Baseball Toaster was unplugged on February 4, 2009.
"I feel like we're the team, you know?" Pettitte said Sunday. "It doesn't surprise me. I'd be extremely disappointed if this team didn't get to the playoffs. That's just kind of the way I feel."
(Tyler Kepner, N.Y. Times)
I was flipping around the channels one night last week when I landed on a dicey situation. The Mets had a one-run lead against the Braves, who had loaded the bases in the top of the ninth inning against New York's closer, Billy Wagner. There was nobody out and I thought, "Man, am I lucky this isn't a Yankee game. I'd be so stressed, I would't know what I'd do with myself." As fate would have it, Wagner got two ground balls to get out of the inning, earn the save, and save Met fans everywhere from a sleepless night.
The Yanks held a 5-2 on Sunday afternoon when Mariano Rivera was called into the game with two runners on base and two men out in the eighth inning. First thing Mo does? He hits a guy on the elbow to load the bases. But Jhonny Peralta grounded into a 4-6 force to end the inning. The drama was not over, however, as Rivera allowed back-to-back singles and then a double to start the ninth. Cleveland's offense had been D.O.A. all weekend long, but suddenly, they were back in the game, down 5-3, with the tying runs in scoring position and nobody out.
The number nine hitter, Asdurbal Cabrera, who, thanks to a misplay by Johnny Damon the night before, had his first career hit, struck out. Back to the top-of-the-order where Grady Sizemore got the Good Morning-Good Afternoon-and-Goodnight (called strike three on the outside corner) strikeout experience. Two out, and Rivera gets Casey Blake to loft an easy fly ball to right for Abreu to end the game.
Exhale. Yanks 5, Tribe 3.
It wasn't easy, but it was an enormous win for the Yanks, who keep pace with the Mariners in the wildcard, and gain a game on Boston, who lost in extra innings to the Orioles. Bombers are now just four behind the Red Sox. (Shhhhhh.)
Jason Giambi hit a two-run, line drive home run off Cleveland starter Jake Westbrook, and once again it was most entertaining watching Shelley D wait his turn to bash forearms with Giambi in the dugout. Robby Cano had three more hits (his average is up to .315) and a RBI, DJ had a RBI single, and Melky Cabrera extended his hitting streak to 17-games with a solo homer.
Andy Pettitte pitched a good game. His only real trouble came late, when, in the seventh inning he allowed a couple of singles before walking Peralta to load the bases. The Yanks were leading 4-0 at this point. And before you knew it, Pettitte picked Peralta off first. My initial reaction was that the Indians were putting on that old Billy Martin play when the runner on first acts a decoy while the runner on third scoots home. No such luck, if you are an Indians fan. Peralta simply fell asleep. The Indians did score a run on a sacrifice fly, but that was it, just one run and Pettitte escaped his biggest jam of the afternoon.
Yanks come home and begin a three-game set vs. the Birds tonight, followed by four against the Tigers. Keep grinding boys, the next couple of weeks could make or break the season.
GO D-Rays !
It's kinda weird, actually having to wait until the paper the next day to find out how all the teams did. Very retro.
It's not easy listening to the Indians' radio announcers (even they don't like Tim McClellan) with a shaky Mo on the mound, while having driven 550 miles with about 90 more to go.
I'm still holding my breath, having ONLY A FOUR GAME LEAD is still a bit of a hill to climb, not sure if BOSTON SHOULD PANIC or not.
No Jeff Karstens tomorrow, please. Give us Kennedy, Cash. Somebody other than Karstens.
Meanwhile, here's hoping CM Wang can tame those doity, good-fuh-nuttin' boids tonight.
Can't stand the sight of the O's this season. Flocka stinkin' Lincoln Tunnel pigeons is what they are.
Speaking of which, the tunnel pigeons I saw over near 38th St. the other day have a bonafide chicken living amongst them. One of the weirdest things I ever saw -- a frickin' chicken hanging around the tunnel.
I am worried about Karstens, but I think we should have a good series against the O's. The Devil Rays sometimes give the Sox pains, so here's to hoping they keep slumping. I want to be 2 back by the time the Tigers come to town. It would be great to go to the Stadium Saturday (military appreciation day) with the Yankees flag on the first place pole, but that sounds like asking too much.
GO YANKEES!
I've renamed the Indians "A Tribe Called Swept"
No Bedard this week- good.
"Since his return from the disabled list last week, Giambi has eased into a part-time role without complaining. How could he? Melky Cabrera, who also homered Sunday, has established himself as an everyday starter on a team that is winning nearly every day.
"You don't want to come in and disrupt the ball club," Giambi said. "You just want to be a part of it. Everything's great.""
http://tinyurl.com/2zf9rv
Up next
• Tuesday: Orioles (Daniel Cabrera, 8-12, 5.14) at Yankees (Jeff Karstens, 0-2, 10.13), 7:05 p.m. ET
• Wednesday: Orioles (Erik Bedard, 12-4, 3.11) at Yankees (Phil Hughes, 2-1, 4.64), 1:05 p.m. ET
Though if Joba is lined up with Philthy, that would be a hell of a matchup. Why does Phil have to keep drawing the other young phenoms!
Gonna' need a lot of Pepcid AC over the next two weeks...
2 "while having driven 550 miles with about 90 more to go."
Ooooh. Nice (unintended?) metaphor for the Yankees' 'drive' toward the division title!
Finally: I do believe it's time for the Mariners to fade, as per Cliff's remarks around All Star Break time.
Right?
Fade time. Right?
(Who are those guys?)
That isn't to say the O's will be easy this weekend...especially when you consider how they have handled us already this year, but I imagine you would rather have Clemens going against the teams directly in front of you or, more specifically, the teams you are directly in contention with.
Also, who else was shocked when they saw the O's have 2 pitchers in the top 10 in ERA? I mean I knew that Guthrie and Bedard were good, but I didn't realize they were THAT good.
Ah, tense times.
Bedard is an ace no matter what team he is on. But the O's haven't seen Hughes yet and I think he COULD be up to the challenge.
Cabrera is all or nothing and he's the best pitcher to be matched up against Karstens, who stinks. I'm sorry, but he does.
And Guthrie is a complete Mazzone creation. And he hasn't been that sharp in recent games.
I think a sweep will be difficult.
Good thing there's still a lot of time left in the season...we may fall back a bit this week, but there's time to recover, and we (hopefully) won't be starting people like Karstens the rest of the way.
September is going to be our month, so the key is to get there in striking distance. And, of course, I'm going to spend today enjoying yesterday!
Also, the Mariners will start losing now. Right?
Gtfoh!
It's nice to know the birds are multifeatheralists, as it were.
Music to my ears.
Yanks have allowed fewer runs AND have scored over 100 more runs than the Mariners.
23 Nothing like a ninth inning two-out RISP single to soothe frayed nerves, it's true. Mmmmmm.
As I said yesterday, I wouldn't put Kennedy on the 40-man roster for the sake of a single start. It's not a question of the roster spot but of starting the clock on Kennedy's option years.
BP Postseason Odds
AL Wildcard
Yanks - 57.49391
M's - 13.07651
Red Sox (!?) - 11.13625
Indians - 5.48531
Angels - 5.47709
Tigers - 4.53947
Blue Jays - 2.19530
(All other teams less than 1.00000)
AL East
Red Sox - 87.34313 (lowest odds since June 7)
Yanks - 12.51865 (best odds since April 26; last time Yanks were over 10 was May 10)
Please don't stop the train, I want to stay on!
Of course, they've now renamed it "Sleepy Hollow." But I figure I have the right to call it North Tarrytown if I want - I was born at Phelps, so I'm a native.
Maybe we could name him "Fowl Ball" or "Fowl Tip"... ;-)
Orlando Cabrera, Edgar Renteria, Hanley Ramirez. Julio Lugo.
Is he still a Boy Genius?
In even more exciting news (uh...well, for me anyway) - I'm going to my very first Yanks/Red Sox game next Wednesday. Never thought I'd ever be witness to this rivalry up close & personal I'm psyched! If anyone has any words of wisdom or advice to mentally prepare myself for this, please share!!!
40 You might be suprised at how many obnoxious Sox fans will be there. Try to ignore them and enjoy the game.
Peter Gammons was pretty hard on the Sox in his last blog entry, criticizing them for kow-towing to Seligula's slot demands for their draft picks while the Yanks are going to pay above slot for their draft picks. Best quote:
"If you're the Red Sox owners, knowing the Yankees are going to do what they're going to do, how can you not invest in the talent pool rather than keep a friend in the commissoner's office, or will you step out front and explain to your fans that you can't sign players because the lobster rolls are only $13 apiece?"
Of course, if it wasn't for Selig, Henry & Co would have never ended up with the Sox, so its not like they don't owe him - but still.
Instead of letting Roger be suspended, why didn't the Yanks use Brower in relief and let Brower throw the retaliatory beanball? Then Roger could have pitched in rotation and the Yanks would only have lost Brower for a few days.
Simple!
The other movie with the pigeon coop on the roof!
42 Of course. Thanks for reminding me about Wily Mo.
Oh boy, you know what it's gonna do to you, but it sure is goooood on the way in... >;)
HANLEY RAMIREZ!!!!
Is that kid raking, or what? He's blowing away both a young Derek Jeter and Jose Reyes.
We thought trading Navarone would really hurt. Did it? How about Claussen? Where is he now anyway. And I hated to see Nick the Stick go, but the guy is on the DL more then Giambi, and he's still pretty young.
It's a crapshoot. Ya take yer best guess and you roll the dice. Beckett looked terrible, now here's an ace. Abreu looked like a God, then an anchor around our neck, and he's back to being a good get.
Cashman is good and Theo is good. Putting together a WS team just ain't easy. Unless of course, you're sitting in your living room.
Bonds vs. Mantle: Who is the greater disappointment?
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=neel/070809
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