Results tagged ‘ Teixeira ’

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!

Bats Power Yanks to Victory

HOLLER!!!!!!! The Yankees have once again taken a series and
everything…at least it seems…is right again with the Bronx
Bombers…everything has been going so good over the past 2 games that
even Arod decided to join the party! Hey Yankee fans, if you were
wondering how much of an impact Arod’s hitting has on the Yankees you
just have to look at the two past series, against Washington and
Florida, and then compare them to the two games they won against
Atlanta (Check last nights box-score here)…A
DIRECT CORRELATION! When Arod hits…he fuels the rest of the team and
therefore gets them more pitches to hit and then they score more
runs…and with last night as an example this team has the ability to win
when their pitching doesn’t show up…Pettitte was not impressive out of
the gate…even with a two run lead…and thankfully the Yankee bats were
there to back him up and beat up on a very good starter in Derek Lowe.
Two things can be a factor to what sparked this sudden burst of
offense…Joe Girardi getting tossed out or Cervelli’s first MLB homerun.
I would like to think it was Girardi but I might have to go with
Cervelli’s homer…here’s why…The Yankees were
at their best when they were relaxed and having fun with the game…when
they struggle (like any team and I can’t say I blame them) they aren’t
having fun, they try to fix everything at once, and therefore keep
digging themselves into a hole because they are pressing too hard…when
you press or try to hard to fix something you usually make it worse
because you do uncharacteristic things…i.e. Teixeira swinging at
pitches he usually wouldn’t chase…This example is mostly because he
felt the need to have to make up for what Arod was leaving behind…he
wasn’t getting pitches to hit so he was chasing bad pitches to try to
get the offense started…this continued last night as well as Lowe and
other pitchers attacked Arod (and rightfully so) because of his
horrific performance as of late and pitched around Tex and gave him bad
pitches to go after…and he did…going 0 for 5 last night…but if last
night is any indication Arod is back and hopefully starting one of
those HOTTTT streaks like we see from him where he hits .400, 10
homers, and 30 RBIs in a month…OR BETTER!!! If that is the case get
ready to see Teixeira’s numbers go wayyyyyy up…you can see Arod’s
impact on the top of the order as well…with Jeter going 4 for 5
yesterday…and getting a hit the night before…Side Track: Have you
noticed how many bases Jeter has stolen? If not he has 17 for the year
(and has only been caught once)…and one in each of the last 4
games…does he know how to play in the roles he is put in? Any doubters
on Jeter’s ability should just look at his career and how he changes
the game, and how much he understands it…bottom line is that Jeter
shouldn’t be a 2nd or 3rd ballot Hall of Famer…he proves year in and
year out why he should be 1st ballot…back to the top of the order…Damon
also had an impressive night at the plate going 3 for 4 while driving
in 4 ribbies…With Arod back you can imagine how many pitches these guys
are going to get…and if they start to click they can do A LOT of
damage…I’M VERY EXCITED ABOUT THIS!!!!

I am aware of how off track I just went there and that was a little
crazy…back to my point wayyyyyyy before with Cervelli’s homer 2 nights
ago…It fired this team up…they started to relax again and enjoy the
game like when they were young…it sparked this team and so far they
haven’t looked back…and hopefully this charge keeps them going through
this series with the Mets…tonite’s game isn’t looking too hot though :-(
…Now they can relax…Arod has the monkey off his back…and this team will
be dominate on offense again…I know everyone, me included, acted like
this little skid was the end of the Yankees…but look how quickly that
thought process can turn around…the good news is that they have
momentum going into bailout ballpark and might be the team to expose
the Mets and the farm team they are putting out every night…this series
is HUGE for the Yanks…and I am expecting HUGE things from them…I don’t
really want to touch on Pettitte because that’s a downer…he just was
flat out miserable last night…so let’s chalk that up to a bad
performance…he did only give up 3 earned :-D hahahaha….But the bats are hot, the bullpen is looking GREAT!!! and we are ready for the Mutts.

Before the preview I wanna touch on the bullpen quickly…what a GREAT
performance from these guys last night…Aceves came in for Pettitte in
the 4th and flat out dominated the Braves bats…only putting on 3
batters over the 2 and a third innings that he pitched. My boy Coke
came in and shut them down, only giving up 1 hit while striking out 2
over 2 innings…and even Robertson got in the action…too bad he gave up
a bomb to McCann (he’s really good by the way…REALLLLLLYYYY underrated,
in my opinion) but alls well that ends well…Mo got his second
consecutive save in a row (and he didn’t have to bat this time)…so
things are looking good ALL OVER!!! YES!!!! I’M PUMPED!!!

If this game actually happens tonite we see a pitching matchup that
is really lopsided…for the Mets of course…CC Sabathia against Mike
Pelfrey…my reference earlier was obviously sarcastic…but that gets lost
in writing ;-)
…Tonite (or tomorrow, which may be the case) is a huge test to see is
Sabathia’s arm trouble was just a freak thing or if it is something we
have to be concerned about. I am going with a freak thing…muscles
tighten up all the time and it was a good thing they took him out…the
last thing we need is CC going down for an extended period of time…he
is wayyyyy to important to this team and their success…I am going with
the “he’s fine” route and there is no sign that anything different is
happening. CC has had success in his one and only start against the
mutts…pitching 8 innings of 1 run ball, putting on less than a runner
per inning, and striking out 3 and getting the win…this Mets team is
similar to last years…except for the fact that the lineup is filled
with Triple-A players (no matter how well they are playing) so Sabathia
should have a fun time on the mound, especially with how big this place
plays. Pelfrey is a kid with a lot of potential but struggles with his
command…in 1 start against the Yankees he is 1 and 0 with a 7+ ERA, he
obviously has struggled against this team buttttttttttttttttt…this is a
new year…..but with the way the Yanks are batting right now…I don’t
know if I would be so eager to pitch against them…I think the Yanks
take this one with power and a great pitching performance…could
potentially be a problem if they are only thinking long ball…but
Pelfrey will be afraid of Arod and Tex so expect Jeter and Damon to get
a lot of hittable balls…Sabathia can attack this whole Mets lineup with
out a worry…LET’S GO YANKEES!!!

Ummmmmm….Might be back later I feel like I am forgetting something….late!

Yankees, Joba Win!

WOOOOOOOOO WHOOOOOOOO!!!! WOW!!! What a great victory!!! And if it
wasn’t for Joba hitting a ball up the middle, and taking out Kawakami
who knows…the Yanks might have gotten “Perfect Gamed”…as my friend John
Sterling put it many times last night. And just when I start to have my
doubts about Joba being a starter…”He goes and does something like
this…and TOTALLY redeems himself.”…sorry Dumb and Dumber moment. Well
maybe not completely…the fact that he couldn’t get out of the bottom of
the 7th hurts him a little bit…but everyone has to admit he did look
great yesterday…even with him facing two pitchers combining for a
perfect game gone no hitter after a Brett Gardner walk in the 6th…I’ll
get back to that soon. But I was impressed with Joba’s poise and
confidence on the mound yesterday…most young
pitchers try too hard, which has been his problem in my opinion, when
they aren’t getting runs or their offense is struggling, but he stayed
calm and pitched his game. The more impressive point is that Joba
didn’t strike out a batter until the bottom of the 4th…and still didn’t
try too hard…he trusted his ability to get outs and he did…he pitched
great into the 7th inning, when they took him out, and I was very
impressed with his performance…he did what he had to do to keep the
Yankees in the game and didn’t try to put too much on his back…Joba
loves making people sway back and forth on whether he should be in the
pen or in the rotation.

I guess the Yankee bats were sick of getting torn apart because they
WENT OFF yesterday…but only after 5 innings of perfect pitching between
Kawakami and Medlen that kept the Yankee bats guessing and looking as
sluggish as they ever have…Let’s forget about the porous performance of
the Yankee bats in the first 5 innings…because there is nothing to be
said…sometimes a pitcher just has it…and it only makes the chances of
him “having it” that much better  when the Yankees have never seen him
before…point and case….THE WHOLE YEAR!!! But maybe Joba hitting
Kawakami with a line drive was a blessing in disguise…I’m not an
advocate of people getting hurt so don’t assume I am saying that…but
the Bronx Bombers eventually got to the Braves bullpen after he was out
of the game. I want to start this off by saying…”when it rains it
pours”…the Yankees couldn’t get a guy on base if they were paid to…oh
wait, that’s what they areeeeeee paid for…then when Gardner finally
gets on, by way of walk, he gets called out on a terrible call during a
pick off attempt at first! Just when things can’t get worse…THEY
DO!!!…Side Track: Gotta give it up for Girardi here…he came firing out
of the dugout and stood up for his player…this team needed some kind of
spark to get them going and Joe gave it to them…he was later quoted as
saying he wanted to get kicked out…which means he knew this would give
the Yanks a kick and a spark to get them fired up…AND IT WORKED!! Good
job Joe!…the batter after his tyraid it paid off, when Francisco
Cervelli hit his first Major League homerun and it couldn’t come at a
better time…just when the offense was at it’s worst he gets a hold of
one and sets off the offense and set up the Yanks for a HUGE inning…one
that us, as fans, have been waiting patiently for over these past few
games….who woulda thunk it would be the bat of “Cisco the Kid” (Sorry,
John Sterlingism again) getting a rally started. My heart-pounding
moment came with Arod at bat…Side Track: Wow, it’s been a while since
I’ve had two!!! Side Track: WOW, a side track inside a side track!!! I
feel like I have kinda pulled the fun out of the blog…I am working on
fixing that..I apologize if it has been too serious lately…back to the
original Side Track I have always pulled for Arod and it’s been more
now than ever before, he gets a bad wrap all of the time, even when he
comes through sometimes…listen its gunna be a while until he gets
better…I don’t like it either and am waiting for him to perform…I
expressed my concerns yesterday
so I am kinda being hypocritical now…but we have to be patient and his
hit yesterday just might be the catalyst to him turning it around…With
Arod at bat and in a 0-2 count I truly expected a strike out…but my
dream came true and I almost crashed my car when he got that hit…not
only that but it was a single to the opposite field!!! HE DIDN’T TRY TO
DO TOO MUCH!!!!!!! THAT’S NOT A SIGN OF THE APOCALYPSE…IT’S A SIGN OF
AROD TURNING THINGS AROUND!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!

At the Middle of the 6th the Yanks finally had a lead in a game
again…they didn’t have a lead for 19 innings up to that point…and Joba
had the lead and just coasted through the bottom half…Swisher lead off
the 7th with a homer giving the Yanks a 4-1 lead that would come in
handy as the Braves put up a 2 spot on Joba in the bottom half…he came
out and the bullpen did what they do best and shut Atlanta down. The
Yankees offensive onslaught continued as they put up 2 runs in each the
8th and 9th innings…with Damon and Tex being right in the middle of
both those innings…that’s big people…showing that when Arod gets hits
the rest of the team comes through too…showing how important he is just
being in the lineup when he is performing…on that point…the two guys
batting in front of him Damon and Teixeira were the only two Yankees to
have a multi-hit game…anddd if Arod breaks out of his miserable
slump…Damon and Tex’s numbers will only get better!! Me and every other
Yankee fan out there is hoping this game is what breaks the Yanks out
of this mini-slump and has them gaining on the Saux…ohhh and Mo finally
got back in a game and looked great striking out all 3 batters…and he
looked semi-impressive at the plate too…wow, I wonder how many closers
have batted this year…hahahaha…I am very excited from this game and
hope they can carry the momentum into tonite.

A great veteran matchup tonite…Lowe vs. Pettitte…two guys who are
coming off good performances…I would call Pettitte’s great actually…and
guys who are facing off in very interesting circumstances…both guys
aren’t really having great years…but Pettitte is pitching well on the
road and Lowe is pitching great at home…so all signs point to this game
being a pitchers duel…but it will probably be a slugfest lol…It should
be a very interesting game either way tonite…with Pettitte having the
edge in the “career numbers” category…he has had great success against
the Braves, 3.13 ERA along with a 5-1 record…and Lowe has struggled
against the Yanks, 6.07 ERA with a 8-10 record…but this of course is a
different year, with much different players…and most of Lowe’s numbers
are when he was with the Saux…so the career numbers really don’t mean
anything…but they are fun to talk about. But the key to this matchup is
Lowe in my opinion…when he is on he is unhittalbe (well…you get the
point) and if the Yankees bats are too eager than he will definitely
have the advantage…but if they can build off of yesterday’s game and
get to Lowe early they can put a lot of damage on him and walk away
with this game…Pettitte has been great on the road, so there is no
reason to think he won’t perform tonite against a “decent”
lineup…especially in that ballpark…when the long-ball has been
Pettitte’s biggest problem…if the Yankees get guys on base…and actually
can play some small ball…they can get Lowe out early and attack their
bullpen…remember kids A LOT of this Yankee lineup has seen Lowe before
so they might have the Advantage in this one and take A TONNNNNNN of
momentum in to Bailout Ballpark this weekend…LET’S GO YANKEES!!

Other Notes:

Cavaliers: Hmmmmmmmmmm…very interesting….now that LeBron has a big
man will this team actually make waves in the playoffs? Are the Celtics
worried?

That’s it…I think…late

Yanks Head to Atlanta for 3 Game Series

Let’s preview tonite’s game….shall we? Well to me the start of the
series is a very interesting one and one that can possible answer a lot
of questions on where Wang is in his “way back” to being a dominate, #1
form, starter again. He goes into Atlanta to face their famous, hard
throwing, #1 prospect Tommy Hanson, once again another pitcher the
Yankees have NEVER seen. This series is important for both teams to get
back on track, they both have lost their last 2 previous series, but
Atlanta is on a 4 series skid, so they are definitely looking to bounce
back and jump on the Yankees quickly tonite. The Yankees, as said
earlier, have lost their last 2 series to teams they should have beaten
and they go into Atlanta looking to prove they are within the ranks of
the elite ball clubs. Atlanta needs this series to try and stay
some-what afloat, but the Yankees need this series, not only for
confidence and momentum, because the Saux go into Washington and if
they continue to play the way they have been as of late, they should
take 2 from the Nationals easily. So to say the least the Yankees have to show up tonite and get a jump on this series.

Tommy Hanson has proved he has the stuff to be a dominate pitcher in
the big leagues. His first start in the majors was a rough one that had
him getting bashed around for 6 earned, but over his last two starts he
has given up only 2 runs in 11 innings pitched. This kid is a hard
throwing righty that has the ability to strike batters out, he must
have trouble with his command right now, because his k’s are
wayyyyyyyyyy down and he is getting smacked around a little bit…posting
a 1.58 WHIP….but obviously teams aren’t getting their runners in when
they are on base, so he has the ability to pitch in tight
situations…two starts ago against Baltimore Hanson put on 14
runners….YES 14!!!! but the Orioles could only manage 2 runs!!! That’s
insane…and that cannot happen tonite!!! AT ALL!!!

So once again what do we have to practice tonite??? PATIENCE!!!
YAY!!! The Yankee bats have to be calm and take pitches, not only to
get pitches to hit but to put pressure on this kid…plus it wouldn’t
hurt to get to the Atlanta bullpen…pssssst their bullpen isn’t very
good at all…The Yanks have batters who walk a lot, Teixeira, Arod,
Swisher but they also have people who strike out a lot…and if counts go
deep they could be too eager and sitting fastball and get a hunk of
off-speed glory that will have them swinging out of their shoes. The
middle of this order has to be patient and take pitches…get into
hitters counts and drive the ball to the gaps…we are in a power
shortage so just swing for hits boys…PLEASE!!! The long ball isn’t
always the answer to victory…small ball is too…GIRARDI!!! send runners
once and a while and try hit and runs…get this kid confused and
worried…don’t let him pitch his game…you have to rattle rookies and
young pitchers and the Yankees haven’t done that AT ALL this year…if
they can make this kid throw a lot of pitches the Yanks have the
advantage….if the Yankees swing early and give into the kid this will
be a long night, especially if Wang doesn’t perform.

What a segue!! Wang is the ONLY
key to tonite’s game for Yankee victory, at least in my opinion. He
showed confidence and poise in his last start and actually had some of
his old stuff back, and considering where he has started this year I’ll
take a 5 inning 3 run performance every time. Wang has to be on tonite
and give the Yanks a chance to stick it to this kid and relax…if they
start pressing they are playing to Hanson’s hand and he will be able to
pitch his game and clam down and rely on his great ability. I will be
happy with 5 or 6 innings from Wang giving up 3 or 4 runs, I truly
believe that is all the Yankees need to be able to hang in this game
and possibly win it. I have confidence in our bullpen to take over
after Wang leaves the game, and if they get a lead along with it, I am
even more confident for them to hold on to it. Wang has to keep the
ball low, and if he stays away from the long ball, he shouldn’t be
dejected and lose any confidence he has coming off his last start. He
is starting to show signs of getting his sinker back and if he can get
his fastball back to 93-95 he will be back to his original form and
dominate once again. It is wayyyyy to early to give up on Wang, he has
much to much talent to just throw him away, and he can be an asset in
the rotation. He is on his way back, and if he strings back to back
quality starts together…that makes it even better. If the bats are
patient and willing to sit back for their pitch and Wang can get his
sinker and fastball working together, it could be a great night for the
Yankees and an even better start to the series. This series is very
important and can become a catalyst for the Yankees getting back on
track and taking the momentum into Citi Field…LET’S GO YANKEES!

That’s it…Late!

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

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

Yankees Handle Nationals, Win 5-3

Well I must say that I did predict the Yankees to win last night,
buttttt I thought it would be a much more impressive win than what we
were witness to last night…To my utter surprise Martis showed up last
night and actually pitched a semi-impressive game,
and the only reason for that is that the Yankee bats couldn’t figure
him out when men were on base, even though they did score 2 runs (1
earned) off of him. You can almost, kind of, give the Yankees some sort
of break if the kid was pitching a great game…BUTTTTTTT putting 9 men
on, by way of walk (5!!!!) and hits (4), and not coming through and
bringing them in is pathetic. This kids control was clearly all over
the place, which can actually be a hindrance to batters, I UNDERSTAND,
but he wasn’t that crazy, he was giving up hits. The Yankees MUST be
able to hit young struggling pitchers, especially those not getting any
run support!!!When a young pitcher is
pitching good and his team isn’t scoring for him, they start to press
and try to take the workload on their own back…therefore make mistakes
more frequently…that’s when a team like the Yankees must pounce and
take advantage of it, which they didn’t do last night…I don’t want to
sound like a crazy “end of the world” fan but, this is a sign of
concern to me and a trend that CANNOT continue…I know the Yankees won,
WHO CARES IF THEY DIDN’T HIT!!! but to be honest this has happened in
the past, I KNOW, AGAIN, DIFFERENT TEAM, DIFFERENT YEAR…but they
should’ve been all over Martis and they weren’t…just a point I am
trying to make. Now I know I am being hard on the Yankees, and that is
the point, but Martis
has been pitching well as of late and this is actually his 3rd
consecutive start where he has pitched well. Also he has only given up
4 earned in his last 18 innings, so maybe, just maybe this kid is
showing promise and has the ability to pitch good in the Majors…Side
Track: I am weary of calling this kid good, or saying that he pitched
great last night, the truth of the matter is that he did put 9 men on
base last night, the other thing is that the Yankees didn’t take
advantage of this…This game was probably 1 or 2 base hits away from
being a 6 run, 4 inning outing…but I will pat myself on the back
because I did say the Yankees must take advantage of the Nationals
terrible bullpen…AND THEY DID!!!

The weird thing about this is that they did it off of the former Yankee, Ron Villone…Noooooooo…That’s
not why it is weird though, it’s weird because he is clearly their best
pitcher in the bullpen and the Yankees got to him, despite his great
numbers to date. Going into last night Villone owned a .96 ERA, only
giving up 2 earned in 18.2 innings pitched…the weirder thing is that he
posses a 3-4 record despite his great pitching…however his losing
efforts have come in games where he has given up an earned run
(well….all but 1)…andddddd Villone has been charged with a loss in each
of his last 4 appearances….so the Yankees got him at a perfect time…and
after giving up 2 earned last night he still has a very respectable
1.83 ERA. But enough praising the former Yankee, and lets hear it for
the Yankee batters!!! Despite getting shut down, some what, by Martis,
the Yanks came out strong against Villone…right away Damon jumped on him singling to right, followed by a deep shot by Teixeira
that missed a homerun by about 4 feet…but it bounced off the wall,
allowing Damon to score the tying run. And after an Arod strikeout…Side
Track: I am a huge proponent of leaving Arod alone, not because he is
sensitive but because he is under a microscope in every at bat, but I
am getting scared now. I don’t know how long the recovery time is for
this injury but he just isn’t performing and he needs to start coming
through…IN A BAD WAY!!!…Cano, who had an outstanding night going 4 for 4, bashed a double to deep center, mostly in part to a horrible play by Elijah Dukes
who misplayed the ball, scoring Tex and giving the Yanks a 4-3 lead,
which they held on to…actually scoring one more run…and winning the
game 5-3, with Mo getting the save….BTW Bruney is back…and that makes me very happy…as long as he stays healthy!!!

Sabathia
pitched GREAT last night…despite giving up a 3 run FLUKE!! of a homerun
to a kid who hasn’t hit one in 3 years!!!! HOW LUCKY IS THAT!!! Despite
putting 7 men on base last night CC was on his game…creating ground
ball outs, double plays, and fooling batters into making horrible
contact on his pitches. He didn’t have many Ks, but that happens from
time to time…however against this team it is kind of interesting…I
expected at least 5, but I’ll take 2 anytime if that means there will
be a win attached. CC was unlucky with the runs he gave up…but he did
shut down all the power in the lineup, the 2 through 5 hitters were 2
for 15 off of him, and gave up a homerun on a hanging slider that the
#9 hitter, Anderson Hernandez,
was lucky enough to pull into the left field seats, do balls fly out of
the stadium or no? Side Track: How did that ball carry out? And Tex’s
didn’t? Baseball is a craaaaaaaazy game! But overall you have to
applaud CC and his effort, he pitched great and showed how much of an
asset he truly is to this team, eating up 7.2 innings and coming back
after a less than steller outing against the Saux and getting a BIG win
against a weak team, hopefully he is the catalyst to a winning
series…maybe a sweep? Well that depends on our good friend CMW.

The most intriguing matchup of this series bar none! I am not going
to even go into depth about this game and who’s gunna win and all
that….because bottom line the ONLY key to the game is how Wang pitches
and what it means to his future with the Yankees. I lied a little…Wang
is facing a very respectable opponent tonite in John
Lannan, the Nationals ace who, if he was on another team, could be one
of the games better pitchers. He is a product of pitching in a bandbox
on a sub-par team, which will wear on anyone eventually. He has been
pitching well as of late and definitely has the ability to pitch well
against this Yankee team, which is why Wang’s start is so important.
Wang cannot have another bad start otherwise, I truly believe, this is
the last stop for him in the rotation, at least for this year. He has
been horrible in every start this year and doesn’t seem to have the
confidence of years past, and, according to Dave Eiland, isn’t taking
his bullpen sessions out on the mound with him. I don’t need to go into
specifics but the bottom line is that if Wang wants to stay in the
rotation,  which I can’t imagine him not wanting, he has to show up
tonite, against a really bad opposing team. The Yankee bats need to
help him, however this might be more of a pitchers duel than expected…Duel
is a BIG OPPERATIVE WORD in this sense…because that means Wang has to
show up too. I believe Wang will have success against this team, but he
has to be careful with the powerful lefties in this lineup, especially
with the way the balls have been flying out in right field. If he keeps
the ball down, gets his leg kick back to where it belongs, and has more
confidence in his stuff, he can pitch a great game. If he doesn’t fix
his mechanics on the mound…he might be bullpen bound (didn’t mean for
it to rhyme it just happened) or possibly put on the DL…I don’t see him
getting traded or optioned to the minors…he can still be an asset out
of the bullpen and has proved it. Very interesting game with Wang being
the key to success for the Yankees, and going toe to toe with
Lannan…LET’S GO YANKEES!!!

Other Notes:

Stallworth: I hate to bring negativity to this blog but…It is
absolutely pathetic that he is only getting 24 days in prison…it is an
embarrassment to our countries justice department and a travesty to the
family of the man who was killed…they settled a $5 million civil suit
outside of court to avoid the pain of the dragging process…but that
works in his favor in criminal court…HE WAS DRUNK AND WAS DRIVING!!!
Does that not mean anything???…way to set an example for younger
players and kids across the country…PATHETIC…this guy should be in jail
for years…he killed a person…WHILE DRUNK DRIVING!!! C’MON USE YOUR
HEADS!!! I am embarrassed for the justice department and what it has
become, celebrity buys you freedom apparently…OH and it’s fair that he
gets to play football, right? He gets 24 days while Vick gets 2 1/2
years…tell me how that is justified.

Bryce Harper: Leaving High School 2 years early to further his
professional career. The kid is a beast and if he stays on the same
track this won’t mean anything. He can only grow from this experience
and I think he is gunna be a MONSTER when he makes it to the MLB.

Mal Hall: Former Yankee great gets arrested and thrown in jail for
Child Molestation…what a moron…the arraignment only took 90-minutes…not
looking good for ol’ Mel…what a piece of garbage…he deserves to get
life.

Yanks Hand Mets, Santana a 13-0 Beating

Well now that I am officially back from my trip to A/C I can make my triumphant long awaited return to my blog…don’t act like you didn’t miss me…and boyyyyy howdy do I have a lot to talk about…Just a heads up there is no game tomorrow so I am saving my preview of he first game in the Nationals series for tomorrow. Wow, what a weekend! Not just for me but the Yankees and Mets as well…A whole lot of ups and downs but WHO CARES the Yankees take the series 2 to 1 and after a quick nap yesterday (only scoring two runs off of who? oh right Nieve) the Yankee bats were alive and ON FIRE!!! Scoring 15….yeah that’s right 1-5…15 runs today!! I’m gunna get back to today’s extremely impressive performance in a few but…I of course have to talk about Friday and Yesterday’s game…of course no one cares about either BUT I DO!!! So I am just gunna go over a few quick notes about each game…really brief I promise.

 

Friday:

What a great game…well it had to be b/c I had tickets to it but couldn’t go (inside joke)…The Yankee bats did what they had to do…they attacked Livan Hernandez and took him for 6 earned over 5.1 innings pitched. Too bad Joba, who gave up 2 earned by way of a bases loaded HBP and Walk) couldn’t hold up his end of the bargain and only pitched for 4 innings (throwing 100 pitches by that time…not good) Brett Tomko blew up giving up 4 earned over 2/3 of a inning and leaving the Yankees in a 6 to 3 hole after the top of the 5th. The Yankees took the lead 7 – 6 in the bottom of the 6th by way of a 3 run Matsui bomb and that’s where the real fun started. The Mets seemed to be on a role…Side Track: Wow, in the middle of a sentence….anywho the game was no where to be found in atlantic city so I am piecing this together off of recollection of my oft-praised MLB.com App on my Iphone…and they took back the lead in the top of the 8th on a David Wright double…Oh wait…this is where the fun begins!!! After a one out single by Jeter, he steals 2nd when Damon strikes out, followed by an IBB to Teixeira, Arod comes up to bat and pops up a fastball right down the middle and Castillo makes the out to win the game….OHHHHH NOOOOO!!!! That was supposed to happen but didn’t…Castillo tracked the ball wrong and it ended up hitting the heel of his glove and dropping to the ground…ummmm what do you call that a walk off error? That was too good!!!! 

 

Saturday:

Real real short…I hate praising the Mets…this guy (I called him a kid the other day and was clearly wrong) Nieve pitched a great game and showed the Yankees of years past…They usually have a history of not being able to hit horrible pitchers…but w/e….Mets clearly out played the Yankees in this one and exploited Pettitte and his continuing woes at home…I don’t know what is wrong with him…it’s really scaring me but it doesn’t seem to matter to anyone else…including the Yankee announcers….In my opinion they need to do something with Pettitte….Have him pitch batting practice or something along those lines to see what he can get away with at home…because he is clearly not pitching to his potential when the Yankees are in the Bronx…I just checked his YTD (year to date) stats for this year at home and he has only had 2 starts where he has given up less than 3 runs….Something needs to be done or it can be a LONGGGG season for Pettitte at home.

 

Today :-) :

One of those rare “PERFECT” days for the Yankees today…I think everyone and their brother…including me…figured the Yankees would have had a hard time against Santana today…but WOW were we wrong…the Yanks took 9 earned off of Santana before knocking him out in the 4th before he got an out…The Yankees woke up today and scored 4 runs in the second inning then were at full steam in the 4th when they knocked in 9, yes 9 runs!!! What a great day to be a Yankee fan but an even better day to be a Yankee batter…it must’ve seemed like batting practice to them….Side Track: I wonder how the Mets fans are gunna take this two game skid from Santana…I can only imagine the sports talk shows tomorrow…but they might have a point this is the only time in Santana’s career when he has given up 9 earned…by the way that’s 14 earned over his past two starts…it happens Mets fans don’t go crazy and kill yourselves it’s one game…too bad Philly won today too LOL…I want to go over the bats first…with a brief synopsis b/c dinner is almost here but I will hit on Burnett very soon…There is really no complaints from me about the Yankee bats AT ALL…I am a little concerned about Arod though…he is not getting into the swing
of things…and it’s gunna kill me to say this butttt Susan Waldman (ewwwwww) actually said something worth while and made a great point that we kind of have to be patient with Arod…he is coming off major surgery and probably doesn’t trust his hip yet…but we shouldn’t fret on that what a great hitter performance overall…7 of the 9 starting hitters got a hit in this game with 5 of them having multi-hit games..and Jeter going 4 for 4…what a great day..I am very happy…and more importantly Damon got his swing back and this game will hopefully completely snap him out of his slump. Oh by the way Matsui hit another one and if he stays healthy that just makes our line up even more dangerous….sorry for being brief…

 

Player of the game has to be Burnett in my mind…he not only set the pace by getting out of a no out bases loaded situation without giving up a run but struck out 2 of those batters….he flat out dominated the Mets hitters today and showed the Yankees why they went out and got him….He has been teasing the media by saying once he is “on” he is never gunna stop…let’s hope this game is a sign of the future with him on this team….Burnett pitched a great game and hopefully now he can calm down…this just might be his “Yankee Moment”….although not the biggest rival of the Yankees this matchup always stirs up emotions and is a HUGE deal to the Yankee fans…ALWAYS…so hopefully if he was feeling the pressure of pitching against Boston as a Yankee this game will be a huge step in the right direction for him. Again Burnett showed his real stuff today and how dominate he can be, yes the Mets are dinged up but they still have great bats in the lineup…he worked out of tight situations and kept his composure the whole way through…The Yankees were fired up today and the swagger was back…let’s keep the Mojo working boys…don’t lose that desire and become flat again, like you did in Boston PLEASE!!!! Interesting series coming up starting Tuesday…will be back tomorrow to preview it…LET’S GO YANKEES!!!

Another Bad Start for Wang

Even though I
hate to admit it, it seems like maybe the Yankees experiment with Wang
is coming to an end, and he has one more start to prove he should be in
the rotation. The start will come against the Nationals and it will
have huge implications upon where he will spend the rest of the year.
In my opinion, he should be sent to the minors to work out the kinks
and make all the necessary starts, unlike being rushed back this time
in fear that Joba was hurt for an extended period of time. This means
Hughes is back into the rotation again, figuring in that Wang wouldn’t
perform, he has pitched well coming out of the pen and showed again he
is a HUGE asset…he also performed and proved to be very effective last
night when he relieved Wang in the 3rd. Hughes had one blemish, an
opposite field homerun to Youkilis on a pitch that might have been a
little high but wasn’t that bad and was more impressive hitting than it
was bad pitching.Back to Wang…it is really
sad to see what this guy is going through, our ace for the past 3 years
is now the laughing stock of all Major League Baseball…over the first 5
starts of the season he has the highest ERA in HISTORY!!! This guy won
54 games in his first 4 seasons, he was the most consistent Yankee
pitcher for years and was usually the stop gap if the Yanks were on a
slide for an extended period of time…I’m really hoping this guy can
come back because it is truly sad to see someone so talented perform so
poorly. My true feeling is that Wang should go to the minors…and
everything else I said earlier…and then get put as long relief in the
bullpen for the rest of the year, unless an injury or struggles occur,
and start over from spring training next season…Maybe some winter ball
to get his confidence back…he is far too good and talented to just give
up on him…I have faith that he will return to be a great asset to this
team but we almost have to give up on him being a starter this
year…Side Track: Now wait a minute…it is only what? 60 games into the
season? I know I am being rash and possibly overreacting…but isn’t that
what being a Yankee fan is all about?…Just Kidding…but for real
everyone growing up in New York expects perfection 100% of the time…it
doesn’t happen like that…we are killing Wang and the Yankee front
office for putting him out there…but don’t forget he was the ACE of
this staff for 3 years, they don’t owe it to him but they should show
confidence in him…so before we kill them…it’s still early in the
season…if this happens down the stretch we take the protest to the
streets…but the season is only 1/3 over let’s not get too hasty…I KNOW
A LITTLE HYPOCRITICAL…but it’s the truth.

Hmmmmmmmmm….tough to find a bright spot in last nights game…..but
you almost have to say the bats and bullpen were what kept us in
it…before I praise the bats I have to bash them a little bit though.
Not that it’s a BIG number but still not good…the Yankee batters
stranded 6 runners in scoring position last night…that’s 6 potential
runs with 5 of those runs not getting in with 1 out or less in the
inning…my small ball rant from the other day fits perfectly here…that’s
just not acceptable especially against a guy like Wakefield…I
understand the game and I know how hard it is to hit a Knuckleballer,
especially when he is on his game, BUT 6 runners left in scoring
position with 5 of them with 1 out or less? that’s INSANE!!!
UNEXPLAINABLE!!! UNACCEPTABLE!!! C’mon guys this is Wakefield not
Beckett! I am so dejected and upset by this that I decided to outline
each inning they left runners on:

1st: Tex single, Arod Walk, Cano pop out to 3rd = 1 risp

2nd: Posada Homerun…Matsui Double, Swisher bunt to pitcher – Mastsui
to Third, Melky lines into double play (tough to swallow but you can’t
really get mad about that one), Jeter pop out to catcher = 1 risp

3rd: Tex Double, Arod and Cano fly out to center = 1 risp

see a trend yet? By the way Wakefield is still in and at this point it is 3 to 1 turns 4 to 1 after bottom of inning

4th: Matsui singles, Swisher walks, MELKY DRIVES IN MATSUI!!!!
YAY!!! (so after stranding 3 we finally come through) Swisher to
second, Jeter and Damon both fly out to….THE CATCHER!!! At least get
the ball on the field boys! = 1 Risp

5th: NONE!!  WOW!!!! Cano grounds out to 3rd to drive in Tex

Wakefield still in…6-3 Red Sox

6th: NONE!!! – Matsui did single in inning…rest of hitters down in order

7th: NONE!!! – Wakefield out..YAY!!! Back to back homers by Damon and Tex

6-5 Red Sox

8th: Swisher single, pinch runner Gardner comes in, Melky Sacrifies
him to 2nd then back to back Strikeouts by Jeter and Damon…PUT THE BALL
IN PLAY!!!! = 1 risp

9th: Rodriguez draws walk, pinch runner Pena comes in, Pena steals second, Cano strikes out, Posada fly out = 1 risp

That’s all 6 runners in scoring position…pretty bad Yankees,
pretty bad. SOOO Bad that I’m writing right now in bold to make a
stronger point…I know I’m pathetic thank you…two pop outs to the
catcher and back to back strike outs???? That’s horrible and
unacceptable guys, come on!!! The bullpen gave you a chance…you did
fight back…but we had sooo many opportunities to tie/win the game it’s
nauseating.

Well sorry for that, but I was frustrated by the shear lack of
effort last night and the flat, lackluster performance. There were two
bright spots in last night’s game Teixeira went 4 for 5, with his one
out coming off Papelbon, and Matsui going 2 for 3 and breaking out of a
horrible slump and hopefully this will be the catalyst to him turning
his season around. Three other decent bright spots were the Homeruns by
Posada, Tex and Damon, all put a charge back into the game and made it
interesting but unfortunately the team couldn’t pull it out in the end.
On to the bullpen…what a great performance by these guys last
night…Wang left the game giving up 4 runs and Hughes gave up 2 but that
was in the first 4 innings and the rest of the night the potent Saux
offense was shut down and dominated. Red Sox batters only got 6 guys on
by way of walk and hit and were struck out 5 times…all by Hughes…this
Yankee bullpen is showing up big and responding to the call…My main
concern is that they are being used too much right now…With Sabathia on
the hill tonite they should get a rest…but if they get worn out by the
end of the year it is very, very worrisome…our starters neeeeed to go
longer!

Tonite!!!! Sabathia vs Penny…the Marquee Matchup…the creme de la
creme of pitching excellence…oh wait…Penny not Peavy…sorry…ummmm not
much to say here if Sabathia keeps pitching the way he has…and gets
over his performance against the Rays the advantage is definitely on
the Yankees side. Sabathia has handled the Sox well over his tenure as
an MLB pitcher, despite his losing record at 2-4, but his ERA is a
respectable 3.91 over 7 starts. The Yankees NEED this game to prevent
falling 2 games behind in the East and still staying ahead of a hot
Blue Jays team, remember they fell apart a few weeks ago…well their
back! and playing very well (but how long will that last?). Yankees
will be fired up…Sabathia knows how big this game is for the Yankees
psyche going into this weekend against the Mets. This is a must win for
the Yanks and I think they should win easily with Penny on the
mound…perfect matchup for the struggling Yankees and it couldn’t come
at a better time…LET’S GO YANKEES!

Other Notes:
Mets: You thought the Yankees stranding 6 RISP is bad? How bout them
Mets leaving 16!!! that’s right 16 runners left on base last
night…direct reason for their loss..DON’T BLAME PARNELL!

Verlander: He’s back…simple as pie…performing at his best…he can’t
be touched and has his confidence back…dare I say Cy Young contender?

Lakers/Magic/Kobe: This is a MUST WIN for the Magic…if they don’t
put up an effort tonite they are done and there is no way they can win
in LA they must even the series…Kobe was offended that he was asked if
he was tired and responded in a weird way to me…the right way, but
weird in my opinion, WE KNOW YOUR TOUGH KOBE, DON’T WORRY!

That’s it…Late!

p.s.: Look for a joint blog entry previewing this weekend’s BIG
MATCHUP in the eyes of a Yankee fan (River Ave Rant) and a Met Fan (4th
Quarter Punts)

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