Baseball Toaster was unplugged on February 4, 2009.
Here's what I wrote in anticipation of last night's game:
Given their performances over the past few weeks, tonight's match-up of fireballers Randy Johnson and Josh Beckett could be the wildest game of them all. In his last three starts, Beckett has posted this combined line:16 IP, 16 H, 18 R, 17 ER, 6 HR, 10 BB, 11 K, 9.56 ERA
Meanwhile, in three of his last four starts, Johnson has done this:
15 IP, 22 H, 18 R, 18 ER, 2 HR, 8 BB, 8 K, 10.80 ERA
That's ugly enough in and of itself, but consider that, despite all of those crooked numbers, the two have combined to go 2-2 in those six games thanks to their offenses, which have scored 15 runs for Beckett and a whopping 32 for Johnson in those three games. That would seem to place the over-under on total runs scored tonight somewhere around 15.
The Yanks and Red Sox combined for 17 runs last night. What I didn't expect was that the Red Sox scored 14 of them, posting a pair of touchdowns to the Yankees lone field goal.
Thing started encouragingly enough with Randy Johnson pitching around a pair of walks for a scoreless first and Jason Giambi depositing Josh Beckett's twenty-first pitch of the game in the right field box seats for a two-run home run to give the Yankees a 2-0 lead before Beckett had recorded a second out. Johnson followed that with a seven-pitch 1-2-3 inning and it seemed that if either pitcher was going to right his ship last night it was going to be the one wearing pinstripes.
Then it all fell apart. Beckett answered Johnson's 1-2-3 in the top of the second and Johnson fell apart in the bottom of the inning. Dustin Mohr led off the second with a single on a 2-0 count. Johnson then got ahead of ninth-place hitter Alex Gonzalez only to have Gonzalez battle back for a nine-pitch walk. Kevin Youkilis followed with a sinking liner to left that was only turned into an out because of a fantastic sliding catch by Hideki Matsui. Johnson then got Mark Loretta to ground out to Cano, who also made a nice play ranging to his left. That brought David Ortiz to the plate with two outs and runners on second and third.
On a 2-2 count, Ortiz lined a shot just to the left of Alex Rodriguez, who was playing in the shortstop hole because of the shift. Rodriguez smothered the ball, but it trickled behind him and by the time he got the ball to Giambi, Ortiz had crossed first and the other two runners had advanced, cutting the Yankee lead in half. Johnson's next pitch was high and away to Manny Ramirez, ticking off Jorge Posada's glove and hitting the backstop, allowing Gonzalez to score, tying the game. Ramirez then singled to left to plate Ortiz with the go-ahead run. Johnson then walked Jason Varitek before striking out Lowell to end the inning.
After another 1-2-3 inning by Beckett, Johnson picked up where he left off in the fourth. He recovered from a 3-0 start to strike out Wily Mo Pena, only to walk Mohr on eight pitches and surrender a single to Alex Gonzalez. Johnson then struck out Kevin Youkilis before firing another wild pitch past Posada with Loretta at the plate, allowing Mohr and Gonzalez to move up to second and third. Loretta then singled, scoring both men to make it 5-2, and Ortiz followed with a first-pitch double to drive Johnson from the game.
In total, Johnson lasted 3 2/3 innings, walked five, threw two wild pitches and just 53 percent of a whopping 92 pitches for strikes. Quite simply, he had nothing. He regularly missed Posada's glove not just by several inches but by a foot or two. After the game he had few answers, though he did admit that he was overthrowing. When Torre came out to relieve him in the fourth Johnson looked dazed. His body language was that of a puppy that had been beaten with a newspaper, though just one of the five hits he allowed went for extra bases.
Things would get worse.
Aaron Small came on with men on second and third and two outs and got ahead of Manny Ramirez 0-2 only to have Manny battle the count back full over eleven pitches. On Small's twelfth offering, Ramirez popped up behind second for what looked to be the third out only to have a strong wind blow the ball well out of Robinson Cano's range and directly to Melky Cabrera, who was called up earlier in the day and will be starting at right field while Gary Sheffield is on the 15-day DL. Cabrera, thinking Cano had the ball, came in a bit too far and the ball blew back over his head, tipping off the end of his glove as Loretta and Ortiz scored and Manny hustled (no really) into second base.
Small then struck out Jason Varitek to temporarily freeze the score at 7-2, but he would surrender a three-run home run to Gonzalez in the fifth and a solo homer to Ramirez to start the sixth to push the tally to 11-3 (the Yanks picked up a run on in the fifth when Melky Cabrera followed a Robinson Cano double with a two-out RBI single, though Beckett was otherwise untouchable, walking none and striking out seven, including three in that run-scoring fifth, in seven innings of work).
After two scoreless innings from Ron Villone, Tanyon Sturtze came in to put the finishing touch on both an awful night for the Yankees and on his slow descent into Joe Torre's doghouse allowing one-out singles by subs J.T. Snow and Willie Harris to come around to score, the latter on a resounding double by Mike Lowell, who also came around to score to put the final score at 14-3.
An interesting footnote to last night's game was Ron Villone's performance. Not that it was particularly strong. He threw just 53 percent of his pitches for strikes, walking two, hitting one and allowing two singles in his two innings of work, though one of the singles was a perfectly placed infield hit by the speedy Harris. More significantly, hidden in there was a four-pitch strike-out of David Ortiz by the lefty Villone. Also of interest is the fact that Villone hit Trot Nixon with one on and two out in the top of the eighth and then in the bottom half of the inning Keith Foulke plunked Bubba Crosby, who was the second batter he faced.
ok seriously, the only REALLY bad thing was RJ completely sucking....
Beckett was good but untouchable? he gave up 6 hits... one was a homerun and one was a double... if it weren't for the horriablly demoralizing performace of RJ.. I highly doubted he got away with only 3 ER...
The good news is Sturtze continues to make a strong case for the FO to cement him and throw him into the harbor... that and if any of the 3 miracle man from last season was going to bust... it was best for the Yankees that it was Small.. and not Wang or Chacon. whom have both been from solid to good for the Yankees so far. still.. I find it more likely for Small to be more servicable than Sturtze comparing the array of pitches they use...
Let's just forget about this one except noting RJ needs attention and then hope this version of Moose shows up for the next one.
http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/6783/2085/1600/moose.0.jpg
Well, he was substituting for Damon. ;-)
"Dazed" and "like a puppy that's just been kicked" was what I was thinking about RJ, too. Even after the game, he just looked lost and confused. No hint of the old fire at all.
I'm glad Villone finally got to pitch - only his second appearance in the last 10 days. I'm also glad that I didn't watch this game.
BTW Cliff, Villone grew up a Yank fan in the 70s, I believe, which might give some insight into why Trot got one.
Bernie looked awful in his at-bats. Is there a secret someone would like to come forward with about Bernie? By that I mean a secret like Vito's from The Sopranos. That way Bernie can just walk away to live his life away from baseball, and we would all be happy. We would be left with the good memories and not the way it all ended.
When will the ARod experiment end for the Yankees? I think it's time ARod demands a trade. Love him or hate him, he always finds himself in the center of it all. "Poor" guy.
Randy Johnson is the ugliest SOB on planet earth. If Norv Turner and Manuel Noriega were to ever procreate - a miracle in an of itself - that would be the only mix that can produce such an ugly mofo.
When Melky made the error I felt bad for him. When ARod made the error it was as if I almost expected him to. Go figure.
I love watcing Giambi play.
Sturtze has only one or two more weeks. I think Colter Bean will be called up soon.
Does anyone else get the impression that Sheff's pain has more to do with the Yankees not picking up his option than the pain in his wrist?
I hate Beckett more than yesterday.
Cano had some good range to his left.
V-Tek sure looks thin....hmmmmm?!?!
Lastly, go Yankees. Let's win tonight and you'll make me forget about yesterday. I'm a simple man and I don't ask for much.
Couple of corrections. Somewhere around the third paragraph, you seem to switch the game to Fenway. Mohr did not lead off the bottom of the second, but the top of the third.
Also, Ortiz ground ball to Rodriguez. The Yank infield was playing only a few step toward right. Jeter was to the left of second. A-rod was barely one step right of his normal positioning. Had he been overshifted, that particular ball would have gone untouched into left field, thus sparing A-Rod the Boss' wrath. Perhaps.
I can deal with the occasional loss. I can deal with the occasional loss to the Red Sox. I CAN'T EVER deal with losing to the Red Sox by 11 runs (at home).
It just shouldn't happen. 5-0 is understandable. The Sox pitched a gem. 7-2 is understandable. Our guy stunk it up. 14-3 is inexcusable...an entire staff of pitchers crapped their pants, and humilated the franchise in front of the home crowd.
We may lose Game 2. We may lose Game 2 by several runs. With Moose on the mound, I can't see it getting worse than 6-3 or so.
I think we're going to win a squeaker though. Early prediction. Yankees 5, Red Sox 3.
Randy Johnson is not the ugliest man alive. Don Mossi still lives and, at age 77, probably looks better than he did in 1963.
Re; Sheffield. Bingo. Sheffield has already gone on record that he's not playing hurt as he did in 2004. This is his free agent year and he is not planning to "jeopardize his future."
6 My feelings exactly.
- the stadium was MEAN last night. i have never seen so many police situations. i think that once the game got out of hand, people got bored and started entertaining themselves. my favorite "fans acting up" moment came when two different guys took their matsui jerseys or tshirts off and three them over the ledge in disgust after he botched that play.
- right before giambi's homerun, the ump called strike two (about two seconds after the pitch) after giambi had just about turned and started trotting to first on what he thought was ball four. everyone in my sectio n predicted what would happen on the next pitch.
- the fans didn't seem to boo as much as moan after melky flubbed that first pop out. with all the confusion around the ball, he deserved a little leeway. when he DID make the next catch, i hear what was perhaps the most sarcastic round of applause EVER.
- torre shouldn't have even let johnson come in the fourth. he had already walked four guys and three over 70 pitches through three, but i guess his BIIIIG strikeout (note sarcasm)to end the top of the third was enough to hav torre give him another shout out there.
- it was almost humorous to watch the game unfold in the 8th and 9th. with the way guys didn't go after ball within range and the way they stood around with the ball not knowing WHERE to throw it to, i honestly felt like i was watching little league... or the royals.
- bernie getting tossed? i never thought i'd see that. he needs to retire. today.
- villone's plunk: unintentional. foulke's: intentional. the LEAST sturtze could have done (since he used to be our "fighter") was plunk somebody to shake up the game and maybe regain some stature in the eyes of his teammates. but no. torre took the moral high ground instead of giving alex f'ing gonzalez (who entered the game hitting .207) what he had coming to him.
- many boston fans hit an all time low by starting up a "let's go red sox" chant in the top of the 7th.
- it was freakin COLD in the upper tier!
- it was friggin cold in the uppper tier.
If it's not raining, I'm going to watch the Mudhens tonight.
But not as much as...the one pitching today.
A major difference here being that Oriole and Royals' fans aren't strutting around like peacocks talking about "statement" games. Nitwits.
I have nothing else to say.
BP
He has never been good out of relief dating back from last year. He has better poise and control when he starts a game from the beginning. I think we are jumping on this guy too much, because we are expecting lights out pitching from him in relief. It's just not his thing. IMO, insert Small in the 5th spot of the rotation and you will see a difference in his performance.
Back at 'em tonight.
I can think of nothing better than 55,000 people from NY telling Schilling to shut the F up.
1 Sturtze really does need to be released. NOW.
3 Pumpkin...exactly. Let's pray that Pavano comes back as this year's Cinderella. Let's hope Dotel can become Dotel again.
11 Personally, I hope Melky keeps getting shots in right for a couple of weeks...I don't want Sheffield re-signed. The fact that he still can't raise his arms over his head to make a catch, tells me that his shoulders are never going to get any better...just worse.
After that whole Delmon Young situation, Bernie might be handed a couple-of-games suspension for that helmet toss in the direction of the umpire.
And, of course, Yankees win tonight. If only by a slight margin.
Note how carefully I avoided gloating, though certainly reading this thread this morning was almost as much fun as watching the game itself. For some reason, many of the posters on this board treat every loss as if it were the end of the world. Last night was only the end of the world for two people, Sturtze and Small.
As far as the Unit is concerned, I don't believe anyone can lose it this quickly. I don't believe that he is healthy. Either the back or the knees are giving him serious problems.
As good as Beckett was, my son, a Freshman JV pitcher, was better. Two innings, 17 pitches, 15 strikes, mostly at the knees or knee buckling yakkers. Four ground balls, 2 punchados.
16 I hate to say it jedi, but I think even if Small went into the rotation, he's still turned back into a pumpkin. Let him go back to AAA and work on his stuff, fine, but get him out of the 'pen now and bring back Smith - or give Bean a chance.
19 That's why I'm glad Sheff is resting now and not playing through this injury. Maybe come September he won't be in pieces this year. I think Sheff would make a fine DH for next year, but I wouldn't commit to him beyond '07. And especially not as a RF.
And let me be the first to say, everyone here hopes it is the end of Sturtze and Small, but we've heard that song before. That's what drives us nuts, more than anything else.
"certainly reading this thread this morning was almost as much fun as watching the game itself"
This is my number one problem with Sox fans. 86 years of suckitude has conditioned them to get off on misery, so when they don't have any of their own to wallow in, they go find other people's and gawk at it.
Small and Sturtze are offically cooked and ready to eat with the forks sticking out of each of them. Small probably does need to start - it just won't be for this team.
Can your son pitch middle relief? We might have a 1mil signing bonus for him.
BTW: A-Rod ain't going anywhere - The reigning MVP will either learn to perform when it counts or go down as the most curious case of 'clutch' syndrome. But him and Jeter will man that side of the infield till the end of their careers.
I like Sheff in an expanded GOB role next year, but not at $1 billion or what ever the option calls for. He won't get that money elsewhere.
I agree with yankee23 that GOB gets some required League pine-time for tossing off in the blind umpire's direction. It was great to see a little passion from the laconic one.
Bad game last night, get 'em tonight though.
How humiliating did it get? Was the team forced into forming a naked human pyramid after good ol' Bernie went Uncle Junior pazzo and got himself ejected? That's when I turned it off, deciding it would be more relaxing to remove my teeth with my "talking" Yankees bottle opener, you know, the one with John Sterling's repeatedly understated home run call?
The Big Pup, The Old Unit, Rocking Chair Randy, whatever we're supposed to call whatever's left of Johnson, his performance was just, just, just a frickin' Nick Lachey record -- spectacularly bad, but mercifully less than 3 minutes long.
But before we go bashing A-Clod, or crying over spilled Melky, or again revising the definition of how bad Sturtze is, let's try to help the real victims of last night's red tide tsunami in the Bronx. The real victims were not the Yankees themselves, nor their fans at the Stadium who had to endure this torture in person. No, the real victims are our NY Yankees loving brethren who live in New England.
Deploy the National Guard into Red Sox Nation immediately, as several hundred thousand Yankee fans are desperately waiting, silently screaming to be airlifted out of there.
14-3. The levees have been breached, and the floodwaters of Red Sox ridicule are rising. God help the Yankee fans of New England today. Only a dose of magic Moose mojo or a Schilling shelling can save these unfortunate souls.
Ehh, just one game, right?
Interesting comment, and I believe it (I can't picture Jeter anywhere else). But is that the best for the team in the long run? As Jeter ages, will he "overstay" and end up being like having a Bernie at SS? (If A-Rod stays, too, that would prevent Jeter from moving to 3rd, like Ripkin did.)
Also, did anyone else notice the "Boston sucks" chant early in last night's game? I'm a hater of the "Yankees suck" chant and was surprised that this was the "19-18" replacement.
The lad, an Oakland A's fan, pitches for Burlington (VT) High School. He'll be missing this Saturday's game as we head for the Bronx to watch his heroes in action. Either that or sit out a pair of rainouts.
He's rusty, but I'm not prepared to ship out someone who went 10-0 because he had a few bad relief appearances after coming back from a hamstring injury.
And A-Rod is going to continue to put up huge numbers (yeah, I know, but not in the 'clutch') for the next eight to ten years. But there's no reason to ever move him. He plays great baseball, he's great pr, and he puts peeps in the seats.
The thing with A-Rod though is he just needs one huge post-season. One Serious and he goes into the HOF as a Yankee - no question in my mind. With all the chances he'll get (unless the pitching goes Candelaria/Hawkins Part 2), is there any doubt it's only a matter of when?
www.canyonofheroes.blogspot.com
What he did last year was almost certainly a fluke. A Carl-Pavano-in-2004-type fluke - one season with great numbers way out of line with the rest of his career. I loved watching him succeed, and it was a great story, but its time to move on.
Let Small work out the rust in AAA. If he can show that he still can get batters out, then bring him back. In the meantime, Smith and Bean are pitching lights out in AAA and deserve a chance to be in the bigs over Small. And Sturtze, but I think that particular horse is due to be buried.
Really tough game for Yankee fans but man, I'm just not as worked up as a lot of people seem to be. It was just one game. Yes, RJ was awful, and Alex Rodriguez had a poor game offensively and in the field. Then it became an embarassment with Melky and Bernie and Taynon, etc. (And yo, did anyone think that Bernie stood a chance against Beckett on a night when Beckett's fastball is moving like that?) But it's not the end of the world or the end of the team.
Rodriguez had a fine weekend in Texas and looked shook last night. In the Daily News today, John Harper--normally a columnist I like just fine--wondered if Rodriguez will ever do anything against the Sox, forgetting about his 9th inning dinger against Schilling last summer.
I realize that everything is magnified when it is the Sox, and I get as knuts as the next guy, but some times you just take one on the chin. Let's have a little faith here. Today is another day.
Let's Go Yan-kees.
i am no expert as per mechanics and stuff, but Unit did something funny during his warmups for the first or second inning. on his fifth or sixth pitch, he started his delivery, and, about halfway through, he stoppped, shook his head, and started over. hmmm...
arod will be fine. groundout with a man on, 2 outs, will just add more fuel to the "choke" fire, but we all know better.
go moose!
If the World Series was always this month, the Red Sox would be 26 times World Champion. Don't get yer undies in a bunch. Consider it the final sorting of the wheat from the chaff. Of course, many of you knew some of the team was chaff all along, and those same people (including myself) would have also sent Scott Proctor packing on April 10th.
Let the Sox have a healthy serving of Moose today.
As for Small, I agree that if he's worth anything it's a starter. Unfortunately for him, we don't have a need for that right now. A stint in Columbus is probably right.
Can't feel too bad for him though. Last year meant 1 cool mil for him. Sturtze is getting 1.5 mil. Even if they suck big time, they're still millionaires.
Well put Alex.
The Yankees picked him up a the beginning of 2004, he had about three good weeks, and the fascination continues, in some quarters, to this day. After those three good weeks, he reverted to form and wound up with a 5.47 ERA for the season. Last year, his second best in the big leagues, he had a fairly miserable 4.73 ERA. And so far this year, oh my god...
There has been some resounding answers coming off of the diamond over the last couple weeks......
Of course in the big picture of the season last night's NY-Boston score was as significant as:
Orioles 7, Tigers not enough
Twins 15, Rangers about a third that amount
Cardinals 4, Rockies half as much
etc, etc.
Cliff's headline expresses the appropriate stoicism perfectly: be glad last night is over.
I've never heard Tanyon cheered coming into or leaving any game. I don't think you can say the fans are fond of him.
I've also never heard the GM or Big Stein ever praise Mr. Sturtze.
That leaves one person - albeit one with tremendous pull over who plays. So yeah, Torre likes Sturtze. But Torre's also a HOF'er with four rings from managing this club.
Tell us something we don't know or climb back into the hole you and Schilling crawled out of.
Lessgo Yannkk-eeess!
I can't speak for Torre or the Yankees obviously, but I think a majority of Yankee fans who read BB had enough to T. Sturtze a long time ago. We can only hope a healthy Dotel spells the end for T. Sturtze. I think that's probably wishful thinking, but hope springs eternal, don't it?
http://tinyurl.com/lk2kr
Bean needs to cut-down on his walks though.
http://www.nj.com/thunder/
WIthout those errors, RJ gets out of the inning with minimal damage. With this Yankee team my biggest problem is that when they get seriously behind, they lose it. There was a time when no matter how bad it got, you knew they would at least make a game of it... but that of course was a few versions back from this current team. They get out of that inning and they make a game of it because it's still within reach. RJ let those erros get to him, and it showed with his performance. I'll be at the stadium tonight and am hopiing for the gem I've been dreaming about.
I know exactly how you feel. Me and my buddy from home were talking on Monday about the evenly distributed outcome over the past few eyars, but it's not fun anymore because when the Yanks win, it's a typical ballgame, but when the Sox win, it's a blowout/ late inning collapse/ comedy of errors, etc. Could be it's the frustrating things we remember more, but these regular season series against Boston are less fun to watch than many other games.
Oh whatever. You might as well be telling me how to time travel. You have no idea if it was intentional or not, no matter that you were at the stadium (with a much worse view than I had at home). Foulke isn't one to hit batters, and he was laughing at the warning. He's trying to get back to his old self. He wasn't throwing at anyone. Baseball needs to relax. It's gotten to the point that if one hitter is hit, you better not come inside in the next few innings or you'll get tossed because it has to be intentional. And fans who make such ignorant statements are part of the problem. Take of your fan goggles for once.
"Knuckles:This is my number one problem with Sox fans. 86 years of suckitude has conditioned them to get off on misery, so when they don't have any of their own to wallow in, they go find other people's and gawk at it."
Yankee fans do the same thing. How many times have I read on this board after a yankee loss "at least the red sux lost". And is the irony lost on you that you seem to take glee in our "suckitude"? Pot, meet kettle.
"It was great to see a little passion from the laconic one."
Has it really come to the point that we equate throwing equipment at the ump as passion? How unfortunate.
"And A-Rod...He plays great baseball, he's great pr, and he puts peeps in the seats."
Arods a great player. But puts people in seats? Do people actually come to see arod? I doubt it. He's godawful boring.
Check this out, this could make you forget about last night's game.
http://tinyurl.com/qkf6n
http://www.baseballmusings.com/archives/014653.php
Keep enjoying Beckett though. Hope he makes you forget Hansley (.311 .387 .484 .870). Good thing you traded him though! Not that you need him at short orr anything. You might just make the playoffs this year too. And Beckett might hold up all year! I see Anibal Sanchez is also progressing nicely (38 SO to 12 BB in 37.2 innings). But you probably didn't want to hear that.
That said, 57 I'd gladly pay money to watch A-Rod play, as I'm sure many folks would. Boring is about the last word I'd use to describe him.
61 Nice pickup, Dimelo! I hope Guidry and Kerrigan are all over that today. Which reminds me - given how well the Yanks' pitching staff has performed, I'd say some of the criticism directed at one Mel Stott was perhaps justified, no?
Go get 'em Moose. I want Schilling to feel some pain.
http://www.waswatching.com/
While this may be true, it serves more as a cold hard slap in the face after all the good things that happened in Texas. And as we know from 2005, last year can mean the difference between a division title and a wild card. So I'm honestly not placated by the mantra, "it's just one game".
IMO, as much as we were in the Sox' head for Lord knows how many years, it's almost as if the roles are reversed now. It used to be the players with the 'B' hats who would make the errors in big spots, have their pitching aces turn in stinkers, have their bullpens give up game-winning HRs - but now it's the Yankees doing these things, ladies and gentlemen.
I don't know if you can go so far as to call it a 'curse', but when we even look intimidated in our own ballpark, you know things are bad. 2004 seemed to flip the cosmos on its rear end, and I'm not sure what anyone can do to turn it back to its rightful position.
Before (and during) that game - he was lights out.
After that game - he stinks.
He was 42 a month ago, and he was on pace to be a Cy Young winner. He didn't age between starts.
As we've seen w/ Pavano, an injury can screw with your mechanics. I think Unit is hurting, or afraid of getting hurt due to something he felt during the Royals game.
Not good.
BP
Something broke in the Royals game, and the Yankees (or Big Unit) are hiding it. A pitcher of his stature does not leave the game after five with a 4-1 lead and after just 70-some pitches.
We've got a busted Unit.
BP
Of course, it'd be great to see Schilling get knocked around as well.
I had the same thought after Giambi's homer but I don't think A Rod was bailing, I think he just got buckled cause the pitch was nasty. I mean, I think that Rodriguez was sitting on the fastball--and the curve to A Rod might have been the first one Beckett had thrown--but I don't know that he was expecting to get drilled.
I don't think it was Jorgie's pitch selection. I think RJ picks his own pitches. It might be better if he let Jorgie call 'em. It might take some of the pressure off him.
67 ROFL! Man, that's harsh. (It did hit him, BTW. Will Bernie get more than a fine for that?)
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