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Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Yankees (33-32) @ Athletics (34-30), 10:05pm **Liveblog/Game Chatter**

NYY: Darrell Rasner (27, RHP, 3-3, 2.58) vs. OAK: Justin Duchscherer (30, RHP, 5-4, 2.32)

Lineups…
New York Yankees
J. Damon, LF(.325/.392/.504)
D. Jeter, SS(.271/.328/.373)
B. Abreu, RF(.294/.359/.472)
A. Rodriguez, 3B(.321/.396/.589)
H. Matsui, DH(.323/.404/.459)
J. Giambi, 1B(.257/.395/.556)
J. Posada, C(.299/.365/.494)
R. Cano, 2B(.227/.268/.331)
M. Cabrera, CF(.269/.321/.397)

Oakland Athletics
J. Hannahan, DH(.236/.349/.354)
B. Crosby, SS(.264/.321/.378)
J. Cust, LF(.249/.409/.465)
E. Chavez, 3B(.286/.342/.457)
M. Ellis, 2B(.244/.329/.404)
C. Gonzalez, CF(.263/.282/.447)
D. Barton, 1B(.227/.336/.340)
T. Buck, RF(.165/.235/.330)
K. Suzuki, C(.251/.315/.302)

It’s the official Opening Day lineup for the Yankees for what, the fourth time this year? 

Darrell Rasner has lost three starts in a row despite a perfectly respectable 3.26 ERA over those three games.  Blame the WOE for that, as they’ve backed him up with a run a game after scoring 21 in his first three starts.  Like I’ve said several times, he’s probably not 2.58 ERA good, but he could be 4.00 ERA good.

Justin Duchscherer’s transition to the rotation has been a rousing success.  He has allowed five unearned runs so his ERA may be a little misleading, but he’s held opposing hitters to line of .212/.280/.285 over 215 plate appearances.  That’s Mariano Rivera territory and it’s coming as a starter.  Amongst pitchers who have pitched at least 50 innings this season, only Shaun Marcum, Cliff Lee, Daisuke Matsuzaka, and Ervin Santana have been better on a rate basis as far as runs saved above average.  It helps to have the Oakland defense behind him, as they’ve been 10 runs above average according to zone rating, but his FIP is 3.23 which is right in line with his 3.15 RA.  His HR/FB ratio is probably unsustainably low at 3.9%, he’s normally in the 10% range on that, so maybe there’s a correction coming.

Even though I know it’s dumb, I’m superstitious, so I’ll be liveblogging tonight as well.  Come and read me whining about stupid stuff and making fun of John Flaherty’s hair for nine innings!  Go Yankees!

Top of the first:
Have I mentioned how f’ed up John Flaherty’s hair is?  The dude made millions.  He can do better than that.

I don’t feel like typing Duchscherer a lot today so he’s going to be Duke.  Damon leads off and takes a strike and then a ball then flies out to CF. 

Jeter grounds to short for out number two.  Flaherty voices something I was thinking, about how Duke and Rasner are similar types of pitchers.  I don’t think Duke pitches much above 88 most of the time, but he throws strikes with several pitches, just like Rasner.

Abreu goes the other way nicely for a two out single. 

A-Rod falls behind quickly 0-2.  He whiffs. 

Bottom of the first:
Hannahan grounds out and then Rasner fans Crosby.  Jack Cust walks with two outs and that brings up Chavez.  Rasner dropping some nice 74 mph curves tonight.

Chavez flies out to Johnny Popup to end the inning.

Top of the second
Matsui lines it sharply but right to Crosby for the first out. 

Baseclogger time.  A booming fly to RF and that one’s gone!  Giambi homers and the Yankees go up 1-0! That does NOT clog the bases though.

Posada hits one on the ground to Mark Ellis who throws him out easily.  Cano follows up with a hard grounder down the first base line that Barton makes a nice play on.  If Cano didn’t have bad luck…

Bottom of the second
Rasner’s got the one run the Yankees are going to give him.  Can he make it stick?

Did you know that Mark Ellis is probably the best second-baseman in the AL?  He is.  He does a Cano impression here as he grounds to 2B for the first out.

Rasner freezes Gonzalez with a cutter or slider on the outside corner for strike three.  I know Rasner doesn’t have great stuff but he’s turning into one of my favorite pitchers to watch. 

Curve gets Barton swinging and there’s three quick outs.  See, worrying about Phil Hughes’s velocity is silly.  If he can command like Rasner, he can succeed throwing 92-93.

Top of the third
I can probably skip the tops of the rest of these innings without missing much, but I’m a warrior.

Melky grounds out, then Damon walks on a full count.  Duke looks like he may be hurt as Bob Geren and the trainer go out to check on him, but he shakes them off. 

Is it me or does Geren have more hair now than he did as a player?  Sy Sperling?

The Captain lines one to right center field for a single and Damon scampers all the way to third.  First and third, one out and Abreu with a chance for TEH PRODUCTIVE OUT!  Which will certainly make John Sterling happy.  Abreu takes a called strike three on the inside corner, and Sterling dies a little bit.

Rodriguez gets ahead 2-0, then fouls one off and takes a big slow hook for a called strike.  Rodriguez looks very uncomfortable against the Duke and takes a cutter on the inside corner for strike three.  Wasted opportunity, the running theme of the 2008 Yankees.

Bottom of the third
Rasner goes after Buck to start off the third.  Slow roller to first and Giambi gets it easily but apparently though Andrew Brackman was pitching as his easy flip goes about a foot above Rasner’s glove and Buck reaches on the E-3.  Posada backing up keeps Buck at first.

Suzuki hits a shallow fly and Cano makes a nice running catch in foul territory behind first base.  One out.

Hannahan lays down a nice bunt and beats it out easily and that’s the first hit of the game for Oakland and they now have two on with one out and the notorious Bobby Crosby up.  He lines one hard past a diving A-Rod for a double that ties the game at 1. Hannahan holds at third and Oakland is set up to take the lead with one out and runners on first and second.

Cust follows up with a single through the right side that plates two and Oakland now leads 3-1. Boo.

Chavez singles to left.  At least it doesn’t drive in a run, but that’s four straight hits for the A’s.

Make it five straight hits.  Ellis singles in Cust and the A’s now lead 4-1. Boo again.

Gonzalez corks one to left center and Melky can’t get it.  That plates Chavez and Ellis and Oakland now leads 6-1. Is that my bed I hear calling?

Grounder to Giambi and this time he doesn’t mess it up, as he fields it while standing on first to get the out.  Two down.

Fly ball to Damon finally ends a nightmare inning. 

Top of the fourth
That whole inning really sucked.  It raised Rasner’s ERA by almost one full run. 

Matsui leads off.  Over/under on Yankee baserunners for the rest of this game is 3.  Matsui leads off with a single that bounces to Buck’s right.  2 more baserunnrs to go over the next 6 innings.  Giambi takes one to the warning track in CF and Gonzalez is there for out number one. 

Posada grounds into an inning-ending double play.

Bottom of the fourth
Here’s the Yankees’ 2008 season expressed in pseudocode:

WHILE (W + L <= 162)
IF (TEAM = "Yankees" AND W > L) THEN L = L + 1;
ELSE W = W + 1;
END IF
END WHILE

Suzuki hits a shallow blooper to short RF that Abreu can’t get to for a leadoff single.

Cutter on the outside corner gets Hannahan looking, but Suzuki steals second as Posada cannot handle it cleanly.

Rasner crosses up Posada and throws a fastball over his head and that gets Suzuki to third and now the Yankees are going to bring the infield in.  Yeah, cutting of that seventh run is going to be key to winning this game.

Crosby pops up to short, and there’s the second out. 

Cust singles in Suzuki and Oakland’s up 7-1 now.

Bold prediction, I’m not making the ninth.  Chavez singles to LF and that’s it for Rasner.  He was due for one of these I guess.  Ross “Not a Long Reliever” Ohlendorf is coming in.  This should just about cement the game.

***Pitching Change****

Four pitch walk loads the bases.  This could be my last batter.

Ohlendorf has thrown 5 pitches.  One was a strike.  Pitch six is popped up to Melky to end the fourth.

Top of the fifth
How many times this season have the Yankees scored more than six runs, anyway?

In a stunning turn of events, Cano grounds out.  Melky makes some kind of out as does Damon, but I didn’t see them.

Bottom of the fifth
Daric Barton doubles to right center.  Buck walks and then Suzuki singles in Barton and the A’s now lead 8-1. This game sort of stinks.  Something strange happens where the Oakland batter doesn’t hammer the ball and reach base safely.  They’re saying it’s called an ‘out’.

I’m giving up on the liveblog, although I may come back if this become a game again.  .500 is just a few innings away.