Yanks Lose Home Run Derby

This was a game that never should have been lost. Said a different way: these are the games that the Yankees need to win. I went to bed during the rain delay and I am so glad I did. No reason to lose sleep over this one.

First let's talk about the odd... 9 home runs in one game (according to the baseball almanac, the record is 10). Giambi, Damon, Abreu, and Rodriguez sent balls to the stands for the Yankees. Millar (2x), Herandez, Mora and Scott for the Orioles. A home run is exciting to watch, don't get me wrong... but last night's game almost pushed that limit for me. No doubt about it though, the Yanks hit well last night, especially Damon who went 4 for 5.

Now on to the bad... when are the Yankees going to realize that Ian Kennedy sucks? I have said it here many times, but let me say it again... the Yankees should get rid of him while other teams still might be fooled into thinking he is worth something. 4 runs in 3 short innings... a 7.41 ERA... we can do better. Kennedy hurt himself last night and will be added to the DL with a strained right lat muscle. Maybe Joba will be ready to take his place next week since he is scheduled to throw 50-55 pitches tonight to relieve Pettitte.

And to the awful... Latroy Hawkins. From the moment he joined this team he was trouble. He reminds me a lot of Fartsworth with his ability to screw up when he is needed most. I hope we are not going to have to pamper him now. Veras would have been the better choice last night.

Ohlendorf... yeah, you sucked last night too buddy; but I think you are a better pitcher than your performance in that game. Besides, if Kennedy would do his job, we wouldn't have to tax you so much. You get off easy, in this blog post anyway.

One last rant before I end this... Girardi was completely in the right for arguing to the officials about the rain coming down when Matsui was at bat in the top of the ninth. How convenient for them to wait until after the Yankees are retired before calling for the tarp.

Baltimore over New York by a score of 10-to-9 after 11 innings of play. It is back to 2 games below .500 and 6 games out, in that comfortable little spot in last place for the Yanks.

It is like I said before...

Less than one week ago, the internet was scattered with blog entries about how Mussina is a washed-up pitcher. Hank Steinbrenner was being quoted and misquoted. Last Friday, here is what I had to say:

Although I haven't yet read all the blog feeds this morning, I can almost predict what they are going to say... "The Moose has got to go". Now I don't agree with this statement and I do think that Mike Mussina brings value to the team but not matched up against Josh Beckett.

Now, for those of you who watched the Moose pitch last night, don't you agree that he can bring value to the Yankees this season? Mussina gave his team a quality start by going 7 innings and only giving up 2 runs (both solo HRs). He worked incrediably well with Posada and placed his pitches with precision. I am not trying to "sell" Mussina on anyone. He definately comes with his baggage. But when used correctly, he can be effective to the point of at least giving the team a chance, assuming that the offense is hitting. I still believe that the rotation needs to be tweaked and I was happy to see that Pettitte has been moved up one notch to the 4 spot to seperate the two kids.

As long as I am quoting myself, let's talk about LaTroy Hawkins. I remember it like it was last Thursday when I said, "I think he going to put the Yankees in some tough (negative) situations this year." Fortunately, Girardi stepped in before he gave up all of the lead. Perhaps Joe should have listened to Posada a little more carefully. I am no expert in lip reading but I could have sworn that Jorge said something like "Please Joe, don't even think of bringing that jackass into the game".

Speaking about that little confusion at the mound when Girardi raised his arm to signal for the bullpen and take out Moose but quickly did a double-take after something Posada said... I like it that Girardi listens to his players. They may not always be right (i.e. Mussina's "I can get this guy" comment that convinced Girardi to let him pitch to Manny instead of walking him to the open base) but it shows me that he has an open mind. Sometimes, of course, you need a manager to "step up to the plate", so to speak, and hand down a definitive, inarguable decision. My hope is that when that time comes, Joe won't disappoint us.

P.S. Three doubles from Posada last night... man, it is great to have him back!

What the hell happened?

My wife and I had a date night last night so I didn't see but the very end of last night's game. We were eating dinner at the first pitch and then went to see Forgetting Sarah Marshall, the first movie I have seen in a theatre in quite some time. It was a pretty funny flick and I would recommend it. A few sexually racy scenes in it though so careful about taking the kids.

OK, so I get into the car and turn on the game, first to the local station. Just hearing John Sterling's voice gives me some comfort. Then the kicker: "At the bottom of the seventh, Yankees trail by a score of 8-to-2."

"What the hell happened?" is the first thing I asked my wife. Did Phil Hughes blow yet another game? When I got home and watched the remainder of the game and the wrap-up, I got the answer to my question. Yes, but he also had some help from LaTroy "Why the hell are you even in pinstripes?" Hawkins. Now I don't want to start a panic here Yankee fans but we need to address our pitching issues at this point and not after the all-star break. The main criticism here is this: The reason that the Yankees didn't make a deal for Santana was because they refused to give up Hughes. Ok, but now we find out the Hughes sucks (at least so far this season)... now what? Even if the young starter's game improves, we still have the Moose issues, we still need to keep and eye on Kennedy, we still need to be mindful of taxing our bullpen. Even if we bring Joba to the starting rotation, we need to make some adjustments with the entire pitching staff. I don't know what the answers are... but Girardi and Cashman and the rest of the coaching staff better well have a plan here. I like to watch meaningful games. I don't even mind a loss every so often... it comes with the territory. But come on Yankees, we are so much better than this.

Out of this world

I personally do not like all the gimmicks that seem to surround baseball these days. I don't really think the ball clubs (especially the Yankees) gain any ticket sales from them and when I go to the games I would rather just go for the games. I don't even like it when stadiums do those light shows and fireworks every time there is a home run. Let the fans generate the hoop-la. After all, whats the big deal- it's only a home run... the Yankees had two last night- no need for fireworks. That being said, last night's first pitch from outer space started us out with a match up against the Red Sox that was out of this world.

The Bombers got off to a good start last night with back-to-back home runs by Bobby and Alex in the first inning. Wang was looking decent and it seemed like the Yankee bats had come to play. By the bottom of the 4th inning they added 4 more runs to the board and now led the Sox 7-3. I thought this would be a good time to take out the trash (literally) and go walk the dog. To my surprise when I came back to the tv, Wang had been yanked, Ohlendorf was on the mound, and Boston had added 3 runs to their score. I must have missed a Wang meltdown of some sort. By the middle of the 5th, the Yankees were down by 2.

They came back in the bottom of the fifth to re-capture their lead with 4 more runs and Hawkins was brought in. Now, I have alluded to this before but in the interest of full disclosure I will say that I do not like LaTroy Hawkins. I think he going to put the Yankees in some tough (negative) situations this year. I hope I am wrong about that prediction... I certainly was wrong last night. Hawkins pitched extremely well for two straight innings and wound up getting the win for the night. Traber came in for one pitch and the Bruney took us home but not before the Yankees added 4 more runs to the lead in the bottom of the 8th. Final Score: Yankees 15 - Boston 9. A helluva game!

I read this morning that Wilson Betemit is now suffering from corneal ulcers (whatever the hell those are) and Harlin Chamberlain is continuing to improve.

Numbers

I had completely forgotten that it was Jackie Robinson day yesterday. It was great to see the entire Rays team wearing 42 but it made me wonder why only Jeter, Cano, Girardi (and of course, Rivera) were the only Yankees sporting the legend's number. Regardless, I think it is nice that Major League Basesball recognizes this event.

On the Michael Kay show yesterday afternoon, they were discussing some of the racial issues surrounding baseball as compared to the other major sports. The point being made was that children growing up in the inner cities do not have as much access to baseball fields nor do they have the money to spend on the additional equipment required to play the sport (like a glove, bat, cleats, etc). In contrast, a sport like basketball is much easier to practice and master. All it takes is a ball, can be played with much fewer players (even alone) and basketball hoops are much more common than baseball diamonds. I am not sure if I have an opinion to all that yet but some interesting points were raised and I wanted to touch on it briefly. If any of you would like to expand the discussion just let me know.

Back to numbers... the Yankees have announced that LaTroy Hawkins is officially giving up his number 21 uniform because he is tired of all the flack he is getting for wearing Paul O'Neill's number. I think this is rather funny. LaTroy, maybe if you pitched a little better, you would get so much crap. So, what number is hi going to be wearing starting with tonight's matchup against Boston... number 22. I guess no one will give him a hard time for wearing an old, juiced-up pitcher's number. At the start of the season I was wondering why Cano didn't switch back to number 22 since the rocket was reported as taking on too much fuel and is probably in Houston for good.

Sorry to short change last night's game in this post. Check the box score but watch the highlights too. Pettitte gave up an awful lot of hits but did very well limiting the score. I think it is important sometimes to get yourself into trouble if for no other reason than to prove that you can get yourself out of trouble. I trust Andy.

Some back-dated comments...

Saturday Afternoon - April 5 (Tampa Bay)
It was nice to be back at our Saturday season ticket seats today. The weather cleared up and it turned out to be a nice day (though perhaps a little chilly). We arrived at the stadium early to purchase some additional tickets at the advanced sales window. Season ticket holders get a handful of discount coupons and we generally have no problems getting decent seats for some mid-week night games. Well, not this year. Practically nothing was available!I had all the best of expectations for a Yankee win today but like Friday night, it just wasn’t meant to be. I don’t really blame Pettitte (who received a warm welcome from the fans). True, he gave up 5 runs on 8 hits but I continue to see offense as the major downfall in these games. We left 21 players on base today including a bases-loaded situation. Unacceptable! What is it going to take to start hitting like a championship team? Today’s loss of 6-3 puts the Yankees on the bottom of the AL-East. Something needs to be done to turn around these slumps.

Friday Night - April 4 (Tampa Bay)
There are some games that you just don’t deserve to win. Friday night’s 4-game series opener against Tampa Bay was one of those games for the Yankees. Pitching can set the tone for a game. Good, quality pitching can be a true motivator just as poor performance on the mound can drain some of the strongest inspiration. Ian Kennedy was horrible and he knew it. He may have gotten squeezed on a few pitches but, for the most part the strike zone seemed invisible to him. Last year when Kennedy and Hughes made their debut, I heard many compare the talent of these two noticeably young starters. I didn’t agree those comparisons then and as most would have to agree now, there was nothing even remotely comparable between Hughes’ quality start last night and Kennedy’s weak pitching tonight.This being said, if Kennedy could be described as weak, than Hawkins was just plain pathetic. Six runs off of six hits in two-thirds of an inning. An ERA of 31.50 for the game. Why is LaTroy Hawkins even here? Is it to keep Fartsworth company? In complete contrast, Albaladejo, Ohlendorf and Traber pitched incredibly well. In fact, I am not sure why Ohlendorf and Traber didn’t get more than an inning each.Now let’s discuss hitting. Aside from the third, which seemed to be something of a passing dream of what should be instead of reality, the Yankees had nothing. I know it is only game four but aren’t we supposed be in our best form after Spring Training, rested from the off season and eager to perform. I am just not seeing that. Why did we not see Shelley Duncan until the ninth inning? Or how about Ensberg? Yes, Giambi has definitely impressed me at first base but if he is cold at the plate, bring someone else in. I suppose that I believe in stirring the pot.I will be at Saturday’s game in my usual seat in Section 627 hoping that a Friday night loss will lead to a Saturday afternoon win. Tonight’s score of 13 to 4 needs to be vindicated.

Thursday Night - April 3 (Toronto)
I had a late meeting at work last night and was only able to hear the first 6 innings of the rubber match between the Yanks and Jays on XM radio as I drove home. That was really no big deal since not much happened before the sixth inning anyway.
Let me take that back… Phil Hughes did what I thought was an excellent job allowing only 2 runs on 4 hits over 6 frames. In fact, the entire pitching staff performed exactly the way they should have. Limiting a club like Toronto to only a few runs opens the door for a qualified Yankee offense to do their work and bring in the win. Hughes performed like, as Damon said in the post game, an ace in the making. Traber completed his task with lefty Overbay. Bruney, whom amongst a handful of other Yanks that dropped some pounds this past winter, was sharp. The Joba (who registered a 99 mph pitch) got the win after pitching the 8th and the Sandman led us to Frank. A very respectable night on the mound.
As far as hitting is concerned, I thought I was going to have to continue my rant from yesterday. But, thanks to Abreu, my rant can now just be a warning: Cano, Giambi, and Matsui… you really need to be doing better at the plate. I know it will happen and I am not really worried but I think in recent years we have lacked some consistency and predictability at the plate. I want my Yankees to make me proud. I am not going to mention A-Rod here because A-Rod is A-Rod. When he is on, we love him but, like every single other person in this world, he has the ability to disappoint us too.
So the Yankees win the game 3-2 and take the first series of the season 2 games to 1. I am looking forward to Tampa coming to town for the next 4 games, secretly hoping that we see some residual drama left over from Spring Training (the Elliot Johnson slide into Francisco Cervelli at the plate, the Shelly Duncan slide into Akinori Iwamura at 2nd, the Melk-man’s involvement). It is probable that Duncan will get his first start of the season tonight.

"We just need to score more runs"

Those were the words of Alex Rodriguez during the postgame interview last night: "We just need to score more runs". Two things strike me about this statement. First is it's validity. Even with A.J. Burnett on the mound, the Yankees should not have to wait until the 7th inning for a player to touch second base. The box score from last night's game against Toronto looks a little light. But this is only the second game of the season so I am not going to go into a rant about how our players should be hitting better... EXCEPT for the second thing about ARod's statement that rings through to me: I have heard these words before. From Alex, from Jeter, from many players on this team. I just don't want to be disappointed this year. I am not even referring to early exits from the playoffs in recent years. I am a demanding fan. I want to be inspired by each at-bat, in most innings, of a majority of every game I watch. Otherwise I could just be a basketball fan... cheer for the Knicks!

Enough of the negative. I thought that the Moose did fine last night. He made one or two mistakes that hurt him but he pitched a good game. Johnny's catch at the wall was phenominal. Molina continues to be worthy of covering for Posada anytime a rest is needed. Alex did his part with his first homerun for the year (#519 career) to put 2 on the board. It was a bit strange seeing the number 21 on the field and hearing Paul O'Neill from the booth but Hawkins showed some promise.

Toronto is a good team and the BlueJays hustled strong for this win. My hope for tonight is to see those Yankee bats connect just a little better, watch Hughes pitch a tight game, and have the Bombers to take their first series of the year.

Last night's final score: Toronto over New York 5-2.