Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Yankees at Rays, 14 April 2008: A Liveblog

3.50 PM: Tonight's line up, as always, courtesy of LoHud:


Gardner CF
Jeter SS
Teixeira 1B
Swisher LF
Posada DH
Cano 2B
Nady RF
Pena 3B
Molina C


I can't wait to see what Teixeira-Swisher-Posada-Canó-Nady all do in that order! I would gather Posada's in at DH after the nightmare of yesterday's game, and interesting to see Jeter in second. At least with Gardner leading off, it will be harder for Jeter to GIDP.

It sure sounds good to have Teixeira back.

Burnett gets a chance to play Yankee stopper again.


4.29 PM: Great game between Chelsea and Liverpool right now. Liverpool's up 4-3, but they need one more goal to advance to the semifinal. It's on ESPN2.

4.32 PM: Chelsea's just tied the game. I thought it was supposed to be hard to score goals in soccer?

4.45 PM: the Scranton Yankees are 6-0 to start the season. Mark Melancon and Austin Jackson are on fire.

5.31 PM: Damon is resting tonight because of the flu (h/t LoHud). Here's to a speedy recovery.

6.22 PM: New attitude toward life: Start blog, donate to charity, get big box of stuff, play "Beautiful Day". I will explain after the game (with photos!)

7.20 PM: What goes around comes around: Matt Garza has his own first inning troubles-single, single and walk and now the red-hot Swisher.

7.23 PM: Swisher strikes out. Yankees' fans everywhere can't believe he's actually human.

7.26 PM: Sac fly from Posada scores Gardner. The Yankees don't want to end this inning with only one run, as that's a bit of a moral victory for the Rays, but one run is still better than none.

7.35 PM: One-two-three inning for Burnett, including strikeouts of Upton and Longoria.

7.45 PM: Quiet inning as Garza sits the Yankees down in order. You get the feeling that the Yankees really should have scored more in the first, but one run is still better than none. As I've said.

7.50 PM: Burnett walks Burrell, Tampa's first baserunner of the evening. Hopefully it's not the first of many.

7.56 PM: So I think the ball hit Zobrist...but I also think swung at it. Doesn't matter as he K's anyway Four on the night for Burnett.

8.05 PM: Garza has struck out five through three. However, his pitch count is fairly high. It's an obvious thing, but if the Yanks keep working deep at bats he is likely not long for this game.

8.10 PM: Burnett with another quick 1-2-3 inning. Bet he would love some more run support, however.

8.15 PM: Guess Swisher felt bad about not driving in a run in the first. 2-0 Yankees.

8.19 PM: Swisher is a walking advertisement for Red Bull

8.25 PM: Burnett strikes out Longoria and Longoria didn't even wait for the umpire's call.

8.32 PM: After Ramiro Peña walks, Girardi tries a hit-and-run with Molina, but Molina lines to the first baseman for an easy double play. Good idea, bad luck.

8.39 PM: Burnett is putting on a clinic. 8.39 PM and already heading for the sixth-this time last night, we were in the third.

8.47 PM: Holy crap Kay, shut up! Is it too much to be considerate of those of us that buy into the jinxes and curses aspect of the game?

8.58 PM: ...I am pretty sure Michael Kay has absolutley no idea about my existence, but I feel like he's personally trying to stick it to those of us who respect the superstition.

On the other hand, AJ is flat out amazing.

9.11 PM: Garza's pitching a heck of a game himself. Then again, striking out Jose Molina is probably not on the top of many pitchers' list of accomplishments.

9.18 PM: Now, not only is the no-hitter gone (Carl Crawford), but the tying run is at third with no one out. I blame Michael Kay and Jon Sterling.

9.21 PM: Tie game. Can't blame Burnett so much-2 runs isn't exactly a lot-as the Yanks not cashing in in the first.

9.24 PM: Have I ever mentioned I <3 José Molina?

9.28 PM: Gardner just flicked that for a double.

9.36 PM: Teixeira works his way out of a 0-2 count and hits a long sac fly to score Gardner. Yanks retake the lead, 3-2.

9.39 PM: With two on and none out, again, the Yanks would have liked to score more than one. However, a run is still the run. Now the question becomes, how much longer does Burnett go?

9.46 PM: Eight innings for AJ. He l ooks like he could come out for the ninth, but Mo hasn't pitched in a few days, and, heck, he's Mo.

10.00 PM: HUGE RBI there for Gardner, hitting a long ground ruled double to center. If it stayed in play, two runs would have scored. Still, the Yankees and Rivera will take it.

10.03 PM: A three-run home run for Jeter and it's now 7-2 Yankees.