Shut 'Em Down, Shut 'Em Down, Shut 'Em Shut 'Em Down

Good Lord these games are ending on late. Thank God this is a weekend series. I didn't think this one was going to end but then the slumping Giambi stepped into the box and drove it over the wall in right-center. Booyah. Yanks up 1 and then Bruney took care of business in the bottom half of the 13th to finish it off. Game over. Yanks win. Thuhhh Yankees win!
This shoddy defense has got to stop. It cost the Yankees last night's game and it nearly cost them tonight's. The defense is so much better than they're playing. Abreu is dropping fly balls. Phelps can't dig out a throw in the dirt. Jeter can't field balls cleanly and can't get his throws up. Horrendous. The Yanks lead the AL in team errors. They're better than that. 4 Gold Glove winners. A second baseman who is going to win a few himself. It's beyond ridiculous how bad the D is. And I don't care what the official scorer says, Jeter's throwing error is on all on Josh Phelps. He's got to scoop that out.
I don't know who is worse, Phelps or Mientkiewicz. One can't play defense, the other can't hit. Phelps hasn't exactly been tearing things up but he's getting on base, sort of. His OBP was .400 coming into today's game. I really have no preference to either one. I keep thinking Dougie will eventually hit the ball and Phelps will eventually field them. I guess I'd prefer Dougie as the D seems better when he's in the game.
The pitching staff gets a huge kudos tonight. They get my game ball. Yes Kyle, even you, as you sacked up and got the job done. Happy Birthday. 7 pitchers shut down the A's for 12 innings. Color me extremely impressed. You can't even really knock the staff for the 3 runs the A's scored. The 2nd turn through the rotation is complete and I hope everyone now sees there isn't anything to worry about. The first time through, the starters were 0-2 with a 9.97 ERA. The second trip through the rotation, 2-0 with an ERA of 1.38. You can't mess with those numbers. The rotation is much better than people give them credit for. The entire pitching staff is going to win the Yanks some ball games, assuming of course the D doesn't tank. Sure they'll be the occasional game where the staff will be off their game, but more often than not, they're going to show up. 7 relievers today scattered 2 hits over 7 and two-thirds. How can you not love the bullpen? The bullpen has a combined ERA of 2.11 after today's outing. And if my math is right, the team ERA is now 3.73. Considering the starter's ERA through the first turn through the rotation, that's impressive. I'm giving the bullpen it's very own theme music. "Shut 'Em Down" by Public Enemy. Now that's what I'm sayin', boyeeee. Flavor Flav is in the house.
Is the offense slumping? 9 runs total in their last 3 games. They seem to be getting the hits. They're just not stringing them together and getting the runners across home plate. Thankfully, the pitching has been there.
Torre said on the post-game show that if the game went to the 14th that Miguel Cairo was the likely pitcher. Oh boy. It's a good thing Giambi pulled his head out of his rump and went yard.
Peace, love and Pinstripes.
J-Boogie