Red Light, Green Light (Postgame Notes 22 June 2008)

The New York Yankees looked as though they had finally turned things around, and then they ran into Edinson Volquez and offensive apnea on Friday and Saturday.

So today the Yankees were left to attempt to avoid being swept by the Cincinnati Reds. Fortunately for them, the one pitcher that they would have wanted on the mound--Andy Pettitte--was, in fact, on the mound.

Pettitte had to labor--through six innings he threw 97 pitches, giving up four hits and walking two, but he had four strike outs and did not surrender a run. Had it not been for an hour rain delay during a nasty thunderstorm--if you can get a chance to see the replay, watch the wind pick up on this one--Pettitte may have pitched into the seventh as well.

The Yankees' offense seemed to come out of its slumber after the rain delay. They scored one run in the fifth inning, before the delay, which was important--as the completion of the fifth inning made the game official--but had their best inning in the bottom of the sixth, when Giambi and Posada each had doubles to drive in a total of three runs.

Edwar Ramirez pitched a brilliant 7-pitch seventh inning. He is a wild card in the Yankees' bullpen--either unhittable or horrible, and today the Yankees had the unhittable version today.

Kyle Farnsworth, however...

Farnsworth breezed through the first two outs, throwing as high as 101 mph on the gun. However, he gave up a solo home run to Ken Griffey, Jr. (because it's not a Farnsworth appearance without a HR) and then made a stupid--reflexive, but stupid--move when he attempted to barehand a line drive off the bat of Brandon Phillips. He missed the ball, and injured himself on the play. Apparently, he cut the webbing between his fingers and needed stitches (which, all things considered, would be a really lucky break), but I'm not positive so don't quote me on that.

Mariano Rivera had to come on for a four out save. He got the first out with ease, but did not look particularly sharp by his standards, as he gave up two hits with only one strike out. However, as he's, well, Mo, he did not surrender a run and earned his 21st save of the season.

The Yankees get to head into the off day tomorrow on the heals of a win, and they will fly to Pittsburgh, a place they have not been since of 1960. Speaking of the 1960s, today's win was the first time the Yankees have beaten the Reds at Yankee Stadium since that 1961.

Meanwhile, Boston and St. Louis are in extra innings. If St. Louis can find a way to sweep the Sox (in Boston) the Yankees can cut their deficit in the division to four games.

Not that you're paying attention to these things.


Yet.

Red Light (Postgame Notes 21 June 2008)

I must be cursed. Or something.

Three times I've had tickets to a game at Yankee Stadium this year, and, now, three times they've lost.

Granted, the loss today was different than the Sunday 5/18 game against the Mets or the 6/3 "Joba Game" against Toronto, but alas, a loss is still a loss.

Dan Giese pitched great. It's hard to see that from a 6-0 score, but through six innings, Giese had yielded just two hits (okay, two I remember, anyway) and had thrown only 62 pitches. He gave the Yankees everything--and, of course, the Yankees gave him nothing back.

In the seventh inning, Giese made an error on a throw that should have started a double play, and things got out of hand from there.

However, the truth is, the Yankees lost the game in the second inning, when they had the bases loaded, with no one out, and could not bring a runner around to score. Every inning, it seemed, the Yankees would get a runner, or runners, on base, and every inning they failed to get the big hit.

Alas.

Anyway, the part you're all interested in, pictures!



Myself and Jon, with whom I went to the game. I know I look horrible, but, yeah, it was 85 degrees out and we were sitting in the sun!


Our view. Some people don't like the screen; I don't mind it.


Babe Ruth's daughter, grandson and great-grandchildren presenting Alex Rodriguez with an award for the most home runs hit last season. A-Rod was shocked by how heavy the thing was.


Robbie taking warm up tosses.



Alex


Exchanging line up cards.


Alex at bat.


Laura Posada with the two Posada children. The daughter, Paulina (I think?), kept shouting 'da-da' or 'da-ddy' until Jorge would turn around and wave. It might have been the highlight of the game.


Anyway, the Yankees will try to avoid the sweep tomorrow, and hey, as I'm not going to the game, they'll actually have a shot!

Low Voltage

Sometimes, the forces conspire.

Tonight, for example, it wasn't just that Edinson Volquez was a stud on the mound for Cincinnati, or that Johnny Damon made what should have been scored a costly error, or that Mike Mussina decided to walk Jay Bruce and pitch to Jolbert Cabrera, who was already 2-2 that evening, but rather, it was a combination of all of these things.

A four-two loss can not be considered a clunker by any means, though the deficit seemed to loom larger just because of how well Volquez has been pitching.

So while a bad decision and a bad play doomed the Yankees tonight, in the long run, it can not be considered a terrible loss.

For one thing, Mike Mussina pitched into the eighth inning, sparing the bullpen on a night when Mariano Rivera, Jose Veras and Kyle Farnsworth were all likely unavailable. He threw 110 pitches, 76 of them strikes.

Despite the loss, it cannot be considered a poor outing from Moose--merely an unlucky one. Had he pitched to Jay Bruce, or had Johnny Damon caught a fly ball, the entire complexion of the game changes, and he very well may have picked up his eleventh win.

That said, the Yankees were sloppy on defense and ran themselves out of innings on a few occasions. They seemed to have forgotton that they weren't playing the San Diego Padres any more, and not every catcher is Michael Barrett.

Hideki Matsui, and, surprisingly, Robinson Canò had multi-hit games, but the Yankees were not able to do much else offensively.

Still, there's little to complain about--the Yankees are still six games over .500, the pitchers they face tomorrow and Sunday will not be named Edinson Volquez.


Also---I don't know if any of you are soccer fans but the Turkey-Croatia match today might explain why it's such a popular sport.


Apparently, as of about ten minutes ago, I'm going to the game tomorrow, and have seats second row behind home plate.

So, uh, if you see me on tv, holler.

A Preview A Day Keeps the Winter Away, #23

For the month of March I will be doing a season preview, with a new team each day, going in alphabetical order by team so I can save the Yankees for last, because I am, in fact, that devious.

As this is a Yankees' blog, the previews for AL East teams will be more detailed than those of AL Central and AL West teams, and any AL team previews will be more detailed than NL team previews, save maybe for the Mets. Each preview will involve consideration of how much 'threat' a team is to the Yankees, for fairly obvious reasons.

Up today: The Cincinnati Reds

The Reds were not supposed to be a legitimate contender last year, but the NL Central is such a weak division, that at one point towards the end of the season you couldn't count them out.

Ken Griffey, Jr., is obviously their most recognizable player, and he can mash, but only when he stays healthy, which he seems to have more than a little bit of trouble doing with any regularity.

However, the Reds have a true #1 starter in Aaron Harang, and one of the top rookies in all of baseball in Jay Bruce. Adam Dunn and Brandon Phillips also have some considerable talent. It's not enough to make the team a realistic contender for anything other than the Wild Card, but it is a start after seven losing seasons in a row.

Threat to the Yankees: Green, Proceed Normally

We do play the Reds three times this year, but on the whole they're unlikely to impact our place in the standings. Anyway, when was the last time Griffey stayed healthy through all 162?