It’s Sir C.C. on the Yankees’ final day in Colorado. Always fun to see the big guy swing the bat.
Brett Gardner CF
Jayson Nix SS
Robinson Cano 2B
Vernon Wells LF
Ben Francisco RF
Chris Nelson 3B
Lyle Overbay 1B
Chris Stewart C
CC Sabathia P
Never mind the getaway:
Let’s Go Yank-ees!
Prior to the game the buzz was all about Joe Girardi and that funky, Tony LaRussa lineup he threw out for Wednesday’s tilt with the Rockies. Starting pitcher David Phelps was in the eighth spot, and catcher Austin Romine was ninth. Girardi’s explanation made a little bit of sense — he anticipated using a left-hander to pinch-hit for Phelps at some point, and with Brett Gardner and Robinson Canó at the top of the lineup, he didn’t want to have three lefties in a row. Also, he said he liked that after the lineup turned over, he’d have two hitters in front of Canó. Of course, he could simply bat Canó third like any sensible person would, but none of it really seemed to matter as much as the media wanted it to.
What did matter, was that the top of the lineup produced two runs early and young David Phelps pitched one of the best games of his brief career. Gardner led off with a bloop single down the line in left and — brace yourself — stole second on the first pitch to Canó. Canó later flied out, but when Vernon Wells followed with a shot into the seats in left, the Yanks were up 2-0.
As for Phelps, he found some trouble in the second inning when rising star Wilin Rosario (the loan bright spot on my struggling fantasy team, by the way) smacked the first pitch he saw into the gap in right center for an easy double and first baseman emeritus Todd Helton followed that with a homer to right to tie the score at two. After that? Smooth sailing for Phelps as he retired thirteen of the next fifteen batters, yielding just a walk and a single to finish six strong innings. No one will ever see Phelps as a top of the rotation guy, but I’d love to pencil him as the fourth starter for the next five years.
I have to admit that I fell asleep for the bottom of the seventh and top of the eighth, so wasn’t until a few minutes ago when I looked at the play-by-play that I missed something eventful. First, the Yankees have someone named Preston Claiborne; he pitched a scoreless seventh. Second, and this is the big news, the Rockies took the unorthodox step of using two pitchers at once, bringing in the Rex Brothers for the eighth. Not surprisingly, they used their advantage to set the Yankees down in order.
The ninth inning was all about Vernon Wells. He led off with an infield single, then took for second a few pitches later on what looked to be a busted hit and run. He should’ve been out by about a yard, but shortstop Juan Herrera dropped Rosario’s throw, and Wells was in scoring position with no one out. Lyle Overbay worked a walk, Ichiro bunted them over to second and third, Lance Nix walked to load the bases, but Travis Hafner struck out, leaving things to pinch-hitter Brennan Boesch with two outs. Boesch hit a grounder to third, apparently ending the threat, but Nolan Arenado double-clutched before making the throw, and Boesch was able to beat the play by an eyelash, allowing Wells to score the go-ahead run.
The Great One came on to pitch the ninth, which means the recap would normally end here, but Girardi was up to his old tricks again. When he sent Hafner to hit for Chris Nelson in the top of the ninth, he lost his third baseman. He could’ve kept Hafner at third, except that the Pronkster hasn’t thrown a ball in a major league game since 2007, nor has he played anywhere in the field aside from first base. So with Jorge Posada retired and Francisco Cervelli on the disabled list, Girardi did the only thing he could do — he put Wells at third. (If he doesn’t play Rivera in center before the year is out, I’ll be sorely disappointed.)
Naturally, the second batter of the inning bounced a ball to third. From the upper deck, I’m sure Wells looked like any other third baseman as he ranged comfortably to his left, fielded the big hop, and fired to first for the out. Perhaps he’ll get the start on Wednesday afternoon.
Rivera did the rest, notching his twelfth straight save. Yankees 3, Rockies 2. (Here’s something to watch for. It’s early, but the way this team is constructed, it wouldn’t be a surprise if Rivera actually topped his career high of 53 saves from back in 2004. Then he’d walk off into the sunset with a Cy Young Award, just like Koufax. Wouldn’t that be poetic?)
[Photo Credit: Dustin Bradford/Getty Images]
Sometimes you have to blink and look two, three times upon seeing a Yankee lineup this season, huh?
It’s Phelps. And the hope these 4F lineup can score some runski’s.
Brett Gardner CF
Robinson Cano 2B
Vernon Wells LF
Lyle Overbay 1B
Ichiro Suzuki RF
Jayson Nix SS
Chris Nelson 3B
David Phelps P
Austin Romine C
Never mind the view:
Let’s Go Yank-ees!
[Photo Credit: Justin Edmonds/Getty Images]
I live smack in the middle of the N.L. West, but it’s still a complete mystery to me. There’s nothing at all impressive about the San Francisco Giants, except that they’ve won two of the past three World Series. For all the talk of the Dodgers and their cable deal (and their payroll) becoming the Yankees of the West, they’re floundering in last place. There’s no more beautiful city in America than San Diego, and yet the Padres haven’t been able to reel in an interesting free agent since they bagged Garvey in 1983 and added Gossage and Nettles in ’84.
And then there are the Colorado Rockies. With a lineup devoid of superstars, unless you count Todd Helton, who seems to have been playing since the Jurassic era, the Rockies have somehow found themselves at the top of this, the strangest division in baseball.
In many ways, the Rockies must’ve felt like they were looking in a mirror when the makeshift Yankees trotted out onto the field on Tuesday night. Remember when Jim Leyland famously referred to the Yankees’ fearsome 2006 lineup as Murders’ Row and Robby Canó? Well, last night’s group looked like Robinson and the Seven Dwarves, with starter Hiroki Kuroda batting ninth in the National League park.
With Derek Jeter, Mark Teixeira, Curtis Granderson, and Alex Rodríguez all in Tampa and Kevin Youkilis also on the shelf, it’s a wonder the Yankees haven’t simply raised the white flag for the season. It’s been an admirable effort, and at times it’s even been fun to watch, as they’ve kept things together through these first six weeks. On Tuesday, though, they raised the white flag.
Kuroda wasn’t exactly brilliant, but he was certainly good enough to win as he cruised through the first five innings, allowing just three base runners over those opening frames. The Yankees, meanwhile, weren’t doing much more than pestering Rockies starter Jorge de la Rosa with more stolen bases (4) than hits (3), and the game was a scoreless tie as Colorado came up in the home half of the sixth.
The inning started innocently enough as Kuroda needed just two pitches for the first two outs, and when he gave up a single to Jeff Rutledge with his fourth pitch of the frame, there was certainly no cause for concern. Some people might have questioned my earlier statement claiming the Rockies had no superstars, and they would’ve cited Carlos González in their argument. But since I wouldn’t have recognized González if he had been watching the game with me from my living room couch, I’m not ready to elevate him to that elite level. Even after he deposited a Kuroda fastball into the right field seats, I still won’t do it. He’s a good player, I’ll give him that.
And that, essentially, was that. Sure, there was some hope when Brett Gardner pinch hit in the seventh and led off with a walk, but that hope started to fade as Gardner sat on first, refusing to steal second even though he had already watched Lance Nix and Chris Stewart (Chris Stewart!) pull off the trick. It disappeared completely when Colorado’s prodigal son ended the inning by grounding into a double play.
There will be games like this for these Yankees, and if we’re really honest with ourselves, we should be less surprised by games like this than when they somehow rack up seven or eight runs. But who knows? Maybe that surprise is coming tonight.
[Photo Credit: Justin Edmonds/Getty Images]
From the little I’ve seen on TV, no ball park in America has grander sunsets than Coors Field.
It’s our man Hiroki…
Ichiro Suzuki CF
Jayson Nix SS
Robinson Cano 2B
Vernon Wells LF
Ben Francisco RF
Lyle Overbay 1B
Chris Nelson 3B
Chris Stewart C
Hiroki Kuroda P
Never mind the view: Let’s Go Yank-ees!
[Photo Via: Imgur]
Alex Rodriguez joined the Yankees’ A-List Celebrity Rehab clinic down in Florida yesterday.
It was uncommonly beautiful in New York today, one of those days that the weatherman likes to call one of the ten best days of the year. Watching the Yankees on an HD TV, the colors and sharpness created an almost surreal hyper-realism.
Another pretty good game in a good series, too. The A’s won 5-4.
Tough day for Andy Pettitte as Brian Heyman reports:
“It’s a struggle,” Pettitte said. “The issue is everything. Everything I’ve got to do as a starting pitcher, I’m not able to do right now. … My release point is floating around a little bit. … It’s been a long, long time since I haven’t had a feeling for my pitches.”
Pettitte is good at being brutally frank when it comes to self-assessments.
“My cutter is nonexistent right now,” Pettitte said.
Joe Girardi said he wasn’t going to make a big deal out of two bad starts. Pettitte is just hoping to find a steady release point in a hurry.
“I wish I could tell you something hurt,” Pettitte said. “But I feel good.”
I wish I could be more expansive but I kept nodding off which added to the dreamlike quality of the afternoon. I was up in time to watch the end of a thrilling OKC-Memphis game and plenty awake to watch the Knicks take one in the nuts against the Pacers at the Garden.
Then I stretched, took a shower, changed clothes and took a good, long walk.
[Photo Credit: J. L. Russell]
Yanks and the A’s followed by Agita at the Garden.
Andy caught a beatin’ last time out, let’s see what he’s got today.
1. Gardner CF
2. Cano 2B
3. Wells LF
4. Hafner DH
5. Suzuki RF
6. Nix 3B
7. Overbay 1B
8. Nunez SS
9. Stewart C
Never mind the cool breeze:
Let’s Go Yank-ees!
[Photo Via: Eye Heart New York]
Phil Hughes pitched his best game of the year, Chris Stewart and Lyle Overbay hit solo home runs (Overbays was a bomb) and Mariano Rivera was the last man standing–though he didn’t earn a save–as the Yanks beat the A’s yesterday afternoon, 4-2.
Smiles all around.
Today gives another afternoon game and Game 1 of the Knicks-Pacers, which proves to be dramatic, dumb, aggravating, and other clumsy adjectives to describe hardship and pain.
But first, listen to this:
“Fallin'”–Teenaged Fan Club with De La Soul
[Photo Credit: Katherine Squler]
Cool breeze but just bee-too-tee-ful in the BX today.
Brett Gardner CF
Robinson Cano 2B
Vernon Wells LF
Travis Hafner DH
Ichiro Suzuki RF
Chris Nelson 3B
Lyle Overbay 1B
Eduardo Nunez SS
Chris Stewart C
Never mind the sun rays:
Let’s Go Yank-ees!
[Photo Via: The Minimalisto]
Poppa Large toes the rubber tonight in the BX.
He hasn’t been throwing hard and he has not been great, but he’s been tough and a gamer.
Brett Gardner CF
Robinson Cano 2B
Vernon Wells LF
Travis Hafner DH
Ichiro Suzuki RF
Eduardo Nunez SS
Lyle Overbay 1B
Jayson Nix 3B
Chris Stewart C
Wait, that’s Ichi batting fifth? Got to love your 2013 Yanks.
Never mind the agita those Knicks are giving ya:
Let’s Go Yank-ees!
[Photo Credit: John Iacono/SI]
The Yanks were ahead by a run in the bottom of the eighth when Brett Gardner lead off with a single. The game slowed down considerably as he plotted to steal second, which he eventually did, and made it. Then he stole third, too, but still, the Yanks couldn’t bring him home. The inning seemed to take forever–pitch-outs, visits to the mound, failed bunts–and all the planning and counter-planning didn’t amount to a thing.
In the ninth, Mariano Rivera gave up a single to start the inning. The next batter hit a line drive up the middle as the runner on first took off for second. Watching on TV, I saw that the ball was well struck, and knowing that the runner was moving, I sighed, seeing the inevitable: first and third, no out. Instead, Robinson Cano, who was shaded up the middle, caught the ball and walked casually to second where he tagged out the helpless runner. Dumb luck is all. Dumb luck.
Mo struck out the next guy–the ending was routine at that point–and the Yanks had an unspectacular but pleasing 5-4 win.
Not a bad way to start a day off.
[Illustration via Rotomangler]
Tonight gives David Phelpski as the Yanks try to win the series against the Astros.
Ichiro Suzuki CF
Jayson Nix 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Vernon Wells LF
Travis Hafner DH
Ben Francisco RF
Eduardo Nunez SS
Lyle Overbay 1B
Chris Stewart C
Yanks have the day off tomorrow and host the A’s this weekend.
Never mind the mismatch: Let’s Go Yank-ees!
[Photo Via: This Isn’t Happiness]
The sun hung up through the early evening begging for some baseball to be played. Anyway, that’s what I thought. One boy wanted to race scooters with a legion of cohorts. The other wanted to dig for buried treasure – gold, jewels, something ancient. “If it’s valuable, we can sell it and become rich and famous.” I stood with the bat on my shoulder. Baseball had to wait.
We heard the bracing cough before we came through the door. Pregnant to popping and sick with cold and fever, my wife was holed up in bed. We shut her door and proceeded towards bedtime with the boys taking advantage of me when they could, as always. The Yankees were already in the second inning, I guessed. Baseball would have to wait some more.
“The laundry bag looks like a ghost,” Henry said. He has chosen a bedtime story about a boy who imagines monsters for three nights in a row and he’s mastering the racket. Last night is was a painting of a giraffe that’s been stationed on his wall since before he was born. The Yankees must be halfway to a win by now.
When I came out to warm up Chinese food and watch the game, I found my wife stretched out on the couch. “All I want to do is to fall asleep with the TV on,” she said. I didn’t have the heart to suggest a ballgame and I figured I would try to catch the ninth if Mariano was pitching. But to my surprise, she already had the TV switched to the Yanks and Astros.
I came in just as Kuroda found his groove and the Yanks scored some runs. Kuroda was as terrific as you can be after being terrible for a few innings. The first part of the game must have been a sluggish affair with all the base runners and walks.
David Robertson had one of those innings where he looks like the best pitcher in baseball but lets up two runs including a big homer. He absolutely blew the Astros away except for when the Yankee shift turned a ground out to short into a single. He had his chance to strike out Chris Carter, just about any kind of pitch in any spot would have done it, but the one Robertson threw unluckily hit Carter’s bat and ended up 20 rows deep.
Mariano had a night a little bit like mine. He was all set to go when Robertson hit Carter’s bat, but then the Yanks added a whole bunch of insurance in the ninth. Eduardo Nunez had an especially nice game and Ichiro and Hafner chipped in as well. Mariano sat back down, figuring it wasn’t his night. But Shawn Kelley got touched up and the score got close enough for Mariano to earn a save with one sweet strikeout, 7-4.
Winning is always worth the wait.
Photo by Elsa/Getty Images via ESPN
In the what-took-you-so-long? department, Youk to the 15-day DL.
In the meantime, it’s our man Hiroki.
1. Gardner CF
2. Suzuki LF
3. Cano 2B
4. Hafner DH
5. Boesch RF
6. Nix 3B
7. Overbay 1B
8. Nunez SS
9. Stewart C
Time to clear-away thoughts of last night’s pounding.
Never mind the pollen: Let’s Go Yank-ees!
[Photo Credit: Matt Weber via Retro New York]
And sometimes you just get your ass kicked…which is how he went down last night.
Final Score: Astros 9, Yanks 1.
Mac’s got the details if you’re interested.
It’s Andy vs. his former team, the Astros. Man, that feels weird to say, huh?
Also, Austin Romine gets the start. Chad Jennings has the skinny.
1. Gardner CF
2. Cano 2B
3. Wells LF
4. Hafner DH
5. Boesch RF
6. Nix 3B
7. Overbay 1B
8. Nunez SS
9. Romine C
Never mind the drizzle:
Let’s Go Yank-ees!
The Wife an I celebrated our anniversary this weekend so I was away from a computer for the past day. We did watch a bunch of the game yesterday–as well as most of the exciting (and exasperating) Bulls-Nets game.
You know, what? The Wife is the love of my life. We had a great time.
Here’s a Yankee thought: C.C. Sabathia’s got a ton of heart, man. Maybe there’s a better word for it, maybe “heart” is a cliche, but he’s had a couple of starts this year where he hasn’t had his best stuff but he’s still given the team length. Hasn’t complained about it, just gone out there and emptied the tank for his team. Yesterday, he went eight innings and got the win. He’s the man.
Today, we missed the game entirely but caught the highlights and hot damn–a four-game sweep of those upstart Jays? Sheeeeeit. Not bad for a bunch of broken-down, overpaid chumps, huh? Just enough hitting–how sweet is it when you win a game with just four hits? And a nice job by the pitching staff capped off by another tidy outing for The Great Mariano.
Final Score: Yanks 3, Jays 2.
A fine weekend, indeed.
“Talkin’ Bout Hey Love”-De La Soul
[Photo Via (the ever great) This Isn’t Happiness]
Yanks-Jays, again.
CC’s on the hill.
Never mind the late afternoon shadows:
Let’s Go Yank-ees!
[Photo Credit: Bags]
