Last night’s contest between the Twins and Yankees felt like a loss for the home nine for most of it’s three hours and 37 minutes. Phil Hughes kept his team in the game by working out of jams in the second and fourth innings, but he used up a lot of pitches in doing so. The Twins took an early lead when Justin Morneau led off the second inning by golfing a curveball that dove well below his knees into the box seats in right. They got another run in the fourth on a sac fly, though that was all they got out of a bases-loaded, one-out situation. Morneau then went deep again in the fifth, on a cutter up in the zone that didn’t cut, to give the Twins a 3-0 lead.
Meanwhile, home plate umpire Wally Bell’s strikezone was ridiculous. He called Johnny Damon out on a pitch that traced the front line of the right-handed batters box in the first inning, then called him out on a pitch that traced the front line of the left-handed batters box in the third. That was too much for Damon to handle. After the second called third strike, Damon wheeled around and told Bell that was twice he had done that to him, holding up two fingers for emphasis. He then pointed to the location of the two pitches with his bat, immediately earning an ejection. As soon as Damon began to gesture with his bat, Joe Girardi sprinted to the plate to try to protect his hottest hitter, but he got there too late. As it turned out, what seemed like a bad break for the Yankees turned out to be one of their keys to victory.
The Yankees got on the board with a Derek Jeter solo homer in the bottom of the fifth, but Hughes had thrown 93 pitches over five innings, and Joe Girardi decided he’d rather take his chances in trying to get four innings out of his bullpen than to run Hughes back out there again. Jonathan Albaladejo pitched a scoreless sixth, but Joe Mauer greeted Phil Coke in the seventh with a lead-off homer into Monument Park. That made it 4-1 Twins with Joe Nathan lurking just a couple of innings away.
Francisco Liriano wasn’t sharp in his six innings of work, but he was effective. He walked six Yankees, but only gave up four hits and stranded two men in the second, three in the third, and two in the sixth. Jesse Crain relieved Liriano and got two quick outs to start the second, then Brett Gardner, who had replaced Damon after the latter’s ejection, came to the plate and shot a would-be double down the left field line. I say would be because in the fourth inning, Nick Swisher hit a ball to the exact same place, down the left field line toward where the stands turn to run parallel withe foul line. On Swisher’s hit, left fielder Denard Span hustled over, scooped up the ball with his back to the infield, and fired a strike to nail Swisher at second base. This time, Span looked ready to try the same trick, but rather than ricocheting off the wall, the ball took a sideways bounce off the grass and rolled past him toward the outfield wall. As soon as the ball got past Span it was clear Gardner had a triple, but third-base coach Rob Thomson kept his windmill going and Gardner came all the way around for an inside-the-park home run, flopping head-first onto the plate easily ahead of Span’s throw.
As exciting as Gardner’s inside-the-parker was, however, it only counted for one run, and the Yankees proceeded to load the bases and strand all three runners after it, then strand another man in the eight. So it was 4-2 Twins heading into the ninth with Joe Nathan coming in to shut the door. The one ray of hope for the Yanks was that they had the heart of the order due up and Nathan was pitching for the fourth night in a row.
Gardner, in Damon’s spot, led off by taking four pitches to run the count even at 2-2. He then fouled off a fifth. Took ball three to run the count full, then laced the seventh pitch of the at-bat deep into the right-center-field gap. Carlos Gomez botched the carom briefly and though Gardner slipped on first base, he was still able to scramble to his feet and pull into third with an easy triple. Mark Teixeira followed by grounding a single just to the center field side of second baseman Matt Tolbert, who playing Teixeira to pull. That plated Gardner to make the score 4-3 and brought Alex Rodriguez to the plate as the winning run. Nathan threw six balls to Rodriguez, who took all six though Bell called two of them, pitches which again traced the front line of the right-handed batters box, strikes. That put the winning run on base for Hideki Matsui. Matsui battled Nathan for six pitches, but ultimately struck out swinging on a full-count slider inside that bounced in front of the plate. Nick Swisher followed with what looked like a game-tying single to right, but Justin Morneau was playing far enough off the bag to make what seemed like a game-saving play, backhanding the ball and flipping to Nathan for the second out.
The runners moved up on Swisher’s out and with two out and the winning run in scoring position, Girardi sent Ramiro Peña in to run for Rodriguez. With first base open, Ron Gardenhire had Nathan walk Robinson Cano to load the bases and bring up Melky Cabrera. Nathan threw one pitch to Cabrera, a fastball right down the middle, and Cabrera served it into the gap in left-center for a single that plated Teixeira and Peña and gave the Yankees both the win and their only lead of the game.
Jose Veras got the win for retiring one batter in the ninth, though Edwar Ramirez pitched a scoreless inning and a third before him, but the win had many authors, not the least of which was Gardner, who didn’t start the game, but went 3-for-3 with eight total bases and two runs scored. You know things are going well when your best hitter gets ejected and the guy who comes in off the bench to replace him winds up as the star of the game. The Yankees have now won three straight and have pulled within 2.5 games of the Red Sox, who lost to the Mariners last night. Joba Chamberlain pitches today hoping to help the Yanks match their season-long win streak of four games.
Incidentally, it’s worth mentioning that Damon’s wasn’t the only outburst in this game. Mark Teixeira had a few words for Carlos Gomez when the young Twins center fielder crossed first base too far into fair territory for his liking in the sixth inning following a dropped third strike. In the eighth, Gomez laid down a bunt and nearly took off Teixeira’s glove hand by again crossing the bag in fair territory. Gomez’s left leg hit Teixeira in the hand as he fielded the throw from Kevin Cash, and Teixeira wheeled around and barked at Gomez. Gomez took offense and needed to be restrained, after which Girardi and Ron Gardenhire got into a heated exchange. During the ensuing pitching change, Teixeira was caught by the YES cameras saying “that’s the second time . . . he almost broke my arm.” After the game, Girardi explained that Gardenhire was yelling at Teixeira and that was what got him riled up.
Wow, what a recap! I missed all the excitement this morning, better get the mlb.com archive going asap. With the Sox losing..things are looking up today!
A bit worried about Hughes though..
I was going to point out that Veras got a "well-earned win", but of course, Cliff covered that juicy fact.
Oh, here's one Cliff missed. Brett had a lucky bracelet.
And there was something very pleasing about the combination: Hughes survives a shaky outing, Gardner "Beep beep!"s his way to glory, Melky gets the walk-off, and even Romero Pena gets in on it, scoring the winning run. The kids are all right.
This is such a funny game ... as Cliff says, the luck of Damon being tossed won us the game. Yes, Johnny might have done a lot, but hard to imagine a homer and triple. I am really happy to see both Jeter and Tex making contributions. If they get healthy and play to their levels (even if Jeter's is lower than it was) that'll play a major role in a chase of the BoSox (we'll deal with the Jays and their absurd young pitching later!).
Cliff, regarding BABIP ... are you saying the received wisdom is that for batters it doesn't signify anything? Only for pitchers? I'm not that up-to-date, but I did see the number linked off an espn site suggesting Tex would get it together soon, and citing the BABIP as evidence. And Quentin at #101 seemed a hint of the same thing: bad luck.
Hmm, OYF, RIY, HCE ... the Initialized Single Malt Club of the Banter ... sounds fine to me. Who else wants in? We can listen to jazz while we sip.
Finally, william, Cliff, agreed: Bell's strike zone was just flat-out ridiculous. He'll be defended for being 'consistent' as in, he gave the batter's box white line all night ... but consistently appalling does not = capable.
[2] RIY, I would say Gardy's hospital visit was a bigger story than the win itself! Very well done in bringing that to Banter! I'm right there with you! *Insert two fingered eye pointing back and forth gesture thingy here!*
Clearly Brett Gardner has heaps of karma at this pernt, which I would argue is the primary reason we’re witnessing his becoming a viable offensive asset and an equal force recently, and why those hits fall in and take such "odd bounces," instead of being caught. I would highly recommend such meaningful and worthwhile visits for all of the players in the future, even from those veterans, whose idea of charitable works only consist of black tie "horseshit," silent auctions of their memorabilia, and hand picking those who benefit from same these days. It's visits such as Brett's that not only earn fans for life, but also such "under the table deals" like, "I'll hit a HR if you try your best to get better," may even mean the differences in attitude that yield life versus death. In other words, you can have all of the money, medical equipment and expertise at your disposal, but without the attitude it takes to recover, you're finished living already...
Perhaps this is precisely why Ruth and Gehrig were so dominant for so long. Grass roots and hands on sharing of players' time with children, whether stricken with illnesses or not, is always infinitely greater than the mere writing of checks (see also allowing children to go to the field level during batting practice as opposed to not, regardless of them having “purchased a suite”).
Also, if I were Ron Gardenhire, I would avoid using Joe Nathan against the Yankees in the future, period.
: )
[3] I'll be having "a wee dram" of The Macallan or The Balvenie please, "on the rocks." It's the closest my wife will let me get to anything that's 18 years old these days!
: )
Even though I knew Lester and the Sox were ahead 4-0, and assumed the game was over, I decided to watch a few innings before bed. I tuned in just in time to see Ichiro hit a HR to make it 4-1. Next inning, Ichiro finished a rally with a two out HR, to put the M's ahead 5-4.
How nice to see that stand up.
I love to have William participate in a Sox blog, and see if he rips the Sox and Theo with the same veracity as the Yanks. That would be fun.
And Hoss... what is this with making the 3rd comment and the 3rd to last comment... and nothing in between? Dude! I need you here!
While the Yanks have many issues, like last year, I see the bottom line as RISP. IF the team RISP ends up the same as the team OPS, I say we take the division.
[4] I really like your karmic assessment, it rings true and is kind of poetic too.
A couple other things:
Reading the comments from last night is hilarious. From page 5 or 6 it changes from team (self?) flagellating doom saying to pure child-or at least teenager-like ecstasy. The comments directed at the inevitability of defeat at the hands of Joe Nathan are especially endearing.
Related to that somewhat: I'm going to give this team the benefit of the doubt till at least the sixth inning. Though it hasn't always resulted in a win they've shown they can score late. Not to blaspheme, but it reminds me of the late 90s teams. They were confident and patient and if it was the fifth and they hadn't scored, you weren't necessarily about to commit harakiri.
Finally, I hope that despite Gardner's performance the last few games, Girardi stays with Melky. Gardner has done well but Cabrera has done nothing to deserve getting the rug pulled from under him. Quite the opposite in fact. I agree with the suggestion of starting them both and sitting Swisher for a while.
If Swisher was doing well, I'd sit Teixeira. No need to be precious about the guy cause of his status - he needs a time out.
By the by.... short of a serious turnaround, I believe the A's will put Holliday on the market by, or before the break. With this economy, will Holliday also get the inflated value that Tex got, or will his price be more in line with his real worth?
And what is that worth? 5/$80? 5/$90? 6/$105? While JD MAY be good, and availble, for one more year, I still think our OF is pretty weak for the immediate future. I have to assume that Matsui is gone in 2010, and Posada becomes the primary DH. It may be wise to let ARod DH 25 games/yr. Four OFers of Melky, GGBG, Swish and AJax is pretty weak, although strong on defense.
Does Cashman take a run at Holliday???
Can we NOT go out and get an OFer??
I forgot something.
Did anyone notice Gardner attach himself like a incubus to Melky after the game winning hit, attempting to feed off his positive energy, in order, no doubt, to fell him when the next opportunity presents itself.
No?
Love seeing the energy from the kids! The geezers need it too!
[8] I sort of hope Tampa declines the option on Crawford and we go that way.
[9] Seemed to me Melky gave him a serious brush off? And anyone catch Alex hopping around outside the pack, in celebration?
I dont think Tampa can afford Carl, but wouldn't signing him for $10m and trading him make more sense? They don't really need compensation picks.
For example: Wouldn't the Yankee trade Matsui and GGBG for Carl, and pick up 1/2 Matsui's salary?
Or would the Sox give up a cost controlled Ellsbury and some kid pitcher for Carl?
Just an example, but it seems Carl would promote someinteresting trade possibilites.
Okay, some thigns are IMPORTANT.
1. PJ you cannot, repeat cannot drink Macallan or Balvenie on the rocks. You kill all good karma accrued on your behalf by anyone, anywhere. It is like wearing white socks with a dark suit, putting milk AND lemon in your tea... a little water is good (actually it is important) but NO ice.
2. OYF, mon ami, you gave william too much credit. You meant voraciousness (probably thinking of a made-up word like 'voracity') not veracity. Your word choice said he attacks the Yankees correctly! Unless I have misread you, or had too much single malt last night, you are NOT saying that!
3. Game threads, and where am I ... OYF, I started to dodge them late last year, and posted briefly about it. The wrath and anger and in-game despair every time a starter went to 2-0 on someone got a bit too much for me. I pop in late after a win to enjoy the upbeat mood (and get the fun of skimming earlier gloom and doom posts and maybe teasing about them). I find myself usually checking in in the morning, reading the summaries and Diane's news, and posting.
4. I did see Gardner chasing Melky ... the kid was just showing off his speed again.
5. Holliday is interesting, the question is how far his stock has dropped. I do NOT believe he'll stay this low, this is a league shift, a Coors departure, but it is just wrong, as a lot of people have said, to equate his ROAD numbers away from Coors with what'll be his HOME numbers somewhere else. I'm just not sure Oakland need be so far out of a weak West by July. Granted, the Angels have two aces returning this weekend, and maybe Vlad in a month ... that underscores the huge difference in the AL ... L.A. can relax, cruise, let people heal, and compete against complete mediocrity ... and roar when guys return. I don't think Texas survives, though it would be nice to see it.
I don't think there's a sign and trade in baseball. I'm not sure how that works with contract extensions, but the Yankees can't sign Matsui again and trade him away
[14] The think with Holiday is not only have his 30 games this year been awful, but so were his last 30 games last year. That's sort of a red flag.
But you can pick up an option and trade a guy, as proposed the Rays do with Crawford, and as the Yankees did with Sheffield.
[16] Didn't know that last bit. Longer sample size, then. Read a piece today that suggests the amphetamine ban is one of the things skewing numbers down for some people (not named, but the suggestion it is the older guys). This would echo Bum Rush's general point.
93. That's Holliday's OPS+. Can we steal him? If not, why do we want him?
And btw, With ticket sales down, I'm not sure the Yankees will want to add to their already ridiculous payroll..
[7] Thanks Hawk! I love how Yankees still visit sick children. That's a truly wonderful tradition followed by far too few these days.
[9] I would point out Paulie's conclusion that Gardy was the only one on the team who could actually catch up to Cabrera in that instance...
[12] I noticed Alex getting out of the scrum quickly, so as not to become even more injured...
[14] HCE, I’m afraid that so much time "living" at golf courses have rendered my "nose" as "worthless," when it comes to enjoying that significant aspect of more finer aged and crafted potent potables. It is as such because of constant exposure to grass and tree pollens of virtually all temperate and some tropical varieties over the years. These days, I have the same troubles with finer wines, including my favorite indulgence, aged port. My few ice cubes serve as the water you mentioned, as what flavor I can still enjoy with my palate can tell the difference versus the whiskey without water. Besides, a dram only lasts me for as long as it takes for such an amount of necessary water to permeate the drink anyway, and it drops the temperature from room to cave in short order. I have been privileged to enjoy several private and commercial tastings throughout my life, which is how I was originally made aware of the superiority of those particular “sherry cask” versions in the first place.
: )
[12] I don't think Melky brushed him off - he was just so pumped up he was running around like a four year old after a few Red Bulls.
And yes, A Rod bouncing around outside the group was affecting. This giant, powerful figure hopping around in his own world.
I agree with [21]. I'm surprised that anyone would think otherwise.
Veracity: power of conveying or perceiving truth:
Emphasis on 'perceived'.