Sunday, April 26, 2009

Sox Sweep; Yankees Reel but Melancon Stellar (Postgame Notes 26 April 2009)

This is not the first time the Yankees have ever been swept.

Nor, I would gather, is it the first time that they have been swept at Fenway.

Still, this weekend was especially painful.

Today's heartbreaking moment came in the fifth inning, when Jacoby Ellsbury created a straight steal of home. Alas, as much as us Yankee fans would like to forget about the steal, it will probably be replayed on ESPN five billion times, so we'd best get used to it.

The irony, of course, is that had the Yankees gotten this pitching effort yesterday, they would have at least won yesterday's game. Four runs isn't anything to write home about, in terms of pitching performances, but it's certainly enough to give your team a chance to win.

Except, this time, only the second game this season, the Yankees could not muster anything offensively.

Was it a product of having Brett Gardner, Melky Cabrera and Angel Berroa in the same line up? Probably, though I kow there are some that will starkly disagree.

The Yankees had hit Masterson well in the past, but tonight, they simply couldn't get any hits when they needed them.

There was, however, one bright spot:

Mark Melancon.

The reliever made his major league debut tonight, and gave Yankee fans quite a taste. In the bottom of the seventh he set the side down in order, 1-2-3, and in the eighth, after loading the bases with no one out, Melancon got out of the inning without allowing a single run.

It certainly caught my attention.



Anyway, the Yankees now head to Detroit, which will be no walk in the park as the team is much better than it was last year. The good news, however, is that Armando Gallaraga pitched today so the Yankees won't have to face him. And the Rick Porcello-Joba Chamberlain pitching matchup on Wednesday will either be really, really good, or really, really bad. You know it.