Hard-hit baseballs swarmed Yankee Stadium tonight like those godawful midges in Cleveland. So many interesting plays developed within the barrage of base hits and the mad dashing of base runners. If you had the ear of a young, eager baseball fan during tonight’s contest, you could really fill it up with all that transpired. An inside-the-park home run. A potential run disallowed by a prior base out. Another runner cut down at home plate by a phantom tag. A vintage Posada brain fart so perplexing and inexplicable that it stubbornly defies analysis. The 599th home run of an epic career. A successfully executed running-swinging bunt. Nooks and crannies for baseball fans of all kinds. Except those that like to, you know, see a pitcher get somebody out.
When is five runs in six innings a disappointment? When the pitcher is Bruce Chen or Aaron Sele. This game had to be a laugher. I thought for a second, maybe I’m jinxing it by acknowledging how ridiculously lopsided this match-up is. But if CC Sabathia isn’t a sure thing against Bruce Chen and the Royals, then just go ahead and throw everything out the window.
Of course, CC was far from a sure thing. He was batting practice. I’ve seen CC get roughed up before, but not like this. Not against such awful hitters. And not so consistently. He was bad in the first, second, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh. To his credit, he dug down and kept battling. And in an eventful game of Yankee gift swap, where each team was eager to forfeit runs and re-gift them later in the game, the Yanks found the laugher I hoped was in there all along and won 10-4.
The most egregious run-swaps were courtesy of Jose Guillen in the first and Jorge Posada in the sixth. Guillen failed to score from second on a ball into the left field corner. How is that possible you ask? Because he wasn’t running hard (he might have been limping) and Brett Gardner gunned down the hitter, Wilson Betemit, at second an instant before Guillen crossed the plate.
In the sixth Jorge Posada produced a boner so exquisitely mindless, it could go into a time capsule to represent all baseball boners for future generations. With one out and a man on third, Posada blocked a ball in the dirt. The good news didn’t end there however, as the batter swung and missed, and that miss was the third strike. Rejoice! All Posada had to do was look the runner back to third and fire to first for the second out of the inning. Instead, Jorge looked at the runner on third, found the path less travelled more to his liking, and fired to third for a daring pickoff attempt. He turned a play with a “3” degree of difficulty into a “10.” The fact that he threw it away almost obscures the sheer stupidity of it. Seeing him heave it down the line might lead someone to comment, “Well if he executed it properly, maybe it wouldn’t have looked so stupid.” And that would be an injustice to Posada’s decision. The resulting run reduced the Yanks lead to 5-4 and made CC’s night even tougher than it already was.
Luckily for them both, the top of the Yankee lineup mashed. Jeter, Swisher, Teixeira and Arod combined for ten hits in 20 at bats. But that doesn’t even do justice to the damage they did. They accounted for 20 total bases, scored six and drove in eight. On a night that featured 28 hits, these four guys managed to stand out from the rest of the crowd. And among this group Alex Rodriguez further distinguished himself with his 599th homer in the seventh and a hell of a nice attempt at his 600th in the eighth. The score was 9-4 at that point in the eighth, and Arod came to bat to massive cheers and appropriately swung for the fences.
It should be noted, I guess, that Joba Chamberlain loaded the bases again. If we were forgiving fans, I would also mention that the two hits he allowed failed to clear the infield grass and the inning was unnaturally extended by a blown call at third base and that he didn’t crumble despite the bad luck. But I’m not in that place with Joba right now. And he allowed a wall-scraping fly out to Yuniesky Betancourt, which, for some of us, might cancel out anything positive he did.
***
In other New York-area sports news, a local team finally made big-time player acquisition. The Red Bulls signed Thierry Henry, and he delivered a goal, as well a slew of exciting plays, in his debut tonight in New Jersey in an exhibition against London’s Tottenham Hotspur.
Photo by Reuters
This is nothing new to American soccer, after all it was very recently that David Beckham joined the LA Galaxy of the same MLS. And it’s nothing new to New York soccer, after all Pele himself starred for the Cosmos in the seventies. But that doesn’t mean it’s not a big deal. If Pele could be the Babe Ruth of soccer, Thierry Henry could be someone like Ken Griffey Jr. A flashy, prolific all-time great who’s going to try to fill up the scoresheet and make beautiful plays in between. I became a pretty serious fan of soccer after watching Thierry Henry and his attacking Arsenal teams of the past decade, and it’s a special treat to have him playing so close. I know soccer isn’t for everybody on this site, so I’ll leave it at that.
The Royals actually lead the majors in batting average ...
[1] Beat me to it.
Good to hear that DeJesus was not seriously hurt. I wonder if the Royals are willing to trade him?
[1 & 2] And so what? Did you not think that CC should dominate that lineup? He allowed 15 baserunners and got ripped by Bloomquist and Betemit. I didn't say the Royals have no good hitters.
speaking of hits...
the M's don't have ANY!!!
ugly #1a is throwing a goddamn NO-HITTER!!! this simply cannot happen. seattle has 6 outs left...
JOSH BARD!!!!
wahoo!!!! yippee!!!! yaaaaaaaayyyyyy!!!!! : )
fuck you, ugly #1a!!!
was in & out of tonight's game. Thanks for the recap. Good stuff.
What about CC's phantom balk? Did the home plate ump get around to explaining that one?
[3] I didn’t say the Royals have no good hitters.
[0] Not against such awful hitters. And not so consistently.
Do I think that CC should dominate that lineup? well, I am usually confident that he can dominate just about any lineup. That being said, if he is going to have a bad night, it's not too shocking that it might come against a team that gets lots of hits and has at least decent on base skills.
i just saw the highlight of a-rod's oppo field homer. what a pretty swing. he hardly moved his lower body. strong like fucking ox!
[7] Except I only mentioned awful hitters in relation to other times I've seen CC get ripped. Since you don't know which games I've seen, you have no basis for judgment.
Plus the Royals don't hit LH starters well, and they don't hit that great on the road.
ah man, papelbitch in. 3-run game. 2 on. there were no outs and smoak at the plate. he wouldn't reach the water, however.
krotchman up now. he doubled! 6-4.
runners on 2nd & 3rd. 1 out.
last innings hero - josh bard - at the dish.
please tie the game!!!
when i saw aaron sele in the write-up, i coulda sworn he was a past 20 game winner. but, apparently i was wrong. he won 19, 18 & 17, 3 years in a row. but never 20... i guess it was rick helling. but i thought it was helling AND sele. i wonder who the other guy i'm thinking of was...
bard walked.
bases loaded.
1 out. 9th inning. pursed lips on the mound. 2-run game.
let's go emerald city!!!
jack wilson at the plate. blech. ichiro on deck.
[7] Maybe it just would have been clearer if I had just said "Wilson Betemit."
I do understand that the Royals can hit, and that was not noted anywhere above, and if that confused you into thinking I am undervaluing the Royals, then it poorly written.
But in my opinion, CC was getting ripped by anybody, tonight. As evidenced by the strong games up and down the lineup, from good and bad hitters. And I've never seen him struggle in almost every inning before, against a non-red sox or yankee-type lineup.
just watched highlights of jeter's inside the parker! Woo hoo! LET'S Go YANKEES!
nice work there seattle.
RUN PREVENTION!!!
2nd error of the game.
all tied up!!!
knotted at 6.
IBB to Ichiro.
1st & 2nd for CHONE!!!
please beat papelbitch here. that would just RULE!!!
[14] where'd yins see it? i'd like to view it myself! my brother called me as it happened. he heard it on the radio, leaving work in brooklyn. i was following online, but it hadn't happened yet in cyberspace...
cheers, seamus!
[8] Don't you mean strong like centaur?
3 errors from the Run Preventions!
c'mon CHOAD!!!
30 pitches for papelbitch...
ah, struck him out...
guitierrez up. he homered earlier. i'll take a game-winning single...
swing the bat figgins.
[17] cheers thelarmis! i watched on my iphone. so i'm not sure where best to see it.
[18] YES!!! my bad. i new a new co-pilot! ; )
[21] fancy, fancy.
ok, a bit of a hit and run here. off to bed! Hopefully the sox lose that game. i always love watching papelshit blow the game...
i'm not sure what happened, but they're going to extras in seattle...
go home team!!!
[17] one last thought. That was some impressive hustle from jetes. while the ball was lose for a few secs, it wasn't too long before it was fielded.
just throwing it out there, but...
i really thought d-rob was a game saver tonight. runners on in a 1-run game and he held down the fort. i had a good feeling after that!
[26] go to bed, young man!!!
[28] but first, read chad jennings' game recap. he's doing a really spectacular job over at lohud!
quick inning in the top of the 10th!
bard on to face the "heart" of the M's order...
guittierez popped up a 3-1 pitch.
jose lopez up.
board game on deck...
1 pitch. another out... : /
walking time bomb at the plate...
crap. 11 pitch inning for spear-shaker...
aard-shark mows 'em down in 14 pitches.
headed to the bottom of nevele...
smoak on the water, mayor krotchman, the 'other' spear-shaker due up...
huh. spear-shaker (bard) only threw (or "through", per game thread!) 11 pitches, yet tito inexplicably took him out. okajima in. M's really need to capitalize here...
FUCK! a 12-pitch inning for okajima...
now Don W is being a friggin' moron. aard-shark threw 14 pitches and now he's taken out?! some lefty by the name of G Olson in for the M's. i'm sure this is where they lose it. hope i'm wrong...
ah, what the fuck do i know? 11 pitches! and dude struck Fat Liar out swinging to end the frame. nice!
single, infield single, bunt sacrifice. 2nd & 3rd, 1 out. RI's fave - the IBB.
bases loaded. 1 out.
jose lopez up...
you fucking asshole! fouled out to first.
what a worthless sac o' shit!
come on, board game!!!
No way, I missed the new thread AND the extra innings! Go Go M's!
boo. total fucking bollocks.
watch ugly hit a leadoff homer... : /
[41] i figured you'd catch up to the new thread, eventually... : )
seattle just completely shit the bed. pathetic.
hopefully they make amends...
lefty olson still in.
ugly leads off w/ an infield single. (most disgusting batting stance since greg fucking counsell).
run prevention, prevents an advancement of his gross looking teammate by popping to the position where he (supposedly) prevents runs.
nancy, quickly flies to left.
there is an incredibly ugly human being standing on first base. initials = KY. 'nuff said...
2 outs. cammy up...
[44] Some work came in..how dare they on a sunny friday afternoon?? :)
cammy walked. 2 run double for patterson.
8-6 scumbags.
it was bound to happen...
this olson kid nevah shoulda been in this long.
shit, piss, hell, fuck and loads of massive bollocks.
[45] shhh! you're interrupting me!!! ; )
ah, i guess i'll quit taking this board ovah, now that the games ovah...
fuck boston straight to hell!!! : /
smoak, kotchman, bard due up.
would be sooo awesome to score two - or three! - runs.
definitely possible...
[47] Hahaha, c'mon, Friday afternoon means "work" on my YouTube viewing...
Can't believe Mariners actually scored more than one run tonight..good effort at least...
thazzit. ballgame. m's put up a good fight...
now, let's win the next 3 vs. KC!!!
[49] yeah man. enjoy your viewing...and guinness!
see you here over the weekend, pal! : )
[50] Yep! Time for a cold cerveza and some tunes!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxodluTaz4g
It's probably asking too much of Seattle to come though and win it, even with 2nd and 3rd and one out in a tied game in extras. After they scored 5 in the 9th and Papsmear blew yet another save. But still, I ask. And they do not comply. And then, it happens.In the following inning, like clockwork, they blow it. I feel, for just a moment, the futility of being a Mariners fan.
I am glad that only lasted a moment.
And what is cooler than an inside-the-parker? Seems to me that Willie Wilson had at least one a week for the Royals. Only thing I miss about artificail turf I suppose.
oh, they'll think twice about runing on brett the jet next time.
Thelarmis, why is Dan Bard "spear shaker"?
Dang, looks like we had a bunch of night owls last night.
Even if Jorge made the play it was still a stupid move. Take the sure out. Merkel's boner was less a stupid act, though far more costly.
[54] Just guessing, but maybe because Shakespeare was the Bard.
[55]
Given that Posada's nickname in the clubhouse is "Sado" (Sheppard mispronounced Posada's name as "Posado" when he first came up), I suggest that Jorge's bonehead plays be labeled as "Sado-Masochistic" :-)
I didn't see the game but it couldn't have been as fun as reading the recap. Great job.
(Though subsequently mitigated somewhat when I read the first few comments ... Grumpy!)
Vintage Hunter Thompson. terrific read.
[58] Thanks. And yeah, I was grumpy, sorry about that. Up too late, being too sensitive, I guess.
[59] Thanks.
[57]
+1
Seconded!