The Rays beat the Yankees 13-4 on Friday night in a game that was every bit as ugly as that score would suggest. CC Sabathia, making his first career start with a chance to reach 20 wins, gave up nine runs (five earned) and was pulled with two outs in the third having thrown 82 pitches. Six Yankee relievers followed, with Jonathan Albaladejo giving up two more runs, and David Robertson and Phil Hughes one each (I’m guessing Hughes has already shaved his new mustache). B.J. Upton hit for the first cycle in Rays history in the first five innings, following a key, bases-loaded first-inning triple with a double in the third, a homer in the fourth, and an RBI single in the fifth. He later added another single in the eighth and finished the game having gone 5-for-5 with 11 total bases, 6 RBIs, and 3 runs scored.
The silver lining for the Yankees was an opportunity to get a look at a large swath of their roster, with 16 position players and 8 pitchers appearing in the game. Juan Miranda crushed a pitch off Dale Thayer for his first major league home run which also happened to tie the Yankees’ single-season team mark for home runs at 242, a mark set by the 2004 Bombers. Brian Bruney worked a perfect sixth inning, and Damaso Marte retired the only two men he faced on a total of four pitches in the eighth.
The turning point in the game came in the bottom of the first. Jason Bartlett led off with a solid single up the middle, then stole second on the first pitch to Carl Crawford. Crawford then hit a grounder to Mark Teixeira’s right. Perhaps still a bit rattled from taking a David Price fastball up and in off his left hand in the top of the inning as likely retribution for Sabathia breaking co-AL home run leader Carlos Peña’s fingers with a pitch the last time these two teams met, Tex bobbled the ball. The bobble was of little consequence as Teixeira recovered in time to flip the ball to Sabathia, but Crawford beat the big lefty to the bag, forcing Tex to eat the ball. Nonetheless, Tex was given an error on the play. With men on first and third and none out, Sabathia walked Evan Longoria on five pitches setting up a bases-loaded no-out jam
Then CC bore down. He jammed Ben Zobrist inside, broke his bat, and got him to hit a humpback liner to Robinson Cano. Teixeira then made a nice play, bending over backwards near the stands to snag a Willy Aybar foul pop and firing home to keep the runners in place. With two out and the game still scoreless, Sabathia fell behind Gabe Kapler 3-0, then got two generous strike calls to battle back to 3-2 before finally walking in the first run of the game. B.J. Upton then hit the first pitch he saw just over the reach of Cano (it seemed as if Cano could have had the ball, but it knuckled, causing Robby to miss). The ball scooted toward the right-field gap, eluding a diving Nick Swisher, who seemed to get caught up in the Tropicana Dome turf, and rolling to the warning track for a bases-clearing triple. That made it 4-0 Rays and set the course for Sabathia, Upton, and the game in general.
After the game, both Sabathia and Girardi blamed CC’s bad outing on a lack of fastball command. Sabathia also said his changeup “wasn’t really there,” but that “I’ll be ready for Wednesday,” referring to his Game 1 start in the ALDS.
Just scary to see our whole pitching staff get beat up... while we compile all of 4 hits. The silver lining was in Minn and Detroit. Somehow, even without Morneau, the Twins continue to fight.
I still don't understand why Albaladejo gets to pitch and Melancon doesn't.
I notice there was some talk about what the Yankees should do if Verlander has to pitch tomorrow (Sunday).
I don't think the Verlander start affects the choice. (I used to think so, but now I've re-thunk it.)
Justin can pitch on Friday Oct 9th and again on Wed. Oct 14th, both on full rest. He can do that no matter which series the Yankees pick.
So now I'm rooting for the one-game playoff.
[3] Apparently Carl Pavano has pledged to pitch on three days rest on Sunday. I'm not sure what that means.
I lament the inflation of Sabathia's ERA. It does concern me somewhat that he was so bad in a kinda-big game ... My impression was he gets too amped up in those situations and this adds more fuel to that fire, but on the other hand maybe he got it off his chest last night instead of next week. We shall see.
[4] Is "pledged" the Minnesotan word for "threatened"?
I would say it means he's more likely to get injured, but that seems somehow inappropriate in this case.
If there is an effect of this outing on CC's playoff start (I'm highly skeptical), I suspect that it will be overwhelmingly positive. More specifically, I think that this clunker will make CC angry, and since anger and anxiety are incompatible emotions, the anger will overwhelm the anxiety, thereby enabling CC to be his usual dominating self.
/psychobabble
[4],[6] It means PBS and NPR can rest easy knowing he didn't pledge anything to them... either that or the balls are gonna look awfully glossy on the way out the park (not to mention the fresh pine scent after 1-1/3 innings)...
[8] Glossy, lemony balls.
I might just skip that game.
[7] Agreed. Additionally, F¥ck Joe Maddon.
Was that Teixeira HBP intentional? If so, that's ****ed up.
Ricciardi is (finally) out in Toronto ...
[12] I hope they hire someone just as incompetent to replace him. : )
[13] Perhaps. In any case, the word up here is that the current CEO is trying to move the team toward "profitability." If I understand that correctly, then it means cutting lots of salary and putting sub-par talent on the field.
It's amazing to think that this was once an elite franchise, with the highest payroll in the league, a roster full of stars, and a shiny new stadium.
[13] They'll try their best, but it's going to be difficult to find someone who measures up.
[14] Oh, like the Marlins. But actually, that could work out better for fans than the "Ricciardi Plan".
[15] The Ricciardi Plan was kind of like the Joba Plan, only on a much grander scale.
[16] Indeed. Although it was also similar to the Mitre Plan, in that the only reason it didn't work was brute bad luck (again on a grander scale).
Of course, neither the Joba Plan nor the Mitre Plan involved Lyle Overbay.
Both plans have been selected for the WTF Strategy Hall of Fame.
[12] mattpat will be sad
[17] speaking of mitre if i didn't know he was in tampa i would swear i just saw him at the supermarket
oh yes lyle was one of the more brilliant strategies
[11] Cone thought so.
No day games today? What gives?
OYF:
There are: Yahoo! Sports.
[21] WOW!! I had no idea the Rockies were 1 game behind the Torre's. And they're ending the season against each other. Good job schedule overlords. Tonight will be exciting. DeLarosa vs. Kershaw. Good to know. : )