Anything You Can Do Moose Can Do Better

Take that Yankee starters. Moose just put on a clinic. At least it sounded that way. My 2pm meeting ended up being canceled so I got to listen to the second half of the game on the radio. I was able to follow along with the first half of the game with the Yahoo gamecast. It never sounded like Moose was in any kind of trouble. The hits sounded soft, when guys were on base he struck guys out or got the double play. Moose is the man. What amazes me is that he's managed to lower his ERA in each of his last 5 starts. Over those starts it went from 3.93 to 3.87 to 3.64 to 3.61 to 3.49, and with today's 8 shutout innings, it's now 3.26. It's really impressive to me because his ERA was south of 4 when this run started. Over those 5 starts, Moose has thrown 32 innings, allowed only 33 hits, 3 walks, has struck out 31, and has only allowed 5 runs, all earned, for an ERA of 1.41. Moose is having a dream season. I don't think anyone, Moose included, could have predicted this. Mooooooooooooose! 1 O for each win. Count 'em up. You'll find 13, which again ties him for the league lead in wins. His career total is now 263. Had Moose gotten some run support, he could easily have at least 15 wins. A lot of people thought Moose was a borderline HOFer when the season started. I think it's safe to say the pendulum has swung in Moose's favor, especially when you look at how he did last year.

It took a while again for the offense to get going. If not for a really bad defensive miscue by the Twins, the ending to today's game might have been drastically different. But it happened and it worked out well for the boys. Justin Christian made a solid case to play over Brett Gardner. They each are pretty fast and Christian is showing he's got a little better stick. Why not give him a go? Robbie Cano had another multi-hit game, his 6th straight. Talk about being on a tear. He's raised his average 16 percentage points since the break. Boo yah. I thought A-Rod put one out in the 6th. I had a fellow colleague talking to me at my desk when John Sterling broke into his "It is high. It is far. It is gone" catchphrase. I paused our conversation only for Sterling to say "off the base of the wall" instead of "gone." Typical Sterling. Drives me crazy.

Mo had to come in and bail out LaTroy Hawkins. Mo remained perfect in save opportunities, picking up his 25th save in his 25th save opportunity. Mo is having the best season of his career. I outlined this a few weeks ago, and I might as well do it again. Mo's lowest ERA for a full season was 1.38 in 2005. This year it's 1.21. His lowest full season WHIP was 0.87, again in 2005. This year it's 0.68. The lowest opponent's batting average against Mo was .176 in 1999, in 2005 it was .177. This year, it's .169. He's striking out 10.88 per 9 innings. His career best was 10.87 in 1996. His strikeout to walk ratio is 13.5 strikeouts for every one walk. His career best was 6.92 Ks to BBs, back in 2001. That stat blows my mind. And again, he's perfect in save opportunities. He's putting up career bests in every statistical category. Best. Closer. Ever.

John Sterling commented on the broadcast that Joe Girardi mentioned that they corrected a mechanical flaw in Hawkins' delivery. Can you say jinx? I wonder who the odd man out will be when Brian Bruney comes back? Hmm. I wonder. It should be Hawkins, but it won't be. Deal him for somebody and eat his salary. He's the worst we've got right now, by far.

6 straight baby! Not a bad way to start the second half. Now we have a well deserved off day and then it's time to renew the rivalry. Joba vs. Beckett in game 1. That should kick the series off just right. I kind of wish there wasn't an off day. Don't want to see them lose any of this momentum. I unfortunately won't be around for the Friday and Saturday games. I'm headed to Cooperstown for the Induction Weekend festivities. This will be my 3rd straight year. It's a real good time, if you don't mind sleeping in the front seat of a Toyota Corolla. At least this year, my sleeping quarters will be slightly bigger, the back of a Kia Rondo. Ahh, good times. I wouldn't miss it for the world. Not even for Sox/Yankees. You guys hold down the fort and I'll see ya sometime Sunday. Enjoy the off day and go Yanks!

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Now That's Some Ugly Baseball

That was a tough game to watch. Right from the get-go I knew it would be one of those games. As soon as Jeter grounded into a double play after Melky's leadoff walk, I shook my head. Is it me, or does Jeter ground into a lot of double plays? That's #10 on the year for the Captain. Seems like a lot. Over the 1st 11 years of his career, Jeter averaged 13.6 GIDPs per season. He had a career high 21 last year and he's halfway to that total this year. That's not a good trend. He's got to be better than that, especially as the #2 hitter.

Rasner didn't do anyone any favors tonight. He was just awful, and quite frankly he has been for a while now. That's his 5th loss in his last 6 starts. Granted, he's been the victim of a lack of run support, but he's been inconsistent. Without Wang in the rotation, the Yankees can't really afford to have these poor outings from D-Raz. He's got to win his share of ball games. I'm not sure if D-Raz could have avoided it tonight. The Pittsburgh hitters were locked in. There wasn't much good happening on the mound tonight for the Yankees. LaTroy Hawkins was again beyond bad. He's another guy that needs to be more consistent. His last 5 outings were all on the plus side. Tonight, not so much. It was bad, just bad.

The Yanks definitely had their chances tonight. The only good thing was Robinson Cano. He's done this before though. He'll crank out a few multi-hit games and next thing you know he's oh-fer 10 or something. When Robbie cracks .250, I'll get excited.

Did anybody catch the hilarity that happened when Jeter lead off the 7th with a double? Jeter hits the ball over 1st base and the ball kicks over to the stands. You see this teenager in a red jersey reach over the rail and interfere with the ball. Automatic double for Jeter. Anyway, the ball goes in and out of the kid's glove and goes back out onto the field, where it's retrieved by the ball boy and he takes off with it. They show the kid in red calling for the ball as the ball boy runs away and when he realizes he's not getting the ball, you can clearly see him mouth the words, "you ***hole." I had to rewind it a few times just to make sure. I couldn't help myself. I bursted out laughing. Here's this teenager who 1)brings a glove to game, 2)interferes with a ball in play, 3)has the ball go in and out of his glove (which shouldn't happen when you have a glove), 4)doesn't get the ball and 5)calls the ball boy an a-hole for not giving him the ball. I don't know, but if you ask me, he's the a-hole, or better yet douchebag. I'm pretty sure I even said after I stopped laughing, "what a douchebag." Ken Singleton was kind of cracking on him to. I'm pretty sure he was hoping the kid would get bounced. I was too. Hopefully, he did.

After tonight's whooping, I can only hope tomorrow kicks off another slingshot. For those not familiar with the slingshot and want to know more, scroll up to the top of the page and in the Google search bar on the right, run a search for "slingshot." Make sure you click the button with the URL listed. For those of you that are lazy and don't want to search, here's a high level breakdown: get your butt kicked and then go on a nice winning streak. It's been known to happen. And it all starts tomorrow with Joba. Go get 'em Justin!

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Yanks Bullpen Implodes, Joba Unimpressive In Start

Another really frustrating Yankee game. It's becoming more of the norm. The bullpen for the most part was absolutely atrocious. I could barely stand watching them implode in the 7th inning. The magical season of Edwar Ramirez has come to an end. He was awful tonight. I don't think it's cause for alarm. His lack of control did him in tonight and he's had pretty good stuff all year. If he can throw strikes, he'll be fine. Jose Veras on the other hand. I don't know what the Yanks see in him. I just don't get it. I've never really seen the attraction. On the plus side, Latroy Hawkins didn't give up any runs. Figures. The one time it really doesn't matter how he does he pitches alright. And good for Chris Britton. Keep doing your thing.

I wasn't expecting much from Joba tonight. Not many of these guys do well in their first start. It didn't help either that the Jays' game plan was to sit and watch all his pitches. Lucky for the Jays he didn't have good control. Had he, joba might have lasted more than 2.1 IPs. But he pitched alright I guess. If the Jays didn't know the Yankees game plan perhaps it would be a different story. You could totally tell they wanted his pitch count to climb and to get him out of the game ASAP. His next start will be a better indicator of how things will go. I would still prefer to see the Yankees have him do this in the minors. Call up a guy with the arm strength to maybe throw 5 IP and save the bullpen. Dan Geise filled in admirably in what will probably be his 1 and done outing. It definitely doesn't make any sense to start Joba ahead of Moose. We're back to the problem we had with Phil and Ian. Back-to-back short outings will kill the bullpen. I hope Moose brings it tomorrow.

The offense didn't really do much tonight. But it's Roy Halladay. What can you really do? The Jays have the best pitching staff in baseball. Scoring runs against them hasn't been easy for anyone. Johnny Damon continued to swing a hot bat. His 3 hits have him hitting above .300. And Jeter's slump appears to be over. Jeet is now 6-12 in his last 3 games. The Yanks had their chances but again came up empty when they needed it most. After watching yesterday's game, I was resigned to the fact that the Yankees were again going to fail at scoring with a runner on 3rd with less than 1 out. In this case there were no outs which would have made it worse. But Matsui was having none of it. Godzilla has been the go to guy all year. He better get voted into the All Star Game.

So here we are again. 2 games under .500. The struggle to get over the hump continues. Now it will take at least 2 more games. It's not going to be easy to do against the Jays. The Yanks almost need to play perfect baseball. Something tells me that's not going to happen. It's all on Moose's shoulders. A win tomorrow and he'll still be the league leader in wins. I couldn't be happier that Moose is pitching effectively. I'm a big Moose guy. But he's got an uphill battle tomorrow. He needs to pitch deep into the game. The Yankees need at least 6 from him and then they'll turn it over to.....uh oh. We might be in trouble. Moose needs to pitch at least 7.2. That's all there is to it. Moose for 8. Mo for 1. Sounds like a plan. No go execute.

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

Starting Pitching Again Dooms Yankees

Andy Pettitte was bad tonight. No trying to sugar coat it. He just didn't have it. He's the guy who you can count on to throw at least 6 innings. Tonight he barely made it through 5. The Yankees bullpen needed the night off and Pettitte failed to deliver. With Ian Kennedy pitching tomorrow and no off day in sight, it could be a rough stretch for the Yankees bullpen. They got burned yesterday by the rain delay. They got burned today by Pettitte's ineffectiveness. I shudder to think what could happen tomorrow if Kennedy doesn't throw deep into the game. If he throws strikes he'll be OK. The bullpen is in shambles right about now. Bruney is done for the year. Farnsworth and Hawkins are terrible. Traber is unproven. We now have two AAAers up to help out in Albaladejo and Britton. Job is eventually headed for the rotation. And Mo is now and will always be Mo. No worries there. But worries pretty much everywhere else.

The offense tonight was brought to you courtesy of Jason Giambi. He had a pretty good swing tonight. He absolutely crushed his first homer. That was a shot. Rumor is that Shelley Duncan is on his way back. If Giambi wants his playing time he needs to keep swinging the bat like that. Outside of that there wasn't much doing. Jeter has been abysmal since the team left Baltimore. Cano continues to stink up the joint. The offense needs to pick up the pitching staff. As a unit tonight they were awful. Giambi and Matsui. That was pretty much it. They're very lucky they don't run into Carmona and Cliff Lee this series.

I'm probably going to miss tomorrow's game unless I DVR it, which I'll probably do. I have traffic school from 9-4 and a 2 year old's birthday party from 4-???. I got nabbed by the fuzz doing 43 in a 15. School zone. Lucky for me the cop was nice enough to leave the word "school" off the ticket. It got knocked down and I have to go to class and pay a $25 fine. Not bad all things considered. I'm not looking forward to the class. But that's what you get when you're a lead foot like me.

Enjoy your night/day. Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Pitching Woes Continue & Offense Does Nothing To Help

There's not really much to say about tonight's Yankee game that hasn't been said before. We've seen these types of Yankee games more often than we'd like to. Starter goes less than 6, bullpen gives up some runs, offense is almost non-existent. Same story, different day.

I didn't think Phil Hughes pitched that bad. He seemed to be a lot better with his control though he didn't help himself out at all by going deep into counts. I'm not sure why he couldn't finish anybody off either. He only picked up 1 strikeout. I would think a pitcher of Hughes' caliber could have racked up a few more. His outing wouldn't have been as bad if the defense helped him out. A-Rod's indecision to throw to home or to first cost the team an out, chased Hughes from the game, and forced Girardi to go to an ineffective LaTroy Hawkins who again failed to do his job. Just when you think maybe Hawkins has turned it around, he comes on and stinks up the joint.

But back to Hughes, and for all intents and purposes Ian Kennedy also. These guys are going to struggle. Michael Kay mentioned in the broadcast a comment Brian Cashman made and it basically was that the Yankees understand that when you have pitchers this young, you're going to have to experience their growing pains. Hughes is the youngest pitcher in baseball. Considering he's only 21 and most guys hit their prime around 26/27, he's got quite a ways to go before he hits his stride. In all honesty, the youngsters could probably benefit from a little more time spent down on the farm developing their skills and honing their craft. Unfortunately that's not an option. The decision was made to go with the youngsters and any windows to bring in "veterans" that could pitch effectively have closed. I think we're going to see these guys go through a lot of ups and downs early on but in the long run they'll do just fine. The biggest thing we need from them right now is for them to be more economical with their pitches. Hughes threw a lot of first pitch strikes but ended up getting into trouble with all the deep counts. Hence the 97 pitches thrown in only 5 and 1/3 innings. They've got to attack the strike zone.

Is it me or does Daniel Cabrera seem to kick it up a notch when he faces the Yankees? I'm going off of memory and sometimes it thinks it knows things that it doesn't, but I recall him having their number quite a bit last year. He's another guy that hasn't been able to fully harness his potential. He had the Yankees stymied tonight. The Yankee bats had their chances but never really took advantage when they could have. It all goes back to failing to hit with runners in scoring position. With 2 on and no out in the 7th our 3-4-5 guys go down 1-2-3. They're hitting the ball hard. They just all seem to be right at defenders. But it is what it is and what it is is failing to deliver hits when they're needed. They always seem to start slow and you know they'll eventually start running on all cylinders. But right now it's the same story, different year.

Edwar Ramirez pitched pretty well. I still don't think he's ready for prime time but the Yanks need fresh arms in the pen right now. Hurry back Joba. We miss/need you.

Ian Kennedy gets the ball tomorrow and he really needs to eat some innings to give the pen a rest. Hopefully Girardi takes advantage of the off day Monday and uses it to slide Andy Pettitte in between Phil and Ian. It can only help.

I guess I did have quite a bit too say.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Wang Gets Wocked, Sox Get Socked, Yanks Win 15-9

I'm starting to write this post a little after 10pm in the east. This game is your typical Yankees/Sox affair. A knocked down, dragged out fight with each side landing blow after blow after blow. We're already 3 hours deep and at this rate it's going to end after 11. Dude has to work in the morning. I can't be staying up all night blogging. It's currently 11-9 Yankees. Abreu just flew out to the LF corner to open up the inning. I may sprinkle in some nuggets about the live action as I type this.

This game was the polar opposite of the Wang/Buchholz pitching duel from last week. Neither pitcher had their A game tonight. I think you can argue the point that neither had their B, C, D or E games either. Neither pitcher made it past the 4 inning mark and each got hit pretty hard. This was definitely not your typical Wang outing. The last post I wrote talked about how dominant Wang has been against the Sox in his last 3 or so outings. You can basically crinkle that post up and toss it right in the trash.

If you had told me before the game that the Yankees would have scored 7 runs off Buchholz, I would have thought a Wang win was automatic. I'm a little shocked that he got hit for a 9 spot but it happens. Al Leiter dropped some insight on bad outings during the YES broadcast. In short, they're going to happen. He said that great pitchers typically have about 20 starts a year where there stuff is on. That would mean you'd have about 10-15 starts a year where you were scuffling on the hill. You also mentioned that when he was a Yankee farm hand, Joe Altobelli told him that the expectations for pitchers were to have 2 great starts, 2 good starts, and 1 bad start in every 5 outings. This was Chien-Ming's 4th start of the year. He's had 2 great outings, 1 good one, and now 1 bad one. I'd say he's on track. I'm not at all discouraged by his outing. It's going to happen. He's our ace. He'll bounce back.

Kate Smith just finished singing God Bless America. I've got to give it up to LaTroy Hawkins. His 2 solid innings have closed the flood gates. He now hasn't given up an earned run in his last 5 outings. He seems to be settling in and that's what the Yankees are going to need from him, and that's what they brought him here to do. It's good to see him pitch well. He was definitely one of the main components in tonight's win. He came in and shut the door on the Sox offense. Hawkins picked up his 1st win in Pinstripes.

Right from the get-go the offense was on tonight. I was pretty pumped after Bobby and Alex went back-to-back. Alex absolutely crushed that ball. It looks like they're finally turning things around offensively. They racked up double-digit runs on double-digit hits, and no one was left out of the party. They were hitting with runners in scoring position too. It's about freaking time. We saw 2-out run scoring hits from Moeller and Jeter in the 4th. Jeter is picking up right where he left off last year. The moniker of Captain Clutch is very fitting. Last year with 2 outs and RISP Jeter hit .418. He was hitting .333 with 2 out and RISP coming into this game. Melky just got thrown out trying to stretch a single into a double. The replay showed he was safe but what can you do. I don't mind him trying to pick up the extra base but you have to be aware of the situation. It would have been nice to let Derek do his thing. The 5th inning was a bright spot also. They put 5 consecutive guys on base and took the momentum back from the Sox. That was huge.

Chad Moeller is filling in quite nicely. 3-4 with a walk and an RBI. His 2 out run scoring double in the 4th was a pretty clutch hit. But his 5th inning walk was probably one of the most clutch Yankee plate appearances of the night. He worked that count and eventually picked up the free pass which loaded the bases. His slide into Lugo to break up the DP and cause a throwing error allowing a run score was pretty sweet also. Moeller was named player of the game. Well deserved. It's refreshing to see that we have 2 backup catchers that can fill in for Posada and do such an effective job.

We're headed to the bottom of the 8th now. Traber and Bruney pitched us through the inning. Traber had a long outing, eh? He got Ortiz to foul out to Moeller on 1 pitch. Not bad for a day's work. Bruney bounced back from his rough outing in Tampa. He buckled down after giving up a single to Manny. I love it when someone strikes out Kevin Youkilis. That makes my day. Considering Youkilis went down on strikes 3 times tonight I'm a happy camper. The bullpen did a pretty solid job tonight. It's too bad they didn't have Joba though. I don't mind seeing Bruney and Traber pitch but I don't get that same warm and fuzzy feeling I get with Joba on the mound in the 8th. I think it's safe to say we all feel that way. Come back soon Joba. But not too soon. Make sure your pops is OK first though.

A-Rod just hit an automatic double. That blows because Jeter would have scored no doubt. They're loading the bases by walking Matsui. I really hope they come through with some more insurance runs. I mentioned yesterday that the failures of the offense to score late against Tampa Bay could come back to bite them in the rear if they needed to call on Mariano for a 3rd straight day. That was the last thing I wanted to see happen. Jorge just dunked in a 2-run bloop and Mo has taken a seat. Another hit with RISP. That was huge. Me likely. Hip hip Jorge.

Giambi just blooped a 2-run double to left field. Another hit with RISP. Me really likey. I thought for sure that Giambi took Timlin yard again. I think I would have dropped a deuce on the floor if he had. But going the other way for a 2-run double is just as nice. Mike Timlin is taking it on the chin this year against the Yankees. Timlin has now given up 8 hits and 7 earned runs in 1.1 innings against the Yankees. Giambi's is 3-3 against him. Considering the Big G now has 5 hits on the season that's pretty funny.

Brian Bruney is killing me right now. I want to go to bed dude. Quit messing around and pick up these last 2 outs! And a fly out to Damon ends the game.

That was a crazy game. The offense was definitely on its game tonight. 15 runs on 16 hits. Everybody hits and Matsui is the only one without an RBI. Not too shabby. What could have been an ugly loss turned into a huge win. The Yankees are winners of three in a row and all signs point to that they're turning the corner offensively. This win was definitely a team effort. Nice job boys.

J-Boogie

Hawkins To Change Uniform #

Well I hope you so-called fans are proud. LaTroy Hawkins is giving up wearing the #21. There was a huge uproar from Yankees "fans" over Hawkins' choice to wear 21. A lot of "fans" felt that the number belonged to Paul O'Neill and that no future Yankee should ever don the number. Get real guys. It's a number. Get over it.

And in my opinion, O'Neill was a good ball-player, but not one worthy of having his number retired. It would be crazy to put O'Neill in the same breath as Yankee legends like Billy Martin, Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Bill Dickey, Roger Maris, Phil Rizzuto, Thurman Munson, Reggie Jackson, Ron Guidry, Elston Howard, Whitey Ford, Casey Stengel and Don Mattingly. O'Neill was good but is nowhere near deserving having his number retired. Which is the only way to prevent this from happening again. Sorry, but it's not going to happen.

The article states that Hawkins decision to change the # was made after talking to Derek Jeter, Marinao Rivera, and other Yankees veterans. The consensus opinion was that it wasn't worth all the trouble. Props to Hawkins for taking the high road. It's a classy move, and one that he never should have had to make. Am I alone here in thinking this?

Pete Abraham perfectly sums it up on his blog: "Nice legacy for No. 21 now. It’s not retired but it can’t be used because some fans are jerks. If it does get retired now, it won’t be for the right reasons."

Stay classy Yankees "fans."

J-Boogie

Despite Leaving The Free World On Base, Yanks Win 5-3

The Yankees may have won the game but this fan isn't too happy with their performance. The lack of hitting with men on base is disgusting. In the last 3 innings, Yankee hitters left 8 runners in base. Abreu went 0-2 and stranded 5. A-Rod went 0-2 and stranded 5. Damon stranded 3 and Giambi left 2 on. With the exception of Damon, that's the heart of the order and the guys that are supposed to knock in runs. I'll give Abreu a pass because he drove in a run with 2 outs in the 5th. The Yankees had 17 baserunners and managed 5 runs. They had a plenty an opportunity to score in the 7th, 8th and 9th innings and failed miserably. Pathetic.

Probably the worst thing to come from the offensive failures is that the Yankees had to use Mariano Rivera on back-to-back nights. This likely makes Mo unavailable for tomorrow night's game against Boston. No Mo and no Joba. Does that make LaTroy Hawkins the closer? Yikes. Mo was his typical self in the 9th. What a difference a year makes? The last thing I wanted to see happen was Carlos Pena get into the box as the tying run but Mo got him to ground out to Cano on the first pitch of the at bat. He picked up his 5th save but he never should have had to pitch.

I was amazed that Andy Pettitte lasted 7 innings and was somehow able to hold the Rays to only 3 runs. He was far from sharp but it was a very effective outing. He improved greatly as the game went on. He allowed 9 baserunners in the 1st 3 innings and only 3 in the last 4. It would have been a shame had the bullpen found a way to blow this. Andy worked for and deserved that win. He's a horse and I'm glad he's on my team.

How about that Kyle Farnsworth? I was praying for anybody but him in the 8th. I honestly thought we'd see Jonathan Albaladejo. I could not believe my eyes when he sent the Rays hitters down in order. I don't remember the exact statistic, and I'm too lazy to look it up, but last year Farnsworth had very few 1-2-3 innings. Ok, I looked it up. I think it was 16 times in 65 games. I think this is now his 2nd time in 6 games. A little better but not what we need. I don't know why Joe has faith in him? I'd never use him in that spot.

Jeter is swinging the bat real well since his hiatus. 3 hits and a walk. A key 2 out RBI single. That's how it's done. He's the captain for a reason. His average last year with 2 outs and RISP was .418. if there's a guy I want up with runners on and 2 outs it's the Captain. Everyone else needs to take note because that's how it's done. Short swings = base hits =runs batted in. It's that simple.

I guess in the end all that matters is that the Yankees won the game. I'm just a little displeased with what I saw. I want to see a finely tuned machine and what I'm seeing is the parts moving but never at the same time. The boys now get to go home for a two-game set with the BoSox, winners of 4 in a row. Thanks a lot Cleveland relievers. Our ace is on the hill. Wang gets the ball in a rematch against Clay Buchholz. Wang's last outing against the Sox can only be referred to as dominant. Chien-Ming pitches better at home so I'm expecting another good game from the Wangster.

We're sitting at 8-7 and a game out of first. All things considered it could be a lot worse.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Thoughts & A Live Blog

Since it's 11:00 and we're only in the bottom of the 6th inning, I'm going to post my thoughts on the game thus far and live blog the rest of it. It wouldn't be Yankees/Red Sox on ESPN if the game didn't last 4 plus hours. I'm going to mix in the commentary along with the live blog so this post will be all over the place. If you're checking it out during the game, refresh regularly.

Cano just made a great diving tag on Pedroia. I t doesn't quite make up for the failures at the plate though. My friend Dave left a comment that Cano couldn't hit him right now. I don't think Cano could hit my 7 and a half month old son. Cano is struggling. We need that bat, especially if he's batting at the top of the lineup.

Hawkins just K'd Manny looking. I was scared when he came in and promptly gave up a shot off the Monster. He better thank Cano for saving him there. 2 scoreless innings and his ERA drops to 9.00.

Phil Hughes was down right awful tonight. That makes two really bad outings in a row. It's way too early for anyone to think that this is the Hughes we're going to see all year long. I can hear same fans now: they should have traded the kid for Johan! Phil is the youngest pitcher in the majors. As great as it would be for him to dominate each and every start, it's not going to happen. He's only 21 years old. He's still growing and he's still learning. He's going to do just fine. Have patience.

A-Rod almost snuck one around Pesky's Pole and then he popped out. That's the story of the season. I've got a huge beef with A-Rod this game. What was he doing swinging at the 1st pitch in the 1st inning? Dice-K was wild and A-Rod swings at the first pitch? A nd of course, he grounds into an inning ending DP. Come on now. Patience. I've been saying quite frequently that they need to be more patient at the plate. It's probably one of the reasons why they're not hitting.

A-Rod just gunned down Youklis and Casey just grounded out to Giambi. Go Hawkins go. A popout to Abreu. Hawkins actually did his job. I'm somewhat impressed. But he still shouldn't pitch in close games.

There have been 14 walks in this game through 7 innings. Talk about control issues. I was really hoping that Francona would be forced to yank Dice-K before he made it through 5 innings. Terry Frank'n'beans really must have wanted Matsuzaka to get the win. 116 pitches. When did Dusty Baker start managing the Sox? I'd love for the Yankees to at least tie this up so Dice-K doesn't pick up the W. All those extra pitches would be all for not.

No Papelbon or Okajima tonight. Mike Timlin is on and Giambi just took him deep! It's too bad Giambi can't face Timlin every at-bat. 2-2 with 2 HRs. Not a bad stat line. I t's too bad the Big G stinks against everybody else. The Sox bullpen, with the exception of Okajima and Papelbon, isn't really that good.

Jose Molina just roped his 2nd hit of the game. It's time for my obligatory "I love Jose Molina" post. I've been saying that a lot lately. And with good reason. It's about time we have a backup catcher that can hit. He's now hitting .364. I love Jose Molina.

Molina just got pulled for Betemit. Interesting move. I'm curious who's going to step behind the plate for the final 2 innings. Melky just hit a pinch hit single. 2 on and no out. It's a good thing A-Rod isn't up. If there is ever a time for a timely hit it's now.

With Alberto Gonzalez out, I imagine Betemit is going to short. Yikes. Alberto has done a phenomenal job as Jeter's stand in. I really hope he stays and Betemit goes. The Yankees need to bring back Shelley Duncan, keep Gonzalez, and DFA Betemit. Ensberg backs up Alex. Duncan backs up (or starts for ) Giambi. Gonzalez backs up Jeter and is your emergency 2B. Betemit has to go.

Nice job Johnny. Typical. That's how things have been. He grounded into a DP. If there was ever a time for a timely hit it was then. Robbie's up. He needs to bring in Betemit. And he grounds out weakly to Pedroia. I didn't see that coming. Cano is 0-5 and the only Yankee hitter who hasn't reached base. I'm thinking Girardi needs to give him a day off.

The Yankees missed their big shot there in the 8th. 2 on and no out and Damon grounds into a DP and Cano grounds weakly to second. I don't know the exact Yankees average with RISP but I wouldn't be surprised if it were the worst in the league. And the moves by Giradi now weaken the Yankees. Betemit is a defensive liability. Jorge can't throw and the Sox have their speed coming up. Since the Yankees didn't score, the moves backfired.

Hey look at that. Crisp steals 2nd uncontested and moves to 3rd on a sac fly and then scores on a sac fly. With Molina we at least had a chance to cut down Crisp at 2nd. I'm not a fan of lifting guys for pinch runners. It never seems to work out. Torre used to try this a lot with Giambi and the pinch-runner would never come around to score. And then of course Giambi's spot in the lineup comes around in the 9th inning and the Yankees have a weak bat at the plate.

Pedroia steals second. Imagine that. Molina should have never been lifted.

Headed to the bottom of the 9th down by 3. Abreu-Rodriguez-Matsui. Those are the guys you want up there in this situation. There's an obvious statement if there ever was one.

Abreu grounds out to short. He got down the line quickly but the throw just beat him. Time for a pitching change. Yay. Drag the game out a little longer.

I'm predicting a K from Alex. He'll step up and try to hit an 8-run HR and whiff in the process.

LOL. A-Rod strikes out on the high heat. I hate watching guys swing for the fences when they should be trying to get on base. When you're down by 3 runs you need baserunners, not solo homers.

A Yankees Suck chant. How original.

Matsui is battling.

And Delcarmen wins the battle. Yankees lose 8-5.

The Yankees had 16 baserunners and only managed 5 runs. That's pathetic. This team needs to start hitting with runners in scoring position. This team needs to start hitting period. And they will eventually. It's the same story year after year. It's just written a little differently. Last year it was lots of offense and no pitching. This year it's decent pitching and no offense. Either way, it's a slow start, and that's what we as Yankees fans should be used to. Last year through 13 games they were 7-6. In 2006, they were 6-7 and 3.5 back. In 2005, they were 5-8 and 3 back. In 2004, they were 6-7 and 2 back. With tonight's loss, they're 6-7 and 1.5 back. Their record is actually a lot better than it should be. They're struggling but it's early and they'll come around.

It's 12:15 and 6:30 is going to come real early. It would have been so much nicer to have stayed up this late for a win but what can you do? There will be more nights like this where the bounces will go our way. All in all it wasn't a bad series. The pitching was pretty decent with the exception of Hughes. The offense is showing signs of life. They'll be fine. It's just frustrating to watch them start so slow year after year after year.

But they always seem to find a way.

J-Boogie

2 Steps Foward, 1 Step Back

Just when you think maybe the Yankees are turning a corner, they fall right back into the offensive funk that's plagued them all season. The 1-5 hitters were a combined 1-16. The bottom 4 were 5-14. That won't win you a lot of ball games. Absolutely horrible. This team needs to start hitting with runners in scoring position. How they're 6-6 is beyond me? Oh yeah, it's the pitching.

Mike Mussina had another decent outing. He was economical with his pitches. His pitches had good movement. He had pretty good control on everything he threw. The only mistakes he made were to Manny Ramirez. Not the hitter you want to make mistakes on. Manny will make you pay and he did just that. Maybe they should have walked him? Who knows? I would have pitched around him. That might have been the game plan. Whatever happened, it wasn't a good pitch.

Brian Bruney didn't do Moose, or the team, any favors by giving up a hit to Youklis on an 0-2 count. He had Youk and he let him go. I like Bruney. He's done a phenomenal job so far, but he has to finish that off.

LaTroy Hawkins pitched a 1-2-3 inning. Good times.

Beckett pitched pretty well. I don't think the Yankees had a good game plan for facing him. They really only got to him in his last 2 innings when they were taking pitches and working the count. They were swinging at early pitches and Beckett was getting through innings with an extremely low pitch count. Considering Beckett's back trouble, his shortened spring training, and the cold weather, I would have thought the Yankee hitters would have been a little more patient at the plate, working counts and getting his pitch count up. The Yankees really have gotten away from making pitchers work. They've been very aggressive, swinging early and often, and I'm starting to think it has a little to do with the sub-par performance of the offense.

I like the small ball approach but it's really the only way they're scoring runs. They're failing to hit the ball with runners in scoring position. Two of the Yankees runs today came after a sac bunt, a sac fly, and a wild pitch. They're relying way too much on the pitching. The Yankees are an American League team playing a National League style game. That's not going to work in the American League. An offense the caliber of the Yankees should be knocking the ball all over the park. The pitching has been outstanding. If the offense would do its part, the Yankees would be rolling.

I thought the Yankees missed a huge opportunity in the 7th. Beckett walks A-Rod on 4 straight pitches. Giambi, with his blazing speed and amazing bat, steps into the box. Why didn't they send A-Rod? As Alex was trotting to first I'm thinking to myself, "here comes their first SB of the season." With each passing pitch I'm wondering why hasn't he gone? Giambi works the count to 2-1. There's no chance of a pitchout. Send him already! He doesn't go and Giambi predictably hits into a double play. The Yankees very well could have tied the game if they tried a swipe of 2nd. And while I'm on the subject of Giambi, I know he hit a big HR yesterday, but could there be a more useless bat in the Yankees lineup? Who does he think he is? David Ortiz?

We waited 2 hours and 11 minutes just to watch Alex strike out on 3 pitches. Personally I thought he'd ground out on the 1st pitch. It was a big spot and Papelbon got the best of him. I originally thought the whole rain delay was BS. It seemed all to convenient for the game to be halted when Papelbon was being called upon to pitch without being fully warmed up. I changed my opinion after the delay lasted 2 plus hours.

I think it's safe to say Papelbon won't pitch tomorrow. 3 warmup sessions and 20 plus pitches. Cano made him work for that last out. I love how Papelbon pointed to first on Cano's grounder. Where else is he going to throw it dummy?

It's a good thing I'm not a betting man. I predicted a Red Sox win yesterday and a Yankees win today. Shows what I know. I'm predicting a Sox win tomorrow. Hopefully the trend of me being wrong continues. Hughes vs. Dice-K on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball. The last time a Yankees rookie faced the Sox on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball, the Red Sox hit back-to-back-to-back-to-back HRs. Phil Hughes is no Chase Wright so I don't think we'll see that feat again tomorrow. But if tomorrow's game is anything like the first 2 of the series it'll be all about the pitching. The Sox have never faced Hughes before so that might work to his advantage. Matsuzaka has pitched pretty well this year and the Yankee bats aren't hot. It's a coin flip but I like the Sox.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie

Accentuating The Positive

The Yankees just got finished getting their tails kicked by the Dev, err, Rays. Ken Singleton summed it up so nicely. It was a rotten game. I watched most of the game in fast forward, zipping ahead to each pitch. The wife is sick so I had to give our 7 month old son his bath, his bottle and then put him to bed. That process starts at about the same time as the first pitch is thrown. I joined the game about 48 minutes late and once I caught up, the wife and I watched this week's "Two And A Half Men." Hey, I've got to give her some TV time on Fridays. After I got done laughing pretty hard (it's a great show), I again zipped ahead through the game and once I was again caught up, it was time to watch "High School Reunion." Yawn. That took about 45 minutes and I got up to the live action just in time to watch them implode in the 8th. It wasn't fun to watch. The negatives definitely outweighed the positives. But there were a few bright spots which I want to make note of.

I mentioned in my recap post from yesterday that "we as Yankees fans should feel pretty comfortable with our bullpen." Tonight, that was half true. Jonathan Albaladejo was awesome. He came in and basically shut the rays down after he gave up a run-scoring double to his 1st batter. He gave the Yankees exactly what they needed. He ate up 2.2 IPs without giving up a run, striking out 4 Rays along the way. He looked pretty sharp throwing 23 of his 36 pitches for strikes. Most importantly he kept the game close. Too bad the bats didn't pick up the slack. It's also too bad he's likely on his way to Scranton. Pettitte comes back tomorrow and I'm pretty sure he's taking Abaladejo's roster spot. That's too bad. He has a lot of promise.

The performances of Ross Ohlendorf and Billy Traber should also be taken as signs of encouragement. Traber had an awesome spring and is showing that his spot on the roster is well-deserved. And I like Ohlie. He has a lot of upside and I hope that Girardi uses him in some tough spots because I think the kid will do a pretty good job when called upon.

Unfortunately, LaTroy Hawkins and everybody's favorite, Kyle Farnsworth, followed a great outing by the aforementioned three and promptly put the game well out of reach by giving up 7 runs between the two of them. It shouldn't have been as bad though because if Matsui caught that fly ball, who knows what would have happened. That ball should have been caught. No excuse for missing that. Thank God Damon is our regular everyday left-fielder because he catches that no problem. But he missed it and that's baseball. Hawkins still should have been able to shut the door and stop the bleeding. But he couldn't, and neither could Farnsworth. He's just as bad as he was last year. Right now, I can only hope that Girardi changes the depth chart of the bullpen and uses Traber and Ohlie more in trying to get the ball to Joba/Mo. Let Farnsworth and Hawkins do the mopping up.

The only other bright spot I noted was the double of the bat of Giambi. He took it the other way and that's not something we've seen much from Giambi in recent years. Hopefully he can keep that up.

The game couldn't have started any worse. You could tell right from the get go that Ian Kennedy didn't have it. Not a great start to the season. It seemed like everything he threw was landing in front of Molina. It kind of reminded me of my friend Don. He pitched on our high school baseball team and most of what he threw ended up going about 58 feet. It just seemed like Ike could never get it going. Just when you thought maybe he'd pull through, he digressed. I don't think it's anything to worry about. He'll bounce back. He's a control pitcher and i don't think the wildness will be an issue.

The offense was again for the most part non-existent. They had a nice little run there in the 4th. They were tagging Sonnanstine. 3 balls to the wall and one over. That's just a glimmer of what these guys are capable of doing. As the pen kept throwing goose eggs I thought for sure they would chip away at that lead. But like they've done all season, they just didn't get it going. It's early. Slow starts are common. No worries.

Pettitte makes his debut tomorrow. Should be interesting to see the crowd's reaction when he takes the hill. I imagine there will be a light smattering of boos amongst a lot of applause. If he can deliver a solid performance, all will be good in Andy's world. At least until he throws on the road.

Tomorrow is another day. Enjoy your night.

J-Boogie