Yankees Chick

Games 80 & 81: Take me out to the ballgame.

2009-07-04T03:28:23Z

You'll have to forgive my late posting this evening, the last two nights my family and I were at the location to the left watching some local baseball. Yeah the Bulls are the Rays' affiliate, but we did see them play the Charlotte Knights, who are managed by Chris Chambliss (who Yankees fans all know) and have Wilson Betemit on their roster. In August we're going back to see Scranton. Hey, the four of us can get primo seats right along the foul line on the 1B side for $36 total. You can't go wrong there!

Unlike last night's game which was a pile of wrong.....this afternoon had a much better outcome. Sabathia didn't have the best of outings Thursday, but AJ did phenomenal today. 7 innings, 6 hits, 2 runs and 7 Ks. The Twin Phils and Mo combined for 1 hit and 3 Ks over 2 innings and shut the Blue Jays down. We've really been getting some great outings from AJ the last few starts of his and I hope that continues. To get anywhere you need consistent hitting and pitching. Last night we got neither. We suddenly remembered how to hit the ball after it was too late to mount any real comeback. I hope we get more of that phenomenal pitching tomorrow.

On the offensive side, we didn't have much going on today either. We only managed 4 runs on 8 hits. The only player in the starting lineup with more than one hit was DJ, who went 2-3. We got RBIs from Tex, Alex and Robbie and a run scored via a passed ball in the 5th. Aside from that, nothing doing. We won so I won't harp on it too much, but we really need to be doing better with RISP. I don't think 4 runs was the maximum we could have gotten. I'll watch the game later since I just got home about 20 minutes ago, but I'm pretty certain we squandered opportunities to blow the game open and knock Tallet out before the 6th. Along with the great pitching I want tomorrow, I'd like to see a real blow-out offense. Score 12 runs before the 3rd or something.

Stars of the Game™

Latest Leaders: June

2009-07-04T03:00:24Z

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#25! Moving up ever so slowly. Thanks to everyone who has visited my site this past month and I especially want to thank those who have commented as well. I always appreciate the feedback! Let's see if we can crack the Top 20 for the month of July. :D

Game 79: Fast paced.

2009-07-02T01:36:59Z

That was rather quick. Game started at about 7:10, ended by 9:30. It was one of our faster games this season, I think. When the hitting isn't really doing much and the pitching isn't giving up much, it's not hard for the game to go by quickly. The only other thing flying by besides the time were the baseballs landing in the seats. All the runs scored in this game save one came on the long ball - all 4 Yankees runs came by way of this. It's not hard to see how Yankee Stadium got the nickname Coors Field East, although to be fair to Coors Field, once they started putting the baseballs in humidors before the game, the "Coors Field effect" diminished greatly. So we really aren't benefitting much from that since we're nowhere near the elevation Denver is. Then again, I have heard that there's an air stream the balls are getting lifted into, but I don't know much of that is conjecture and mindless bitching and how much is fact.

What we do know is fact is that Andy Pettitte has been strong this season, including tonight. He went 7 innings, giving up only 2 runs on 6 hits and struck out 5. I wasn't a fan of Aceves coming in for one batter, it would have made more sense for him to just finish the 8th, but between him and Coke, they threw 12 pitches and gave up nada. Mo came in for the save and was his usual Mo-ness. MLB Network mentioned that during this 6 game winning streak (obviously prior to tonight's victory), Yankee pitching had an ERA of 2.50 and had given up only 4 homers. That'll be 6 HRs now, but the ERA should stay about the same. During our 10 game winning streak earlier this season, we also had some phenomenal pitching, so clearly there's a connection. We have Sabathia on the mound tomorrow night and he's been our ace all season......I smell a sweep.

As I mentioned above, we got all our runs tonight via the HR, and we got them from Johnny Damon, Melky Cabrera and Mr. High Socks himself. In fact, Alex's HR broke the 2-2 tie and gave us the lead. Quite clutch. The only other person in the lineup to get more than 1 hit was Tex, and he went 2-4. Besides that which I mentioned above, our lineup was pretty blah tonight. Washburn isn't crap, but we could have gotten a little more run support for Andy I think. I hope we turn it on for CC......I'd love to see a real blowout, something like the 15-0 shelling we gave the Mets. Let's go for the back-to-back Crazy Steins!

Stars of the Game™

Game 78: Back and forth, back and forth.

2009-07-01T03:30:33Z

If there's one kind of game I hate, it's the kind where we're winning than losing, winning than losing. We won in the end so it's all good, but it's annoying as hell to keep taking leads only to have our pitching staff blow them. Now, speaking of blowing leads.......how about that Red Sox/Orioles game? The Sox were up by 9 at one point and the pen gave up 10 runs in 2 innings. Amazing. It was the biggest comeback in Orioles history. Every now and again they manage to something right. Ordinarily I can't stand Baltimore because we can't seem to beat them, but at least right now I like them. Do that again a couple more times and I won't loathe you, I'll just dislike you.

Now while Boston's pen was blowing leads, our pen was doing the same but first let's get to our starter tonight. Joba didn't do bad, but he was hardly stellar. He went 5.1 innings, gave up 3 runs on 9 hits and walked 3 while striking out 4. Again, not the best line we could hope for, but it's not the worst he could have done either. We'll call it solidly mediocre. The Twin Phils then came in (Coke and Hughes) and did a great job. Then Brian Bruney came in to relieve Hughes and well.....let's just say we've seen him pitch better. He gave up 2 runs on 3 hits and yet still got the win anyway. Mo came in for save #501 and Yankees win. Voila. Speaking of Mo, he threw out the first pitch in the game tonight in honor of getting save #500 on Sunday.

Our offense tonight was a bit blotchy. Yes we got 8 runs on 11 hits, but we squandered too many chances to blow this game wide open early. Fortunately the offense DID show up or else all those times our pen blew the leads we gave them would have sunk the game before it started. Everyone in the starting lineup got a hit tonight, which is a good thing. Derek went 1-5 with 2 RBI, Johnny Damon went 2-4, Alex went 1-4 with 2 RBI which came off a HR in the 7th that gave us a 5-3 lead (that promptly disappeared in the next inning) and the Cardiac Kids went a combined 3-7 with 3 RBI. So while the offense came in drips and drabs and we could have done more earlier, at least this was a well-rounded effort. Also, I'd like to point out that we got some stellar defense in the field from Alex tonight. I know he seems to be favoring that hip occasionally, but he's been doing great out there so far. That DP in the 2nd was magnificent.

Stars of the Game™

Game 77: It's just Mo's world.

2009-06-29T03:56:33Z

I don't know what was more memorable about this game; Mo's 500th save or the fact that he got his first major league RBI when K-Rod walked him. I mean, Derek thought the idea of Mo batting to start with was hysterical and in a way it was, because that late in a game, usually the pitcher is PH for. I'm glad Girardi let him bat because otherwise we wouldn't have had that great comedic moment. Too bad he didn't hit a granny.....now that would have been good! What more evidence do we need of how monumentally amazing Mariano Rivera is? I've watched him pitch for the Yankees his entire career and it's been a pleasure the whole time. He just goes out there and does his job, no stupid histrionics or dramatics on the mound. Just business. We wouldn't have it any other way, I suppose. Congrats, Mo......you are the greatest.

But enough about Mo, let's talk starting pitching. Wang didn't do nearly as bad as several at bats would let on. He gave up only 2 runs on 4 hits which is great, and he even got his first win of the season out of it. I can't really complain about his performance tonight, but I would say I would have liked it if he was more economical with his pitch count and stayed in the game a little longer. It shouldn't have taken 5 pitchers to beat the Mets.

Our offense tonight was rather dead. We got 3 runs in the 1st didn't do anything else until Mo's heroic bases-loaded walk in the 9th brought in another run. We squandered opportunity after opportunity to knock Hernandez out of the game and I don't know how many DPs Robbie Cano hit into but it was annoying as hell. Thankfully the Mets are horrible or else they could have capitalized on our inability to put the game way early. Tex had a 2-RBI double and Jorge had a sac fly and really.......that was it. The sac fly was really the winning run as without Mo's RBI we still would have won the game 3-2, but insurance is always great. For the next game, I'd like to see more than 4 hits. I'll always take the win, but come on.....don't start getting cheap. Either way, what a great game and even better......the Crazy Stein has returned. :-D

Star of the Game™

Game 76: Summertime's calling me.

2009-06-28T02:21:50Z

See that little slice of heaven over there? That's where I was all day today. Wrightsville Beach, NC is probably the most beautiful stretch of land I've ever seen. A 3 1/2 hour drive from where I live, it was well worth it. The one thing I never quite got used to was the salt water. Coming from Chicago and going to the beach at Lake Michigan, that's freshwater. If it gets in your eyes, big deal. It's like getting hit in the face with bathwater. Not so much here, though. That stings like you wouldn't believe and I had the misfortune of getting knocked over by a wave and swallowing some. EGADS. I had to drink 2 bottles of water just to get the salt out. Either way, it was a fantastic way to spend a Saturday afternoon and knowing the Yankees were playing this evening, I hoped they'd win and cap off this great day. And they did!

AJ Burnett pitched marvelously and just continued that which CC started last night. He went 7 innings of 1-hit ball and walked 3 while striking out 10. That means in the last 2 games, the Mets have had a grand total of 4 hits. Maybe tomorrow they'll get 2 hit. That'll complete the 1-2-3 trifecta, I suppose. Brian Bruney came in to relieve him and pitched the 8th, giving up no hits and no runs, while walking none. Robertson relieved him for the 9th and also gave up no hits and no runs. Can't complain about the pitching again tonight, the shorter the blurb on a winning GDS, the better!

We didn't get tons of offense tonight, but when your pitcher is doing as well as AJ was doing, very little is ever needed. Jorge was the big winner tonight, hitting a 3-run HR in the 6th. Alex got an RBI as well, knocking a single in the 6th that scored Tex. We got our other run on a solo shot by Swish in the 3rd. I hope we can go for the Crazy Stein tomorrow on a game that's as easy as the last couple have been. No drama. :D

Stars of the Game™

Game 75: Ace in hand.

2009-06-27T05:21:01Z

Coming off a series win against Atlanta, it was imperative we set the right tone against the Mets and with Crooked Cap on the mound tonight, it was a sure bet. Sabathia has been the closest thing to dominance we have had in our rotation all season and when he pitches, you know you're getting at least 7 innings of quality pitching. I do apologize for this summary coming late, I'm going out of town today and was running around trying to get everything we need to go and I kind of got sidetracked. In any event, on to the pitching.......

CC went 7 innings of 3-hit ball, giving up only 1 run in the process. He walked no one and struck out 8. Brett Tomko relieved him and pitched 2 innings of no-hit ball and struck out 1. I love when the pitching summary is short and sweet because that means we used at most 2 pitchers, and neither of them gave up anything of importance. If only we got starts like this out of everyone.

On the offense side of things, again we were able to combine runs with hits and really dominate at the plate. Brett Gardner gets the absolute Star of the Game for going 5-6 with 2 RBI. Alex went 1-2 with 2 RBI and passed Reggie Jackson on the all-time HR list. Robbie went 2-6. Ramiro Pena, subbing for a scratched Derek Jeter, went 3-5 with an RBI. I can't really complain about the job we did tonight, it was a combined effort from all sides and it was great. I hope to see more of this while I'm gone and lounging on the beach. :-D

Stars of the Game™

Game 74: What an odd, odd day.

2009-06-26T03:36:50Z

Today was definitely weird. Farrah Fawcett dies this morning and then hours ago, Michael Jackson dies. One wasn't that shocking because she'd been ill for some time, the other was literally out of the blue. They say these things come in threes, so we had Ed McMahon, Farrah and then Jacko. I hope no one else dies for a while, or else CNN, MSNBC and Fox News will shut down. They've been going into overdrive the last few hours. In any event, my condolences to the families of both Farrah and Michael - I can't imagine what they're going through right now.

Thankfully the Yankees put in a great performance tonight to give us Yanks fans something else to talk about. Andy Pettitte took the mound tonight to give the Yankees the series against the Braves, and pitched only 3.2 innings, but a lot of that had to do with the fact we had some long innings and he was sitting for a long time. He gave up only 3 ER (3 unearned) on 7 H, walked 3 and struck out 4. He would have gone longer I think, if it wasn't only the 4th inning at 9 o'clock. It's a shame our pitching wasn't as strong tonight as it has been in games past, thankfully our offense showed up and bailed them out.

And speaking of offense, we got 11 runs on 16 hits and the bulk of them came from the top of the lineup. Alex had a huge night, going 3-5 with 4 RBI and tying Reggie Jackson on the all-time HR list at 563. Johnny Damon went 3-4 with 4 RBI. Derek went 4-4, Brett Gardner went 2-6 and Cody Ransom went 2-5 with 2 RBI. I was just happy to see the bats turn on and some our slumping players get some timely hits. Tex went 0-5 and I only hope he's not about to slump too. I really want this team get back up on the horse and make up some ground they've lost. We've got a mini-streak going right now, let's see if we can't extend it a little further.

Stars of the Game™

Game 73: Hopefully the beginning of something good.

2009-06-25T02:38:06Z

This crocodile was so excited the Yankees finally won a game, that he jumped in the air in exultation. When you can make animals dance, you know you've done good.

It feels like forever since I last was able to do a write-up like this, and it really couldn't have come at a better time. While we've gotten some great pitching the last few games, our offense was stagnant. We just couldn't get anything together. Thankfully that ended tonight; we were finally able to combine a great start from Joba and some decent offense. I had hoped Joba could finish out the 7th, but we really couldn't complain with what he gave us; 6.1 innings, 7 H, 2 ER, 0 BB and 5 K. Coke, Bruney and Mo all relieved him and combined to give up 1 ER on 1 H, with 2 BB and 5 K. Mo got 4 of those strikeouts. Regardless of what we did offensively, no one can complain about the pitching we've been getting during this mini-slump. Let's hope that streak continues tomorrow night.

After what seemed like eons of futility, we suddenly got off our ***** and hit the damn ball. We can thank Frankie Cervelli for getting that ball rolling if you will, when he hit a solo HR in the 6th inning to end our 15 scoreless innings streak. Hopefully the 2-run single Alex hit in the same inning to give us a lead is a sign that he's coming around. I hate when he slumps because a) he's too good for it and b) when he slumps everyone else does too. After the 6th inning, we scored at least one run per inning until the end of the game. Now if we could do that in innings 1-5 too, that would be great. The top of our order did well, going a combined 7-17 with 4 RBI. Nick Swisher also had a great night, going 1-4 with 2 RBI. I hope we see more of this in games to come so that we can crawl back out of his small hole we dug for ourselves.

Stars of the Game™

Stars™ also go out to our offense, whom I cannot find pictures of at the moment. Great job everyone!

Game 72: Slip slidin' away.

2009-06-24T02:34:45Z

Hmmm. The Yankees are mired in a pretty bad slump; we've gone 4-9 in our last 13 games. I'm disheartened by it, but I'm optimistic that we'll get past it and have a great July. We can't be slumping forever.

One thing about this game that really impressed and continues to impress me is Phil Hughes? When is he going to get back into the rotation where he belongs? Wang didn't do nearly that bad, our offense has been the main reason we've been losing games of late, but Phil has continually saved our bacon coming out of the pen recently.

I'm hoping we can take the next games of this series and get back on a winning track. I know we can do it.

Game 71: Not exactly what we were looking for.

2009-06-23T01:41:39Z

Due to my father's illness and subesquent recuperation (he's doing quite well), my time watching baseball has been sapped pretty much entirely. There's too much to do around the house right now that he can't, that now falls to me. And with family coming in (not that we're looking forward to this), there's even more to do. I tried to check various sites to at least follow the scores, but I haven't been able to really sit down and watch anything for a few days. So this will be a very cursory summation of the game.

I'm very disappointed that we were unable to win our series against not just Washington but Florida. Especially after going through a spell where we were winning at a pretty decent clip. We went from 1 1/2 games in first to 4 games out in a matter of a couple weeks, and that's pretty disheartening. Although the season is not over, the bulk of it is still in front of us and there's plenty of baseball to be played.

I'm hoping our next series goes much better and we exhibit much better baseball fundamentals. Let's get it done.

Game 70: This one is on the offense.

2009-06-21T02:32:22Z

What a pathetic, pathetic game. AJ Burnett pitches damn near 7 innings of 2-run ball, strikes out 8 and what we do have to show for that? Losing. I thought AJ deserved much better than that, especially since he's been struggling of late. He absolutely deserved the win and as a result, the team should buy him steaks and beer for about a week. Even our relievers did a damn good job today - the pitching was 100% not the issue tonight. I expect a lot more from the offense tomorrow. Win it for Dad. If my dad was a Yankees fan, I'd say win it for him but since he roots for the Red Sox (Boston native that he is), win it to piss him off. :-D

You know what also sucks? Mowing the lawn in 95-degree heat. With my dad out of commission for about 2 weeks, the task of mowing both our lawns falls to my sister and I and while the mower is a "personal pace" Toro, our backyard ain't small. And even though we didn't mow in the heat of day, it was still hotter than nine yards of hell out there. We'll have to do it again next week. Hopefully it'll be cooler, but more than likely not. Yard work is such a drag!

Game 69: Return to normalcy.

2009-06-20T02:05:20Z

Thanks to everyone who gave supportive words and thoughts. My dad is doing much better today and will be able to come home tomorrow, which we are exceedingly happy about. I guess the same "get well" could also be applied to several Yankees, including Alex Rodriguez. Alex is slumping bad right now and the best thing for him is to take a couple days off and clear his head a bit so hopefully this gives him an added boost.

Speaking of added boost, we really needed Andy to turn in a great pitching performance today, since his last few have been pretty bad. He more than responded, going 7 innings of 3-hit ball while walking none, striking out 7 and giving up just one earned run. He also got himself an RBI double at the plate as well, which is just the icing on the cake, wouldn't you say? Bruney and Tomko relieved him and both did a great job of continuing the shut-down ball that Andy pitched for 7 innings. We really needed this out of him in the wake of the Nats series disaster.

The offense was a little dead, especially since we had opportunity after opportunity to drive the knife in the Marlins but didn't. Don't get me wrong, a 5-1 win is as good as a 23-1 win, as everything counts the same in the end. Just that I don't want to be constantly in situations where we can score runs with RISP and fail to bring them in. That kind of stagnation has been our downfall for the last few seasons and I really want it to start to turn around. You can't just sit back on a lead and expect it to stay that way all game. You have to keep applying pressure to the other team. Score a run or so an inning....keep it coming in drips and drabs. Don't score everything at once and then do nothing for the 7 innings, for example. Never let your opponent think they have a chance to win. That's what made the '98 Yankees so dominant; they'd take a lead and that was it for you, even if it was the 1st inning. You knew they weren't letting go. This team ain't that team nor should they try to be in all ways, but maybe taking a few things that squad was known for wouldn't hurt. We did get 13 hits though, so at least we were at least getting on base regularly. No one had a really outstanding night at the plate, but I think we'll do a combo offensive/pitching Star of the Game and give both to Andy Pettitte.....he's got the highest BA in the lineup right now. A solid .333. Great work, Andy!

Star of the Game™

Game 68: Family matters.

2009-06-19T02:22:48Z

There will be no write-up for the game tonight, I wasn't able to watch the game due to extenuating circumstances. Namely, my father having a tumor removed from his kidney. We just got back from the hospital not more than 10 minutes ago and I'm too drained physically and emotionally to even watch over the highlights of another loss (to the Nats, no less) and write anything up. I hope you'll forgive me. Go Yanks.

Game 67: That was......strange.

2009-06-18T01:49:12Z

John Lannan has a respectable ERA, so it's not like we got shut down by someone with Wang's ERA. That being said.......losing to the Nationals? Yeesh. Not exactly an exemplary showing.

I'm also relatively certain that the Wang in the rotation phenomenon needs to come to an end. Hughes came in to relieve him and pitched fantastically. It sucks that the roster spot is currently being occupied by a gaping black hole. It's getting to the point now where games he starts are losses before the players take the field, and if we manage to win the game, we got lucky.

Now on to the offense. Alex needs a night off, he's slumping badly. Again, we faced a pitcher we hadn't seen before and basically did nothing. What's the deal with that? And the first pitch swinging......ever heard of working the count? That's how we get mediocre pitchers out of the game and get to the crappy bullpen. I don't understand how we can score 9 runs in 3 innings off Johan Santana, but can't hit someone like Lannan to save our butts. I understand that sometimes even bad teams win a game, I mean it's not like the Nationals are going to go 0-162, but these are games we should be winning. I don't want to be fighting for a playoff spot come September and look back and say....."here's a whole host of games we should have won" and that's not even counting the 8 or 9 games we've lost to Boston already. I guess we should be thankful that in spite of that, they're only 3 games ahead of us right now. Although they're beating the weak NL East teams right now. We need to be doing that. Let's win tomorrow and take the series.