"A New York Treasure" --Village Voice

Ace of Cakes

Victor Martinez led off the second inning on Saturday afternoon at Yankee Stadium and CC Sabathia fell behind him, 3-1. On the Fox broadcast, Tim McCarver said that Martinez was probably looking for a fastball on the inside part of the plate. When Sabathia delivered just that, Martinez hit a home run over the left field fence. Adrian Beltre doubled and then Mike Lowell doubled Beltre home.

But that was the only scoring the Red Sox would do as Sabathia pitched eight innings and the Yankees beat the Red Sox, 5-2. Sabathia fell behind hitters in the early innings but found his way, throwing more off-speed stuff than gas. He had some help from the home plate umpire, Jerry Layne, who called some wide strikes, particularly to David Ortiz.

Perhaps the late afternoon shadows gave Layne as much trouble as it seemed to be giving the hitters. The Yanks tied the score in the bottom of the second when Curtis Granderson tripled home Lance Berkman and then Ramiro Pena, a last minute replacement for Alex Rodriguez who was accidentally struck by a line drive off the bat of Berkman during batting practice, grounded out but collected an RBI (Rodriguez is day-to-day).

Then, John Lackey went to work and looked impressive. The shadows were looking especially tough as Lackey cruised through the first two batters in the bottom of the fifth. But then four straight singles–Swisher, Teixiera, Cano and Posada–gave the Yanks the lead (man, does Cano ever look good swinging the bat these days). Pena’s RBI single in the sixth was the cherry on top. Mariano Rivera pitched a 1-2-3 ninth and the Yankees’ lead over Boston is back to six. Even better, the Bombers gained a game on the Rays, who were blitzed by the Jays this afternoon, 17-11.

So, for the moment, my nerves have settled. Curtis Granderson had a couple of hits, Pena had a nice game (despite making an error and looking uncomfortable at third), and even though Berkman went hitless, and got booed as a result, I think it’s just a matter of time before Fat Elvis starts hitting.

This was a game the Yanks had to have. AJ Burnett is on the hill tomorrow night and that won’t fill Yankee fans with confidence, but who knows? Maybe Burnett goes out and throws a gem. Hope is the thing with feathers, said Emily D. And that’s word to Todd Drew.

[Photo Credit: Mike Stobe/Getty Images]

15 comments

1 Yankee Mama   ~  Aug 7, 2010 8:21 pm

When McCarver said that you had to do the routine spectacularly, not be spectacularly routine (please forgive me if I botched it), my husband sighed, grunted, got up and left.

AJ and hope are an unrealistic combination. Numbers don't lie. I'll settle for the possibility that the talented AJ shows up.

2 monkeypants   ~  Aug 7, 2010 8:45 pm

1) Numbers don’t lie.

Yes, but you can't predict baseball, so it all balances out. Go AJ! go Yanks!

3 Chyll Will   ~  Aug 7, 2010 8:47 pm
4 Chyll Will   ~  Aug 7, 2010 8:52 pm

[2] Numbers do lie. We all know that there are no existing numerals beyond 0's and 1's. And lets not get into imaginary numbers and pi...

5 Alex Belth   ~  Aug 7, 2010 9:06 pm

1) Those two don't make it easy, do they? And yet, I'd probably choose them over Morgan and Miller on Sunday Night (or Fuckface and Diarrheahead, as my wife refers to them).

6 monkeypants   ~  Aug 7, 2010 9:28 pm

[4] Another one of my all time favorite baseball names: Billy Jo Robidoux. Pete Incaviglia was in the second tier.

I'm not sure why I decided to share this info, but I know you and I appreciate great baseball names (Rance and Candy).

7 monkeypants   ~  Aug 7, 2010 9:30 pm

So, with ARod day-to-day and tomorrow (AJ starting) being Frankie's turn in the rotation, does that mean we see the 8-9 duo of Peña-Cervelli?

Woo-hoo!

8 Chyll Will   ~  Aug 7, 2010 9:35 pm

[6] Yes, I always liked Inky. Any reason you know of why Mike Hargrove was nicknamed The Human Rain Delay?

9 monkeypants   ~  Aug 7, 2010 9:38 pm

8) I don't remember it personally, but I heard that he had a painfully long batting ritual (adjust the gloves, step out, etc etc). Basically, Joe West's worst nightmare.

10 kenboyer made me cry   ~  Aug 7, 2010 10:04 pm

[6] For some reason as a kid, the names Rocky Colavito and Andy Etchebarren intrigued me.

Rance Mulliniks is a good one. He sounds like an appliance company in France.

Rusty Kuntz was unfortunate.

11 RIYank   ~  Aug 7, 2010 10:15 pm

Via LoHud: Granderson's triple was the Yankees 24th of the season. Last year they had 21. And Cano is hitting .400 against the Red Sox this year.

12 monkeypants   ~  Aug 7, 2010 10:29 pm

[11] Big difference at home.

2009: 5 triples
2010: 11 triples (so far)

13 OldYanksFan   ~  Aug 8, 2010 6:01 am

Totonto with EIGHT HRs (or field goals) yesterday. The biggest bombing in 3 years since:

http://www.baseball-almanac.com/box-scores/boxscore.php?boxid=200707310NYA

14 RIYank   ~  Aug 8, 2010 6:21 am

[13] And their call-up catcher, J.P. Arencibia, homered on the first pitch he saw in MLB, in the second inning. Then in the third, he took a pitch, and then doubled. In the fifth, he took three pitches, and then singled. He came up again in the sixth and hit his first pitch for another homer. And then in the seventh he finally took a swing without getting a hit: Arencibia fouled out, dropping his OPS to a mere 3.000.

15 seamus   ~  Aug 8, 2010 1:24 pm

[12] question: maybe a few of those would have been homeruns last year with the way the ball was flying? But now maybe they are triples that are hitting the top of the wall and bouncing around.

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"This ain't football. We do this every day."
--Earl Weaver