A Biased Look at the New York Yankees, the Greatest Franchise in the History of Sports
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The Yankees came out of the tunnel meaning business today as they chalked up 2 early runs in the first inning to go out on top of the Tigers in this one at Yankee Stadium today. But it was the Tigers who kept chipping away to find themselves victorious against these hungry New York Yankees. This was the second outing that Pettitte has started following a lose and has been asked to turn things around, and he could not.
Pettitte pitched 6 innings, gave up 5 earned runs, and 2 home runs. Not his best performance. Taking the lose and moving his record to 3-3, and seeing his ERA go to 3.93 so far this season.
It looked like the Yankees were in control early in this one as they had the 2 run lead off of an inconsistant Jeremy Bonderman after one. Inconsistent can be good and bad for both sides. After that first inning Bonderman settled in and the Yankees didn’t see another scoring opportunity until late in the 7th inning, to no evail. Those 2 first inning runs is all they would see today, as the Yankees lose this one to the Detroit Tigers, by a score of 2-6.
Not the way the Yankees wanted to start this home stand, losing there first two games. They look to take one tomorrow, and avoid getting swept at the hands of the Detroit Tigers.
For the record…”Yankees lose first game to Tigers, fall back to .500”
Phil Hughes took his 0-3 record to start this season, and made it worse today, by losing, at Yankee Stadium, to the Detroit Tigers, in game 1 of this 3 game series. This was by far Hughes’ worst outing to date, and it is cause for some chirping from the front office. As to the future of Phil Hughes:
mlb.com : “I think it’s fair to discuss it,” general manager Brian Cashman said of the prospect of temporarily removing Hughes from the Yankees rotation. “So we’ll discuss it.”
I have been a solid Yankees fan my whole life, and usually when the GM Brian Cashman says something to the effect of “…we’ll discuss it…” is not going to end well for whoever is the topic of the discussion. We can only hope the patience that the coaching staff is showing Hughes will rub off on the front office.
The official numbers from today: Phil Hughes, 3.2 innings, 8 hits, 6 runs (all earned), 3 walks, and giving up 2 home runs. Ugly.
The Yankees would like to have that one back, but tomorrow is a new day. Their record is 14-14.
A must-win for the Yankees in order to secure a split, Mike Mussina got the nod, and the Yankees looked to wrap up this long away-from-home schedule, and give the Indians another lose. Mike Mussina, and the Yankees did just that. Mussina’s record improved to 3-3, and the Yankees come away from this long road trip at .500, 10-10.
The Yankees scored 4 runs in the 6th inning and that was all it took to win this one. It really was a collective effort out there today from this tired pitching staff. Having been on the road more than any other major league team in history for the month of April, this pitching staff has been worn down, remember the 2 rain delay game, and 5 pitcher days of last week?
Mussina looked good going 5 innings, allowing 7 hits, and 2 runs, striking out 2. He set it up for another outstanding bullpen performance. Albaladejo relieved Mussina in the 6th, gave up the only hit from the bullpen today, and retired the side after that. Farnsworth, and Chamberlain both recorded holds for their perfect 7th and 8th innings. Then Rivera closed it out in another perfect 9th inning, striking out one.
This was a good win, and sends the Yankees home after salvaging this series with a split (after losing the first two). Going home with a winning streak, no matter how small is always better than coming home without one.
Chien-Ming Wang pitched a dandy today in front of 31,598 Progressive Field fans for a continued perfect 5-0 start. This win was bigger then some of the others, because not only was it against a good hitting team in the Cleveland Indians, it was also against C.C. Sabathia, last years AL Cy Young Award winner. I am sure that Wang had a game plan going into this one, but what other choices were there other than pitch 7 innings of shutout ball? And that’s exactly what he did.
mlb.com: “Chien-Ming Wang has been huge for us all year long,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. “He has pitched great. He knew what we needed and he gave it to us.”
The rest of the game was just how every Yankee fan would like to see every game end, Chamberlain, Rivera, good night.
The three of them combined for a 4 hit wonder (all 4 hits charged to Wang), and a relief pitching staff posting a no hitter surely does help. Both Chamberlain and Rivera struck out 2 batters a piece in their perfect innings. It was just how you want to see a game played against a pitching powerhouse in Sabathia.
The lone run came in the 5th inning, as Melky Cabrera hit a solo shot off Sabathia, to give the Yankees the lead.
That was all it took, and the Yankees break their 3 game losing streak, winning this and finding .500 again, 13-13.
It could not have been written any better, unless, of course, it was written better. Anyways, enough about me, picture it runners at the corners, one out, and Jeter walking to the plate. If this were the bottom of the ninth in Yankee Stadium you could guess the game would be over. On the road, the situation catches your eye, and Jeter hits it hard, right up the middle, for an anticipated lead going into the bottom of the inning. But NO! It bounces off the pitchers mound right into the glove of the second baseman Asdrubal Cabrera, who stepped on 2nd base, and fired it over to first to end the inning, double play. It was the weirdest thing, it hit the mound and right into the glove of Cabrera.
mlb.com : “I don’t think I could have thrown it any better to him,” said Jeter, who bounced out against winning pitcher Masa Kobayashi. “It happens. It’s just one of those things. I hit it good and I thought it was up the middle. It hit the mound and kicked to the right. Sometimes you’ve got luck on your side and other times you don’t.”
The Yankees lose another heart wrenching game on the road, and see their record on this road trip fall below .500 too at 3-4.
On a very similar piece to April 18, 2008, I wrote that the “Yankees lose first game to Baltimore, fall back to .500.” Can you remember how that one felt? Well, this one is worse. Everything went from going very well, to going very bad in a matter of one out. In the 5th inning, Pettitte entered just cruisin’-a-long (although a little rocky at times), and he was sawing through the order, per usual, and then two outs…BAM! I can’t explain it, it is “baseball.”
mlb.com : “I fought with myself the whole game,” Pettitte said. “I battled my command and really never felt like I got in a real good rhythm. With two outs, I had a hard time getting guys out. They really made me work extremely hard and really wore me down pretty good.”
Pettitte did well into the 5th inning, when he found himself out of gas. Two outs were recorded in usual Andy Pettitte fashion, and then the wheels came off. He allowed two singles, and then a 3 run shot to Peralta. Next up, Gutierrez, who followed with a harder bomb. Back-to-back style. That was all it took to relinquish the 3-1 lead they had going into this mess, and created a 3-5 deficit.
The offense came from Giambi today, as he enjoyed another 2 home run day. Giambi has had a lot going for him lately, and I like to think that his stock is rising in a Yankees uniform. He is doing a lot of the little stuff that doesn’t necessarily show up in a “stats” column, or the box scores. He has been taking a lot of pitches, moving runners around, and even though he has been doing that, he saw his ERA jump to a .186. Don’t worry Jason, I got your back. It’s the intangibles that wins big games at this level, not numbers, I mean who needs numbers, right?
The Yankees lose this one 4-6, and look forward to the 3 remaining games in this 4 game series. The Yankees are sitting right at .500, with a record of 12-12.
In a back-and-forth game, that saw the lead change a couple of times, it wasn’t until the bottom of the ninth, when Joe Crede hit a run scoring single to give the White Sox the win over these Yankees. This was the teams eleventh lose of the season, but the first one as a major leaguer for Joba Chamberlain.
mlb.com: “It’s not the last time it’s going to happen,” Chamberlain said. “I let my team down after they fought back. They did some good things offensively. The disappointing part is letting my team down and not giving us a chance to win.”
The Yankees fought back in this one from a 6-3 deficit to tie it. This was after the Yankees lost the 3-0 lead they carried into the 5th inning. They were tied at six going into the ninth.
As simple as I made this one sound, it wasn’t. Rain was here, rain was there, (for periods of 2 rain delays rain) was everywhere. This effected hitting, and mostly pitching, as the Yankees starter was pulled after just the 2nd inning of scoreless ball, by Girardi and the staff, and the second rain delay of the game. Floyd, for the White Sox was not so fortunate, as he stayed in the game and pitched 6 innings of shaky baseball giving up 5 runs to these Yankees.
These are the types of games that can really wear on you. The temperature, the weather, the rain delays (2 of them, one to start the game of 34 minutes, and then the one between the 2nd and 3rd innings. But to fight back the way that this club did and tie it up, under these conditions, said something for their grit, but then to lose it at the very end is hard to take.
The White Sox avoid the sweep, and win this game 7-6. That takes the Yankee’s record to 12-11, and puts a stop to their 3-game win streak.
The Yankees, behind the strong pitching of Mike Mussina, won their third straight baseball game today, edging the White Sox by a score of 6-4. This is the third game in a row, and second in Chicago, on this long road trip. Mike Mussina pitched very well today in 7 innings of service. He only allowed 4 hits off the bats of the White Sox, however, two of them were solo home runs (one in the 5th inning, and one in the 7th inning).
Posada had a career day, today, in the doubles department, hitting three very nice shots to the outfield. He was responsible for 2 RBI’s and was left on base once. Johnny Damon had a good day as well. He accumulated just two hits, but big hits, collecting 2 RBI’s himself. Derek Jeter is always good for at least one RBI, as usual, and Melky Cabrera beat out an infield single to short stop, for an RBI of his own.
Hawkins came in relief to start the 8th inning, and was roughed up pretty good. 0.1 innings pitched, walks, hits, and it all totalled 2 runs scored (both earned) and a reason for alarm. The club then threw in Traber to face one batter, before Mariano Rivera came from the dugout and had 5 consecutive ground/fly outs to end the game.
The record improves again to 12-10, and the club can look toward tomorrow and the opportunity to sweep the White Sox on their home field. Game starts at 8:11pm.
On the forth game of this long road trip the Yankees find themselves in Chicago facing the White Sox. Chien-Ming Wang was on the mound for the Yankees. He delivered a win, just like his previous outings this year. This took his record to a solid 4-0, and seems to have the wind at his back. He is really crusin’ right along. In what would have to be considered his worse outing of the year so far, he went 6 innings gave up 10 hits (scattered), 3 runs (all earned), and struck out an uncharacteristicly high, 5 batters. All in all, a game you expect to win, by only giving up 3 runs, but not your best stuff.
There was a lot of offense in this one from the Yankees. Giambi hit a no-man-on, no-out, solo shot off Contreras in the second inning, to take the score to 2 for the Yankees. They were silenced for the entire middle portion of this game on some strong pitching by the White Stockings. But in the 7th and 8th innings they blew open the lead with some singles and walks loading the bases for Bobby Abreu, with 2 outs in the 7th inning. Grand Slam! 4 runs score, and the Yankees are right back in the drivers seat with a 6-4 lead.
Damon wanted in on the long ball action and rocked a 2-on, 2-out, jack in the 8th inning, giving the Yankees a large enough lead to relax in this one. The White Sox scored a late run in the 9th inning, but not anything to be concerned about. The Yankees win this one in the late innings. There record is one game over .500 at 11-10.
The Yankees got the win today in Baltimore, and avoid getting swept, by a wonderful pitching performance by Andy Pettitte, who retired the first 14 batters he faced. This was the start to a solid outing by Pettitte, who threw 7 innings of scoreless, 4 hit, baseball, striking out 5 also. This was a must win for the series, and a much needed confidence booster as they look ahead to a 3-game Chicago White Sox series, in Chicago.
Pettitte was in total control of this game from the first pitch. He was relieved by Joba Chamberlain, who gave up 2 hits, and one earned run, giving the Orioles their only run of the game, in the 8th.
Jeter went 2-5, both hits being doubles, and drove in 3 runs. Johnny Damon homered in the 7th inning with one man on and one out, giving him 2 RBI’s as well, off of reliever Bradford for Baltimore.
This was a much needed win for more than one reason. First, it breaks a season high 3-game losing streak. Second, it avoids getting swept in this 3-game series. Third, it puts a nice end to a 20 games in 20 days streak that started in the beginning of this month.
The Yankees will have a much deserved day off here on Monday, and then it is the Chicago White Sox next on the schedule, in Chicago. Game time is 8:11 EST, and they bring another .500 record (10-10) to the field, and look to expand on this new one game win streak, and add some much needed points in the win column.
Ian Kennedy did not have one of his normal pitching outings, in fact he didn’t have anything today. Of the 17 batters he faced today, he was behind on most of them, and took 10 of those batters to full counts, or 3 ball counts. He threw more balls than strikes, walking 5, and giving up 4 earned runs, before being removed after only 2 and 2/3 innings of play. It is safe to say that he was struggling all game, even right up to his early departure. Balitmore’ patience at the plate, coupled with Hughes’ inability to throw strikes, gave them a lot of base runners, and a lot of chances to score.
Being blanked on the score card, also means that the opposing pitcher did very well. Burres got the win, and moved his record to 2-1 for Baltimore, as Hughes took the lose, and fell to 0-2.
This was the Yankees third lose in a row, and dropped their overall record below .500 to 9-10. They look to come away tomorrow with a win and avoid getting swept in Baltimore before moving on to Chicago, to play the Sox colored white this time.
Also, in Yankee news, Farnsworth was issued a 3-game suspension for his “slip” that sent a high 90′s fastball behind the head of Manny Ramirez, by Major League Baseball today. The League claims that he was intentionally targeting Manny, and handed out that punishment today before the start of the game.
Phil Hughes pitched a very solid game today through the first 5 innings, and lost his control in the sixth and was shown the exit, after giving up 5 earned runs, on 9 hits. Although he did get the lose, and his current record looks dismal at (0-3), he did pitch an improved game from his last outing. Even Girardi agrees that this was not a terrible outing. Hughes did find himself entering the sixth inning only having given up one run, and looked to be very comfortable out there on the mound. That’s when it all turned ugly, and fast. His ERA ballooned to 8.82 in this 97 pitch outing (60 strikes).
There was not much from the plate to speak of for the Yankees, as their bats were held pretty quiet. They managed to scrap together two runs (1 in the 5th, and 1 in the 7th), both coming off the bat of Moeller, who was catching today for Posada.
Things did not go the Yankees way today and they could not catch up from a damaging 7-run 6th inning. This is the second lose in a row for the club, and again they find themselves at .500. Things are going to need to turn around slightly in order to distance themselves from that .500 mark. Tomorrow is game 2 of 3, and the Yankees will be looking for the victory to force a rubber match.
On a day that Mike Mussina wishes he could get back, the Yankees lose the second game of a 2-game series by a score of 7-5. It was only the 3rd inning when Mussina exited the game, having given up 7 hits, and 5 runs (all earned), including two homers to Manny Ramirez, who seems to have Mussina’s number as of late. According to MLB.com, the last four at-bats for Manny against Mussina, going back to their meeting in Fenway, is quite impressive for all you Red Sox fans. It looks like this; solo homer, two-run double, solo homer, two-run homer!
As you can imagine that opened the door for the critics to question why Mussina even pitched to him at all. But every at-bat is different, and as much as the Yankees would like to be able to pitch around him, it doesn’t always work out that way. And when the pitching is what it was today (not so good, bad location and command) Manny will do what he did today to any pitcher having that type of day…go yard.
This lose snapped a 3 game win streak, and turned their record to 9-8 on the season, just floating above .500.
Farnsworth pitched the 7th inning, and also faced Manny. On a pitch that Farnsworth said “slipped,” he sent a high 90′s fastball screaming past the back of Ramirez’s head, prompting the Umpire to warn both benches. I can’t say I blame him for buzzing Manny at the plate, but throwing behind the batter, and head height, I wonder if further action is going to be taken by either Major League Baseball, or the Yankees. We will have to wait and see.
The Yankees lose to the hated Red Stockings, and end a quick stay at home as they hit the road to Baltimore and start a long road trip that takes them from Baltimore (3 games), to Chicago (3 games), and then Cleveland.
The first game of this series to be played at Yankee Stadium was won in grand fashion as the Yankees slugged their way to victory today scoring 15 runs to the Sox 9, bringing their record to 9-7, and winning their third in a row.
Both starting pitchers were knocked out early, and both bullpens were worked hard in this one. Wang only lasted 4 innings, and was relieved by a series of four pitchers, ending with Bruney, who got the save. Like previously mentioned both pitchers were lite up like Christmas trees. Wang was removed from the game having given up 9 hits, and 8 runs (all earned). Hawkins, the third pitcher of the day, pitched the 6th and 7th innings, and earned the win in this one.
Buchholz, for Boston, only lasted 3 and 2/3 innings, and gave up 8 hits (2 of them homers) and 7 runs, before being replaced by Tavarez, who went 1 and 1/3 innings, and took the lose.
The two homers that Buchholz gave up were both in the first inning, to Abreu and Rodriguez (back to back). This was Rodriguez’s 522nd home run, and broke the tie he had with Willy McCovey, and Ted Williams, lifting him to 15th on the all-time homer list.
There was a lot of offense in this one, and again the Yankees find themselves on the winning end of these slug-fest type games. RBI’s were plentiful, and it was good to see that Derek Jeter was again part of the scoring. This should officially erase any doubt about that quad strain.
The Yankees win this one, and again look at a sweep of their opponent in these short 2-game series.
The Yankees came away with a nice win today, 5-3, and sweep the dreaded Rays, raising their record to over .500 at 8-7.
Pettitte pitched a solid game once he settled down, after the first couple of innings. It did look bumpy out of the gates, as Andy found himself in some jams early, getting lucky with double plays, and confident pitching. The Rays tacked on a couple of runs in the 3rd inning, and stole one in the 6th inning. But overall it was a solid pitching performance, as it broke down like this: 7 innings, 9 hits (most early), 3 runs (all earned), 3 walks, and 5 K’s, and taking his ERA to 3.38.
The offense started off the bat of Matsui, as he homered in the 2nd inning, off of Edwin Jackson. In the 5th inning the Yankees added a couple of runs as Damon got a hit, stole second, and was drove home by Jeter, getting another RBI today, and looking like he is close to 100%, which is a very comforting sign.
This was a nice way to end the long road trip and come home with some confidence, as the Yankees are hosting the Evil Ones (Red Sox), for another shortened 2-game series.
Thanks to the bat of Robinson Cano, in the 8th inning, the Yankees were victorious against their spring ball foe, by a score of 8-7. The game starting with the Yankee bats on fire. The Rays pitcher was on the losing end of some poor pitches to good batters and was taken yard three times in the first two innings, thanks to Damon, Rodriguez, and Ensburg.
It looked like the Yankees were taking command of this game early, but the Rays picked up a couple of runs throughout the game, up to a monstrous 7th inning where they scored 5 runs tying the game at 7. The pitching was not at its finest, but the Yankees came away with a nice victory today.
The big news was Derek Jeter’s return. He looked very comfortable, chomping down hard on his gum a couple of times, but nothing out of the ordinary. He hit a nice 2-run single to left center in the forth, and made real good contact on the ball.
That took the score to 7-1, and everything looked to be going the Yankees way, when the bullpen entered and things went the Tampa Bay way. They used the long ball to catch up and negate the lead that the Yankees had built, and tied the game at 7. Pinch hitter Cano enters and earns his paycheck today going deep for the go ahead run, and eventual game winning home run.
These are just the kind of games that the Yankees need to continue to win. The one run game, tied in the late innings, or a slug-fest. They have to build that confidence and know that somehow they will come away victorious. A good solid win today.
This win brings the Yankees back to .500 at 7-7. They look to take another one, and the series tomorrow, in this short 2 game stint.
Dice K Matsuzaka pitched a better game then the league’s youngest pitcher, Phil Hughes, as the Yankees lose the rubber game to those dreaded Red Sox. The score was not indicative of the way this game was won by the Stockings. A horrible combination of poor pitching, and a catcher that was given the “stand down” command from the coaching staff. Girardi did not want Posada even making an attempt at throwing out any batters that may try to steal on him, for fear of further, serious, damage to his shoulder. Posada had this to say to Brian Hoch of MLB.com:
“I knew they were going,” Posada said, “and they took advantage of it.”
Posada was given the command of “no hard throws” by his coaching staff, under any circumstance. The Red Sox camp knew about Posada had a bad wing, and at the same time must have anticipated the “no throw” command from the coaches, because they were off and running against him to put it to the test. The first runner was met by a hard trowing motion from Posada, and a definite grimace was on his face, of course from pain. That seemed to open the flood gates for the Sox, as they ran the rest of the game, like there was a fire. No throws.
Even though Hughes had his earliest departure from a game in his young major league career (being only 21, and in his sophomore season), that does not take away from the struggles that Dice-K faced during this outing as well.
The Yankees offense was good enough today to win most games, especially if it is backed with good pitching, but they did have a decent day against the Red Sox ace. They scored 4 runs, on 5 hits, in 5 innings. Not Matsuzaka’s best outing for sure, although he has a funny way of showing it. He seems to have a lot more confidence this campaign, then he did in the past year, and it seems to be very hard to tell what is going through his mind most of the time. He always seems to be collected and calm, even in the face of great Yankee hitting. However, this was not his best outing, even though he got the win, and took the series from this arch rival. That sent him to a record of 3-0 on the young season, and slipped Hughes to a record of 0-2 for 2008.
All things aside, the Yankees are a little beat up, and they are fairing better than most teams would given the same circumstances. Once the healing process has completed on some of these superstars that riddle the lineup, we will be back to the Yankees of old, exploiting the many weaknesses of all our opponents, and find ourselves again, talking about how we will fair in the playoffs. The season is young, and there are a lot of games left to play. Including Wednesday, when your Yankees battle again with the Sox, again…this time on our territory, in the Bronx, with Wang on the mound in Game 1 of the series.
Next up is the new rival, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, (or their shortened name “crap” as they like to be called). The Yankees are going to have a hard time swallowing this one, after winning game one of this series, drop the next two, and lose to Red Sox, at Fenway Park, dropping their record to 6-7 on the season. The offense was there, but could not be met with any decent pitching, or any throwing attempts from Posada on the runners stealing second and third. The score in this one, today, was 8-5 in favor of the Stockings of red persuasion.
Mike Mussina (1-2) threw 71 pitches, 51 for strikes, today, and took the lose as the Yankees create a rubber game for themselves, tomorrow. With a win they could have guaranteed a win of the series and be looking at a sweep with a win tomorrow. Instead they slip to the same record as their heated rivals at (6-6). Mussina pitched 5 and 2/3 innings of sporadic baseball. Sometimes he even made pitches that made you shake your head, in a good way of course.
But the numbers aren’t entirely what they appear to be. A run was charged to him that reliever Bruney pitched to, and Youkalis took advantage of, and dinged a single up the gut to center. The late charge almost made those runs meaningless, but they ended up just short, falling by a score of 3-4.
The day was not a total wash, as the previously mentioned drive in the late innings proved to add some excitement to an already electric atmosphere. The Yankees scored Posada on a Robinson Cano double to left in the 7th, after getting 2 RBI’s in the 6th, and pulling within one swing from tying it up. Rodriguez was scheduled up next, ready and poised to take on the Red Sox closer Papelbon, and…
Rain Delay.
All the momentum that may or not have been with the Yankees was lost, or postponed due to rain. That was all the Red Sox needed to stop the rally, and end the game. Papelbon took the mound, and that was all she wrote for this one.
The Yankees lose a close one today, and look ahead to the rubber game, where Phil Highes tries to take this series from the Red Stockings, pitching against their $500 billion man, Dice-HR Matsuzaka.
Chien-Ming Wang probably just pitched the best game of his young Yankee Career. A 2-hitter gem, that was one for the ages. He may have just solidified himself as the most under-rated pitcher in baseball. His style of pitching does not get the attention that a Clemens, or Randy Johnson gets, he pitches to contact. This allows his teammates in the field to do their job; field, catch, and throw. His style is very repetitive. It has a tendency to lull you to sleep.
How many times do you hear… “grounder in the infield, (place name here) picks it up, tosses it to Giambi at first for the out.”? If you listen to the game on the radio (the way it was meant to be, by the way) you may fall asleep, very boring. But he gets the job done.
There was one difference from today versus a normal Wang outing. There was actually 14 fly-outs. ooh! Now that is baseball. The ball went into the air. At least the infield got a break on those outs. But, honestly, it is the intangibles that make him so incredible. Look at some of these numbers that you don’t hear about everyday:
Those are some of the numbers that get looked past when some of us consider a god/bad pitching outing. Regardless, this was something that should be remembered as one of his best. Considering the environment, and the opponent.
Well, with that off my chest, the offense came from 10 hits, spread out pretty good among the lineup. Rodriguez, Matsui, and Molina each had two hits. The 4 runs came off the bats of Molina, Giambi, Cabrera, and Abreu. One run in the 5th and 9th innings, and two runs in the 7th inning.
4-1 was your final score today, and theeeeeeeeeeee Yankees Win!
Andy Pettitte rebounded very well from his less than average first start to pitch a beautiful game today, and help the Yankees come away from Kansas City with a much needed win, having Boston next on their schedule, in Boston. The Royals couldn’t get anything going as they were held to only 1 run, which was scored way back in the first inning off of a double hit by Jose Guillen. Other than that it was lights out today from that pitching staff. Pettitte (1-1) threw 92 pitches (58 for strikes), went 6 and 2/3, only gave up the one run, and walked two, for his first win of the year.
Melky Cabrera brought the kindling for the fire that was about to be lite by these Yankee bats, with a home run in the third inning off of Royals pitcher John Bale. The offense did not stop there. They would get 1 more in the forth, 2 in the fifth, and most impressively, 2 in the ninth.
On of the bigger hurdles that these Yankees have had a hard time getting over, is runners in scoring position, 2-out. The two runs in the ninth came from Rodriguez and Posada, who both hit home runs, both with 2 out, off of reliever Hideo Nomo. Along with a couple of adjustments to the lineup, due to Jeter’s absence, and some solid hitting, the Yankees seem to have found some hitting just at the right time. Boston is next, at The Green Monster.
With only 25 runs scored so far this year, in the first 9 games, is the lowest total since the 1989 season. So it was nice to see these bats start to warm up. I mean the talent is unquestionably there, it is just a matter of getting things started. Sometimes it can be harder than you think. Just ask the Detroit Tigers.
With this win the Yankees are back at .500 (5-5), and leave Kansas City glad to get one from this tough, young Royals team. Next up is Boston. The enemy.
Yankees manager Joe Girardi decided to pull the ol’ “switch-a-rue” today, and switched the starting pitching with the relief pitching, and vise-versa. Evidently, this is reminiscent of a move that Joe Torre pulled about a week ago, when he pulled scheduled pitcher Chad Billingsly moments before a 74 minute rain delay.
Whatever the case may be, the Yankees were blanked today 4-0, by another Kansas City pitching gem. I don’t think it is time to be looking for excuses, rather solutions to the problem. Granted, the decision to start the relief, and have the starter do the relieving is a little…”out of the box.” However, it is not an excuse when your offense does not put up even one run in the 9 innings of play. You can’t win if you don’t score runs.
Alex Rodriguez was the only Yankee with more than one hit. Five other batters scattered hits throughout the contest, but no real threat ever surfaced. Not a single batter ever reached third base for the Yankees. What can you say? Good pitching will beat good hitting every day of the week. Right now, Kansas City has some pretty good pitchers. Zack Grienke pitched 8 shut out innings for the Royals, as the entire batting lineup could not get anything going at all.
This lose dropped the Yankees below .500 with a 4-5 record. This is their second lose in a row to the Kansas City Royals, which can be attributed to a very solid pitching staff. The Yankees will try to sneak out of here tomorrow with a win. Hopefully the bats can come alive, and the weather will stay away. At least long enough to fire up the grill, Kansas City style.
The Yankees seem to be having the problem that other teams faced when battling with the Kansas City Royals this season. Pitching. Brian Bannister, the Kansas City Royals right hander, held the Yankees to only two runs, both scored in the 2nd inning. One of the runs came off the bat of Johnny Damon, the other from Wilson Betemit (who is filling in for Derek Jeter, while he nurses that right quad strain). The offense did not come from anywhere else, for example, A-Rod struck out four times! Three of those to Bannister, and one to reliever Ramon Ramirez. It just wasn’t the Yankees day. They found themselves at the beginning of a number of away games, and playing a blazing hot Kansas City team. This 2-5 lose slipped the Yankees to a .500 record at 4-4, breaking a 2 game win streak.
Some chatter of Derek losing his starting spot at short stop to A-Rod, and maybe playing 1st Base, or outfield. This was all seemingly put to a low whisper, as Wilson Betemit starting in place of the ailing Jeter. The word is that he is going to miss all of the series that they are currently playing with the Royals, and we will see from there. Derek Jeter losing his starting short stop job…please!
Hopefully tomorrow will bring a better day. The Yankees lose to the Kansas City Royals, by the score of 5-2. Pitching seems to be dictating the tempo of these games that Kansas City has been winning recently, maybe the Yankees can step up the heat a little on these pitchers, and see how they handle that amount of pressure.
I sound like a broken record, but if it ain’t broke…right? Well the Yankees were gifted another excellent pitching performance today by Mussina, this time, going 6 innings, and giving up only 2 hits. One of them, for the Rays only run of the game, came in the 3rd to Gomes. He sent that ball over the wall for a home run, with no men on base. Other than that, that was the entire offense today for the Tampa Bay Rays. In addition to the outstanding starting pitching from Mussina, again, we had 3 innings of shutout baseball delivered by the combination of Bruney, Farnsworth, and Hawkins.
The offense started early off the bat of Jeter getting on in the 1st. That was followed by a Bobby Abreu home run over the right field fence, bringing home Jeter. Abreu was at it again in the sixth when he hit a triple to set up the RBI opportunity. By the time he came to bat in the 7th inning he was only a double short of the cycle. He ended up walking, and payed off by 2 consecutive hits by Matsui and Cano.
The offensive star of this game was Bobby Abreu, and he had this to say to reporters after the game about his chance to hit for the cycle, and taking a walk instead, ”If you play like a team, you’re going to win some games. I don’t like to play individually.”
Other than having such an impressive couple of games from our pitching staff, the story making news around New York is Derek Jeter’s leaving the game early in the second inning due to what they are calling a strained right quadricep.
“Leg injuries aren’t an exact science,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. “We’ll have to see.”
That means that we could be looking at something that would keep Derek sidelined for a couple of days, and then it is just a matter of working through it. Or we could be talking about a 15 day DL stay, that would take the captain away from his team, and most likely throw the whole baseball universe, that is the Yankees, out of whack.
I will keep you posted on any developments as they arise with Jeter. Until then, the Yankees win this game, 6-1, and split the series with Tampa Bay, bringing their season to 4-3, winning the last 2. Next up is Kansas City, away. Tuesday marks the official home opener for the Royals, at Kauffman Stadium, with a 3:10pm CT start. The Yankees will bring Phil Hughes (0-0) to the mound looking for his first win of the season, against Brian Bannister (1-0) coming off that very impressive showing in Detroit. This is the beginning of a very long road trip for the team, ending next Tuesday in Tampa Bay while spending the weekend in Boston, for the first of many games against “the enemy.” This is the first test of the year for this club, and they may be entering it without their captain. Only time will tell.
Chien-Ming Wang threw another brilliant game today, not allowing a single run over 6 innings, striking out 6, on 4 hits. He had a no hitter going into the fifth inning. It sounds like he ran into some trouble in the 7th, and was replac ed by Joba Chamberlain, the home town favorite. The crowd went crazy as he worked his way out of the inherited mess he was left by Wang in the seventh, and followed that with a perfect 8th inning. And we all know how this goes. Mariano Rivera enters the game in the 9th. Game Over. Another perfect inning from the first ballet Hall of Famer. There are teams assembled this year (the Tigers for example) that are built to knock the ball out of every park, but have no bullpen and “work in progress” starting pitching. How is that working out for the 0 and 2008 schedule Detroit Tigers. This combination of Chamberlain and Rivera can shorten a game to only 6 innings. That is what the Yankees have been missing. An “automatic” like we have in Rivera closing. Lights out. By the looks of it we may even have that right now in Wang as a starter. His measly 1.38 ERA over 13 total innings, with 8 K’s, and only 2 runs scored over 10 hits. And let’s not forget taking a no-hitter into the fifth today. Impressive pitching day for the Yankees, preventing the Rays from getting any runs today.
The 2 Yankee runs came off of Matsui’s bat, when he clobbered a home run in the 4th inning with 1 man on, to take a 2-0 lead in the game. And that is how it ended, 2-0. Some of the reason for this spark in the team was Girardi’s return to the bench after the last two days (last 2 loses) of an upper respiratory infection. You know that the team appreciated his being there on the bench. Girardi says he felt a little better at the post game, and the win today definitly is helping things along.
This was a very solid win for the club. They dominated from the pitching department, and with a 2-run dinger from Matsui came away with the win, 2-0. As the season goes along, one of the better memories of recent Yankee Stadium History will be delivered by the animated, and home town favorite, Joba Chamberlain. His electricity that he brings with him to the mound is something special. He has total control of every at bat. And don’t say to much about it yet, but I have it on pretty good authority that he hit 101mph twice in the game. I like the Yankees chances if this keeps up.
The Yankees come away with the win, 2-0. They now sit at .500 with a 3-3 record. Tomorrow’s game is a 4 game series ending contest with these pesky Rays.
For the second straight game in this series, the Yankees find themselves on the losing end, by a score of 6-3. Pettitte gave up 8 hits, and 5 runs (3 earned), over just 5 innings of work. He walked 2, and struck out 3. One of his 8 hits was a 3-run shot by Ray’s Right Fielder, Gomes, his first of the year, in the 5th inning. Bruney showed 2 solid innings of no-run baseball, as he blanked them, striking out 4.
The offense was spuratic as they scored 1 run in the 1st, of the bat of A-Rod. And 2 in the 8th thanks to the bat of Posada.
I can only imagine that these are the games that can crawl under your skin early in the season. Don’t think for one second the Yankees (or the Rays, for that matter) have forgotten about the spring training festivities that took place down in Florida. These are professionals. They are playing baseball on the biggest stage in the world. Look for the Yankees to turn this series around tomorrow, as Chien-Ming Wang goes against Shields for the Rays in the third game of this series.
The Yankees lose another one to the Rays by the score of 6-3, and drop to 2-3 overall, losing their last 2.
It did not help that Ian Kennedy (the Yankee’s 4th starter) had his worst outing since playing Hawaii Winter Baseball, where he was shelled for 8 runs in 1 and 2/3 innings. This wasn’t as bad, but still out of character for Kennedy. His outing today was dismal, and it breaks down like this in the box score:
Ian Kennedy (L,0-1) : IP-2 and 1/3, 4 hits, 6 runs (all earned), 4 walks, and 2 K’s, for a 23.14 ERA! Yikes!
It did not stop there, as the Yankees gave up 7 more runs in the 8th inning, negating the 4 runs scored in the 3rd to bring them back within striking distance (6-4).
Was some of this still left over from the spring training brawl that broke out over Shelley Duncan’s slide into 2nd base? If it was, they didn’t display it on the field, but I am sure that it was somewhat sweet revenge for those Ray players who were involved in the scrum.
As far as the suspensions go, both players for the Yankees, Melky Cabrera and Shelley Duncan, dropped their appeals (scheduled to be heard on Monday), and are going to serve their suspensions. As they both commented earlier, it is just the right thing to do for the team. Cabrera started serving his 2 game suspension Friday, and Duncan will begin serving a 2 game suspension of his own on Monday.
Jonny Gomes also withdrew his appeal, and saw his 2 game suspension get reduced to 1 game, which he served Friday. So hopefully that little disagreement is behind both clubs, and soon enough all suspensions will be served, with Duncan’s ending on Tuesday, the Yankees first game of 3 against those surprising Kansas City Royals (coming off a solid sweep of the mighty Detroit Tigers to start the season) at Kansas City.
As much as Yankee fans wanted this one, they are going to have to wait until Saturday as we send Andy Pettitte, fresh off the DL with back spasms, to battle it out with the Rays’ Edwin Jackson, a hard throwing right-hander that has been known to click up triples digits on the gun. Hopefully, the Yanks are ready to swing against this guy, they will see a fair share of heat for strikes. A good recipe for long balls, all day long!
Your Yankees fall hard, today, to the Tampa Bay (Devil) Rays by a score of 13-4. Their record slips to .500 at 2-2. Look for Pettitte to have a strong outing tomorrow, barring a flair-up of that back.
As if proving to Toronto that we have a decent pitching staff of our own, The Yankees marched out Phil Hughes. All he did was retire the first 9 batters he faced. Hughes was given a no decision today, after six innings of great pitching, allowing only two runs. A very solid performance from the young hurler.
As much as pitching wanted to be the topic of conversation today, something happened in the 8th inning that was cause for attention. The New York Yankees, no stranger to small ball (maybe a distant cousin, though), decided to manufacture some runs. They decided to show a different side of themselves. Instead of knocking balls into the surrounding Bronx neighborhoods, the decided to bunt the runner around, and was rewarded with an error, and found themselves with a 2-man on, no-out situation. That was when Jeter sacrificed, and Bobby Abreu blooped a single into center field right at the feet of a charging Vernon Wells, sending the go-ahead run home. It was a thing of beauty.
Don’t get me wrong, this is not an announcement that the Yankees have gone soft, and they are going to play baseball the national league way or anything. They still plan on winning baseball games the Yankee way, the Bronx Bomber way, in spectacular fashion, but it sure was nice to see this brand of baseball displayed on the field today.
Girardi had this to say about today’s game, and how they pulled this one off, for the 2nd win of the season, as well as his 2nd win as the New York Yankee skipper, “You get in tight games and you’re going to have to be able to execute and score runs. We’re not afraid to do that. Guys can handle the bat here.”
Well said. It was just that type of game today. A tight one with good pitching, and great offense, moving guys around the bags and scoring runs. The Yankees (2-1) win this one against the Toronto Blue Jays (1-2), by a score of 3-2, to take the rubber game and the series.
Next up … the Rays of Tampa Bay, are we all going to get along?
When A.J. Burnett (0-0), of the Blue Jays, is on (in the words of Mike Mussina), “he’s as tough as anybody.” And that is what the Yankees faced today. A.J. Burnett looked as good as he has ever looked, and showed the pitcher he can be if he can stay on the field healthy. He shut the offense down by allowing only 2 runs on five hits in six plus innings. He basically gave no room for error, until his last pitch of the day, a 2-run shot by A-Rod, getting them 2 runs closer, and avoiding a shut out. All said Burnett was the hero on this day, and made shadows over the nice performance given by Mike Mussina (0-0).
“I wasn’t disappointed in it,” Mussina told Brian Hoch of MLB.com. “It felt good throwing the baseball. I just made some mistakes, and they took advantage of it. If I have that stuff 30 times, I’ll be fine.”
“I thought he used his breaking ball well, and I thought his fastball was pretty good tonight,” manager Joe Girardi said. “I thought he was locating well. I liked what I saw.”
That seems to be the overall opinion of his 5 2/3 innings performance today. He struck out 2, walked 2, and gave up 8 hits and 4 runs (3 earned). With an offensive threat that is a perennial staple in New York this kept them close enough to be within striking distance at any point, and almost capitalized on a 9th inning little burst that almost resulted in some runs.
Vernon Wells went yard in the 3rd inning, for his first of the year, a 2 run blast to left field, and gave the Blue Jays a 3-0 lead, which proved to be enough in this one. The New York Yankees fall to the great pitching performance of A.J Burnett, and the Toronto Blue Jays 5-2 at Yankee Stadium today.
It was worth the wait. The Yankees clipped the Blue Jays, Winning the first game of the season, and the last Win on Opening Day in “The House That Ruth Built.” Also known as Yankee Stadium since 1923, it was host to the last opening day game today, ever, as the Yankees beat the Toronto Blue Jays 3-2.
Chien-Ming Wang looked very good limiting Toronto to only 2 runs and 6 hits spread over 7 innings of work. “It was the best,” Wang said after the game. He was relieved by pitching sensation Joba Chamberlain. After a little drama, Chamberlain got out of the 8th inning never having a runner past second base. Ending with another perfect 1-2-3 inning from “Mr. Automatic,” Mariano Rivera. Girardi was given the game ball and a hug from the closer, Rivera, commemorating the start and the end to a New York Yankee era.
Melky Cabrera stole the show, as he had 2 sensational grabs out in center field, and also was responsible for a run, by himself, as he knocked one over the fence, providing a lucky fan with a souvenir. The shot was one that would have made Reggie “Mr. October” Jackson proud, who was there with fellow Yankee, Yogi Berra, to throw out the first pitch.
It was a start studded night, as only Yankee Stadium could hold. The organization receives much credit for another outstanding event. The long standing record of never having an opening day in March still stands, thanks to mother nature, and today was not an April’s fool’s, Yankees (1-0) win this one, defeating the Toronto Blue Jays (0-1) by a score of 3-2.
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