Daily Archives: August 30, 2009

The Yankees scored five runs in the seventh inning and beat the White Sox 8-3, completing the weekend sweep. Mark Teixeira had the big three-run shot. He flied out to the warning track in his first two at-bats, whiffed his next time up and then crushed a breaking ball in his fourth at bat. Jeter had two more hits. Jorge Posada was back and he had a couple of hits too. Johnny Damon hit his 24th homer of the year, tying his single season mark set in 2006.

Joba Chamberlain started, threw thirty-five pitches over three innings and was done. Part of the new and revised Joba Rules, which are nothing if not elastic. Alfredo Aceves threw three scoreless for the win. Well, Joba is a luxury-problem now cause the Yanks keep winning. He’s not over-worked and we’ve all got something to squawk about.

Hey, so long as they’re winning…

Joba Chamberlain doesn’t have to be Serge Mitre but the Yanks hope that he’ll have a strong outing. As frustrating as he can be at times, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed watching Joba start this year.

Yanks playing with house money. Sun is peaking out from the haze.

Let’s Go Yan-Kees!

The rain isn’t enough to stop the Yanks, never mind the White Sox. It was drizzled all afternoon at YS III in the Bronx as the Yanks bombed Jose Contreras and the White Sox, 10-0.  The castaway duo of Serge Mitre and Chaud Gaudin combined for the one-hit shutout as the Yanks provided tension-free entertainment.

The only glitch came when Mitre left the game after being hit by a line drive. According to Anthony McCarron in the Daily News:

X-rays taken at the Stadium were negative, but Mitre has a painful bruise that could jeopardize his next start.

“Geno (trainer Gene Monahan) knew it was going to be pretty sore pretty quickly,” Joe Girardi said in explaining the decision to yank Mitre. “The last thing we want him to do is hurt himself.

“There is some concern,” Girardi added. “He got hit pretty hard. We’ll see how he is and keep our fingers crossed.”

Derek Jeter had three more hits and has been hot for weeks. (If he finishes strong I can see him winning the MVP over Mauer whether he deserves it or not. Look at it like a lifetime achievement award, like Paul Newman winning best actor for Color of Money.) Robbie Cano, fresh off his badass walk-off homer on Friday, had three hits too. Hideki Matsui, Alex Rodriguez and Nick Swisher each had a couple.

The White Sox made three errors and The Bomb Squad Bombeth.

After the game, Chicago’s manager Jose Guillen was characterisitcally frank (Cowley, Chicago-Sun Times):

“I’m embarrassed,” Guillen said. “And everybody in that room should be embarrassed. If they’re not embarrassed, they got the wrong job or they’re stealing money from baseball. I feel like I’m stealing the money from [board chairman] Jerry [Reinsdorf]. And that’s a shame. When you got more errors than hits, you better look yourself in the mirror and start second-guessing yourself.

“But I’m second-guessing myself right now, making the wrong lineup every day. I second-guess myself bringing in the wrong guys to pitch. Second-guess myself like we work so hard to put this team together, all the way from spring training and when I look on the field.

“I was looking at the Little League game this morning, 11 to 13 [years old], and they were playing better than we did. It was more fun … this is not major-league baseball. Sorry.”

In the seventh inning, Johnny Damon fouled off a pitch and catcher A.J. Pierzynski scooped up a handful of dirt and tossed it at Damon. It was playful, a funny moment. Damon scooped up a handful and threw it back at Pierzynski. That was even funnier. Okay, it’s not Ray Knight decking Eric Davis but point taken. Don’t you playfully throw dirt at me, mister.

Yanks are awful tough right now. Especially against teams that play like ass.