Daily Archives: July 3, 2008

Jon Lester walked the first two Yankees he faced last night and, after a Bobby Abreu fielders choice, the Yankees had runners at the corners with one out and the heart of the order up in the first inning. Lester then struck out Alex Rodriguez and Jason Giambi to strand both runners. Lester didn’t walk another batter in the game and allowed just a pair of singles over the next six innings. By the time the Yankees picked up their third hit, they were trailing 7-0 in the eighth.

A two-out ground-rule double by Melky Cabrera in the eighth gave the Yankees just their second runner in scoring position of the night. Cabrera was stranded on second when Johnny Damon struck out. Derek Jeter, who made a costly error in the first inning, singled to start the ninth, but was promptly erased by a double play off Abreu’s bat. One pitch later, Rodriguez flew out to give Lester a five-hit shutout. Lester needed just 105 pitches to complete the game, 71 percent of which were strikes.

Immediately after the game, Joe Girardi held a 30-minute closed-door team meeting. Johnny Damon and Andy Pettitte, who described his performance as “terrible,” called the loss “embarassing.” Girardi wouldn’t divulge any of the details of his meeting, but was clearly fed up in his post-game press conference.

As for Pettitte, he was Bad Andy last night. More from the man himself: “I couldn’t throw anything where I wanted to. Couldn’t throw my fastball to either side of the plate. Couldn’t throw my offspeed stuff for strikes. It was just an absolute horrible game.”

It wasn’t quite that bad. Pettitte only walked three men, and only one of those three scored. He was also hurt by his defense in the first inning when, with one out and two on, he got Manny Ramirez to hit a double play ball that would have ended the inning without a run scoring, only to have Derek Jeter’s pivot throw sail toward the Yankee dugout, plating one runner and putting Ramirez in position to score on Mike Lowell’s subsequent single. The two-RBI double that doubled the Sox’s lead in the second inning was a well-placed flare over first base by Jacoby Ellsbury. Still, there’s no real way to shine up six runs (five earned) in 4 2/3 innings. LaTroy Hawkins added another run in his lone inning of work to make the final 7-0 Red Sox.

If there were any positives to come out of last night’s game for the Yankees they rested in a quartet of individual performances. Dan Giese retired all seven Sox he faced in relief of Pettitte, striking out three of them, including J.D. Drew and Manny Ramirez to end his stint. David Robertson pitched a 1-2-3 ninth and didn’t allow a ball out of the infield. Robinson Cano continued his recent resurgence with a 2-for-3 night, his two singles representing 40 percent of the Yankees’ hits off Lester. Cano is hitting .393 since being omitted from the starting lineup against the Astros on June 14. Finally, Melky Cabrera, who entered the game on an 0-for-18 skid, also went 2 for 3 against Lester. Both of Melky’s hits were hard shots pulled down the left field line. One hit the retaining wall before it turns parallel to the foul line and kicked right to left fielder Jacoby Ellsbury who held Cabrera to a single. The second skipped over the parallel portion of the wall for a ground-rule double. Melky got the day off on Wednesday. Here’s hoping that brief respite starts him off on a kick similar to that of his comrade Cano.

The Yankees come off this embarrassing loss and have to face Josh Beckett in a Fourth of July day game. Didn’t take long for this series to sour, did it?

If there’s an odd feeling to this weekend’s four-game set between the Yankees and Red Sox in the Bronx, it’s because the last time these two teams met this late in the season without either one of them holding first place in the AL East was September 1997, when the Orioles won the division, the Yankees won the Wild Card, and the Red Sox finished 20 games out in fourth place. Entering tonight’s game, the second place Red Sox are 3.5 games behind the division-leading Tampa Bay Rays, with the Yankees another four games behind the Sox in third place.

The Yankees could pull into a second-pace tie with the Sox by sweeping this weekend’s series, but we all know that’s not going to happen. Instead the Yankees will hope to take three of the four games, which would pull them within two games of the Sox in the standings. The Sox have lost their last five games to the Astros and Rays, but four of those were one-run losses and the last was decided by a 3-1 score. Still, there’s a vulnerability there, much of which has to do with the Red Sox road performance this year.

In a season that has thus far seen abnormally poor performances by road teams in general, the Red Sox have been a primary offender, dominating opponents at Fenway with a .756 winning percentage, but struggling mightily outside of Boston, with a .413 winning percentage elsewhere. Their current 1-5 road trip and 0-6 record when visiting the Rays have a lot to do with that, but so does a pitching staff that has allowed 1.87 runs per game more on the road than at home.

Just looking at the four starters the Yankees are scheduled to face this weekend, Jon Lester, who goes tonight, has an ERA more than a two runs higher on the road than at home. Rookie Justin Masterson, who will face Mike Mussina on FOX on Saturday, adds nearly a run and a third to his ERA on the road, and Tim Wakefield, who will start against Joba Chamberlain in Sunday night’s capper, has an ERA more than 70 points higher on the road. In the bullpen, three of Jon Papelbon’s four blown saves this season and 10 of the 13 runs he’s allowed have come on the road, and Craig Hansen’s road ERA is nearly two and a half times his mark at Fenway.

Those losses are tempered somewhat by the fact that Josh Beckett, who starts tomorrow night, and releivers David Aardsma, Hideki Okajima, and Javier Lopez (ignore the ERA, look at his peripherals) have actually been better on the road than at home, but with the offense similarly shedding more than a run off it’s home average when wearing road grays, winning on the road has proven a struggle for the Red Sox this year.

The Sox have been to the Bronx once already this season, splitting a two-game set in mid-April. The Sox scored 16 runs in those two games, half of which came against Chien-Ming Wang in the game the Yankees won. The Boston win was largely due to a strong outing by road warrior Josh Beckett and Mike Mussina’s inability to retire Manny Ramirez (two at-bats, two homers, three runs).

The recipe for a series win would thus appear to be winning the three games not started by Beckett and having Mike Mussina pitch around Ramirez on Saturday. The trouble with the latter idea is that the man behind Ramirez, Mike Lowell, has a .579/.600/1.158 line in 20 career plate appearances against Mussina, which dwarfs Ramirez’s .280/.333/.630 career line in 108 PA against Mussina. Still, the key seems to be to beat Lester tonight with Andy Pettitte on the hill, win the Chamberlain/Wakefield matchup on Sunday, and hope to pull out one of the remaining two.

That doesn’t sound so tough. Pettitte has bee fantastic in his last four starts, posting this line: 4-0, 27 IP, 19 H, 2 HR, 7 BB, 23 K, 1.00 ERA, 0.96 WHIP. Lester gave up six runs in five innings against the Astros in his last start and hasn’t faced the Yankees since his rookie season of 2006, when he was lit up for seven runs in 3 2/3 innings. Then again, Lester will be fresh as he threw just 76 pitches in Houston and had a 1.63 ERA in his four starts prior to that (three of them came in Fenway, but the best came against the slugging Phillies on the road).

Melky Cabrera returns to center field tonight. Brett Gardner is on the bench and could be a very valuable late-inning weapon in a close game. Wilson Betemit stays at first base against the lefty Lester with Jason Giambi at DH.

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May Farm Report

Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre

The big news out of Scranton is that Shelley Duncan‘s season might be over due to a separated shoulder suffered after making the spectacular warning-track catch pictured here. Not that it matters any more, but Shelley hit a miserable .160/.328/.280 in June.

In other 40-man roster news, Ian Kennedy, who was activated from the DL and optioned to single-A Tampa last week, dominated for five innings in his lone Tampa start and is scheduled to start for Scranton tonight. First baseman Juan Miranda finally stayed healthy in June and hit .356/.371/.475 on the month, but if you look closely that’s almost all batting average. Miranda hit no homers and drew just two walks in June.

I still can’t figure out why the Yankees called up Justin Christian when Hideki Matsui went on the DL. Supposedly they picked the righty-hitting Christian over the lefty-hitting Brett Gardner because the team was scheduled to face several left-handed starting pitchers, but as Pete Abe pointed out to me on Monday, Gardner hit .318/.404/.518 against lefties in Scranton this year against Christian’s .286/.315/.531. Yes, Christian was having a monster June (.412/.448/.588), but Gardner was having the better overall season (.293 GPA to Christian’s .281) and, at age 24, still has the sort of prospect potential that the 28-year-old Christian lacks. At least Christian’s stay was brief. Christian could have some use as a pinch-runner/defensive replacement, but there’s no good reason to start him in the major leagues. That said, Christian was the only SWB Yankee to make the International League All-Star team.

Elsewhere in the Scranton outfield, Brigham Young product Matt Carson, who started the year in Trenton and just turned 27 on Tuesday, hit .351/.400/.568 in June.

On the mound, Alan Horne was unimpressive in June and is back on the DL with a tired arm, but Jeff Karstens had a great month (1.88 ERA, 0.83 WHIP, 22 K, 4 BB, 1 HR in 24 IP) and another strong start last night. Of course, Karstens still has that scary fly-ball rate. He should compare notes with Jeff Marquez who finally got straightened out in June, posting a 2.92 GB/FB ratio, a 1.89 ERA, and a 0.95 WHIP. Then again, Marquez walked seven in 19 innings against just three strikeouts. Dan McCutchen was inconsistent in his first full month in triple-A, but posted a 3.38 K/BB, which is a good sign that he’ll settle down. Alfredo Aceves was promoted from Trenton, but landed on the DL with a groin injury before making his triple-A debut.

Veteran reliever Scott Strickland made just 13 appearances during the first two months of the season, but made 13 more in June and allowed just one run in 17 1/3 innings with a 0.69 WHIP and 18 Ks. Scott Patterson was solid after returning from his brief stint in the majors, but is now on the DL with pneumonia. J.B. Cox spent most of June on the DL with a sore shoulder, but is back in action now. Steven White has been dreadful since moving to the bullpen and finally and deservedly lost his place on the 40-man roster when the Yankees cleared room for Christian. Billy Traber‘s recent major league stint was utterly unmotivated by his minor league performance.

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I love almost everything about this movie.  It’s such a ton of fun.  One of the subway hostages in the movie was played by a woman whose daughter was my babysiter when I was mad young.  Also, years later, when I worked in the movie business, I got to know the wife of the sound guy.  She is a wonderful New Yorker, with stories for days and the accent and attitude to match.  She grew up in Little Italy, and her husband recorded wild sound for most of the movie’s audio.  In the final scene, when the subway screeches into a downtown station, the sound effects came from sliding the shower rings in their bathroom. 

A&E recently released a six-dvd set The Boston Red Sox: The Greatest Games of Fenway Park.  The most interesting selection is September 30, 1967, the second-to-last day of one of the most thrilling pennant races of em all.  Yaz hit his 44th dinger of the year in this one.  The broadcast is dated, but in a fascinating way–there are zero graphics and no instant replays, making it something out of the stone age.  The announcers call the game like they were on the radio (funny, because today, radio broadcaster’s have the benefit of the televised replays).  I couldn’t hear any Stadium noise, sound effects or even music from the organ.  Of course, most of the players look smaller (a rookie Reggie Smith was lean and mean), but the big guys–Killebrew, Kaat (who started the game)–look strapping, no matter the era.  Funny thing about the game, Sparky Lyle warmed up briefly in the bullpen during the early innings.  I also learned that Jose Tartabull, Danny’s father, was on the Sox that year, and he was the guy who pinch-ran for Tony C after the young star was beaned in the face on August 18th. 

The set is worth picking up for this game alone.  One thing that struck me while watching, however, was how dull the game was as a televised sport.  Although the space on a ball field is flattened-out to an extent that is nothing short of dismaying these days with the use of the center field zoom lens, all the bells and whistles today make for a more satisfying experience, particularly on an HD set.  It’s no wonder that football surged ahead of baseball in the nation’s imagination during the late sixties.  The game was built for TV.  I assume that replays and even some graphics were used during post-season baseball in ’67 and I’m certain that the NFL was using replay by this time.  Funny, but when you watch the next game in the set, Game Six of the 1975 World Serious, it’s as if you’ve entered the Modern Age. 

Pete Abe had an interesting bit yesterday about Mariano Rivera’s numbers in save situations and non-save situations.

Last night, I got a note from my pal Rich Lederer…

“I noticed where Mo lost his third game of the year despite putting together an ERA less than 1.00. How unusual is that combination? Well, here is a list of all the pitchers who have lost more than one game while posting an ERA under 1.00.”

LOSSES            YEAR   L    ERA
1  Tim Keefe        1880    6   0.86
2  Ferdie Schupp      1916    3   0.90
T3  Chris Hammond      2002    2   0.95
T3  Jonathan Papelbon    2006    2   0.92
T3  Dennis Eckersley     1990    2   0.61