Daily Archives: June 28, 2007

Believing?

Well, um, would you believe that rain spoiled and then perhaps saved the Yankees tonight? We don’t know the outcome of Thursday night’s game between the Yankees and the Orioles because it was suspended with two out in the top of the eighth and won’t be continued until the Yankees are in town again, which is at the end of July. The game was delayed just after the O’s took a two run lead in the seventh. Then, it was called for a second time immediately after Derek Jeter singled home two runs off Chris Ray in the eighth, giving the Yankees an 8-6 lead. Melvin Mora berated the umpires for not stopping the game sooner. According to the AP:

Before Jeter stepped to the plate, Mora pleaded with third base umpire Tim Tschida to stop the game.

“I just asked him, ‘You don’t think it’s too wet?’ He started yelling at me and cursed,” Mora said. “I said, ‘This is worse than when you stopped the game when we was winning. Why you don’t stop it now? I can’t even see the ball.’

“He just tried to make Jeter hit so they can score one run so they can get out of here. That’s what I think,” said Mora, who was ejected from the game.

So the Yankees end one of the worst road trips in recent memory with an incomplete (just for the night, not for the trip). They didn’t actually win a game, but they at least they were leading when it ended.

Chien Ming Wang didn’t have dominant stuff but he pitched efficiently for the first six innings. Alex Rodriguez made a fine, one-handed play on a bunt attempt by Melvin Mora early in the game. Several innings later, Brian Roberts robbed Derek Jeter of a hit by backhanding a ball hit up the middle and then turning and making a great throw as his body was falling away to left field.

The Yankees couldn’t come up with a big hit, but they were driving in runs with outs and working deep counts on Daniel Cabrera, who was characteristically wild. Rodriguez had a chance to break the game open in the sixth. He came up with the bases loaded and one out and was sitting on a 3-1 count but grounded into a 6-4-3 double play.

Wang then quickly gave up a 4-2 lead as Baltimore scored four runs in bottom of the seventh. I couldn’t believe the Yankes were going to blow another game. You have got to be kidding me. And it all came apart on Wang so suddenly. But I give the team credit for how they came back in the eighth. Jeter’s two-out hit is something he’s done so often over the course of his career, it’s almost easy to take for granted. But even though it didn’t secure a win tonight, I’m sure Jeter and the rest of the Yankees are appreciating it plenty.

This has turned out to be a strange season hasn’t it?

The Yankees have scored in just one of 18 innings in Baltimore. Chein-Ming Wang faces off against Daniel Cabrera as the Yanks try to save face (too late), but Wang won’t matter tonight (like Clemens didn’t matter yesterday) if the Yanks can’t make hay against Cabrera, who has turned in a quality start in just five of his last 14 appearances, has a 5.93 ERA over his last seven, and has allowed six home runs in his last three.

Joe Torre’s decision not to bring Mariano Rivera into Tuesday night’s game was the straw that broke the camel’s back for Jay Jaffe, who says the 2007 Yanks are toast:

…I’m officially now Beyond Caring. No more objects thrown at the TV, no more Tivoing their games so I can cling to a shred of hope. This season is done for the Yankees. Throw them on the pile of expensive toys that broke all too quickly. Go spend some time with your loved ones rather than tuning in for the daily rust and rot. You’ve got better things to do than to cheer on this trainwreck.

I like Joe Torre and have stuck up for him over the years despite his flaws, but I think Steven Goldman is on-point when he writes:

The Torre we’re seeing this year increasingly looks like a refugee from a parallel universe, one in which the mediocre manager of the Mets, Braves, and Cardinals never gave way to the Hall of Famer of 1996–2001…From George Washington to Ronald Reagan, all great leaders decline as they age. This is no insult to Torre, but simply a fact of life. He has carved his place in history, and now he should be history. He knew what to do in 1996, but in an ironical twist, is now clueless in 2007. It’s time for a change.

Cliff said it all. This is a Dead Team Walking. (Now, watch them go out and actually play well against the A’s, Twins and Angels, just to tease us.)

Hey, speaking of Jay, check out the latest installment of our series about the 1977 World Series box set. At the very least it’ll take your mind off the present-day Yanks.