Results tagged ‘ Posada ’

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 ;-)

Yanks Handle Marlins, Win 5-1

WOOOOOO
HOOOOOOO!!!! WOW….the Yankees handled a young pitcher!!! It’s almost
unbelievable that could happen, especially after that horrible
performance against the Nationals! They got to this kid West early and
didn’t look back scoring 5 runs off him in the first 3 innings and
holding on for the win. Now I have to keep this short and sweet because
I am on my way out…sorry!Have to give praise
to Pettitte, most importantly…he was clearly the Player of the game in
my book and he continued his dominance on the road. Andy went 7 strong
and struck out the same amount, while only giving up 1 run (off a Cody
Ross homerun) and only putting on 3 hitters…NO WALKS!!! He was flat out
dominant, and took advantage of a young upstart team, and he looked
like the Pettitte of old. Andy clearly still has it in him to be a
great starter for this Yankee team, and has backed it up with his
performances on the road, but what about him at home? There is
something wrong there…I don’t know if it’s just that he is pressing too
hard, or trying to over compensate for the fact that he has lost a
little off his ability due to age, but it is something that needs to be
addressed. He hasn’t been horrible at home, but he can’t keep giving up
4 – 5 runs every start he has in Yankee Stadium. Now maybe he is just
trying to be too cute with his pitches, and thus giving up runs, and
mostly homeruns, because of the rate at which balls are flying out of
the stadium, but he just has to trust his stuff and Pettitte can have a
very, very great year this year, probably one that no one would expect
out of him at his age. He may be getting old but he is still
performing, and if he figures it out at home, the Yankee rotation will
be feared.

Let’s give it up for the Yankee batters!!!! Every starter got at
least 1 hit, with Jeter, Damon, Teixeira and Posada each getting two
hits…who said Tex needed Arod in the line up to hit? What a great
performance by the Yankee hitter, very impressive and a great bounce
back victory against another team that they should take 2 out of 3
from. The Yankee bats were so hot, that EVEN PETTITTE got into the
action with an RBI double in the 2nd. The Yankees were clicking last
night, and it’s good to see that, from what I saw they were having fun,
and they looked more relaxed, probably thanks to an RBI single by
Posada in the first. If the Yankees get on the board early they relax
and have fun…GUYS PLEASE!!! WE NEED THAT FIRE BACK!!! I know I am being
ridiculous but it’s true, look at earlier this season they were just
having fun and enjoying the game and in return they were WINNING!!! We
need that back boys, let’s get it going!!! Side Track: Has anyone
noticed how hot Cano is right now? He has raised his average 19 points,
from 291 to 310, over the last 5 games, going 11 for 20 in that stretch
with 3 of those games being multi-hit….and he is a second half
hitter…pretty scary….needless to say the game last night was great, and
something the Yanks should take advantage of.

Short and sweet…Burnett vs Johnson…aka the Marquette matchup of this
series. Very interesting matchup as Johnson is the Marlins ace and one
of the better pitchers right now in the NL. Burnett is coming off a
great pitching performance against the Mets and hopefully can bring
that to his old team. Key to the game is how Burnett pitches, if he
pitches well the Yankee bats usually come around, hopefully he can hold
the Marlins to only 2 or less runs, considering that Johnson can, and
probably will hold the Yankees to only 3…very interesting game, that I
have figured to be a pitchers duel….if the Yankees are patient and can
play small ball behind Burnett, they can take this game…LET’S GO
YANKEES!!!

That’s it…Late

Burnett Stuggles Against Boston

Well I have to admit all my predictions yesterday were horrible!!! I
went 0 for 3 (Wings lost, Lakers lost, Yankees lost). Now I do have to
defend myself to some degree, at least about my Yankee prediction. I
said the Yankees only have a shot if Burnett pitched to his
ability…ummmmm that obviously didn’t happen AT ALL!!! So I’ll take the
hit for that prediction…but I really wasn’t wrong, vagueness can work
for you sometimes (thumbs up!)…Anywho let’s dive right in to that
debacle yesterday…what a despicable performance by Burnett and the
Yankee batters. Side Track: Even though the Yanks only got 2 hits
yesterday no one likes giving credit to how good Beckett’s performance
was and it seems like people generally, me too I will admit (see
above), blame the bats and never give credit to the pitcher. Beckett
only gave up 1 hit in 6 innings and fanned 8 batters…he was on his “A”
game and just flat out dominated the Yankee batters…so I will chalk
this one up to a great pitching performance and fatigue on the Yankees
part after a tough series with the Rays but they MUST show up these
next two games…so what’s up with Burnett?Going
into this year A.J. was 5 and 0 with a 2.57 ERA against Boston…that’s
for his entire career…it is not based on home or away just against
Boston in General. A.J. hasn’t faced them in Yankee Stadium yet and if
he pitches them the way he has so far this year we can see his 0-1
record and 12.91 ERA against the Sox get a whole lot worse…he has to
focus and step up, especially in these games…they are obviously our
biggest rivals and down the stretch the team we will most likely be
battling for first place…now everyone will go crazy and say skip him
during the Boston series from now on but I think it really is just him
pressing too much and trying to make perfect pitches in hitters counts.
THAT’S NOT AN EXCUSE but at least it can be an explanation. Burnett is
wayyyy to talented to be pitching like this and he will work his way
out of the funk…he is simply (in my opinion) letting this rivalry get
to him and trying to throw the entire game on his back…Burnett, relax,
pitch your game and make the pitches you know you can make…don’t press
and try to strike everyone out…ground balls win games…long balls lose
them…I have faith in Burnett and know that he will pitch well against
them in the next series (if he is slated to start) and once he has a
game at home against Boston he will settle down and let his talent do
all the work…once again…NO REASON TO FREAK OUT!!! BURNETT WILL BE
FINE!!!

Side Track: It is typical that Ortiz hit only his 3rd home run of the season last night…classic.

I’m not gunna talk about the over matched bats today…like I said
earlier Beckett was on fire and made a great lineup look silly…they are
resilient though and will come back tonite against a pitcher who they
usually dominate, Tim Wakefield…more on that to come…the only bright
spot for the Yankees last night was their bullpen…hey wait…Burnett only
gave up 3 earned? Not too bad!!…hahaha just kidding…I know, not
funny…back to the bullpen…against a very tough offense the bullpen
showed up…only giving up 2 earned over 5.1 innings and Brett Tomko
showing how much of an asset he can be, he can eat up innings and be
used in any long relief situation…him and Swisher might be 2 unsung
signings this year…very interesting…Tomko only put 2 guys on as
well…very impressive and a good sign for future games where a situation
like this happens…more than that if there is a close but high scoring
game he becomes even more of an asset in that he can keep the game
close and keep the Yankees in the game…Jose Veras actually looked
impressive for once…now I know there was really no pressure on him…the
game was out of reach in the 3rd inning…but it’s still good to get his
confidence up so we can get him into tight situations and he will
perform…believe it or not this guy has good stuff and can be very
effective…but when he is off he is flat out terrible…Now granted
Robertson has only been here for a little bit, I am sold on this kid.
His composure and collectiveness on the mound is amazing for a kid who
is only 24 years old, he is perfoming and putting up great numbers so
far. He is 1-o out of the pen and posts a 1.86 ERA over 9.2 innings
pitched…and averages over a strikeout per inning with 13 so far…he is a
huge contributor to the success of this bullpen and I see him being a
big component as long as he is used efficiently and effectively…Side
Track: I hate to showoff for the Red Sox but there bullpen is truly
amazing right now…WOW!!! Yankees have to hit their starters hard!!

Tonite!! The most interesting matchup of the series in my mind…Wang
vs Wakefield. This is a HUGE start for Wang and his role with the
Yankees this year…and that is an understatement…with his last start
behind him he has to do the same thing, forget about that start and
focus on this one. I truly believe this is his biggest test…if he
succeeds he gets the rotation spot if not he gets put in the pen and
Hughes is back in…this is just my speculation I didn’t hear this from
anyone but it seems to be going that way. Wang happens to also find
himself in a good matchup due to the fact that he is facing someone the
Yankees generally have great success against. Wakefield’s career ERA
against the Yankees is a robust 5.03 with a well below .500 record at
10-17 over 32 starts…at home this year Wakefield has pitched great and
if the weather is on his side, which right now doesn’t seem to be a
factor, he can flat out dominate the Yankee hitters. Unfortunately you
really can’t go on trends with a knuckleball pitcher…things change day
in and day out and it really depends on how their arm feels that day
and how their fingers tips are on the ball…so there is really on
telling what can happen…The Yanks are hoping he is flat in the early
going and can bash him and not have to try and score off their very
impressive bullpen, especially if Wang is off tonite. Wang simply needs
his sinker…he had it through the first 2 innings of his start against
Texas but then fell apart…if the sinker is working it can be a long
night for the Red Sox…Wang is also in the precarious position of having
to eat up innings while working with a pitch count…The bullpen had to
eat 5.1 innings last night due to Burnett’s horrific performance…I
truly believe we see the resurgence of Wang with this start…the Yankees
NEED to win tonite…over dramatic I know!!…so I think he will step up…I
have a feeling Wakefield will be strong for the first few innings then
the Yankees will handle him and eventually win the game…I hope my
predictions are better than yesterday’s….LET’S GO YANKEES!!!

Other Notes:

Raul Ibanez: I was listening to Mike and Mike this morning and
apparently there was a report that a blogger was accusing Raul Ibanez
of using PEDs. Now I understand baseball is tainted right now, but just
because a player starts to perform he’s using drugs? How about the
other factors? For one the majority of his career he was on a losing
ball club with no protection in the lineup. Two he also hit in a not so
friendly ball club for the past 5 years, facts are facts Safeco is a
very friendly pitchers ball park. Three he is hitting in a bandbox
right now…Philly has been notoriously known for their very friendly
hitters ball park, which elevates average and power numbers. Fourth the
Phillies have a pretty damn good lineup…they can’t pitch around
everyone and Ibanez is getting pitches to hit because Howard, Utley and
Rollins are harder outs (well at least for their careers). And a point
I can’t prove…maybe he is more comfortable and enjoys his new role…out
in Seattle it was him and Ichiro, that was pretty much it, he can be
more relaxed and have more fun on this team and wait WIN MORE GAMES!!
Please can we stop accusing guys because they are playing better? Just
because someone is having a huge year it doesn’t mean they are doing
PEDs and also did anyone say that about Posada in 2007? People have
great years here and again please don’t turn this into something that
will hurt the game PLEASEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

Citi-Field: A ball park that is looking like it should be called
death valley, due to its huge dimensions and unforgiving space,
actually yielded 7 homeruns last night! I just had to comment on that
because of another segment yesterday on Mike and Mike in which they
asked if Citi Field would actually hurt the Mets and their power
numbers…but of course that is just one game.

Ryan Howard: This is just a funny point…he ran out of the box
yesterday like he didn’t know if his homerun ball would make it over
the fence…it cleared it by at least 50 ft. hahaha…Just showing how much
of a BEAST he really is, he didn’t think he got all of it and it hit it
further than anyone last night.

Red Wings: Sloppy hockey last night…the Wings missed a lot of
opportunities last night but then again so did the Penguins…game 7 is
gunna be an epic battle…but I really think the Penguins are still over
matched and Osgood is gunna be too good at home…I’m going Wings 3-1.

Lakers: Very weird game that made me think the Lakers would come
back and win or at least get it to overtime…Kobe fumbled the ball by
trying to drive the lane between 2 defenders…gotta give it up to the
Magic though they held strong the last minute of the game.

Andre Either: He was on my bench last night and hit 2 homers…FML

MLB Draft: Surprise Pick at #1: Strausberg. I really think this kid
is gunna be good as long as the Nationals sign him…hopefully Boras
thinks about the kid before his own pocket and gets him signed and onto
a pro team…Yanks opted for Slade Heathcott out of Texas HS…a speedy
center-fielder who needs some polishing and work…but he is still in
high school he can still be molded and all of his imperfections can be
ironed out…predictions have him developing average power but being an
asset more in the field because of his speed, however range and read on
flyballs is something he will have to work on…hopefully he develops
into something huge and we get to see him in 5 – 6 years.

Weird Win by the Yanks

First I would
like to start off by thanking Mike Carver, 1240am and his show Sports
Radio New York for inviting me to call into to talk Yankees last night!
Mike you have a great show and thanks for letting me come on to talk
and give my thoughts on the New York Yankees!…even though I was in some
hot water when I got back to the wedding :-/…LOL…anywho what a wacky,
wild and overall GREAT win by the Yanks yesterday…I can’t remember the
last time, actually any time for that matter, when a team won a game by
way of a bases loaded walk, followed by an error at 3rd, with the bases
loaded, and a fielder’s choice…in which Matsui must’ve ran his butt off
because he got down the line pretty quickly! What a great and exciting
win, and one that proves that this year is a whole lot different…calls
are going the Yankees way and they are making sure to take advantage of
them…I am very impressed by yesterday’s win and it just goes to show
you that you don’t always need the longball to win games. I would also
like to say that my prediction was right this
game ended up being, for the most part, a pitchers duel with both
starters pitching beyond their years…getting into tight situations and
working their way out of them by way of outsmarting the hitter. Joba
showed some fatigue and loss of command in the 6th and got nicked up a
little bit…but the truth of the matter is that those hits fell in the
perfect places, just out of the reach of Cano both times…Gross came
up….Yeah that’s right Gabe Gross, hit a 2 run single that if Cano
wasn’t shaded in the hole probably would have still been a hit but
Robinson might have got to it before it reached the outfield…but that’s
neither here nor there and what happened, happened…back to the point.
Joba had a very good quality start yesterday and like I said worked out
of tough situations and had his slider working amazingly. People might
be yelling that he gave up 3 earned…hey guys, he’s Joba, he’s still
young and actually didn’t pitch bad in that inning it was just a
product of perfectly placed balls.  I was impressed by his poise and
confidence as well, especially when he was shaking off Posada to go to
the slider in situations where he knew it would work…AND IT DID!! That
slider spun for, what seemed to be, 63 ft then fell off the
table…hitter’s were fooled and didn’t know what to expect from
him…hmmmm I guess they haven’t realized that his fastball is going to
set up that devastating slider…but that’s even better, make the batters
keep guessing! I’ll get back to Joba in a second…

Matt Garza pitched an equally good game…he made only one mistake…AND
IT WAS A BIG ONE!!! Swisher…or Swishalicious…REALLY STERLING???
REALLY??? Side Track: I have shown my distaste for John Sterling in
posts past but really man? You invented “A Bomb for A Rod!”…sorry that
was sarcasm…you really couldn’t think of something better for Swisher?
Better yet maybe you should drop those stttttttttuuuuuppppppiiiiidddd
calls!!!…I’m sorry but it had to be said Swishalicious is the WORST!!!
nickname I have ever heard! Sorry about that…a little angry
hahahaha…but I don’t like to praise opposing pitching but I do have a
mini man crush on Garza…yes for real..the kid is good!! But he did
pitch good yesterday…getting ground balls and getting his first pitches
over for strikes…the Yankees tried to rattle him by calling time…he was
taking extremely long between pitches yesterday…and taking him deep
into counts…but it didn’t phase him whatsoever. The only good thing
about Garza…for the Yankees…was the fact that they knocked him out in
the 6th and got to that abysmal bullpen. Wait, there is something
wrong…they are pitching good today!! Ummmmm what’s going on? That’s
what most Yankee fans…at least the avid fan…was thinking…but don’t
worry the showed up in the 8th…PHEW!!! Side Track: Two quick
points…both teams only got 6 hits yesterday…these guys pitched
extremely well…sorry was just counting the Yankees hit and were
surprised they didn’t get a few more…back on track…The dominating Grant
Balfour…what? that was last year?…just isn’t where he was last year
when he busted onto the scene to head the great Rays bullpen of
2008…but wait? this year is really more like his career path…he has a
4.28 career ERA so last year is seeming to be more of a
fluke…anyway…Balfour has struggled for 2 straight days, yesterday he
came in to relieve Joe Nelson and trouble started right away…after a
quick put away of Jeter the wheels fell off the bus…after 2 singles, by
Damon and Tex, Balfour walked A Rod to load the bases…putting 3 batters
on is inexcusable…The dominate J.P. Howell comes in, probably the
bright part of this horrible Rays bullpen, and walks Cano!!! with the
score being 3-2 the rays fell apart with an error by Aybar, allowing
Tex to score, then he got what seemed to be a double play ball by the
lumbering Matsui but he beat out the throw to first to allow A Rod to
score and give the Yanks the lead at 4-3. Mo came in and shut the door,
maybe the day before was a fluke but I still think we should explore
other people in non-save situations, but he did prove why he is still a
dominate closer and will be for a few more years to come.

I really think Joba is proving more and more why he is a reliable
starter and why he needs to be in the rotation…I have the feeling that
people are going to point to yesterday’s game as a reason why he should
be in the pen…but really? he had a quality start and showed poise in
tight situations along with not allowing many baserunners and walking
only 1 batter…to me it’s NO CONTEST! I don’t see why you would want to
keep him in for 1 inning when you can get 6 – 7 innings of dominate
pitching…HE’S ONLY GUNNA GET BETTER!!! He’s 23 and shaking off Posada
because he knows he can get people out…it’s not young cockiness it’s
his skill level and trust in command that is allowing him to do that…I
know I’m some people are sooo against him starting but I really don’t
see why…our bullpen isn’t bad and if Veras learned how to pitch he can
be a great 8th inning guy or for now Aceves has been great and we
should give him some looks as well…JOBA should be a starter no doubt
about it.

On to tonite…”The battle of the Andy’s”…or atleast that’s what
Michael Kay called it yesterday…I had to slap my head for that one too.
Sonnanstine vs. Pettitte two guys who are having less than stellar
years right now…well Pettitte is a product of pitching poorly at home
on the road he is flat out pitching great. This matchup is really one
sided in my opinion and the Yankees shouldn’t have a problem with a
struggling Sonnanstine, who has to go at least 7 innings for the
bullpens sake. Sonnanstine, who is an average at best pitcher, has
posted a robust 7.07 ERA this year over 11 starts and needs to get back
on track if the Rays want to make a run for any type of playoff hopes.
Like I said the Yanks should handle him fine, after yesterdays loss the
Rays might be fired up but I don’t think it will last long, the Yanks
have been jumping on horrible pitching all year and with their bats
right now they should jump all over Sonnanstine…case closed…Key to the
game is definitely Pettitte…if he pitches well and keeps the Rays at
bay the Yanks should run away with this one and take the series. Over
his last 3 home starts Pettitte has given up 4 earned in each one…he
MUST pitch better today and get back on track…the Yankees score a ton
but Pettitte has to start pitching better for his own sake…yes I said
‘sake’ twice…like I said I can’t see the Yankees losing this game, I’m
sure the bookies can’t either…LET’S GO YANKEES!!!

Other Notes:

Red Wings: They win tomorrow…can’t see how they don’t, at home with the cup on the line…no doubt about it in my mind.

Lakers vs Magic: Not a surprise…wish I could’ve seen more of the
game…but I thought the Lakers would win this series in 5 and it’s
looking like it might not even get that far.

That’s it!! late!

Teixeira Slides in Hard!

SORRY FOR THE
DELAY! I gotta say I’m feeling good about this team…I know that
shouldn’t be a surprise but over the past couple of years we have had
teams perform like this only to fail in the playoffs. I don’t know what
it is, and I honestly don’t really care…the Yanks are winning big and
playing like champions. I say this over and over again but these guys
are just playing to have fun…and the new guys (and even younger
players) are breathing life into this team and making the vets realize
what it was like to be young and play for the YANKEES!!! You can’t get
any better than that! Most importantly the fans see this and are
reacting, the buzz around this team is astounding and I think I can
speak for every Yankee fan when I say this really looks like it might
be the year. I hate saying things like that soooooo early in the
season, BUT this team has that feel…we have pitching, hitting,
running…you name it we got it! (sorry for the sales person cliche
there). Last night proved what this team is capable of and more
importantly what they will do to win!Granted I didn’t get to see the play (I was working and OF COURSE! the one TV in front of me had on the Met game :-(
), well that’s kind of a lie I saw it quick on an ESPN highlight, but
Teixeira’s slide into second was the play of the night, and seemed to
be the catalyst for this team to perform. In case, like me, you missed
it with 1 out in the bottom of the 4th Tex comes up to the plate and
gets hit by a Vincente Padilla pitch, he got hit in consecutive at
bats. (There are a lot of murmurs that it was intentional, however
given the position in the game, with Arod coming to bat, and hitting
Tex to load the bases, it isn’t likely). Padilla got the job done, or
so it seemed, with a double play ball hit by Arod, but Teixeira slid
hard in to second breaking up an inning ending double play and allowing
the Yanks to score 5 more runs in the inning, for a total of 7. Many
people are coining this as Teixeira’s first “Yankee Moment” and you
kind of have to agree with that, if it wasn’t for him breaking up that
play the Yanks are tied at 3 going into the top of the 5th, but instead
the inning went on and was capped off by a 3 run A BOMB…O sorry…that’s
what John Sterling thought…Hey John stop flirting with Susan and get
over your man crush for a moment and give Matsui credit…he did correct
himself right after but I love bashing him ;-)
. BTW Matsui’s homerun was CRUSHED! Hopefully he is getting his swagger
back. Anyway the Yankee bats stay hot and they go on to win the game
12-3…which I will get back to but I want to touch on Burnett first.

A.J.!!! Besides the one blemish, I can’t lie though…Nelson Cruz
hammered that ball in the 3rd…it was pretty impressive, SIDE TRACK:
Nelson Cruz is showing why he was so sought after in every fantasy
draft and a huge asset for the Rangers…Look out for this kid in
upcoming years I see good things for him. Back on track: Burnett
pitched the same way he did a week earlier against this team,
dominating them at every turn and keeping them guessing. Burnett isn’t
going to be C.C though so I really hope people aren’t expecting that,
don’t get me wrong he is a great pitcher with tonssss of potential but
he ISN’T going to give you back to back complete game shutouts. What he
will give you is 6 – 7 innings of good pitching, he will usually give
up a few runs, in some places he will get shelled though, but all
pitchers have the bad games…but he backs up his games with a ton of
strike outs and the ability to work out of tight situations. His stuff
is so great that almost any jam, in any situation, he can work out of
it with his unhittable stuff. Sometimes he doesn’t trust it enough
though and you find him working the fastball to much and that’s when he
gets into trouble. Sorry for being a downer…but AJ pitched amazing last
night, giving up only 3 earned while striking out 8 and eating up 7
innings…I LOVE WHEN PITCHERS LET THE BULLPEN REST!!!! The only concern
was the amount of batters he put on the bases but the runs didn’t come
around so it was fine! My man Tomko came in and held it down and Veras
showed some promise…but lets not think that means anything the game was
out of reach so he didn’t really feel any pressure. However the Yankees
keep on rolling and our rotation is getting even stronger now! YES!!!

The Yankees offense took care of business against a mediocre
pitcher, which is what they need to do, and we have to believe they
will keep on rolling. These games are essential right now, they aren’t
must wins, but they are facing beatable opponents (ummmmmm….Texas is in
first place in the West though, just proving how much better the AL
East is than the rest of the AL) so they must take advantage of this
home-stand, especially going into Boston next week. It’s also good to
see other players hitting the ball well and coming back strong. The 5
through 9 hitters accounted for 9 of the 13 total hits the Yankees got
last night and 9 of the 11 RBIs….of course 4 of them came from Posada
who hit a 3 run bomb and Matsui brought across 3 as well with a homerun
of his own. Also Jeter has obviously become accustomed to his new role
at lead off…he went 3 for 4 yesterday and has a 16 game hitting
streak…he is blistering hot right now and is hitting everything!

Well on to tonite’s game…Yankees have another matchup, which on
paper, is in their favor. Another one of Texas’ youngsters, Scott
Feldman, against the veteran Pettitte. Most of us can see that the
Yankees should have the advantage in this game but…Pettitte has been
struggling at home this year posting a 5.57 era and giving up a
******** 7 homeruns! The Rangers lineup is balanced however most of
their power comes from the left side…but this is an advantage
considering that their biggest threat Josh Hamilton is on the DL and
will obviously not be facing Pettitte tonite. Feldman is a young right
hander who is having a good season posting a 3.91 ERA, which is
actually better than it seems considering his home ball park is
Arlington. I haven’t seen much of him but from what I have seen he has
good stuff and he is a groundball pitcher. He will get you the
occasional strikeout but don’t expect them to exceed 5 in any of his
starts. Also for this year Feldman has only given up 5 homeruns in 7
starts and only 2 of them are on the road, that could change tonite at
the rate balls are flying out of Yankee Stadium. The keys to tonite’s
game are the Yankees sitting back on pitches and waiting for Feldman to
get the balls up in the zone and taking it from there…being impatient
will only lead to groundballs and killing rallies. The Yankee runners
must also take advantage of a young pitcher who might pay too much
attention to them…but beware the Rangers do have a good young catcher
behind the plate who can throw out runners…so they can’t go too crazy.
Pettitte must take advantage of aggressive hitters…get ahead in the
count and work your fastball early to set up your off speed stuff…get
them swinging early to hit the ball in the ground. This team is
aggressive and they will attack especially if Pettitte is struggling. I
don’t feel real confident in this matchup, not that I don’t trust
pettitte but Yankee Stadium has not been kind to him…It’s a toss up,
but if the Yankees are hitting they take the game…LET’S GO YANKEES!

Other Notes:

Red Wings: Take the next game and take the Pens back to Detroit with
the series on the line…they won’t win on your ice and you can take Lord
Stanley’s cup for consecutive years

Ichiro: 26 game hitting streak…pretty impressive

That’s it I think….Late

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