CC Sabathia pitched another fine game and the Yankees scored seven runs in the seventh inning to win their seventh game in a row.
Final score: Yanks 9, Orioles 1.
It was a close game again until just after Kate Smith sung God Bless America.* Sabathia allowed a first-inning run but Alex Rodriguez crushed a two-run homer in the bottom of the inning to give the Yanks the lead for good. With a man on, Rodriguez quickly fell behind Brad Bergesen 0-2. He fouled off a couple of tough pitches, laid off a couple of breaking balls out-of-the-zone and worked the count full. Then a back-door fastball that darted across the plate but too high was struck for the homer.
It made that sound, that true, uncompromising sound of a ball being hit on the sweet spot. The kind of that makes you weak in the knees, the kind you dreamed about as a kid, the sound that makes you sit up like a dog bolting awake by a noise just outside the front door. (They never get the sound right in the movies, have you ever noticed that?)
Rodriguez took his textbook-fluid swing–the ball came to the bat as if drawn by a magnet, and then shot off deep into the night. Rodriguez just missed two more homers later in the game. Missed ’em by that much. But he didn’t miss the first one and it was a thing of beauty.
So was Sabathia, who nursed the one-run lead through seven. The Orioles didn’t stand a chance, collecting three hits and a walk against Poppa Large, who struck out seven and lowered his ERA to 3.43. The big man was brilliant. Bergesen, who also pitched well, getting a boat load of ground balls early on, left the game with a couple of runners on and one out in the bottom of the seventh. Chris Ray relieved him and got torched. Derek Jeter got the big hit, a three-run double with the bases loaded and Mark Teixeira hit his 11th of the season, a shot into the second deck in right field, to put the cherry on top of what turned out to be a laugher.
Brian Bruney, just activated off the DL, pitched a scoreless inning and the Yanks gained a game in the east as the Red Sox beat the Blue Jays, 2-1 in Boston.
*Do you know I ran into two Yankee fans today who complained that while yes, the Yankees are winning lately, they are only winning by the slimmest of margins, so…as if winning the close ones don’t count as much. I’m dead serious.
'pitched also well'- cringe
Bruney didn't just pitch a scoreless inning, it was a very impressive inning. So that's a relief, so to speak.
And though I certainly wasn't complaining about the three walk-off wins and that thrilling last game against the Twinks, I would agree with your two Yankee fans that it's awfully nice to win big once in a while. (I'm still hoping to make the Pythagorean Playoffs, too.)
Oh, Alex, Jeter's double was a 3-run double, not a 2-run double. He only got credited with 2 RBI because the third run scored on a throwing mistake, but it's still a 3-run double. Isn't it?
[1] you missed "kate smith sung! ; )
[2] yes, we're at -5 on the run diff now. man, i can't wait til we're well into the pluses...
[3] lotsa semantics in this young thread! ; )
I'm starting to get excited.
i know they think it's cool that Gammons plays guitar, but he is flat out HORRIBLE at music. just terrible. i think it's wonderful that he loves music and plays an instrument, but PLEASE don't make it out that he's amazing, simply 'coz he plays... : /
[8] Well, they make him out to be this reputable, honest reporter simply because he...
Well, I don't know why.
Sabathia is becoming pretty darn lovable.
I figure this streak is gonna end with Hughes. Or will he come through?
[8] Hahaha! Yes, in addition to being a Boston-homer, his blues-rock is not very pleasing to the ear..I think it's the Anna Kournikova syndrome. Few athletes or media who cover them can play at all, so him playing a little bit is celebrated..just like Anna. Not that many hot female athletes (generally), so she becomes this icon..even though she is not that hot!! Maybe being in Japan affects my perspective, but wayyyyy more beautiful women than her on any given sidewalk here..but better stop here in case my lady is checking my posts...
[11] dude, there are NOT "many" girls on this earth hotter than Anna!!! she is an absolute goddess!!!
[10] yeah man. a coupla those caught looking on 85 mph changeups, were just gorgeous!
zito is really really bad. already given up solo shots in each of the first two innings. yikes.
[12] Oh no..our jazz friendship may be threatened by this, thelarmis!
Goddess..thy name is "Ko Yuki" (Little Snow in English)
http://tinyurl.com/p9rmfm
Anna..better looking than a tennis player, but seeing as how she never won anything that isn't hard!
[10] I really want Hughes to do well, if they lose, I hope it's with Hughes pitching really well.
[12] Megan Fox
[17] never heard of her. just checked some pix and...yeah...WOW! i've got a thing for blondes though. right now, i'm on a big Emily Procter kick...
[15] you know i've got a blonde thing!!!
This team is a stable pen away from being really tough to deal with.
They need to show Hughes that they are committed to him. He has nothing left to prove at AAA and he doesn't struggle enough there to improve by learning to get out of difficult situations. He's as important as any pitcher in the organization along with CC and Joba. They have to stop jerking him around even if it means putting him in the pen to keep him in NY.
Anna is overrated. Megan Fox isn't.
On a more somber note, today (5/20) would have been Bobby Murcer's 63rd birthday.
We miss you Bobby!
(yes, I'm back in NYC .... NOTD returns Thursday)
[20] Welcome back from N'awlins! (actually had Dr. John on the system last night.)
[19] Megan Fox..aptly named.
found it from the great Joe Poz!
Steve Phillips on Carlos Beltran: " While he has that great talent, there are times when he doesn’t play the game and make plays." Steve Phillips likely makes more money than many of us on the Banter combined..and THIS is his "analysis"...sigh..
I have two words for Steve Phillips ... Scott Kazmir.
How much does Phillips make?
Dude, your boy Steve Lombardi is on the whole "they only won by a little bit" riff. It's getting to the point that I can't stand most Yankee fans. Either entitled, ignorant, both, or just super out of touch with reality. Lombardi had a post today where he was saying how embarrassing it is that there are a lot of empty seats in Yankee Stadium. Did he miss the friggin memo about the worst recession in 50 years?
[19] I agree on Hughes. If you believe he has legitimate major league stuff (as I do), then it's time for him to remain in the majors. I think the best plan would be to treat Joba and Hughes as a reliever/starter team, with each occupying a stint in the bullpen while the other takes a turn in the rotation. Basically, I would use the Johan Santana 2003-2004 seasons as a model (Johan's age 23-24 seasons) for both.
As for Fox, Ana and KoYuki...still, no one beats Salma Hayek.
[22] Wasn't Kazmir a Jim Duquette move? I thought it was.
[24] Fenway still sells out and always looks packed. The recession hit Boston, too. Fenway still packs the house against the Yanks, at least it looks that way when you watch on television. The Yanks couldn't pack the house against our biggest rival, and that's quite apparent when watching on television.
I'm not defending Steve Lombardi, but he does have a valid point there. On other matters, Steve can be quite annoying. I actually wish he'd go back to using "WW Staff" and writing as if he had an assistant, other than himself writing for WW. I thought that was hilarious, the writing style, the bashing of Cashman, everything he'd always bitch about was consistent, but he used a pseudonym to "trick" us. The guy cracks me up.
[26] yes it was.
[25] the problem with that is the back and forth has already affected joba. he shouldn't be shuttled back to the pen now, just as he is starting to get more comfortable. i think for now hughes should be used to skip some of joba's starts and otherwise hughes is in the pen or aaa.
[27] Fenway has 39,605 seats; YSIII has over 52,000. Off the bat, the comparison fails. Also worth noting is the seats the Yankees didn't sell were the ones priced for a pre-recession economy. It's not like the wings of the upper deck were empty.
[28] Has the shuttling negatively impacted Joba? I am not so sure that's the case.
[29] The comparison applies when you look at the pocket of empty seats. Obviously the cheaper seats are easier to occupy than the pricier. A similar situation happened at CitField, the seating capacity is similar to Fenway, and they are suffering the same issue where they priced out many NYers or these people couldn't justify paying for more expensive seats than prior years - however slight the expense may be.
To try and absolve the Yankees of anything less than 100% accountability here is drinking a big cup of the Yankee kool-aid. NYC - all 5 boroughs - is populated by at least 18 million people. Boston's population is 4.5 million. Given the disparity between both cities, with respect to population, how can you say that the Yanks can't fill the stadium with at least 50K people? The rest would be standing room only, so I don't really count them.
The Yankees eff'ed up here.
[18] My wife always asks me if I only watch Maria Sharapova play tennis b/c she's hot. All I can say is,"it doesn't hurt." : ) And regardless of Hughes' outing tonight, I think he's got to go to the pen. Something tells me the Yanks are going to need to him starting again soon anyway.
[25] Hm, yeah, that sounds good to me, William. (Treating Hughes and Chamberlain as a starter/reliever pair.)
I think the only potential hitch is that good starters generally like (need?) a certain degree of routine, which long bullpen stints and long stretches between starts would throw off. I have no idea how significant this is -- it's just traditional wisdom, which I know is often wrong. My feeling is that the advantages are quite large and it's worth a shot. Other methods of dealing with both youngsters' inning ceilings this year have serious drawbacks. And sending either of them to SWB just seems like such a waste.
To change the subject:
Francisco Cervelli
So far he's making the most of his opportunity. (Even the missed? hit & run sign last night was an error of aggressiveness by a rookie, so I give it a pass). So when Jorge & Molina come back, I'd send Cervelli to SWB in order to play every day rather than replace Molina as BUC. Then next year or two use him & Jorge as a platoon situation with Jorge getting the majority of the time while mentoring Francisco to take over in a couple of years.
Presuming this isn't just a flash in the pan situation. But nice to actually be thinking we might have a good young catcher ready to step in.
[30] You lost me...the reason the Yankees and Mets have empty seats in prime locations is because they priced tickets for the pre-recession economy. I think we can all agree on that regardless of whether or not you think that's a "bad" thing. Besides, I am not sure why you think the Yankees need to be absolved of anything in the first place. They clearly made a mistake on pricing, but I am not going to kill them for failing to predict the extent of the recession. After all, the goal is not to simply fill the Stadium, but to do so in a way that allows the team to operate as it would like.
As for the Boston comparison, I think the metro comparisons are more like 20mn for NY and 6mn for Boston. When you factor in NY having two teams, that becomes 10mn people per team in NY and 6mn people per team in Boston. I am sure if you factor in demographics, as well as competition for the entertainment dollar, some of that difference would be further mitigated.
In other words, if the Yankees hadn’t over priced the Legends Suites, they’d be selling out. Also, if Boston had overpriced their best seats AND expanded capacity, they might not be selling out.
[32] There are valid concerns, and everyone is different, but the bottom line is both have innings limits. The only way I can see getting both to their limit without exhausting their usefullness before the playoffs (hopefully) is in a hybrid role. I also agree that any pitch thrown in the minors is a wasted one.
[33] I actually think Cervelli would learn more on the bench as a 3rd string than by returning to the minors. What's more, I think a 3rd string catcher could actually have a relatively prominent role on this team. If the alternative is wasting a spot on someone like Berroa, I'd rather carry three catchers.
Welcome back Diane!
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
It's difficult to demarcate the metro area (in the relevant sense) for Boston. If you look at the census metropolitan area, it's much smaller than you'd think -- more like a million. (Boston proper has only half a million people.) But if you look at the 'baseball runoff' area, it's enormous. All of New England, with the exception of southern Connecticut. (Think of the Rockies' region for an interesting comparison -- you go a long, long way before you run into the D-Backs, the Mariners?... the A's? Royals? Rangers?)
For New York, of course, it's a completely different story. Once you're out of Eastern NJ or Southern CT, you cross the border to another team. But the NY metro area is gigantic in population anyway.
[33] If the goal is to win this season, then I think Cervelli is a better option than Molina both offensively and defensively (more athletic, his quick release makes his arm better, he blocks the plate better, and he is calling great games in terms of pitch selection), and given that Posada has already shown a susceptibility to leg muscle pulls, Cervelli will get enough PT to stay sharp and continue to develop.
I am sick and tired of watching Molina needing three hits to score during those rare times when he reaches 1B safely.
My opinions...
Hughes gets Pettitte's or Joba's games if they struggle early, preferably Pettitte's, since he's taking Hughes' spot in the rotation anyway. Honestly I'm through watching them force Pettitte into seven innings like Cinderella's step-sisters tried to force their feet into the glass slipper, just so he can get the incentives. His last start was too many hard hits (see also giving up four HR in an earlier start). For me, it's like watching David Cone's last year with the Yankees in 2000. His second half of last year showed me he was done...
Cervelli catches twice a week for Joba and Wang, or at least once per week with Joba or Wang.
Molina catches CC and Burnett.
Po catches Pettitte and splits time with Matsui and Damon as DH.
And I would also maintain the Pena spelling Cano, Jeter, and A-Rod once a week, too.
: )
Morning coffee, and expecting the Banter to be chipper as early birds, and we get reports of 'they aren't winning RIGHT!' Sigh.
Cervelli is tricky. I am NOT sure you learn more being a twice a week backup, or a never-used 3rd catcher, than by catching everyday, and HITTING every day. A case can be made that if he's as good as Molina right now (likely with bat, maybe close behind dish, I don't agree with Rich that he's better) keeping him instead of Molina makes sense, pointing forwards. But I'm not sure, and I don't like the 3rd catcher sit-and-soak-up approach with a kid who needs to hit. If his ceiling is seen as back-up catcher, it may not matter as much, but if he can hit .270+ he CAN be a major league starting catcher with good D tools.
Hughes. I look at Oakland which has 8-9 starters, some in the pen, and I can see using Hughes that way. Joba DOES have his innings limit, and he WILL hit it at a tricky time for us, assuming Yankees stay in a pennant/wild card race. But, as some have pointed out, it isn't just a matter of skipping a start here and there, and plugging in Phil instead. Rhythm and routine are really critical for starters, especially young ones. For this year, I think Hughes is a better bet for a couple of innings, 5th, 6th, maybe even 7th inning work, than some guys we are using. For his future, and ours, I'm not sure. If we are expecting an injurty to a starter, he's better off every 5th day in AAA than being turned into a 2 inning guy. Tough call.
Our Pythagorean was annihilated by 3-4 blowouts. Fugeddabout it.
[39] Hughes shouldn't be taking Pettitte starts, because Pettitte has no innings limit. Joba is going to run out of innings very early. That's why it makes more sense for Hughes to take Joba's starts.
I don't mind carrying three catchers, but I don't think we want a rotation of three DHs, do we?
Pena spelling all those guys: my impression is that he wouldn't be great at spelling, but "Cano", "Jeter", "A--Rod" ought to be feasible. If we still had Mienkiewicz I would say it's not going to work, and even Teixeira might be a stretch.
I think the number of interested fans close enough to conveniently attend a game is far greater for the Yanks than the Red Sox. The population discrepancy between the metropolitan areas is huge.
Also if you were to divvy up NY team allegiance, I doubt it's 50-50 Yankees Mets.
I wonder if putting Hughes in the bullpen would help him. Joba may just be wired differently, but it can't have hurt that he experienced late inning pressure situations early on. It figures that that benefits him when he gets into a jam as a starter.
PJ, we really do see things differently. I hope the difference can stay cordial and maybe even entertaining. I have no idea why you think the team WANTS to pay Pettitte's incentives. Economics goes the other way, dude. I see his innings as fundamental to a bullpen that is better when rested. If signs that he is routinely tirng at 90 pitches instead of 110 show, I (again, I keep saying this) have NO doubt the Yankee staff will see it at least as soon as we do.
As to Hughes, we cross-posted. I agree that an option is to make him a long-relief/6th starter type, but I do have issues with flipping in and out om roles ... didn't you accuse Girardi of weakness in that regard with his pitchers? And it DOES matter for starters, and not just in terms of 'stretching out' ... having said that, my instinct here is to agree with you. Hughes can be a weapon for 2 innings and NY is trying to win now.
I disagree (again!) as to your catcher rotation ... if Posada is healthy, his bat should be in there 5-6 games out of 7, 5 catching, 1 DHing. He was hitting exceptionally well before the hammy. Your scenario looks like 3-4 games. Or even just 2-3 on your first one. Wrong, to my mind. And I rest easy in the view that Girardi listens to me on these things! Add A Rod DHing sometimes, Nady returning, Damon DHing, even Jeter a few times to keep him fresh and get the batboy in at short (I like him, I'm teasing) ... it is just crowded there, and we knew this in March. Posada needs to catch.
[40] I don't know...I think hanging around Girardi, Molina and Jorge could be more valuable to Cervelli than catching a bunch of kids in the minors.
I also don't think you can simply avoid Joba's innings limit by skipping him. Assuming the limit is 140 (he threw 100 last season), he'd only be able to make 25 starts. I think have Joba down for 7 9-game stretches is a waste of his talents. Also, if you leave some cushion for the playoffs, that could reduce Joba's available starts to as lows as 20-22.
[42] I don't think it's 50/50 either, but the point is to start with a baseline comparison of potential fans per team. The real way to do this analysis would probably include a cross reference of each city's demographic against the baseball fan dempographic, but that's probably too much work for what is an obvious conclusion: the Yankees way overpriced the premium seats in light of the recession.
one thing I learned at the game last night: the "Home Wrecker Burrito" from the Esquina Latina stand is the best $9 you will ever spend.
Everyone loves 7 game winning streaks, naturally. The only question I have is this: Say the Yankees go out tonight and have a listless 5-1 loss or something. how do they respond? Is that the start of another bad stretch, or do they come right back and win 5 of the next 6 or something?
[46] Bad on me for two "or somethings"...haven't had the coffee yet.
[44] I do think Cervelli could learn more about the art of catching from all those guys, but I would rather he get in a lot more swings as a starter in AAA. Joe, Jose, Jorge, and Tony Pena will probably give him enough homework to do in AAA. And depending upon how well he does, maybe by the trading deadline someone will be desperate for a BUC that they'd be willing to trade a bullpen arm or two for Molina, and Cervelli is up as the number two for the rest of the year (through October.)
[48] Exactly. The eyeballing and the advance word is Cervelli is and will be solid defensively. The issue for him is whether he'll be a good #2 or a borderline #1 somewhere, even here. For the second to happen, he needs to be able to hit ... say, .270/9/65 with some walks ... which is a starting role in the majors for a strong D catcher.
So sitting as a #3 or even playing twice a week as #2 may not be best for HIM . In this case, with Molina around this year, my instinct is that Cervelli's interests are better served letting him bat in AAA. He still very young.
[45] Joba threw some MiL innings too, so he might be able to do more like 150 this year.
On Cervelli:
Here's the thing. We are badly spoiled. If the Yankees are intent on having someone as good or nearly as good as Posada as regular catcher, then I think there's no chance of Cervelli's fitting the bill. But I also think it's pretty unrealistic -- a great goal, but unrealistic.
If the plan is to have a good, maybe 75th percentile starting catcher, then I think Cervelli has a shot.
Everyone's worried about Life After Mo, but I believe Life After Jorge will be worse, for the team if not for the fans.
[50] Did he pitch in the minors? B-R.com doesn't have a stint listed and I don't recall him being sent down.
[51] I don't really think life after Po is as stark because you can make up for a poor offensive catcher with other areas of the lineup; we are getting a gradual glimpse of it as Posada misses more and more games to injury; and nothing is more traumatic to the psyche of a fan than a closer who can't shut down the 9th.
[52] I think the loss of Posada's leadership in the clubhouse will be much harder to replace than his O in the line up. The leadership loss could be mitigated if the newly re-created clubhouse atmosphere of camaraderie and chemistry becomes a (semi) permanent feature of the team, which is possible for say the next 2-5 years. Still, even on an upbeat, positive team we probably need someone in the clubhouse as an enforcer - and by all accounts that's been Posada.
Mark DeRosa is available ...
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/baseball/mlb/05/20/derosa.indians/
He's due a lot of money and NY doesn't need him. Well OUR NY team doesn't. Mets might, though they appear to be more interested in Huff, if SI word is right.
If DeRosa doesn't mind being a utility guy and Cleveland eats most of his salary. . . hey, he can't be worse than Angel Berroa.