Game 114: The Meeting

It's the rubber game of the series. It's getaway day. It's a weekday matinee. It's another hot day as summer finally comes to the city. There are tons of angles to today's game.

A.J. Burnett opposes his former club for third time this season. On May 12th in Toronto, Burnett gave up five earned in seven and two thirds. He was far better on July 3rd in the Boogie Down, as he went seven, fanned seven, and allowed just two earned. I'm hoping we get the latter today, and it seems like a good possibility. In his last 10 starts, Burnett is 6-2 with a 2.32 ERA. He's gone 66 innings, with a WHIP of 1.24, is fanning 7.77 per 9, and is holding opponents to a .203/.310/.274 batting line.

Burnett will be opposed by Blue Jays' rookie southpaw Ricky Romero. Despite our newfound love for Tigers rookie Rick Porcello, Romero has to be considered the premier rookie pitcher in the AL - he or Brad Bergesen at least. Romero is 10-5 with a 3.66 ERA (120 ERA+). Romero faced the Yanks the last series in which these two teams met. Interestingly it was another getaway day matinee, and Romero picked up the win, giving up 3 ER in 6.1 IP. I had tickets for that game and was going to go until a work situation necessitated my presence at the office.

There will be no such situation today. I'm in the last day of a little mini vacation. While I spent the majority of it in Red Sox Nation, I started it Thursday evening at the Stadium and will end it this afternoon at the Stadium. I'm hoping it'll be book-ended by victories.

Also of note this afternoon, after nearly three months of bloggity goodness and cooperation, Jay and I will finally meet up in person. Friend of the blog Crazy Yankee Chick will also be there, so it will be something akin to a blogo-dork-a-rama. Given our collective presence at 161st & River Ave, there will be no live chat for this afternoon's game. As always though, feel free to use the comments to discuss the events as they unfold.

We're going to the meeting. See you on the other side (with a recap of course).

We're going to the meeting
Going to the meeting
Going to the meeting
On the other side.

If you ain't right
You better get right.

VII

[Ed. Note: Photos from here again. Believe it or not, the wireless

connection at the Econo Lodge can't really handle MLB.tv]

Behind CC Sabathia, Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira, the winning streak hit seven games last night. While lucky number seven lacked the walk-off drama of the three weekend contests, or the late inning nail-biting of Monday night's game, the contest was far closer than the 9-1 final tally indicates.

The good news started before the first pitch was even thrown. Brian Bruney was activated from the DL, and in the first bullpen move to make sense since Melancon and Robertson were recalled last month, Edwar Ramirez was optioned to Scranton.

Ramirez was effective in 2008, but right now his BB rate has nearly doubled from last year, his HR rate has nearly tripled, his Ks are down, his ERA is over 5 and his WHIP is approaching 2. In short, he stinks. He may well be able to turn it around, and I hope he does. But Scranton is the place to work out his issues, not the Yankee bullpen. In typical Joe Girardi Kremlin fashion, the move wasn't announced until shortly before first pitch.

On to the game. The Orioles plated a run in the top of the first, using a Brian Roberts base hit, an Adam Jones infield single, a Roberts stolen base, and a groundout from Jay's favorite Oriole to get their only run of the night. It marked the second time in as many nights that the Yankees would trail before picking up a bat.

The Yankees countered in their half of the first, the second time in as many nights they would take the lead in the first frame and not look back. Damon registered a bloop single, and scored on a monster shot from A-Rod - one that sailed over the visitor's bullpen and into the left field bleachers. Given the newness of the park, it's a little early to tell just what will qualify as a jaw-dropping HR here (e.g. into the black or the upper deck in RF at the old joint), but I imagine blasts like this one will be rare.

From there, both starters settled down. Sabathia dominated the O's for the second time in 12 days, throwing six more innings, striking out 7, surrending no further runs, allowing only two other runners to reach base, and turning in perfect frames in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 6th, and 7th innings.

Meanwhile, rookie Brad Bergesen baffled the Bombers' bats. He cruised through innings 2 through 5, sitting down 13 in a row at one point. He allowed 3 baserunners in the 6th, but one (the continually impressive Frankie Cervelli) was erased on a caught stealing, and Bergesen escaped still trailing by a single run. Bergesen finished the 6th with 94 pitches, and despite not having surpassed 6 IP or 96 pitches in any of his five career starts, Dave Trembley sent him out to start the 7th. Bergesen would retire Matsui leading off the inning, before walking Swisher and Cano. That would end Bergesen's night, but his line wouldn't close until he was betrayed by his bullpen (sound familiar?) and two costly errors. He deserved better.

Things got ugly from there. Teixiera deposited one deep in to the mezzanine in right, making it three out of four games in which both he and A-Rod have gone deep (Rodriguez has homered in all four). By the time the seventh was over, the 2-1 pitcher's duel had become a 9-1 blowout.

Despite having pitched masterfully once again, Sabathia's night was over, done in by the 8 run margin and the long bottom of the seventh. Brian Bruney reminded us all why we missed him so much by turning in a perfect 8th. And as an indication of just how good things are in Yankeeland right now, the ninth inning saw Angel Berroa enter a game for just the second time in two weeks, and Brett Tomko touch 94 on the gun in pitching a flawless inning.

Game 39: Hoochie Coochie Man

The Yanks go for lucky number seven in a row tonight as the O's come to town for the middle series of the homestand.

Baltimore should have centerfielder Adam Jones back in the line-up tonight. The centerpiece of the package Seattle swapped for Erik Bedard after the 2007 season, Jones has not played since tweaking his hamstring last Wednesday. Before leaving the line-up, the 23 year-old had really blossomed this year, hitting .370/.426/.669 and combining with Nick Markakis to form 2/3rds of a good young outfield. Unfortunately for the Orioles, the other third of their outfield is an abject wasteland, as the assorted garbage they've trotted out to left this year has hit .219/.318/.320. Yikes.

Rookie Brad Bergesen takes the hill for the Orioles. The Yankees have never faced him before, so that could spell trouble for the Yanks. Hopefully the Yankees will give Bergesen the same treatment they gave Scott Richmond in Toronto last week. After ptiching well in high-A and AA last year, Bergesen was called up after just 11 AAA innings this year. He carries a 5.71 ERA and 1.76 WHIP through his five MLB starts. He's struck out just 4.6 per 9, but has walked only 2.6 per 9. It'll be interesting to see how the Yankees' patient approach fares against a pitcher who appears to be around the plate consistently. The league is hitting .348 against Bergesen thus far, but he may be a victim of bad luck - he has a .364 BABIP against - far higher than the league average of .302. Most pitchers end up around the league average as the season progresses, and since Bergesen rarely registers a K, his unusually high BABIP has a major impact on his numbers.

The Yankees counter with CC Sabathia. The big lefty has faced the O's twice already this year. After a poor Opening Day outing, CC dominated the O's on May 8th, tossing a shutout and stiking out eight against only four hits and a base-on-balls. Sabathia followed that up with another strong outing in Toronto last Thursday.

Brian Bruney is slated to be activated from the DL in time for tonight's game. Bruney will provide some desperately needed help to the bullpen, particularly with Phil Coke likey unavailable tonight after using up 36 pitches to get 4 outs last night. No word on the corresponding roster move yet, but I would imagine Berroa, Tomko, Veras, Aceves, Ramirez, and Albaladejo are all being dicussed. My guess is that it will be Edwar - he, Aceves, and Albaladejo are the only ones with options left. The other two have been good of late; Edwar has not.

The O's come in having alternated wins and losses in each of their last nine games. Having lost their previous game, that would make them due for a win tonight. But the Yanks have some good mojo working, so at 7:05, 7 days after their last loss, the 6'7" Sabathia will throw the game's first pitch, as the Yanks look for 7 in a row. And CC says "Don't you mess with me".



On the seventh hour,
of the seventh day,
of the seventh month,
seven doctors say:
"He born for good luck"
And that you'll see
I've got seven hundred dollars
Don't you mess with me

Hey - with seven hundred dollars you could get yourself a nice Legends Suite for tonight. Plenty of good seats available.