Sitting on 599 home runs, Alex Rodriguez drew a walk from Brian Bannister to load the bases in the bottom of the first inning of Friday night’s game against the Royals at Yankee Stadium. Robinson Cano followed by lacing a high fastball into the left-field gap for a bases-clearing double, and Jorge Posada followed with a double into the right-field corner that plated Cano for Posada’s 1,000th career run batted in. Posada is the 11th catcher (and third Yankee catcher after Bill Dickey and Yogi Berra) to reach the 1,000 RBI mark. Of the men ahead of him Lance Parrish (1,070) and Ted Simmons (second to Berra with 1,389) are the only eligible players not in the Hall of Fame.
Posada’s milestone was the only one reached in Friday night’s game, which was effectively over once the Yankees took that 4-0 lead in the first. A.J. Burnett held the Royals scoreless through five innings before an hour and 25-minute rain delay with two outs in the bottom of the fifth ended his, and Bannister’s, evening.
Brett Gardner singled home a pair of runs off reliever Victor Marte in the sixth. Posada picked up RBI 1,001 with a single off lefty Dusty Hughes in the seventh. Only then did the Royals get off the schnide with doubles by the just-activated Rick Ankiel and Yuniesky Betancourt to start the eighth against Chad Gaudin, who had already pitched 2 1/3 scoreless innings by that point. Gaudin finished that frame without further damage and Jonathan Albaladejo worked a perfect ninth, striking out two to wrap up the 7-1 Yankee win.
As for Rodriguez, after his first-inning walk, he reached on an infield single in the third, struck out looking in the fifth, and singled in the seventh. With two out in the bottom of the eighth, Dusty Hughes walked Mark Teixeira on four pitches, giving Rodriguez one more chance at number 600, but Rodriguez hit a broken-bat grounder to third on the first pitch. Next up: Saturday’s starter Kyle Davies, who gave up Rodriguez’s 500th home run at the old Stadium in the bottom of the first inning on Saturday, August 4, 2007.
Cervelli on Posada's 1000th: “I feel happy,” he said. “It’s like this thing happened to me.”
[1] Thanks for that, I was thinking about his quote after that Atlanta game last year. If he can hit above .250 with an OBP over .300, and keep up the bon mots, he'll be an All Star in my book.
Speaking of homegrown Yanks, that rally in the 1st had me thinking about how lame it is in baseball with the haves and have-nots - whatever the reason for it, the disparity is sometimes depressing to consider. Then I thought about the Yankees 1-6 that produced those 4 runs and throw in Cervelli and that cheered me up. Two very high-priced, high-profile FAs, but still - that's a decent amount of homegrown talent right there.
Heyman says Yanks unwilling to part with Joba for Haren .... Really??
[2] Heyman on Joba and Haren:
I think if it were straight up, the Yanks would jump. D-Bax also want Nova and McAllister, is what I heard.
[3] It would be the steal of the year (at least) if it were straight up.
Anyway, I just can't see Joba as a component that the Yankees would, at this point, balk at. Why?
Yeah, not sure. Maybe they think each of those chips has trade value, and they don't want to use up that much trading power for Haren? Another possibility: Joba is a good bullpen pitcher, they expect Nova to be in the bullpen in Aug and Sept, so the bullpen would be too depleted this year?
Neither of those is very plausible. Just trying to come up with something.
Also, look at our lineup today:
Derek Jeter DH
Curtis Ganderson CF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Jorge Posada C
Marcus Thames RF
Colin Curtis LF
Ramiro Pena SS
Swish is supposedly recovering but not quite ready; Gardner is being treated for some recurring acid reflux, but would be available off the bench. No Cervelli, but this isn't exactly our best OBP lineup...
Oh, and it's Albaladejo optioned to make a slot for Mitre. Makes sense -- that's why he got an inning yesterday...
From what little I've seen of Nova, he's impressed me. He hit 96 on the minor league gun (not always in sync with major league guns) in his last start. I'd hesitate to include him for Haren, and no way would I include Joba.
Admittedly, I'm a sucker for "stuff", as evidenced by my preaching patience with Farnswacker when he was here. Haren doesn't have the type of "stuff" that excited me. I'm not poo-pooing him, but if Andy's healthy, and Hughes and AJ are on their game, Haren's a 4th, maybe a 5th on this team, as I see it. That said, he could also be a #2 if he lands here tomorrow. Just seems to me Nova, and Joba are too much to give at this point. I was Nova was starting today's game in place of Mitre, so we'd have more substance to base our opinions on.
[7] not the type of stuff that excites me.. not excited
and I wish Nova was starting... not I was Nova.. yeesh.
Are they really gonna play this game at 1, given the ridiculous heat? I mean, I was walking down the street and my own breath felt cool in comparison, no joke.
Also, I don't know if Joba is a good reliever. The jury is out (again).