For a complete recap please check out my post at The Yankee Universe
Derek Jeter was again held hitless, and it’s beginning to look like he’s pressing–not for sake of a record, but because Jeter is now in his longest 0-fer for the season.
The win was there for the taking.
Down by five runs in the ninth, the Yankees clawed back to within one run, and had men on second and first base with no one out and Swisher at the plate.
Nick Swisher doesn't much like hitting at Yankee Stadium, but he still draws quite a few walks, and against a pitcher that couldn't throw strikes, the call for him to bunt in that situation will likely haunt Joe Girardi and the Yankees until their next win.
The bunt may have been the conventional move and the by-the-book move, but there were two problems with it: Swisher's not a typical bunter, and Frank Francisco had been showing himself to be eminently hittable.
The only significant problem I have had with Joe Girardi all year is that he plays by the book just a little too often.
Sometimes--rarely, but still--momentum or a unique situation calls for the book to be thrown out the window.
That's exactly tonight. The Yankees had sent six men to the plate before Swisher in the ninth inning, and all six of them had reached via walk or hit.
When Swisher showed bunt, it became clear that Girardi was playing for the tie and not the win (which is normal when you're home), but one has to ask, had this been any other inning, would Swisher really have bunted there? If this game was on the road, would Swisher have bunted there?
Absolutley not.
****
That aside, this game wasn't lost in the ninth inning. It was lost when Joba Chamberlain blew a 4-0 lead.
Some stuff from Joe P. of River Ave Blues:
Nine of 10 runs scored after bases empty, two outs...in both innings Joba allowed runs, it came down to his inability to retire the No. 9 hitter...
Sure, it'd have been nice if Chad Gaudin had not given up those two bombs, but Gaudin didn't put the Yankees in a 7-4 hole to start.
Right now, the fact that Joba is the Yankees' #4 starter in the postseason is a little disconcerting. He's still young, but he's got some serious on-field growing up to do.
The Yankees' just-finished 10 game road trip was their longest of the season--and they responded by going 7-3.
Think about that for a moment.
That's the type of road trip that separates the contenders from the pretenders.
The Yankees, going into the series against Boston had only one thing they needed to do, and that was to not get swept. They accomplished that the first night, but tonight they won the series as well.
It's not very often a baseball team will get five home runs off of Josh Beckett (Matsui had two--all four of his hits on the road trip were home runs), but that is what happened tonight.
Funny game, that baseball.
The Yankees couldn't buy a run off of Junichi Tazawa yesterday, but scored in each of the first five innings today.
Some observations:
Andy Pettitte, since the All Star Break:
20 IP, 16 H, 7 R, 6 ER, 23 K, 3 BB (Yes, that's 23 strikeouts to three walks over twenty innings pitched).
In those starts, he's also received a grand total of three runs of support.
The Yankees have scored more runs than any other team in baseball, but apparently Pettitte did some sort of voodoo curse on the bats because they are very much not scoring for him.
It's a shame, because Pettitte has been stellar since the break, and even if he isn't exactly the Andy Pettitte of the late 1990s, he's certainly pitching well enough to be 3-0 in his last three starts, and not 0-0, with the Yankees having lost two of those games.
*****
It's tempting to blame the loss on Phil Coke, but Coke didn't put that runner on second, Hughes did. To be fair, Hughes was probably a bit gasses, and Girardi remains afraid to use Rivera in a tie game on a road.
At any rate, if you're going to blame anyone for this game, blame the offense that struck out seven times looking.
If the home plate umpire has a strike zone the size of a small state, you should probably at least swing at anything remotely close.
Some of you will consider this loss more grating than the game Sabathia recently lost; I disagree. Most nights if you get an effort from your starting pitcher like Pettitte gave, your team will win.
The most telling signs from tonight's Yankees' win have less to do with the stellar play by all (except, perhaps, Jonathan Albaladejo) on the field and more to do with the comments made off of it:
[So the All Star Game is officially over--and we can thus consider ourselves in the second half.
This is where it gets fun.
All of those days players got rested in the first half? Well, now they have to play. Now the pennant races start to heat up, and every move a team makes, be it a trade, a free agent signing or simply bringing someone up from AAA has even more added meaning.
What do we expect from the Yankees?
I'm going to do a series of posts addressing this, because there's so much to say that having it all in one post would a) kill your eyes and mine, and b) give me carpal tunnel at the age of 23.]
Next up we have the second part of the lineup.
To see general thoughts on the lineup, see the previous post.
The Lineup, Part 2
Hideki Matsui
Matsui's season started horribly. He looked, quite simply, done--was as close to an automatic out as the Yankees had in their line up.
Then, he got his knees drained and got hot, and reports of his demise were greatly exaggerated.
He cooled off again after that, but now, in July, perhaps his favorite month of the year, Matsui again has gotten hot and seems to have benefited immensely from the nine straight games in NL parks (noticeably the only Yankee to do so).
Where Matsui hurts the Yankees is in his inability to play the field. The Yankees were able to plod through the interleague part of their schedule without totally imploding (though 2-4 against the Marlins and Nationals is frankly embarrassing), but the real danger is if Damon or Swisher gets hurt. Gardner and Cabrera can cover two positions at a time and Eric Hinske, while still a smart pick up, is not an every day player.
What the Yankees need from Matsui is for him to keep hitting well, continuing to provide protection for Posada (who protects A-Rod who protects Teixeira), and they thus also need to keep him healthy by resting him every once in a while. Fortunately, Girardi does not seem to have problems resting Matsui, so I can't see it becoming an issue the way Chamberlain and Canó in the five hole are issues.
In the words of Dora the fish, "just keep swinging, just keep swinging".
The Curious Case of Robinson Canó
Normally guys that hit .308/.341/.490 are in the running for team MVP consideration. Normally everyone oohs and ahs about their spectacular season and they at least make appearances in columns about All Star snubs.
Normally, guys that hit with that line have more than 46 RBI at the break. Especially when they've spent half the season batting fifth.
I'm not sure anyone has a decent explanation for Canó, but to some him up, it's this: when there's no one on base, Canó is a killer at the plate. Dangerous. One of the best hitters in the game. If there's someone on base, Canó's effectiveness goes down--and it's almost directly proportional: more runners on base, more outs, the less likely Canó is to come through.
At this point, it'd be comical if we didn't care so much.
Moving Canó down in the lineup has seem to have helped--and here Joe Girardi is taking a leaf out of Joe Torre's book. Torre is batting LAD center fielder Matt Kemp 8th--even though Kemp is a better hitter than that--because Kemp is batting .528/.576/.774 in that spot (for what it's worth, his numbers hitting ninth are even sicker). If Canó is a better hitter 7th than 5th, then regardless of what Canó could potentially do, that is where he should stay.
In the second half, all eyes will be on what Canó does with men on base. Eventually, he has to be able to hit in that circumstance--or he'll end up the trade bait that he was last winter, when everyone was worried the Yankees would sell low. The potential for Canó to be great is still there--bad hitters don't have .300 seasons--and it's certainly an improvement on last year, but Yankees and their fans still expect so much more.
Nick Swisher
At one point in time, Swisher did not just lead the Yankees in nearly every offensive category; he also led the Yankees in ERA.
Although Swisher's probably not his best as an everyday player, his value to the Yankees comes in having been able to keep steady in right field after Xavier Nady's season-ending injury, and, of course, the untold value of his clubhouse antics.
Swisher has done for the Yankees what many have expected--low average, lots of walks, some power--and has done it all with smile on his face. The fans love it, although they don't, so much, love the bloopers defensively and on the basepath or the low numbers with runners in scoring position.
Brian Cashman, Girardi and Swisher had a closed door meeting a few weeks ago, but the subject of that meeting was never revealed.
Now, with the addition of Eric Hinske, Swisher likely won't be starting every day--and this will ultimately benefit both Swisher and the Yankees. They would like him to get hot again, though it'd take a small miracle for him to be able to repeat April. They'd probably settle for what he did in June, however.
Melky Cabrera
Or, as I like to call him, Clutchy McClutchbrera.
Melky's hitting a solid (and for him, career best) .285/.347/.439, but where he has excelled all season is in the clutch. Nineteen of his 34 RBI --more than half his total RBI--have come in high leverage situations.
The Yankees already have eight walk off wins on the year; Clutchy McClutchbrera is directly responsible for three of them (vs. A's, Twins and Phillies).
He is adequate defensively--Gardner may be the better overall center fielder, but you'd take Cabrera over Damon and Swisher in a heartbeat--and, this season, at least, he hasn't cost the team an error by responding to "roll call" and thus not keeping his eye on the play at hand.
If Cabrera's plate discipline can improve--and it's much better than it's ever been--he becomes that much more of a weapon. Still, there's no getting past the fact that at least when Melky gets his hits, he makes them count. It's kind of like the polar opposite of Robinson Canó.
Next up will be the Yankee bench, which will include Cervelli and Peña.
Take a moment with me, and imagine the following scenario:
It is, say, April 14, 2009. The season is a week old and your baseball team, your beloved New York Yankees have gone to war with an outfield that consists of Johnny Damon, Brett Gardner and Xavier Nady, with Melky Cabrera available off of the bench.
Technically, you do have a fifth outfielder in Hideki Matsui, but his legs can't play in the field until mid-season, and that's if the baseball gods are smiling.
The Yankees have used the extra roster spot for another utility infielder--because Alex Rodriguez is out for another month with the hip injury and Mark Teixeira's wrist has been hurting.
You're watching the Yankees take on the Tampa Bay Rays. It's the middle innings of a game. A Ray, let's say for the sake of story it's Carl Crawford, hits a single to right. Xavier Nady goes to throw it back into the infield and feels a sharp pain in his elbow. He has to take himself out of the game.
That very night he goes for an MRI and word comes back: torn UCL; he needs a second Tommy John surgery.
The Yankee outfield is down to Damon, Cabrera and Gardner. Damon's body can't play every day and together the Yankees can't carry both Cabrera and Gardner's bats while also missing A-Rod and, for all intents and purposes, Mark Teixeira. The top outfield prospect is in his first year at AAA and bringing him up now would kill an option, a year and, more importantly, said prospect is nowhere near ready with his bat.
Your options: take a flier on someone that couldn't make the cut out of spring training, or orchestrate a trade that every other team might see as desperation.
Now what?
******
Remember back to late 2008.
In Yankeeland, there is talk of three big free agents: CC Sabathia, AJ Burnett and Mark Teixeira. Even Derek Lowe creeps in a little bit.
Surely the Yankees are going to sign one, but which?
Then, suddenly, news comes of a trade:
The Yankees have traded Wilson Betemit and minor leaguer Jeffrey Marquez for OF/1B Nick Swisher and RP Kanekoa Texeira.
There is one throught that races through the minds of Yankees' fans: Swisher is a 1B. Does this definitively mean the Yankees will not sign Mark Teixeira?
That answer comes just before Christmas, when the Yankees shock, well, a lot of people by not just signing CC Sabathia and AJ Burnett, but also sign Mark Teixeira as well.
Nick Swisher goes from the presumptive first baseman to an extra outfielder, one that can play corner spots, hit for some power and strike out a ton, but is a clear upgrade over Wilson Betemit. It's not that it'd be hard to find an upgrade over Betemit, but an upgrade that can hit 20 home runs and take 80+ walks? A bit harder.
****
Fast forward to April 2009 as it does happen.
Xavier Nady does, indeed get hurt while Rodriguez is still out and Teixeira has a bum wrist, but no one panics. In the scheme of things, the response is "it stinks, but it's not Sabathia/Burnett/Jeter, etc".
Nick Swisher is making a decent name for himself, too.
In the month of April he hits .312/.430/.714/1.144 with seven home runs. He is virtually carrying the team, and it's not just with his bat, either.
When Chien Ming Wang bombs in his second start, Joe Girardi has to resort to using a position player to pitch in the eighth inning. Not only does Swisher take the ball; he is the only Yankee starter in the game to not surrender a run.
Very quickly, he becomes a fan favorite.
****
By the end of May the luster on Swisher has dulled. His bat has gone ice cold; he's made some stupid base-running blunders and plays in the field...but it's not as though the Yankees are batting him clean up.
He's hitting usually sixth, towards the bottom of the order, although he occasionally hits second to spell Damon or Jeter.
Despite batting all of .150, Swisher walks 19 times, and, more importantly, the Yankees are winning.
****
In a lot of ways, Nick Swisher personifies the 2009 Yankees.
He's quirky, like those walk-off pies, fun to root for and easy to like. He's got a good heart, hitting his first Yankee Stadium home run of the year the same day he gave a fan battling cancer the experience of her life.
He struggles with RISP, and the occasional moment that makes you go "head-meet-desk", but he's also on pace for more than 28 home runs out of the sixth spot in the line up. He doesn't hit for a high average, but he works counts, takes walks and switch-hits.
You can get caught up in the bad streaks, but if you take a step back you realize just how important to the team he is--like (well, nearly) everyone else--and how much worse things could have been otherwise.
I'm not sure if it was AJ Burnett dominating or the New York Mets trotting out a line up that would have a hard time beating some AAA teams; maybe a combination of both, but the Yankees one-hit the Mets tonight.
It always comes back to pitching, and tonight AJ Burnett was en pointe.
Maybe it's something to do with the Mets--he pitched shut out ball against them back on the 14th--but tonight, he dominated, striking out ten in seven and allowing just one hit. He did walk three, but giving the rest of his performance one can hardly complain.
As Bryan Hoch (@bryanhoch) pointed out on Twitter via another, right now, Brett Gardner has more hits (5) in this series than the Mets (4), and I'd like to add that Gardner had an 0-fer today.
To be fair, the Mets lineup has been utterly decimated by injuries, as it has all season, but one should consider that that team did take three of four from the St. Louis Cardinals, who are not, if a spectacular team, certainly not a bad one.
For the Yankee, the offense was not the same sort of spectacular it was on the 14th, but they scored one run on Nick Swisher's home run, and then added more later in the game, with four runs in the top of the sixth inning--and who knows, perhaps the long inning disrupted Burnett's tempo and his quest for a second career no-hitter, but then again, only giving up one hit is no room for complaint.
It was especially gratifying to see Jorge Posada hit a home run--he had a .219 average in June going into the game, and more importantly, to see him so in synch with Burnett.
Perhaps now the "who's better, Posada or Cervelli" debate can stop.
I love Cervelli, I do, but, I mean...really now.
Anyway, the Yankees are back to 10 games over .500 as they've won four straight, and with a win tomorrow (and with the Mets trotting out Livan Hernandez, anything is possible) they could revisit the high-water mark of the season.
Guys like Mike Francesca should be forced to sit down and watch today's game again and again and again (but preferably only the parts where Joba is pitching, and not when the Yankees had the bases loaded in the 6th and didn't score).
They should be forced to watch Joba pitch efficiently, play defense and go eight innings without over exerting himself or getting distracted by midges.
Maybe it had to do with the weather forecast and the knowledge that once the rain came and started it wouldn't stop...and that if the Yankees wanted to get this one in they had to play a quick game.
Maybe it was trying to redeem himself after a poor start in Texas.
Maybe it was because in the last 19 games only one starter has lost (and I had the good luck to be at that game...), and he wanted to keep it that way.
Maybe, as Joe Girardi suggested, he was angry at the midges.
Whatever it was, Joba pitched and pitched well.
Now, instead of having to settle for a split with the Indians, the Yankees took three of four and went 5-2 on their road trip, have won 15 of 19 and have not had an error in their last 18 games--a new MLB record.
(I don't know about you, but I thought the MLB record would have been something like 50 games).
Offensively, the Yankees weren't stellar--check out the comment about the sixth inning--but to their credit, when faced with the same situation the next inning, the Yankees took advantage, and it was certainly nice to see Swisher get the big hit again.
It was also nice to see Melky back in the line up, and even though he didn't get a hit, he still walked...a rarity, even still.
Still, the star of the game was the defense--especially Joba's in the bottom of the fifth, when he belly flopped to catch Kelly Shoppach's pop-up bunt, and then threw the runner out at second to complete a double play.
The difference between this year and last year?
This year's Yankees make that play.
Last year's don't.
The Yanks are in first by a game, nine games over .500 and even if one part of their game isn't perfect, everyone is stepping up to give the team a chance night in and night out.
You can't ask for much more than that.
When things go right, they really go right.
For instance, today was likely Phil Hughes' last start before Chien Ming Wang comes back to the rotation. He needed to impress.
So he struck out nine in five innings while only walking one.
Nick Swisher had been slumping something awful at the Stadium.
So he hit a home run, which was only the first of three back-to-back-to-back home runs that the Yankees hit in the second inning, each getting progressively bomb-ier.
After Hughes' short outing the Yankees needed a good performance from the middle relievers.
So Alfredo Aceves and Phil Coke combined to throw two and two-thirds scoreless innings (with some help from Johnny Damon).
After Mariano Rivera got the last out in the eighth, Yankees fans were praying for an insurance run or two so that Mo didn't have to sweat the ninth.
So the Yankees scored six runs in the bottom of the inning--and every runner to reach scoring position in the inning scored.
And then Mo pitched the ninth, anyway, saving Albaldejo, Bruney, Tomko and Veras for another day.
Add it all together and the Yankees have won eight straight, with the guarantee that they will gain on somebody as Toronto and Boston are also doing battle (and it looks like Boston will win).
The Yankees have guaranteed themselves a winning record on the homestand, which could be important as Philadelphia, which comes to town on Friday, is not exactly a pushover.
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.
Before the game, someone suggested that today's game was a re-do of Opening Day.
The Yankees were again in Baltimore, only this time they had Alex Rodriguez in the line up, and this time, hopefully, CC would pitch like he was being paid to pitch.
This time, it went as planned.
Perhaps even a little too much.
On his very first swing since coming off of the disabled list, Alex Rodriguez cranked a three-run home run to the left-field seats and the Yankees never looked back.
In his first major league start, Francisco Cervelli notched his first MLB hit and scored his major league run while doing all of the little things, such as throwing Adam Jones out at second in the bottom of the first, helping to keep the game scoreless. He had a hit, a sac bunt and a walk, as well. He will remember this night forever, no matter what else happens.
The big story of the game, however, was CC Sabathia.
In 113 pitches, he allowed four hits--two in the first and two in the ninth--and struck out eight over nine innings. At one point, CC had retired sixteen in a row.
It was exactly the pitching performance the Yankees had paid to get, and it could not have come at a better time.
Having lost five straight and having not had a lead since Saturday, the Yankees were in deperate need of a good pitching performance, not just in terms of hits allowed, but in terms of length as well, to rest an over-stretched bullpen.
CC did just that.
The Yankees can't get a do-over on the five games that came before, but it only takes one win, one game where the little things all go right and even when they don't (like Swisher getting picked off at third base with one out) it doesn't matter, to turn a season around.
Maybe this is it.
My nephew, Eli Harrison, was born at 5.10 this morning, weighting 8 lbs and 4 oz. This is by far the most important news of the day.
Nick Swisher 'tweeted' that he was sore.
If the Yanks win today, it'll be a series win...when's the last time the Yanks won a four game set with the Angels?
Catch you all later!
The final score won't reflect it, being 8-6, but Joba Chamberlain had his best outing of the season, allowing only one run on two hits and three walks.
He had little-if any-command in the early innings and eventually worked himself into a bases loaded situation in the early goings with Miguel Cabrera, a .444 hitter with the bases loaded, due up before striking out.
That was a turning point, and Joba never looked back. He was dominant for the rest of his appearance and probably could have come back out for the 8th inning had he not been sitting so long since the Yankees worked the bases loaded via walks.
The Yankee offense fell back into a pattern they had often in 2007, where in they used one big offensive inning-tonight seven runs, including one of St. Nick Swisher's two home runs, instead of 10-to stake themselves out to a big lead they could ride all the way past a rough outing for Jonathan Albaladejo and a three-run home run off of Mariano Rivera that brought the Tigers to within two.
While Ken Singleton commented that Mo may not have had time to warm up, one had to worry a bit that it's the second time he's given up a home run in as many appearance, and that on the radar gun his velocity was way down.
He had not pitched since Friday, which might have something to do with it. At least, one hopes that's the case and there's not something more sinister at work here.
Seven out of the eight innings he pitched, AJ Burnett simply dazzled. Every pitch he threw seemed to work and, in a refreshing change of pace from last night, Yankee pitching owned this game.
Six of those innings came consecutively, from the first to the end of the sixth.
In the seventh, however, perhaps jinxed by broadcasters who no longer respect the tradition of superstition in the game, it came undone. Three hits and a sacrifice fly, and a 2-0 lead vanished, just like that.
Burnett rebounded and pitched a 1-2-3 eighth, saving the bullpen from having to pitch anything more than the ninth, where Brian Bruney struck out the side on 10 (yes, Bruney, yes, 10) pitches.
The Yankee offense looked like it might be trouble when they loaded the bases in the first and managed only one run, but they got additional run support when they needed it, thanks especially to Nick Swisher and Brett Gardner, and they broke the game open in the ninth after Derek Jeter hit a three-run home run.
Swisher is still on fire, with a home run and a double today, and Gardner may have had two of the most important hits of his career.
Now, the bullpen is refreshed for Andy Pettitte starting tomorrow afternoon, and AJ Burnett has established himself as "Yankee stopper extrodinaire".
After last night, Yankees fans everywhere came to one conclusion there is nothing super utility man Nick Swisher can't do!
Swisher leads the team in average, HR, RBI, OBP, runs scored, and is tied for the lead in walks.
Did I mention, he also leads the team in ERA (0.00) and has as many strike outs as Chien Ming Wang has all season?
With all the fuss made about the "big name" free signings, so far it seems as the most valuable acquisition the Yankees' made was Nick Swisher.
Last night, after the game, Swisher was so popular that he became a trending topic on Twitter.
Chuck Norris, watch out.
Wilson Betemit was nowhere near as cool.
Just on the postgame tonight:
Nick Swisher: "Gotta find something to laugh about"
Jorge Posada: "Nobody was laughing tonight. It was embarrassing."
Which side of the debate do you fall on?
[still trying to work out kinks with the commenting, bare with me here]
Bad losses happen. So do utter blow outs.
Yeah, the Yankees need to figure out what's going on with Wang and make sure he's not hurt. Yeah, the bullpen could be doing a slightly better job right now.
Every team has weaknesses and concerns. It's how you deal with these that determine your character as a team.
You can be sure the Yankees aren't about to go jump off a ledge on April 13th, so there's no need for you to do so, either.
Hey, anyway, Nick Swisher and Jorge Posada both look great at the plate, and Canó hasn't looked half-bad either. Even in a 15-5 loss (hey! They still scored 5 runs!), there are bright spots!
Nick Swisher even pitches! (Walk, hit, K, pop out, fly out)! He is the most effective pitcher tonight!
Better quality:
Anyway, why don't you check out what the kids did down on the farm. I guarantee it will make you feel better.
Going into this game the number one thought on the minds of Yankee fans was: how would CC Sabathia rebound from a rough outing on Opening Day?
The answer: illustrative of the reason the Yankees dug deep in their pockets to shell out the big dough in December.
Sabathia was nothing short of brilliant, giving up six hits over 7.2 innings, while walking none, striking out six and allowing no runs to cross the plate. José Veras was responsible for the Royals' run in the ninth.
Sabathia simply appeared more relaxed today, and it showed.
After the Yankee offense, courtesy of Nick Swisher and Jorge Posada, staked him out to an early lead, he never faltered. Had the Yankees stopped after scoring just two runs they would still have won--though it's certainly better that they scored the six they did.
The story on the offense continues to be Nick Swisher. His OBP? .625. Okay, so it's a small sample size, but he keeps playing himself into the line up and has quickly become a fan favorite. He should get quite the reception in New York if he keeps this up.
Having won three straight, the Yankees now move above .500 for the first time this season, and with the rotation of Sabathia-Wang-Burnett-Pettitte-Joba, it seems unlikely that the Yankees will ever lose more than two games at a time this season. It will happen, of course, as it does to every team, but each of the Yankees' starters could theoretically be an ace on another team.
Joba Chamberlain makes his first start of the season tomorrow he's on a strict innings count so don't be surprised if he isn't allowed to go more than five or so innings.
EDIT ON TEIXEIRA: According to post game, day-to-day with tendinitis below wrist.
Sorry, ledge-jumpers, but the Yankees will not go 0-162 in 2009.
The Yankees won their game today, and they did so in style: good pitching, good defense, solid hitting and old-fashioned Bronx Bombs.
Today was a day for the newcomers; AJ Burnett became the first Yankee starter this season to record a strikeout (he had six of them), Mark Teixeira had his first Yankee home run, and Nick Swisher had five RBI. Ramiro Peña, in his first major league at bat, had a single and later came around to score on a Robbie Canó hit.
Some of the more familiar faces had decent games, as well--Canó had three hits including a two-run home run and four RBI, and Mariano Rivera made his first, efficient appearance of the season.
Go figure tidbit from LoHud: Jeter and Damon got on base 11 times in the first two games and the Yankees lost twice. They were 0 for 9 today and the Yankees score 11 runs.
If you're watching the postgame, or if you watched it, you could hear Nick Swisher blasting the music...he should be starting. Really. Really.
