A Better Late Than Never Post About Last Night's Game

I wanted to post something about last night's game during my lunch today but work was pretty busy and I didn't have the time. Since tonight's game is a little less than 2 hours from now, I don't want to write a full post. Here are some really quick little notes:

• A.J. Burnet looked really good.
• Phil Coke looked really bad. He's lucky they came back.
• Kyle Farnsworth looked worse than Phil Coke.
• Juan Miranda looked like he enjoyed his pie.
• Walkoffs never get old. I'm glad to see the team still get fired up about winning what's technically a meaningless game.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Pettitte Brilliant, Pitches Yanks Past Royals 4-1

Hey ho what do you know? Yankees win. The Yankees win. Andy Pettitte pitched a brilliant game today. The Royals really couldn't touch him. 7 innings, 3 hits, 1 walk, 6 Ks. Good stuff. He very well could have pitched a shutout if not for Nick Swisher's fielding blunder. Nick has to catch that ball. And he definitely has to make a better throw than he did. That was horrible. Andy Pettitte as the Yankees 4th starter? I kind of like it. Is he the best 4th starter in the game? Yeah, he probably is. He should do very well this year assuming he continues to match up against inferior starters, like Sir Sidney Ponson.

Speaking of Sidney, how did the Yankees not hammer him? I was driving home from work, listening to the first inning on the radio. They jumped all over him in the 1st but could never quite deliver the knockout punch. Props to Sidney for hanging in there. While I'm talking about the Royals, can anyone tell me how Kyle Farnsworth pitched a 1-2-3 inning, striking out the side? Where was that when he was with the Yankees? I so wanted to see them bomb him.

Robbie Cano equals hot. Cody Ransom equals not. Robbie, who always starts out slow, is off to the best start of his career. As a comparison, through his 1st 4 games in 2005, Cano was 2 for 14 with zero walks. In '06, he was 3 for 16 with zero walks. In '07, he was 7 for 18 with no walks. In '08, he was 1 for 15 with no walks. After today's game, Robbie is 8 for 14 with 4 walks. Talk about unexpected. I love it. Cody Ransom on the other hand, yeah, he blows. I thought he'd be doing better than 1 for 14. And what the heck was he (and Nicky Swish for that matter) doing running for 3rd on a ball hit in front of him? Isn't that like one of the 1st you things you learn when it comes to running the bases? If the ball is hit in front of you, don't go? If I were Brian Cashman, I'd be out looking for something else. Package Nady and Melky for a 3B. Should be easy to do., right? Get on it Cash and get well soon Alex.

It looks like Brian Bruney is the 8th inning guy. I'm a big fan of that move, especially if he pitches like he did tonight. The bridge to Mariano just got a little stronger. Mariano was typical Mariano. He should have pitched a 1-2-3 9th if not for a misplay by Cano. How was that not an error? The pen has now thrown 10 scoreless innings. I'm expecting big things from those guys.

I'll end this post with a reminder: don't forget that tomorrow is Global Yankees Jersey Day. In short, wear a Yankees jersey tomorrow. Let's make it happen.

CC makes start #2 tomorrow. I'm looking for him to bounce back. I'm hoping for 6 and a third, 7 hits, 2 ER, 8 Ks. I definitely don't want to see a repeat performance of his first start.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Yanks Win Crazy Game Thanks To Shoddy Angels D

The Yankees got a gift today from the Angels. In fact, they got 4 of them. 4 huge costly errors led to 9 or 10 unearned runs and ultimately a Yankee victory and a series split. But that's baseball. It a win and the standings and I'll take it. They never gave up. They battled back from a 5-run deficit and this has to be a huge confidence boost to a team that's heading out on a road trip and has been mired in a mini-slump. Big win today boys and girls. Big win.

It certainly didn't start out well. Darrell Rasner was absolutely brutal. Prediction: it won't be long before Rasner makes his final start of the season. He was awful today, and he's been awful more than he's been good. It's to the point where starting him is becoming a huge liability. Including today's game, D-Raz has won 2 of his last 12 starts. Houston, we have a problem. Luckily, it's a problem that's not hard to fix. The Yankees have many options they can go with to start in place of Rasner, and they're names we're all familiar with. Ian Kennedy can easily be called up to take the spot. He's allowed 14 hits and 4 runs in his last 4 outings for Scranton. Since being demoted to the minors, IPK has an ERA of 1.99 in 54.1 IPs. Opposing hitters are hitting .179 off Ian. Phil Hughes is on the med and is currently rehabbing in Charleston. He's had only 2 outings but has been outstanding: 6.2 IPs, 3 H, 0 ER. And then there's our favorite sorry excuse for a Yankee, Carl Pavano. He's pretty much on the same rehab schedule as Hughes, and has done alright in his 2 outings: 5 IP, 6 H, 1 ER. He could throw 5 consecutive no-nos and I wouldn't care. I hope he never dons the Pinstripes this year. He's been a colossal waste of time and money. Bringing him back to the Bronx would definitely disrupt the clubhouse. It's no secret nobody wants him there. I hope Cashman has the smarts to keep him down. I'd like to think eh does. Getting back to Hughes and Kennedy, I'd much prefer to see them get another chance to pitch than to look outside of the organization. Jarrod Washburn is a bum and they shouldn't even bother. At least give the youngsters another shot. They can't do any worse than Rasner that's for sure.

The offense got a nice kick-start today from one of their newest acquisitions. The X-Man, Xavier Nady, coming through in a big way with 4 hits and 6 RBI. Nady is now batting .385 as a Yankee, with 3 HR and 10 RBI in 8 games. Ken Singleton was right when he remarked that Nady was probably the best offensive acquisition any team acquired at the trade deadline. I like Mark Teixeira and all but he hasn't quite performed to Nady's level this year. That Brian Cashman is one smart cookie.

Bobby Abreu on the other hand? What was he thinking trying to run to 3rd on a routine fly ball to left? That has to be one of the biggest boneheaded moves I've seen in a long, long time. Why would you even attempt that when there are 2 outs? The rule of thumb is never make the 1st or 3rd out at 3rd base. No idea what was going through his mind as it wasn't even a close play. It makes no sense to even try to tag from 2nd to 3rd in that situation. What's worse is he ended up costing the Yankees what could have been an all important run. Stupid. Just stupid. He at least atoned for his mistake by going 3 for 4 with 3 runs scored. Bobby's been on a tear lately, hitting .387 (24 for 62) and raising his average 15 points since the All-Star break. He's scored 20 runs and knocked in 17 in those 16 games. Bobby's been awesome lately, so I'll let that horrendous baserunning mistake slide.

It was also nice to see our other deadline acquisition Ivan Rodriguez break out today with 2 hits and a HR. That bat is going to come in handy down the stretch. Unlike Melky Cabrera, who managed to find a way to go oh-for-5, he writes while shaking his head in disgust. Paul O'Neill made a comment during the broadcast that Melky needs to stop trying to murder the ball and concentrate on raising his average. Great observation Mr. O'Neill. Great observation. Melky is playing his way right out of the lineup. Enter Justin Christian. He deserves a chance to start I'd say. He's provided quite the spark to the offense with his blazing speed. Said speed pretty much winning the game today. I loved seeing him take 3rd and scoring on the poor throw. That was heads up right there. I'm inclined to think he has the green light to run whenever he wants to. If it's not the case, it better be. Memo to Joe Girardi: sit Melky, play Justin, win-win. Make it happen. Better yet, let me have a few swings. I can go of-for-5 too.

Dan Giese was today's unsung hero. His 3 scoreless innings were huge. It gave the Yankees offense the opportunity to claw their was back into the game. That was pretty invaluable right there. He was awesome today. It's too bad he didn't get the win. He deserved it. Thanks Edwar. He picked up the win but definitely didn't deserve it. I'll let it slide though because Edwar has been lights out. It's the 1st game since July 2nd he's allowed a hit. 11.1 hitless/scoreless innings in a 10 game span. I'll forgive this bad outing. But only because the Yanks won. While I'm talking about the bullpen, not sure why Mariano wasn't warming up to pitch the 9th inning? I didn't get to see the post game show so I'm not sure if anything was mentioned about an injury. Hope not. Fingers crossed.

And none of this would have been possible if not for the extremely shoddy Angels' defense. Wow. Talk about a bad game. A dropped fly ball in center....4 runs score in the inning. 2 fielding errors and 1 throwing error....6 runs score in the inning. That's bad baseball right there. They always talk about how the Angels play great fundamental baseball. That certainly wasn't the case today. So we here at the Boogie Down, which is just me (why do I refer to myself as we?), say thanks Angels' defense.

The worst part about today is that both the Sox and Rays won their games so this great win gained us nothing in the standings. I thought for sure we'd pick up a game on the Rays but Kyle Farnsworth apparently had other plans. Even when he's not a Yankee he finds ways to hurt us. He pitched an inning today for the Tigers, blowing the save, giving up 3 earned with 2 longballs. Kyle for Pudge? If you had any doubt before about who won that deal, that doubt should be gone. If his outing wasn't bad enough, the Tigers ended up taking the lead in extras only to blow it again. Thanks for the help. Appreciate it.

So now the boys are off on a 10 game roadie. 4 in Texas, 3 in Anaheim, and 3 in Minnesota. These are going to be some big games that could very well define the rest of the season. The Yanks will no doubt be up to the task. They are after all one of 2 AL teams with winning records away from home. The other of course being the Angels. The win today has to be a huge confidence boost. They came from behind and snatched victory from the jaws of defeat against the best baseball had to offer. And hitting John Lackey is no easy task. Just ask the Red Sox. I can't think of a better way to start this roadie. Take it to 'em fellas.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Yanks Win Twice Today And They Only Played Once

Due to meetings/work, I missed pretty much all of today's Yanks game. I heard very few bits and pieces, but what I heard sounded good to me. Back-to-back bombs by Bobby and Alex. Yeah, it was that kind of day. They busted out the whooping sticks. Gotta love it. Sounds like Joba threw another gem. He's going to be larger than life. I can feel it.

I left work early because my buddy and I were going to a concert. Before the show (Sam Roberts Band if you were wondering), we stopped for some pizza/wings and adult beverages at a local pizzeria/bar. If you can believe this, today was the 1st day in 2008 that I had an alcoholic beverage. Yeah, not a big drinker. But I will throw a few back, or in today's case 3 beers and 2 shots of tequila, if I feel like it. And today I did. Mainly because right when we got there, I noticed on the Yankee post game show that Kyle Farnsworth was sent packing for Pudge Rodriguez. If that's not a reason to celebrate I don't know what is. Huge trade for the Yankees. Huge. And in my opinion, Cashman again comes out the winner. He's 2 for 2 in my book. The Yankee have a plethora of relievers that can take care of business and be that bridge to Mariano. K-Farns was expendable. Very expendable. The Yankees desperately needed a catcher. Jose Mo may be able to gun down 1/2 the base stealers, but he isn't hitting worth a lick. I mentioned yesterday that the bottom of the Yankees order was incredibly weak: Melky, Betemit, Molina/Moeller. Pudge's bat in the Yankee lineup will work quite nicely. Pudge is a career 300 hitter with a .295 average so far this year. At 36, he doesn't have the pop he once did, but the average in itself is much better than anything the Yanks had in house. And his arm is a plus as well. For his career he's gunned down 47% of base stealers, though this year it's down slightly, at 36%, which is 3rd in MLB for qualified players. Nice. He's also got 13 career Gold Gloves. Can you say upgrade? Yeah, I thought you could. Having 2 catchers with great arms is going to work nicely for a team like the Yanks. Teams ran all over the Yanks last year and this year when Jorgie was behind the dish. Consider those days over. Big fan of the deal. Big fan.

Tomorrow brings the Angels to town, fresh off another sweep of the soon-to-be Mannyless BoSox. The Angels swept them both at home and on the road. Hey Dirty (water), baby I got yo number. The Angels are far and away the league's best team and they've always played well against the Yanks. I believe this stat is still true: the Angels are the only team with a winning record against the Yankees when Joe Torre was the Yankee manager. But one of their strengths is the running game. See previous paragraph. The Yanks will fare better than the Sox. No doubt.

Bye bye Kyle. Bye bye Kyle. Bye bye Kyle. We hate to see you go.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Yanks Make The Look-A-Likes Look-A-Like Chumps

I was worried there for a little while. It was the bottom of the 6th and the Yanks were down 2-1 and only had 2 hits. It had the making of the typical Yankee game. Good pitching, little offense, and headed toward a 1-run win or loss. And then Bobby Abreu stepped to the plate and put the Yanks back on top with a 2-run HR. Next thing I know, the Yanks are sitting on a 6-run lead, the bullpen has the ball, game over.

I'm impressed that the Yankees offense again bounced back after the team fell behind. This is the 4th straight game where the Yankees tied the game or went ahead in the same inning where they lost the lead. Yesterday, the look-alikes knotted the game at 2 in the 2nd and the Yanks scored 4. On Sunday, the A's tied the game in the 6th and the Yanks scored the eventual winning run in the bottom of the inning. On Saturday, the A's scored a run in the 9th to take a 1-run lead and the Yanks tied it up in the bottom of the 9th. Heck, on Friday the A's scored in the 1st inning and the Yanks tied it right up. That's impressive.

Overall it was a pretty good night at the plate, with the exception of the bottom of the order. Melky Melky Melky. Horrible. Just horrible. Melky has really worn out his welcome in my book. I wouldn't mind seeing him dealt but right now his value is in the toilet. I've been suggesting they deal Melky for years now. Every time i bring him up he goes on a tear so maybe I'll have that effect on him again. It's very nice to have Johnny Damon back in the lineup. It makes it so much more formidable. He did a great job tonight of setting the table, picking up 2 walks and a single, scoring twice. Glad to have you back Johnny D. Cano still has the hottest bat in the lineup and it's about time Robbie is consistently stinging the ball. Robbie now has 5 straight multi-hit games and is 12-23 since coming back from the break. I don't think it's a coincidence that the team wins when Robbie hits. His average, up to .263, is now somewhat respectable. It's not quite what we Yankee fans have come to expect from Robbie but if he keeps this up, he'll be at .300 in no time. All in all, a good night at the dish.

Rasner pitched pretty well. Michael Kay called it his best outing of the season. Oh Michael Kay. You're such a tool. He was good, but not that good. He did allow 8 baserunners in 5.2 IPs. He did leave the game on the hook for the loss. His 1st 2 outings of the season were much better than tonight's effort, which again was solid, but not his best. D-Raz did do his job. He only gave up 2 runs, which is right up there with his counterparts in the rotation. Raz has been real shaky lately and his start tonight was encouraging. Let's chalk his success up to Chad Moeller. My research department (Pete Abraham's blog) tells me that opponents have a .675 OPS against D-Raz when Moeller is his battery mate. With Posada it's .933 and with Molina it's 1.014. I think it's safe to say that Chad Moeller needs to be Rasner's personal catcher. If the rotation can keep this going, it'll make Cashman's job a little easier come the trade deadline, and it's going to leave Yankee fans saying Johan who? I think they still need an arm because the roof is eventually going to cave in on Sidney Ponson. He can't keep this up by allowing all these baserunners. A hired gun would be nice, but again, it won't be as necessary if these guys throw like they're throwing.

Again, the bullpen was awesome. 3.1 IPs of 1 hit, 1 walk, 5 K ball. David Robertson picked up a huge out in the 6th, on 1 pitch, and earned his 2nd win of the season, on 1 pitch. Not a bad night's work. Robertson has been extremely impressive since his debut, and who wouldn't be shaky in their major league debut? Since his 1st outing, D-Rob has thrown 9.1 IPs, given up 3 hits, 1 run, 4 walks, and 13 Ks. Coming into tonight, including his 1st outing, opponents are only hitting .184 off him. Joba who? Kyle Farnsworth is no longer Farnsworthless. I'm still in amazement over how well he's thrown lately. K-Farns in his last 10 games, has thrown 9 innings and hasn't given up a hit! K-Farns has technically thrown a no-hitter. Color me dumbfounded. Again, Joba who?

The Rays have lost to the A's and the Yanks are now only 3.5 back of first. They've won 5 straight and they look good. They're pitching extremely well and they're hitting the ball. Imagine how we'd be if Chien-Ming Wang were around? My man Moose is on the hill tomorrow for an afternoon game. Ugh. I have meetings from 1-3 so I'm going to miss 2/3 of the game. I'll get to follow along with the Yahoo gamecast for the first hour but I'll totally miss the 2nd. It's Moose's turn to start this all over again. None of these guys want to be the starter that breaks the streak of solid outings. You can do it Moose. Make me and my fellow Mike Mussina Fan Club members proud.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

The One That Didn't Get Away

OK, I think I need to start keeping my thoughts to myself because I said some things yesterday and today the opposite happened. I said how great the bullpen was: blown save and Mo almost gets tagged with a loss. I said A-Rod was going to make a run at the batting title: 0 for 5 w/ 3 Ks. I cracked on Brett Gardner calling him overmatched: He picks up 2 hits and a ribbie. I said the offense was great: today they managed 4 runs. Shows what I know.

Joba had a strong outing. It's too bad Jose Veras blew the win for him because he deserved it. It's hard to believe that Joba only has 2 decisions in 9 starts. His ERA since becoming a starter is 2.64. That's pretty darn good. Joba has suffered the same fate as Moose: no run support. But he was on today. 6 IPs, 6 H, 1 BB, 8 K. Nice. The Yankees pitching staff is a lot better than people give it credit for. They've improved since day 1. The team ERA in April was 4.56, 11th best in the AL. In May, it was 4.13, 10th best. June saw another improvement, 3.83, 6th best. July is better still, 3.49, 2nd best team ERA in the AL. On the season, the team ERA is 4.08, 7th best in the AL. Hard to believe when you take into account the God-awful starts from Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy. Chien-Ming Wang has been on the shelf for over a month now. They've demonstrated that they have a pitching staff that is going to hold its own. and now that I say, that, it's all downhill from here.

The offense didn't really get it done today. 13 hits and 11 walks = 4 runs??? That's pathetic. 21 guys left on base. I remember thinking to myself in the 2nd inning that this is going to be 1 of those games where all the offense comes from the bottom of the order. For those that forgot what went down in inning #2, Cano singled, Betemit doubled, Melky singled, Gardner doubled, and then Jeter, Abreu and A-Rod all went down swinging. Batters 1 thru 5 went 3-24. To their credit they accounted for 10 of the 11 Yankee walks. The 6 thru 9 hitters went 10-22, each having a multi-hit day att he plate. Robbie Cano was again the Yankees' hottest hitter going 4 for 6, and he's hitting the ball hard. 6-10 isn't a bad way to start one's 2nd half. I mentioned yesterday that Robbie typically does better in the 2nd half. At least something I said yesterday didn't get negated today.

Now even though I cracked on the bullpen earlier, they did a pretty good job today as a unit. 2 runs in 6 innings isn't all that bad. But they need to be better. They almost let this one slip away. Edwar Ramirez appears to be back on track after a string of rough outings back in late June. In his last 8 games, he's thrown 11 innings, allowing 1 hit, 1 walk, no runs and has struck out 15. David Robertson has been awesome since he was called up. He's allowed 3 hits and no runs in his last 7 games. And then there's Kyle Farnsworth. Dude has been lights out. I'm amazed. I didn't think he had this kind of run in him. Check these #s out: In his last 9 games, K-Farns has thrown 8 hitless innings! I know. I'm shocked too! The Yanks are getting solid pitching from pretty much everybody. Fingers are crossed that the opposite doesn't happen tomorrow.

It may not have been pretty today but a win is a win. It doesn't have to be pretty. The best part is the Red Sox lost again. The Yanks are now 3 back in the loss column for the wild card. If anybody thinks they don't have shot, I'd like to hear why. The Red Sox in my opinion are highly overrated. Their bullpen is terrible, currently 10th best in the AL. They're terrible away from Fenway (21-31). I just don't think they're as good as people think they are. I wouldn't be terribly surprised if come the end of July, the Yanks are ahead of the BoSox in the standings. Nothing would be better than coming out of next weekend's series in Fenway ahead of them in the standings. That would be killer.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Andy Pettitte Is The Streak Stopper

As I mentioned in my closing yesterday, no better guy you want tossing for the Yanks after a loss than Andy Pettitte. With today's W, Andy is now 75-37 when pitching after a Yankee loss. For those of you that are mathematically challenged, Andy basically wins 2 out of every 3 starts when pitching after a loss. I'll take those odds any day of the weak. Andy Pettitte is a streak stopper. No doubt about it. Andy was masterful today throwing 6 innings of shutout ball. Since getting bombed for 10 runs against the Royals, Andy has been lights out. Check out these numbers: 3 starts, 3-0, 21 IP, 14 H, 4 BB, 19 K, 1 ER = 0.43 ERA. Andy has always been a much better pitcher in the 2nd half of the season. Looks like the 2nd half has started a little early.

Edwar Ramirez pitched an impressive 7th inning. Edwar has surprised me this year. I didn't think in a million years he would have lasted this long on the big league roster. He's earned his spot in my book. I'm also of the opinion that he should be trusted by Girardi to pitch in close games, which I think is the case. He looks good.

As anyone surprised that of all the Yankee pitchers, it was Kyle Farnsworth that gave up the run. How does a pitcher with an ERA of 4.24, a WHIP of 1.47, and an opponents' batting average over .300 qualify as the set-up man? K-Farns is the last guy I want pitching in the 8th inning? In 33 games, he's now given up 10 HR and allowed runs in 12 games. Allowing runs in 36% of your games is not a characteristic I want from the 8th inning guy. I'm continually shocked when he gets trucked out their to pitch in the close games. Kyle has been brutal since he's donned the Pinstripes. Absolutely brutal. He's done nothing to earn that spot and it's going to end up costing us, I can feel it. I'm not sure what the extent of the injury he sustained today is but you won't hear me grumble if he misses some time.

The mustachioed marvel that is Jason Giambi busted out of his slump in a big way today. It's a good sign when Giambi hits to the opposite field. We haven't seen that from the Big G at all in recent years, but he's been picking it up this year. The Giambi of old is in the house. I love it.

The Yanks are off tomorrow and then it's off to Pittsburgh. The Yanks are 7-2 in this 15 game interleague stretch. Considering that the teams they're facing are below average, anything less than 10-5 is a letdown. They very easily could have swept the Reds. They ran into the NL's best pitcher and a guy they've never faced before. Point is, they're playing a lot better baseball than they were. No way you can count them out. Enjoy the off day.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

The Winning Doesn't Stop As Yanks Sweep Padres

Due to back-to-back meetings today, I didn't hear very much of today's game on my XM. I caught the first 3 innings when not much happened. I took my radio with me to the meetings so I could look at the score on the radio's screen. It was stuck on 1-0 Padres with 1 out in the 4th forever. I kept expecting to see the lead increase but it must have been some kind of lag. The 1st meeting ended a few minutes early. By the time I walked downstairs to my desk the Yanks had tied up the game. The 2nd meeting started and it ended at the same time the 8th inning ended. I did get to hear Mo K the side in the 9th for the save. That was all I needed to hear.

According to the box score, it looks like Joba pitched well, though wasn't overly economical with his pitches. I heard him dodge a huge bullet when the Padres loaded up the bases with no outs in the 2nd. I'm assuming that was one of the biggest spots in the game and he flew through it with flying colors. I'm pleased with his line. The only negative aspect is that he's still winless as a starter.

I like seeing how the Yankees manufactured that 1st run of the game. Walk - steal 2nd - steal 3rd - sac fly - tie game. I'm assuming that Girardi knew the team wasn't hitting the ball well and I like the aggressive approach to put Melky into scoring position. A little small ball doesn't hut every now and then.

The bullpen definitely came through today keeping the Padres off the board. I'm not sure though whether or not I want to give Farnsworth credit for pitching well or the Padres offense for being terrible. Considering how bad K-Farns is, I'll chalk it up to a poor Padres offense. Mariano continues to pitch lights out baseball. He threw in each game of the Padres series. 9 hitters faced, 3 Ks. He sent the side down on strikes twice. He's. Just. Awesome.

7 straight wins. 2 straight sweeps. Kickin' ass and taking names. Bring on the Reds!

J-Boogie

Yanks Win Pitching Duel - THEY'RE FINALLY 2 GAMES ABOVE 500!!!

I'm a little giddy right now. Tonight's victory against the Astros is huge step in the right direction. The Yankees have finally made it over the hump. Well, maybe they're not over it yet, but they're closer than they've been in a long, long time. In my last entry, I wrote that this 15 game stretch against the National League could be make or break. They're not exactly taking on the toughest teams in the NL. They need to take advantage now. Tonight they did and it was all about the pitching.

Joba looked real good. There's no doubt in my mind that he's going to excel as a starter. I'd still prefer to see him in the 8th inning, but if he keeps pitching like he did tonight, I'll change my tune real quick. Especially if Jose Veras continues to dominate like he did tonight. This was definitely Joba's best outing to date. Granted the sample size is pretty small, but he looked real comfortable out there. He pitched 6 complete innings and likely would have gone a little longer had we been playing in an American League park. He was pretty efficient with his pitches, throwing only 88, 7 of which were intentional balls. In his next start, he won't be subject to a pitch count. The Yankees rotation just got a lot stronger.

Jose Veras was on tonight. I had really hoped that he pitched the 8th was a sign that Farnsworth was knocked down a peg in the pecking order, but those hopes were dashed when I saw K-Farns warming up to pitch the 9th. Veras has done pretty well this season. He's now thrown 7 straight scoreless innings. And there's your jinx. Don't worry. I'm knocking on wood. He pitched tonight in a huge spot, retiring the heart of the Astros order in the 8th. Right now, he's the guy I want to see pitch late in close games. Too bad I'm not running things.

Farnsworth finally (and thankfully) broke the recent pattern he's been in of pitching poorly after pitching alright. Not counting today, he's given up at least 1 run in every other outing going back to May 13th against the Rays. In short, this is the first back-to-back outings he's had in 12 games where he didn't give up a run. I thought for sure the Yanks were done for when he hit Ty Wiggington. Leadoff walks usually come back to bite you in the behind. K-Farns got a lot of help from the Astros. A failed sac bunt attempt and a caught stealing. Not a bad way to get hooked up if your a pitcher.

If you ask me, the Astros ran themselves out of that game. 3 caught stealings. Ouch. I'm not sure why they tried to steal 3rd with 1 down in the 6th. You'd also think a team that successfully steals 4 bases is going to score more than 1 run. Joba did a heck of a job making sure that didn't happen. Extra points for him.

Derek Jeter's HR in the 8th. In a word, clutch. There wasn't much offensive tonight, but it was enough. Cano is still struggling. Insert deep sigh of disappointment here. Enough already Robbie. It's getting to be beyond ridiculous. We need that bat. Especially in these NL parks because the team is forced to sit 1 of their 3 hottest hitters. The non-producers need to produce. No 2 ways about it. The pitching isn't going to be this sharp every night. A little run support would be nice.

My boy Moose goes tomorrow. Should be a good one. Enjoy.

J-Boogie

All Hail The Stache!!!

Wow what a ballgame! The mustachioed Giambino hits a pinch-hit, 2-out, 2-strike, 2-run walkoff HR to beat the Jays. I just got finished watching the replay of the game and oh to be at home plate to partake in the celebration. That looks like a lot of fun. That was definitely the best win of the season, even with the negatives that come along with it. Is this going to be the turning point? Giambi set off the run a few years ago with an extra-inning game winner against Pittsburgh. Can lightning strike twice? Who needs lightning when you have the 'stache?

I listened to most of the game at work today. I left my desk for a 2pm meeting and the score was 2-0 Yankees headed into the bottom half of the 3rd. I come back about 40 minutes later and it's 7-2 Jays with 1 out in the 5th and Ross Ohlendorf on the mound. That was a head scratcher to say the least. John Sterling started talking about an error by Melky that pretty much led to all 5 runs. I of course being at worked missed it. As I was driving home after the game my friend Don had called and explained to me that it was a sure-fire double play. As he described it, Melky could have ran to 2nd himself and touched the bag. He catches the ball, inning over. I later saw a replay of it during the replay and it was pretty bad. That had routine written all over it. Chein-ming has to pick the team up after a play like that. He can't pull a Mussina like he did today with a HBP followed by a single then a double. No offense to the league leader in wins. Wang being the ace of the staff has to take back control of the inning. Wang again wasn't all that effective. Out of the gate he was cruising but definitely far from his best outing. It makes me wonder what's wrong with Wang? It has to be more than a simple problem with the release point. He's walking way too many and he's not getting any double play balls. It appears he's having trouble finishing off his sinker. Not sure as to why. Injury maybe? Cross your fingers it's something that he can fix. If it is, why is it taking so long?

I was impressed today with the bullpen, except Farnsworth of course. The Yankees bullpen has been so hit-or-miss, inconsistent to say the least. Thankfully today they hunkered down and kept the Jays at 7. Except of course for Farnsworth, who picked up a cheap win. I was exchanging e-mails with my buddy Dan (not to be confused with the aforementioned Don) during the game and we thought we'd be alright if Farnsworth could keep it close as the Yanks had the heart of the lineup coming up in the 9th. And he gave up a run in what, like, 5 pitches? I am of course exaggerating but single, single, double all with no outs isn't the way to start an inning. I'll give him credit for how he finished the inning but the job is to not let anyone score. I cringe whenever he comes in.

I left work right after the top of the 9th ended. I was expecting that if it got down to Molina's spot in the order that we'd see Giambi. What I wasn't expecting was there to be 2 out hits by A-Rod and Matsui to set it up. When Giambi stepped to the plate I had a feeling he might go yard. I slid my hand into my pocket to reach for my cell so I could call Dan (not Don) when it happened but knew if I pulled it out I'd slap the whammy on things so I left it alone. Two pitches later I'm listening to John Sterling tease me with the is is fair or foul call. It was fair. It was high. It was far. It was gone. Ball game over. Yankees win. Thuhhhhh Yankees win. I then of course pulled out the cell and called Dan who didn't know what happened and put a little sunshine into his day. It also made the ride home a heck of a lot better.

The Yanks fared pretty well against the league's best pitching staff. You have to be encouraged by what we've seen from them recently. And now that Posada is back? Watch out. It's hard to believe that the Yanks have had their opening day lineup on the field 4 times this year. Incredible. We again find the team at a familiar place, .500. The struggling Royals are coming to town for a 4 game set and there's no better time to get over this hump of mediocrity than right now. The team is coming of a huge win. The Royals are 2-8 in their last 10 and have the 2nd worst record in the AL. It's time to make a move.

J-Boogie

Well That Was Fun. Not. Yanks Lose 6-5

That was an extremely frustrating game to watch. 2-0 lead. Gone. 4-2 lead. Gone. 5-4 lead. gone. And Kyle Farnsworth quickly puts the Yankees down for good. K-Farns has gotten into the habit of giving up runs in every other outing. May 17= 3 runs. May 22 = 0 runs. May 24 = 2 runs. May 27 = 0 runs. May 30 = 1 run. May 31= 0 runs. June 2 = 1 run. Memo to Joe Girardi: Kyle Farnsworth sucks. It's not all his fault though. Andy Pettitte has to protect the lead. He was given 3 leads tonight and he blew them all. Andy is better than that. Pettitte wasn't sharp tonight. He got knocked around and it ended up biting the team in the rump. At least he toughed it out and pitched 7 innings. The Yanks will need the bullpen tomorrow.

I have mixed feelings about the offense. They hit the ball but didn't when it counted. 5 runs on 15 hits. Not very productive. Individually, they were fine. Collectively, they blew. As I wrote yesterday they own Livan Hernandez and they owned him again. They definitely let him off the hook. The Yanks left 10 guys on base and they can't do be doing that if they want to win. Arrrgh!

Michael Kay needs to shut his pie hole. "The Twins are the only team without a HR from their catcher." Joe Mauer goes yard. "Twins fans are upset that Delmon Young is only hitting singles." He hits 3 doubles. Don't quote me on this last one but "The Yankees have only lost 4 times when Johnny Damon gets 2 hits in the game." Damon gets 2 hits and the Yankees lose. Man I hate that guy. Most of you know that already. He's a d-bag.

Back below .500. Frustrating. Very frustrating to watch. It won't be an easy task beating the Jays tomorrow. Joba makes his debut as a starter against Roy Halladay. This should be fun. This team really needs to start winning consistently. They've been playing better lately but they just can't put it all together. The Jays are playing good ball. Their pitching staff is unreal. As quickly as the Yanks got back to .500, they can just as easily drop right back down to 4 games below even against these guys.

I'm tired. I'm ticked. I'm tired of being ticked. AARGH. Well, at least the Sox lost.

J-Boogie

Yanks Win In Extras To Get Above .500 But Quickly Drop Back To Even With 5-1 Loss

I apologize for not blogging about last night's game earlier. I was going to do it last night but it went to extra innings and I didn't feel like it after it ended. I had the full intention of doing it this morning. I rolled out of bed at 1130am and the missus advised she had to run out and I was in charge of the little man. She got back around 130 which is the same time that Cooper's same-aged cousin Vaughn came over for a play-date and I couldn't ignore the fam. So here I am, trying to catch up with a two-fer. I apologize for what I'm assuming will be a long one. I'll probably lump the games into 2 when I talk about the offense.


It was nice to finally see this team get over the hump. The feeling I had about the Yanks winning that game turned out to be right, though not for the reasons I thought. Chien-Ming Wang didn't have his ace or #1 stuff. The Wanger has been struggling as of late. He's winless in his last 5 decisions, posting an ERA over that span of about 5.67. He's pitched well enough to win a few of those games and last night's game was no exception. Typically the offense does him in but this time it was the bullpen. I'm not sure what's going on with Wang. I read on Pete Abraham's blog that he's fine physically, but feels the problems are caused by inconsistency with his arm slot. I'd like to think that's an easy problem to fix but I have no idea. If there's one thing I know, Wang will figure it out and be throwing like we know he can real soon. I don't see Chien-Ming struggling long term.


Edwar Ramirez's magical run of not allowing an earned run came to an end last night when Michael Cuddyer hit a game-tying HR off him in the 7th. The HR blew the win for Wang but what can you do? Nobody can be perfect all of the time. I still like Edwar for the setup role over Kyle Farnsworth, who I'll admit, looked alright last night. But he's looked alright before,a nd at the drop of a dime, blows chunks.


I was surprised that Ross Ohlendorf pitched as well as he did. He came up big a few times in his 2 innings. I thought the Yanks were done for in the 11th. 2 on no out and Morneau and Cuddyer coming up. Getting through that had to be a huge confidence boost for Ross. Build on that Ross. I've got faith in his ability to get the job done. I just think he's a year or two away from putting it all together.


And then there's Mariano. Again perfect. He has been absolutely lights out. 15 for 15 in save chances. 1 earned run in 25 innings. Man what a difference a year makes. Shame on you baseball fans out there that thought he was done. Resigning him to all the cheddar was definitely worth it.


I read a lot of comments out in the blogosphere likening Darrell Rasner to Aaron Small. Small if you remember was a minor league call-up who went a perfect 10-0 for the Yankees a few years back. After Rasner was 3-0 I read a lot of things comparing the 2. And now that he's lost 2 straight, I guess that turned out to be a little premature now wouldn't you say? Don't get me wrong, I really like D-Raz. He pitched a great game when he got tagged with a loss against Baltimore. He wasn't as sharp today as he's been in his last few outings but still pitched alright. I don't expect perfection from the starters. I expect them to keep the team in the game and give the offense the opportunity to do its thing. Rasner has done that every time. He may have lost 2 straight, but he's A-OK in my book.


I wasn't overly impressed with Scott Patterson. But he's not any worse than anything else I've seen this year. First game jitters maybe. I'll reserve judgement until he gets another outing or two under his belt. And I'm not sure why they don't use Chris Britton more. He seems to be the preferred guy they call up, but he seldom pitches. I've liked what I've seen from CB over the last several years. I wish they'd use him more often. Definitely in place of Luis Vizcaino, err I mean Latroy Hakwins. Guy is garbage.


As for the offense.....


I think it's safe to say that the offense has turned a corner. They've been swinging the bats real well lately and I expect it to continue. The hits are coming more regularly. The runs scored are starting to pile up. Going back to the win against Baltimore on 5/21, they've scored 5 or more runs 7 times, a span of 11 games. They had only done that 12 times in their first 45 games. Definite improvement. The only ones I'm worried about right now are Robbie Cano and Derek Jeter. Cano has been cold most of the year and Jeter is in a nasty slump. He had a decent game today but 1 game convince me the slump is over. Both Jeter and Cano are good with the stick so I'm sure they'll break out of it. Abreu has put together a nice string of games. Damon has also. They may have only scored 1 run today on the Jeter homer but they all hit the ball except for Matsui and Betemit. Matsui has arguable been the league's best hitter to date. He'll be fine. Betemit on the other hand. Why is he on the roster? We can't find anyone better? The Yankees have a very weak bench right now. Ensberg was just sent packing. Good. Shelley Duncan. Don't get me started. And Betemit? Terrible. Wilson hasn't hit since he was traded from the Braves to the Dodgers. He hit .241 with the Dodgers in '06. .231 with them in '07 before he was traded to the Yankees for Scott Proctor. He hit .226 for us last year and with today;s o-fer he's hitting .237. His combined average now with LA and NYY, in 452 at bats, is .235. I thought he had some power too. As a Yankee, he's gone deep 5 times in 122 at bats. I was expecting more. He needs to perform or they need to find someone that can. The bench is cutting it.


And all of that rolls up into a 2 game split and an overall record of 28-28. .500. Ugh. I'm getting so sick of that percentage. To quote the legendary George Clinton from the song Bop Gun (Endangered Species): We got to get over the hump. Andy Pettitte looks to do that tomorrow int eh final game of this 4 game wrap around series with the look-alikes. The Twins are sending out Livan Hernandez. The Yankees have owned Livan throughout his career. I'd like to say that gives me confidence but the Yankees don't often do what they're supposed to. I feel good about things, but we'll see. Don't want to jinx it like I almost did to the Wanger.


Peace, love and Pinstripes,


J-Boogie

Yanks Escape With 6-5 Win In Minnesota

The Yankees beat the Twins last night 6-5 and I found myself very frustrated watching the game. How do those guys manage only 6 runs when they rack up 16 hits? That came should have been a blow out. Had they lost, I'd have gone through the roof.

The Shelley Duncan experiment has to end soon. Horrible at the plate. Horrible in the field. The Yanks can easily find better. I've said on many occasion I'm not a big fan of Duncan. He might run into the occasional homer but the negatives far outweigh the positives. He made an absolutely horrible throw to 2nd in the 1st inning, which eventually led to 4 runs. Duncan is going to be a 4-A player. Too good for the minors, not good enough for the majors. I like his enthusiasm, but that doesn't win a lot of ball games.

I thought we were in for another Mike Mussina meltdown after Duncan's 1st inning error. Kind of like what we saw when he only lasted two-thirds of an inning against Baltimore. Moose has to do a better job of picking the team up after the defensive miscues. After Duncan's error, Moose gave up 3 straight singles, all with the bases loaded. Granted, the defensive has to play better behind Moose, but Moose can't be doing that when they tank a play, something they've done 7 times this season. What Moose can do though is battle his way through the inning and then shut the door. Moose was brilliant last night in innings 2 through 5, allowing only 2 hits in those 5 innings. He kept the team in the game and the offense did the rest. Moose picks up win #8 and is again tied for the league lead in wins. Who'd have thunk it? You go Moose!

The offense had an all-around good night at the plate. The lone exception being Derek Jeter. Talk about a slump. The Captain is 3 for his last 37. That's crazy. I still have to think it has something to do with an injured hand maybe, but Jeter is a gamer and he's going to play everyday. If is he by chance hurt and not saying anything, I hope he takes a good look at his recent performance and questions if he's helping the team by playing. Don't be a hero Jeet. I respect your desire to play and win, but if you're hurting the team by playing, consider a day off or two. The Yankees racked up 16 hits last night and 12 came off the bats of Abreu, A-Rod, Matsui, and Melky, each with 3 hits a piece. Abreu had a monster night at the dish, 3 for 4 with 2 triples and 4 runs scored. He's hitting just south of .300. You'd think though that the Yankees would score more than 6 times if they racked up 16 hits? The Twins turned 3 DPs, made some great plays defensively (between the legs no look catch) and the Yankees definitely ran themselves out of some runs. They very easily could have lost that game. The pitching gets a lot of credit for picking them up.

The bullpen held its own in support of Moose. Kyle Farnsworth's season of inconsistency continued. Is he inconsistent or consistently bad? K-Farns has been pretty much the same type of pitcher since he's been in Pinstripes. He's has a few good games and a lot of bad ones. Granted, he bounced back after giving up a leadoff HR to Morneau, but he's till downright awful. Girardi needs to consider other options for the set=up role now that Joba is out of the picture. Right now, Edwar Ramirez is probably the best option. He's pitching lights out. they need to give him a shot. He's definitely earned it. And thank God for Mariano Rivera. How many times have we Yankee fans said that? A ground out to the pitcher and 2 Ks to close it out and save the win. Vintage Mo. He totally got hosed on the walk. That was strike 3 in my book. No biggie though with Mo on the mound. He'll just strike out the next 2 batter. Ball game over.

Chien-Ming Wang goes tonight against Boof Bonser. The Yanks are again sitting at .500 and this is probably their best shot to get above that plateau. The Yankees have hit Boof very well the 2 times they faced him. 15 hits and 11 runs in 2 starts. They're hitting .341 of him. I don't care what the naysayers say. Wang is an ace, a true #1. He can take a step forward in that argument by pitching like he can and putting this team above the .500 mark. That's what aces do. I don't want to jinx anything but I'm liking our chances tonight.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Yanks Lose 10-9 in 11, I Lose 2 Hours Of Sleep Due To Rain And Shoddy Baseball

I'm starting this post during the rain delay. No need in staying up any later than I have to.

For starters, this delay should have started before Hideki Matsui even stepped into the box. I'd have to think the crew chief knew that he was going to halt the game in between innings. It makes no sense to me to allow the Yankees to bat in a potentially huge situation at such a huge disadvantage. Go ahead run on 3rd with 2 outs? Do the right thing and call the game there. Joe Girardi was absolutely in the right coming out and asking them to stop play. He knew the game was going to be stopped after the inning. Heck, my 9-month old son who is upstairs sleeping knew the game would be stopped. Like i said the right and fair thing to do was to stop the game and give the Yankees their fair shot.

Tonight was all about the longball. The 2 teams have combined for 9 dingers so far. Ross Ohlendorf tried real hard to imitate Chase Wright. Not the guy you want to mimic Ross.

Ian Kennedy and Ross Ohlendorf did an absolute horrible job tonight. The offense spotted each a 4 run lead and each gave it right back. You can't be doing that. Kennedy is apparently injured. It kind of reminds me of the kid in high school that claimed he was injured whenever he made an error. You know the guy. Nowadays he goes by the name "Softball Guy" or "Gym Class Hero." I prefer to call him Danny Mac. Just kidding bro. Making sure you're reading and paying attention. Ohlendorf hasn't exactly excelled in his role this year as the "longman." Ohlie has given up 9 ER in his last 3 outings -- 6 IP, 11 H, 9 ER, 4 HR. That's scary.

On the contrary, Edwar Ramirez and Kyle Farnsworth came in and closed the flood gates. Edwar has definitely stepped it up this year. He's still yet to give up an earned run in his 14 innings this year. If you factor in his numbers with Scranton, his line is 23 IP, 12 hits, 7 BB, and 28 K. That's pretty darn good. Looks like the advice he got from Mariano and Pedro Martinez is paying off. For those of you unfamiliar with the advice it was to establish the fastball before you bust out the change. Pete Abraham had a good little write-up about Edwar on his blog today. Had Edwar given up a run today, I guarantee Pete would have been flooded with e-mails about putting the whammy on him, Good thing that didn't happen. We can thank Bobby Abreu for that. Farnsworth has been pretty inconsistent this year. He's either pitched well or he's been absolutely terrible. He flirted with being terrible tonight. If not for a great throw by Bobby Abreu to nail the ever-so speedy Kevin Millar at the plate, K-Farns would have given up the go-ahead run and knocked Edwar with his 1st earned run of the season. The game in all likelihood would be over right now and I'd probably be sleeping, grumbling about another Yankees' loss.

The offense, for the most part, had a pretty good game tonight. The aforementioned longballs from Giambi, Damon, Abreu and A-Rod were the big highlights. Giambi has been an absolute madman at the plate since growing his luscious 'stache. Gold thongs. Mustaches. Hey whatever works, right? Johnny Damon was quite the spark plug tonight. As of now JD is 4 for 5 with 2 2B, 1 HR and 3 RBI. I've always said the team succeeds when Johnny is hot. If only our Captain could lay down a bunt. Jeter has been struggling lately. Counting his 4 ABs tonight, he's 2 for his last 25 with 1 failed bunt attempt and a key pickoff at 2nd base. Getting picked off with runners on 1st and 2nd and A-Rod at the plate? Not the thing you want to do. You know better than that Derek. Hideki Matsui is the goat of the night going 0-5. He hit the ball pretty hard to end the Yankees 9th. Who knows? If it weren't pouring cats and dogs maybe the outcome of that play is different. Maybe he'll get another shot at it if this game goes extras.

As I type this, it's now 10 minutes to 11 and it's still a rain delay. It's been about 40 minutes. The rest of this blog will be a "live blog."

It's 11:10, the tarp is off the field and the legendary Mariano Rivera is on the field taking his warmups. I get the feeling Joe Girardi does not want to lose this game. Blowing two 4 run leads and dropping back to 2 games below .500 would be a big blow to the confidence of the team. It won't by any means be a nail in the coffin but this is a game the Yankees shouldn't lose.

It's 11:13 and we're off. I get the sinking feeling that this game ends real soon. Mo is great but it's been that kind of night. To quote the legendary Fabrice Morvan and Rob Pilatus, "blame it on the rain." Yeah, I just went there.

11:16-Mo just whiffed Markakis. Have a seat bub.

11:18-Mo just whiffed Aubrey Huff looking. Have a seat next to your buddy Nick.

11:20-Mo got a pop out for the 3rd out. It turns out that sinking feeling was just gas. Microwave popcorn doused in black pepper and garlic powder will do that to you. Try it. It's yummy yummy. Mo is awesome.

11:22- The mustachioed Giambino just grounded out to short. Curse you evil shift.

11:24- Perennial Gold Glove winner Wilson Betemit just hit a 1-out single. Let's go Robbie Cano.

11:27- Oh Robbie. There you go again, swinging at ball four. Show some plate discipline my friend. You're lucky it wasn't an inning-ending DP. At least now if we go to the 11th, Johnny D will leadoff.

11:30- Molina flew out to CF. I didn't see that coming. Where's Wil Nieves when you need him? Oh yeah, he's in Washington hitting .320. I'd still take Jose any day.

11:32- Mo is out for inning #2 and I still have gas.

11:32a- Millar rounds to Jeter on 1 pitch.

11:34- Winning run is on 2nd. The Giambino would have had that ball easy. Horrible defensive positioning by Wilson Betemit. Wilson Betemit = defensive liability.

11:37- Mo picked up his 3rd K of the night. If only Roger Dorn was on the team. He could walk to the mound and give Mo some sound advice. Strike this mofo out!

11:40- Mo just unintentionally intentionally walked Jay Payton on 4 straight pitches. Mo would never unintentionally throw 4 straight out of the zone.

11:41- Sorry that it smells in here. Oooh wee.

11:42- B-Rob just flew out to CF. Yay, more baseball, he says sarcastically.

11:46- Leadoff walk to Johnny D! Leadoff walks usually don't bode well for the defense. Just ask Mo Rivera, Kevin Millar and Dave Roberts.

11:47- Ouch. Bad form Orioles. 1)Mora should have let the ball roll. 2)More should have eaten the throw. I'm glad I'm not an O's fan.

11:48- 4 straight wide ones to Abreu. Bases juiced. No outs. A-Rod. Can you smell what the Rod is cooking?

11:49- Are you kidding me? Did I just saw what I think I saw? I did. I did. I did see a puttytat, I mean a 4-2-5 DP. That's a new way to kill a rally.

11:51- Did I call it or did I call it? I said above that maybe Matsui would get another shot if this game goes extras. Check the transcript. It's there. He came through in the clutch. Yanks lead 9-8. Suck on that rain.

11:53- The Big G whiffed to end the Yankees' half of the 11th. That inning had so much potential. At least they came away with 1 run.

11:54- I get it. Derek Jeter has an Edge. Enough already. I miss Giuseppe Franco.

11:55- LaTroy is on for the save. Yikes. If only Joba were still in the pen. I don't like this plan.

11:59- Leadoff single to Mora. This will be interesting. That sinking feeling is back again. I don't think it's gas this time.

12am- Warning track power there by Markakis. I thought that was the ball game.

12:01- Son of a monkey. Tie game. Winning run is on 3rd. Is anyone really surprised at what's transpired? Again I ask

12:02 & 12:03 - 2 free passes and the bags are full with 1 down.

12:05- Well, it wasn't gas this time. Ball game over. Way to go LaTroy. Nicely done.

Nothing is worse than staying up really late and then losing. I said a few days ago that working Joba into the rotation was not the move to make at this time. Consider this: Joba in all likelihood would have pitched tonight. Assuming he did, we're probably looking at a different ending. Joba probably would have also pitched in yesterday's loss as well. Joba in. Hawkins and Veras out. The Yankees probably don't lose 6-1. I'm not saying the Yankees would have won either game, but it's just something to think about. LaTroy Hawkins = really bad. I'm disgusted. I'm tired. I have to be up in 6.5 hours. It would have been a much nicer sleep if Hawkins did his job. At least he won't pitch tomorrow.

J-Boogie

Offense Still Sputtering But Yanks Walk Off With 2-1 Win

That was quite the 9th inning. Joe Girardi comes up and throws a hissy fit after a questionable foul-tip strikeout of Jason Giambi. Abreu works a pinch-hit walk and Robbie Cano (Don't Ya Know) comes through in the clutch with a game-winning walk off single to left. It's real nice to see these guys finally have an on-the-field post game celebration. We're 2 games into the slingshot. Who would have thought that they would have rode Ian Kennedy's arm to victory?

Ian Kennedy. It's about time. We've been waiting patiently all year for you to throw a decent game and you finally delivered. It only took you 8 starts. The turning point of his outing was definitely the 3rd inning K of Nick Markakis with the bases loaded. That was huge. I thought to myself after that whiff that it would be Kennedy's turning point. That had to be a huge confidence boost for IPK. He wasn't exactly on point with his control but pitched well nonetheless. If only the offense could have scratched across another run. Ike deserved the W.

Ah the offense. Still terrible. Is it me or does every opposing starting pitcher seem to last into the 7th or 8th inning every game? Opposing starters have gone at least 7 innings in 7 of the last 9 games. And in 1 of the 2 they didn't, they went 6 innings. I've said it quite a few times this year. The Yankees aren't playing their game. They're being very aggressive at the plate and the approach isn't working. They've gotten away from working counts. They've gotten away from running up pitch counts. Am I the only one noticing this? Cano saw 6 pitches tonight in his 4 at-bats. Robbie has always been a free swinger but he needs to show some plate discipline. Jeter is another prime example. Jeet has walked on average once every 5 games this year. Last year he picked up a walk once every 2.79 games. His OBP is down 40 points. Bobby Abreu is another example. Walks per game this year 2.81, Last year, 1.89. A-Rod? This year, 1 walk every 4.33 games. Last year, 1.66. They're definitely more aggressive and like I said, it doesn't appear to be working. Patience my friends. Patience.

I'm becoming increasingly agitated with Shelley Duncan. I've never been high on Shelley and watching him swing at a pitch over his head just makes me more down on him. Don't get me wrong, he's exciting to watch at times, but he doesn't belong in the majors. He's the quintessential 4-A player. Too good for AAA, not good enough for the bigs. He doesn't look like he has any balance at the plate. He often ends up in the other batter's box after a swing. not a good approach. Sure he'll run into the occasional home run, but more often that not, he's going to come up empty. Shelley is now hitting .182. I'm not sure what the Yanks see in him. I don't get it.

The bullpen did a stellar job tonight. Veras gave up a single to the first batter he faced. After that it was smooth sailing as the trio of Veras, K-Farns and Mo sent the O's down in order. I'll admit I was a little nervous see Farnsworth pitch in the 8th inning of a tie game. I thought for sure the theme of this post would have to do with the move of Joba to the rotation backfiring right out of the gate. I'll bet the Yankees' brass issued a huge sigh of relief after he mowed them down 1-2-3. I was particularly impressed he sent them down on a mere 7 pitches. Way to go K-Farns. And Mo was of course typical Mo. Ball game over. Yankees win. The Yankees win.

I think it's a safe bet that the ball did glance off Giambi's bat in the 9th inning and he was rightfully called out on strikes. I don't think the ump saw it though. It looked to me like he thought was a ball inside. How else can you explain the long delay between the ball hitting the mitt and the actual strike call. It was a little odd that he made the call after Ramon Hernandez tried to sell it as hitting the bat. Joe Girardi was definitely in the right coming out and going berserk. That was pretty fun to watch. Very reminiscent of Sweet Lou. Man Joe looked ticked. It worked out well. I think it was the perfect opportunity to come out and fire up his team. I'm not sure it had an impact on tonight's win but we might see these guys play with a little more intensity and not appear as flat as they've been playing. Way to go skip.

It's sad that we get so excited over a 2 game winning streak but I'll take it. They've played like garbage lately and picking up a series win against a divisional opponent is never a bad thing. We might be catching a break here as the lowly Mariners are coming to town, owners of the worst record in the AL. It may not be as easy as it sounds as they're drawing Erik Bedard and King Felix in the 1st 2 games of the series. The Yanks lit up Hernandez in their last meeting. It would be real nice to see them do it again. I'd feel a little better about things if they had hit the ball tonight. We'll see. Games aren't played on paper so anything is possible.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Yanks Drop 1st Game Of Subway Series, Shocking I Know

Beating Johan Santana is never an easy task. It's even more difficult when the reigning MVP and arguably the best offensive catcher in the game are sidelined with injuries. The cards were stacked against the Yanks today and despite a late run, they fell short, dropping the series opener to their crosstown rivals by a score of 7-4.

I don't get Andy Pettitte. In my opinion he's pitching alright but he runs into one inning every game, usually the 4th or 5th inning, where he totally melts down and the team can't recover from the damage. Today was no different, though he didn't get hit hard when he gave up 3 4th inning runs. He looked great out of the box. His 1st 5 outs came on strikeouts and the 6th on a classic Andy Pettitte pickoff. He was dealing and he had my hopes running high. Things looked good and then he hit a rough patch of road which has been a staple of his last few outings. Andy has now lost 4 straight and his ERA has risen almost 2 full points (2.45 to 4.42) in his last 5 outings. I'd like to say he's tiring and running out of gas but he was able to last a full 6 innings today despite a high pitch count, and he pitched rather effectively in his last 2 innings. Whatever his deal is I hope he works it out.

The bullpen has been great lately, keeping the team in ballgames and allowing them to keep the score close. Kyle Farnsworth has been part of that good run but today, not so much. He got shell-shocked today. In his 1 inning of work he gave up 3 hits, 1 BB and 2 dingers. That's the K-Farns we've all come to know and hate. I don't quite agree with booing him off the field as he's done quite well all year. I kind of like to think the fans were getting on him because of the whole "Subway Series" thing. There's no sugar coating it though, he sucked. The game was over as soon as the 2nd HR cleared the fence.

I'm kind of surprised the Yanks managed 4 runs of Santana with how they've been doing lately. Jeter hit an absolute bomb off him in the 1st. I didn't see that coming. The Captain had a great day at the dish, 3-4 w/2 RBI. I'm not sure what he was thinking trying to stretch that single into a double. It wasn't even close and you could tell he was done for as soon as they showed him rounding first. We really need Jorge and Alex back in the lineup. No doubt in my mind that they would have won today with those 2 in the lineup. I like Molina, Shelley, Moeller and Alberto, but come on, there's no comparison. You knew that there was no way that Shelley Duncan or Morgan Ensberg were going to come through in the 9th. Duncan tries too hard to hit dingers and Ensberg just isn't very good. Get well real soon guys. We need ya.

I think a lot of the Yankees offensive woes can be attributed to the aggressive approach they all seem to be taking at the plate. What happened to taking pitches, working walks, getting pitching counts up, and exploiting bad bullpens? There have been way too many 1st pitch outs this year. Take Jeter for example. He finished last year with a .322 avg and an on-base percentage of .388, a 66 point difference. Coming into today's game he was hitting .302 with an OBP of .335, a 33 point difference. Jeter is walking on average once every 6 games. Last year he walked once in every 2.79 games. He's striking out once every 2.11 games. Last year he struck out once in every 1.56 games. See where I'm going with this? He's being pretty aggressive at the plate, and while he's hitting for a decent average, he's not playing his typical ball game. None of them really appear to be. It was ridiculous watching Santana get out of the 4th and 5th innings on like 6 pitches each. I may not be exact in the pitch total but if you saw the game, you know what I'm talking about. Pettitte was on the hill for 20+ minutes in the 4th inning. Santana's 4th inning lasted about 2.5 minutes. They need to get back to what worked. I wonder if this is a Joe Girardi thing? I'm curious if he's pushing the aggressive approach. Kevin Long needs to get these guys back into that mindset because what they're doing now isn't working.

The Yankees are extremely lucky to be only 5 our right now. It's by no means an insurmountable lead. They're a very capable team. For some unknown reason they like to play like crap for almost 2 months and then kick it into overdrive. Why can't they just once play consistently good baseball? The Yanks need a huge outing tomorrow from Chien-Ming Wang. Wang has been great all year. The offense owes him. He should be 8-0 but thanks to a lack of run support he's an imperfect 6-1. They should be able to hit Oliver Perez, but they should be able to hit a lot of guys they don't. Every game is an adventure.

J-Boogie

A Beautiful Saturday in Detroit, Yanks Win 5-2 And Mo Hooks Me Up

I was up and out of bed Saturday morning at 4:45, eager with anticipation about the day that lay ahead. My friend Dan and I had tickets to yesterday's Tigers/Yankees game. It would be my first live game of the season. A game I had been waiting for since the season started. When we first checked for tickets on the Tigers website a few months ago there weren't any available. Here's a tip for anyone who tries to get tickets to a sold out game: keep checking back. A few weeks after we first checked we checked again and there were some for sale. I even checked a few weeks after we bought the tickets to see if any were available and there were but they were standing room only. I checked again Friday morning just for fun and there were tickets available down the 1st base line about 18 rows up from the field. It looks like additional tickets get released to the public as the event draws closer. I'm not saying it happens every time, but I've seen it many times before. Most notably for some postseason games at Yankee Stadium a few years ago. Just a little tip from me to you.

I got to Dan's house at about 20 after 5 and we left for the D. Our options were to stay stateside (a 5.5 hour drive per Yahoo Maps), drive through Canada and get back into the US in Northern Michigan (about a 4:30 minute drive per Yahoo), or drive through Canada and get back into the US right in Detroit (about 4:30 per Yahoo). As much as we hate dealing with customs agents at border crossings and driving through a foreign country, we opted to cut through Canada and get back into the US in Northern Michigan. We figured the bridge traffic would be much lighter there than right in Detroit. Our drive went by rather quickly. We made great time. We ended up reaching Comerica Park around 9:45 and that's with spending 30 minutes at the Canada/Michigan border. We picked the line that had a trainee customs agent in it. It took 3 times as long as the other lines. That's Murphy's Law for you.

So we got to the park around 9:45. Game time was 3:40. Some of you might be wondering why we got there so early. Those of you that have frequented this blog for some time know I like to collect autographed baseball stuff, primarily signed baseballs. I've been collecting for almost 4 years now and I've got about 150 signed balls give or take. We figured that if the game started at 3:40 then people might start showing up starting around 10am. I've been to Comerica once before a few years ago when the wife and I were on a ballpark trip. There is an indoor parking lot that the players/coaches park in which is accessible to fans. It's right across the street from the park. Basically, you see the guy drive in, get out of his car, call him over and hope that he comes, and then hand him something to sign through the metal bars, and then he walks to the park through an underground entrance. It's pretty accessible. Probably the 2nd most accessible lot I've seen next to Cleveland's.

We ended up getting to their lot right at 10am. There were 3 other guys there waiting already. We weren't there any more than 2 minutes when Jim Leyland arrived and ended up signing a few things. I already have his so I didn't try again and my friend Dan was a little slow on the draw and he just missed out. We stood there for the next two hours and a couple people from the Tigers signed, most notably Jeremy Bonderman, Nate Robertson and Curtis Granderson. I didn't care to get autos from the 2 pitchers but I did get one from Granderson. Since I asked him to sign the sweet spot he elected to personalize the ball. I'd prefer that it wasn't personalized but I don't sell my stuff so it's OK. He inscribed the ball "Best Wishes Jay" and signed his name though it looks nothing like it. Here's a picture. Apparently, that's how Curtis signs his name.The lot is also across the street from the entrance to the executive offices. This is where players who take cabs to the park get dropped off and enter the park. When I was there a few years ago we saw Curt Schilling and Manny Ramirez get dropped off and enter through there. Yesterday we saw Jose Molina, Wilson Betemit and some coach I didn't recognize get dropped off and enter without signing, more so because no one went over for them. The Yankees' team bus arrived right before noon and it pulls into a fenced off outdoor parking lot connected to the player's garage. Usually the guys don't sign getting off the bus but occasionally one does, usually Johnny Damon. Yesterday was not one of those occasions. Not everyone takes the bus but enough took it that day for us to abandon the area rigth after the bus emptied. We didn't see Jeter on the bus (he rarely takes it from what I've seen in Toronto) and rather than wait for him to show up in a cab, Dan and I bolted at about 12:30 and decided to go wait for the gates to open at 2pm.

While we were waiting we weighed our options on where to go for batting practice. Stand next to the dugout and hope to land someone after they're done with BP, or go further down the line into the outfield in hopes of getting a pitcher to sign after they're done throwing. Dan was interested in getting Joba and i wanted to get Mariano on a 99 World Series ball so we decided to go down the line. BP started without much action. The guys were out loosening up their arms playing a little catch. Joba was right near us and flirted with the crowd but continued to get his work in. When a guy does sign it's usually when the work is out of the way. I had noticed Mariano saunter over to the wall a little further down the line. I grabbed my ball and wiggled my way through the crowd down to where he was. He was talking to a guy in the crowd that he must have known. The guy had his little son with him and Mariano was making a little chit-chat with him. He ended up signing a ball for his little one and then continued his convo with the guy for a few more minutes. While he talked, he signed a handful of things for some of the people standing around the guy. Having just dropped about 50 pounds it was easy for me to wiggle my way right to where I needed to be. Mo only signed about 7 things and my 99 World Series ball ended up being the last thing he signed. Score! Here's a picture:

As BP went on not much happened. The only position player I really wanted to get was Jeter and the only time he ever signs (which is rare) is after he takes infield during the 2nd wave of BP. So I made my way to the corner of the dugout and watched him jog off the field and into the clubhouse after he was done fielding grounders. Typical Jeter. After that I decided to go back to where Mo had signed before in case he came back to that spot for another convo after BP. Mo will a lot of times sign after the hitters are done. That wasn't the case today. He jogged off with the rest of the team after BP.

After BP, I made my way back down the line to wear Dan was and as it turns out there was 1 guy still on the field. Joba was down in the RF corner signing autographs. I again wiggled my way close to where the action was. I had prime real estate to get an auto be he stopped signing and ran off before he got to me. I would say I was about 4 people away from getting one. I got Joba's last year when he pitched in Erie, PA while with Trenton so I wasn't too shook up about it. I probably would have given it to Dan as he missed out also.

We headed for our seats out in LF and when we got there we realized that they weren't the best seats in the house. They weren't bad, but by no means were they any good. but they were only $15 and we paid face value so no real complaints. We sat in a "riser pavilion" right under the big scoreboard in LF. Basically it's a standard bleacher setup but there are fold down seats instead of hard metal. We were in the 1st row of that section which was good, but there was a handicap section right in front of us which was bad as it blocked our view of the field. It also ended up being a popular thoroughfare for people walking to the sections next to us. It reminded me of my seats in Fenway but without the ever-present smell of urine. Anyway, it's amazing to me how many people can't find their seats. It's not that complicated of a process. Everything is numbered and easy to see. Open your eyes and use your brains and you'll make the ballpark a better place. To the Tigers credit, once the game started they put up barriers and a lot of the foot traffic stopped but it was still hard to see a lot of the game with the people in the handicapped seats right in front of us. It didn't help that my direct line of sight was the pitcher throwing to home plate. Lucky for me, the seat next to me was vacant all game so I did a lot of leaning. The fans in the section were all right. They kept booing this one guy in our section who kept walking by what seemed like once an inning. They were either booing him because he was wearing a Yankees road jersey or because it looked like he gelled up his hair a la "There's Something About Mary." The guy next to me asked me if that's how the hair is worn in New York to which I replied "not where I'm from." The guy looked pretty goofy.

As for the game itself, what more could you ask for? D-Razmataz was great. He gave up a 1st inning bomb and that was pretty much it. He pitched a great game giving up only 4 hits in 6 innings. He's done a fantastic job in his 2 starts. Hopefully Ian Kennedy and Phil Hughes take notes because that's what they need to do. Don't be afraid. Attack attack attack. I could tell from my crappy vantage point that Kyle Farnsworth looked like crap. He relieved Rasner and quickly got into trouble before settling down and getting out of the jam he created. Joba came in after K-Farns and got a quick 1-2-3. Mo followed and was again awesome as he notched his 9th save. The DP of Cabrera was huge. Anytime you can take in a live Yankee game and get to see Mo close it out is a good Yankee game. Offensively the team wasn't bad but they could have done so much more. They could have chased Bonderman right off the bat but Cano let him off the hook grounding into a DP. It was good though to see Giambi and Cano each get another hit. Watching those 2 battle it out for the worst average is kind of funny. I don't think of Cano when i think of worst average on the team. They're both starting to hit though. Hopefully they keep it up and continue to do so once A-Rod returns to the lineup. The team really needs the offense to fire on all cylinders.

We were pretty tired after the game and decided just to get out of Dodge. I made it back to my house right at midnight. I was dog tired but I couldn't complain at all. A beautiful day. A Yankee win. And autographs from 2 great players. I went to bed a happy camper.

I set the DVR up to record today's game because we were going to Mother's Day brunch at noon. I got back around 2:45 and much to my dismay the game was washed out. I was so looking forward to the pink bats. Maybe they'll use them tomorrow when the team takes on Tampa. Tampa's pitching has been great of late so I just hope they use whatever bats pick the team up some runs. It looks like it'll be Pettitte v. Garza. Works for me. Go get 'em Andy.

J-Boogie