Baseball Toaster was unplugged on February 4, 2009.
Texas Two-Step
Roger Clemens did not have his famous out-pitch, the split-finger fastball, working tonight. He did not have good control in general, issuing five walks in six innings. His face looked heavy and drawn. You could see him willing his old body through it tonight. How many more innings does he have left with all the wear-and-tear he's endured through the years? Regardless, in a case of substance over style, Clemens did not allow a hit through the first five innings (he also did not have to deal with Manny Ramirez who sat out with an oblique injury). David Ortiz deposited a flat-splitter high into the upper deck for Boston's first hit in the sixth.
Josh Beckett, on the other hand, was tougher than his numbers suggest. He used a sharp curve ball to record five of his six strikeouts, and looked decent, despite giving up a career-high thirteen hits. The Yankees scored three runs with two men out in the second—dinky, ground ball, RBI hits by Melky Cabrera and Johnny Damon, but otherwise found themselves stymied by Beckett, who got big outs when he needed them most. The Bombers didn't help themselves either (Alex Rodriguez ran himself into an out after hitting a single to start the third), swinging at too many first pitches with runners on; with two men on, one out, and Beckett on the ropes in the sixth, Robinson Cano skied out to left on the first pitch. Johnny Damon eventually tapped out to first with the bases loaded to end the inning.
Beckett came back in the seventh and quickly retired Derek Jeter and Bobby Abreu. He baffled Abreu, throwing him four curve balls in five pitches. But then he left a curve over the plate to Rodriguez—it wasn't exactly a "hanger," but it was flat. The Yankee third baseman hooked it, and muscled the ball on a line over the wall in left field, good for his 44th homer of the season. It was an insurance run that had eluded the team inning after inning, and, as it turns out, it would be the difference in the game.
Cut to: Kyle Farnsworth. Do I need to get into it? Doesn't the name say it all? Well, after retiring Ortiz on a fly ball, Cooter gave up a single to Mike Lowell and then Kevin Youkilis drove the first pitch he saw from Farmadooke into the left field seats (it was a harder version of Rodriguez's dinger). J.D. Drew struck out next but then Farnsworth walked Jason Varitek and the reliever's night on the mound was over.
Enter Sandman. Mariano Rivera got Coco Crisp to tap a ground ball back to the mound to finish the eighth. After Mike Timlin retired the Yankees, Rivera threw a strike one fastball to Eric Hinske and then got a generous call on another fastball, this one on the outside corner. Rivera threw the following pitch to the same spot but did not get the call. So he threw it again—not one cutter in the sequence—and Hinske made like Coco and tapped out to Rivera. Julio Lugo hit a 1-0 pitch on one-hop to Rodriguez at third; though it took a tricky hop, A Rod made the play look easy for the second out. Finally, Dustin Pedroia—Only the Angels have Dirty Faces, right?—fell behind 0-2, fouled a pitch off, took a cutter outside for a ball, and then hit a nubber up the third base line. Rivera made the play, Andy Phillips—who replaced Jason Giambi in the sixth—made a nice catch, and Ortiz was left in the on-deck circle. Hot Dog.
The win moves the Yankees to within six of the Red Sox. More importantly, it ties them with the Mariners for the wildcard lead (though Seattle is still up a game in the loss column). Both starting pitchers were quietly impressive tonight. Neither was great, but they both displayed how tough they are.
Yanks go for the sweep tomorrow afternoon when Chien-Ming Wang faces Curt Schilling.
Awesome game by the Rocket.
And speaking of little Dustin, don't look now, but Chass has done it again with a love letter to the scrappy, dirty, and "special" 2b...
When I saw the play, I assumed that I was seeing a terrible attempt at a bunt base hit, because he so obviously couldn't have been bunting for a sacrifice. If he was, it's such a boneheaded play that he certainly doesn't deserve any credit for it.
So...wtf?
And Curry apparently saw the same thing I did: "Pedroia was 0 for 3 with a futile attempt to get a bunt hit..."
His fastball now is kind of a show you pitch. Tonight he missed out of the zone with it quite a bit. His curve though has become his go to pitch, clearly. He sometimes bounces in the dirt with 2 strikes, but otherwise, tonight at least, it was around the plate. Time after time though, he caught the Yanks looking fastball and snuck the curve by them.
So, why not sit curve? I can't off the top of my head think of an atbat in which he didn't throw it, aside maybe from a few Cano-special one pitch atbats.
His curve is good, but not great, and depends on the fact that teams, maybe remembering last season when he just tried to blow people away, look for the fastball.
A-rod sat curve and knocked it out.
Well, it looks like I could have been wrong about that Mariners. Although they were in Anaheim, where no one seems able to win. Let's hope the losses keep comimg. I said I would eat my words in hopes I am wrong about them, and I look forward to doing just that.
Great win for the club, with Johnny Damon continuing to play well, things are looking good.
I did have a suggestion for Joe Torre. Why not use Mo for two on the nights you have no Joba Chamberlain? Then worst case scenario, you can use Joba the following day for two if need be. No good? It could mitigate the need for Farnsworth in close games.
The M's still have to trek down to Anaheim for a 4-game set in September.
The thing that could help Seattle is the 6 games they have against the A's. I thought Oakland was starting to put it together, but they've slid back this past week. M's are 10-3 against them so far this season.
I have thought about this before, and I can think of only three reasons why Clemens would still be pitching now, three goals left for him:
1] He's just insanely competitive
2] Play at the ML level with his son.
3] To catch and pass Spahn for most wins in the 'real' modern age (whole career after the live ball was introduced).
he might have made this season if Houston had any offense. i bet he hangs on for one more half season to try for those last 6 or 8 wins, depending on the rest of this season.
10 Its great to see two pitchers with such different styles hang on for so long so effectively...
9 Who knows? Maybe he signs an incentive laden deal with NY? I know the team has a loose policy against those type of contracts, but it is Roger Clemens. Then he could actually retire, and with a small chance that the Hall allows him to go in as a Yankee, lest he get Carterized.
Roger also said some very classy things about Vizciano in his post game interview.
i think maddux is signed next year with padres. chalk up another 10 wins. he said he loves wearing the uniform and will keep putting it on as long as an NL west team keeps him employed and near home (las vegas). 3 more years and he's at 375 wins. holy good god.
never underestimate clemens. NY, back to Houston - who knows, but he loves baseball history and knows where he stands. it will take him 2 or 3 more years to reach 375 though. if the yanks win the Serious this year, he might bow it. we'll see...
the big eunuch is a big historian, as well. i can see the shit bax giving him clemens-like deals until he gets 16 more wins. i guess we'll know more on that next spring training, after he heals from surgery, and begins the next year of his contract.
moose? who knows if he'll make the jump from 247 to 250, at this point...
glavine may give it up after this year. we'll see. if not, he'll do 1 more year either w/ the muts, or more likely, back here in the Atl...
i'm fine w/ roger coming back for part of next season. absolutely.
Now, I'm far from a backwoods redneck myself, but I guess I'm the only Yankee fan in the world who will step up for Farnswacker. Give the guy an effin' break. If Rivera coughs one up, we say 'can't win 'em all.' Sure, Farnswacker sometimes coughs em up with the frequency of a person who should get checked for bronchitis, but he had several very strong outings, against several very good lineups before he crapped out last night. Let's remember that this is a guy who took less money to play for NY, coulda stayed home in Atlanta and all that. He's questioned the way Joe uses him, as every person who roots for the Yankees has - yet he's maintained a good attitude about everything as far as I can see. How about rooting for the guy wearing our uniform, eh?
One other thing: base-running errors like A-Rod committed last night (while I'd rather see runners get caught being too aggressive, than too sleepy) should go on a player's ledger as an "error." Hell, last night's should have gone down in statistical posterity as unearned run of a different sort. Thankfully, the third baseman redeemed himself in a huge way, knocking the game winnah.
Now, let's put these punks to sweep.
Sometimes his walks, to me, are damage control. That said, it was definitely time to go to Mo.
As noted on YES last night, he's won more games for the Yanks than the Sox, had his lowest winning percentage with Boston - and notched more Cy Youngs not wearing the lowly garments of the team that kicked him the curb, diagnosing him on the verge of being wershed up a decade before he defeated them yet again last night.
The Red Sox are simply not deserving of his representation in the Hall.
http://tinyurl.com/yu7cgc
The Oys Of Summer. Dig?
The Yankee villagers break out the pitchforks and torches when Joe doesn't use Edwar enough, and use his underuse as an excuse when the kid gets torched.
Farnswacker's complaint is not that he wants to be used in higher leverage situations, it's that he wants to get used more. He's built like a brick craphouse (whatever that is) and believes he could better find his groove with more frequent use. He's never been down with the program of being used one inning, every other day. Look at the guy. He could handle a more Proctor'esque workload. And when he's gone, another team will use him that way (perhaps to their detriment, perhaps not)
doesnt Rog have 192 wins for the Sox? he did look like he was losing something when he went north (after improving his workout routine which is now so highly touted)
25 I don't hate Farnsworth at all...he is what he is. I choose to direct my anger not toward Krazy Kyle, but toward Joe, who refuses to learn how to use him.
27 Edwar has never been torched. If you look as his game log, it can be summarized like this: 1 bad outing after 2 weeks of no use; 4 shutout outings; 2 outing of yielding a run in complete blowouts; and 1 outing of yielding a run in a close game.
In other words, we don't really know what Edwar is, while we do know that Krazy Kyle is not reliable in important situations.
Finally, if Kyle does want to (and can) pitch more, that's even more of an indictment on Torre. Basically, that would mean Torre has three options: dont use Kyle; use Kyle as he has been; or use Kyle with a heavier workload. Again, going on your assumption, that would mean Torre has opted for the only option that we know doesn't work.
Actually he has won more games with the Sox than all other teams combined: 192. It is however, his lowest winning percentage. The Sox cap for the HOF still seems appropriate.
27 Through most of his career (save 1999-2000 when he was a starter), Farnsworth has been a "one and done" pitcher. I'd like to see him toss more innings, but for whatever reason, he hasn't.
6th Inning (1G): .000/.400/.000
7th Inning (7G): .130/.232/.304
8th Inning (41G): .299/.373/.490
9th Inning (4G): .083/.267/.083
Ext Inning (2G): .250/.250/.250
The samples for everything but the 8th inning are too small, but as williamnyy23 said, Torre is using him the one way that we are sure does not work.
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