An Ugly Game

Last night's Yankee/Mariner game was ugly defensively. The teams combined for 7 errors, A-Rod counting for 3 of them. Ugh. As bad as Alex played defensively, none of his errors led to runs and the Yankees won the game, and that's what's important. Jonathan over at RSN Daily took some shots at A-Rod in a post today. I don't know why the errors are that big a deal. Again, no runs scored and the Yanks won. It's baseball, that's going to happen occasionally, even to the best of players. I raised a question in his comments section about which is worse: A-Rod's 3 errors that led to no runs and the Yankees won, or Mark Loretta's 1 error that led to an unearned game-tying run in a game the Red Sox lost? That's a no brainer. What's important is winning? You can have the greatest defense in the world, but it doesn't mean anything if you don't win. If the Yankees win the AL East and the Red Sox miss the playoffs, their record setting "17 game without an error" streak is meaningless. Time will tell.
The pitching staff is rolling. Wang becomes the 3rd Yankee pitcher with at least 10 victories. His ability to induce groundballs will save (and has saved) the Yankees when the defense plays poorly, like they did last night. I'm surprised they brought Rivera in to pitch the 9th as he threw 2 innings on Sunday. It looks like Joe wanted to win that game. The first game of the series is an important one to win as it could set the tone for the rest of the series. Perhaps Joe was looking a day ahead at Ponson starting and figured the odds are good he'll get hit hard and Rivera won't be needed. Regardless, Mo notched save 401. His last 3 outings have been a little scarier than I'd like but he's getting the job done. He's 9 for 9 in his last 9 save opportunities. If I did the math right, he's 20 for his last 21. Not bad.
The Yanks are playing their best ball of the season. The Sox lead is still .5 games but the Yanks have the momentum. They've been able to weather the storms so far, and it looks like they're not going to lie down and play dead like people are predicting. Even though they are a half game back, the Yankees are the better ball club in the AL East. As the trade deadline looms the pendulum could swing and change directions. The division could be settled in the front office and not on the field. It'll be an interesting 2 weeks and an even more interesting 2.5 months. I love this game.
Peace, love, and pinstripes. Go Ponson!
J