Jamie Insalaco
If you didn’t see Lance Berkman roll his ankle when stepping on a fielder’s foot on first base, well, that’s what landed him on the DL a few days later. The Yankees have called up Eduardo Nunez, much to my surprise. He’s listed as a short stop, but I’m betting he’s going to get some time at 3rd base while A-Rod is recovering from his own leg issue. Nunez is having a decent year with the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees at AAA, hitting .284 with 4 homers and 50 RBIs – oh and 23 bases stolen, so he must have speed. I assumed the Yankees would call up Juan Miranda, who has seen time with the Yankees as a DH and is sporting a .307 average with 13 homers. But again, I think Nunez is going to take time from Ramiro Pena and another Yankee will DH – probably a combination of A-Rod, Marcus Thames and Jorge Posada. But lets see how the line up card looks tonight…
Power, Bullpen create Yankees win
Jeremy Bonderman just ain’t what he used to be.
After a fairly quick inning by Dustin Moseley for the Yankees, Bonderman served up back to back bombs to Mark Teixeira (scoring Brett Gardner) and Robinson Cano, which was followed by the Miguel Cabrera show, who blasted solo jacks in the 2nd and 4th inning. The Yankees quickly responded with 3 more runs of their own: Ramiro Pena (aka Scrappy Doo) tripled and scored Austin Kearns, Gardner doubled and scored Pena, and Gardner came around to score on the throwing error by somebody… Santiago. Box Score.
Don Kelly hit a 2 run homer to make things interesting and chase Mosley from the game, but there was no stopping the Yankees. Curtis Granderson, the student of hitting coach Kevin Long, hit another homer to deep right, and in the bottom of the 7th, as much as the Tigers mixed and matched, they still payed the ultimate price as Austin Kearns doubled in 2 more runs. The Tigers managed one more run on a sacrifice fly, but it was too little, too late.
Now how about that Yankees bullpen? Moseley left after 5 IP, giving up 4 ER, and then the Yankees decided to bring the pain: Joba Chamberlain, Boone Logan, Kerry Wood (I still can’t believe Brian Cashman got the Yankees Kerry Wood), Chad Guadin, David Robertson and Mariano Rivera combined for 4 IP of 1 run ball. Robertson was especially effective pitching out of a Guadin made jam, and Mo restored order to a game that was pretty wild.
So what did we learn last night? The Yankees can score runs without A-Rod – if it’s against a pitcher they’ve seen before. Their bullpen is looking pretty good, but it would be nice if Andy Pettitte could make it back by September 1st to sure up the rotation. Mosely isn’t a horrible fifth starter, but I don’t see him being on this team next year. The Yankees look like they’re starting to turn the corner again, although Derek Jeter put up another 0-4. There are a lot of ifs right now surrounding the Yankees, but they still have a better team than everybody else.
No A-Rod? No problem!
When your favorite team is facing Justin Verlander and you’re missing your clean up hitter, you’d think things were not looking good, right? Not so this time.
Former Yankees farm hand Austin Jackson led off the 1st inning with a home run off CC Sabthia, and you’re thinking, "Funk! Here we go again!" But it was not to be so. The Tigers didn’t score again until the 7th inning. Nick Swisher plated 2 runs with an RBI single in the bottom of the 1st, and the Yankees took the lead back and never rescinded it again. In the bottom of the second, my favorite struggling Yankee Curtis Granderson crushed a home run into the right field bleachers, very awesome – that guy is having some week, and his work with hitting coach Kevin Long is paying immediate dividends. Is it just me, or is Kevin Long the best coach ever? When is the last time you can remember a pitching coach or a hitting coach actually fixing somebody? Although the same can be said for Dave Eiland; the problem is, AJ Burnett just won’t stay fixed – he’s like my old car on a cold day or something – ba-doom-crash!
And look at Derek Jeter going 1-3 with a walk and an RBI single! Are all the Yankees going to come out of their slump at once? And Jeter hasn’t really been Jeter since April, as far as I can remember. On the other hand, I’m pretty sure he’s leading AL shortstops in fielding percentage – impressive.
The bottom line is Verlander just couldn’t get it done: 5 hits, 5 walks, 5 Ks, 3 ER in 5 IP. That stinks, he’s way better than that, but the Yankees didn’t let him off the hook.
How about the Paul O’Neill broadcasting? Is there any sweeter sound? What’d we learn this time? Golfing, playing games at home, he’s not on facebook, Michael Kay has a big head (knew that one already)… Paul O’Neill is awesome!
Yankees offense continues to trickle
Another game, another feeble offensive outing, another loss.
The Yankees are 6-9 during the month of August and despite the big come from behind win against Texas, are playing their worst baseball of the year. There’s not much to say about last night’s game… Javier Vazquez is a mess – again. It’s a miracle he was able to throw as many innings as he did – what was it, over 100 pitches in 4 innings? Still, the Yankees bullpen was pretty good, and its hard to complain too much about the pitching when the offense sucks this hard. Derek Jeter deserves praise for coming up with a new double play to ground into – what was that, a 5-3 double play to end the game? Impressive! Michael Kay is saying, "The Yankees will probably win the game on a gapper-" what the hell Yankees team is he watching? Certainly not the lifeless collection of offense-less stiffs I’ve been subjugated to. (OK, that’s not the best use of ‘subjugated,’ but you know what I mean) In any case, I have faith they’ll turn it around, but exactly when this’ll happen is anybody’s guess… probably when Robbie Cano does.
The brighter side: Curtis Granderson went 3-3 with a walk. I know he’s underperformed all year, but I still believe this guy is a great hitter and will have success as a Yankee.
The darker side: A-Rod and Nick Swisher both left the game with injuries. They don’t sound too serious, but I doubt either of them will play in tonight’s game.
On a more positive note (for me, anyway), the New York Giants beat the New York Jets in a meaningless preseason game. I’m just glad a team I root for scored! Looking toward the baseball off season, expect some NY Giants posts here!
A-Bombs and Broomsticks
Its disappointing for the Yankees to only split a four game series with the lowly Kansas City Royals and lose a game in the standings to the second place Tampa Bay Rays, but whatcha gonna do?
They Yankees took Thursday night’s game fairly easily (until the 9th inning) and I can’t remember much about Friday night’s game, accept that the Yankees lost. Saturday night featured a Yankees Home Run Derby, starring Alex Rodriguez, his royal A-Rod-ness. Sure, the homer hit by Posada went a long way, and the Granderson blast was also a no doubter, but A-Rod went deep three times, and the last one was the longest – all the way into the fountains! When A-Rod hit the ball on Saturday night, it staid hit.
Sunday was one of those games where the Yankees faced a starter they weren’t familiar with and got their asses handed to them. I think whats-his-name got through the first two innings by throwing maybe ten pitches. It was incredible. Meanwhile, it looked like AJ Burnett was gonna blow it, but after a shaky start, and one run given up, he held the Royals down for the rest of the afternoon, not that it mattered.
So the Yankees wander into the motor city looking for some revenge after last time. I don’t know what to expect, really… the play I saw in the two loses in Kansas kinda boggles the mind.
Yankees beat Royals and 2010 season outlook
The Kansas City Royals stink. They’re 47-68. There just isn’t much more to say than that, but here’s some other junk.
The Royals have some good players, but are lacking a lot. They don’t have much speed. Their starting rotation is awful. They don’t feed well. Their bullpen isn’t as bad as I thought it would be, and they got Kyle Farnsworth out of there, who is having a good year for the Braves against NL competition. Even when they have a player like Billy Butler, who’s hitting over .300, still doesn’t have much power for a 1st basemen – but then, if you were an opposing pitcher, would you give Butler anything to hit? He doesn’t have any protection. CC Sabathia ran into some trouble on his way to a complete game and let some runners on base. David Robertson came in and gave up a double that scored 2 of the inherited runners before he got the last out, turning a 4-1 game into a 4-3 game. I guess Mariano Rivera wasn’t available after pitching two nights in a row against the Texas Rangers. Sabathia pitched well until then, but again, he was pitching against the Royals. The Yankees scored 4 runs on 10 hits and left 10 on base, so they weren’t exactly destroying the world, but got their fair share of hits. The game was kind of boring, but I had good company in one of my oldest friends, so it was all good.
What comes to mind now is how the rest of the 2010 season will shake out, so I did some simple math to figure it out. After last night’s win, the Yankees have a record of 71-43. They’ve played 114 games, so they have 48 games to play. If they go .500 the rest of the way, they’ll win 24 games, for a total of 95 wins, and you know they’re going to win more than half of those games… the Yankees are going to the playoffs – put it in the bank! I’ll say they’ll win an even 100.
Are the Yankees as good as last year? That’s a tough one. I would say the talent level is about the same, but some guys are under-performing (A-Rod, Derek Jeter, Curtis Granderson, AJ Burnett jump to mind immediately), but everyone is more than capable. The bullpen may not be as strong as 2009, but then, if Joba gets it together and David Robertson pitches better than he did last night, I think the Yankees have enough. Boone Logan has really stepped up in this latest stint with the Yankees, so there’s another weapon. Sergio Mitre has pitched well in some high leverage situations, and Kerry Wood is capable. I think the Yankees have enough to win championship 28, especially given what I’ve seen from the rest of the league.
Chuck Norris furious after Texas Rangers blow lead to Yankees
After five innings of play, hope was dwindling that the Yankees were going to escape Texas with a split in the two game set. It was 6-1, and Javier Vazquez had already been knocked out of the game. A-Rod’s double to score Marcus Thames was the lone Yankee run, and it was starting to look like it was going to stay that way. Box Score.
But the tide began to turn in the 6th when Derek Jeter tripled and then scored on a wild pitch in the 6th. Then Lance Berkman doubled in Robinson Cano followed by Brett Gardner’s line hugging bloop single the other way to plate Austin Kearns, and suddenly, it was 6-4 Rangers, and the Yankees were in striking distance. Marcus Thames, in the middle of things all night, crushed a home run to deep left, a no doubter as soon as he touched it in the 8th, and then in the 9th, he plated the winning run after Derek Jeter singled in the tying run. Game Day.
On the pitching side, things were all over the place. Cliff Lee had 11 Ks in 6.1 IP, which is outstanding, but gave up 8 hits and 4 ER. Javier Vazquez was a 4.1 IP nightmare for 6 ER, but he’s pitched so good since April that his ERA is still under 5. The victory really belongs to Sergio Mitre and Kerry Wood, who combined for 3.2 IP of shut out ball.
On to Mo: Mariano Rivera converted his 24th save, and it was a very interesting one at that. After almost hitting Elvis Andrus in the head, Andrus responded with a triple. Got that? You already know the Yankees won the game – Mo pitched around a lead off triple. This is why I worship no Gods before Mariano. He never ceases to amaze me. The man is not infallible, but he is totally amazing. Being short handed with Mark Teixeira still being out for maternity leave (or should that be faternity leave, because he’s the dad and not visiting with frat brothers?), Joe Girardi pitch ran my boy Curtis Granderson (I know, he’s not having a good year, but I can’t help it, he’s awesome anyway) for Fat Elvis himself, Lance Berkman. This might Nick Swisher came in from RF to play 1B, Austin Kearns shifted over to play RF and Granderson took CF while Brett Gardener moved to LF. So after Andrus’ triple, Michael Young hit a ball off the heel of Kearns’ glove, which stuck in the webbing and kept Andrus at 3rd, which he might as well of sat down on, because he wasn’t going anywhere. Mo fell behind Josh Hamilton 2-0 before getting him to ground softly out to himself. Vladimir Guerrero also enjoyed some chin music before grounding out to Jeter. I can’t emphasis that enough – Mo’s control last night was not good. And he pitched around a lead off triple. How amazing is that?
So after a tough two games in Texas, the Yankees head to Kansas City to take on the Royals in a four game set that I insist they take a minimum of four games from.
Depleted Yankees lose to Rangers in extra innings
D’oh!
The Yankees had Marcus Thames batting third last night. I’d usually say, ’nuff said,’ but where’s the fun in that? Robinson Cano sat for most of the game with the flu. I think Jorge Posada sat just because he needed a day off – and wouldn’t you know it, but Francisco Cervelli had a clutch RBI, showing shades of April. Mark Teixeira was home in New York celebrating the birth of his son. Brett Gardner sat against the lefty starter. So Thames was the DH, Ramiro Pena started at 2nd base and Austin Kearns started in left field.
In the top of the first, Derek Jeter was first called safe at first by the umpire, despite the appearance of being tagged out, and the call was reversed by the home plate umpire. I do agree that Jeter was out, but how the home plate umpire, who is so far away, can see the correct call and the guy standing right on top of it can’t, I don’t know how to explain.
AJ Burnett pitched a pretty good game; not great, but good. He tired as the night went on and gave up a 2 run bomb that made it 3-2 Yankees, but A-Rod had his back. Alex Rodriguez smashed career homer 601 into center field to tie the game back up. Burnett gave up the lead as soon as he got it, but I guess we should be pleased that he pitched decent in a home run hitting park.
David Robinson pitched well in multiple innings and worked with Cervelli to get out of jams. Mariano Rivera gave up some ground ball sinkers and nearly walked in the winning run in extra innings as he had to throw the ball right down the middle 3 times in a row after falling behind in the count 3-0. For all of Mo’s genius, he is almost always one of those closers who doesn’t usually do well in the non save situation – at least I’m pretty sure he doesn’t. Still, he’s Mo, so he’s allowed to blow it once and a while. I believe his ERA is still under 1.00 and he’s allowed less than 20 hits in nearly 50 innings. Again, I know he blew the game last night, but BOW DOWN TO HIM! Now! He didn’t exactly get smacked around, but the ball was hit hard enough to get the job done for the Rangers.
Michael Kay referred to last night’s game as a possible playoff preview, and if he’s right, it could be exciting. However, you’d hope the Yankees would play all of their regulars in a playoff game. Also, I don’t think Kay needed to mention the possible playoff game preview ten times, but it was an exciting game. The Rangers did look better than they did in April, but they committed more errors, so they’re not that much improved in terms of defense. Tonight, Cliff Lee faces off against Javier Vazquez in what could be a serious mismatch. Lee through a complete game against the Yankees last time and surrendered 3 runs, so we’ll have to see what he does. Both bullpens sent out their best guys last night, and most of them threw a ton of pitches, so both starters would be wise to go long – something Lee is good at and Javy is not.
Yankees split series with Red Sox
I hate to say I told so, but, I did. It sucks being right.
But not that hard. It’s too bad the Yankees didn’t sweep the Red Sox, but then, with Jon Lester pitching one game, I never expected them to. Once they lost the Friday game, taking 3 of 4 was all but impossible as not only would they had to of beaten Lester yesterday (which is impossible, because, again, cancer can’t beat that guy), but also win 3 games in a row against the same team, which I’m sure is nearly a statistical impossibility. Nearly.
So it’s almost like the series never happened, accept a few games ticked off the schedule. The Yankees are still 6 games ahead of the Red Sox and 1.5 games ahead of the Tampa Bay Rays. I’ll take that. And with the Texas Rangers coming in, its time to turn the page. Last time the Yankees and the Walker Texas Rangers faced off, the Yankees swept them… by winning 3 games in a row… yeah. Oh, and Cliff Lee will be starting for the Rangers this series, and perhaps we’ll see him again when the two teams battle in September. Joy. I haven’t seen the Rangers since the last time they were in the Bronx and I’m curious to learn if they figured out how to field since then. They sure were sloppy in that series. But, the Rangers are not to be dismissed, despite the last series they played against the Yankees – they’re near the top in both pitching and hitting categories this year, so it’s time to battle.
Oh, and I heard it was Joe Buck who was insistently calling A-Rod when he turned his back and was struck in the leg with a ball during batting practice by Lance Berkman before FOX saturday baseball, which is one of the worst damnations every put on man, by the way. I also heard Mr. Buck has denied this while speeding away in a National Car Rental: it was his choice. He also said something about buying the Avatar on DVD and Blu Ray…
Yankees lead four game series 2-1
I wrote about this series making or breaking the Boston Red Sox’s season before it started, but maybe the situation isn’t as dire for the Red Sox as I thought.
The Red Sox arrived in the Bronx trailing the AL East leaders by 6 games and are now 7 games behind the pace and 4 games behind the wild card leaders. The Tampa Bay Rays are going through a tough streak and have two starting pitchers getting their shoulders examined with about 50 games left to play in the season for everybody, with about 6 games left with both the Yankees and the Rays, so it’s still a bit early to call it quits the Red Sox. But make no mistake: they are running out of time, yet even a 3-1 series defeat won’t put the Red Sox in the ground for good.
In the Sunday night ESPN game of death (I call it this because it starts too late here on the east coast at 8 PM and I don’t feel the Yankees ever play particularly well in these games), AJ Burnett was scratched from his start due to back spasms. Hopefully, he won’t miss any significant time, but between his 2010 performance and Dustin Mosely’s, maybe its not such a bad thing to let Burnett relax for a while. What the Yankees really need is to get Andy Pettitte back at full strength. But back to Mosely, he was awesome last night: economical, accurate, and displaying cat-like reflexes on and off the mound. He got into a little trouble and was lifted during a taxing 7th inning, but the bullpen managed to hold it together. Joe Girardi wasn’t kidding around, either: He used Mariano Rivera to get the last out of the game; the tying run was in the hole, so it wasn’t a save situation, but Mo needed some work and Girardi didn’t want to let them back in the game. On the other side, Josh Beckett was showing pretty much what he’s shown all year – sometimes, he just doesn’t know where the ball is going, and it’s frustrating him. Tim Wakefield was effective in relief; he’s a huge bullpen saver for them. Mark Teixeira hit a home run in the bleachers that people should write songs about, and Lance Berkman had 3 hits in one game – that’s 1 more hit than he’s had since he came to the Yankees. It all adds up to a 7-2 Yankees victory.
The Red Sox are beat up, and the Yankees aren’t exactly 100%, but then, few teams are. Today we’ll see Phil Hughes do battle with Jon Lester, a young man who is literally more powerful than cancer. Can you imagine what is must be like to have to face a guy with a plus fastball who also whipped cancer’s ass? As a hitter, you think you scare Jon Lester? Non-Hodgkin lymphoma doesn’t scare Jon Lester, so good luck – you’re going to need it. I’m predicting a four game split here; due respect to Phil Hughes, but Lester is better – than pretty much everybody.
