Disregard that 7-2 final score; last night’s game at Tropicana Field was a tense pitchers’ duel that saw both teams execute late-game rallies, leaving the result in doubt until the ninth inning.
The Yankees got off to a good start by loading the bases against Matt Garza without recording an out in the top of the first. Singles by Brett Gardner and Derek Jeter and a walk to Mark Teixeira brought up the team’s hottest hitter in Nick Swisher. Swisher worked a seven-pitch full count, but Garza struck out Swisher on a nasty curveball. Jorge Posada got one run home with a sacrifice fly to deep left, but Robinson Cano hit a looping liner to strand the remaning runners.
For a while it seemed that one run was all the Yankees would need as A.J. Burnett burned through the Rays order, issuing only a walk to Pat Burrell the first time through.
When Swisher led of the fourth, Garza sent a 1-1 fastball right at Nick’s noggin, likely retribution for Swisher’s jovial mound appearance (and souvenir strikeout ball) from the night before. Swisher ducked out of the way, took a close strike on the outside corner, then dumped Garza’s next pitch in the right-centerfield stands to make the Yankee lead 2-0.
Burnett, set the Rays down in order the second time through the Tampa lineup to bring a no-hitter into the seventh inning. Burnett wound up allowing just three hits in his eight innings of work, unfortunately, they all came in a row to start the seventh as Carl Crawford, Evan Longoria, and Carlos Peña singled to make it 2-1 and Burrell lifted a sac fly to right to tie the game at 2-2.
Undeterred, the Yankees took the lead right back in the eight. With Garza’s night having ended after seven frames, nine Ks, and 112 pitches, Joe Maddon brought in lefty J.P. Howell to face Brett Gardner, Derek Jeter, and Mark Teixeira, whose aching wrist is most bothersome when he hits right-handed. Gardner led off by lifting a fly-ball double over a drawn-in Crawford in left field. Jeter then singled to put runners on the corners, and the aching Teixeira, who had gone 0-for-2 with a walk from the left side, worked a full count, then lifted a sac fly to the warning track to plate Gardner with the go-ahead run.
After one last perfect inning from Burnett in the eight, the Yankees added some insurance against Dan Wheeler in the ninth. Robinson Cano led off with a first-pitch single. Melky Cabrera, who had entered as a defensive replacement for Xavier Nady in the eighth, hit a ground-ball single through the right side. Then, after Ramiro Peña, who started for Cody Ransom and went 0-for-3 with a walk) failed to get down a bunt and Jose Molina (0-for-4) struck out, Gardner bounced a ground-rule double off the warning track in straight-away center and Jeter completed the scoring with a three-run homer to right center. Brian Bruney the capped the night off by striking out the top three men in the Rays’ order on ten pitches, five of them, including all three pitches to Evan Longoria, swinging strikes.
Burnett did exactly what the Yankees needed him to do, and exactly what he set out to do, not only delivering a win, but eating up eight innings in the process. He needed just 103 pitches, struck out nine, and allowed just four baserunners (the Burrell walk and the three straight singles in the seventh).
The Yankees can now wrap up a winning road trip with a win behind Andy Pettitte this afternoon.
Notes:
- For the curious, Burnett will have to make 30 starts or throw 200 innings both this year and next (or play a key role in a championship this year) for me to even think about changing my mind about his contract, but it sure was nice to be on the other side of one of his dominant outings.
How much of a bad ass is Nick Swisher? He’s currently leads the majors in OPS and is second in homers and RBIs despite the fact that he came to the plate just twice in the the season’s first two games. He’s played both outfield corners and first base, switch hits, pitched a scoreless inning on Monday night during which he struck out a decent opposite-handed hitter swinging, and last night he responded to a pitch at his head with a home run. This all from a player who wasn’t even supposed to start coming out of spring training. He won’t keep this up forever, but right now he’s the baddest mama jama in baseball.- During the game, there’s no real difference between the YES and Channel 9 broadcasts, but the postgame on Channel 9, which broadcast it’s first game last night, is not only abbreviated, but unbearable as it typically features Michael Kay and Russ Salzberg honking at each other like a pair of Canada Geese.
- The Rays got their AL Champion rings before the game.
- Update: Pete Abe reports that Nady actually came out of the game due to a sharp pain in his right elbow. Nady had Tommy John surgery on that elbow in 2001. He’ll have an MRI today. With Swisher raking and Teixeira back in the lineup, the Yanks may not notice right away if he hits the DL, but it will show when Johnny Damon and Hideki Matsui need days off and Melky Cabrera gets the start instead. Also, if Nady’s okay to hit, but not to throw, the Yankees will have to find a way to unload either him or Matsui; they can’t carry two players who can only DH. That increases the likelihood that Nady will hit the DL, as putting him on the 15-day is the quickest fix to that potential roster crunch. Of course, this could be nothing; he could be fine.
Hey Cliff, your namesake Roy got the W for the Mariners toinght. They are 6-2 now!
Jeter with the tater..sight for sore eyes indeed.
I'll pass on Kay and Russ Salzberg too..
Matsui can't be traded, I keep telling you! Except for Toronto, every AL East team has at least one Japanese player now..that means more AL East games on NHK here..I live in fear of Matsui being traded to the Diamonbacks or some other boring NL team..
[1] Umm..return the edit button please? I am an idiot..no NL team would trade for Matsui if he can't play the field..
You left out that on the Teixeira sac fly, Michael Kay suggested that Jeter might also come into score. From first.
I would have liked to see that.
Really? My audio was mercifully cutting out throughout the game.
Teixiera hits a fly ball.
Kay: This will get at least one run in!
Because no one could have seriously thought that ball was leaving the ballpark/going to drop in for a hit, I'm left with only one option.
I suppose Crawford could have tripped over his shoelaces . . .
[3] [5] I thought it was gone off the bat too, so I think Kay deserves some slack. I think you are nitpicking here.
As for Burnett, last night was Exhibit A on why he is worth the risk. Even if he doesn't give you 200 innings each of the next two season, when an arm like his comes available and you have the money, you have to take a chance. I am glad the Yankees did, and will feel the same way even if he winds up being injured.
[7] Forget Burnett, I just watched the end of the game..WHAT was Brian Bruney dealing there?? If he can consistently throw like that in the 7th and 8th..wow.
Too bad tomorrow's game starts at 5am here..guess will have to catch the later innings over breakfast.
Kay thought the ball might hit the wall, I figure. It did reach the track.
The Dice-K fiasco (eerily similar to CMW's) and Javier Lopez' magnificent 12th inning (the A's scores on three walks and an infield hit) will make sports talk around here a whole lot of fun. For a while. The Sox will be back, but it's nice that they're the ones in a self-dug April hole this time.
[9] Dice-K has logged ALOT of innings in his career. His velocity and command have been noticeably off in two starts, so I think some concern is warranted. If he goes down, all of sudden Boston's staff: Beckett (hardly a horse who has injury concerns of his own); Lester (only one year track record); Wakefield (innings eater; and Penny (time bomb for a shoulder) doesn't look so deep and strong. Throw in some serious concern about Lowrie's wrist and some slow starts by aging players (Ortiz and Lowell), and it really illustrates Boston's vulnerability. While so many people correctly scrutinized the Yankees injury concerns and depth, the Red Sox seemed to get a free pass. All of sudden, that might no longer be the case.
[10] Add to that the fact that Dice-K has simply not been THAT dominant to begin with, at least not up to the insane reputation (THE GYRO BALL!!! OH MY GOD!!!). Yes, a gaudy record and ERA last year, but look at the peripherals--identical or worse than his pedestrian 2007 campaign.
[10] Yep, Matsuzaka threw just under 600 pro innings by his 21st birthday..and that doesn't include his insane pitch counts at the Koshien High School tournament where he threw all 17-innings in a big win that got them to the finals. I think the Sox are still strong but will finish third
[10] Bucholz, Bowden, and reconverting Masterson, with Smoltz on the way is pretty damn good depth still. I agree with you in general, they have question marks, but their depth is of similar quality as Yanks/Rays. But they certainly don't have the same upside as the Yanks (or Rays, one would think).
Does anyone know anything about J Rodriguez's defense? Loosing Nady would be a blow - If he goes down I would (again, and even more strongly) advocate trading Melky for Cameron in order to upgrade elsewhere.
Who else has a man crush on Nick Swisher besides Cliff and I? I just smile when he comes to bat.
[14] I like Swisher, but Wil Nieves will always have my heart.
2-2 in the bottom 11th here, Seibu Lions vs Softbank Hawks..Hawks threatening with a man on 2nd, 1 out..oh wait, no game threads for NPB here..time for slumber then.
Pundits are pointing to Dice-K's 3 starts in the WBC as a culprit in this shaky start to the season.
[16] Of course, it's not as though he has pitched a gazillion innings in his career or anything.
If that were really so however, what happened to the rest of their pitching staff, you know, that didn't pitch in the WBC?
Apparently during the WBC, Bobby Abreu said some very nasty things about Josh Beckett...
;)
[14] Swisher is just awesome, tommy - I'm definitely on the bandwagon. My favorite line about him so far is what Pete Abe wrote yesterday - "Seriously, they only had to give up Wilson Betemit to get Nick Swisher? Wilson Betemit?"
I wonder what will happen if Nady is hurt. There are no OFs on the 40-man roster who aren't also on the 25-man roster. Can Juan Miranda play the OF? If not, someone has to go on the 60-day DL to make room - I believe I read that Christian Garcia was having elbow issues (again) - or my guess is that Miranda gets dropped from the 40-man. I can't see the Yanks dropping any of the kid pitchers, not when half of them might be needed in the bigs, and other half were just added to the 40-man 6 months ago.
[18] I'm not sure that a Nady injury will have that much impact. If he is out for 15 days, then Swisher slots in to RF and Teix goes to 1B. That still leaves Melky as the BUOF. Not ideal in terms of depth. In-house solutions (also not ideal) might involve putting Duncanstein back on the 40-man roster and jettisoning someone (who is the tougher question).
[13] Right, but Bucholz and Bowden have never had success at major league level. They might be have potential, but so did Hughes and IPK last year. Masterson, meanwhile, seems more suited to the bullpen, especially because a lot of his effectiveness seems to stem from his motion (IMHO). Finally, the Red Sox can bank on Smoltz all they want, but he did have major shoulder surgery last June. At 41 years of age, I wouldn't bet on Smoltz coming back and being effective after only one year.
[19] Losing Nady might not be that big of a deal because it seems as if the Yankees weren't going to use him optimally (i.e., mostly against left handers). Not having him in the lineup against most right handers is a benefit, but when a tough lefty does appear, his bat would likely be more useful than Matsui’s or Damon’s.
[21]
Losing Nady would hurt most around the trade deadline, as Cashman would have one less chip to work with to get whatever the Bombers need at that moment.
[19] If Nady needs surgery he's done for year most likely. That means he goes on the 60 day DL so the 40 man is not really an issue. You could bring up someone like Shelly Duncan who can play the OF corners, or make a move.
The one I feel bad for is Nady. He's in his walk year, in this economy already. He's going to have to take a 1-year, incentive laden deal most likely. Actually, it might not be bad for the Yankees to trade Melky and resign him then.
[9] Of the many things that make Kay a bad announcer, the thing I find absolutely unforgivable is his total inability to determine when an outfielder has a beat on a ball. If Carl Crawford is starting to camp under a ball almost immediately, I think its a safe bet that he's going to catch it.
[24] That's easy for you to say while watching on TV, but judging the flight path is much more difficult in person (especially from press boxes that are in less than optimal locations). Kay has his flaws, but you are being completely unfair with this criticism.