View my complete recap at The Yankee Universe
With thanks to @glenngiangrande for the idea.
In 2007, Brian Bruney was not very good. Among fans, he had acquired the nickname "BBrian BBruney", and was eventually sent down to make room on this roster for a miracle prospect by the name of Joba Chamberlain.
Life wasn't very good.
So, Bruney worked his ass off during the winter and came to Spring Training in shape and throwing gas.
When 2008 started, Bruney was hands down the best non-Joba, non-Rivera pitcher in the bullpen.
Then, as we might remember, not too long into the season, Bruney slipped on a wet mound and injured his lisfranc, a odd sort of forewarning as to what would happen to Chien Ming Wang.
Bruney should have been out for the rest of the season, but he worked his way back and although the Yankees had mostly fallen out of the race by the time he came back, he was again throwing gas.
Life was good.
At the outset, 2009 looked much like the way 2008 ended for Bruney--with him as the best option in the 8th inning and one that was pretty darned good at his job.
Then Bruney got hurt.
He went on the DL, came off it, pitched a game, and went back on the DL.
Life has not been very good since.
Since coming of the DL the second time in June, take a gander at Bruney's stats:
Twenty-two hits in 18 innings pitched, 11 earned runs, thirteen walks and fifteen strike outs--yep, that's a near identical number for strike outs and walks.
That's good for a WHIP of 1.94.
WHIPs of 1.94 are bad enough for starters. For relievers, that's like watching the Enola Gay.
Now, WHIP is of course not the perfect stat--doesn't take into account things like inherited runners and it counts walks and hits as the same which is not necessarily always the case--but it's a fairly decent general marker.
Opponents are hitting .301/.409/.534/.943 (!!!) against him--which means that in addition to the high WHIP brought on by the walks, the hits against him tend to, uh, be hit kind of hard, too.
Once again, for a starter, these numbers would already be downright scary.
For a reliever to whom you once entrusted the entirety of the eighth inning, these numbers are, well, get-down-on-your-knees-and-thank-your-god-for-the-advent-of-Phil-Hughes-in-2009.
You might sit there and say "oh, it's just one reliever, big whoop", but since it does behoove the Yankees to be the best team they can be, we are getting precariously close--if not already there--where the the mop-up innings and long relief work that Mark Melancon could give would far outweigh what Bruney is doing--err, not doing.
With Alfredo Aceves, in all likelihood, still probably nursing some sort of shoulder problem (I'm not sure how else you explain his numbers post-All Star break), having another long reliever or pitcher-who-could-throw-long-relief might be beneficial.
In a couple of weeks the rosters expand and the Yanks can call people up without worrying about a corresponding move, but once October rolls around, (not a given, but if the Yankees don't make it, it would be quite the collapse) the rosters shrink back to 25 and decisions have to be made.
Bruney, as has been said by Pete Abraham among others, is right now playing himself off of that roster.
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.
[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.]
Since this is the last post in the series, I'll provide you with an index:
The Rotation
The Lineup, Part 1
The Lineup, Part 2
The Bench
Now it's on to the mother of all things Yankees:
The Bullpen
To do this post justice, one has to figure out who should be included, and who might be a little more expendable--since bullpens are fluid and change so much over the course of a season.
In this instance I'm going to settle around the "core" of Mariano Rivera, Alfredo Aceves, Phil Coke, Phil Hughes, Brian Bruney, David Robertson and Brett Tomko--the guys that have been around (or should have been around) all season. Mark Melancon and Jonathan Albaladejo will get passing nods, but we'll go ahead and pretend that Jose Veras and Edwar Ramirez were not utterly awful.
As a whole, the bullpen struggled early--when most of the rotation did, as well--but the call-up of Alfredo Aceves seemed to work miracles. That one move allowed for the short relievers to remain short relievers, for Coke and Hughes to basically claim the eighth between them and for Robertson and Tomko not to be faced with undue pressure.
When Aceves was moved from the bullpen for a spot start, we saw the 'pen fall apart again--though, this time, fortunately, the All Star break came at exactly the right time.
As long as Joba Chamberlain and Andy Pettitte are utterly ineffective, look for Aceves to remain in the bullpen.
(The so-called bullpen core in alphabetical order)
Alfredo Aceves
The statistics will tell you that Alex Rodriguez, and not Alfredo Aceves is the more valuable of the two Yankees to make their first appearance this season in early May, but Aceves' value lies in far more than just the numbers he's posted.
The easiest way to explain what Aceves has meant to the Yankees in 2009 out of the bullpen would be to say that Aceves is pitching in a role similar to that of Ramiro Mendoza, but his numbers out of the bullpen are actually closer to what Mariano Rivera posted in 1996.
Since Aceves can pitch multiple innings at a time without getting worn down, the short relievers--especially guys like Phil Coke and David Robertson--do not have to pitch nearly as much as they otherwise would. This not only saves their arms from, uh, being Proctor'd, but helps keep them more effective over the long haul.
Look for Aceves to remain in the bullpen for now--after the disaster in Anaheim, the Yankees probably don't want to mess with the bullpen too much--but if Mitre, the presumed new fifth starter, bombs and the Yankees decide not to go after Halladay (or another, you know, more attainable starter), Aceves could end up the fifth starter.
In which case we will all have to hold our breath in the second halves of games started by Chamberlain and Pettitte.
Brian Bruney
The season that, for Bruney, started with so much promise has quietly turned into a disaster. He'd earned himself the eighth inning role before going down on the DL with an elbow problem, worked his way back only to go back on it after just one appearance, and now seems to have lost the command that had been so important in the first place.
In short, it's the return of the 2007 version of Brian Bruney.
The Yankees really want to get him right--if he can somehow recover his arm strength and command, the Yankees could consider, more seriously, the idea of sending Hughes down to AAA to stretch him out as a starter (although I explain here why I don't think it would work), but even if Bruney did recover, the risk inherent in relying on a power pitcher who's twice been on the DL in the same season with elbow problems is an enormous one.
It's a shame, really, because Bruney showed so much promise in 2008 before hurting his foot, and then again in early 2009.
I don't know what happened for Bruney to have such awful karma, but something apparently did.
Going forward, Bruney will likely be used in low-leverage situations until his command improves, or he will be used in mop-up like roles after the starters (yet again) are inefficient. He'll have to work his way back to the 8th and even then there is no guarantee.
Phil Coke
The battle between Good Coke and Bad Coke may be as addicting to watch as the battle between Good Melky and Bad Melky. Actually, the entire reason to want to see him pitch is to watch the postgame interviews afterward.
Coke struggled in the beginning, found a groove, and then struggled again in his most recent appearance in Anaheim.
On the whole, he's been fairly dependable, but tends to give up too many hits--6 HR in 38 IP is not a portent for good things to come--so the Yankees are best served if he is used very sparingly, which, thanks to Aceves and Hughes, he now is.
Should Dámaso Marte stop playing catch and start playing baseball, he could help ease some of Coke's LOOGY duties, and provide some relief for the Yankees, who are playing with fire.
Phil Hughes
Probably the most controversial reliever, not because he's pitched poorly, but because he probably should have never been in the bullpen in the first place.
As a starter, Hughes wasn't exactly dominating anywhere outside of Texas, but he was getting better, and showing improved consistency and efficiency. Considering that this is his first healthy season since all the way back in 2006, that's not something to be taken lightly.
As a reliever, Hughes has just dominated. You can see the splits here, but to sum:
Hughes' ERA is 0.98, his BAA is .115, OBPA is .182 and WHIP is 0.655.
Hughes has only pitched 18.1 innings in relief, and his BABIP is an insane .147, so there's certainly a case to be made that the law of averages will catch up to him, but with relievers much of the time, you only have a small sample size to use, so you ride the hot arm as long as it stays hot.
If the Yankees have learned only one thing here, it's that if Hughes, for whatever reason, loses his value as a starter next season, he still has plenty of value as a reliever.
Look for him to keep the 8th inning role in the second half unless the Yankees have utterly no choice but to stretch him out again. If that happens, than the Yankees will probably have bigger issues than what they do about the eighth inning...
Mariano Rivera
He's Mo. Really.
He was getting hit more often in the beginning of the season, which had some worried, but this seems to have been a result of recovering from off-season shoulder surgery and perception, since what he did last season was simply historic.
He's back to his old Mo self now, notching his 500th save and 1st career ERA in the same game.
In the second half, the Yankees probably won't want anything more than for him to keep doing his thing. Wearing number 42, he is, after all, the answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything.
David Robertson
The easiest way to explain Robertson in this: when he throws strikes, he's unhittable. When he doesn't, he's unwatchable.
When Robertson comes into a game in low-leverage situations, he throws strikes.
When Robertson comes into a game in high-leverage situations, he throws balls.
You can see why this is a problem.
In a mop-up type role, Robertson is fine for the bullpen, but the problem is that the Yankees play a lot more close games than they do blowouts, and they need relievers that can either protect a lead or keep another team's lead within reach.
Look for him to stick to low-leverage situations, and don't be shocked if some combination of Chien Ming Wang getting healthy again and Sergio Mitre pitching well sends him back on the AAA bus--though likely not before Melancon or Albaladejo.
Brett Tomko
The problem with Tomko is that when he gets hit, he gets hit hard.
Though a former starter, right now he can't really pitch more than two innings at a time, and he's seldom seen in anything other than a mop-up role or in an extra inning game when all other pitchers have been used.
That said, I think he does get a bit of a bum rap--for what it's worth, Coke has given up more home runs. Then again, Coke's pitched 38 innings and Tomko's only pitched 20...
Although Tomko is a DFA candidate, it would seem more likely that Mark Melancon or Jonathan Albaladejo would be sent back down to Scranton before the Yankees parted ways with Tomko. We shall see.
Mark Melancon and Jonathan Albaladejo
Melancon, once hailed as the future Mo, was probably called up from AAA Scranton too soon. He's struggled in AAA since being sent back down, and again since being called up. There's too much talent to write him off, but he does need some more time.
Albaladejo didn't pitch well early and got sent down, has pitched lights out when recalled after Wang got hurt the second time, but then got sent back down...to make room for Melancon.
If Girardi is riding the hot reliever, right now he should stick with Albaladejo.
dude, if you made it this far, I kind of want to hug you...
Brian Bruney and Joba Chamberlain have been, well, awful of late.
So, here's the question: Do you think they are injured?
Brian Bruney's spent most of this season on the DL. He has looked awful since coming off of it, and tonight's performance is no different. There's a 1:2 K/BB ratio, and when he does throw strikes they're getting hit hard.
That Bruney, a power pitcher, has already been on the DL twice this season with arm problems, and if that's not a giant red flag, I'm not sure what is.
If he's right, he's a crucial piece of the Yankee bullpen, but if he's not, the Yankees might panic and overpay for Huston Street, et al.
Joba Chamberlain fell to the Yankees in the draft because of injury concerns.
He ended up on the DL last summer with a rotator cuff/labrum injury, and while he has a couple of decent starts this season, his mediocre ones far outnumber them.
It's hard to imagine that Chamberlain is suddenly afraid of the strike zone, but the nibbling and inefficiency need to be addressed. The last thing the Yankees want to do is have to find two other starters instead of one, but that may be their only option if Chamberlain can't pick it up.
We have seen Chamberlain's flashes of brilliance, and we know that young pitchers can struggle. The mediocre Joba is not the Joba that will have a lengthy major league career.
What we do know, however, is that the Yankees have to figure out what's causing the problem. It's hard to imagine that they haven't at least considered the possibility that the shoulder isn't right, and remaining mum on it would seem to be the correct PR move. As long as Chamberlain keeps taking the ball every five games, however, one must assume the Yankees think he's healthy.
Right now, I wouldn't be so sure.
*****
The inability to beat the Angels in Anaheim, is what, a decades-old thing now?
It's gotten old. Way old.
...but you can't.
The umpires today made three hideous calls, but it was the Yankees' job to pitch and hit around them.
Yes, Derek Jeter was safe on the attempted steal of third base, but he should have never attempted the steal with none out in the first place.
Yes, Derek Jeter's jump play should have been an out, but Andy should have still thrown a better pitch to Alex Rios.
On and on.
Ultimately, the Yankees' pitching is the culprit here; Pettitte had another shaky outing at Yankee Stadium and the Yankees have to be very concerned about Brian Bruney.
Mark Teixeira's been slumping something awful (along with Robinson Canó any time a runner is on second base), but these have been masked because on the whole the Yankees are scoring enough to win games.
In fact, despite being down 7-1 at one point, they nearly won again today. Alas, they simply ran out of outs.
Still, the Yankees have won 10 of their last 12.
Yes, there are some issues, but trust me. Things could be a lot worse.
"Bruney's our 8th-inning guy" --Joe Girardi, 1 July 2009
Brian Bruney did not pitch the 8th inning of that game, a Yankee win; nor did he pitch the eighth inning today, also a Yankee win.
Instead, those innings were given to a combination of Phil Coke and Phil Hughes, who, to their credit, have been nearly unhittable of late.
As you might imagine, the media harped on it.
Now, as a fan, the only thing you really care about is your team winning--usually, anyway.
It really shouldn't matter who pitches the 8th inning, as long as the job gets done to a reasonable degree of competency.
So the issue that I'm about to bring up now, is not so much who should be pitching the 8th--heck, if Nick Swisher can pitch a competent 8th I'd be okay with that, too--but how the manager, Joe Girardi, answered questions regarding Bruney.
The way Girardi phrased it tonight was, "Bruney is our 8th inning guy, but we have to get him right."
It sounds like a much, much too PC term for: Bruney's been throwing like crap and I don't trust him to keep a lead right now.
Girardi wouldn't be wrong in thinking this--Bruney has struggled since coming off of the disabled list--but what interested me was when Girardi said "we've had some conversations with Bruney" and then left it at that.
What sort of conversations?
I don't want to read into this too much. It's hard to read into what Girardi says a lot of times, since, like many Yankees, he can say a lot and only say a little. (Mark Teixeira might be the polar opposite of this).
What I do get, however, is a bit of an undercurrent that Girardi does not currently have faith in Bruney to hold a close lead.
It happens.
Pitchers struggle, just as hitters slump.
What we appear to be left with, however, is for the foreseeable future is a bullpen, which, in front of Mo, ranks:
P Hughes
P Coke
A Aceves
D Robertson
B Bruney
B Tomko
That's quite a shaft for your 8th-inning guy, no?
Still, though, the Yankees do need Bruney. The bullpen is that much better when every reliever, and not just two or three, can perform well in any situation, and not just low-leverage ones.
If Bruney's struggles have to do with having lost arm strength while being on the DL--which seems possible--then only time can build it back up. As Girardi said, Bruney has missed, more or less, two months and is basically at a Spring Training level all over again.
This would seem to mean that the Yankees have to be extremely cautious about him--and perhaps, then, credit is due to Girardi for going to the Phils and not putting more stress on Bruney's arm.
Then again, if, for whatever reason, Bruney can't pitch, the Yankees have a real problem on their hands.
Given that Mariano Rivera threw out tonight's ceremonial first pitch and that Joba Chamberlain was starting, it is perhaps not surprising that in the end it came down to the bullpen.
Joba Chamberlain started, and while he wasn't horrible in any sense of the word, he also wasn't very good, or even mildly good.
He struggled with command, and once again seemed to nibble too much, being afraid to attack the zone after going 0-2 on hitters. To be sure, the hits the Mariners had off of Joba were more of the bloop than the blast variety, but he threw too many pitches and much too many out of the strike zone.
For much of the game, the Yankee offense muddled about in a state of semi-consciousness.
The first three runs came on an error, a sac fly and a groundout--and they were 0-9 with RISP at one point.
However, as soon as the Mariners tied the game (which they did twice), the Yankees' offense would come right back, doing, once again, just enough to make sure the team wins. The offense did look best in the bottom of the 8th inning.
The story line about this game, however, will center around the 8th inning.
In the seventh, Joe Girardi had gone to Phil Hughes to pitch, and Hughes set the Mariners' down, in order, on nine pitches.
As many have opined, there was no real reason to take Hughes out of a game, especially since he needs his innings.
Still, Girardi played, once again, by the book and brought in his presumed 8th inning guy, Brian Bruney.
As has been the case since Bruney came off of the disabled list, he struggled and, in this case blew the 5-3 lead.
The question of what should have been done will, no doubt, fill the non-Mets-related talk on WFAN tomorrow; and opinions will probably be very varied.
Me? I would have stuck with Hughes, not because of a lack of faith in Bruney, but because Hughes has been so dominant and because Hughes could use the work. You might entirely disagree.
Ultimately, the Yankees got the win on a night Boston lost (check out those highlights if you can. Seriously.), and all is well.
By the end of the third inning, the game felt like a blow out, even though it was only a four-run lead.
Still, that is what early hits--nine in the first three innings--can do for a team, especially one coming off of a performance where, let's face it, they were simply going through the motions against the league's worst team.
Once Angel Berroa and Andy Pettitte had back-to-back doubles in the second (yes, you read that right), however, the game was firmly in the Yankees' hands, and the only question would remain how Pettitte pitched.
Pettitte allowed three hits (including a solo HR) over seven innings, struck out seven and walked no one. It was one of his best starts this season, and came at a time when the Yankees needed an effective start.
Brian Bruney pitched an excellent eighth inning, which the Yankees really, really need, and Brett Tomko had a nice rebound outing in the ninth.
The one real blemish here was that the Yankees left 11 men on base, though some of this has to do with being in an NL park and losing both the DH and A-Rod's bat (as A-Rod will be taking the first two games off since he's slumping something awful), but I think the key here is that when the Yankees had to get the runs, in the beginning of the game, they did. Had the Marlins played a better game on their end, I'm not sure the Yankees' bats appear to get so lacksidasical at the end.
Derek Jeter is still limping a bit--I guess tomorrow we'll see if there are any lingering effects.
****
I'm headed to Citifield tomorrow with my friend Robin, who is a Mets fan. I'll get to see Johan (probably not that) up close and personal. I will actually be rooting for the Mets--because they're playing the Rays.
A Yankees fan could get used to this.
For his third start in a row, CC Sabathia was great--tonight going seven innings giving up just three hits and one earned run; two of the hits and the one run in the first inning.
For the second game in a row, both Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez homered, and for Alex, it was his fourth game in a row with a home run.
The two sluggers are getting it done--while Alex hasn't been getting the singles or the doubles that Teixeira is, he's making up for them with home runs, most of them no doubters in any stadium.
While this game turned into a laugher, for most of the game, it was a tight 2-1 score.
Sabathia's dominant performance might not seem so important, but at the time it was. Baltimore scored one run in the top of the first; the Yankees responded with two via an A-Rod jack in the bottom of the inning, and then neither team did much of anything.
At one point Sabathia retired 12 straight birds while the O's starter Bergesen retired 13 straight Yankees, and it seemed the game would end up a good, old fashioned pitcher's duel.
That, however, did not count on Baltimore's bullpen.
After the first two Yankee baserunners reached in the seventh, O's manager called upon once-highly-touted-closing-prospect Chris Ray. A single, error, double and home run later, he was unable to record a single out, and the score had gone from 2-1 to 9-1.
The good news continued for the Yankees, as Brian Bruney was able to enter in the eighth inning for his first appearance since going on the DL and pitched a one-two-three inning.
This, ladies and gentlemen, is what the $200 million team looks like.
A starting pitcher that keeps the team in the game (or, in CC's case, is utterly dealing), an offense that does enough against good pitching and crushes bad, and a bullpen that comes in and does it's job so proficiently that you don't notice.
The Yankees have now won seven straight, and are five games over .500 for the first time this season.
5.39 PM: Sabathia's on the mound for the Yanks and Matsui is back in the line up, batting fifth as DH. Alex Rodriguez is also playing third; hopefully, then, the Yanks won't need the defense they needed last night!
Also, Brian Bruney is slated to come off the DL and the NY Post is reporting that the Los Angeles Dodgers will play in the Bronx next year.
5.56 PM: Apparently Michael Kay is not too fond of AJ Burnett's walk-off pies. I am not quite sure how to express this politely, but I'll try. These guys are paid to play a game. They're having some fun with it. It's not like murdering babies out there. So what. the. hell. is the big deal if they eat a few whipped cream pies?
6.26 PM: No word yet on who's getting the hook for Bruney. The Yanks are taking a while with this one...but can it be all that hard to go eeny-meany-miny-mo between Veras, Edwar and Albaladejo?
6.45 PM: And Edwar Ramirez is the lucky winner of the Scranton Express!
7.15 PM: Not entirely sure why CC didn't field the ball right there. Baltimore has two on and none out.
7.19 PM: Nice effort by Teixeira to try to get the double play at home, but Roberts is simply too quick. 1-0 Baltimore, two outs.
7.31 PM: Alex Rodriguez has homered in four straight games. I could so get used to this.
7.37 PM: I am a rare breed, a Yankees/Nets fan. There should be more of us, given our teams, you know, share a channel.
7.43 PM: 1-2-3 inning for CC. The first ball was hit hard, but the second was a harmless fly out and the third a strike out. 2-1 Yanks after 1.5.
7.48 PM: Eight pitch inning for the O's there. Canó's liner was ticketed for center field, but it was caught. Swisher's slumping something horrible; Cabrera had a ground out.
7.56 PM: Sabathia seems to have found the magic juice. I could get used to this, again.
8.03 PM: So we're headed to the fourth inning...I think this time last night we were still in the first.
8.05 PM: Alfredo Aceves, Brian Bruney and Phil Coke are sitting next to each other in the bullpen. This otherwise unremarkable occurrence is notable because they all have shaved heads. Aceves is the only one, speaking as a female, that can pull it off.
8.10 PM: Have I mentioned that I like this CC?
8.16 PM: It's good CC's doing what he's doing because the Yankees' offense hasn't done anything since A-Rod's homer.
8.29 PM: A single and a walk for the O's, but CC works out of further trouble.
8.35 PM: Someone oughta tell the Yankees offense it's, you know, okay to reach base.
8.40 PM: Six pitch inning for CC. Maybe the offense does something now. Maybe not. We'll find out.
8.58 PM: Yanks missed an opportunity there. But hey, at least they got some baserunners. Maybe next inning they'll score.
9.09 PM: CC through seven good innings, but the pitch count is up there. Tough call to send him out for the 8th or toss Bruney right into the fire.
9.24 PM: Hey look! Another run! 3-1 Yankees.
9.28 PM: A hit by Jeter scores two and the Cervelli scores on the throwing error by Adam Jones, and it's now a 6-1 game. And one doesn't need to worry about who pitches the 8th--perfect time for Bruney to get an inning, though CC probably wants it himself.
9.32 PM: That was awesome, utterly crushed by Teixeira. He's playing like he's worth $180 million of late. Now Bruney can let the O's score three runs next inning and not even break a sweat (but I doubt he so chooses).
9.46 PM: Oh Brian Bruney, we have missed thee.
1.12 PM: I wish I could suspend time so that I could capture today's weather and never let it go. Most of the time I love city living, but today the no porch, no yard haunts me.
1.13 PM: Lots of injury news. The biggest is perhaps that Brian Bruney is now on the DL (coutesy of LoHud, and that Mark Melancon has been called up. he's supposed to be the heir to Rivera, and has pitched in AAA like it, but this isn't quite how the Yankees planned it.
1.21 PM: From LoHud (link above): "No word yet on the severity of Bruney’s injury. … Meanwhile A.J. is readying for his start by watching the movie 300. He has a Spartan warrior tat on his left arm."
I like this Burnett guy more and more.
1.39 PM: I could say that the Nationals are a bad team, but that wouldn't quite cover it.
2.20 PM: Cody Ransom is on the 60 Day DL. Those of you who wanted him gone, you got your wish. Now we get to see what Angel Berroa and Ramiro Peña can do. For another week. A-Rod, O A-Rod, where art thou A-Rod?
2.21 PM: You know, I would probably fit in perfectly with the Nats: no hit, no field...
2.30 PM: Humberto Sanchez has been DFA'd. That Sheffield trade's worked so well for both teams, hasn't it?
2.52 PM: Via LoHud: Bruney's injury is muscular, not ligament-related. That is, believe it or not, good news.
3.36 PM: Check out New Stadium Insider for a plea to save part of the old stadium.
3.53 PM: Melancon--that's Meh-lan-son for the uninitiated--has taken number 39. I called it, but alas left no record of it so I can claim no prize.
4.10 PM: Wonder if FOX will have Swisher reading the line up again...I have the NFL Draftcast up on my computer, since I only have one TV...
4.15 PM: One out single for Johnny Damon. Teixeira boos much more noticeable today.
4.22 PM: Nick Swisher is the MAN, with a one-out RBI single to bring home Johnny Damon and the Yankees now lead 1-0.
4.28 PM: Jorge Posada has a two-out RBI single, and the Yankees now lead 2-0.
4.37 PM: I would pay really good money for Tim McCarver to stop fawning over the Red Sox.
4.38 PM: It's too early in the season to call anyone done, but David Ortiz continues to look awful. Meanwhile the GIDP means at the end of one the Yankees are still up 1-0.
4.45 PM: Jets traded up and got Mark Sanchez. Even if the Yankees did nothing that inning I have this gigantic smile on my face. I knew there was a reason I wore green today!
4.57 PM: Still getting distracted by the draft, but AJ works around a walk and the Yankees are up 2-0 at the end of two.
5.03 PM: Robinson Canó hits a one out two run jack that hits the Pesky Pole. 4-0 Yankees.
5.10 PM: Gardner is simply over matched by Beckett. Still, 4-0 Yankees.
5.20 PM: Burnett has a blink-and-you-miss it bottom of the inning.
5.28 PM: Robbie Canó is an RBI machine, with runs batted in three and four on the day off of the Monster. 6-0 Yanks.
5.43 PM: AJ in some serious trouble. Bases loaded, one run in, only one out.
5.47 PM: And just like that, we're back to a one run game. Hard to believe it's only the fourth inning. Robbie Canó is probably standing there, shaking his head, saying, how many more RBI do I have to give you?
5.49 PM: We go to the fifth, 6-5 Yankees and the Yankees have the bottom of the order due up...
5.59 PM: And now the game is tied. Burnett seems to have just run out of gas. unfortunately, the Yankees don't have a whole lot of options in the pen. This has turned into a disaster in a hurry.
6.11 PM: Jason Bay: Yankee killer.
6.21 PM: As much as I hate Jason Bay, that's how much I love Johnny Damon.
6.32 PM: So, in the middle of the sixth inning, the pitcher's duel of doom is tied at 8-8. Just another Saturday baseball game at Fenway.
6.50 PM: 9-8 Sox on a sac fly by David Ortiz. It sucks, sure, but it could have been a hell of a lot worse. Unfortunately, the Boston bullpen has been stellar and one run for the Sox may be enough.
7.07 PM: Huge spot with 2nd and 3rd and one out and Jeter does the one thing he can't do and strikes out. I am looking everywhere for something to throw through a wall but I can't find anything.
7.11 PM: With a two strike count, Johnny Damon sneaks one under the glove of Dustin Pedroia (it's an E) and the Yankees take a 10-9 lead.
7.22 PM: I am tempted to find something else to watch for another half hour and then come back to this game. At this point, I'm not even angry any more.
7.53 PM: That may be the most horrendously botched call I've seen this season. Pedroia was out by a mile. I think I'm cursed.
A glut of injuries hit the Yankees last night. Some-such as Wang-were expected, others, such as Bruney were blindsides, though results of Bruney's MRI have not yet been announced (probably because it's not even 11 AM and he probably hasn't had it yet) and he might be okay.
The thing to focus here is on Wang.
Through the first couple of weeks there have been numerous suggestions as to why he was having so much trouble; now the obvious answer seems to be that he never completely recovered from his lis franc injury last year.
Last year, when Wang went down, someone I was talking to mentioned that the injury could be career-altering because it was Wang's push off foot. I ignored him, mostly because he always seemed to see the pessimistic side of things, but now I can see that he may be right.
For a pitcher to be effective, every little thing has to be just right. We saw it a bit with Joba last night-his velocity was down and his command way off. Whether it's early season rust or something more sinister, only time will tell.
If Wang did, in fact, alter his delivery because he wasn't putting the same pressure on his foot or using his foot in a different way, even if only slightly, that is already a big problem.
It becomes further compounded when one takes into consideration that Wang seems to have lost all confidence on the mound.
One can fix a mechanical flaw. A confidence flaw can be a career-ender if one can't find a way around it.
It's hard to say that Wang was rushed too soon. He was hurt in June and didn't pitch in a game again until March. If anything-and understand, I'm not a doctor and may be totally off the mark here-I would argue that the offseason probably did more to hurt Wang than to help him.
What strikes me is how Bruney was able to come back in-season, ostensibly with the same injury, and remain just as effective. Maybe it's as simple as Bruney didn't injure his push off foot-I'm not sure.
At any rate, the important thing here is that the Yankees are down a starter.
While Phil Hughes is the most likely candidate to replace him, and perhaps inspires more confidence than Sidney Ponson or Darrell Rasner, it seems like every time the Yankees are serious about keeping him in AAA the plan is thwarted. There really isn't a better option, however-Ian Kennedy and Kei Igawa would have to be considered next on the list.
There's more depth than there was last year, for sure, but depth is always at its best when you don't need it.
Losses against the Red Sox always hurt.
Losses when you're one out away from a win and Mariano Rivera's on the mound? They can make you want to crawl under the covers and never, ever come out.
The Yankees played with fire all game, and, as is usually the case, they got burned.
In hindsight, the game should have never been as close as it was. Joba did not pitch that well, but lucked out with double play after double play. There were four in five innings at one point. Without the help of the pitcher's best friend, the game would have been over long before the ninth inning.
Rail all you want on Joe Girardi, but this loss is not his fault.
Girardi was not out there when the Yankees failed to break the game open, as they had the chance to do many times.
Girardi did not serve up the two run home run to Jason Bay, nor did he serve up the home run to Kevin Youkilis.
The biggest question that looms right now is: what's going on with Brian Bruney?
Had he been available to pitch the 8th, Mo would have likely only pitched the ninth, yadda yadda.
Word is, from Brian Hoch and Suzyn Waldman, that Bruney is in NY for an MRI on his elbow, but there has been no public announcement about this which has to start turning heads.
In the end though, what matters is not that the Yankees blew the save tonight--stuff happens--but how they rebound tomorrow. An afternoon game and short turnaround may be exactly what they need.
The Yankees, it seem, have a physical inability to win baseball games in Anaheim.
This would be not a big deal if the Yankees were not in the middle of a pennant race--one in which they are outsiders looking in.
By all accounts, the Yankees have a beat up pitching staff, and the only reason Ian Kennedy was starting tonight was because there was no other option. Phil Hughes is still at least a start away from being a viable candidate.
This does not excuse Kennedy's poor performance tonight, but it might help explain it.
Still, only two innings from Kennedy was the last thing the Yankees needed. It doesn't just mean that Kennedy had a bad outing, but that the Yankees were forced to use Darrell Rasner for an extended period of time.
While Rasner pitched well, it effectively means he will be unable to start until Wednesday, and the Yankees are now short a bullpen arm.
Brian Bruney had an evening he would rather forget--when he entered the game, the score was 7-5, and the Yankees were clearly still in the game, but by the time the inning ended, they were down 10-5. It's admirable that Bruney worked his bum off to be able to come back, but an outing like the one tonight was not what the Yankees needed.
In terms of the offense, the Yankees did not have an awful game. Most of the time, five runs should be enough to win the game.
As one poster on LoHud Yankees says,
Two of the pitcher on your opening-day rotation have a total of zero wins. Your ace is gone. Your all-star catcher, who seems to be a clubhouse leader, is gone. Matsui is gone. You have a new manager. Your replacement ace is injured. Not one single person on the team, with the exception of Mo, is really even having an above-average season.
http://yankees.lhblogs.com/2008/08/08/game-116-yankees-at-angels/#comment-486394
There are few certainties in life.
Death, taxes. and that Old Timer's Day will always leave a chill in your Yankee fan blood.
At about noon this morning, it was pouring Noah's Flood, and it looked like the Yankees would be lucky to get the ceremonies in, but, almost as if by destiny, the skies cleared and 72 former Yankee players--some Hall of Fame Legends, some that just caught lightning in a bottle--were able to assemble on the field of the House that Ruth Built for one last time.
While Yogi Berra and Whitey Ford produced goosebumps, and Paul O'Neill, Tino Martinez, David Cone and David Wells made you pine for the late nineties, it was the return of Willie Randolph to the Stadium that received the most attention from the Stadium crowd.
As Michael Kay said in his introduction, "once a Yankee, always a Yankee."
The game that followed did not disappoint, from a Yankee point of view.
Mike Mussina pitched an absolute clinic--he did not allow an Angel baserunner to reach after the second, retiring seventeen in a row. It was a pure vintage performance, and while he struggled with his control in the first two innings, he found a rhythym and didn't look back.
The Yankee offense was sparked by an unusual source: a two-run home run from Wilson Betemit in the bottom of the second inning, the first of four Yankee home runs on the day.
After last night's offensive debacle, the Yankees had home runs from Betemit, the streaking Bobby Abreu, Alex Rodriguez, and Jose Molina, who had his first home run of the season as part of a 3-3 day.
The Yankees now have a chance to salvage a split out of the four game set--which would be impressive against a team as good on the road as the Angels are--though a win last night would have meant the possibility of taking three out of four.
Brian Bruney, who was not expected to be back at all this season, pitched a one walk, one hit ninth inning. His command was a little off, but given the time he has missed, it is understandable.
So if you asked me last September, what's the last thing I thought I'd be writing here in an April post, "I feel bad for Brian Bruney" would probably be somewhere on the list, but it is very true.
From Tyler Kepner's blog:
Here is what happened to Yankees reliever Brian Bruney on Thursday:
* He had a magnetic resonance imaging exam on his injured right foot, which the Yankees fear has two torn ligaments and which will probably put him on the disabled list.
* He learned that the 18-wheeler transporting his truck to New York had an accident, and his truck fell off and sustained significant damage.
* His aunt in Oregon found his uncle not breathing, and his uncle is now in a coma.
Dear Bullpen--
I realize it's only April 19 (or 20th, depending on your time zone), but even so, you've been on quite a ride this year. For the most part, you've done what's been asked of you, something that wasn't done a whole lot last year, so, minus that one game in Tampa, thank you.
I realize the starting pitching has not been there. I would like to believe that, like the offense, it will eventually come around. I mean, it has to, right?
So I can't directly apologize for the poor starts from the staff, though growing pains might explain a little of it. However, I can say, that as a fan, I really do appreciate the job you're trying to do--the new and improved Brian Bruney, the 1-2-3's from Kyle Farnsworth (there's been at least one), Ross Ohlendorf and Billy Traber getting it done, LaTroy Hawkins giving it his all...and, of course, Joba and Mo--Really, the effort is not going ignored.
Trust me, I wish there was some magic spell I could do to get the Yankees to score with RISP or to get the staters to go more than five innings in a start. However, I got deferred from Hogwarts, so I'm afraid I can't be of much help other than to offer this encouragement.
Hold fast.
Rebecca
Any game in which the starter relieves the bullpen is going to have a topsy-turvy feel to it. For the Yankees, however, it was no better than yesterday afternoon.
It wasn't that the Yankees pitched exceptionally poorly; they took a scoreless game to the sixth and learned the hard way that Kyle Farnsworth really can't go back to back innings, and then Ian Kennedy had his soon-to-be-patented first inning jitters.
It was that the Yankees still have yet to put together a solid offensive performance, even when all the cogs are not working. Most notable, they have not figured out a way to hit with runners in scoring position, the same major issue they had in the postseason. After one or two games, you don't worry, but going into the middle of the month, it becomes frustrating, and then the pressing starts.
There's something to be said for the horrible game conditions, in terms of weather and temperature, that have dogged the Yankees for the first nine games, but even so, if the other teams have been able to do it, why not the Yanks?
That said, it will turn around. No team can pitch as well as the Yankees have , on the whole, been pitching and sustain losing.
OPTIMIST TAKE: There's actually a lot to be optimistic about--first, Brian Bruney. He was excellent. Sure, he was no Joba or Rivera, but the turnaround from last season to this season is incredible and inspiring. Girardi and Eiland are not the first managers/coaches in baseball history to pull a starter due to rain, but it does show ingenuity on their part and a willingness to adapt on the fly as needed. Alberto Gonzalez, the one who's not supposed to be able to hit, actually had one of the hardest hits for the Yankees, with a stand-up double. Jose Molina threw out two baserunners attempting to steal, again showing himself to have been the best move the Yankees made at last year's deadline.
SCORES AND STUFFS
The ones that'll interest you:
Detroit beat Boston, 7-2, getting their first win of the season. The Sox and the Yankees now have the exact same record, neck and neck for....the AL East cellar!
Oakland beat Toronto, 6-3, mounting a four-run ninth to do so.
Seattle beat Tampa, 7-1, and Baltimore-Texas was a rainout.
In the National League, Mets beat the Phillies 8-2, and the Cubs and Pirates have hit the 15th.
(I've lost track as to which number game this is)
The four hour drive from Syracuse to NJ has left me exhausted and with an "I" key that won't function properly.
1) Apparently Andy was okay and made one noticeable mistake.
2) Rivera is apparently already in midseason form, needing just eight pitches to retire the side, throwing seven of them for strikes (and two strike outs, so yea.)
3) Yanks got a bunch of production out of the 9 spot.
4) Brian Bruney hasn't done anything to improve his chances of making the team.
On another note, this week's installation of The Season will be delayed some given plans I have for tomorrow, but it should be up by Sunday evening.
