Baseball Toaster was unplugged on February 4, 2009.
The Yankees extended their winning streak to seven games by completing a three-game sweep of the San Diego Padres yesterday afternoon. Joba Chamberlain got the start and turned in his first truly dominant major league start as he struck out nine Padres in 5 2/3 innings, allowing just one run on four hits and three walks.
The run came in the fourth when Brian Giles led off with a single, was pushed to second by a walk to Adrian Gonzalez, and scored when Tony Clark, hitting from the left side, hit a flare to the line in shallow left that hopped into the stands for a ground-rule double. Prior to that, Chamberlain worked himself into a bases-loaded jam in the second, but struck out Scott Hairston, got an out at home from a wild pitch, and struck out Khalil Greene to end the inning. The play on Gonzalez came when Chamberlain skipped a pitch past Jose Molina, then raced home to cover the plate. Molina gathered the ball and fired to Chamberlain, who actually set up to block the plate and got the tag down on Gonzalez before the Padres first baseman was able to get his foot around him to the dish. Chamberlain didn't allow a hit in any of his other innings and ended his outing with a pair of strikeouts. Had he been more efficient, he could have gone deeper, as he had retired seven of his last eight batters when he hit 100 pitches.
Fortunately the Yankee bullpen did its job. The Yanks had tied the score in the bottom of the fifth when Melky Cabrera walked, stole second and third, and scored on a Molina sac fly. Jose Veras got the final out of the sixth in relief of Chamberlain, then in the bottom of that inning, Derek Jeter singled, stole second, moved to third on a Bobby Abreu groundout to the right side, and scored on an Alex Rodriguez single. Veras pitched around a pair of walks in the seventh. Kyle Farnsworth pitched around an Adrian Gonzalez single in the eighth, and, once again, Mariano Rivera struck out the side in the ninth. Rivera has struck out 25 men in his last 16 innings.
It was a clean, crisp game, and a rewarding 2-1 victory for the Yankees, though it would have been nice if Chamberlain had picked up the win for his efforts. With the win, the Yankees became the eighth team in baseball to reach 40 wins. Next up: Dusty Baker's Reds.
This A-Rod guy, he's pretty good.
Also, who is going to pitch the 8th inning? We've lost our weapon! I can't stop chuckling at that one.
We of the Banter have taken up a collection to extend your stay! Please spend it frugally... at least 20 Wins worth. Where do we send the check?
One never knows what a good young prospect will do.
A few hot or cold weeks rarely tell the story.
For those of you who are SURE you got Phil's and IPK's number, check out Edinson Volquez's stats. He pitched a dozen IP in 2005 at age 21. Then 3 dozen in '06 and 3 dozen in '07. How did he look to you at the end of his 3 year, 80 IP career?
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?playerId=6401
http://tinyurl.com/2lr9bz
And of course there is Santana, who took a while to become Santana. Not so much on this blog, but I keep reading how IPK is an AAA pitcher and Hughes is a #3 guy at very best.
Are your girlfriend and other friends Yankee fans? Think about it....
Saturday is Giese against a Daryl Thompson making his debut (decent but not great MiLB numbers) and Sunday is RHP Johnny Cueto (5-7, 5.19) vs. LHP Andy Pettitte. 2 out of 3 looks doable, but tonight we will take a big task to keep the streak alive. Over/Under on tonight?
I wonder if guys who are potential tradebait have their performance effected. The hype on Phil and IPK was HUGE even before 'we didn't get Santana because of them'. Mind you, I think a league average IPK as a #5 at cheap dollars is a great asset. So William, do you think IPK will make the grade as a #5?
Hughes I have higher hopes for.
Sure, probably thousands of "Thomas L."s would be detained too, but we're talking about a Yankee winning streak here.
My point all winter was that not only did we need to be patient, and maybe accept a shaky staff and lost year if we passed on Santana for the kidlets, but we also had to factor the darkside of all this, which is that most mediocre kid starters do NOT become really good starters! Yankees were, and are, making a bet that, essentially, 2 of the 3 kids arrive strongly - at some point, which may be the year they turn 25-26. And it is much easier to 'arrive' in a quieter, smaller market than in the Bronx.
All the 'fun' we talked about in winter, the waiting to watch the kids (including Melky and Robbie) grow up does carry this risk ... either that it takes time, or that it doesn't happen.
I am NOT second-guessing Cash's decision to hold off. A lot of that decision turns on what he does THIS winter with the same contract money, having kept the players.
Of course if Giambi has 3 years of this left, who needs Teixeira? (I'm kidding, of course, and we WILL need a top starter.)
Very nice, RI!
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