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to start Wang in Game 1 and start Matsui over Duncan. Like I said, it should have been Pettitte in Game 1, Hughes in Game 2, Wang in Game 3. Someone on some website said that of all the Game 1 starters in the playoffs this year, the one most likely to get shelled was Wang – and he was right. He had two outs and none on in the 1st before allowing three runs! WTF? Then there was Posada k’ing with the bases full and none out. After the Yanks pulled to within one, and Wang walked the leadoff hitter, I knew Torre should have pulled him, but no, he stayed in to give up a two-run HR that felt like the death knell.
What else went wrong? Outside of Ohlendorf getting bombed, Melky has become an automatic out (0-4), Arod walked twice but also went 0-2 with two popups, Posada, Matsui and Jeter went 0-12 with five Ks (leaving 12 men on base).
The good news? Abreu and Cano looked good at the plate, Hughes looked good in his first postseason work (despite giving up an 0-2 HR – inexcusable Phil), this was a game the Yanks were expected/supposed to lose (they’re only down 0-1), and finally, the last two years when the Yanks have won Game 1 they’ve gone on to lose the series, so maybe a first game loss will reverse that.
PS: Is that stadium some kind of launching pad or what? I didn’t think at least two of those HRs had any shot of getting out.
Sabathia vs. active Yankees
Last start against: Sept. 1, 2004 in the Bronx – 6 ip, 3 er, 5 h, 4 bb, 3 k
The righties killed him while the lefties couldn’t touch him. Matsui didn’t get one hit in 10 plate appearances – why the hell is he starting over Shelley Duncan who has killed southpaws this year (although he fared better against righties in Triple-A Scranton)? And it’s not like Matsui hit some screamers for outs against CC – he had one lineout in those 10 pa, but in his defense he only struck out once too (his first pa).
Wang vs. active Indians
Last start against: July 3, 2006 in Cleveland – 5.1 ip, 5 er, 11 h, 2 bb, 2 k
The good news: he’s owned Hafner and Martinez, holding them both under a .612 OPS. In fact, he’s held the Cleveland hitters to an abysmal line – .228/.323/.368.
The bad: Grady Sizemore has killed him to a .333/.333/.778 tune in nine pa. And Wang has struggled on the road throughout his career – 3.04 era at home vs. 4.62 on the road (and even more so this year – 2.75 home era vs. 4.91 road era).
Ironically, neither of the starting pitchers have faced their opponent this season. Going by these numbers the Yanks have the advantage, but the wildcard is how will the Yanks do against Sabathia after not seeing him in three years? He’s gone from being a good but raw pitcher to the Cy Young favorite…
For a slightly more in depth preview, go here.
My prediction? Yanks in 4.
And will probably play Cleveland in the Division Series. The Yanks have the best record in baseball since the All-Star break (48-24).
They started the journey seven months ago, across the bay in spring training at Legends Field. Joba Chamberlain was not invited, Roger Clemens was not signed, Melky Cabrera was not a starter, and Carl Pavano was not hurt.
So much has changed, the season unfolding in surprising and sometimes painful ways. The Yankees lost 29 of their first 50 games, and kept stumbling into July.
“There were times,†Manager Joe Torre said, “when you felt like you’d won the lottery when you won a game.â€
But the bumpy road has brought them to their expected destination, the playoffs, for the 13th season in a row. With George Steinbrenner, their principal owner, watching from a box after lunching with Torre in the afternoon, the Yankees clinched a spot in the postseason Wednesday night with a 12-4 wipeout of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays at Tropicana Field.
“This has definitely been the hardest one,†said Derek Jeter, who went 3 for 5 with a homer. “We scuffled early on, but everybody here knew we had a good team; we were just playing bad. A lot of people counted us out, and everybody sort of liked that.â€
It does feel good, especially considering how many ‘experts’ put forks in the Yankees in May.
by Brian Hoch -
The Yankees’ fight back to relevance was one filled with gritty and unexpected battles. It somehow seemed appropriate that they would have to fight one more before tasting some sweet celebration.
Dioner Navarro’s solo home run off Jeff Karstens in the 10th inning lifted the Devil Rays to a 7-6 victory over the Yankees on Tuesday at Tropicana Field, postponing a potential clinching game for New York’s 13th consecutive postseason appearance.
Buoyed by Alex Rodriguez’s grand slam and five scoreless — if not shaky — innings from Kei Igawa, the Yankees carried a four-run lead into the sixth inning, but New York’s bullpen gave it back. Edwar Ramirez allowed three baserunners and recorded just one out before light-hitting September callup Jorge Velandia reached Brian Bruney for his first career home run, a grand slam into the left-field seats that put the Rays up, 6-5.
Not to be denied, the Yankees tied the game against reliever Dan Wheeler in the eighth. Jorge Posada doubled to left and Robinson Cano singled to center, moving pinch-runner Bronson Sardinha to third base. After pinch-hitter Jason Giambi struck out, Melky Cabrera brought the tying run home with a sacrifice fly to left field.
New York’s first five innings on defense were dodgy, as Igawa — filling in for Roger Clemens, who was shut down for the remainder of the regular season with a left hamstring injury — made his first start since July 26. Igawa was not especially sharp, walking five and throwing a wild pitch, but he allowed just two hits while pitching out of trouble. Ramirez allowed Tampa Bay’s first run in the sixth on a Navarro double.
Rodriguez put the Yankees ahead early with his third grand slam of the season and the 16th of his career, a shot off Rays starter Jason Hammel in the third inning that clipped the top of the second “C Ring” above the left-field stands, bouncing back onto the field as four Yankees circled the bases. The home run was Rodriguez’s 53rd of the season, moving him into sole possession of seventh place on the Yankees’ all-time single-season home run list.
Johnny Damon contributed a career-high five hits and Derek Jeter extended his hitting streak to 12 games for the Yankees, who are trying to keep a streak alive of making the playoffs in every season of Joe Torre’s era as manager. They have not missed the postseason since the strike-shortened season of 1994.
Just looking at Brian Bruney makes me sick. The magic number remains at one…
Quite possibly, as they outlasted Toronto 12-11 in a five-hour barn-burner.
Just after the Yankees and Blue Jays finished swapping 23 runs, 35 hits and untold amounts of energy and frustration on Saturday afternoon, a common fatigue settled over the home clubhouse at Yankee Stadium.
It was a satisfying kind of tired — after all, the Yankees had erased three deficits, slapped together a how-to guide on resiliency, and ultimately prevailed. That takes a lot out of you.
That is, unless you’ve already had time to recharge.
“I’ve been in here for like four hours,” said a wired Phil Hughes, fully iced, dressed and showered long before the game’s end. “I’ll have a little more energy for tomorrow.
A game I’ll be attending…
by Ty Kepner -
When it all began for Andy Pettitte and the Yankees, in April 1995, his wife and their infant son were living with relatives. Pettitte had earned $2,100 a month in the minors the year before, and he was eager to buy a home for his young family by making a name in baseball.
The years since have been very good to Pettitte. He has earned more than $75 million, and while there are bigger names in baseball, there are few more prolific winners.
Pettitte earned his 200th career victory at Yankee Stadium last night by beating the Baltimore Orioles, 2-1. Since the start of Pettitte’s career, only Greg Maddux (215) and Randy Johnson (203) have won more often.
Joba Chamberlain struck out Melvin Mora with a slider to end the eighth, and Mariano Rivera held on in a 34-pitch ninth, overcoming a one-out bloop double by Nick Markakis and two-out walks by Aubrey Huff and Ramón Hernández. Rivera earned his 30th save when Scott Moore struck out looking.
By holding the Orioles to a run and seven hits in seven and two-thirds innings, Pettitte helped the Yankees in two races. They are only a game and a half behind first-place Boston in the American League East and lead Detroit by five and a half games for the wild card.
The playoffs seem like a lock now, but winning the division (and hopefully getting homefield advantage) would be very, very nice.
by Brian Hoch -
Was there a better way for the Yankees and Red Sox to complete their season series? How much more of a tease could you ask for? And wouldn’t you like to see these two teams play just one more time?
In the end, the Yankees’ final regular-season game at Fenway Park on Sunday night came down to one Mariano Rivera pitch. With the bases loaded and two outs, the high pop off of David Ortiz’s dangerous bat came to rest safely in Derek Jeter’s glove, securing a 4-3 New York victory.
Jeter pumped his left fist emphatically, his go-ahead eighth-inning home run secure as the margin of victory. Boston cursed. New York exhaled. Nothing’s ever easy for the Yankees in New England.
“It’s not what I expected when we went into that inning,” Jeter said. “It’s always scary when you’ve got Ortiz up, let alone with the bases loaded and a one-run game. But we have a lot of confidence in Mo. He’s not afraid of anyone.”
Rivera’s showdown with Big Papi was the icing on a delicious three-hour, 10-minute affair that opened with a back-to-the-future pitchers’ duel between Roger Clemens and Curt Schilling, reprising a 2001 World Series Game 7 showdown with significantly more mileage but still as much drive and heart.
Making his first Fenway Park start since the 2003 American League Championship Series, Clemens held the Red Sox to just one unearned run and two hits over six innings. Schilling brought a game to match, at least until Jeter interrupted the evening with his eighth-inning homer, a shot to the back of the seating area atop the left-field Green Monster.
Continued here.
The NFL will penalize the Patriots for ‘videotaping the Jets defensive signals’ during their 38-14 win on Sunday. There was also a similar incident to this last year in a game in Green Bay. Frankly, it makes you wonder how long they’ve been doing this. They won three Super Bowls by an average of just 3 points. Did ‘spying’ occur in those games, and if it did, did it make the difference?…
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- Phil Hughes pitched well and won his 3rd game of the year. The YES gun had him at 90-93 mph most of the game, with a few 94s (mostly in the early innings). Despite getting saved by some good defense in the 2nd (from Damon and Melky), he still pitched very well, and quite frankly, that good luck makes up for some of the bad luck he’s suffered through in a lot of previous starts. With more experience will come better command, and if he can go 6 ip, 1 er with inconsistent command, imagine when he has his terrific command – which from his minor league career we know can be truly exceptional. Jason Giambi hit a 5th inning Grand Slam to break the game open. Edwar pitched a scoreless 7th and 8th with five Ks.
- WCBS Radio in New York conducted a good interview with Brian Cashman. He talks about Ross Ohlendorf (among others), who made his ML debut tonight, pitching a perfect inning with a strikeout. His velocity was good, ranging from 90-95, and showed a sharp slider.
As I’ve said before, umpires need help. And I refer you to a piece I wrote over a year ago on this very same subject. Baseball (and sports in general) is far behind the times in utilizing modern technology where it can, specifically to improve officiating.
I’ve thought about this topic for a long time. I think Questec is a good thing. (For those who dont know, it’s a computerized system that measures ball & strikes, and compares it to what the umpire actually called.)
One of the biggest and most frustrating problems in pro sports are bad calls by umps/refs. What I’d like to see is the steady removal of the so-called ‘human error’ from sports; I’ll talk specifically about baseball:
When umps are unsure when a ball is fair or foul down the line, why can’t a system be installed like they use in tennis? They could use technology to determine whether balls are just that, fair or foul.
Also, on disputed HRs, they must use instant replay. There’s no other fair way. An ump should be stationed in the park somewhere near a TV, like in the NHL. He should have the final word, since he’ll have access to the replay.
On balls and strikes, why not use Questec or ESPN’s ‘K-Zone’ (for example) to actually call the strikes? The only problem is that strike zone height is different for every hitter, but width is exactly the same, 17 inches (the width of homeplate). Rickey Henderson had a smaller up/down zone because he was short and crouched, and Richie Sexson’s up/down zone is bigger because he’s 6’8″. But their side-to-side zone is exactly the same. Therefore, computers/technology should be used to tell an umpire when a ball hits the plate or just misses. For the time being, umps will still need to call the up/down pitches (because every hitter is different), but will know for sure when a pitch crosses the corner or not. Or an ump could be assigned to determine the upper limit of each hitter’s strike zone dependent on his stance.
It also sucks when a pitcher throws a strike, but it’s not where he meant to throw it, the catcher has to reach for it, so the ump automatically calls it a ball. It doesn’t matter where the pitcher MEANT to throw the ball, it only matters whether it’s a strike or a ball.
For out/safe calls, when the closest ump feels the play is too close to call, he could send it to the ‘booth ump.’ TV technology is such today that it could be done in 30-60 seconds. Or (ala the NFL) managers should have two replays to use per game.
These steps would help legitimize the officiating and would make for fewer arguments from players and managers. You can’t argue with Questec strikes – it’s 100% consistent and 0% prejudiced (for veterans, or against rookies). Instant replay would also ensure the right call, and isn’t that worth waiting (at most) 60 seconds for – especially in close and/or playoff games?
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