Results tagged ‘ Gardner ’

Yanks Hold Off Twins, Win 4-3

Despite
control issues, A.J. Burnett got his third straight win and continued
his streak of dominate performances, dominate would be a stretch for
last night, but he definitely did have his moments. Although A.J. did
put on 11 batters in 6.1 innings, he worked in and out of trouble and
escaped last night’s game only giving up 2 earned. The key moment for
A.J. was in the bottom of the 5th, after loading the bases Cuddyer came
up to the plate and Burnett struck him out swinging with a series of
horrible pitches that showed how anxious Cuddyer was, and how much
pressure he put on himself. Burnett’s wildness is just a key to how
good of a pitcher he is, even with his control issues he still put
batters away and kept them guessing all night and more importantly
didn’t make mistakes trying to correct those problems. The
Yankee bats, lead by the unlikely Brett Gardner, got to Swarzak early
and gave a cushion to Burnett. The lineup is molding and connecting at
a very high level right now and, besides Damon, every starter had at
least one hit again last night, Jeter and Posada were the only two with
multi-hit games. The Yankees were cruising going into the 5th inning
putting 9 runners on (8 hits, 1 walk) and scoring 4 of those runners by
the end of that inning, taking a 4-2 lead.

Arod provided an insurance run in the 5th to put the Yanks up by 2
and give them a little more room to work with, a run that ended up
being a necessity more than a luxury.

Burnett only had 2 ks last night but they came in very tight spots
where a strike out was needed desperately.  One I talked about earlier
with Cuddyer and the other came in the bottom half of the 6th when A.J.
struck out a scrappy hitter in Denard Span with his best curve ball of
the night that if even hit would’ve been a weak grounder to Teixeira.

Bobby Keppel would come in for the last 2 outs in the 5th, after
loading the bases by way of a walk to Posada (he did inherit 2 runners)
he got the Twins biggest out of the night when Cano flied out to left,
a collective sigh of relief swept over the place as Keppel has not had
much success in the majors, but that was as a starter.

Arod’s insurance RBI came into play in the bottom of the 7th when
Phil Coke was summoned to face M&M (Mauer and Morneau). Coke, who
has been one of the reasons this Yankee bullpen has been so great
lately, left the ball hanging on the outside portion of the plate to
Mauer and he drilled it over the left field wall, cutting the Yankee
lead to one run. Coke did half of his job and struck out Morneau on a
nasty breaking ball. Hughes followed and got a pop out to right on one
pitch to Cuddyer to end the inning. Side Track/Hughes Watch: Phil
Hughes has not allowed an earned run in his last 9 appearances or 11
innings pitched over that span his ERA has dropped 1.02 runs from 5.13
to 4.11 and has only allowed a staggering 6 runners on base. Hughes has
been almost mistake free out of the bullpen and has continued to
confuse and stifle batters, he is quickly becoming one of the best
relievers in the game right now.

Another note that might not make people happy, but might make them
understand how often an ump calls a guy out when the ball just beats
them to the bag happened again last night. Nick Swisher, who is not the
swiftest or fastest runner in the world, attempted to stretch a single
into a double in the top of the 8th. Although he was clearly out, at
least in terms of the ball getting there, the Twins short stop Brendan
Harris may have missed the tag. Of course factoring in all the angles
an ump has to fight with it would be hard to tell from his perspective,
but when reviewed and slowed down it appeared that Swisher foot was in
before the tag. My point being that, not as bad as Jeter’s mind you,
umps often call players out when the ball beats them to the bag, and
last night was another example, so even though Jeter had a point to
argue, the ump wasn’t that far off when he made his argument. I am not
saying that it is right, but it is something that happens every now and
then, I wouldn’t be surprised if it happens once a night around the
MLB, and will continue to happen, just think of the neighborhood rule
at 2nd base, it’s almost the same principle.

Back to the game, Mo came in to close it out and shut the top of the
Twins order down 1,2,3 to record his 22nd save of the year and
solidifying another series win for the Yanks.

The Yankees are on a roll right now winning 6 out of 8 games in July
so far and winning their last 5 series, they are 1 game out of the AL
East lead and are waiting to pounce on an opportunity to jump into at
least the share of first place.

W: Burnett (8-4 3.77 ERA)

L: Swarzak (2-3 4.50 ERA)

S: Rivera (22)

Tonight’s Game: Aceves (5-1 2.02 ERA [first major league start]) vs Liriano (4-8 5.49 ERA)

A very interesting match-up that puts Aceves on the mound, replacing
the injured Wang, as a starter for the first time in his Major League
Career. Aceves has been great for the Yankees coming out of the pen
this year and was the deemed the right pitcher to run out there for the
start. He faces a very talented but struggling pitcher in Francisco
Liriano who pitched very well his first start against the Yankees
earlier this year. The Yankees want Aceves to do to the Twins that
first time starters do to them and keep them guessing. I would be
surprised to see him going past 5 innings tonight so it is good that
only 2 pitchers were used out of the pen last night. This game is a
coin toss that obviously can go either way, if the Yankee bats keep it
up they win but if they are stifled I can see them losing. I think
Aceves will be fine but do think he will give up a few runs, hopefully
the Yankee bats back him up…LET’S GO YANKEES!

If I made mistakes I will correct them…I am running out to lunch lol ;-)

Yankees Dominate Twins 10-2 in Series Opener

CC Sabathia bounced back from his last start the only way you would
expect it, by putting together 7 innings of 3 hit, one walk ball while
giving up only one earned run. Although dominate performances are
somewhat expected you never really know, Sabathia did give up 6 earned
against a much less potent Seattle Mariners lineup just 5 days earlier.
It is worth noting that CC’s ERA is a whole run and a half (1.57
actually) better on the road than at home, that seems to be a trend
with Yankee pitchers this year.

While Sabathia put together a sparkling performance his counter
part, Scott Baker, was getting hammered by Yankee batters and couldn’t
find his way out of the 4th after loading the bases. At the end of the
inning Baker was charged with 5 earned runs, and if it wasn’t for the
defensive play of the game by Carlos Gomez, robbing a grand slam from
Alex Rodriguez, it would’ve been 7.

Baker has been struggling this year, posting a 6 and 7 record with a
5.31 ERA (last night factored in) after coming off a career year in
’08. Being one of the strong holds in, what the Twin anticipated to be,
a young talented rotation with a chance to compete, management might be
scratching their heads and wondering where the talent has gone. The
Twins rotation has put together a robust 4.40 ERA, that is including
Blackburn posting a 2.94, and their wonderkid Liriano has shocked the
baseball world with his sub-par performances all year. The Twins
pitching has caught the Yankees at the worst time, the Bronx Bombers
are streaking and putting up numbers (7.2 runs/game over the last 5
games) on teams all over the league. Tonight they face another young
struggling pitcher in Glen Perkins, who is substantially better at home
than on the road but struggled mightily against the Yanks in his last
start. Back to that shortly.

Matsui drove in the first run of the game with a single in the top
of the first and the Yankees didn’t look back. Two more in the top of
the 2nd provided all the offense that the Bronx Bombers would need, but
they didn’t stop there adding 7 more runs on their way to a 10 run
offensive onslaught. Side Track: Matsui has found his way into a 7 game
hitting streak with 3 homers in that run. Matsui might be coming to
form now and his knees might be feeling better, look out for a big July
from him.

Every starter in the lineup accounted for at least 1 hit, with
Teixeira, Cano, Cirvelli and Gardner having multi-hit games accounting
for 11 of the Yankees 16 total hits. Surprisingly enough, especially
being indoors, the Yanks won the game, and put up a 10 spot, without a
homer, one was robbed from Arod as mentioned earlier. The Bombers drove
home runners in scoring position by way of sacrifice flies (2), singles
(2), extra base hits (2) and one walk with the bases loaded. They were
patient at the plate and did what they had to do with the ball and
nothing more, small ball wins games too.

The Twins had no definitive answer for the Yankee bats as they
touched up reliever Brian Duensing for an additional four runs and R.A.
Dickey for one. Dickey finished out the last 3.1 innings and cooled
down the Yankee bats for the remainder of the game.

Yankees Player of the Game:

Mark Teixeira: 4 for 6 last night with 1 RBI. I chose him over
Gardner (3 for 5, 2B, 2 RBI) because this might be the spark he needed
to bust out of the slump he was in, and help him find his power.
Teixeira is homerless in his last 22 games.

Twins Player of the Game:

Carlos Gomez: Not for his bat, but for his glove. His home run,
grand slam, saving catch in the 4th actually kept the Twins within
striking distance of the Yankees before the game got out of hand.

Game 2 Preview: Burnett (7-4, 3.83 ERA) vs. Perkins (4-4, 4.38 ERA)

It has been noted a few times that Burnett stated “once he hits his
stride, watch out”. We might just be witnessing his prediction coming
true. Over his last 4 starts (3-1) A.J. has only allowed 3 earned runs
in 27.1 innings pitched (0.99 ERA) with two of those starts coming on a
road, so he can pitch well away from home. In 5 starts against the
Twins in his career Burnett has put up decent numbers, 1-1 with a 3.90
ERA, but with his current trend we can almost expect a good performance
out of him. The Yankee bats are hot right now and should handle a
struggling pitcher, but Perkins, over his last two starts has only
given up 2 earned over 14 innings. His last start at home he pitched to
his ability going 7 innings while giving up 4 earned, so there should
be some expectation to at least produce that from the Yankee bats.
Perkins has struggled with the Bronx Bombers in the past going 1 and 3
with a staggering 7.71 ERA and only lasted .2 innings in his last start
against them giving up 6 earned before getting the hook. I am
predicting a Yankee win tonight with the bats being more of a driving
force, it’s hard to think that M&M will stay quiet during the
Yankees 3 game stay.

Other Notes:

Paul Konerko: 3 homers yesterday, what a performance and now I am 1
for 3 in 3 home run player being in my lineup (Votto last year, Ethier
this year were both on my fantasy teams bench)

Mets: Should they just give up? They are performing horrilby and
there is no great light at the end of the tunnel. Any big trades coming
up soon?

Hope you enjoyed the new and improved…let me know what you think… riveraverant@yahoo.com or just simply comment!

Thanks!

Yankees Crush Mets, 9-1

Well now the
Yankees are officially on a roll….with their 3rd win in a row most fans
finally let out that breath they were holding for so long! I, on the
other hand, let out a breath for a completely different reason…I know
most people believed that everything was fine with Sabathia, but I can
be a pessimist from time to time…so  until he put up a performance like
the one he did last night I wasn’t convinced….and not only is his arm
fine for pitching…but he brought his bat with him too!!! What can’t
this guy do?Sabathia did everything that we
expected him to last night…he destroyed the Mets batters and put up a
performance that Yankees fans expect every time he takes the mound. He
went 7 innings, struck out 8 and only gave up 1 run, which came on a
Sheffield homerun…so at least it came off someone that has a reputation
of doing that. Bottom line is that Sabathia is the real deal and now is
the time where he starts to be dominate…and that trend is starting to
show…Middle of the season, when it starts to get warm Sabathia become
almost unhittable….and that is what the Yankees need because right
after the all-star break the Saux usually struggle a little (of course
assuming that trend continues too)….and with the way the Saux are
playing right now the Yanks have to win just to keep their head above
water…OF COURSE THE SEASON ISN’T EVEN HALF WAY THROUGH!!! I have to
calm down lol.

But the real story has to go to the Yankee bats and how they are
absolutely on fire right now!!! And every Yankee fan should be just as
fired up as their bats because this is what we have been missing for
the past couple of weeks…now the weird thing is that Teixeira didn’t
get a hit AGAIN last night! Now….even superstars go through slumps…see
Arod…but that means he is swinging at bad pitches…which means teams are
still attacking Arod..ummm note to opposing pitchers…when Arod hits the
ball out to the opposite field… HE HAS BROKEN THE SLUMP!!! So I am not
worried yet…if Tex goes oh-for tonite then I might start questioning
what he is doing…because that means he isn’t being patient enough.
Butttttt I am very excited to see what Arod is gunna do…we all know
what he is like when he streaks so we should all just sit back and
relax….Three cheers to Gardner though!!! 5 for 6!!! This guys is
proving why he is almost worth of becoming a favorite Yankee for many
fans…he is a scrappy hitter and fielder that has range and speed (some
even say he might be the fastest runner in the AL if not the MLB) and
he just keeps getting better!!! Needless to say he was on fire last
night and also hit a bomb to right field…which is a triumph of its own
in that canyon in Queens. Put everything together and it was just a
great performance all around by a Yankee team that seems primed to go
on a streak…and hopefully everything carries over to tonite.

Well this showdown is clearly in the Yankees favor…Redding vs
Burnett…There is really nothing much to say here…Burnett has the clear
advantage in this matchup and is also building off 5 quality starts in
a row and has been magnificent in the last 2…A.J. might also be a
little bitter because he was out dueled in his last start against the
Marlins….and might feel he has something to prove…We also can’t ignore
the fact that Burnett shut down the Mets in his last start (which was
the 15-0 trumping) so we know he has the ability to shut down this
lineup…and they have also gotten weaker in that time…and became even
more riddled with injuries…Redding, simply put, is just not that great
of a pitcher and the Yanks have to sit back and let him make
mistakes…along with that 1st time seeing a pitcher thing, they seem to
struggle when they face HORRIBLE pitching…but I have faith in them
tonite and they are catching Redding at a perfect time…The Yankee bats
are on fire…Burnett has been great of late…so I can’t see the Yanks
dropping this one…LET’S GO YANKEES!!!

Other Notes:

Andre Either: 3 homeruns last night…3!!!….and he was on my bench.

That’s it…late

Yanks Can’t Help Wang, Lose 3-2

Well he finally did it…Wang finally
had a quality start…well sort of…and maybe, just maybe, might be on the
track to “recovery” and being a dominate pitcher once again. Even
though I can’t guarantee that this start means he is “back”, I can
guarantee that it at least earned him a spot in the rotation. Sorry
folks, this performance just solidified CMW’s spot in the rotation (or at least another handful of starts). I know what you all are thinking…”It was the Nationals“…”He wasn’t tested”…”There the worst team in baseball”…now wait a second…yes the Nationals
are a horrible team…but you have to understand that they are a very
formidable, powerful team that has the ability to put up HUGE
numbers…their biggest problems are their pitching and fielding, and
thus the reason for their horrible record…we did see the Elijah Dukes play on Tuesday right? Case and point. But admit it or not Wang pitched well last night, and this just might be the start he needed to get his confidence back, and his “mojo” working.He
gave us 5 strong innings only giving up 3 runs, 2 of which could’ve
been avoided if plays went a different way for him in the field…or so
it seemed that way…of course I was stuck listening to the game for 3
innings and we all know how that goes…an over-expressive John Sterling
making a call on a play by Pena (the Willy Harris stolen base in the 5th) saying that if he had the ball Harris was out…but you never know how close that play really was when you listen to Sterling and Waldman…then Melky’s diving play later on in the 5th on a Nick Johnson triple…Yeah I couldn’t believe it…a Nick Johnson triple!!!…if Melk doesn’t dive for that ball he cuts it off and only 1 run scores instead of 2…and Johnson is only on first with Guzman at 3rd…But Wang
showed me a lot last night…his sinker was falling off the table, his
location was good and he was pitching out of tight situations. Joe
Girardi and Dave Eiland must have a lot of faith in Wang not taking him out of the game after giving up 2 runs in the 5th…especially with his pitch count rising…But CMW got passed the Nick Johnson triple…he intentionally walked Dunn (not a surprise…did you see the Homer??? WOW!)…then got a ground out by Elijah Dukes to end the inning…GREAT JOB!!! Especially when Wang’s confidence has been at an all time low…ALL YEAR!!!…Last night Wang looked like the Wang
of old and if he can build off this start our rotation may have just
gotten a whole lot deeper…Don’t be fooled by the horrible record
though, the Nationals are a tough offense to face, with a lot of power and home run potential, and Wang threw 5 quality innings against them and kept the Yankees in the game…let’s hope (I am at least) that he can build on this start and solve the question to who the 5th starter will be.

Hey, Hey, Now, Now our bullpen is getting better and had another great performance last night…shutting down the Nationals, only giving up 1 hit and 1 walk, and NO RUNS!!!! The pitching last night kept the Yanks
in the game but their bats just couldn’t respond…they are showing that
they have trouble against young pitchers that they have never seen
before and John Lannan
was no exception. Now, I didn’t get to see much of the game so I don’t
know how he was throwing or how his location was…BLAH, BLAH, BLAH…but
he does pitch in a high scoring division in the NL East and his home
park is a bandbox so his performance last night was not a fluke…This
kid is good and he only gave up 4 hits last night, with one walk
attached to that as well…and he had two blemishes, both home runs to Cano and Damon…which
is alittle odd due to the fact that he is a lefty and so were the two
batters. That most likely means he was trying to pound them inside and
they just dropped the bat in the zone and took those pitches out. But Lannan
did go 8.1 innings last night, clearly trying to keep him in the game
and keep the bullpen at bay, so that means they trusted his stuff and
he clearly proved he has the ability to get guys out. He shut down a
dominate Yankees lineup and proved that he deserves to be in the conversation of great young pitchers in the game right now…Now if the Yanks
would see this kid again…who knows what would happen…I’m gunna chalk
this up as a disappointing loss, they didn’t take enough pitches (Lannan left the game in the 9th throwing only 108 pitches) and didn’t try to get the horrific Nats bullpen…Lannan did pitch well so I have to give him some credit but, the Yankees didn’t have a good game plan going into last night and they proved it. Now the Yanks put themselves into the precarious position of HAVING to win tonite…Boston
is up 3 on them so they need to stop it at that…I KNOW IT SOUNDS LIKE
PANIC MODE…but they MUST have a better game plan going into tonite’s
game. But last night was not a complete loss…Wang pitched well…despite getting the loss…and the bullpen looked great…and Phil Hughes may be more of an asset out of the bullpen than most will admit.

NOW THE BIGGGGG RANT!!! Johnny Damon hits a lead off homer, giving the Yankees
life and a chance to strike back…We’ve seen this before, especially
with this team…they have life…they are fiery…they can win this game
like championship teams do…after a disappointing Swisher fly out to left, Teixeira (who is making a name for himself in Yankee lore) hits a single, which subsequently led to Lannan coming out of the game…YES!!! That Nats bullpen!!!! Tex is pinch run for by Gardner…is he fast?…Brett steals 2nd, then 3rd…so we have Arod at the plate with a man on third…AND ONLY 1 OUT!!!…Arod walks, so now there are men on 1st and 2nd. Here is the bad part…why is Arod standing on first in a close game??? Especially with the tying run 90ft away and a speedy Gardner
on 3rd…HE SCORES ON A GROUND BALL…well maybe not, but def a short fly
ball anywhere in the outfield. My point being that you have Berroa on the bench…why isn’t he in? Right now he is faster than Arod and could potentially swipe 2nd…eliminating the double play…Girardi will never send Arod in that situation…especially with this hip…so why again is Berroa not in there???? Especially with Cano, a lefty who pulls the ball a lot, at the plate…YOU NEED ALL THE SPEED YOU CAN GET!!!! Horrible managing and because of it Cano
hit into a double play…YOU TRADE THAT OUT FOR A POTENTIAL GO AHEAD RUN
JOE!!!!!! WHY WASN’T A RUNNER IN THE GAME AT THAT POINT!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Please someone explain that to me…it’s not the 7th inning…it’s the 9th!
PATHETIC!!!! Oh btw…all Arod
haters…he is under-performing, I KNOW, but give him a break…he is
coming off major surgery…without spring training…I agree his numbers
should be better…but he is in pain and is tired…he was supposed to get
every other day off but hasn’t and has started all 37 games since he
has been back…JOE GIVE HIM A DAY OFF….HE NEEDS THE REST!!!

On to tonite’s game…Joba vs Stammen…well the only thing I really have to say about this game is to sit back on this pitcher for the Nationals
and make him make mistakes…he is a struggling rookie who doesn’t have
good numbers at all this year, but he is better on the road than at
home…but not much better. YANKEES
PLEASE!!! be patient with this guy…you saw what happened last night!!!
He isn’t good at all…no excuse if you don’t score…then get him out of
the game early and attack that abysmal bullpen…Key to the game is Joba going more than 4 innings…He needs to prove that he is a starter and wants to be there…TRUST YOURSELF JOBA!!! You have shut down stuff…you should be in the range of a Haren or Lincecum…just
pitch your game…don’t think about your pitch count…and ATTACK THE
ZONE!! Stop trying to be cute…you throw 93 – 95…NOT 90!!! C’mon Joba
prove that you deserve a spot in the rotation..and not that you
care…prove to the media and fans that you are more valuable in the
rotation than as a set-up guy…Yankees should win tonite…they clearly have the pitching advantage in this one…LET’S GO YANKEES!!!

Other Notes:

U.S. Open: Gunna be very interesting…especially with the weather…has
an Open ever finished on a Wednesday before? Tiger is obvs the heavy
favorite but he struggles off the tee sometimes…he will probably win
but I’m pulling for Phil…hopefully he can keep his focus…if not him
Ogilvy or Harrington.

That’s it…let’s see if there is a game tonite…late

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