.240/.264/.460)
R. Cano, 2B(.231/.273/.336)
M. Cabrera, CF(.270/.322/.386)

Oakland Athletics
J. Hannahan, DH(.240/.351/.360)
B. Crosby, SS(.264/.322/.380)
J. Cust, LF(.247/.407/.467)
E. Chavez, 3B(.313/.353/.500)
M. Ellis, 2B(.234/.322/.388)
D. Barton, 1B(.231/.342/.347)
T. Buck, RF(.170/.234/.340)
C. Gonzalez, CF(.229/.229/.429)
K. Suzuki, C(.251/.316/.303)

I’m going to liveblog this baby until I can’t take it anymore.  Go Yankees.

Top of the first
WTF is up with John Flaherty’s hair?

Yay, 24 year old lefty facing the Yankees for the first time.  This should go swimmingly.  Damon leads off and takes a strike.  Second pitch is chopped right back to Eveland who throws out Damon.

I’m sorry.  Nine games is not a hitting streak.  It’s what you’re paid to do.  Jeter’s up.  He works a walk.

Bobby Abreu steps in.  He works the count to 2-2 then chops one the other way past Eric Chavez.  Jeter advances to third and Abreu holds at first.  First and third with one out. 

Alex Rodriguez first pitch swinging and dunks a single into CF.  Jeter scores and the Yankees take a 1-0 lead, but Abreu gets caught going to third so there are two outs.

I can’t believe the Yankees haven’t cut Jason Giambi to give Shelley Duncan a chance, but here he is.  Bum.  Eveland pitching Giambi very carefully.  Apparently he didn’t get the memo that Giambi is washed up.  Giambi goes the other way with a weak grounder but thanks to TEH SHIFT it’s an RBI single and the Yankees go up 2-0!  Yay!

Posada walks and at the very least the Yankees are making Eveland work a a little bit here.

Betemit grounds out to end the inning.  I didn’t think the Yankees would score two runs this entire series, so I’m happy.

Bottom of the first
Dear Wang,

Don’t suck.

Love,
SG

Wang hits Jack Hannahan in the foot to get the game started off nicely.  Bobby Crosby lines one hard to left but Johnny Groundout makes a nice sliding catch and there’s one out.  It’s early, but Wang’s command is awful so far.

Jack Cust breaks his bat and flies out to Abreu for out number two.  Eric Chavez flies out to end the inning.

Top of the second
I got a phone call, so I missed three quick outs.

Bottom of the second
Mark Ellis leads off with a double down into the LF corner.  Wang fans Daric Barton.  Bouncer to Rodriguez who holds Ellis and throws out Buck, and there’s two down.  Wang doesn’t look great, but what else is new?

Baltimore chopper and Wang fields and tags the runner on his way to first for the third out.  Maybe I need to keep talking about how awful Wang looks.

Top of the third
Raise your hands if you think the Yankees are going to score again tonight.

Scary moment as a foul from Jeter’s bat catches the home plate umpire near the collarbone.  After a short breather he seems to be ok enough to punch out Jeter on a checked swing.  Thanks fer nuthin’ blue.

Abreu draws a walk.  Rodriguez follows up with another first pitch single.  Abreu wisely decides to not get thrown out at third this time and the Yanks have runners on first and second and one down.  Giambi whiffs.  Posada bloops out to RF.

Bottom of the third
Kurt Suzuki starts the third off for Oakland.  He grounds one the other way that gets past Cano for a leadoff single. 

Hannahan up now as the tying run.  Wang falls behind him 2-0 then catches the corner.  Fairly deep fly to LF and Damon gets it for the first out.  That was about 5 feet shy of the warning track. 

Crosby gets his second look at Wang.  He grounds to Jeter, who flips to Cano, who rifles it to Betemit for the 6-4-3 DP, and the inning is over.  Have I mentioned how horrible Wang looks?

Top of the fourth
I went to cut some watermelon and missed two quick outs.  Shocking that Betemit and Cano would make two quick outs, but baseball is a shocking game.  Melky makes a third quick out. 

Bottom of the fourth
Cust grounds to Betemit who can’t field it cleanly.  They give Cust a single but he needs to make that play.  A groundout is followed by a Mark Ellis double, scoring Cust and the Athletics are within 1 at 2-1.  Wang gets two groundouts to end the inning.

Top of the fifth
Johnny Groundout walks?  Weird.

I think Eveland threw 40 pitches in the first, and since then has thrown like 8.  Jeter will try to move Damon into scoring position now so he can get stranded.  Or he could hit into a DP instead.  Which he does. 

Abreu will try to extend the frame here.  He does, by walking.  With Rodriguez up, Eveland balks.  That moves Abreu to second.  I wonder if they pitch around Alex now?  They don’t, and it pays off as he grounds to short for the third out.

Bottom of the fifth
I hate to sound like a broken record here, but Wang looks awful.

It’s Kenny Singleton’s birthday.  Happy birthday Kenny!  I can’t think of a better way to spend a birthday than stuck in a booth with John Flaherty and his creepy hair. 

Gonzalez starts the inning off with a four pitch walk.  Despite Wang’s awful command that’s his first walk of the game.  Walks have been killing him during his recent mini-slump.

Remember when Wang used to dominate other teams and get loads of double plays?  Me either.  But whaddya know, he gets one here.  Suzuki grounds a sinker to A-Rod’s back hand and he turns the 5-4-3 DP.  Yay.

Wang really looks horrendous.  What’s that called when Wang throws a pitch and the batter swings and doesn’t make contact?  Because that just happened.  Inning over.

Top of the sixth
The Yankees just have to hold this lead until the 8th, then it’s all on the Farns. 

Seems like Oakland fans have finally forgiven Giambi for leaving them.  Not as many boos as he normally gets.  Eveland up to 86 pitches after the count runs full on Giambi, then misses low and away with pitch #87 for the walk.  That’ll bring up Posado, who’s walked and flied out.  That’s kind of prowess-y, I guess.  High fly to the warning track in RF.  Buck gets it.  And Giambi tags and gets to second!  Who saw THAT coming?  It’s a good idea, if you weren’t followed by Betemit and Cano, neither of whom have a prayer of singling.

Speaking of Betemit, he falls behind 0-2 in the blink of an eye.  I hope it’s not too late to get a refund on those goggles.

Before Bob Geren was the Oakland skipper, he was part of the infamous Clay Parker/Bob Geren battery that struck fear throughout the American League.

High fly in foul territory behind first is caught by Buck for out # 2.  I’m sure Cano will get the run in.  He dominates with runners on.  He hits one fairly well for once, but Cust is able to track it down in LF for the final out of the inning.

Bottom of the sixth
Wang’s hasn’t looked good at all tonight.  Bobby Crosby leads off with a single.  The A’s have gotten something like seven leadoff guys on through six innings.

Cust grounds one to Cano who hardly moves, fielding it to his left and giving Jeter a nice feed and there’s a 4-6-3 DP.  Yay.  Chavez stands in with two down.  He hits a sharp grounder to Jeter, who fields a tricky hop awkwardly but cleanly and makes the throw to end the inning.

Top of the seventh
I’m really as shocked as anyone that the Yankees haven’t scored since the first.  What are the odds of that happening?

Some dude with a silly beard is in for Oakland.  Melky bunts and then stupidly slides into first and is thrown out.  How much longer are the Yankees going to tolerate that stupidity? 

Johnny Walk will try to reach to help the Yankees add to their impressive LOB stats.  He pulls one into RF for a single.

Derek DP will try to reach to help the Yankees add to their impressive LOB stats.  Hit and run is called but the pitch is low and Jeter can’t make contact. High throw to second but a good tag gets Damon, so that’s two outs and no one on. 

Gaudin blows a fastbally by Jeter to end the inning.

Bottom of the seventh
Wang has been looking absolutely terrible all game.  Maybe he can get lucky with Ellis here, who has 40% of Oakland’s hits tonight.  Make that 50% of their hits as he hits a blooper to center that falls in front of Melky.  Someone should explain to Wang that you don’t have to let every freaking leadoff hitter on base in every freaking inning. 

Hit and run on a slow chopper to Jeter allows Ellis to advance to second, as the Yankees get the out at first, but Oakland’s got the tying run in scoring position with one out.  Buck will take a crack at getting the run in here.  Wang falls behind 3-1, which is decidely undude.  And there’s ball four.  So now Oakland has runners on first and second with one down and Gonzalez up.

Wang’s pitch count has been pretty efficient, but his command has been shitty.  He’s thrown 76 pitches and 41 strikes.  Gonzalez singles to CF but the Athletics decide not to test Melky’s arm so the bases are now loaded with still only one out.  Suzuki up.  Ohlendorf and Edwar get up in the Yankee pen.

Grounded to A-Rod!  He fires to Cano, who fires to Betemit!  Double play and inning over!

Top of the eighth
You know what’d kick all kinds of ass here?  Lots o’ runs.  Abreu leads it off.  He works the count to 3-1, takes a called strike, then grounds a single through the right side.  That’s his second hit of the game to go with two walks. 

You know what’d kick all kinds of ass here?  A two run HR.  A-Rod flares one to shallow right and Buck runs in to make the catch.  With Giambi up, Geren goes to the pen.  Since he doesn’t have Jeff Johnson in the pen, he’ll call on Alan Embree.  I’d love to know how Embree went from sucking for the Yankees to being serviceable again. John Flahery answers my question.  Bone chips in his elbow which were removed.

Giambi takes one in the ribs and the Yankees have a soon to be wasted rally going with runners on first and second and one out.

Posada will try to get a run in before the void that is the Yankees’ 7-8-9 waste it.  Slider down gets Posada swinging.  That hurts. 

Betemit in the hole 0-2?  What were the odds????  He fouls one off then fans.  Shocking.

Bottom of the eighth
Apparently Joe Girardi isn’t watching the same game I’m watching.  Wang has looked horrible but he’s starting the 8th.  A popup in fould territory behind third but Rodriguez can’t get it.  Should be an error.  Next pitch is hit deep to LF but Damon gets it for the first out.  Apparently Joltin’ Joe Girardi has seen enough and he pulls Wang after 83 pitches. 

Jose Veras: Joe Girardi as Scott Proctor:Joe Torre?  Discuss.

Veras in and he gets a little nubber up the first base line , scurries off the mound and tags Crosby for out number two.  Veras falls behind Cust 3-1, which isn’t particularly surprising.  Ball four misses badly and Cust is on.  Look for him to steal second and third. 

With Chavez up, Geren pinch-runs for Cust with Davis, who steals on the second pitch.  Not a bad throw by Posada, that base was stolen off Veras.  Veras gets ahead 1-2, then it’s mound visit time.  Fastball down is fouled away.  Slider away is fouled off.  Fastball misses down to level the count at 2.  Another fastball misses down and the count runs full.  Another fastball just misses inside and that’s a walk.  Two down, runners on first and second and Mark Ellis up.  He’s 3 for 3 so far tonight.

Bad slider misses down and away, then a fastball is taken for a strike.  Fastball misses low and Ellis is ahead 2-1.  Fastball is fouled off and the count is even at 2-2.  Fastballl grounded to Cano and he flips to WB for the third out. 

Jose Veras = Kyle Farnsworth with a tan?  Discuss.

Top of the ninth
WE NEED RUNS DAMMIT!

Cano ignores me, but Melky doesn’t.  Melky pulls one into the RF stands for a solo HR, and a 3-1 Yankee lead! Yay Melky!

Damon whiffs.  Jeter will bat with two out.  He grounds to Ellis to end the frame.

Bottom of the ninth
Mo in for the fourth straight game.  Fingers and toes crossed here.  Let’s hope we’re not seeing WWWMW™.

He’ll start off with Barton.  He misses down on the first pitch then catches the outside corner twice to get ahead 1-2.  Fastball away misses then Barton fouls off a pair to hold the count at 2-2.  High fastball is swung on and missed for strike three!  One down, two to go.

Buck will take his shot now.  Called strike then a weak hack on a strike and Mo’s up 0-2.  Misses away for a ball then a weak popup to shallow right that Cano grabs for out number two.

ONE MORE OUT....

Gonzalez stands in as the last chance for Oakland.  Ball and a strike and it’s 1-1.  Another ball and it’s 2-1.  2-1 pitch is hit fisted up the middle past the infield for a 2 out single. 

Kurt Suzuki will hit as the tying run now with two down. Gonzalez takes second on defensive indifference while the count goes to 1-1 on Suzuki.  Ball down then cutter away and it’s 2-2. Fly ball to RF for Abreu and that’ll do it.  Yanks win 3-1.  Me happy.

Thank you and drive home safely.