Sure, it was only the third game of the season and there was no lack of excitement–plenty of home runs, some nice fielding–but it was also a tedious affair, and for long stretches, boring. Phil Hughes struggled and threw 60 pitches before recording the seventh out of the game; Miguel Cabrera hit two long home runs against him. Max Scherzer wasn’t much better though a couple of the dingers he allowed were aided and abetted by the wind and a short right field porch.
Jorge Posada hit two home runs against Scherzer. Here’s the second…
Bartolo Colon ate innings and gave up runs. The Yanks kept scoring too, Russell Martin, Nick Swisher and Mark Teixeira (who hit another home run), all had good days at the plate. But they couldn’t manage more than a touchdown and came up empty in the 8th and 9th. Yup, there was plenty of bang at the Stadium on Sunday afternoon but the game itself was soporific.
Final score: Tigers 10, Yanks 7.
Billy Crystal stopped by the YES booth for half-an-inning and after the third out, just before they cut to commercial, he said to Kay, “You still married?”
“Seven weeks and one day,” said Kay. Ken Singleton laughed.
“Seven weeks and one day,” Crystal repeated, imitating Phil Rizzuto. “Holy cow…I’m on the Bridge.”
I'm not gonna freak out on April 3rd, but this game had bad omens all over it. Between Hughes looking like August Phil of last year and Jeter looking everyday of his age it can be real easy to look at this game as the embodiment of all the reasons this team can struggle: a thin rotation and age all over the field.
That being said I'm still confident we have ourselves a good team here that is still something of a work in progress...until Nova gets knocked out in the 3rd tomorrow and I'm screaming for Chris Carpenter.
Alex are those iPhone photos taken of your TV?
Love the effect. Kills me i didn't think of it though.
Great shots.
2) Yup. Kind of opened up a new world. I took them in real time but I also DVR'd the game. And there are so many stunning shots during the course of a game that this could be really fun to play with. I used Camera Bag app to play with the pictures and that one of Leyland I processed three times over.
That's cool. Gonna change the look of this place. Very very cool.
Hey who's the genius who turned you on to Camera Bag? Must be a very smart dude.
I know it early and pitchers may not have their best stuff right out of the gates. But what Hughes was throwing seemed BP quality. My eyes widened when I saw straight pitches, like I was in the opposing lineup, thinking man I hope I get a few ABs against this guy before we knock him out.
The Royals have been playing exciting ball.
[1] The Yanks have always been a veteran team, and they are younger then other years. The old men are Mo, Po, ARod and Jeter. Jeter is the only one I'm worried about. Old Mo and Old ARod will kick ass this year.
Old Jeter will have us cursing for some years to come yet. I wonder what a .750 OPS and terrible D are worth at SS.
But true, if Phil is only average or worse, we won't have the pitching so go very far.
[7] Wow, the ragging on Jeter starts early this year!
I wonder what a .750 OPS and terrible D are worth at SS.
Given that last season the average SS hit .693 OPS (and the average 3B hit .742), I imagine the combination would end up a net plus.
I could live with .750, yeah. I'm hoping for .820. But the evidence of the first three games is overwhelming, so I guess it's impossible.
This just in: Javy Vazquez still sucks.
[10] I see that this time we broke him for good.
[11] Does 'good' mean 'good'?
Wasn't able to watch or listen to much of the game. Was Hughes doing the"three waste pitch" thing again today?
[0] - love the wed night matchup, lol!
[13] I definitely saw some incredibly wasteful pitches. But worse than that, he could not get guys out with two strikes. Just like the worst of last year it was two strikes then a shit ton of foul balls. I mean he threw 85 pitches through four innings I think.
Anyone else have to mute Crystal?
"Hey guys, I made a movie about baseball....... 10 years ago."
[15] The foul balls actually don't bother me as much as the waste pitches. At least with the foul balls, he's *trying* to get an out.
When Hughes gets two strikes and then throws the pitch six feet outside, the pitch over the batter's head and the pitch in the dirt at his feet, its just a waste of everyone's time.