Baseball Toaster was unplugged on February 4, 2009.
In their exhibition warmup for the exhibition season, the Yankees stomped the University of South Florida 11-4 in a game that wasn't even as close as that score would suggest.
L - Johnny Damon (LF)
R - Derek Jeter (SS)
L - Bobby Abreu (RF)
R - Alex Rodriguez (3B)
L - Jason Giambi (1B)
S - Jorge Posasa (C)
L - Robinson Cano (2B)
R - Shelley Duncan (DH)
S - Melky Cabrera (CF)
Pitchers: Joba Chamberlain, Ian Kennedy, Phil Hughes, Kei Igawa, Jeff Marquez, Alan Horne, Chase Wright
Subs: Morgan Ensberg (1B), Nick Green (2B), Bernie Castro (2B), Alberto Gonzalez (SS), Cody Ransom (3B), Austin Romine (C), Colin Curtis (RF), Austin Jackson (CF), Justin Christian (LF), Juan Miranda (DH)
Opposition: A college team using wood bats for the first time.
Big Hits: Jorge Posada went 2 for 4 with a double and a two-RBI triple. Colin Curtis went 1 for 3 with a double. Those were the only extra-base hits by the Yankees, who reached base 23 times but didn't strike out all game. Melky Cabrera was 2 for 2 with a sac fly. Bobby Abreu was 1 for 1 with two walks.
Who Pitched Well: Everyone but Igawa. The other four Yankee pitchers combined for this line: 8 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 8 K, the lone hit against that group was a base hit up the middle off Kennedy. Marquez got all three of his outs on groundballs. Horne got his three on two grounders and a K. Kennedy got three outs on the ground, two by K, and just one in the air. Hughes struck out the first two batters he faced on a total of eight pitches. Ed Price says Hughes looked the sharpest of the Big Three.
Who Didn't: Kei Igawa's lone inning of work went: fly out, walk, wild pitch, walk, HBP, grand slam, K, K. Per Peter Abraham, pinch-hitter Eric Baumann, who hit the grand slam, had struck out in his only two previous at bats this season, "was also swinging a wood bat and missed the 2006 and 2007 seasons with a shoulder injury." Pete also points out that the walk that started the USF rally was a five-pitch walk to the ninth-place hitter in a college lineup with the Yankees leading 9-0.
Nice Plays: Colin Curtis made a sliding catch in right to end Hughes' inning of work.
Ouchies: Derek Jeter was hit near the left elbow with a pitch in the first inning, but stayed in the game and singled in his next at-bat.
More: Pete Abe's play-by-play of the first 5 1/3 innings. Anthony McCarron (sitting in for Mark Feinsand) takes the action a few batters further up to the salami of Igawa (read from bottom up). Tyler Kepner reports these other recent finals of MLB vs. College action:
Red Sox 24, Boston College 0
Red Sox 15, Northeastern 0
Nationals 15, Georgetown 0
Cardinals 15, St. Louis U. 0
Pirates 5, Manatee C.C. 0
Braves 8, U. of Georgia 1
I'm tickled that the closest game was between the Pirates and a Community College. Nonetheless, four times as many runs were scored off Igawa in his one inning of work today than were scored by the college teams in the other 62 innings we've accounted for. Igawa should be proud. Finally, for trivia fans, Bryan Hoch has the lineup from the last game between the Yanks and USF.
Ok, he's not a good pitcher - but going all Mattpat11 doesn't help.
Poor man.
And for his part, Derek should have charged the mound.
College kids, man.
Poor Igawa.
Nah, screw it. Its awesome that the kid pitchers rocked. Igawa though, sheesh.
It is awesome but it is February.
On the other, walking the #9 hitter and another, a wild pitch, a hit batter and a salami to a college kid with 2 Ks in 2 ABs all
season...
Giambi playing 1B was the best part of the game for me. Girardi has said he wants Giambi on the field, and it looks like he's serious.
That said, yeah, this game was the most meaningless contest the Yanks will play all year, but it's the first inter-squad game they played all year and I'm starved for some actual baseball action, which is exactly why I write up every spring training game in this fashion and will continue to. But note that I'm not offering up extensive game analysis as I do during the regular season. In that sense, form is function here.
Here, here! Sunday can't come soon enough!
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Which do you expect more:
Igawa pitching horribly?
OR
Pavano trying to pitch and getting hurt?
That is a tough question to answer.
(Speaking of Carl - anyone else play Yahoo fantasy baseball, and notice that, somehow, they rank Pavano 362 out of almost 1000 players? What are they using to determine those rankings, drunk monkeys tossing darts?)
I'm starting to get giddy!
Is there really really really a game on Sunday?
A new and unplayed game, on the television?
Nah, it'll probably get snowed out.
Or floods or hurricanes or whatever the hell they have down there.
As for the Janks, I, too, have no patience with Igawa, especially with his two countrymen doing so well with the Sox. I gave at the ballpark last year.
Check out Its Only A Game for a nice piece on WC Heinz. And, if time permits, read the baseball parts of the book.
some of my favorite quotes are the ones that have to do with the horses.
straight from the hank's mouth:
"I think my breeding background has absolutley had a bearing on my approach to baseball. Building through scouting and the draft, then having the patience to see it through, to see the young talent reach its potential, without panicking..."
. . .
Is anybody home?
Back to Aikido.
Ouch.
. . . I'll lock up when I leave . . . bye.
God, the off-season is all talktalktalktalk.
Time for fucking baseball!!!!
Yaayayyy!!!!
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