Tell Me Something Good

Good morning, Fackers. Let me give you two scenarios and tell me which one you would prefer:

#1: Andy Pettitte pitches poorly, lasting just 4 innings and gets tagged for six runs. The Yankees bats pick him up though, scoring eight of their own and walking away with the victory.

#2: Pettitte stumbles out of the gate, but at one point retires 11 consecutive batters, giving up three runs over six innings. The offense finally has a bad night against Joe Saunders and the Yanks come up short.

Okay, by now you probably already know what happened in the game and this exercise is pretty transparent. But the point is that Andy Pettitte finding his form without any soreness was more important than winning last night, although both would have been nice.

Pettitte actually had two outs and the bases empty after Chone Figgins got caught stealing in the first inning but he gave up a single to Bobby Abreu and then back to back doubles to Vlad Guererro and Torii Hunter to approximately the same spot in the gap in right-center. That string of hits drive in two runs and put the Yanks in the hole 2-0.

During the string of 11 straight batters the retired, Pettitte also made a nice reflex-type play on a liner back up the middle by Eric Aybar. Andy poked his glove out, stopping the ball and then dove to his knees and fired to first to get the speedy Aybar (who leads the league in bunt singles), just in time.

Pettitte's only other run came in the 5th inning when he walked Rob Quinlan on a 3-2 breaking ball that was just a little bit high. Quinlan ended up on third after a single by Jeff Mathis and a sac fly by Figgins and scored on a single by Aybar.

Pettitte was pulled after throwing 91 pitches and had this to say about his performance after the game, "Everything was good after the first inning. My cutters were hard, I felt like. I was getting balls back down in the zone, my two-seamer. Everything was running like I wanted it to."

In relief of Andy, Brain Bruney continued his quest to not make the postseason roster by serving up a solo homer to Kendry Morales in the 7th along with a single to Chone Figgins. Jon Albaladejo gave up another run in the 8th as well.

Joe Saunders had given up 18 runs in 20 1/3 innings against the Yankees coming into last night's game. He's a far better pitcher than that, and you might say that he was due for a better performance against the Bombers. The Yanks grounded into two double plays and only had three at bats with runners in scoring position, and came up empty on all of them.

The Yankees two runs came in the form of solo homers, one by A-Rod in the 7th inning as he continued to mash at the Big A. The next was the first pinch hit home run of Hideki Matsui's career in the 8th inning. It was yet another blast off a left hander by Matsui this year but it wasn't enough to bring the Yanks back in the game, even if the bullpen had done their job. Nick Swisher narrowly missed a HR in the bottom of the 9th, and Robby Cano came to the plate representing the tying tun, but the Yanks fell short, 5-2.

Aside from Pettitte looking steady in his return, there weren't too many positives to take away from this game for the Yanks. However, the Red Sox also lost, dropping the magic number to 8, and making the possibility of a late season charge by the Sox a little less probable. The Rangers won, though, so the playoff clinching non-celebration will have to wait.

The didn't do anything to deter the Angels from challenging for homefield advantage, so that will have to wait until tonight.

Game 151: Thorn In My Pride

Andy Pettitte returns to the mound tonight, having been skipped due to shoulder fatigue following his start 10 days ago. Pettitte has thrown two bullpens since then, reportedly pain free. He does seem to have some lingering concern that the shoulder could cause an early exit for him tonight, as the comments he made to the media following his Friday bullpen session seemed to vary by writer. Thankfully, Sergio Mitre took one for the team and did an excellent job in five innings relief of Joba Chamberlain yesterday, leaving the Yankees with their full bullpen to back Pettitte tonight.

Pettitte is a pitcher with a lot of pride, and as we've examined earlier this year he's also a pitcher with an incentive laden contract that rewards him with each start he makes. Sports Illustrated's Jon Heyman reported last week that Pettitte begged the Yankees to let him pitch through his shoulder issues. Given the source, I'm not sure if that's true or not. Pettitte's been around long enough to know that the post-season is what matters, and that given some of the other issues in the Yankee rotation right now, a lot is riding on his left shoulder.

In two starts against the Angels this year, Pettitte has been pretty bad, allowing 11 ER and 22 baserunners in 10 innings of work. His last start against them came in the disastrous pre-All-Star break series, after which both Pettitte and the Yankees as a whole went on a very impressive run.

Joe Saunders will go for the Halos. The lefty is 13-7 with a 4.75 ERA and 1.46 WHIP on the year. He's also allowed 27 longballs, tied for second most in the AL. He faced the Yankees once this year, in the July series, and allowed 11 baserunners and surrendered 5 ER in 5 innings of work. He did not factor into the decision. That start included, Saunders is carrying a 5.31 ERA, 1.69 WHIP, and .864 OPS against in his last 11 starts, yet he's 5-2 and the Angels 7-4 in those games.

As Jay touched on earlier today and Ben Kabak at River Ave. Blues also pointed out, much will be made these next three days of the Yankees' struggles against the Angels. With home field still up for grabs, the media will place emphasis upon these games that will likely go beyond their actual importance. Nevertheless, the numbers aren't pretty. The Yankees are 13-23 against the Angels over the last four seasons, and are 4-14 at The Big A. The Angels, particularly in their home whites, have been a big thorn in the Yankees' side for a number of years now. Nothing that happens these next three days will be life or death, but it would sure be nice for the Yankees to erase the memory of that awful July series and take steps towards ensuring that a potential ALCS match-up will have no more than three games played in Orange County.



Does it make you want to scream?
Did you ever like a bad dream?
Sometimes life is obscene.

My angels, my devils, my thorn in my pride