Baseball Toaster was unplugged on February 4, 2009.
As expected, the Red Sox got the merry-go-round cranked up early against Sidney Ponson last night, scoring three in the first and bouncing the Yankee starter after four innings having scored in each of them. After the game Ponson admirably admitted that he "pitched like crap."
It was 7-0 Bosox heading into the top of the fifth when the Yankees finally got something going against Jon Lester, who had pitched 13 straight scoreless innings against them to that point. Melky Cabrera, Jose Molina, and Johnny Damon all singled to start the inning. With the bases loaded Derek Jeter, who hit into a rally-killing double play with men on first and second and none out in the third, hit a dribbler up the third base line that stayed fair allowing everyone to move up safely. Bobby Abreu followed by drawing an RBI walk. That brought Alex Rodriguez to the plate with none out, the bases loaded, and a chance to get the Yankees back in a game they were now trailing 7-2. On an 1-0 pitch, Lester came inside to Rodriguez and Alex ripped a line drive right at Mike Lowell at third base for the first out, holding the runners. Xavier Nady, who has started his Yankee career by going 0 for 7 with a walk and a hit-by-pitch, followed by getting under a 2-0 pitch up in the zone and flying out to center (while the ball wasn't deep, Johnny Damon likely could have tagged up and scored, only he didn't). Robinson Cano also started off 2-0, but swung through ball three high and tapped back to Lester to strand all three runners.
And that was that. The Red Sox pitchers faced the minimum the rest of the way, as the one Yankee baserunner (a leadoff single by Rodriguez in the eighth off reliever Manny Delcarmen) was erased when Xavier Nady ground into a double play. Meanwhile, Dan Giese, who helpfully pitched the final four innings, allowed two more runs in the sixth to push the final score to 9-2.
So the Yankees eight-game winning streak is a thing of the past, but we all saw this loss coming. The Yankees did what they had to do in Boston, which was win the series. They're now two games behind the Red Sox for the Wild Card and three behind the Rays in the East. Their task now is to avoid a let-down against the Orioles tonight. Hopefully coming back home to the Bronx and having Mike Mussina on the mound will help with that.
If Cashman can get Washburn for Igawa, he needs to do it.
Had to be a mistake, right?
Except for using up a AAA roster spot, I wonder if it isn't better just to let him stay in Scranton for the next couple of years. He's not taking up a spot on the 40-man roster.
And, obviously, I think that the Yankees should go and overpay for Washburn as quickly as possible, before he regresses back mediocrity.
Despite claims that it wouldn't happen, Richie Sexson continues taking ABs from Giambi for no reason other than Sexy's inflated L/R splits from earlier this season.
If Sexson PH for Molina or Moeller, that's fine. But he should not be taking ABs from Giambi at this point.
Hopefully the addition of Nady + Sexson's stinkiness will end this nonsense. Then again, hopefully Nady will start hitting.
so moose and rasner got swapped?
i don't mind giambi getting to rest every so often, but as i complained about yesterday if giambi sits for every lefty and sexson plays that is just way too much.
and nady we are giving you a bit of an adjustment period - but just a bit.
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Hey everyone, glad to say I'll be making a rehab start tomorrow (today) for the GCL Yankees here in FL. Can't wait to get on the mound again and back in the swing of things.
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If all goes well how soon might we expect Hughes back? 4 weeks?
I wonder if he hesitated because he'd used 5 pitchers the day before. That, of course, was a direct result of his uncharacteristic, Marte-driven lefty-righty switches that Cliff had predicted.
Or perhaps it had to do with the Roles in the pen. Farnsworth, Veras and Marte should all have been well-rested, Robertson and Ramirez a little less so. If he didn't want to bring one of the first three in a relatively low-leverage situation - even though that's what the team needed - then I don't much like that either.
I know, it's not a huge deal. Girardi's bullpen management has generally been exemplary, and as it turned out the Yankees weren't winning that game anyway. But I thought he missed a chance to stop the bleeding; it would have put the team in a better position to win; and I can't think of an especially good reason that he wouldn't have done it.
I do agree it would be a shame to use Marte as a LOOGY. We'll see what Girardi does.
In what, the 2nd or 3rd inning? I'd actually rather just have burned Ponson & Giese, as Girardi did. No sense in getting anyone else involved when the lineup clearly can't figure out Lester these days...
Giambi has been both healthy and productive, so I don't think we can beef about how Girardi is handling him. And while Sexy looks terrible, he has had consistantly good numbers against LHP over the last 4 years. This however, was playing regularly, and I would not expect him to be sharp only playing 25% of our games. I like the idea of him being a LIDR for Giambi and maybe he will get an extra AB here and there to help him stay sharp (or as sharp as Sexy can get anyways).
One more inning from one more reliever wouldn't have any effect on Joe's ability to use the pen tonight, unless you think he's going to need more than five relievers.
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