Philip Humber mastered the Yankees tonight for seven superb innings and the White Sox won a brisk game 2-0. Humber huddled a no-hitter into the seventh before Alex Rodriguez bounced one through the box. AJ Burnett was almost as good, but on a night when each base was precious, the Yankees coughed up two bases too many and the White Sox turned those gifts into their margin of victory.
In the top of the fourth, when the game still shone with the promise of youth, Carlos Quentin led off with a hit. Curtis Granderson got a bad jump on the ball and misplayed a single into a double. Two groundouts plated the run, but the Yankees figured they had made the smart trade. In the top of the ninth, Alexei Ramirez led off by grazing a pop fly behind the mound. Rafael Soriano, in relief of the brilliant Burnett, assumed it had loft enough to reach the infielders and gave up on the play. Jeter was the closest to no-man’s land when the ball thudded to the grass, but the only play on the ball was Soriano’s. The White Sox pinch ran, stole second and got the timely hit to pad the lead. But on this night, that insurance run was surplus to requirements.
In the middle of the game, I got the eerie feeling that I had seen this before. As Philip Humber, making his sixth career start, put the Yanks down with ease, and AJ Burnett put in a strong yet futile effort in response, this game last year versus the Royals’ Bryan Bullington crept into focus. And lo, it came to pass. In the tough loss, AJ Burnett was really a pleasure to watch. The strikeouts were not there, but his control was excellent and his April has been a good one.
Humber spotted his fastball and then used his off-speed stuff generously, keeping the Yankees off balance and on the front-foot all night. The guy had a great game, but I think he’ll get clobbered the next time around, just like Bullington did. I put this mostly on New York’s offense not making the necessary adjustments to the slow-stuff. He did sneak a high fastball past Cano in a crucial at bat in the seventh to derail the Yankees best scoring chance, so give him credit for that.
At this point in the year, I can still feel OK about a game like this given how well AJ Burnett pitched. But with the Red Sox and Rays charging, games like this will probably be tougher to stomach in the very near future.
We've seen this way too many times; a pitcher the Yanks have never seen before who is otherwise middling dominates the lineup. Sterling and Waldman called it exactly before the game even started. With all the video they supposedly pour over, why does this team (year after year) seem to be the only one that fails to gain anything from it? Is it a beta wave block or something?
Just win the series and this game will be a footnote.
[1] They seem to struggle disproportionately with starters that throw 87 mph too.
formerly highly touted/now barely hanging on prospect stifles Yankees in first start against them? I think we've seen this movie about 100 times in the past 15 years, I'm not about to lose any sleep over it.
personally I always go back to this gem as the ultimate example of what we witnessed tonight: http://bit.ly/hqmA25
Enrique Wilson and Todd Zeile were the 1-2 hitters in that game.
[6] C'mon, that has to be a joke, right?
I heard a great random fact today on the baseball today podcast: 1985 Cardinals hit 87 home runs and stole 314 bases. Incredible! These dorky facts always make Mr. OK Jazz TOKYO very happy :)
Just saw Ian Kennedy complete a shutout against the Phillies and Cliff Lee 4-0. 10 SOs, no walks.
It's Sadie Hawkins day for pitchers.
[8] I miss Generation Tres.
[9] Yeah...who would have thought that all these years later on this very night, Ian Kennedy is the most effective out of the three.
[9] I don't, if for know other reason than it gets rid of another *awful* artificial nickname.
IPK has really been pitching very well this year. He basically had one bad game, or his ERA would be a lot lower. Yanks might regret trading him instead of Joba or Hughes.
[11] I just wish they had time to get the t-shirts done. Would have gone great with my NY Giants "Thunder & Lightning" Dayne and Tiki shirt..
[13] Awesome!
[5] Yeah, but look at the respective records of the teams. I'd rather win the division with a few losses against a no-name than have a bad record & miss the playoffs.
Baseball is like life, your always going to have some frustrating losses in situations where you should win.
If one looks at Fast Freddie's success, it seems we are not the only team that has problems with offspeed stuff. I would guess guys like Jeter and Posada, who have slowed bat speed, have hair triggers, and might be especially prone to junk.
Did his ball move a lot? You would think guys would simply sit on the slow stuff, and that there would be some Big Fly's.