Out boys got their asses handed to them by the surging Orioles tonight at the Stadium. Mark Reynolds, the reincarnation of Ron Kittle’s nutsack, hit a two-run home run against Hiroki Kuroda, made two beautiful plays in the field, and hit another dinger against Derek Lowe.
It was more than enough.
Yanks had a couple of chances to score and didn’t do chiggiddy boom bam with them (Nick Swisher struck out four times). A solo homer by Curtis Granderson in the ninth is all that kept them from being shut out. The Yanks are a flat team since they played the Rangers a few weeks back and are paying the price for their ineptitude. The O’s now trail the Yanks by two.
Final Score: O’s 6, Yanks 1.
Pretty soon, I think, the Joe Girardi death watch is gonna begin.
I hung out with some friends tonight and wound up in a burger joint. My one friend pointed to the tv and it was 4-0 O's in the 8th. i got home just in time to see a strike out to end the game. Bleh.
[1] I don't get that sense at all. imo.
[2] The Yankees blow this lead and miss the playoffs, or even if they end up as the WC and get drummed out in the first round, he's gone. Someone's head is going to roll, fair or not, and the manager is the easiest target. That's my prediction.
C'mon, when in doubt: Blame A Rod.
Well, that was awful. They made another rookie pitcher look like the second coming of Jim Palmer, hitters went 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position, and Kuroda was mediocre after so many good performances.
I just hope we'll see an infusion of youth this weekend with the rosters expanding. Can we get Mustelier and a couple of relief pitchers added to the roster, and can we get some professional performances from the supposed calm and cool veterans?
Show us something, Yankees.
[4] Yeah, but they can't fire A-Rod.
[1] i agree with [2] - just don't see it happening.
[2] thought of you with all of swish's k's. how many were of the backwards variety?
[4] but, of course! and the "ron kittle's nutsack" line is hilarious.
[5] yeah. the thing that got me was, iirc, we were urp'ed by this chump not long ago. we usually destroy those pitchers the 2nd time around...
: /
free baseball here in the ATL.
[6] no. but they can trade him to the Dodgers!
[9] free baseball will expire in a half-inning. 3-run bomb for the phils in the 10th...
RI's right (per usual) - beane's a genius. A's take a 4-0 lead over the shit sox, after a homerun by some dude named josh donaldson.
the name, however, leaves a bit to be desired. not quite "fausto carmona". then again, i guess that was too good to be true...
If there's one good thing to come out of this, Girardi won't be able to REST players left and right down the stretch. The way the Yankees are going, they'll need their A-lineup playing as much as possible.
Once Tex and A-Rod return from the DL, they'll be plenty "rested." I hope that means they play every game.
[3] Yeah, no.
And I'm pretty damn sanguine about the Yankees chance of making the playoffs at this point ... as in, I figure it's as likely they don't make it, as they do ...
But hey, I'll put my money where my mouth is ... I'll bet you 1 Bronx Banter themed sponsorship of David Robertson's (The ALABAMA HAMMA!!!) BBREF page that *if* the Yankees don't make the playoffs this year, they *don't* fire Joe Girardi.
How's that sound?
[7] Nice. Swisher's reverse k's drive me fucking nuts. Boy, I am very glad I missed this game. I don't think the Yankee are going to blow the division for what it's worth. But what do I know. I still think the O's are a fluke.
[13] Sorry, I'm not a gambling man, except for bragging rights. Let's just bookmark this thread and refer to it later when it all plays out. The whole question may be "mute" if the Yankees hold on to the division.
So I got to attend yet another horrible Yankee loss, a listless affair that the Yankees barely showed up to.
And, because its apparently the rules, or something, I got to see Joe Girardi play a pointless game of matchups in the ninth of an already lost game, which of course, backfired, because it always does.
I don't know if I've ever mentioned this, but he's an active hindrance to this team and clearly the worst manager in baseball.
[15] Yeah, didn't figure you would be. Still, I figured I'd extend you the chance. We'll see what we'll see, right?
[17] Yeah, sorry...I had some experiences with gambling a long time ago, and I pretty much stay away. I'm as competitive as hell, too.
I tend not to be a doom-and-gloomer, despite my sarcastic running commentary, but this season has a pretty bad vibe. I think they're going to fold. If that happens, we'll see who (if anyone) takes the fall. It's not like this has been Cashman's best season, either.
[18] Ack. I've got to go to bed. I'm cross-eyed right now. Still, and I absolutely mean this, check in tomorrow, I really do want to continue this conversation.
The Red Sox have a solid roster and a very good team.
However, they have been slaughtered with injuries, and are currently 62-71.
The Blue Jays have a solid roster and a good team.
However, they have been slaughtered with injuries, and are currently 60-71.
The Yankees have a solid roster and a very good team.
However, they have been hit very hard with injuries, and are currently 75-56.
Wait........
Yes... we have played poorly since the ASB, but I think more to the point, we had played over our heads for quite a while.
Baseball likes to say "you gotta play through injuries and still find a way to Win". That's very sportsman like, but there's a reason teams fight to get players that cost over $15m, while guys like Chavez, Ibanez, Pearce, Jones, et al, are lucky to make $2m.
Last night, we watched a Spring Training lineup.
Both Baltimore and TB smell blood.
Not only do we Teix back NOW, but ARod, even in his currently meh state, helps our lineup. Fantastic Robbie needs to bashish lackluster Robbie. Grandy needs to know something about 'singles' and 'walks'. But even with our offense back...
our pitching will tell the story.
The thing is TB can't score and that's killed them this month. And can Baltimore keep this up? Me think not.
[20] Have the Yankees been "slaughtered" by injuries? They lost their closer, whom they've capably replaced (and in any case, the closer position is just not so vital--I know that's heresy) and the starting LF (more on Gardner below). They lost effectively one starter: Pineda and Pettitte, who replaced him. Of course, an injury to a 40 y.o. out of retirement starter should be no surprise. Then more recently the team lost A-Rod. The other injuries have been minor (i.e., 15 day disabled list variety, what every team suffers here and there throughout the year).
The most serious long term injury has been Gardner. Even though the gritty one is not a huge offensive contributor, he's not bad, and his defence is of course excellent. When he went down, the team elected not to replace him, but rather turn Raul Ibanez into a more or less fulltime LF (with occasional rest from Jones), and turn the DH into a rest ward/comedy show. And as the season has dragged on, Ibanez (despite his moments) and Jones have been exposed: they're not hitting much and they play atrocious defence. So yes, Gardner's injury has been serious. But that raises the question of why the team did nothing, really, to address it until signing Ichiro.
Meanwhile, the other injuries, with the exception of A-Rod's, should have been manageable---that they are not speaks to rather somewhat clunky roster construction. I mean, you lose Mo---that's bad---but then Soriano steps in fine, and Robertson is still the eighth inning guy. That menas all you need to replace is middle relief. And yet, despite all of the organization's alleged pitching depth, the team tries to solve this problem by trade for...Chad Qualls. And then Derek Lowe? Or hoping that Joba "I just had arm surgery and then broke my foot off of my leg" Chamberlain would come back and dominate. Seriously?
In the shorter term, since A-Rod got hurt, yes there have been a few more overlapping injuries that have hurt the team. That's going to happen. But injuries didn't make catcher a black hole (trading *for* Stewart...seriously?); they didn't make Granderson become what he's been most of his career, only now with worse defence.
"the reincarnation of Ron Kittle’s nutsack"
hahaha
But I don't see why Baltimore couldn't keep this up for one month after they've done it for five.
23) You might be right. But it's different when there is some pressure on you. Maybe they start to get tight. Who knows? Maybe it's a dream season...
The Orioles could stay hot for September, but it's unlikely, is all.
[22] Some of this I agree with, but really Brett Gardner got injured and they did replace him with a player who actually gave them more offensive production than Brett did on average, and of course not as good defense, but that's what happens when you lose a starter. There weren't A+ left fielders for the taking in May, after all. (I bet they could have got Carl Crawford!)
And it's just a mistake to give up anything to get relief pitchers, except the elite ones like Soriano, so I'm glad Cashman didn't do that.
Finally, as a matter of fact the Yankees did suffer at the catcher position because of injury: Austin Romine was expected to be ready to bring up at least as BUC, but he lost most of the season and will not be ready until next year (this from River Avenue Blues).
Also Russell Martin stinks
[25] OK, but replacing Gardner with Jones-Ibanez meant that the DH position was weakened. When Brett went down, the team should have done something---anything---to strengthen the OF. I guess they picked up DeWayne Wise, whom the released (oddly) as soon they picked up Ichiro.