Friday, May 1, 2009

Pinch Live-Blogging. Game 23: Los Angeles Angels (of Anaheim) at New York Yankees

Hello all! Elizabeth here from Blogging The Mystique. The game's already underway, so let's dive in, shall we?

Oh lookie there. The top of the first is already over. I don't type fast enough, apparently.

Top of the 1st
*Pettitte looks like, well, Andy Pettitte. Couple-a baserunners, no runs, nice little pickoff. The 13 year-old in me wants to say "LOL @ Torii Hunter!!!!11" but I'm not 13, and I do not type like that. Seriously. You can't prove it. Nyuh! Nice pick by Andrew Eugene.

*Also,because I'm probably the biggest Melky fan in the world, I have to point out that that was a nice catch by Melk for the second out. Sometimes it's just about making the challenging catches look easy. Not, like some other Yankee centerfielders would show you, about making the simple catches look challenging.

0-0 Middle of the 1st.

Bottom of the 1st
*I like seeing Cap drawing walks, because his BB rate dropped dramatically from 2007 to 2008. I'd still like to see him bring his overall OBP up, however, because I'm getting a little annoyed with the jeers of "Jeter's in decline!" And when I don't want to hear something, I usually shut it out. Which involves me putting my hands over my ears and screaming. Ahem. Not 13. I swear. I also like that Jeet's been stealing some bases. Smart baserunning is often more important than sheer speed *cough* Brett Gardner *cough*

*Two walks in a row and a hot shot by Tex? Forget the fact that that was a 3-1 put out. Tex was doing his job. I'm excited for his inevitable hot streak. Gotta love his swing. Not as sweet as Cano's, in my opinion (I tell everyone who will listen that Cano has the sweetest lefty swing I've seen since Donnie.

*Speaking of Cano.....Have I mentioned that his natural swing is to send everything up the middle? That was some nice bat lag. 2-0 after the sac fly by Sui and the RBI single by Canoe.

*Oh hi there, Jorge Posada. Nice to have you healthy this year. 4-0 Yankees. Little FYI: Did you know that Jorge has his mask specially made with extra-wide ear guards because the ball was clipping his ears? No foolin'

(At this point I feel I should point out that it appears as though Rebecca's updates are way more concise than mine. I hope I don't offend those with short attention spans)

*Melky was.....robbed. Yeah, that's it. I refuse to say anything negative about him. Hmph.

7.40 PM: Rebecca here! Thanks Elizabeth for letting me get caught up on my email. Tremendous news on the personal life front, check out my Twitter for details.

Andy's command seems to be a bit off here, with the lead off walk to Napoli.

7.47 PM: Hot damn, Robbie Canó is doing it all right now, and the Angels line into the inning ending DP. I wonder if he and Nick Swisher are hanging out after the game. If he is, the kicking ass is certainly rubbing off.

7.55 PM: Ramiro Peña got some legs, don't he? It'd be kind of awesome if Teixeira started to hit. How you have a .197 average and a .360+ OBP completely baffles me.

8.01 PM: Swisher's been taken out of the game. He did get hit rather hard in the elbow. Here's hoping it will be okay after a night of ice and isn't any more serious than that.

8.19 PM: So Andy got rattled last inning and hasn't had his best stuff.

Meanwhile, I like Peña a little more every time I seem him make a play.

8.22 PM: And of course I say that and Pettitte has a much better inning.

Still waiting for word on Swisher. Have to hope it's just precautionary to keep the swelling down. I know the Yanks' offense has been a strength, but I'm not sure how many they win with both Gardner and Cabrera in the line up--since there's no precedent for Cabrera to be able to keep up his torrid April.

I just used 'torrid' in a sentence.

My brain, it's gone.

8.29 PM: good thing we got those four runs early, no?

8.36 PM: One strike away from an official game with rain falling. This may yet become important.

8.38 PM: Interesting play there to end the inning. More important, x-rays on Swisher's elbow were negative and he has a bruised elbow. Hopefully some ice takes care of it and he's good to go sooner rather than later.

8.45 PM: The only player who looks worse at bat than Teixeira right now is Brett Gardner. That kinda says something.

8.58 PM: Man, it's pouring, isn't it? Weird, I don't see any rain here, but then again it's dark out and the blinds are down.

9.01 PM: The way Andy's been pitching tonight, Yanks are lucky it wasn't more than two runs.

9.05 PM: Pettitte simply couldn't get the last out there. Once again, Mark Melancon gets thrown into the fire.

9.09 PM: One pitch from Melancon and now it's 5-4 Angels. Why the hell can't the Yankees get this last out?

9.24 PM: Game went downhill when Swisher left. This is so, so totally not a coincidence.

9.31 PM: José Veras is flat-out awful right now.

9.36 PM: Like I said, Veras is flat-out awful right now. Girardi should have left Melancon in.

9.39 PM: With all the money the Yankees have, can they buy a half-decent bullpen?

9.45 PM: Bullpen is blowing this open...if Melky doesn't make that play, it's what, 11-4 Anaheim? Man. It's painful.

9.51 PM: Brett Gardner wishes he could hit like Ramiro Peña right now...

9.54 PM: Jetes, that was so, so totally not the time to almost GIDP.

9.56 PM: Guess this isn't our game, is it?

10.14 PM: On a line up that includes Derek Jeter, Mark Teixeira and Hideki Matsui, no one is clutching like Melky Cabrera and Ramiro Peña!

10.33 PM: Nervous yet?

10.39 PM: Best. Fucking best. Win. Of. The. Year.

Okay, it's May 1...but still...