Halladay outduels Burnett in Toronto (Postgame Notes 12 May 2009)

Man, are these Yankees snakebitten or what?

AJ Burnett pitched pretty well tonight. Six hits and a couple of walks.

Roy Halladay pitched a heck of a lot better He faced two hitters over the minimum and of the five hits the Yankees had, two were hit by the piping-hot Johnny Damon.

Roy Halladay is one of the best pitchers in the game today, if not the best. He's something like 12-2 against the Yankees in his last 18 starts (now either still 12-2 or 13-1).

Losing a game to Halladay is not the same sort of embarrassment that, say, losing to Sidney Ponson or Oliver Perez might bring, but teams that win World Series are teams that can beat Roy Halladay or Justin Verlander or whomever.

There's really not much else to be said for the game tonight. Halladay dominated and it can be argued the Yankees were lucky to get the one run they did.

Kevin Cash looked horrible at the late, but I suspect you don't expect more from your fourth string catcher.


Hideki Matsui left the game with tightness in his hamstring. It's tempting to argue for the firing of the Yankees' conditioning coach, but when a team's as old as the Yankees are, injuries are going to happen regardless of who's involved with strength and conditiong.

Yankees at Blue Jays, 12 May 2009: A Liveblog

3.52 PM: Well, the Blue Jays are the surprise team of the AL East and I'm not sure anyone outside of Ontario saw this coming. Now the Yanks will have to go and face Roy "Doc" Halladay, and they'll have to do it without Swisher. Gardner against Halladay does not inspire a whole lot of confidence.

4.20 PM: So Swisher's 2-12 against Halladay and Gardner's 3-7 with a couple doubles. Suddenly things make a little more sense.

4.47 PM: Jeter scratched from line up, no word on why.

5.10 PM: Jeter is out with an oblique pull. Let this be a lesson to you: Never ask the question "what else can go wrong?"

5.37 PM: Jeter is apparently day-to-day (thanks to @jimbaumbach), but these things tend to devolve quickly.

5.42 PM: Ayayayay. More from Baumbach: "Girardi says he learned of Jeter's oblique problem Saturday. "I'm hoping" he'll play tomorrow, Girardi says."

6.33 PM: Wishing a very happy birthday to one Lawrence Peter "Yogi" Berra!

6.47 PM: Swisher is sporting a new haircut

7.11 PM: Damon gets thrown out trying to stretch a single to a double. He's fast, but he's not that fast. Anyway, the good news is that even if the Yanks are held scoreless they won't be no hit. Actually, Damon may have been safe there.

Meanwhile Mark Teixeira still kind of sucks.

7.20 PM: Nice inning for AJ there.

7.26 PM: Six outs for Halladay and five via the grounder. He is the best pitcher in the game today.

7.33 PM: A-Rod boots what could have been a DP ball. And given the Yankees are something like 2-12 when they have an error, this does not bode well.

7.35 PM: Derek Jeter probably does not make that play. Not to say Peña's bat makes up for the glove, but thanks to the glove it's still 0-0.

7.41 PM: And through three Halladay has only faced the minimum and is on pace for a CG. As always.

7.47 PM: At this rate, the game will be over before nine.

7.53 PM: The Yankees right now look like they'll be lucky to get another baserunner.

8.00 PM: Burnett's overthrowing and now the Jays have 2 on with 0 out.

8.03 PM: Bases loaded with no one out. It's come undone for A and is unlikely to end well.

8.06 PM: 2-0 Jays, and there's still no one out. A-Rod probably doesn't make that play even if he's at 100%. With the way Halladay is pitching, that's probably the game.

8.12 PM: If Cash holds onto that just a bit longer, it's a great double play. Instead it's 3-0 Jays.

8.17 PM: Matsui's knees must be bothering him for Swish to be PH this early.

8.20 PM: At this rate Halladay could pitch a complete game in less than 50 pitches. He still hasn't faced above the minimum and the Yanks have only had one baserunner.

8.23 PM: Matsui's left the game with tightness in his hamstring. As RAB said, Age 1, Yankees 0

8.34 PM: I get you can't hope for much when Posada, Jeter and now Matsui are out of the line up, but damn, this is depressing.

8.40 PM: That DP was probably the best defensive play of the game, but unless the Yanks get some other baserunners (nevermind runs), it probably will go unnoticed.

8.46 PM: Is that...no it can't be...seriously... a baserunner!?!?!?

8.51 PM: And the Yankees have scored a run now. Even if they lose this game (which, at this rate, they probably will), I don't have to headline the post with 'Yanks one-hit by Halladay'. Which in itself feels really go.

9.02 PM: You're not going to win many games with your fourth string catcher. On the bright side, Johnny Damon gets to hit in the ninth.

9.06 PM: Likely icing on the cake for Toronto.

They Just Look Silly (Postgame Notes 11 July 2008)

The Yankees have had more than their fair share of bad losses, and tonight's certainly fills that category from an offensive standpoint.

I'll get to Joba in a second, but the much, much more pressing concern has got to be the offense.

It's not just that the offense isn't producing like they did last year, but right now, it hardly looks like they're trying.

Roy Halladay is a good pitcher. A really, really good pitcher. He's probably one of a single-digit handful that has the potential ability to throw a no-hitter or a perfect game. Lord knows he throws enough complete games that pitch counts aren't any sort of issue for him.

However, the Yankees have a nine-digit salaried line-up so that they won't be on the wrong end of such a performance.

So their antics tonight? Inexcusable.

Halladay was really good, yes, but this offense should be better than a two-hit performance.



On the other hand, Joba actually had one of his better starts this year. He went 6 2/3 innings, with nine strikeouts, and, more impressive, no walks. He was done in by poor defense and a bad pitch to Rod Barajas, but, while he'll take the loss, it does look like he gained in tonight's performance.

He still needs to figure out his shutdown pitch, the one he can throw on an 0-2 count, but he's young and it should come with time.


Also, it was very clear that Jorge had not caught in a week. I know Jorge's always been more valuable as an offensive player and clubhouse presence than a defensive catcher, but I don't know if it's that Jose Molina is just that good behind the home plate, or if Jorge's defense has gone from adequate to a bit of a liability. I give him credit for playing hurt, but that doesn't mean I'm not concerned.


The good news is that there's a quick turn around before tomorrow so hopefully the Yankees can shake off another wasted effort by Joba.

****


In other news, FanFest was a lot of fun.

I can report that I can throw a 29 mph pitch (I don't think that can qualify as a fastball), which is actually an improvement over the last time I tried.

I also have myself an American League All Star Rivera t-shirt, and various other knick-knacks. I got a free pennant because I twice made contact off of a video projection of Pedro Martinez. Never mind that they were bunted foul...

A Preview A Day Keeps the Winter Away, #4

For the month of March I will be doing a season preview, with a new team each day, going in alphabetical order by team so I can save the Yankees for last, because I am, in fact, that devious.

As this is a Yankees' blog, the previews for AL East teams will be more detailed than those of AL Central and AL West teams, and any AL team previews will be more detailed than NL team previews, save maybe for the Mets. Each preview will involve consideration of how much 'threat' a team is to the Yankees, for fairly obvious reasons.

Up Today: The Toronto Blue Jays





The first division rival preview here, so it'll be a bit more in-depth than the other ones.

The Jays, quite simply, have the misfortune of playing in the the AL East. Short of winning a World Series or losing 100 games (and that's not even a hyperbole) they will be overshadowed by the Sox and Yankees when they're good, and the Orioles and Rays when they're bad.

It would, however, be a bad idea to overlook the team. Consider this: Toronto won 83 games last year, in the AL East, while losing significant time due to injury from Halladay, Burnett, Chacin, Ryan, Overbay, Glaus (now departed for more Cardinal-y pastures), Zaun, Johnson and (breath) Wells.

And you thought the Yankees had injury problems in '07!

Imagine if all of them were healthy.

Anyway, so let's start off looking at Toronto's likely starting rotation:

Roy Halladay: This guy's an ace. There's no other way about it, and, to add to it, he pitches pretty dang well against the Yanks. He's 10-4 with a 2.99 ERA in his career against the Bombers. So, basically, he makes Josh Becket look like fodder.

AJ Burnett: When he's healthy, he can be up there with the game's best. When he's healthy. He did manage 165 inning last year, which I'll admit I was surprised to see given his reputation for being an injury-risk.

Dustin McGowan: Held right-handed batters to a .198 average last year. That shouldn't be too much of an issue for the Yankees, who could likely put together a line-up with just one right-handed bat if they really wanted to (they don't.)

Shaun Marcum: Not up to the Halladay/Burnett/McGowan standards, but then, there's a reason he's not the number one starter. Had a 7.47 ERA in his last seven starts, but also had a torn meniscus, so yeah, that's not totally surprising.

Jesse Litsch: I'll put it this way--in a September game last year we were all excited we didn't have to face Halladay or Burnett (I forget which one, but I think it was Halladay), and we got to face Litsch instead. We, uh, kinda sorta lost that game, and it wasn't a pretty one, either.


Rotation summary, as it effects the Yankees: You know, I'd be more scared of facing this rotation than Boston's. Granted, I'm not really afraid of any rotation, but I really would rank a healthy Toronto rotation ahead of Boston. The, uh, problem is, though, the healthy bit.


Out of the bullpen, Accardo and Janssen are solid. Ryan is slated to return from TJ surgery, so we'll see what that does.

As for the regular line-up, highlights:

Alex Rios: Let's put it like this--there's the Jays line up, and then there's Alex Rios. He's got a .338 average against the Yankees, not to mention a poster child for a good right field arm. He is THE highlight in a line-up that, outside of Frank Thomas, does not inspire much fear.

Frank Thomas: Now that I've mentioned him, might as well...he's only a threat at the plate, as he can't play in the field, but he's still a threat. He was one of Joba's very first outs, though, so take that as you will.

Aaron Hill: Not quite Robbie Canò with with the bat, but he did tie a franchise record for home runs set by a second baseman.

Line-up summary: Toronto's strength is not their line up. If they took care of their line up the way they did their pitching, there'd be a likely chance that the race for the AL East would be a three-way. I wouldn't be surprised to see Toronto make a major push near the deadline for some serious line-up help, although, given what I've seen of Toronto's farm system up here in 'Cuse...well, I mean, when you have ten errors in a game...yeah. Doesn't bode too well.


Threat to the Yankees: Orange, Exercise Extreme Caution.

Why Orange, when they probably don't make the playoffs?

The Yankees still have to play them nineteen times this season, and if their rotation stays healthy, they are anything BUT a walk-over. I imagine the race for third in the division with Tampa is going to be very, very intense.

In another division, the NL Central and NL East come to mind, the Jays could easily be a contender, but that geography...it'll get you every time.