Roger Clemens bids farewell to Fenway, for realsies this time, doing so in style by taking on Curt Schilling in a rubber game on national TV. The Sox’s win yesterday might have iced the division for all intents and purposes, but the Yanks still have a series to win, and Clemens still has to prove that his elbow hasn’t finally gone kablooey on him.

“It’s hard times befallen/The sole survivors”

Josh Beckett wears number 19 on his back and now he’s got a matching figure on his ledger as he dropped a gem on the Yankees to earn his major league-leading 19th win of the season. Beckett held the Yankees to three hits and just six base runners while striking out seven in seven innings, the one blemish on his line being a solo homer to dead center by Derek Jeter in the first inning. That would be the only run the Yanks would score all evening as Mike Timlin and Bryan Corey swept up the final two innings.

Chien-Ming Wang, meanwhile, was off his game. Wild up in the zone, Wang gave up singles to three of the first four batters he faced to allow the Red Sox to tie the game in the first. In the third he walked the bases loaded with two outs as David Ortiz, Mike Lowell, and J.D. Drew took 16 straight pitches (only four were strikes), but Jason Varitek swung at the first pitch and popped out to preserve the tie. Wang worked a 1-2-3 fifth, but all three outs came on fly balls to center (he’d have more fly ball outs than ground ball outs on the night). Wang got Dustin Pedroia to ground out to start the fifth, but after getting ahead 0-2 on Kevin Youkilis, he lost one up and in which caught Youkilis in the back wrist. The Jewish God of Squawks immediately flew in to his usual cursing and complaining routine and left the game with what was ultimately diagnosed as a bruise. Fleet-footed rookie Jacoby Ellsbury was put in to run and eventually came around to score on singles by Ortiz and Drew, giving the Sox a one-run lead after five.

Things got worse in the sixth. Erik Hinske, who had started in left and moved to first after Youkilis left the game, led off the sixth with a double. Coco Crisp followed with a single to center that pushed Hinske to third. After a Julio Lugo fly out, Crisp took second uncontested. Pedroia then grounded to Robinson Cano who was pulled in to try to cut off the run. He did just that. Despite Jorge Posada gesturing for him to go to first, Cano whipped a throw home which Posada caught as he fell to his knees and got positively flattened by Hinske. Hinske hit Posada high across the chest with a forearm, knocking Jorge’s mask and helmet clean off, but Posada held the ball for the second out of the inning. It was all for naught, however, as Crisp took third on the play, Pedroia stole second uncontested, and Ellsbury and Ortiz singled them both home, with Ellsbury scoring from first on Ortiz’s single as Jorge Posada, despite perfectly blocking the plate, forgot to actually make the tag. That made it 5-1 and drove Wang from the game.

In the seventh, Edwar Ramirez, who had struck out Mike Lowell to end the sixth, walked J.D. Drew, then struck out Jason Varitek, then was inexplicably pulled so that Ron Villone, who hadn’t faced a major league batter since August 21, could pitch to the lefty Hinske. Villone, of course, walked Hinske on five pitches. Torre then called in Brian Bruney, who earned the lineup card the night before with a crucial scoreless inning that set up the big comeback. On this night, however, he gave up a ground rule double down the right field line to Coco Crisp that scored Drew, and walked Lugo on four pitches before striking out Pedroia. Torre then tried another lefty matchup with Sean Henn, whose only major league appearance since being recalled saw him fail to get an out on Friday night, against Ellsbury and Ortiz. Henn gave up a two-RBI single to Ellsbury to officially put the game out of reach at 9-1, then walked Ortiz to load the bases for good measure. That allowed Torre to go to Ross Ohlendorf, who walked Mike Lowell to force in a run on four pitches, but then proceeded to strike out four of the next five batters he faced (though he did also allow a solo homer to Hinske in the eighth).

Somewhat fittingly, Bronson Sardinha made his major league debut as a defensive replacement in the eighth, then, in his first major league plate appearance, swung at the first pitch and ground into a game-ending double play in the ninth. Final score 10-1 Sox, who erased any lingering doubts about their winning the division with the victory.

Elsewhere in the Cy Young race, Johan Santana gave up four runs in the first inning to the Tigers, who currently hold a 4-2 lead in Minnesota in the bottom of the fifth.

(more…)

“No we got nothing in common/No we can’t talk at all”

The contrasting styles of the two American League wins leaders, groundballer Chien-Ming Wang and fireballer Josh Beckett, face off this afternoon in Fenway, with both pitchers looking for his nineteenth win, and the Yankees likely still flying high off their improbable win last night. That word improbable has been popping up a lot between these two teams recently, all in the Yankees favor. Things also went in the Yankees’ favor the last time each of these two pitchers took the mound against today’s oppenent. Beckett gave up a career-high 13 hits (including a solo homer by Alex Rodriguez) and allowed four runs in an otherwise solid outing, losing to tomorrow’s starter Roger Clemens. The next day, Wang no-hit the Sox for 6 1/3 innings, allowing just one hit (to Mike Lowell) over seven scoreless to pick up his sweet sixteenth. Wang is 5-0 with a 2.04 ERA over his last five starts.

Many have positioned this game as a battle for the American League Cy Young. C.C. Sabathia and even Johan Santana may have something to say about that, but considering the inappropriate emphasis the voters place on wins, this game could indeed be crucial to their decision making.

It’s been a rainy day in Boston thus far, but the late FOX start time should allow the weather to blow over, while the clouds could prevent the shadows from interfering as they often do in late afternoon contests. Here’s hoping the Yanks can make tonight a wonderful thing.

Here’s more about last night: Edes, Cafardo, and Malloy in The Boston Globe; Bradford, Massarotti, and Buckley in The Boston Herald; Sherman and Vaccaro in The New York Post; Lupica and Harper in the News, and from the blogosphere, here’s Beth from Cursed to First, and the wrap-up from Yanksfan v Soxsfan.

Beckett and Wang later this afternoon…

“We lucked out. That eighth inning was incredible,” Yankees manager Joe Torre said. “The only thing predictable in this ballpark is the unpredictable.”

…”It came apart in a hurry,” Red Sox manager Terry Francona said.
(AP)

Turgid and tedious, that’s what it was, suddenly capped by a burst of joy, a shot of espresso. Hot dog. The Yankees played a sloppy game tonight but scored six runs in the eighth inning to beat the Red Sox in dramatic fashion, 8-7 at Fenway Park. The game lasted 4 hours and 43 minutes, just two minutes shy of the longest 9 inning game in history–a mark set last year by the Yanks and Sox. Andy Pettitte struggled, the offense left a ton of runners on base through the first six innings, Jason Giambi was a butcher at first base (botching three plays, the last one leading to two runs), and Melky Cabrera inexplicably slid into first base again, costing himself an infield hit in the process. And yet, down 7-2, the Bombers came back against Boston’s two best relievers, Hideki Okajima and Jonathan Paplebon. Jason Giambi started the comeback with a solo homer, Robinson Cano followed with one of his own, and Bobby Abreu delivered the key hit, a two-run double off the top of the center field wall. Alex Rodriguez drove in the game-winning run–a solid single to left against Paplebon–and Mariano Rivera earned the save in what has to qualify as one of the biggest wins of the season for the Yanks.

It wasn’t pretty–in fact, it was downright ugly–but it was sweet. Yanks will have to play a much cleaner game tomorrow against Josh Beckett, who is sure to be fired-up. The Sox have handled Chien-Ming Wang in the past, so the fielding must be sharp. My biggest concern this weekend was the Red Sox sweeping. It’d be great if the Yanks can win at least one of the next two. Here’s hoping the Twins offer some help against the Tigers.

But for the moment–stay in the moment, kid, stay in the moment–things feel pretty good.

When the Red Sox came to the Bronx for a three-game series two and a half weeks ago I wrote that “the Yankees still only have one route to the postseason, and that’s the Wild Card.” The Yankees were eight games behind Boston coming into that series. After sweeping the Sox, they were five behind. In the two weeks since, the Yankees have actually lost a game in the standings another improbable sweep would still leave them 2.5 games behind with just 14 games remaining in the season. Boston will have just 12 games left after this weekend, none of them against a team that enters today’s action with a winning record. Baseball Prospectus’s Postseason Odds give the Yankees a 2 percent chance of winning the division (but an 87 percent chance of winning the Wild Card). As hard as it might be to remember, this weekend’s series in Boston is far more about holding off the Tigers (who are a solid 3.5 games back in the Wild Card race, but have won seven of their last nine), than it is about catching the Red Sox.

If that dilutes the rooting a bit, here’s something else to root for: the Cleveland Indians. The Indians currently trail the Angels by one game in the overall AL standings. If the the Indians can pass the Angels, then the Tribe, not the Halos, would be the team the Wild Card winning Yankees would face in the ALDS. That’s a far more favorable matchup for the Bombers given that they went 3-6 against the Angels this year, but swept the Tribe in their six giames against Cleveland. The bad news is that the Angels, who are the better team to begin with, have the easier schedule remaining with only a four-game set against the finally free-falling Mariners of much concern, while Cleveland has three against the M’s and three against those surging Tigers.

Back to Boston, this series features the same three pitchers for each team as the last series in New York, only with Roger Clemens and Chien-Ming Wang switching places in the final two games. Tonight we get a rematch of Andy Pettitte and Daisuke Matsuzaka. Matsuzaka, who leads the AL in pitcher abuse points, has been a mess recently, going 1-4 with a 9.57 ERA in his last five starts, including his last outing against the Yankees in which allowed five runs in 6 1/3 innings thanks in part to his putting four players on base for free (three walks and a hit batsman).

Pettitte, meanwhile, is the Stopper (since the All-Star break: 9-2, 3.14 ERA, 9 of 12 quality starts falling just one out short in two others). He countered Matsuzaka with a gem in which he allowed only the leadoff batters to reach base and held the Sox to three runs over seven innings, striking out six. With last night’s loss, he’s even got a potential losing streak to stop.

More good news for Pettitte: Manny Ramirez, who hit one of two homers off Pettitte in that last matchup between these two teams, is still out with the strained oblique that took him out of that game. His replacement, rookie prospect Jacoby Ellsbury (hitting .400/.419/.750 on the month), missed Wednesday night’s game with a injury to his wright wrist. Bobby Kielty gets the start in left tonight hitting from his stronger right side against the lefty Pettitte. As for the Yanks, their lineup looks like it did the first two days in Toronto, with Matsui getting the start in the field over DH Johnny Damon.

(more…)

Offense: After dropping eight runs on Shawn Marcum in the first five innings of the opener, the Yankees scored just six more runs in the final 22 frames of the series.

Studs:

Jorge Posada 3 for 7, 2B, HR, RBI, 4 R, 2 BB
Johnny Damon 4 for 12, HR, 3 RBI, 2 R, 2 BB, HBP, SB
Jason Giambi 1 for 5, Grand Slam, 2 R, BB, HBP, 3 K
Jose Molina 1 for 3, 2B

Duds:

Melky Cabrera 1 for 13, 2B, 3 K, GIDP
Derek Jeter 1 for 10, 2 BB, HBP, 3 K
Robinson Cano 2 for 12, 2 RBI, R, BB, K
Alex Rodriguez 3 for 11, 0 RBI, 2 R, 2 BB, 4 K
Wilson Betemit 0 for 3, 3 K

Doug Mientkiewicz went 0 for 2 as a defensive replacement in all three games. Alberto Gonzalez appeared as a defensive replacement in the opener, but didn’t come to bat.

Ouchies: Shelley Duncan’s MRI revealed a bone bruise on his pelvis and a small inguinal hernia. He has rejoined the team, is taking anti-inflammatories, and is listed as day-to-day.

Rotation: Outstanding. Rookies Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy, and Mike Mussina, making his first start in more than two weeks, combined to allow just three runs (two earned) in 18 2/3 innings while allowing just 9 hits. Mussina didn’t allow a run in his return to the rotation, falling one out short of a quality start despite throwing only 87 pitches. Kennedy was the star of the series, however, holding the Blue Jays to one hit over seven innings and needing just 93 pitches to do it.

Bullpen: Sure, Chris Britton lost the finale by giving up hits to the only two batters he faced, but that was the only earned run the pen allowed in the series, posting this line:

7 1/3 IP, 6 H, 2 R (1 ER), 2 BB, 11 K

The Good:

In the finale, Luis Vizcaino returned from arm and back pain to pitch a dominant 1-2-3 inning, striking out two and throwing just nine pitches, seven strikes. Ross Ohlendorf pitched a perfect in his major league debut in the opener. Edwar Ramirez allowed three base runners in 2 1/3 scoreless innings, but struck out five. Mariano Rivera pitched around a single for a four-out save in the middle game.

The Bad:

Britton.

Joba Chamberlain allowed his first major league run, but still has a career ERA of 0.00 after 16 innings because the run scored on a throwing error by Alex Rodriguez with two outs. Russ Adams, who scored the run, led off the eighth with a double of Chamberlain, just the second extra base hit Joba’s allowed in the majors. The first was also a double by a young AL East infielder: Boston’s Dustin Pedroia.

Conclusion: With a little more offense they would have had an easy sweep, all credit due to the pitching, which allowed just three extra base hits all series, one double in each game.

“I think that might be the best pitching staff in the league,” [Johnny] Damon said. “Detroit hasn’t been healthy all year I know and you have to look at Anaheim and Boston.

“But these guys [the Blue Jays], all of them throw the ball well. I really tip my hat to those guys. They’re a scary team, they’re really close.”
(Globe and Mail)

The Yankees lost a well-pitched game 2-1 against the Blue Jays last night. Ian Kennedy was terrific, giving up just a run off one hit over seven innings, and A.J. Burnett was McNasty allowing a single run over eight innings. But Battleship Chris Britton gave up two consecutive hits in the bottom of the ninth and that was that.

Kennedy made one mistake in the first inning. With a runner on, he grooved an 0-2 fastball right over the heart of the plate to Frank Thomas. The Jays’ DH pounded a long line drive to deep center field. Melky Cabrera looked as if he was going to catch it, but missed the ball at the wall, allowing the first run of the game to score. It wasn’t a can of corn but it was a ball Cabrera should have caught. Kennedy then retired the next 15 batters, as he mixed his fastball, breaking ball and change-up wonderfully.

Burnett, in a complete contrast of styles, was simply overpowering. His breaking ball was hard and sharp and it often skipped in the dirt. But that didn’t matter much as Yankee hitters waved at it anyway. Wilson Betemit whiffed three times on breaking pitches. Johnny Damon caught a change-up from Burnett and planted it into the seats for a solo home run in the sixth. By the time Alex Rodriguez came to hit three batters later, there were two runners on. Rodriguez couldn’t hold up on the first pitch, a hard slider, but he laid-off the next two pitches, also breaking balls. Then, Burnett spotted a fastball right down the pipe, and to cap it off, he threw the same pitch again. Rodriguez, guessing breaking ball, took both pitches (he’d strike out again in the ninth, after just missing a slider).

The Yankees left two runners stranded in the sixth and in the ninth and when Britton entered the game, well, it didn’t look good. Britton was pitching because Kyle Farnsworth was unavailable due to a sore neck. And so the Yanks lost a squeaker, ending their seven-game winning streak. It wouldn’t seem like such a tough loss if the Bombers hadn’t put themselves in such a pickle early in the season.

Ah, no use crying. Tonight gives Boston. Here comes the pain.

I love to root against A.J. Burnett. There’s just something about the looks of him that turn me off. It’s the body language, the same thing that I don’t like about Farnsworth–though Burnett is a far superior pitcher. He’s the guy with the million dollar arm, ten cent head, the guy with great stuff who is only a great pitcher sometimes. He is able to get by with his natural gifts because he’s been blessed.

Burnett will dominate a game for six innings and then not be able to finish. Or he’ll go on a run for half a season where he’s overpowering from start-to-start, and then he gets hurt or fades somehow. And always with the great stuff. But there’s always something. And you don’t know what that something is only that it is there. He’s elite talent but not an elite pitcher, not with a career record of 67-65 over 9 seasons. Burnett has never won more than 12 games in a season. I know you can be unlucky and injured but you can’t be that unlucky and injured.

(more…)

Anyone seen those Jabba The Hutt t-shirts? They are pretty cool. If you enter the code: jobabronxblock, you can save $2.50 per tee. Get ’em while they’re hot.

Our pal Allen Barra talks to Mets announcer Ron Darling about Jazz in this week’s Voice. Darling knows Lee Morgan from Ahmad Jamal. Who knew? And not for nothing, but I think that Darling is a superior color man.

Okay, here’s something to chew over. Yesterday, another BB friend, Pete Abraham, wrote a post about Jorge Posada. Pete thinks Posada is a “probable” Hall of Famer. I’m not so sure about that–as much as I’d like to see it happen, of course. Yeah, I believe that Posada is the third-best catcher in Yankee history (behind Yogi and Bill Dickey), but I think he needs to have another two or three very good seasons in order to be worthy of the Hall of Fame. Just off the top of my head, I wouldn’t rank Posada ahead of Ted Simmons, would you? Discuss.

It is brisk and chilly in New York this morning. As I walked to the subway I couldn’t help but think of playoff baseball. It’s not cold enough for a frost, so we’ll probably get local tomatoes and corn for one more week (the last, delicious reminders of the summer), but the leaves are starting to turn here and there, and the kids are back in school. The Yankees are not a lock for the post-season yet but they are getting there…

When Melky Cabrera reached second base with two out in the ninth inning, he slapped his hands together, nostrils flaired. Perhaps he was amped because his ground ball double play helped squash a Yankee rally in the fourth inning. As it was, his double was only the team’s fourth hit of the night (A fifth hit–a single to center by the next batter, Johnny Damon–was nullified by an extremely poor call by the second base umpire, Jim Wolf). The Yankees, however, had the lead and won the game, 4-1. An 8th inning error by Alex Rodriguez put an end to Joba Chamberlain’s scoreless inning streak, but Mariano Rivera got the last four outs of the game, and that was that. The Tigers (Mags) and Red Sox (Ortiz) and Mariners also won, so there was no change in the playoff standings as far as the Bombers are concerned (the Tigers did gain a game on the Indians who lost).

Hideki Matsui has been slumping but in the first inning he drove a fastball on the outside corner to deep left for an RBI. The YES broadcast showed side-by-side replays of Matsui’s RBI single with an at-bat from the previous game where he was pulling off the ball, his head jerking up in the air toward first base. Last night, he kept his rear and his head steady and drove the pitch. (Matsui also walked twice later in the game.) Rodriguez–who reached base on a check-swing walk (he got a favorable call on that one)–then scored on a wild pitch by Dustin McGowan. Robinson Cano added a two-run single in the fourth which was all the runs the Yanks would need.

(more…)

As I detailed in my catchup post yesterday afternoon, the Yankees are giving Mike Mussina a chance to prove that he’s still got something left to offer tonight primarily because having Moose start tonight pushes Andy Pettitte back for the Red Sox series and sets up Phil Hughes as a possible alternate to Roger Clemens on Sunday. It also gives them a low-risk look at Moose before they have to make any hard decisions about Clemens’ elbow or taking rookies in to the postseason. With all of that in mind, this should be an interesting game. Mussina, if you need reminding, has been dreadful over his last four appearances, putting up this line:

13 1/3 IP, 32 H, 22 R (21 ER), 1 HR, 5 BB, 4 K, 2.79 WHIP, 14.18 ERA, 0-3

Moose’s 3 2/3 innings in relief of Roger Clemens a week ago Monday was his second longest outing in that stretch and far and away his best, despite the seven hits and two runs he allowed. The low walk and homer rates in the line above are somewhat encouraging, but that dreadful WHIP comprised almost entirely of hits is all you need to see to know how much trouble he’s had getting hitters out. That, more than anything else, has been his problem, though it is worth noting that 12 of those 32 hits have been doubles, so it’s not as though they’re all dinks that can be blamed on bad luck and the defense.

Moose, of course, is still thinking about his four starts previous to those in which he did this:

25 1/3 IP, 29 H, 8 R, 2 HR, 2 BB, 19 K, 1.22 WHIP, 2.84 ERA, 4-0

Opposing Mussina is Dustin McGowan. McGowan is 2-0 against the Yanks this season having held them to two runs on nine hits and four walks in 14 innings across two starts. Inclusive of that last start against the Yanks in mid-July, McGowan has a 2.62 ERA with a 1.03 WHIP and a 7.47 K/9 over his last ten starts.

Combine Mussina and McGowan and tonight’s game is one of those that you have to chalk up as a loss going in, setting up an exciting rubber-game duel between A.J. Burnett and rookie Ian Kennedy tomorrow night.

The lineup is unchanged tonight save for Matsui and Damon switching positions. So Moose gets Matsui and Giambi in the field. Off to a great start . . .

Phil Hughes looked awful in the first two innings of last night’s 9-2 win in Toronto. He was missing Jorge Posada’s target by several feet and needed some big plays in the field to escape some serious damage early on. With the bases loaded and two-outs in the first, Aaron Hill laced a grounder up the middle but Hughes managed to swat it down and get the out at first to escape the jam unscathed. With men on first and second and none out in the second, Hughes benefited from an unusual 8-5 fielder’s choice courtesy of Melky Cabrera’s arm on a flare to center that forced the runners to hold up, and a spectacular diving catch by Johnny Damon on a ball laced into the left field gap. Those plays prevented the Jays from advancing and delivered Hughes two crucial outs. A subsequent single by Russ Adams and a two-base error by Cabrera throwing behind the runner at second (his throw skipped past the bag and rolled into the Yankee dugout) plated both runners, but Hughes got Alex Rios to ground out and shut the door from there, allowing only one base runner on an error by Alex Rodriguez (a bobble) over his final four innings to turn in his second straight six-inning, two-run quality start. Hughes still wasn’t all the great even in those later innings, however. He was still frequently missing Posada’s target. He only struck out one man all night, that being Vernon Wells leading off the first, and of those last 12 outs, only three of them came on the ground.

It was enough, however, as the Yanks touched up Shawn Marcum for eight runs in 4 1/3 innings, the big shot being an opposite field grand slam by Jason Giambi in the fifth, his first homer in 35 plate appearances. Edwar Ramirez pitched around a pair of singles for a pair of scoreless innings in relief of Hughes, striking out five of the eight men he faced. Ross Ohlendorf then made his major league debut with a 1-2-3 inning that started with a strikeout of Lyle Overbay and concluded with a pair of grounders to fellow member of the Randy Johnson package Alberto Gonzalez. Ohlendorf, who did not pitch well in the minors this year prompting a move into the bullpen, threw 11 pitches, seven of them strikes, and hit 95 on the radar gun with excellent control and great movement on his fastball. For those who might have missed it, that means the Yanks held the Blue Jays to two runs (one earned) on five hits (four of them singles) by using nothing but rookie pitchers. The performances from Ramirez and Ohlendorf are particularly encouraging given the fact that Luis Vizcaino has added a stiff lower back to the shoulder problem that has shut him down over the past week.

Elsewhere, Shelley Duncan was sent back to New York after complaining of abdominal pain that could prove to be a hernia, and the Tigers split a double-header with the Rangers, giving the Yankees an even four-game lead in the Wild Card and a five-game lead in the loss column.

Finally, an update on Roger Clemens courtesy of Pete Abe who reports that Clemens “said he is ready to face Boston on Sunday. He threw for about 15 minutes at 80 percent today and will get after it a little more on Thursday. He had two cortisone shots in his elbow last Wednesday in Houston. He also revealed that there was some ligament damage.”

The Yankees have played the Blue Jays six times since the All-Star break and won five of those contests. Their one loss came in Toronto in the last of those six games when Chien-Ming Wang had the worst start of his career. Since then, the Yankee have survived the tough part of their second half schedule and embarked on a current 9-3 pace which has launched them into a comfortable lead in the Wild Card race (now four games with the Tigers loss earlier today). The Blue Jays, meanwhile, have continued to be the .500 baseball team they’ve been all year, going 15-15 since the Yanks last left Canada. They come into tonight off a seven-game road trip on which they dropped series to the AL-best Red Sox and AL-worst Devil Rays as well as a make-up game against the Tigers last night.

One variable in this series is Troy Glaus, not because of the recent steroid allegations, but because he left yesterday’s game after feeling something pop in his left foot. Glaus has had foot problems all year and has been battling plantar fasciitis, the same injury that put Jason Giambi on the shelf for more than two months (perhaps not coincidentally after a four game series on the turf in Toronto). Glaus has been tearing things up recently, hitting .372/.517/.721 since August 25. If he’s hindered or unable to play at all (remember Toronto’s DH slot is filled by the immovable Frank Thomas, though Glaus’s bat has been much hotter of late), it will be a big break for the Yanks.

As for the Yanks, Derek Jeter is indeed in the starting lineup against Shaun Marcum tonight, as are all of the other usual suspects, with Giambi at first base, Damon in left, and Matsui at DH (though all three are struggling so much that I had hoped to see Wilson Betemit get the starts at first base against the all-righty Toronto rotation).

Marcum has gone 11-3 with a 3.45 ERA since entering the Toronto rotation in mid-May. Among his 22 starts this year are two quality outings against the Yanks in which he’s posted this combined line: 12 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 5 BB, 7 K, but has only a loss and a no-decision to show for it (the Jays did win that first game). Marcum posted a 2.02 ERA in his first ten starts and has a 4.76 ERA in his last twelve, but his peripherals don’t show a considerable change in effectiveness. If anything, he was a bit hit-lucky in those first ten outings, something which has ceased in the last 12, but his WHIP in those last dozen outings remains a solid 1.29, and, for what it’s worth, his record has been 8-3 over those last 12 starts.

Opposing Marcum will be Phil Hughes who came up huge in the finale against the Mariners last week to pull out of a string of three poor outings. The key to that start for Hughes was a surge in his ground ball rate. Here’s hoping that trend continues tonight as he faces the Blue Jays for the first time since his major league debut back in April, when he got the Blue Jays’ bad hitter out, but got stung by their good hitters. The Jays are the first major league team to get a second look at Hughes.

(more…)

Some of you may have noticed that I’ve been away for the last ten days. I was in California for the wedding of two very close friends followed by an early first anniversary trip of my own. Since I’ve not been around to wrap up the last three series (the let-down against the Devil Rays, the crucial win against the Mariners, and the back-to-business sweep of the Royals), I thought I’d combine all three into a series wrap post here both to make up for those missing posts and to help me get back in the swing of things prior to the resumption of play tonight in Toronto. And so . .

Offense: The Yankees scored just 13 runs in the first four games while I was away, and averaged just four runs against the dreadful Devil Ray pitching staff, starting with Andy Sonnanstine having, by his own admission, the game of his life. They then flipped the switch and scored 42 runs over the last five games, putting up double-digit totals in three of the five.

Studs:

Alex Rodriguez .515/.579/1.273, 2B, 8 HR, 16 RBI, 10 R, 3 BB, 2 HBP, 2 SB, CS
Jorge Posada .440/.548/.840, 2B, 3 HR, 6 RBI, 7 R, 6 BB
Bobby Abreu .294/.368/.618, 6 2B, 3B, HR, 6 RBI, 7 R, 4 BB, 7 K, SB
Wilson Betemit .313/.389/.563, 2B, HR, 5 RBI, 3 R, 2 BB, 3 K, SacB
Jose Molina 3 for 7, HR, 2 RBI, 2 R, 3 K

Duds:

Hideki Matsui .074/.242/.074, 5 BB, 4 K, CS, 0 RBI, 3 R
Jason Giambi .056/.190/.111, 2B, 3 BB, 2 K, 1 RBI, 0 R
Derek Jeter .200/.294/.233, 2B, 2 BB, 2 HBP, 6 K, SB
Johnny Damon .194/.265/.323, 2B, HR, 3 BB, 6 K, 3 SB, SacB
Melky Cabrera .263/.300/.316, 6 K, 2 SB
Shelley Duncan 1 for 10, 2 RBI, 2 R, 3 K, GIDP, SacB

Ouchies:

Andy Phillips broke his wrist in the finale against the D-Rays and is out for the season (he’s been placed on the 60-day disabled list). He went 2 for 3 with a pair of walks in that series before the injury and his final line on the season is .292/.338/.373. Jason Giambi has started four games at first since then to Wilson Betemit’s two. Doug Mientkiewicz was activated from the 60-day DL when rosters expanded, but has only appeared as an in-game replacement, going 1 for 3 with a single, a strikeout and a sac bunt in five games. Derek Jeter left Saturday’s game with a knee problem that’s been described as irritation of the patella tendon in his right knee. He did not play on Sunday, with Betemit getting the start at short, but is expected to return to the lineup tonight. As per the stats above, Alex Rodriguez’s mild sprained ankle looks to be about as big of a problem as the hamstring injury he suffered earlier in the year. He’s hit seven home runs in the last five games, homering in each of those five contests.

Call-ups:

Alberto Gonzalez, who hit .266/.319/.379 between double- and triple-A this season, with the bulk of his playing time coming in Scranton, but the bulk of his hitting having been done in Trenton (though he did hit ten triples in for Scranton), has seen some playing time as a defensive replacement. He made his major league debut on Sept. 1 with an inning at shortstop against the Devil Rays. He ground out as a pinch-hitter for Alex Rodriguez to end a seven-run seventh inning against the Mariners in his first major league at-bat on Sept. 4. He’s still looking for his first major league hit and is 0 for 4 across five games. Bronson Sardinha was just called up on Sunday and is also making his first appearance on a major league roster.

(more…)

…For MLB to pattern itself after the NBA. This could take some time…

Howard Bryant is now writing for ESPN. He tackles the Mitchell Investigation in his latest piece.

Over at the NY Times’ blog, Tyler Kepner has a nice post about Harlan Chamberlain.

Can the Yankees win the East? Larry Mahnken takes a look.

Will Alex Rodriguez leave the Yankees? Tim Marchman thinks that is a possibility:

Some mysteries are no mystery at all. Take the ongoing speculation over whether or not Alex Rodriguez will be a Yankee next year. This is not, in fact, a mysterious issue. It was clear in January that he would opt out of his current contract, it became clearer when he had mounted one of the great displays of hitting the game has ever seen in April, and it is clearer still today, as he readies himself for a drive toward his 60th home run. Thus, absent a massive loss of face for the Yankees brass, he will almost certainly be playing for another team next year.

There are two reasons why this is clear. The first is that Rodriguez’s agent, Scott Boras, prefers whenever possible to have his clients set their value on the open market. The second is that the Yankees have loudly proclaimed that if Rodriguez does become a free agent they won’t be bidding on him, a claim to which general manager Brian Cashman has publicly attached his name and which has precluded any negotiations on a contract extension that would keep Rodriguez in the Bronx. Because Boras’s tactics are sensible and consistent, and because Cashman is not known for publicly lying, it would seem there is only one possible outcome here, absent a sentimental decision on Rodriguez’s part to surrender control over his future in exchange for having his games called by Suzyn Waldman.

Thanks to Baseball Think Factory for some of the links…

So Roy Halladay was pitching a brilliant game last night, but fell apart in the 9th as the Blue Jays lost to the Tigers, 5-4. Go freakin’ figure. Got to be one of the best moments of the season for Detroit. Magglio Ordonez had four hits including the game-winner. Man, he’s had some kind of season, hasn’t he?

The Tigers, who play a double-header against the Texas Rangers today, now trail the Yankees by just three-and-a-half games. The Red Sox lead is down to five games, as they lost a close one to the Devil Rays last night, 1-0.

The Blue Jays won’t make the post-season but they can play the role of spoilers, starting tonight against the Yankees. Here’s hoping our boys continue to play well this week; here’s hoping they win this series in Toronto. ‘Nuff said.

Hideki Matsui is in a slump yet the Kansas City pitching staff decided time and again to pitch to Alex Rodriguez this weekend. Rodriguez ripped home run #52 off Zach Greinke in the first inning yesterday. He singled in the fifth and scored on Jorge Posada’s double. Yes, the Yankees’ two best players, Rodriguez and Posada, were at it again yesterday. Chien-Ming Wang didn’t feel great, but toughed-out seven innings, Robinson Cano made a nifty defensive play, and Mariano Rivera earned the save as the Yanks beat the Royals, 6-3. The Bombers gained a game on the Tigers, who finally lost to the Mariners, and now lead both teams by four-games in the wildcard standings.

When he reaches first base, Alex Rodriguez holds his right hand just over his heart as he rotates his left shoulder. He’s been doing this for about a month now, presumably stretching-out a jammed shoulder. I was going to mention this routine the other night. It’s not that Rodriguez is faking being injured, just that is he can’t help but call attention to himself. It’s the insecurity of the A-student who needs to be reminded how smart he is.

In his second at-bat last night, Rodriguez planted a fastball over the center field wall for his 50th homer of the season. As he was rounding the bases, the entire Yankee bullpen stood and began immitating Rodrgiuez, rotating their shoulders. Some of his teammates were doing the same when Rodriguez reached the dugout. Smiles all around. After the game Rodriguez showed good humor about being ribbed. “I’ve never seen a team make more fun of one guy than this team,” Rodriguez said, smiling. “That was pretty funny.”

Comes with the territory, big boy. Rodriguez hit a second home run–and narrowly missed hitting a third–as Andy Pettitte pitched a good game and the Yankees cruised to an 11-5 win over the Royals. The Bombers have won the series. A win today would be a great way to cap the weekend.

Let’s Go Yan-Kees!