Triple the pleasure, triple the fun

[I will do a separate post detailing the umpiring or lack thereof in the morning. For the moment, let the Yankees' win in spite of the umpires speak for itself.]

For mere humans, starting a Major League baseball game on three days' rest is asking for disaster.

For one Carsten Charles Sabathia, starting on three days' rest is just another way to earn his paycheck.

We, lesser men and women, can only marvel as Sabathia is pictured in the dugout, yawning during the Yankees' at-bats.

This, of course, would be the best spot to mention how Scott Kazmir took forever between pitches, never looked quite comfortable and flirted with disaster the entire night. We'll get to the Yankee offense in a moment.

For now, Sabathia.

The Yankees' ace--and if he has not yet earned that moniker, he never will--was so good that he was still throwing mid nineties when his pitch count was roughly equal to that.

Sabathia was so good that his line is deceptive. He struck out five, but this has more to do with the fact that Sabathia was consistently getting outs early in the count--he walked just two through eight innings.

The last time the Yankees asked a starter to go on three days' rest in the postseason was Chien Ming Wang in 2007 and it didn't work out so well--the Yankees were eliminated that game.

That, in my mind, is all you need to know. In 2007, pre-foot-that-led-to-shoulder injury, Wang was a very good pitcher.

Sabathia, however, is an ace.

Aces do heroic things.

In the grand scheme of things, pitching a baseball game is hardly worthy of comment, but for us Yankee fans, tonight was heroism. Pure and simple.



Of course, if one starts talking heroes, one will have to bring Alex Rodriguez into the discussion.

Rodriguez hasn't just shattered the notion of postseason demons; he's gone way past obliterating them into ridiculous, other-worldly, and now...well, profound.

Rodriguez keeps asserting that nothing profound has happened, and that he's just in a good place, but, really, what he's done this October is, itself, profound.

There's no other way to describe it than that. Profound.


If the ALCS was over today, and you had a vote for the MVP, do you give it to Sabathia or Rodriguez, who has not only exceeded this round, but is perhaps the reason the Yankees made it this far in the first place?

It's a tough call.



While you're busy oggling Sabathia's and Rodriguez's performances (and oggle you should), don't forget the production the Yankees received tonight from one Melky Cabrera.

Cabrera had two RBI early that put the Yankees up 3-0, and then two more late, after the game had reached the 'pouring-it-on' stage.

Many have remarked that the Yankees' bottom of the order is not producing, but Cabrera is batting .353 in the postseason.

If we expect an all star, Cabrera will disappoint, but if we expect a number nine hitter who stands a reasonable shot of getting on base as anyone, we ought to be well satisfied.


There are rumors that Cabrera repeated a certain phrase that he uttered after hitting for the cycle, but these are thus far unsubstantiated and I do not have DVR.



The Yankees now have a 3-1 series lead and will have their chance to close it out on Thursday. They needed to take at least one game in Anaheim and they've done that; now they're out for Angel blood.

Late inning Yankee heroics are not your imagination.

Since last night's seven run ninth-inning brings the issue up, check this out:

In innings 7-9 the Yankees are batting .297/.383/.517/.900 as a team. It's more drastic if you look at innings seven and nine individually: in the seventh the Yankees are batting .314/.403/.528/.930 as a team.

That's right, in the seventh inning, the Yankees as a team are batting .314 (guys that bat .314 generally contend for the All Star team) and OPSing .930. To compare, Mark Teixeira is OPSing .920 for the year.

The ninth inning numbers are similar: .311/.399/.528/.927.

The difference here, however, is that while the Yankees always play a seventh inning, they don't always play the ninth (if they're winning and at home). So that makes the seventh inning numbers all that more insane.

The Yankees have scored 271 runs in the 7th-9th innings; they have not scored 250 in either the 1st-3rd or 4th-6th.


We knew the Yankee offense was good...really good...but their numbers in the latter innings are kind of insane.

Maybe this is why the Yankees have 12 walk off wins and g-d-knows-how-many come-from-behind wins. It's the mark of a team that keeps fighting.

Boy, is it fun to watch...

The Most Important Hits in The Yankees 2009 Season So Far

Timely hitting can do so much.

That said, the hits that end up really mattering are often the ones that are important only in hindsight--they aren't, necessarily, the walk-off hits, but ones that allowed the rally to keep going, ones that grabbed the lead or even tied the game, etc.

In no particular order I would include:

Alex Rodriguez's first swing home run against the Orioles in his first game back
Francisco Cervelli legging out a two-out infield hit that allowed Johnny Damon to hit a 3-run HR on Mother's Day
Brett Gardner's inside-the-park Home Run against the Twins
Francisco Cervelli's game-tying Home Run in Atlanta

And now:

Melky Cabrera's three run Home Run against the Red Sox.

What about you?

Which hits, walk-off hits or not, do you consider to be seminal moments in the season?

They Don't Need No Stinkin' Homers (Postgame notes 07 July 2009)

They were playing in the Metrodome, aka the Homerdome, but the Yankees won 10-1 tonight without the aid of a single home run.

Unless, of course, you count the grand slam that A-Rod hit that Carlos Gomez just happened to time perfectly, jump up and steal.

At any rate, the 10 Yankee runs came on singles, bloops, walks, a triple (Gardner)--perhaps none more important than a 2-out bases loaded hit from Robinson Canó (yes, THAT Canó) that turned a 5-1 game into a 7-1 not-tie-able-by-a-grand-slam lead.

In other words, while CC Sabathia was excellent, which is great considering his poor start against Seattle, the real star of this game was the Yankee offense.

The offense proved tonight it doesn't have to hit home runs to win ball games, it can do plenty of other things, too.

Mark Teixeira perhaps best exemplifies this--he had four hits tonight, and they were all singles.

In fact, thirteen of the sixteen Yankee hits tonight were singles.

Against a starting pitcher that had been untouchable over his past four starts, the Yankees thrived.

The best part is that they get to throw AJ Burnett at 'em tomorrow and have an excellent chance to win the series.

Yanks' Grit it Out Against Mariners (postgame notes 30 June 2009)

Given that Mariano Rivera threw out tonight's ceremonial first pitch and that Joba Chamberlain was starting, it is perhaps not surprising that in the end it came down to the bullpen.

Joba Chamberlain started, and while he wasn't horrible in any sense of the word, he also wasn't very good, or even mildly good.

He struggled with command, and once again seemed to nibble too much, being afraid to attack the zone after going 0-2 on hitters. To be sure, the hits the Mariners had off of Joba were more of the bloop than the blast variety, but he threw too many pitches and much too many out of the strike zone.

For much of the game, the Yankee offense muddled about in a state of semi-consciousness.

The first three runs came on an error, a sac fly and a groundout--and they were 0-9 with RISP at one point.

However, as soon as the Mariners tied the game (which they did twice), the Yankees' offense would come right back, doing, once again, just enough to make sure the team wins. The offense did look best in the bottom of the 8th inning.



The story line about this game, however, will center around the 8th inning.

In the seventh, Joe Girardi had gone to Phil Hughes to pitch, and Hughes set the Mariners' down, in order, on nine pitches.

As many have opined, there was no real reason to take Hughes out of a game, especially since he needs his innings.

Still, Girardi played, once again, by the book and brought in his presumed 8th inning guy, Brian Bruney.

As has been the case since Bruney came off of the disabled list, he struggled and, in this case blew the 5-3 lead.

The question of what should have been done will, no doubt, fill the non-Mets-related talk on WFAN tomorrow; and opinions will probably be very varied.

Me? I would have stuck with Hughes, not because of a lack of faith in Bruney, but because Hughes has been so dominant and because Hughes could use the work. You might entirely disagree.


Ultimately, the Yankees got the win on a night Boston lost (check out those highlights if you can. Seriously.), and all is well.

Comeback Kids

Today, the Yankees had their 20th come-from-behind win.

Now, given that some of these wins probably include some where the Yanks came from behind in the 1st or the 2nd, here's a more telling stat:

The Yanks this year have five wins when trailing going into the 8th inning. They had four all of last year.

In the month of May, the Yankees had five walk off wins. In the month of June thus far, the Yankees have already had two games where they took the lead in the bottom of the 8th after tying the game late.

You think, maybe, this team should just skip the first six innings?

There's Something in the Melk

Yesterday, for what seemed like the umpteenth time this season, the Yankees' Melky Cabrera came through with a big hit late in the game.

This alone is pretty incredible: after all, last year Cabrera played so poorly that he, the starting center fielder on Opening Day, got sent down to AAA Scranton.

If it was a wake up call, it seems to have worked. Cabrera has been great for the Yankees this season, and perhaps no situation better than in late, close games, in clutch situations.

Let's take a look at the splits.

The first I'm going to look at here is Melky's numbers each time he sees a starting pitcher. Like most players, Melky hits better the third time he sees the pitcher, at .421/.429/.632. Starting pitchers fatigue later in the game, so this split isn't too surprising.

However, it probably should be noted here, that in the 8th and 9th innings, when Cabrera's doing most of his damage, the starter has usually been taken out of the game. So while the above split is nice, it doesn't really suit our purposes.

This, however, does:

Cabrera hits .412/.444/.588 in the eighth inning and .471/.526/.529 in the ninth. Those splits don't indicate close games, but they do indicate a knack for hitting late in the game. In the third through seventh innings, Melky doesn't even hit .300, but eighth or later, Melky's OPS is over 1.000. (Melky also has great numbers in the first and second innings, but if a hitter as low in the order as he is gets a chance to hit in the first two innings, the first especially, the other pitcher probably isn't doing a very good job.)

In high leverage situations, Melky is hitting at .324/.350/.514 which is one indicator of hitting in so-called clutch situations.

Another indicator are situations defined as close and late, which is a situation where, 7th inning or later, and the batting team is tied, ahead by one or with the tying run at least on deck.

In these situation Melky's numbers are an astounding .483/.500/.690, and he has an OPS of 1.192, nearly 1.200, when 1.000 is considered excellent. He has 33 plate appearances, which is a small sample size, but it's not that small.

Most telling, in these situations, Melky has 11 of his 22 RBI.


Having a hitter with these kind of the numbers in these situations at the bottom of the line up is certainly a weapon, as it further reasserts the notion that there are no holes or landing spots in the Yankee line up.


What's all this mean?

Quite simply, right now, in 2009, if you want the Yankees to get a clutch hit, late in the ball game in a close game, you don't want Alex Rodriguez or Mark Teixeira or even Jorge Posada batting.

You want the Melkman.

Anatomy of a Winning Homestand

Despite their loss today, the Yankees went 8-2 on their ten game homestand.

I guarantee that if you ask any single person in a Yankees' uniform they will tell you that, yes, it would have been nice to sweep the homestand, but going 8-2 over ten games is not a shoddy deal.

Here's why the Yankees went 8-2.

1) They beat the team they were supposed to beat, no excuses, sweeping Baltimore in the middle three games of the series.

2) They never said die, even in games it didn't look like they'd win. They had four walk-off wins; nearly five, and in some of the walk-offs never lead until their final at bat. The starting pitching kept the team in the game; the bullpen did a remarkably good job, despite often playing short, and the offense came up clutch when it mattered.

3) The homestand wasn't the responsibility of one single player. Nearly everyone pulled their weight at some point. There will always be someone slumping; what matters is whether or not the rest of the team can pick that someone up. This week, the Yankees did.

4) Starting pitching, starting pitching, starting pitching.

Only AJ Burnett struggled on Friday. Nearly every other game, every starter kept the team in the game, even if they had to grit through it (and when the starter couldn't, ie, Joba's injury, the bullpen did).


5) Clutch hitting.

Four walk off wins, and nearly five, says a heck of a lot. None of the walk offs came against the weak Orioles; they came against the relatively competitive Twins and the world champion Phillies.



So, there you have it.

Yes, the Yankees dropped the series to the Phillies, but they came *that close* to not. If Teixeira doesn't ground into that double play, the Yankees probably win that game.

There was one loss--that on Friday--in which the Yankees never had much of a shot at winning the game. One, out of ten games.

The team is playing with the type of energy and fight that, face it, we haven't had since 2003.

Yes, the Yankees are still be in third place.

If they keep playing like this, they won't be for long.

Captain is Clutch as Yankees Come from Behind (postgame notes, 15 April 2009)

[Short post--as many of you know there's been an unexpected death in the family and my ability to concentrate is gone].

Derek Jeter came up huge twice today, knocking in the tying run and the go-ahead run in the eighth and the ninth. Whatever his struggles hitting or in the field, Jeter has always had a knack for clutch, and today he delivered.

Other points of note:

On Jackie Robinson day, Robinson Canó had a two run home run and the #42-wearing Mariano Rivera had a 1-2-3 ninth.

Through nine games now, the Yankees still have yet to score less than four runs. They were tied for fourth in MLB in runs scored at today's start, and while they have a close run differential, one must consider how many of the runs came in Wang's two (of nine) starts, Sabathia's one, and the couple poor bullpen performances.

Andy Pettitte went seven innings, three runs, which is by definition a quality start.

Out of the Yankees' nine games, they have had five quality starts and a sixth where they allowed only two runs (Burnett did not go the requisite six innings against Baltimore, though he did start the sixth).

Home opener tomorrow. Would like to liveblog, but will likely be unable to.

The Dark Knight is Amazing. Go See It. (Postgame Notes 18 July 2008)

If only the Yankees could play like this every night.

Good starting pitching, clutch hitting, clean defense and an overpowering bullpen will get you a win almost every time, and that's exactly what the Yankees had tonight.

Mike Mussina was not dominant--he gave up nine hits over six--but he was effective. He allowed one run in the first and did not allow another run the rest of the game. He did not walk a single batter and struck out the side in the second--all looking.

Mussina now has more wins (12) than he had all of last season, and still has a potential, if unlikely, shot at 20 wins. Many agree that one 20 win season would give Moose the boost he needs to be a serious Hall of Fame candidate.

I could gush more about the season that Mussina is having, but tonight's win wasn't just Mike Mussina.

The Yankee offense did something it's not done much of late, and played a good game. It wasn't just one guy with a good night, but the entire team seemed to be playing well.

Bobby Abreu, Alex Rodriguez, Robinson Canò and Melky Cabrera all had multiple hit games that included extra base hits (doubles for Abreu and Melky; home runs for Alex and Canò).

More telling, however, was that six of the Yankee runs were scored on two outs--three of those coming on Robinson Canò's home run in the third to put the Yankees ahead. The Yankees never relinquished the lead.

The bullpen, which tonight didn't see Jose Veras, Kyle Farnsworth or Mariano Rivera, was absolutley dominant.

David Robertson struck out the side in the seventh; Edwar Ramirez struck out two of three in a one-two-three eighth, and LaTroy Hawkins had a one-two-three ninth, ending the game with a strike out.

In the last few years, and, most notably, last year, the Yankees have been a second-half team, and tonight, they posted one of their best-played wins this season to start it off.

If you believe in omens t all, consider tonight a good one.

Rocket Refueled, Captain Clutch, Mient Man delivers and Save(io)r Scare (Postgame notes 16 Sept 07)

Derek Jeter lives for moments like these, Roger Clemens proves that a bloody arm beats the heck out of a bloody sock, Doug Mientkiewicz shows that defense really is important, and Mo is apparently an undercover operative for cardiologists everywhere.

You knew a Yankees-Red Sox game, when the last meeting of the season, would be crazy, but, I don't actually think I've stopped shaking yet!

Anyway, better start at the beginning.

Ask anyone on the street what pitching match up they'd most want to see of the weekend, they would have probably said Wang/Beckett, but they should have chosen Clemens/Schilling.

Clemens was a bit wild in the first, but, had Johnny Damon caught that first ball, the Yankees would have gotten out of the inning without a run. He settled down after that, and at one point struck out four Red Sox hitters in a row.

Who says pitching with ligament damage in your arm is a bad idea?

Also in the first, Doug Mientkiewicz made a play that saved the game for the Yankees, by diving to stop a ground ball hit by Varitek (I think it was Varitek), and then getting up and diving again to get to the base before the runner. It saved two runs from scoring, and kept the game at 1-0.

Mientkiewicz also made other great plays, including a grab--and--shuffle to Clemens. Oh, and in case you forget, he was on base when Jeter had his BIG BLOW OF DOOM.

However, before I get to Jeter I should mention that Robinson Cano's solo HR to tie the game should not be without mention; it was an impressive shot and without it, well, we're still playing baseball right now!

Anyway, the fun stuff.

You knew when Jeter came up with two out in the eighth that he had to come through then, and he didn't disappoint. Jeter's made his career and his Stuff-Of-Legend by coming up big in important spots, and there aren't many spots more important than a 1-1 game with two on and two out. Of course, because it wouldn't be baseball otherwise, Jeter had to get to two strikes before he hit it....

Even still, it wasn't the most nerve-wracking part of the night!

That part came in the ninth, when Mo had what can best be described as not-his-best-performance. After all, you'd think that with Varitek, Hinske and Lugo up that it'd be a quick inning, but the lead off walk was telling, and then the HBP...

Deep down, however, you knew it had to come down to Mo and David Ortiz, and you know what? Despite the fact that I'm gonna die of a heart attack before this season's out, I'm glad it came down to that, because the last time I remember the two facing off it was October 2004, and we know what happened then. This time, you have to believe that certain demons were excised.

Anyway, could a Yankees/Red-Sox game end any other way?

You also might be interested in considering:

The Yankees just went 7-2 on their road trip. They just had a better road trip than homestand. We won THREE one run games on the road, too. That had been a major problem for us. Apparently, not so much any more. You have got to believe there are good vibes in the clubhouse tonight.

The division is once again at 4.5 games. It's not likely the Yankees will win it, but it's possible. After all, all it takes is to win your games when the other team loses theirs. Anything can happen.



I said back at the end of July, in my LiveJournal, that we were in for one hell of a finish.

I have not been disappointed.


SCORES AND STUFFS

Kansas City beat Cleveland 4-3. Get this: The winning pitcher's name? Billy Buckner. Yeah. I know.

Baltimore beat Toronto 8-6 in 12. I'm probably alone in thinking this, but if your team is officially just playing out the string, do you really want the game going to 12? Well, I guess since Toronto is still in the WC race they might have had a reason, but, even still...

The Chi Sox beat the Angels 9-7, winning it on a walk off HR from Jim Thome, the 500th of his career. I highly doubt that Jim Thome reads blogs, but in case someone knows someone that knows someone, I offer my congragulations.

Detroit beat Minnesota 6-4, as Detroit keeps pace with New York for the Wild Card. They've won five straight and thus offered the Yankees no help whatsoever.

Tampa Bay beat Seattle 9-2 as Seattle has done everything in its power to have that utter collapse everyone kept talking about back in July and August.

Texas beat Oakland 11-9 and the Yankees should be glad they don't have to play them, as they've been playing rather...uhhh...good baseball of late.

Philadelphia beat the Mets 10-6, completing a sweep and making the NL East just about as interesting as the AL East.

Atlanta beat Washington 3-0, as the team of the 90s refuses to die twelve years after it won the World Series.

Milwaukee beat Cincinnati 5-2. The Brew Crew has already topped it's season total for wins last year, though, in all honesty, if they go 0-12 the rest of the way, would it really surprise anyone?

Houston beat Pittsburgh 15-3 in a game that really does mean nothing.

The Cubs beat St. Louis 4-2 to stay atop the NL Central, as the Cardinals have completely collapsed since the Ankiel HGH story broke.

Colorado beat Florida 13-0. Todd Helton had his 300th career home run, so my congratulations to him as well.

San Diego beat San Francisco 5-1. Does Bonds even still play now?

Arizona beat LA 6-1, tightening their grip on the NL West.



Yankees return home tomorrow to play the Orioles. At least the Yankees will not be facing Guthrie or Bedard...

You Ain't Pretty, but You're All Right, and That's All Right With Me (Postgame notes 14 Sept 07)

Wow.


I mean, what else do you say after that?

That was not the type of game that most teams win.

Then again, the Yankees aren't most teams.

There is a reason you play 27 outs of baseball. There is a reason you never give up, a reason you never give in. There is a reason the Yankees have 26 rings.

Originally, I was going to title this post 'D'oh-fence', but then the eighth inning happened...

Andy Pettitte was ugly tonight...far from what most Yankees fans expected. It was probably just one of those games, he wasn't sharp early, and from the very first batter he got not help whatsoever from the defense (especially from Giambi, who had one of his worst games defensively this year)

Veras was okay, Henn was awful, and Bruney--yes, THAT Bruney--was the unsung hero. Viz had a great showing, despite playing hurt, and Mo was, well, Mo.

Offensively, I think everyone except Damon, Jorge and Matsui would like to forget the first seven innings. Posada's doubles and Matsui's triples were overshadowed by the inability to 'get the big hit', and when the bases were left loaded in the first, it wasn't a good sign.

Still, baseball, like history, turns on a dime.

All it takes is one good pitch or one good hit.

Jason Giambi, the one who really needed to redeem himself, was, of course, the one to start it with a lead-off solo shot to make the score 7-3.

Then Robby Cano followed with another.

Then Melky got on base, and until after A-Rod came up with the Game Winning RBI, the merry-go-round just kept on going. Jeter continued to define clutch, and Abreu continued to show that as he goes, so go the Yankees.


They don't have to be pretty, they just have to be wins.

All it takes is a little faith. There are twenty-seven outs in baseball.

You play all of them.



Scores and Stuffs

Detroit beat Minnesota 4-2, Timo Perez driving in three of Detroit's four. I cannot imagine anyone on the Tigers enjoyed watching tonight's game in Boston.

The White Sox beat the Angels, 5-3. That's weird. Weirder? The Angels have now lost two in a row, to the O's and ChiSox, arguably the two worst teams in baseball. Weirdest? Jose Contreras got the win. No, I am not making that up.

Baltimore beat Toronto 6-2, as Toronto seems to be chronically unable to understand the concept of 'offense'. No matter Toronto fans, hockey season is almost upon us...

Cleveland beat Kansas City 5-4 in the bottom of the ninth, creating their own baseball classic.

Tampa and Seattle are tied at one in the bottom of the ninth, but as Seattle's got runners on the corners and no one out, don't expect it to stay that way for long.

Texas and Oakland are tied at nine. Check the line on that one, it's kind of funny.

In the division No One Wants to Win, (NOWW for short), the Cubs beat the Cardinals 5-3, and Ankiel did not have a home run, as he seems to have stopped doing that. Zambrano got his win, for his 16th.

Cincinnati beat Milwaukee 6-5, so don't even ask me who's in first in the NOWW division. I really don't know. I'll just look at the calendar on October first.

Philadelphia beat the Mets 3-2 in the tenth, their faint playoff hopes not going anywhere quite yet.

Atlanta beat Washington 8-5. Washington was probably just glad to play in a park where people actually showed up.

Florida beat Colorado 7-6, but it's not likely anyone was there to see it.

Pittsburgh beat Houston 4-3, and would you believe it, but the Pirates have a better record than the Astros. The Astros and ChiSox, mind you, actually played in the World Series in 2005. (They say there's no parity in baseball...)

San Francisco leads San Diego 4-2 in the bottom of the ninth, but San Diego's got two on and no one out, so this could get interesting quick.

LA leads Arizona 6-4 in the bottom of the fifth, and they're looking for more.