Wednesday, April 2, 2008

The First Cut is the Deepest (or something of the sort)

The first loss is always hard to take, but no team goes 162-0. Even in '98 we lost 48 games--and that hadn't been done in nearly a century. We will realistically lose about 65 of them. So make peace with it.

Tonight's game belonged to AJ Burnett. He was phenomenal. Even if the Yankees had Wang or Pettitte on the mound, the Yankees would have still had a hard time winning. The Yankees didn't even get a runner to second base until A-Rod's home run.

That said, Mussina wasn't horrible. He wasn't great, and Giambi's error in the first makes his line look worse than it is, but he mostly kept the Yankees in the game.

The Yankee offense was far from stellar, but again, when you're pitching as well as Burnett was, and then the way Tallet pitched, you'll be lucky to score any runs at all.

In the ninth inning, against a more human Accardo we did get first and second, and if A-Rod, Giambi and Robbie hadn't been trying to tie the game with one swing (it happens in the ninth), we would have probably brought them around to score.

OPTIMIST TAKE: If you get 5.2 innings and 3 ER from your number five starter (which Mussina realistically is, or maybe a four), you will probably win the majority of those games, especially if it's your five against the other team's five, and not the other team's one or two. Kyle Farnsworth pitched well.

SCORES AND STUFF

Nationals over Phillies 1-0. Zimmerman responsible for only Washington run as Phillies get one hit.

Brewers over Cubs, 8-2. Brewers had 14 hits, though when you have Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun in the same line up it's not all that surprising.

Red Sox over A's, 5-0. Harden pitched excellent; the A's bullpen, however, did not.

Royals over Tigers 4-0. Keep an eye on the Royals; they're going to be interesting.

Angels over Twins 1-0. Can't blame not having Santana for this one.

Mets over Marlins 13-0, but no one in Queens is celebrating; Pedro's out for four to six.

Orioles over Rays, 9-6. The battle for last place in the AL East has begun.

Reds over Diamondbacks 6-5 in a walk-off.

Braves over Pirates 10-2. Braves had seven in the eighth.

Indians over White Sox, 7-2, in the ninth; Cardinals over Rockies 4-3 in the eighth; Mariners over Rangers 1-0 in the second; Astros over Padres 3-1 in the second and Dodgers and Giants are scoreless, also in the second.

3 comments:

  1. Good update Rebecca. The first loss is hard but it was inevitable. I agree that Moose pitched pretty well - he was 2 pitches away from a really good outing/or a correct umpire call and then Wells never comes up that inning because Rios is out on strikes. And as for the 9th inning we've come to expect magic from Alex which unfortunately didn't happen tonight; however if Alex didn't hit the 2 run homerun earlier there is no tying run at the plate in the ninth.

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  2. Pitching is really big in baseball. Burnett and Tallet pitched a great game. However, Moose looked good for me. I think he will get better as the season goes. I am looking forward to see how IPK and Hughes perform the next two days. Let's go Yankees!

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  3. How about a little love for David Ortiz? Or The Captain?

    Of the pitching staff?

    At least, note Manny hitting into a dp.

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