Yanks Win In Extras, Bring On The BoSox

I'm glad the game ran long today. I haven't seen the Yankees play since Sunday and even that wasn't a full game. It was nice to catch a few innings on the tube. I think I joined the game for the bottom of the 13th. I caught the rest of it on XM Radio and on the Yahoo gamecast. I had a light schedule at work so I was able to follow along with most of it. I heard some things I like. I heard some things I didn't.

The bad: CC Sabathia. Not a fan of the strike-to-ball ratio. CC threw 112 pitches, 66 for strikes, 56 for balls. He walked way too many people. 3 of the guys he walked came around to score. Last year, in 35 regular season starts, CC walked 5 guys twice and 4 guys once. He's equaled that in his 4 starts this year. The silver lining is that he started out pretty slow last year. His ERA didn't dip below 5 until his 11th start. He finished the season with a 2.70 ERA. As the weather heats up, so will CC.

The bad: failing to score in the 7th inning. The Yanks had the bases juiced with nobody out and couldn't push a run across. Melky struck out. Gardner popped out. Jeter popped out. I was expecting Jeter to come through like he usually does. But even a guy who hits .400 fails to deliver 6 out of 10 times. He's still clutch. But in that spot, none of them were. The team left 13 runners on base. They had ample opportunity to score but didn't. It's a problem we know all too well.

The good: The bullpen kicked some major ass. 6 RPs combined for 7.1 scoreless innings. They gave up three hits, 3 walks, and whiffed 6. Jose Veras definitely gets the game ball. He was awesome. 3.1 hitless innings, allowing only 1 walk. Veras was on today. I wasn't feeling good about the Yankees chances to win this game once it went to extras. I'm not overly confident in Damaso Marte, Edwar Ramirez, and Jose Veras. Let's face it, they've pretty much sh*t the bed all year. Today they were lights out. Build on that.

The good: Melky Cabrera. I'm still not crazy about the Melk Man but if he continues to hit dingers like he is, he'll win me over. But, he started out this hot last season and he ended up getting sent down to Triple-A. Through 13 games this year, Melky is hitting .304 with 4 HR. Through 13 games last year, Melky was hitting .300 and had 2 HRs. If my memory serves me correctly, Melky was leading the team in HRs at one point last April. He has a long way to go before I get back on the Melk-wagon.

The good: 24 baserunners. The bad: only 9 runs. They should score way more than 9 runs of they have that many baserunners.

The Yankees have a well-deserved off-day tomorrow. Then it's off to Boston. It'll be their first meeting with the rival Red Sox. Is it me or is the rivalry kind of stale? It's been pretty tame over the last few years. Joba gets the start in the series opener, matching up against Jon Lester. It has the makings of a pretty good game. My only question is will I get to see any of the series. The wife's due date is tomorrow and she's experiencing a few contractions. Things are happening. Wish us luck.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie