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.
For a complete recap, check out my post on The Yankee Universe
With just over a month left, the playoff races are beginning to take shape.
The division races are fairly clear: Yankees, Angels and one of Tigers/White Sox in the American League, and Phillies and Cardinals in the National League; surprisingly it's the Dodgers who may have the most tenuous hold on their division lead in the NL.
The Wild Card races, however, are a bit harder to predict.
When the Yankees are so likely to win the East, why does the Wild Card race matter?
For two reasons: a) if the AL Wild Card winner comes out of the Central or the West, that will likely be the team the Yankees play in the first round, and b) The Wild Card winner has played in--and won--a fair few of this decade's World Series.
So, let's go through the teams in most contention:
American League
Boston Red Sox
The Red Sox have to be considered the favorite just because they've held the position for so long, but that doesn't mean they are a good choice to be favorite.
They made their biggest move early in the season with a 12-game win streak, but right now their starting rotation is mostly "Josh and Jon and then there are bombs". Getting Wakefield back should help, but not if Beckett keeps pitching like he did in his last two outings.
The good news is that the offense has stepped it up quite a bit--but there's only so much an offense can do.
Texas Rangers
The darlings of the AL this year, they're finally doing it with pitching. Derek Holland and Scott Feldman have been revelations. Head to head, they took two of the last three that they played with Boston, but the one loss came when the night's closer, Frank Francisco, blew the lead.
If they make the playoffs, Ron Washington is probably a shoo-in for manager of the year.
Tampa Bay Rays
The Rays are still paying for the slow, 2007-Yankees-like start to the season and may now have too much to overcome. They are only three games back, but they are trailing two teams and their pitching hasn't been as good as it was last season. Trading Edwin Jackson away does not seem to have been a great decision, speaking mildly.
There's certainly hope, though, and unlike the Rangers, this group has postseason experience.
National League
Colorado Rockies
Once again, they've taken on a veneer as a team of destiny. The division isn't out of the question for this group, and if they did take it, it would be a come back even bigger than the 1978 Yankees--just to give an idea as to what the Rockies have done already.
We still aren't quite sure how Jason Marquis is doing it, but somehow he's found a way.
San Francisco Giants
When both Lincecum and Cain are on, they are probably the best 1-2 in baseball. The problem is, outside of Pablo Sandoval, they basically have zero offensive support. Yes, pitching wins championships, but you can't win every game 1-0, which is pretty much what the Giants have had to do all season.
Given how poorly the Giants have played in recent years, the fact that they are this good this year has been especially remarkable. If only they had that little more bit of offense...
Atlanta Braves
Four-and-a-half games out, it's not exceedingly likely the Braves make the postseason, but it's also far too soon to count them out entirely.
Like the Giants, they have the pitching but not necessarily the hitting--that is, until they decide to give Heyward a shot...
1) You don't admit when you're intentionally throwing at a batter:
Quote from ESPN recap
"Teixeira was plunked after one of Chamberlain’s pitches sailed over the head of Longoria, who was hit by a pitch by Yankees reliever Jonathan Albaladejo. Garza said he was standing up for the Rays’ All-Star third baseman.
'They can take whatever they want from it, but I just kind of got tired of people brushing him back. It’s about time someone made a statement,' Garza said.
'I hate to be that guy, but someone had to take a stand and say we’re tired of it. You go after our best guy. Well, we’ll make some noise, too, and that’s what happened.'"
If a Yankee made that comment, you could expect a full on six game suspension. We'll see what happens here--while everyone's distracted by the trade deadline this comment could very well pass unnoticed.
That All Star Break must have done Joba Chamberlain some good.
Not only has he been great in every start since the break, but he's gotten better--and tonight, he flat-out dominated.
Chamberlain threw 101 pitches over eight innings, allowing just two hits, a couple walks, and no runs. Had Chamberlain been an older and un-innings-capped pitcher, it's entirely possible he would have gone out to pitch the ninth.
Such as it was, the Yankees thought they'd get Bruney some work--with a 6-0 lead, it didn't seem like much of a gamble, but Bruney was awful. The only strikes he threw were hit for a home run and a double; other than that the command was simply not there. Bruney wasn't just missing; he was missing and it wasn't even close.
Bruney's ineffectiveness is an issue because an effective Bruney allows the Yankees to be that much more flexible--an effective Bruney means that the Yankees could consider transitioning Aceves back to the rotation (they won't, I don't think--or at least, they shouldn't lose their one long reliever), or at the very least allow the Yankees to just worry about trading for a starter.
Alas, Bruney has not looked well since coming off of the DL for the second time, and at this point in time one has to ask if he's really entirely healthy. His attitude in postgame interviews doesn't tend to rub fans (who knows about the coaches--whose opinion matters much more) the right way.
At any rate, Brueny's performance was the only blemish of the evening. Joba had perhaps the best start of his young career; the offense had three home runs and a couple of other timely hits to take an early lead and never look back, and while Mariano Rivera inexplicably walked a batter (!!), he did, after all, get the job done.
One thing of note that I might expand on a little later: the Yankees have scored 198 runs in the last three innings of the game (as of this morning); no other team has more than 170 in the later innings. Given that the Yankees have scored 562 runs total, that's more than a third of all the Yankees runs being scored in that time span.
Talk about a team that fights.
For only the second time since the All Star Break, the Yankees lost a game, and this one was a clunker in every sense of the word.
CC Sabathia wasn't sharp, Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez air-mailed throws to first base, the bats were largely flat or else erasing rallies with double plays and poor baserunning, questionable calls, and as a whole the team reminded much too much of 2008.
Given the Yankees' recent play, however, this game seems much more like an aberration than anything else, though there is a legitimate concern to be had in Sabathia's ineffectiveness.
It's not that Sabathia was ineffective tonight, but that he has been inconsistent of late, and there is growing speculation that Sabathia's running into a tired arm because of the overwork in the last couple of years.
If the Yankees were in first by a comfortable margin, I wouldn't be shocked to see them contemplating giving Sabathia a start off now and then, but with the race as close as it is, the Yankees do need Sabathia to at the very least give them a chance to win.
There's not much to say otherwise. Offenses go through rough patches, but given the eleven runs scored yesterday with the same line up, I don't think anyone is (while in their right mind) panicking. One just hopes the Yankees brush it off and put together a better effort tomorrow.
If there is a bright spot, Mark Melancon pitched in his first stint since July 10th and did not allow a run.
Chien Ming Wang News Chien Ming Wang met with Dr. James Andrews. The verdict is surgery--same as Posada had last season, and he is out for the year. (Via Mark Carig, Star Ledger)
We already suspected Wang was done for the year, but having shoulder surgery for a pitcher may very well be the kiss of death. I feel for Wang. It's tempting to assign blame, but in this case I don't think you can.
Live Chat:
I will attempt a live chat on Thursday, 6-7 PM, come on by and ask whatever's on your mind.
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:
Sometimes it's really easy to tell what a day will be like.
For example, when you have a twenty page paper due the next day and you haven't started writing it, it's a fair bet your day isn't going to be a whole lot of fun.
Other times, however, the future is less clear, when everything sort of teeters on a horizon you can't see.
My friend Robin is a Mets fan. She has her reasons (and perfectly legitimate ones) for being so, and we've happened upon a tradition of going to one Mets game a year. I forget who they played the first year we did this--Arizona I think, but not sure--they played the Dodgers last year, and this year, it would be an interleague match up with the Rays, and with Johan Santana on the mound, no less.
The trouble was, however, when we woke up that we didn't know if the game would be played at all.
In the Bronx, it was dark and sullen, as has been pretty much every day this month. In New Jersey, where Robin was, it was raining.
I can't help but think all of this rain is punishment for something--for Bloomberg running for a third term, for some scandal up in Albany, for failing to get the Giants or the Jets a stadium within the actual boundaries of New York City--who knows? What I do know is that the rain is constant, and even when it doesn't rain, there is nothing but this bleakness that somehow has to pass for summer.
I've spent four years in Syracuse, NY and four months in London, and still I can't remember it ever being so...bleak.
Anyway, I'm going to stop waxing philosophical now.
So we, Robin and I, both woke up to pretty awful weather and weren't sure if we would bother heading to Citifield, which is out of the way for both of us, and we decide in the end that we'll go. After all, neither of us have been to the ballpark and so, even if it pours, we'll still have things to keep us busy.
My first hint that today will be unpredictable comes on my subway ride to Penn Station, where I'm meeting Robin, when a mariachi band starts playing. I'll give them this much: they certainly woke me up.
Anyway. After meeting up at Penn Station we took the LIRR to Citifield, two stops on the line to Port Washington. I must say, why does the LIRR have nicer trains than NJ transit? It's not fair!
Right.
So, amidst the bleak and gray of a rainy day, this was the view from outside the park
Even from the outside, this park's got character. It's a different type of character than Yankee Stadium, however. Yankee Stadium is kind of all HONOR GLORY PRIDE in terms of its invoking the past; Citifield is much more "ooh, the past is a friendly muppet". Which, as a student of history, I feel qualified to explain, is not necessarily true.
Outside, people bought bricks to lay out as such. It would be impossible to do it at Yankee Stadium because the space isn't there, but here it gives the Mets much more of a family sort of feel. Again, HONOR GLORY PRIDE vs "ooh, friendly muppet!"
Inside the Jackie Robinson Rotunda from the main entrance. Compare that and the Yanks' Great Hall, and again it's the same sort of feeling evocation...Jackie Robinson = warm and fuzzy (again, what Robinson had to experience, not so much). Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, Berra, Mantle, etc... HONOR GLORY PRIDE!
Anyway. Today was cap day. I gave my cap to Robin because she'll know people that will wear it. In my case it would just sit on the window sill. I do have to say, I felt really weird not wearing a Yankee hat today...
At 3.30 PM, no one was in the seats, but given the rain this wasn't all that surprising. Interesting trivia factoid: the Mets do the anthem and then the line ups; for the Yankees it's the other way around.
One of the many concession options. Since I can't eat (most) ballpark food, I can't honestly say anything about the quality of the food offered here as compared to Yankee Stadium, but in addition to also having sushi (although, unlike YS, I'm not sure you can watch them make it), they also have a Subway, so I have multiple choices as to culinary options here. They also have this thing called Shake Shack. Maybe you've heard of it.
No garlic fries, that I could find, though.
The view of home plate. I can't actually spot the luxury boxes. Citifield doesn't intimidate. Well, I mean, unless you're David Wright and trying to hit a HR. I kinda like that.
View from our seats.
I didn't actually notice when they took the tarp off of the field. One moment it was there, and the next it wasn't. It was like magic. And hey, it meant an on-time start!
The scoreboard in center field. It's really tall. I'd mention something about tall and NYers preoccupation with size, but I'd hate to have to bring Freud into it. Guy always bugged me.
Hey! People in the stands and like a game thingie and stuff.
Do I have a great zoom on my camera or what?
Some dude named Johan Santana had a no-no through four and a third. I guess he's kinda good.
It's nigh on the first day of summer and the lights are on at 5 PM. This was the type of day it was--kept waiting for the rain to show. It did, eventually. And the heavens so totally opened when it did.
So...
You know what's interesting? The first time I went to the new Yankee Stadium, it was raining, too. The difference was, however, since it was at night, you didn't really notice it.
I keep trying not to compare the two parks, but I kind of have to, and what it comes down to is this:
Both parks are awesome, but for different reasons.
Yankee Stadium is about the Yankees, first and forever. It's about what the team has done on the field, for over 100 years, and it's meant to intimidate you if you are not already awed at the all-magnificence of the 26-time World Series Champions.
Citifield is about baseball. The Mets, yes, but, minus the HR apple in center field, you get the feeling that if need be, another team could come and play a game here and feel just as at home. This isn't a bad thing.
So many times, so many, including the Yankees, forget that nothing, in the end, is bigger than the game. No rule, no policy, no player and no team is bigger than the game.
Yankee Stadium is an homage to the greatness of the Yankees' past.
Citifield reminds us why we are baseball fans in the first place.
When Andy Pettitte's pitch count shot up past 70 in the fourth inning, there wasn't much question that the Yankees had the perfect opportunity to get Phil Hughes some much needed work from the bullpen.
Pettitte ended up staying in for six innings (and striking out seven along the way; the first six in the first three innings), but in the top of the seventh Phil Hughes came in, and Phil Hughes threw gas.
At the time the Yankees had a one run lead, and Hughes pitched out of the bullpen perhaps even better than his 2007 ALDS performance, though, granted, the stakes tonight were a bit lower.
No doubt, those who tune into WFAN tomorrow will likely hear a litany of "Hughes to the bullpen" phone calls, but the fallacies of that argument are for another day.
Still, Hughes was not to be outdone.
Phil Coke came out for the 8th, and other than one walk, also threw gas. A tremendous outing for him given his struggles on Saturday.
Mariano Rivera had another 1-2-3; he's probably unavailable to pitch tomorrow, but, it should be noted, the weather forecast for Boston tomorrow is something awful, so the game might not even be played.
The Yankees scored all their runs today via the home run: Mark Teixeira, Nick Swisher, Johnny Damon and Darek Jeter, with Swisher's being a two-run shot. Teixeira's and Swisher's were out in any park, and even Damon's and Jeter's were out in most parks.
The only knock was that the Yankees could not sustain a rally, but I'm not sure they're worried about that right now--when they got their hits, they made them count.
Hideki Matsui, 0-his last-16 could probably use a day off.
3.49 PM: Today's line up from WFAN:
Jeter SS
Damon LF
Teixeira 1B
Arod 3B
Cano 2B
Posada C
Matsui DH
Swisher RF
Cabrera CF
Andy Pettitte gets the start today; he's been ineffective--ish over his last few starts and the cause is reportedly a balky back.
The good news is that he's starting today, instead of against Boston where things could get really messy.
Meanwhile, hughes hasn't pitched in ages. I get the Yanks might want to piggy back him with Wang, but right now his arm's atrophying in the 'pen. Though I guess he has to be available tonight if Pettitte falters given Aceves' effort yesterday.
6.34 PM: I turned the news on, and first thing I heard was "how the Red Sox are making money" lovely. The segment will be on ABC World News Tonight if you are interested.
7.12 PM: Andy just made Upton look silly.
7.21 PM: Pettitte k'd Upton and Longoria, sure, but now the bases are loaded. And he's fallen behind 1-0. Seems to have lost the zone entirely.
7.22 PM: Is an improved Jeter defensively awesome, or what?
7.26 PM: I think Jeter's just missed every game this series.
7.29 PM: After Jeter was close and Damon closer, Teixeira got enough--and second deck, so no cheapy--so, 1-0 Yankees after one.
7.40 PM: Much nicer inning for Pettitte there and now Canó leads off the bottom of the inning with a single to left.
7.46 PM: Jolly ole' St. Nick, indeed. 3-0 Yankees. Matsui, on the other hand, is ice cold.
8.00 PM: Pettitte has six strike outs through three.
8.10 PM: After going 18 games without an error, the Yankees have now had six straight games with an error. Law of averages, or what?
8.15 PM: Gabe Kapler hits a two run jack and this game is now tied. If only Alex had made that play...
8.21 PM: You'd expect Hughes would be warming soon...
8.28 PM: "Take it out of your mouth, BJ" should never be said out of context.
8.34 PM: Andy is having a lot of trouble, but instead of Hughes up in the bullpen, it's David Robertson. No knock on Robertson, but it'd be nice to get Phil a chance to pitch again...
The double play there was very well timed.
8.43 PM: Yanks can't get anything going against Sonnanstine, it seems. Never mind that he has a 7.00+ ERA.
8.54 PM: The Yankees only have four hits, but three of them are HR. Johnny Damon's was probably the "cheapest", but it's still out in most parks.
9.06 PM: THAT was a brilliant inning for Hughes.
9.18 PM: Not entirely sure Coke should be in right now. Hughes was throwing GAS.
9.24 PM: Heh. Coke had some GAS of his own. Hope they interview him on the postgame. Now the killer: Do you pitch Mo three games in a row, or do you save him in case you need him in Boston tomorrow?
Winning can change everything.
It can change something as simple as after game plans--deciding to eat Chinese food with friends instead of going straight back home, and it can change something as intangible, but still important, as the atmosphere in which it occurs.
For seven-and-a-half innings, the atmosphere at the Stadium was mostly that of a lull.
Fans cheered when Nick Swisher hit his home run in the third inning, and again when Melky Cabrera made a great diving catch, but when Joba Chamberlain gave up a bases-loaded single to change a 1-1 tie into a 3-1 deficit, some actually left the Stadium.*
Obviously, these people know nothing about the 2009 Yankees.
If they had, they would have seen the Stadium come alive in the bottom of the eighth.
Johnny Damon singled, Alex Rodriguez walked, Mark Teixeira walked, Robinson Canó walked and forced in a run, Jorge Posada reached on an error and Hideki Matsui legged out what would have been a double play.
All of a sudden a 3-1 deficit turned into a 4-3 lead, all without a hit, and a chance for Mariano Rivera to redeem himself after yesterday's failed outing, and redeem himself he did: A 1-2-3 ninth inning without a blink.
Perhaps more important, the Yanks have at least gotten the Tampa Bay monkey off their back, beating them at the Staduim for the first time this year. When push comes to shove, at the present moment Tampa has a bigger litany of issues than the Yankees, but they have been playing well of late and shouldn't be counted out.
Which means that wins like this mean that much more.
*How to tell Joba has the potential to be an ace: he had no, and I mean no command. It was still just 3-1 when he left the game.
9.54 AM: Same deal as yesterday. From LoHud, here is today's line up:
Jeter SS
Damon LF
Teixeira 1B
Rodriguez 3B
Cano 2B
Posada C
Matsui DH
Swisher RF
Cabrera CF
They will be taking on Matt Garza of the Rays; the team beat Garza and the Rays way back when in April. It goes without saying, it'd be nice to beat them again.
Joba's on the hill for the Yanks.
"Take that shirt off, they lost today!" A middle-aged man shouts it from the passenger seat of a car while I am crossing 3rd Ave, walking back from the subway to my apartment.
"I know," I say, "I was there."
I was there to see CC struggle in the middle innings, to see David Price allow only two hits, to see Rivera falter, Coke implode and BJ Upton's reach be just long enough to end the game, and quash a rally.
I was there, to see, in the ninth inning, as a foul ball knocked out a young girl and made everyone who could see it--those in the area and those sitting immediately above--forget about the game.
Did Mo know it happened?
If he did, it might explain why he couldn't pitch through the ninth. Alas, I have my doubts that such was the case.
Rivera struggled against the Rays in a tied game in the beginning of May, so while it doesn't excuse it, it might help to explain it.
Much is being made of the decision to take CC out of the game after eight, but I never thought much of it. I'm not sure if it was the right or the wrong decision, because it wasn't as though the Yankees were going for the ninth inning with Jose Veras or David Robertson. Still, you have to balance that with Mo's struggles this year, and you end up playing games of what-if-this and what-if-that.
The only real knock on the Yankee offense today was Alex Rodriguez and Jorge Posada being unable to even reach base in the ninth, though to his credit Posada did battle.
The Yanks' couldn't hit Price well, but looked as though they were running wild against the Rays' bullpen. Teixeira's jack bounced off the wall on the luxury suite level--utterly no question about it.
Ah well.
Tomorrow's another day.
10.04 AM: i'm headed out to today's game, so here's some things to get you going.
The line up is the same as yesterday's was supposed to be, with David Price on the mound for the Rays:
Jeter SS
Damon LF
Teixeira 1B
Rodriguez 3B
Posada DH
Cano 2B
Swisher 1B
Cabrera CF
Cervelli C
Last night I was thinking about the Jays.
I was thinking about the Jays, and how people are saying,
"Look at how Toronto is now 1-5 against non-Baltimore AL East opponents," as if to say that no, they're really not that good.
Now, these people are likely right. That a team that a number of experts picked to finish last in the division, or only just above it, has maintained its hold on first place for so long, deserves commendation...and also a second look.
The Jays are 16-8 against the AL Central, and 19-8 against the AL Central and Baltimore. They're 7-4 against the AL West, which is respectable enough, and, as said before, 1-5 against non-Baltimore AL East, for a total of 8-9 against non-AL Central, non-Baltimore opponents.
This illustrates two things:
1) The early Jays schedule was chock full of AL Central opponents,
and,
2) That the AL Central is quite possibly not very good.
It's not just the Jays here, either:
The Yankees are 10-4 against AL Central opponents; two losses against the Indians and one each against Justin Verlander and Kansas City.
Then again, maybe it's not the AL Central.
Maybe it's the AL East.
The division leaders in the AL Central, AL West, NL East would all be in fourth place in the current AL East; Milwaukee in the NL Central and the Dodgers in the NL West are right now the only teams that would be in first in the AL East, and when you consider the Dodgers' competition in the NL West--and they are 20-8 in their own division--the 29 wins is a bit qualified.
As another example, consider how the other teams in the AL are doing against the AL East.
Out of the other nine teams in the American League, only the vaunted Angels have a winning record against the AL East, and they've played their favorite regular-season foe Red Sox a few times already.
I would guess, right about now, that teams in the AL Central and AL West are very thankful for the unbalanced schedule, and that getting into the playoffs is based on how you do in your division more so than overall standings...
Another way of looking at it is that the AL East has not one, but two teams over .600, and the Yankees, at .585 are not far behind.
Granted, the Blue Jays will fall back to earth, at least a little, but the Rays are only just beginning to play well. In the end, the Jays and the Rays may simply end up flip-flopping, although, right now, if one takes the record against AL East teams as a portent, the Red Sox would have to be favored, being 16-6 against the division (with five wins against the Yankees and three against the Jays).
At any rate, what this means--and what we've kind of known all along--is that the AL East could end up finishing the season with the, potentially, three or even four best records in the American League, if Toronto doesn't falter too badly, and only two will even have a shot at the playoffs.
Crazy sport, right?
Maybe it's the Stadium.
First the rain, now the injuries...Molina, and maybe Mo.
Somewhere the baseball g-ds are displeased, and the Yankees have lost five straight.
It's not the end of the world, but it isn't doing the Yankees any favors. Granted, when your back up catcher gets hurt and you have to use a guy hitting below the Mendoza line at AA?
Yeah, that's not a recipe for anything good to happen.
Is it too late to move back to the old building?
6.03 PM: Still have another ten pages to write on this paper and all before tomorrow! Yay! Expect sparse-ish updates!
6.04 PM: A-Rod will rejoin the Yankees on Friday. Fans of scoring with RISP rejoice! Wait, what's that you say? A-Rod is unclutch and hits 'wasted' home runs? Fie! Fie on you I say!
6.34 PM: For the first time since Saturday I can say with absolute certainty: I SEE THE SUN!
7.59 PM: Mark Teixeira and José Molina are killing me. I have eight pages left to go. Screw this 1.5 spacing. It screws with everything.
8.45 PM: Hava Molina!
8.46 PM: It's early, sure, but check out the Swisher splits:
.125/.378/.188 at home
.370/.443/.907 on the road
8.48 PM: Oh, Johnny be good!
9.07 PM: Cervelli on deck there? Huh?
9.14 PM: So who's the backup to the backup to the backup?
10.10 PM: GO JOHNNY GO!
10.22 PM: And despite all this Mo still hasn't walked a batter.
It is almost a fact that every team in major league baseball will lose four games in a row at some point in the season.
Even so, some four game losing streaks hurt more than others.
For the second time this season, the Yankees had gotten to three games above .500, only to see it precariously disappear with some help from the Red Sox.
It's frustrating for everyone--the team, the fans--everyone that wants the team to do well.
This week has been one of the most frustrating experiences for fans at the new Yankee Stadium.
After taking two from the Angels--the second in dramatic, walk-off fashion--the Yankees have not won another game.
The rain has been there, every night, every step of the way, canceling some games, delaying others and otherwise cloaking the Bronx in a foul, furious air as if to say "I am holding the bright days of summer hostage."
It's as if G-d himself has decreed those who thought to tear down the original Yankee Stadium anathema.
My friend Brent is a senior at Fordham this year. Through one trick of fate and then another, he scored tickets to every Yankee game from Saturday through today, minus Sunday's rain out. This is what he told me, in his words:
I have never felt as shitty, frustrated and depressed about a ball club as I do now and I know the obvious reason why: I had to sit through all four of those straight losses...but as the rain poured to end the game, it just seem... fitting
like... when Matsui popped out to end the game...I now owe two friends 100 bucks, half my clothes are wet and damp, and as I was walking back, I'll be honest, I was pissed off. I have NEVER been as angry and upset as I was after tonight's game. As a kid growing up, you always expect the good guys to win and to win at least once when you go there, and yes, as a 21-year-old big kid, I still expected the same... at least one win out of those 4 games, but all I got was one sweet moment... that was as fleeting as the passing rain. Walking back from the Stadium was ridiculously appropriate... the weather fit my mood too well: it was absolutely POURING when the game ended, so me and J. just ran out, and I was honestly cursing up a storm, almost pumped into two people, but I didn't care, I was mad, and I wanted out...When I got off [the D train], I continued to get poured on, I kicked my cap across the street... and stomped in EVERY puddle I can... including one that wasn't the best...
So now, Becca, I sit here, cooling off but not completely... soaked from my shoes, socks, and shirt and cap...smelling like dog piss (that was the puddle)and... *sighs* I don't know. I rarely justify spending or owing THAT much money back but I did for this case, to see my favorite team the team I wanted to see just once more before I started to become an adult and to be a kid again, and I was let down, not once, twice, three times, but four times, and my last game before I graduate was a 4-3 loss in a game the Yankees didn't even deserve to be in in the first place, so yea, I just feel let down
5.08 PM: Got lots of work tonight as well, so expect sparse-ish updates. I'm sort of pretending I don't actually have a paper due Friday, but this is generally a bad idea.
5.09 PM: Via twitter, Ken Davidoff of Newsday is reporting a setback for Brian Bruney, but not giving any details.
AJ Burnett could use a really solid start right now. The three wins in a row followed by three losses in a row thing for Yankees' fans is frustrating, to say the least.
5.10 PM: Make sure you check out Vote Swisher and This plan to save Gate 2 from the original Stadium
7.21 PM: Should have been a 1-2-3 inning but Peña boots what should be the final out. AJ walks Peña, but gets Burrell to fly out to dead center. 0-0
7.39 PM: AJ has now struck out four through two. Some of these pitches are just nasty. You can possibly argue that if Damon crashes into the wally he catches Iwamura's double, but Damon's still got a bum shoulder. Anyway, no harm. 0-0.
8.05 PM: It's like the offense threw up their hands and said "we give up"
8.21 PM: Best wishes to Jerry Remy for a speedy recovery. Yes, I know he's a Sox guy but baseball is still baseball. I wouldn't wish this on anyone.
8.36 PM: Thoughts go out to Sean Berry of the Astros as well.
8.37 PM: AJ's pitching quite nicely. A little run support and maybe he could actually pitch into the seventh.
8.55 PM: It's now 3-0 Rays and with the way the Yankees have been, uh, swinging and grounding weakly to second, it seems more like 10-0.
9.07 PM: The Yanks have gone to the bullpen. You may want to change the channel. I hear the Mets are playing.
9.19 PM: Holy schnikes, the Yankees' bullpen pitched a scoreless inning!
9.57 PM: Welcome to the Yankees, Mark Teixeira
9.59 PM: Tarp is now on the field.
10.31 PM: Mo coming in the tie game.
10.43 PM: Mo's rust lasted exactly one batter before K'ing the side.
11.03 PM: And Carlos Peña goes yard. Had Ramiro Peña been called safe, the fly out for Molina would have won the game. Mother@#$@#$.
11.21 PM: And with Damon on third, Teixeira flies out to shallow right and Matsui pops out to left.
Life sucks, what can you do?
[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.
