Home Sweet Home (Postgame Notes 17 Sept 07)

That was a good, old-fashioned win, except for the small part where the bullpen decided to make it as scary as possible.


Phil Hughes needs to find a better way to warm up--through the first 30 pitches his ERA is over 10; afterwards his ERA is around 2.55.

Tonight, he was true to form: Two runs in the first on over 30 pitches, and then no runs afterwards. I wish I could say first inning jitters aren't a big deal, but if Hughes is matched up against a pitcher like Sabathia or Lackey, two or three runs in the first might not be such a small thing.

Anyway, the important part is that he did settle down, and did more than give the Yankees a chance to win; he won the game! Hughes got his first Yankee Stadium win, and you have to feel that he's broken through the wall, if you know what I mean...if you can win at Yankee Stadium, you can win anywhere.

Bullpen: K-Ram was great with the bases loaded, getting the one strike out, but the next inning, it looked like bad K-Ram had showed up, so I'm not totally down on Torre waiting so long for Viz to get in...but Viz performed wonderfully. Just a pity that he couldn't pitch the ninth, could have saved both Farnsworth and Mo.

Farnsworth was back to his old tricks, though part of it was probably because he hasn't pitched in so long. Still, though, there's no reason the Yankees should have had to brink Mo in...

Ah. Right. Important thing: Yanks won.

Offensively, it's a much better story.

Every Yankee except for Giambi had a hit, a far cry from the lack of offense in all but two innings for the Yanks against Boston in their series this past weekend.

The bottom of the order, especially was spot on, and it was great to see Matsui hit one out again and both Cano and the Mient Man had great hits.

Posada had three hits...any other year but this, the chants of MVP would be raining down on him...


Anyway, it was great to see the Yankee bats doing the little things, driving in runs with runners in scoring position (including a hit by Damon that went off the back of Daniel Cabrera), and playing a clean game in the field. Cano made a GREAT play for an out in the ninth, but don't be surprised if you don't see it in the highlight reels.

Now the fun part:

The win tonight coupled with Boston and Detroit losses means that the Yanks are 3 games back in the loss column in the East and 4 up in the loss column in the Wild Card.

It's too soon to say for sure that the Yanks have the WC locked up, but it's at that point now where every win and every loss is huge, and the difference between a three game lead and a four game lead can seem like a gulf of eternity.

So, for Yankees' fans, it's best to have faith: there's no reason to not hope for the East, expect the Wild Card, but take NOTHING for granted.

This is our year.

We just have to get there first.



A note: Bob Sheppard missed tonight's game with laryngitis. Sending out my best get well soon wishes his way!


Scores and Stuffs

Well, most of you will know Toronto beat Boston 6-1. What you might not know is that Frank Thomas hit THREE HRs, and McGowan pitched a complete game for the Blue Jays. Doesn't mean I want McGowan pitching against the Yankees, but for the moment, I can appreciate what he did!

Cleveland beat Detroit 6-5 in eleven, coming back from 5-1 to do so...coincidentally, that is why when the Yanks were down 5-1 to Boston on Friday, I wasn't that worried. Detroit must be crushed by the loss...

The White Sox beat Kansas City 11-3, Javier Vazquez having 13 strike outs in the process. I could make some chide remark about him not doing that on the Yankees, but that would be juvenile...

Minnesota beat Texas in the bottom of the ninth, but ESPN says the score is 4-4, so I can't actually tell you what the final score is...

Seattle is up on Oakland 1-0 in the sixth, a game unlikely to have any postseason significance whatsoever.

LA is up on Tampa 5-4 in the 3rd, a game that's remarkably see-saw-ish for such mismatched teams.

Atlanta beat Florida 11-6, keeping their slim hopes (still) alive. Oh, those pesky Braves...(I do kind of miss the late '90s heyday, when Yankees-Braves was nearly as crazy as Yanks-Sox!)

The Mets did themselves no favors, losing to Washington 12-4. Looks like they're trying to find the most painful way to get into the playoffs...I'm telling you. Cardiologists everywhere are on the secret payroll of NY sports teams!

Philadelphia gets the HEART ATTACK award for tonight, though. They beat St. Louis 13-11. At one point, the score was 11-0. Yeah. St. Louis had two on in the bottom of the ninth, and you have to think that if St. Louis was so adamant about not being able to win a game in the final month of the season, that they would have one the game. Philadelphia escaped; their bullpen should be doing anything but celebrating tonight...


Cubs beat the Reds 7-6, scoring three in the ninth, as, at last, one team in the NL Central has decided that winning the division isn't really a bad thing.

Milwaukee beat Houston 6-0, but neither Ryan Braun nor Prince Fielder homered.

San Francisco leads Arizona 3-2 in the 6th. Don't think it will hold, though.

San Diego is up on Pittsburgh 3-0 in the 7th, a good, old-fashioned game, which probably means something crazy will happen, or has happened but not in the box score!



What a night!

This week I went 7-8, likely to be 7-9. In my defense, did ANYONE have the Browns over the Bengals or the Bucs over the Saints?