Yankees Vs Mets, 12 June 2009: A liveblog

6.15 PM: Tonight's lineup:

Jeter
Swisher
Teixeira
Rodriguez
Cano
Posada
Matsui
Cabrera
Gardner

An alarming quote from LoHud on why Damon is out:

"Johnny Damon is out of the lineup for assorted reasons. He hasn’t played well of late and he said his eyes have ben “fluttering.” Damon said he felt like he was going to pass out on the field last night. He wondered whether it was a lingering side effect of the concussion he suffered five years ago.

He’s getting checked out today and said he is available."

7.05 PM: Forgot to mention, but you probably know this by now, Dámaso Marte is set to see Dr. James Andrews. Everyone with me now: Uh oh.

7.17 PM: Joba pitched the top of the first there like he means business, which is good. Let's see if his teammates can make it stick.

7.25 PM: Two deep flues from Jeter and Swisher, but not deep enough.

7.36 PM: Some good defense there and the Mets muster a Wright single but nothing else.

7.41 PM: Robbie Canó with a solo HR and that was out in any park.

8.00 PM: "Oy." is about the best I can do.

8.11 PM: The Yankees are so beyond lucky the Mets couldn't get a hit there. But 43 pitches in that inning and we might not see Joba come out to start the fourth. I'm curious as to what happened between the first and the third.

8.22 PM: Teixeira just bombed one. And I mean bombed. Everyone was on him in April, but now we see why we paid the big bucks.

8.27 PM: Canó just missed his second HR in as many at bats, and I mean just.

8.38 PM: 100 pitches through four is not what Joba or the Yankees needed. Highly doubt he comes out for the fifth with that command, so maybe Tomko for two (7), then Robertson/Veras (8) and Mo if the Yankees keep the lead? Just guessing.

8.50 PM: Tomko doesn't have any more control than Joba.

8.56 PM: The disaster continues. Gary Sheffield? Really?

9.19 PM: For a team hitting as many home runs as we are, way too many are of the solo variety.

9.44 PM: Matsui needs it to be his birthday more often. Last year a grand slam; this year a three-run home run to give the Yankees a lead.

9.53 PM: Phil Coke probably shouldn't be pitching three days in a row, but at this point, who else do the Yankees have?

10.10 PM: Our four and five hitters have got to be more clutch than that.

10.16 PM: Girardi bringing Mo in to face the Mets' best hitters. I'm not the only one that's been asking for Girardi to do something like this. Let's see if we're right.

1024 PM: What is it with Mo and tie games?

10.40 PM: I hate Crosby, but congratulations to the Penguins on the Stanley Cup. A football championship and hockey championship in the same year, and that's about the best you can hope for in Pittsburgh. So well done.

And Now Things Get Interesting

Next week in baseball is one of the most controversial weeks all year: interleague play

Baseball purists argue that interleague play should be reserved solely for the postseason, while others think it adds something to be able to see teams you would not otherwise see throughout the course of the year.

There is, however, one issue that even interleague's staunchest defenders have to reconcile with: AL pitchers hitting in NL parks.

The issue here isn't the embarrassment that might be caused by, say, Mariano Rivera swinging a bat (it's happened); it's the injury risk that comes with running the basepath for pitchers that have not trained to do so.

Think it's a stretch?

That's how Chien Ming Wang lost half a season last season, and he wasn't the only one. Felix Hernandez, who admittedly did hit a grand slam off of Johan Santana, also hurt his ankle in the same game.

The simple solution to this, of course, would be to tell your pitcher to, at all costs, avoid swinging the bat, but the last thing you want is to make an automatic out that much more automatic

For the Yankees, the issue this year is magnified as they play nine straight games in NL parks. Nine.

Not only is that nine straight games of watching a pitcher bat (though CC isn't an automatic out, based on what he did last year), it's nine straight games without either the bat of Hideki Matsui or Johnny Damon. While Matsui would seem the more likely bat to sit, it's hard to justify the idea that he will sit for nine games in a row, especially if he hits well over the weekend.

This could end up being the kicker for Joe Girardi. If he manages to figure out a lineup each day that does a decent job and the Yankees go, say, 6-3 over the stretch (okay, with the Nats in there, let's make it 7-2), some of his critics will find it harder to complain. If, however, the Yankees falter (and dude, they're playing the Nats), all bets may be off.

Reasons Not To Jump Off the GW Bridge (yet)

Trust me. I know how tempting it might be right now to jump through your window or off the GW Bridge if you're a Yankee fan, but really now, it's not all that bad. Right?

• The Yankees are still 34-18 against all non-Boston opponents. The Red Sox are 28-24. We could go 0-18 against Boston and still win the division.

• For seven innings, CC Sabathia was every bit the ace the Yankees have paid him to be. Should he have been pulled sooner? Probably, but that's on Girardi.

• Alex Rodriguez actually got a big hit with runners in scoring position.

• The Yankees may only be 3-4 against the Rays right now, but they have taken two of three series from them; aside from the Phillies and Boston, they have a inning record against everyone else that they have played.

• We get to play again tomorrow. And after that, another 101 times before the season is over.

Dear Yankees: Please Beat Boston

Against every other opponent the Yankees have played, they are 34-18. Pretty good, right?

Against the Red Sox--the one, the only team that many fans will argue they really need to beat--they are 0-7.

They have lost in a variety of fashion, from blowouts to nine-inning heartbreaks, and right now, in a reversal of the past 80-some-odd years, there's a feeling that Boston will find a way to win.

Yet one might also consider this: Boston is an AL-best 20-8 at home, and of the seven games, all but two have been played at Fenway. Boston has yet to see CC Sabathia, but instead has seen AJ Burnett twice and Wang once. In Joba's first start against the Sox, the Yankees led going into the ninth inning, and in his second start he recovered from a rough first inning to strike out 12 in five, though the Yankee offense couldn't pick him up.


What am I trying to say here?

It looks bleak right now, sure. I don't think you'll find many who disagree, but bleak is not the same as hopeless.

And as long as there's hope, you're never entirely out of it.

The Problem with Chien Ming Wang

Let me explain the problem the Yankees' have with Chien Ming Wang in as simple terms as I can:

1). Chien Ming Wang is not pitching well after coming off the DL, which he went on ostensibly for a hip/foot thing, but more likely that he had an ERA of nearly 35. He has not made it out of the fifth inning yet this season and tonight couldn't make it out of the third. Although the Yankees have quite the offense, the short starts burn the bullpen--the Yankees used three relievers tonight, including both the long man and the displaced starter--and against good teams, the Yankees don't have a chance with Wang on the mound right now.

2) Chien Ming Wang is out of options, which means the Yankees cannot send him down to AAA without him being on waivers, where any other team would be likely to claim him. The only options the Yankees have, if Wang is not starting, is to either a) place him in the bullpen, where there's no guarantee he'd be effective there, or b) DL him again, even though teams are coming under increased scrutiny for DLing players who may not be so much hurt as that they simply aren't playing well, especially pitchers

3) Phil Hughes is throwing well out of the bullpen, but long term he projects as a starter, and while he's had a couple shaky outings this season, he's also had a couple good ones, and a few Andy Pettitte like bend-but-never-completely-break-and-keep-the-team-in-the-game outings. Right now, there is no question that he is a more effective starter than Chien Ming Wang.

If Hughes languishes in the bullpen for long, even in long relief, he'll lose the arm strength he spent building up in spring training.

The best solution for the Yankees at the moment is clear: Hughes needs to (again) replace Wang in the rotation. It gives the team a better chance to win.

The problem then becomes, what to do with Wang?

There is another possibility--the Yankees could trade Wang, or attempt to--but this option is also fraught with difficulties. One of two things is likely to happen. Either 1) a team buys low, Wang figures it out, becomes effective for another team and the Yanks receive little in compensation, or 2) teams don't think Wang can figure it out, and there are no takers.

It's much easier for a team to claim someone off of waivers, as Wang would be if the Yankees try to send him down to AAA, as they do not have to give up to get and the move becomes much more low risk.

It's easy to see why the Yankees don't want to give up on Wang: he did win 19 games two years in a row, but he also had a spate where, in four of his last six starts, he allowed five earned runs or more. It looks like a blip on the radar, and it probably is, but because of the foot injury, we will never know for sure. Definitely, the foot injury is the more important culprit here, but all things should be considered.


So if I'm the Yankees, what do I do? What can I do?

Wang's next scheduled start is against the Washington Nationals. I would not be surprised to see Wang make this start if only because it would give the Yankees some more time to figure out what to do, but while he remains in the rotation Phil Hughes does not, and the Yankees have to consider if the short term benefit is worth the long term setback in that Hughes would lose the starter's arm strength. It's much easier to make a starter a reliever than vice versa.

If the Yankees are going to risk going with Wang over the long term, then they have to seriously consider sending Hughes down to AAA, but if the Yankees' ultimate goal is to win the World Series, then they need to find a way to put Hughes back in the rotation.


I know it seems harsh and judgmental on my part, but having Hughes in the rotation right now would 1) give the Yankees a better chance to win this year, and 2) be better for Hughes' development as a starter.


Whatever the Yankees decide, there will be a lot of scrutiny from every side. At the very least, they should have learned the lesson: panic moves don't work.

Yankees Make a Game Over It but Still Can't Beat the Sox (Postgame Notes 10 June 2009)

Officially, today's game was the first game in a week where the Yankees did not officially commit a fielding error.

Unfortunately, an error on the basepath way back when in the second inning may have cost the Yankees the game.

It's kind of funny--Nick Swisher's all out diving catch in the later innings is likely to make ESPN's highlight reels (okay, maybe not ESPN's...), but the awful baserunning move, where he strayed too far off first base and was doubled off in the second inning is what looms large.

With Chien Ming Wang starting, it was not really much of a secret that the Yankees would need to score a lot of runs to win, and when Wang somehow escaped the first inning only giving up one run, it seems the Yankees were poised to make good on the opportunity.

After Jorge Posada homered, the Yankees had two runners on first and third when Melky Cabrera came to bat, and one double play later, the entire complexion of the game changed.

The Yankees did have some good performances--Mark Teixeira was 4-5 and Phil Hughes, Phil Coke and Alfredo Aceves pitched relatively well in relief, though the two run HR was ultimately the difference maker--but they were overshadowed by two poor performances in particular:

Wang's yet-again poor outing and Derek Jeter and Robinson Canó combining to go 0-10.

The bigger issue, of course, is Wang--it's highly unlikely Jeter and Canó will go 0-for-the-rest-of-the-season.

The problem with Wang will be discussed in a post following this, but the fact remains that right now the Yankees are 0-7 against the Sox, and no matter what else they might do in the meantime, until they can beat the Sox, no one will count them a legitimate contender to win the AL East or win in the postseason.

Yankees at Red Sox, 10 June 2009

5.53 PM: Today's line up, which will likely need to score ten or so runs in the first inning:

Jeter
Damon
Teixeira
Rodriguez
Canó
Posada
Matsui
Swisher
Cabrera


Interesting to note: both Swisher and Teixeira, both switch hitters, have indicated they may try to hit righty against the RHP knuckleballer Tim Wakefield.

There's a lot of pressure on Chien Ming Wang tonight...and the general consensus is that this might be a long night.


5.59 PM: Wang's wife is due any day. Besides numerous wishes for good luck, the jokes are flying way too easy tonight.

7.14 PM: Teixeira batting righty. 2-0 count right now.

7.15 PM: One dent-in-the-Green-Monster later, the strategy worked.

7.20 PM: And after A-Rod walks, Canó pops one up. And here our troubles begin.

7.24 PM: One out, one on for Kevin Youkilis. Uh oh.

7.24 PM: And a four pitch walk to Youkilis. Two on, one out for the Yankee killer Jason Bay.

7.29 PM: How the heck did that ball get through?

7.37 PM: Got lucky there with only one run as Wang simply doesn't have the zone. Glad to see Girardi wasn't going to waste any time if need be. Hopefully the offense can score a few runs here. I'm not used to being shut out in 2009.

7.40 PM: Hip hip Jorge!

7.41 PM: Matsui refuses to go 0-17 at any point. And Swisher is up batting right handed.

7.44 PM: Melky was unlucky there, but the real error was an awful baserunning move by Swisher. Too bad you don't get E's for offensive blunders.

Wait. Actually, that might end up being a good thing...

7.47 PM: Bad baserunning cost them that inning there.

7.54 PM: I'll be shocked if Wang makes it out of this inning.

8.07 PM: Teixeira's onto something.

8.16 PM: The Yankees, it would seem, have a real issue on their hands. They can't afford to let Wang pitch like this over the long term when Phil Hughes clearly seems to be the better option right now.

Glad I'm not the GM's office right now...

8.36 PM: Line drive single for Melky Cabrera and it's now 4-2 Sox. Men on first and second for Derek Jeter with one out.

8.48 PM: Trouble for Hughes. Man on third with one out and he's begun to nibble.

And Youkilis just hit a two run shot.

You know, I get that there's always a team we can't beat, but why, for the love of Mo, does it have to be the Sox this year?

8.58 PM: Yanks got one run back there, but with the exception of Teixeira, no one really seems to be playing with much energy. The potential is there, but they can't capitalize.

9.32 PM: Holy Mark Teixeira is 4-4.

9.44 PM: With six outs to go, the Yankees have made a game of it and it's now only 6-5. If the Yankees bullpen can hold it here--certainly not a given--they have as good a shot as anyone.

9.47 PM: Even if Swisher occasionally makes bone-headed moves, you can never accuse him of not giving it his all.