Baseball Toaster was unplugged on February 4, 2009.
Just as they did on Saturday night, the Yankees fell behind 3-0 early yesterday as Mike Mussina showed his usual long-rest rust and spent as much time arguing with home plate umpire C.B. Bucknor as he did actually getting hitters out during the first three innings. Moose locked it down, however, and the Yankees rallied against Edwin Jackson in the fifth to take the lead, hitting for the cycle with a Robinson Cano single, an Andy Phillips triple that was badly misplayed by B.J. Upton in center (payback for Upton robbing him of a 400-foot extra-base hit on Saturday), a Wil Nieves double (his first extra-base hit of the year), and a two-run Derek Jeter home run.
Mussina fought his way through six innings with the help of some great defense, starting with his own, as he snagged a comebacker from the first batter he faced. Later in the first inning, with Carl Crawford on second and Brendan Harris on first, Carlos Peña singled to center to plate Crawford, but Melky Cabrera threw behind Harris to catch him rounding second base too far for the second out. The third inning came to a scoreless close when Hideki Matsui threw out B.J. Upton trying to score from second on a single to left thanks in part to Upton's sore quadriceps and a great swipe tag by Wil Nieves. In the fourth, Carl Crawford ground to Andy Phillips deep at first, and Phillips beat Crawford in a footrace to the bag, colliding dramatically with the Tampa center fielder (thankfully, neither player was injured). The fifth ended on a 4-6-3 double play, and Melky again gunned out a runner at second base in the sixth as he caught Ty Wigginton trying to stretch a single.
Ron Villone came on in the seventh and promptly coughed up the lead by surrendering a two-run homer to Peña, but the Yankees quickly fought back in the eighth. Alex Rodriguez led off with a double to drive reliever Brian Stokes from the game. Hideki Matsui greeted Casey Fossum with a single that put runners on the corners. After Melky struck out, Robinson Cano plated Rodriguez with a sac fly on which Matsui alertly took second. Gary Glover then came on to face Phillips, who singled home Matsui to regain the lead and took second on the throw home. After pinch-hitter Jorge Posada was intentionally walked and Johnny Damon was unintentionally walked, Derek Jeter ground to third baseman Akinori Iwamura, but Iwamura couldn't find the handle on the ball and all hands were safe, with Phillips scoring what proved to be a crucial insurance run.
I say crucial because Kyle Farnsworth opened the eighth by giving up a ground-rule double to Upton that missed being a home run by all of three feet. Wigginton then singled Upton home to pull the Rays within one. Rays manager Joe Maddon then pinch-ran for Wigginton with Josh Wilson with Dioner Navarro at the plate and one out. Navarro hit a hot shot to the left of Phillips at first, which Phillips snared on a full dive, then clamored to one knee and doubled Wilson off second for what would prove to be not only an inning-ending play, but a game-saving one.
Mariano Rivera wrapped things up with a heart attack ninth that started with a single by Iwamura, followed by catcher's interference as Posada came out of his crouch to try to throw out Iwamura stealing second and tipped Carl Crawford's bat with his glove in mid-swing. That put runners on first and second with no outs in a game the Yankees lead by just one run, but Brendan Harris ground into a 5-5-3 double play and Carlos Peña, who had driven in three of the six Devil Ray runs to that point, popped out to give the Yankees a 7-6 victory.
So, while it wasn't a dominating performance, the Yankees did what they needed to do in taking three of four from the Devil Rays. They'll have to play better ball to do the same against Toronto this week, however. Meanwhile, Andy Phillips, who is hitting .302/.362/.453 this season, is the story of the day. Pete Abraham kicks things off.
We are 9 games behind Boston. All of their ugly and lucky wins count, so I'll take ours any way they come.
We need a few guys to get hot. Posada will swoon a bit, and Jetes may not keep up a .333 year. It's up to Matsui, JD and Cano to win some games for us. We can't keep carrying these guys and win.
While not dominating, these were games that the Yankees should win that they did, whereas over the season, they have been losing contests that should have been givens. You have to start somewhere.
This week at home is even more crucial. The Yankees have to go at lest 6-2, if not 7-1. If by the end of the week they can trim the division and wild card to about 7 and 6, respectively, then it's a race. If they flounder at 4-4/5-3 (or worse) and the current deficits remain the same, then it is definitely time to turn the page to 2008.
"Phillips was cut in spring training, cleared waivers then was used as a utility player at Scranton, playing mostly second base...the Yankees are thrilled to see how Phillips is handling first base...A-Rod said. "He's been playing great defense and giving us some really good at-bats..."
OK, so wasn't Andy the Yankees' super-sub, all purpose utility guy from the start?
More importantly, why shouldn't he fill that role next season?
3 Those statements apply from here to October. Yanks have to play this way for the rest of the the season.
5 Duh. That's Cairo's role, at least for the next three years.
Right, right--I totally forgot about that.
; )
The Yankees are 8-3 over the last 11.
I don't think what Phillips is doing is a fluke. He's posting slightly over .800 OPS which is fine. I think he has 3 weeks to make DougOut a LIDR.
I don't know how, but bad wheels and all, JD is 16 of 17 in SBs. Does anyone know his 'current' health situation? He runs well, but hits for shit. My feeling is, with a little time to adjust, he will be a far better defensive LFer then Mats. I wish they would leave Melky if CF, and rotate Mats and JD in LF/DH.
Is JD tradeable if we eat 3 or 4m of his contract? Does some team need him at 2/$18m? I don't see how we can pay big bucks for Tex AND pay big bucks to sit JD. If JD can play a reasonable 1st base, and Phillips can continue his decent play, is it reasonable to consider 1st base covered in 2009 by JD/Phillips? It does give us a pretty flexible roster.
We will see if/when Giambi comes back this year, but I have to think, unless he has a serious health setback, he is our DH for 2009. We will certainly need his power in the lineup.
It seems to me that the BP is our biggest need, followed by BUC. I think our SP is close to set for next year.
"BOSTON — Will New York Yankees star Alex Rodriguez get called out for yelling out? The Blue Jays will provide the answer tonight in New York, as they open an important four-game series at Yankee Stadium.
Rodriguez's named turned to mud the last time the Yankees faced the Blue Jays, after he yelled an undetermined word while running the bases. He apparently did so to intentionally distract a Toronto infielder trying to make a play – a major breach of major-league etiquette."
So the Toronto paper gets the story right. PeteAbe lets his biases (A-Rod said "Mine!") seep into his coverage. And funny enough, it's slanted against a player he doesn't like.
I love these little tests to see the quality of the journalism. Not a surprise when you read his blog posts, but it's amazing when it makes it into the printed paper.
Juan Miranda is lighting it up at Trenton. I see him getting the call to the Bronx mid-2008 and winning the starting 1B job in 2009.
Either Damon or Giambi has got to go.
If Abreu can remain hot for the remainder of the year, they'll be picking up his $18 mil option.
I really wish they'd stop carrying 12 pitchers. That always includes one guy who Torre never pitches, so why keep him around? (Especially true for Edwar, as Zack has said.) Instead of the guy who pitches once every two weeks, they could carry another bench player, one who could actually, y'know, play.
I also wish they'd develop all their young pitching prospects to pitch every four days instead of five. All the research I've read on pitcher abuse says it's the pitch count that does damage, not the shorter rest. But I know that's not going to change.
And the fact that the regular shortstop is a Gold Glover shows how much that award means.
But your undergirding point is corrent--there should be no need to carry 12 or 13 pitchers. 11 pitchers would free up spots on the bench so that the team could carry a defense only IF as well as couple guys who can maybe hit a little.
I think Joe should take more advantage of Phillips's flexibility, but I was just saying that you can't use him as "the" utility player.
I would still prefer to have a utility player who could play SS. If the Yankees didn't carry extraneous pitchers, we could both be happy.
Gary Sheffield...
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