Texas Two-Step (Postgame Notes 30 June 2008)

Apparently, no one told the Texas Rangers or the New York Yankees that they were supposed to hit tonight.

Two line ups--one with this year's best offense, and one with last year's best offense (nearly all returning this year, too)--could not manage more than three combined runs in tonight's game.

While Texas had the misfortune of running into a stellar Mike Mussina, the Yankees have no excuse for their utter lack of hitting since Friday evening.

Yesterday the only run they managed came off of the bat of Wilson Betemit, and today they managed just four hits against a Texas team known for everything but their pitching. While Alex Rodriguez had (yet another) mammoth home run and Jason Giambi had his first triple since 2002, the utter lack of offense from the top and bottom part of the line up is astounding, frustrating, and extremely hard to watch.

On most teams, if your starter can go six innings while yielding just two runs, he is usually in line for the win, but Mike Mussina seems to be cursed in his quest for 20 wins--He has not won since the series in Houston, taking the loss against Edinson Volquez and having his start rained out in Pittsburgh (when the Yankees were actually winning the game).

Mussina and the Yankee bullpen ought to be credited for keeping the most potent offense in the league to just two runs, though that won't happen because of the loss.

In the seventh inning there was an exceptionally scary moment as Jose Molina was crossed up on a pitch by Jose Veras and a fastball hit him...well, let's just say he's probably worshipping at the alter of athletic cup makers tonight. As a true testament to the amazingness that is a Molina brother, Jose Molina stayed in the game.

Brett Gardner also had his much awaited major league debut today, and while he did not get a hit, he worked a full count twice and reached on a Fielder's Choice before promptly stealing second. He might not hit for much power, but the kid can fly and was adequate, though largely untested, in left field.

Joba Chamberlain will pitch for the Yankees tomorrow--with luck he will recieve a little more support than just one run.

(Postgame Notes 29 June 2008)

Some things in the universe are unexplainable.

George Mason in '06. The Beanie Baby phenomenon. Why the Knicks took Danito Gallinari over Alexander, Augustin or the good Lopez.

Oliver Perez pitching against the New York Yankees.

Oliver Perez has shown flashes of greatness, but, for the most part, has been such a disappointment that a bad start would have likely gotten him demoted to the bullpen or even AAA. Today, however, he pitched so well that the Yankees did not have a realistic shot at winning the game.

Perez was perfect through three and a third, and allowed only three hits through seven while striking out eight. Even if Darrel Rasner had pitched the game of his life, it would have been hard for the Yankees to win the game with Perez pitching the way he did.

Rasner wasn't actually horrible--he yielded two runs in five innings, escaping a bases loaded jam in the second while yielding only one run--but it was, as they say, good enough performance to lose.

The Yankees' offense did not do much of anything today, though Wilson Betemit did hit a monster home run that cleared the left-field bleachers at Shea to provide the Yankees with their lone run. Alex Rodriguez twice came inches from a home run, hitting one mammoth shot that just went foul, and another in the ninth inning that sent Endy Chavez to the warning track.

The Yankees now head home to face the offensive juggernaut and pitching not-so-juggernaut that is the Texas Rangers.


In other sports news, Spain has just defeated Germany for the European Championship. Vamos España!

Messing with the Johan (Postgame Notes 28 June 08)

What better way to follow two blowouts (one bad, one good) than with a 3-2 nailbiter?

Today's game was without question the marquee pitching match up of the series, with Andy Pettitte and Johan Santana as the starters, and one way or another, the game had added significance as there are many (this blogger not among them) that believed the Yankees missed a chance to acquire Santana in the off season.

For his part, Santana did not pitch all that poorly--in fact, he even struck out the side in the second--but he got burned by the Yankees capitalizing on walks, and an utter lack of capitalization from his own offense.

Andy Pettitte pitched like Andy Pettitte, getting himself into trouble, and then almost effortlessly working himself out of it. He had his trademark double play, as well as a game-changing pick off of Jose Reyes to end the fifth.

The Yankees' offense looked silly the first three innings, but were able to scratch out the three runs when the opportunities arose, which was more than enough support for their pitchers.

Kyle Farnsworth kept paramedics everywhere busy with fly outs that flirted with disaster--the second out of the inning, caught by Johnny Damon, was about a foot shy of being the tying home run--but pitched a 1-2-3 inning. Farnsworth is probably the King of Relieving Dangerously.

Jose Veras continues to pitch well, and is fast becoming the most reliable arm in the bullpen outside of Mariano Rivera.

Speaking of Mariano Rivera.

Today he threw twelve pitches--ten of them strikes.

On the season, he has 42 strikeouts, three walks.

That's a K/BB ratio of 14.

His ERA on the season is 0.74.

Somebody, please get this guy a Cy Young?



Darrel Rasner will take the mound tomorrow, looking to rebound from a poor start in Pittsburgh. From the You-didn't-really-need-to-know-that files: In the four game series the Yankees are playing this weekend, he, Johan Santana and Dan Giese were the only starting pitchers not to have a first or last name begin with the letter "P"

Day and Night (Postgame Notes 27 June 08)

Day

I don't know why my karma is so bad, but I am now 0-5 at Yankees games I have been to this year. One had the sense after the Mets took a 3-1 lead that there was absolutely no way the game was going to end at that score.

It didn't.


It just didn't end in a score to the Yankees favor. It wasn't that the Yankees didn't hit...they did...but each pitcher they had was progressively worse than the one before. Dan Giese threw too many balls, Edwar was not sharp, and Ross Ohlendorf was bad enough to get himself optioned back to Scranton.

However, there were a few bright spots (and the part where I was on the DiamondVision doesn't count)...like, as shown in the picture above, when a fan came out of the right field bleachers and ran onto the field.

I'm not quite sure it was worth the getting arrested part, but it was the highlight of the first game (at least from the Yankees' point of view).


Night

What a difference a...bus ride (?)...makes!

Everything the Yankees didn't do in the first game, they did in this one.

Poor pitching with men on base in the first game?

The Yankees escaped bases loaded, less than two out jams twice in the night cap without surrendering a run.

Poor hitting in the first game?

Every Yankee starter--yes, even Sidney Ponson--contributed offensively in the second game.

Speaking of Sidney Ponson...

...The first few innings were certainly a roller coaster, but in an old Sports Illustrated article I have hanging on my wall, New Jersey Devils' goalie Martin Brodeur is quoted as saying that a roller coaster ride is okay, as long as you end on a high, and Ponson certainly ended on a high.

Six innings, five hits, no runs and four strikeouts certainly qualifies.

While he certainly can't expected to escape bases loaded situations without surrendering a run every time, Ponson has earned himself another start.


Do Not Go Gently...

The Yankees have Andy Pettitte on the mound tomorrow, against Johan Santana, without question the marquee match up of the series. He's working on a streak, of sorts.


Also of note--Hideki Matsui has been placed on the 15 day disabled list, though that is not exactly a surprise.

The Renaissance of Jason Giambi

Admit it.

Two months ago you were calling for the DFA'ing of Jason Giambi. You couldn't wait for his money to come off the books. Actually, you probably still can't wait for his money to come off the books, but that's not the point.

Two months ago Giambi was done; a shell of his former self, a shell of what he had been able to do while in Oakland.

Two months ago, Giambi was hitting .164 with a .315 OBP and an OPS under .800.*

Two months ago, Jason Giambi was dead weight.


Then came the mustache.


A .315 May and a .324 (so far) June. An OPS this month of 1.071. Suddenly, Giambi has 17 home runs (among the league leaders) and 44 RBI.*

Suddenly, Jason Giambi is no longer dead weight.


Joke all you want about the 'stache. It's hideous, it mysteriously darkens, it makes Groucho Marx look like Johnny Depp, and it works.

There's no other plausible explanation as to why Giambi, on a team known for their strict grooming code, has been allowed to keep it.

Okay, so Giambi's renaissance (of sorts) can not be entirely blamed on the mustache, but that's not the point.


Perhaps you saw Giambi's numbers coming--after all, when he was making outs in April, they weren't strike outs, but simply hitting into the wrong side of the shift, and he was working his walks. More importantly, the hits he did get tended to count--of his twelve April hits, eight of them were for extra bases.

If you did see it coming, however, you would have been in the minority. After all, former steroid users don't suddenly have a mid-Spring renaissance.

Right?



Then again, how many players can boast of the 'Stache?



*Statistics from Yahoo

Pirate Booty (Postgame Notes 25 June 2008)

What a difference a day makes.

Twenty four hours after the Yankees had what was arguably their worst loss of the season, they came out and played like a top-tier team beating up on one that hasn't had a winning season in sixteen years.

Every Yankee starter, with the exception of Joba Chamberlain, had at least one hit, and even Joba had a walk and a well placed sacrifice bunt.

While the game was an offensive display for the Yankees, the true player of the game was easily Joba Chamberlain, who pitched brilliantly and got his first win as a starter. He allowed six hits through six and 2/3ds innings, with seven strike outs and only one walk.

Joba continues to get better with every start he makes. It's no longer a question of whether he should start, but if, in Wang's absence, he can mount the role of 'Yankees' ace', and thus take some of the load of of Andy Pettitte and Mike Mussina.

While his pitch count was a little high for the innings pitched, he made the important pitches when he needed to, and did not at all look uncomfortable.

He won't pitch this well every start, but on a night where the Yankees really needed a good start, they got it.

The offense, of course, helped.

Robbie Canò had his first home run since May 8th (!), Bobby Abreu had a three run home run, his second home run in as many nights, and Derek Jeter had two doubles.

They scored in six different innings, including the first and the ninth, with both the regulars and the bench, and they did so without the services of Johnny Damon (who is expected to be okay) and Hideki Matusi (whose knees must be a source of real concern).

Justin Christian, who was just called up yesterday, has hit to the tune of .375 over the two games, proving a viable solution while Damon and Matsui are out.

****

If you didn't catch it, Fresno State won their first ever NCAA championship at the College World Series. They are the lowest seeded NCAA team to ever win a championship.

If you get a chance, watch the highlights and their celebration. The joy on the kids' faces?

That's why you play the game.

Aaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrggghhh (Postgame Notes 24 june 08)

Of all the Yankee losses this season, tonight's has to rank as one of the worst. It's not that Pittsburgh is necessarily is a bad team (they are), but that the level of play from the Yankees was just flat-out embarrassing.

They didn't pitch. They didn't play very good defense. They didn't hit when they needed to.

Someone needs to send the Yankees a memo that the idea of the game is to score more runs than the other team. Or something.

Seriously, when Darrel Rasner is arguably the best hitter of the evening? Yeah, there are some issues there.

The bats have gone ice cold. In their past four games they have scored nine runs--not as bad as it could be, but nowhere near what the offense is capable of doing. In fact, this offense has not hit a home run since the second game of the Padres series (though Melky missed a grand slam by inches). Okay, Bobby Abreu homered, but the point is still the same.

That the Yankees will have clunkers is a given.

The problem, however, is that the Yankees are having too many of them, and against the wrong teams.

Losing to Pittsburgh is bad enough on its own.

Getting blown out? Getting blown out against a starting pitcher with an ERA over seven?

That's not a performance from a team that wants to be considered a playoff contender. That's not even a performance from a third place team.


Again, the Yankees have some serious issues with their bullpen, especially now that Rasner's magic seems to have worn thin. With the trade deadline approaching sooner than you think, look for Brian Cashman and the Yankees to make some moves. They might be as simple as promoting David Robertson or Mark Melancon, or they might me more complex, but either way, the Yankees need help.



If you want some good news, though, Fresno State is winning--their Cinderella story looks like it might live on one more night.