Yankees vs Orioles, 21 May 2009: A Liveblog

4.35 PM: Some really interesting going-ons today

1) The White Sox and Padres had worked out a Jake Peavy deal, but it looks like Peavy didn't like the idea and used his NTC to get out of it.

2) The Brewers and Padres pulled off a Tony Gwynn Jr-for-Jody Gerut trade.

3) The Minnesota Twins are currently up on the ChiSox 20-0 and there's still another inning to play.

4) Yankees lineup, from @Yesnetwork:
Jeter SS
Canó 2B
Teixeira 1B
Rodriguez 3B
Matsui DH
Swisher RF
Cabrera LF
Cervelli C
Gardner CF


I'm not entirely sure why Canó is batting second, but I am assuming Johnny D is just getting a night off.


4.50 PM: I'm always wrong. From LoHud:

Josh reports that Phil Hughes will get another start. Hughes will start Monday in Texas. Chien-Ming Wang will pitch a minor league game tomorrow.

“We just want to see him have the stuff he had in the bullpen,” Girardi said.

Johnny Damon wrenched his neck jumping for Adam Jones home run yesterday. He is sore but Girardi hopes its only one day. “He’s a little sore.”

It doesn't seem like Damon's hurt too bad, but even so there's no being too cautious, especially with a neck.


5.40 PM: There's a rumor going around that Phil Hughes has asked to go to the bullpen when Wang returns to the rotation. If/when I get this from an official source I'll say so. For now, it might just be pointless rumblings.

5.42 PM: Now I'm hearing it was Girardi per WFAN.

5.57 PM: Phil Coke is a game time decision after getting hit on the shoulder yesterday.

7.03 PM: Yeah, old news now, but Peavy officially rejected the trade.

7.17 PM: Joba kind of couldn't get out of the way of an Adam Jones liner; he's in the game now, but we'll see if there are any effects.

7.19 PM: It looks like the Yankees are going to go to the bullpen. We have to hope that Joba's injury is not serious. And that the Yankees can piece this together with the bullpen.

7.31 PM: Guess Robbie's okay hitting second out of the line up.

7.41 PM: Melky is so clutch. Even lets the runs score before getting tagged out. 4-0 Yankees and Aceves and co. have some breathing room.

7.48 PM: I don't know which of the Yankees scouts signed Aceves, but he deserves a huge bonus check.

7.57 PM: Robinson Canó has three RBI and it's only the second inning. That ball probably doesn't get out at the old park, but it is at least a gapper.

8.11 PM: Ken Singleton asked Michael Kay if he remembered Ramiro Mendoza and then corrected that to Mario Mendoza, but an Aceves/Ramiro Mendoza comparison here seems more apt.

I'm not sure how much longer the Yanks let Mendoza Aceves go, but that might depend on what the Yanks do in the bottom of the inning.

8.14 PM: The longer we go without hearing about Joba, the more I worry.

8.27 PM: Can we give Aceves a medal here? And how the heck did this team go so long without a long man, given what Aceves has done? It's like Ramiro Mendoza spawned.

8.35 PM: Looks like Aceves is coming back out to start the fifth. I can't say I'm entirely fond of this idea. He's thrown 50 pitches so far. I know he's a starter, but he threw two innings last night

8.37 PM: And I am wrong yet again. Albaladejo is in. And he promptly serves one up to Brian Roberts. Now 6-1 Yanks.

8.40 PM: Only an eight pitch inning there. I can live with Roberts' solo HR, especially if the Yankees can tack on. Also, it means Albaladejo should be okay for the sixth, too. And then would you go Veras-Bruney-Mo? Or Veras-Bruney-Bruney? Or Veras-Bruney-Tomko? Or any combination thereof in which you can stay away from Phil Coke who is slightly injured?

8.49 PM: I know it's a bandbox, but as long as the Yanks keep hitting absolute bombs like that, I'm okay with it.

9.02 PM: And now it's a 7-3 game as Wigginton has a PH double. Albaladejo really needs to get the last out here before Baltimore gets any closer.

9.04 PM: That works. Yanks head to the bottom of the sixth with a four run lead. This would not have happened if the Yanks needed 8 innings from the pullpen as recently as three weeks ago.

9.11 PM: Word from YES is Joba X-rays are negative and he has a bruised right knee. That could have been so much worse.

9.15 PM



You see where that "I" is supposed to be in the big Mac sign?

Pujols took that out.


And A-Rod grounds out with the bases loaded. So unclutch.

(Photo credit Matthew H Leach/St Louis Cardinals)

9.20 PM: Markakis with a solo shot and now 7-4 Yankees. Albaladejo is likely gassed, but I'm not sure you can trust Veras with a three run lead. Guess we're gonna find out.

9.32 PM: Yankees could have used a run there but it was not to be. Somehow they have to fashion six outs out of the remaining relievers and I don't know if they go to Mo after a four out save last night, albeit a 14 pitch only appearance.

9.41 PM: Veras worked into and out of trouble there. The Yanks will go to the ninth with a three run lead.

9.48 PM: George Sherrill looked good there. It is now up to Mo. We'll see if there's any effects from last night.

Fried Friars (Postgame Notes 19 June 2008)

Oh, Joba be good.

If there were any questions, at all, still left, about where Joba Chamberlain belongs on the Yankees, he answered them with oomph in the second inning of today's game.

In the second inning, Joba loaded the bases with no one out.

In most instances, pitchers will consider themselves lucky to get out of such a jam if they give up just one run. If they get a double play, they'll consider themselves to have caught a lucky break. Many pitchers will fold entirely, giving up two or three runs--more if they're facing a line up like Boston or the Yankees.

Joba, however, did not break.

He didn't even bend.

Instead, he struck out Scott Hairston, blocked the plate on a passed ball to Khalil Greene to nab Adrian Gonzalez (who tried to score from third), and struck out Khalil Greene.

In that one inning, Joba showed every inch of the grit necessary not just to make it as a starter, but to make it as a front of the line starter as well.

Though he threw too many pitches and the game was tied when he left (so he could not pick up the win), Joba surrendered only one run and struck out nine. The Yankees are 3-1 in his start, having lost only his first start (and even that score was close when he left).

The injury to Wang doesn't loom so large with Joba pitching the way he is.

The bullpen, again, was excellent. Kyle Farnsworth continues to defy expectations--after a shaky outing last night, he allowed only one base runner in the eighth, and Jose Veras continues to make his case for pitching in the eighth inning. Mariano Rivera was...well, there's a reason he's going to Cooperstown. Also, striking out the side doesn't hurt.


It was far from a great display of power for the Yankees, but they were able to run on Padres' catcher Michael Barrett, and manufacture themselves the two runs it took to win the game. Melky Cabrera stole second and third before scoring on a sacrifice fly off of the bat of Jose Molina. In the sixth inning, Derek Jeter stole second and went to third on a sacrifice fly, before scoring on an RBI single from Alex Rodriguez.

The two runs were not a lot, but they were enough for the Yankees to win their seventh in a row, and now they are seven games over .500. As Boston does not play today, the Yankees will pick up a half game in the standings as well.

The Yankees have now completed sweeps of the Astros and the Padres, and while the Reds (arguably) offer considerably more offensive talent (not to mention Edison Volquez), they have to be a little nervous.

The Yankees are, after all, red hot.

Relieving Dangerously (Postgame Notes 18 June 2008)

It certainly wasn't pretty, but it was still a win.

After scoring three runs in the first two innings, the Yankees played a see-saw game with the Padres, letting the Padres get close--on two occasions, within one run--but never to tie or take the lead.

While Darrel Rasner cruised through the first two innings, striking out four in that span, he labored through the third, and threw so many pitches that, although he did not surrender the lead, he was done pitching after the fifth inning.

Still, it was enough for Rasner to get his first win in his last five tries, and even his overall record at 4-4.

While Darrel Rasner will never be Joba or even a #2 or #3 starter on the Yankees (he might have a shot at a #3 spot on a pitching-poor National League team), he does eat innings, and with the exception of his poor start in Oakland, he has always kept the Yankees in the game--certainly he can't be blamed if there was a lack of run support in many of his outtings.

Tonight, however, there was no lack of run support. Every Yankee starter except for Jason Giambi had at least one hit; Johnny Damon, Wilson Betemit and Alex Rodriguez each had three hit games.

Alex Rodriguez now has homered in four consecutive games, and tonight's home run was a no-doubt-about-it moon shot that nearly made the left field bleachers. He has supplemented his all-powerful bat with terrific defense that has likely saved the Yankees' countless runs over the past six wins.

Derek Jeter continues to befuddle--though his average is only in the .270-.280 range, he has a seven game hitting streak, and has a knack for making the hits matter.

Wilson Betemit, starting at first base, had perhaps his best offensive game of the season, easily atoning for an error he made in the first inning. Though he's not the best defensive player on the Yankees, he can still hit for some power from the left side.

The Yankees bullpen was not shut-down, but it never surrendered the lead. Instead, after an easy 6th inning, Edwar Ramirez and Kyle Farnsworth both flirted with danger before giving the ball to Mariano Rivera in the ninth, and even then, Mo (uncharacteristically) gave up a lead off double before retiring the side).

That said, the Yankees have now won six in a row. Though they haven't been able to make up much ground on Boston and Tampa, as those teams keep winning, they've made up some, and that they've been able to do this while missing three of their five starters on Opening Day is all the more remarkable.

These are not the eternally .500 Yankees you are watching any more.

Five for Fighting (Postgame Notes 17 June 2008)

The Yankees seem to have discovered the perfect instant jolt for a win streak: the National League.

The San Diego Padres tonight played as though they were a Triple-A team, and the Yankees, believe it or not, played like the Yankees.

While Randy Wolf couldn't make it into the fifth inning for the Padres, Andy Pettitte had one of his best games of the seasons, striking out nine, while surrendering only five hits and one walk. Pettitte had no double-plays, but he did have one of his patented pick-offs in the first, which seemed to set the tone for the entire game.

The Yankee offense looked stellar. Alex Rodriguez homered on the first pitch he saw from Randy Wolf, and two batters later, Jason Giambi sent one into the right field stands. Giambi would homer twice in the game.

In the fourth inning, the Yankees were the Yankees--they capitalized on errors by the Padres, and ended up scoring five runs in the inning. It originally looked like they would have only scored two, from Giambi's second home run, but the Padres botched what should have been a double play off of Derek Jeter's bat, and the floodgates opened.

In the past two games, the Yankees have combined for 21 runs, while allowing 0. In fact, they have not allowed a run since Ross Ohlendorf allowed one in the 14 June game in Houston.

The injury to Chien Ming Wang has detracted from one simple truth--the Yankees, of late, have been playing good baseball. They've won five in a row, six of seven and ten of thirteen (if my math is right).

That they're currently playing under-performing teams in the Astros and Padres, one can't chalk up this streak to an easy schedule--the Yankees took two out of three in Oakland, a surprising team second in the league in the Wild Card race.

Though one can't say for sure that the Yankees have utterly turned the corner over the past week until the end of the season, it's looking more and more like the Yankees have finally figured out how to, well, be the Yankees.

They certainly played like it tonight.

A Preview A Day Keeps the Winter Away, #18

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 San Diego Padres

I don't know about you guys, but when I think about the Padres, I think all the way back to 1998...and, aside from Trevor Hoffman, a much different team.

The Padres now are not a bad team, and they are a competitive team in a division where only team can be said to not have a realistic shot at a playoff berth.

However, one cannot ignore how their season ended last year, with their inability to close out frist over the Brewers and next over the Rockies. As much as one might want to blame Trevor Hofffman, one player does not a team make.

In Jake Peavy and Chris Young the Padres have an excellent 1-2 punch, but Maddox, while still effective is not young and Randy Wolf has injury concerns. They've got solid position players, though Jim Edmonds has been known to have back problems.

Threat to the Yankees: Yellow, Exercise Caution

The Pares are a legitimate NL playoff team, and, for that reason, the Yankees should be a little more mindful of them than say, the Giants.