Baseball Toaster was unplugged on February 4, 2009.
Bottom of the ninth. Yanks trailing by one, 6-5. Newly minted 24-year-old closer Chris Ray on the mound for the Orioles against the top of the Yankee order.
After Johnny Damon pops out, Derek Jeter walks on five pitches. Gary Sheffield follows with a line-drive single to center that almost decapitates the second base umpire. Alex Rodriguez then takes a strike, fouls off a slider low and away, swings through a 96 mile-per-hour fastball in on his hands, takes another further up and in to even the count at 2-2, then swings through yet another which is perfectly placed on the upper inside corner. Jason Giambi follows and on a 1-0 count, Jeter and Sheffield pull off a double steal that is ruled defensive indifference despite the fact that it puts the winning run in scoring position. Ray's 1-0 pitch was a ball and with first base open he walks Giambi on two more tosses.
That passes the baton to Hideki Matsui. Two outs, bottom of the ninth, tying run on third, winning run on second. Ray has thrown 21 pitches and walked two already, though Giambi was semi-intentional. Ray's first pitch to Matsui is a ball. His second is below the knee on the outside corner but is ruled a strike. His next pitch is ball two. The 2-1 pitch is almost a foot outside but ruled strike two. Matsui then checks his swing on ball three to run the count full. Ray then delivers the same pitch that was called strike two, it's nearly a foot outside and Matsui watches it go by thinking he's just tied the game with a walk, but home plate ump Phil Cuzzi rings him up. Game over. O's win 6-5.
That wasn't the only call that cost the Yankees the win last night. Chien-Ming Wang set the first seven Orioles down in order (six on ground balls) but fell apart in the third after a Kevin Millar double. He got Corey Patterson to ground out for the second out of the inning, but then walked Brian Roberts and rookie Nick Markakis on five pitches each to load the bases. Wang then threw three straight balls to Melvin Mora before coming back to get two called strikes to run the count full. Mora then hits a grounder to Jeter, who flips to Andy Phillips at first as Mora dives head first into the bag. Replays showed that Mora was should have been the third out of the inning, but he was called safe by first-base ump Jerry Crawford. Two runs scored on the play and Miguel Tejada followed with an RBI single before Wang finally got Jay Gibbons to ground out to end the inning.
I don't like to blame umpires for losses, but in this case there's no getting around it. They wuz robbed.
Incidentally, Wang had another rough inning in the sixth and was pulled in favor of Scott Proctor, who walked in a run (which is impressive as it took him two walks to do it) before getting out of it. Andy Phillips went 0 for 2, popping out on the first pitch in his first at-bat, then working Kris Benson for six pitches in his second only to strike-out looking on a full count. He was then pinch-hit for by Bernie Williams in the sixth with the tying runs on base and two outs. Bernie worked a walk to load the bases, but Johnny Damon grounded out to end the threat. Miguel Cario then took over at first and grounded out to strand the tying run on second in the eighth. Jason Giambi, whose right forearm just above the wrist is considerably swollen from being hit by a pitch on Thursday, went 0 for 4 as the DH with the walk desribed above. Finally, Tanyon Sturtze got three outs, two by strikout, without allowing a baserunner.
This afternoon, Shawn Chacon makes just his third start of the young season, this coming off a pair of dreadful relief appearances during the bast week. Here's hoping Chacon learned something by watching Mike Mussina's slow, slower, slowest routine on Thursday. Chacon's mound opponent will be Daniel Cabrera. Everyone's breakout candidate this winter, Cabrera walked 16 men over 6 1/3 innings in his first two starts, but just one in seven innings in his last outing. In that last start, against the Angels, he lasted seven innings allowing one unearned run on five hits and striking out ten. Uh oh.
It's amazing how unpredictable the Yanks are recently. They are not in a slump and they are definitely not on a winning streak...yet...here is hoping.
Echoing Stinnett, Raul Chavez will catch for the O's.
Soriano... 3 HRs yesterday
AVG .333 | HR 6 | RBI 12 | OBP .377 | SLG .653
Outfielder..... Lets get him....
he wants to be a Yankee
Listened to Buck Martinez last night and he was calling attention to Wang's inability to get on top of his sinker when pitching from the stretch. Totally on when pitching from the full windup and using that stutter/hold of the ball he uses to throw batters off. But when pitching from the stretch Wang was missing up high and had none of the usual movement on the ball.
I hear that (pitcher performance throwing from the stretch and the full windup) a lot but always find it hard to believe. You would think it would be something coaches would have ironed out in high school ball. Or that the mechanics would be easy enough to correct that all you would need to do would be to call attention to the problem.
First time I'd seen Andy Phillips since he was hitting so well in spring training. Now I understand why he's not getting much playing time.
Sheff goes deep today.
Hope Cabrera walks 9 in a row.
Soriano was scared into the outfield after getting on the new Disneyland attraction "Mr. Bowden's Wild Ride."
I'm with Jayd in that there were far too many opportunities that were squandered.
On a positive note, I thought Torre managed a hell of a game last night (no, really).
Kitty said that he thought it mostly mental - that Wang was worrying too much about the runners and trying to get strikes, rather than just pitching and trusting his fielders. (Which Torre also said.)
If we could send Bowden a couple of cases of mediocre scotch maybe he could be fooled into giving him away; more than that though I'd have to say no way too.
"Soriano also went to hitting coach Mitchell Page's meeting on Friday, during which Page reiterated to the position players to start hitting the top half of the baseball to go for doubles and singles instead of the home runs, which some players believe are hard to hit at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium.
The hard work and Page's words paid off for Soriano, as he hit three home runs..."
Uh, what? I appreciate that MLB's writers are suppposedly independent, but unedited is maybe going too far.
It looks to me like both pitchers are hoping the rain beats them to the 5th inning. This is the slowest moving game of the season thus far. lol.
And Wright is a miserable reliever. Look at his numbers.
I noticed the score (2-1) and the inning (6) and just thought, "We can't win this game."
Don't mean to be a gloomy gus or anything, but that was my thought, "We're gonna fuck this up somehow, this team can't win one-run games."
Someone care to talk me down?
Not good, my friends, not good.
Entering yesterday, the Yankees were 3rd in the league in ERA.
That, my friends, was beautiful. He just ripped that ball.
Nice.
We need to pile on though.
But I'm not worried (much). It's early in a long season. Don't want to peak too soon, and all that.
Not that Game Day is accurate. but the location monitor is fun.
Not secure, mind you, but better.
I just miss the old days when the team was consistent and reliable.
The offense was far less explosive but much more consistent. Or maybe it's just that the pitching was so good it made the offense look consistent.
I think that's really worth something.
ooh look at kyle...
Cano 11 game hitting streak..
153 I remember Cano had a long streak last year, too.
(joking...)
I don't understand, if farnsworth did pitch he would be "overused"
What happened with Dotel?
Yanks win, Red Sox lose. And I still have the Mudhens - Clippers game tonight.
Woo hoo!
In other pitching "news," Carl Pavano went through another day without hurting his "backside." In a few days, he'll throw underhanded, then try some sidearm for awhile, then throw from flat ground for a couple of weeks. If he works diligently at this program, he'll be ready to toss from the mound by September.
Nice game today by Obi-Shawn Chacobi. Maybe its a home/road thing??
At the start it was real cold. I thought about how tough it must be for these guys to perform on a day like this. How your hands are all wet and numb and the bat stings good with Cabrera on the mound. Man, I can get on these guys, but today was no fun and I wuz wearing gloves and a hat and lots of gear.
Early on, it made me think whether Denver ever has days like this. I wondered why Obi-Shawn was having trouble. In the calendar they gave out it said he's from Alaska - so I wondered whether the real Chacon is regressing to the mean. His first innning fastball reached 89 and the curve was at 74. So the difference was there early on but not the results.
Your comment puts the pieces in order. Around the third inning it stopped raining and warmed up to maybe 54 and the jedi started to pull it together. That's exactly when he found his breaking ball. The little nubber that Tejada hit with two on made me think - "Man, how does this guy do it?". His stuff really is less than over powering - especially compared to Daniel C. And yet Shawn keeps guys off balance. The difference is really locating the slow stuff. Early on he had no trouble grooving the fast butter. It was when he found the hook that he started to get guys out.
Next thing I looked and it was the sixth. Good results for an ugly day. Best part: Cano had 2 BB's (first two!) and one hit. He may have had an advantage - he grew up in the same town with Cabrera. Turns out Daniel had an older brother who threw harder but could locate even less. Robbie knew that when Daniels's overthrowing at his hardest (97 early on) he's won't be locating. So Robbie waited. That mindset must have carried over to the 6th against Halama. Any chance Bruce Chen is from the Dominican Republic?
Only other thing that really got me agitated was that both Stinnett and Bernie were in there, especially when we were having trouble scoring. But at least Tea let one Unit start go without this personal catcher nonsense. Still, he should have pinch hit Posada in the sixth for Stinnett.
Great win, good times - keep it coming tomorrow.
AP notes that the Yankees are 7-0 in day games and 1-8 at night...
Our first bases loaded hit since opening day, by Matsui. Nice going Gojira.
I wrote a recap of the game at Canyon of Heroes, with heavy emphasis on the bunting that took place. Check it out.
Go get 'em Big Unit.
Part of it might be that their home games have been mostly day games. That West Coast swing had a lot of night games.
Though IIRC, there were some stats last year that showed Jeter and A-Rod hit a lot better in day games than at night. Easier to see the ball, maybe?
Zito - no way, esp. since we can have him for cash (Overpriced but not Past Prime) this winter.
Sorry, IMHO Cano for Willis you do in a heartbeat. I would take a half year of Cairo at 2nd if it meant Willis in stripes for that same half year. He's a 24 yo lefty who's already dominant. Heck, Cano and Hughes you do.
Cano and Wang in a heartbeat for Willis. But definitely NOT Phil Hughes after the way he blew competition in high A. He has a chance to be better than what Willis will ever be. Yankees can afford a postseason or two if that is what it takes to keep him in the farm.
Nice but hairy game today watching two wild thing go at it early heh, but Chacon found he's stuff while Caberra tried he's best of not killing anyone ... Chacon's ability to get out of jam is just insane though.
Good base pushing today by the Yanks also, a good mix of small ball and smart base running with crucial timed hits. Mora's bunt was really damn prety though early in the game and about as perfect a bunt as anyone can put down.
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