Game 27: Buenas Tardes Amigo

Buenas tardes Fackers, y feliz Cinco de Mayo. Today marks the 148th anniversary of the Battle of Puebla, more popularly known as Cinco de Mayo, during which the Mexican Army improbably defeated the French. The Yankees, who feature two of the eleven Mexican-born players currently in the Major Leagues, will celebrate with a getaway day matinee, saying good afternoon to the Orioles as they wrap up their three game set.

Andy Pettitte looks to continue his strong start to the 2010 season and give the Yankees the sweep. Through five starts, Pettitte stands at 3-0, with a 2.12 ERA and a 1.15 WHIP. He is still outperforming both his FIP (3.07) and xFIP (4.01) by a good margin, thanks in large part to a high strand rate (82.9%) and a low BABIP (.276). The good news is, he's been so successful not just because of those somewhat lucky numbers, but because his walks are low and he's allowed just a single home run in 34 IP. Further, if Pettitte's ERA matched his FIP or even his xFIP, no one would be complaining about it at this point.

Baltimore is an old friend to Pettitte. He's has made 38 starts and 2 relief appearances against the Orioles in his 16 year career. He's 26-6 with a 3.60 ERA against them. Clearly there are several good starts mixed in there, but perhaps none better than Pettitte's second most recent against the O's. Last August 31st, Pettitte was perfect at Camden Yards through six and two thirds, finishing the night with 8 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 BB, and 8 K. Pettitte enjoyed great success against Baltimore in three starts last year, posting a 2.21 ERA, a 0.89 WHIP, and striking out 21 against just 5 walks in 20.1 IP.

For the Orioles, David Hernandez will get the ball. Hernandez faced the Yankees twice as a rookie last year. On July 20th, he held them to six baserunners and a single run over six innings of work, but wasn't around for the decision by the time Hideki Matsui's home run gave the Yankees yet another walkoff win. He wasn't quite so lucky on September 1st, as the Yankees touched him up for five runs in as many innings while working six walks. If there was any silver lining, it was that Hernandez held them to just four hits and struck out seven.

After a poor 2009, Hernandez has made modest improvements through the first five starts of his sophomore campaign. Though winless, his ERA is a respectable 4.55, just about in line with his 4.65 FIP. However, he's allowing far too many baserunners, walking an unsightly 4.9 per nine, and yielding a hit per inning. He can't blame the hits on bad luck, as his BABIP of .291 is better than league average, and his xFIP of 5.98 suggests that things could have been worse for him thus far. If he can't keep the walks under control or keeps giving up hits in bunches, he likely won't last long this afternoon. Even in its weakened state, the Yankees lineup will feast upon that.

Stuck at the office today? Yeah, me too. Luckily, thanks to Yankees on YES, I'll be able to follow along on my computer. Of course, most of my attention will be on spreadsheets and emails and the like, but I'm sure I'll check in here and there. Let's commiserate in the comments.

Buenas tardes amigo
Hola my good friend
Cinco de Mayo's on Tuesday
And I hoped we'd see each other again

-Lineups-

Yankees:
Jeter's back in the field today, and Nick Johnson returns to the lineup in the two spot as the DH. With Jorge Posada still hobbled and an off day tomorrow, Francisco Cervelli catches the day game after a night game. Randy Winn draws the winning number in today's left field lottery.

Derek Jeter SS
Nick Johnson DH
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Nick Swisher RF
Brett Gardner CF
Francisco Cervelli C
Randy Winn LF

Orioles:
Update 12:50 PM: Jones is a late scratch. Lugo moves up to the leadoff spot, Lou Montanez replaces Jones in CF and Lugo in the 9 hole

Julio Lugo SS
Adam Jones CF
Ty Wigginton 2B
Nick Markakis RF
Miguel Tejada 3B
Garrett Atkins 1B
Matt Wieters DH
Nolan Reimold LF
Craig Tatum C
Julio Lugo SS
Lou Montanez CF

10 More Innings, One More Loss

When the YES cameras panned to Joe Girardi standing in the dugout in the top of the sixth innning, he had a tense and angry look on his face. Jaw muscles clenched, staring intently onto the field. It wasn't the stoic be reassuring look of Joe Torre, sitting up against the dugout bench with the brim of his hat pulled low. The score was still only 1-0 Rays, but you couldn't tell by the skipper's demeanor. There were men on first and second with no one out, and A.J. Burnett had already thrown 104 pitches. 

Burnett had already tallied eight strikeouts, but that wasn't the sole reason for the escalating pitch count. With two outs in the first inning, Ramiro Pena let an easy groundball from Evan Longoria go by, causing Burnett to throw 10 more pitches, issuing a walk to Carlos Pena before retiring Pat Burrell on a fly ball. 

It was a frustrating night for fans and players alike. The typically affable Nick Swisher got tossed for arguing balls and strikes with home plate umpire James Hoye on a pitch that replays showed to be well off the plate. Girardi yelled from the dugout "It was this far outside", with his hand about a foot apart.

Yankees fans would have had a right to complain if Gabe Gross wasn't called out looking on a pitch in the opposite batter's box from Burnett in the 2nd. 

The lone run-producing hit the Yankees got last night came from Mark Teixeira in the bottom of the 8th. Just as a thin band of heavy rain was working its way through the NYC area, the Yankees had loaded the bases with two outs. This didn't catch the YES Network by surprise as they had already cued up clips from Jason Giambi's rainy walk-off grand slam against the Twins in May of 2002. The broadcast nearly hyped the moment to death, but Teix didn't dissapoint. He sent a bases-clearing double down the right field line (along with most of his bat).
 

The tarp came out shortly thereafter, and when play resumed Hideki Matsui struck out to end the inning. 

If Nick Swisher had kept his cool, he would have come to the plate with a chance to win the game in the bottom of the ninth. In his place, Brett Gardner bunted Cano over to 2nd base. Melky Cabrera then worked a walk, which brought Ramiro Pena to the plate. Hit tapped an 0-2 pitch softly towards the shortstop but Evan Longoria charged and threw across the diamond to get Pena out. One small problem. Pena was safe. 

Instead of having the bases loaded with one out, the Yanks had men on second and third with two down. Any base hit still would have won the game, but Jose Molina came to the plate and flew out to right to end the threat. 

The Yankees were the victim of a bad call at the worst possible time, but they did it to themselves far more than the umps did. Although Phil Coke served up a leadoff HR in the top of the 10th to Carlos Pena, they would get another chance. 

Mark Teixeira, coming off his "signature moment as a Yankee" as Michael Kay must have said 14 times, stepped up to the plate with Johnny Damon on 2nd with one out. A wild pitch allowed Damon to advance to third, placing the tying run well within reach. Teix didn't get the job done, popping out to shallow right, not nearly deep enough to send Damon.

It's probably because Of the losing streak and the fact that the Yanks dipped below .500, but I'm going to remember Teixeira slamming his helmet and yelling at himself when he returned to the dugout. 

Granted, there would not have been a tenth inning if he didn't clear the bases in the 8th, but that's the more lasting impression for me. You can smash a 300 yard drive down the middle of the fairway, but it doesn't mean shit if you hit your approach shot in the bunker. The Yankees need that run in the worst way, having just bogeyed their last 4. 

Some bad breaks, some bad play, and here's where we are at: 27 games into the season and below .500. No pressure, A-Rod. 

Game 27: In The Evening

With the Rays in town, I felt like a Ray Charles tune was the way to go. It's a bluesy number, which is also fitting because the Yankees have lost three straight. 

They are 3-8 within their division and tonight seems like as good of a time as any to start pushing that record in the right direction. Girardi will hand the ball to A.J. Burnett at 7:07, the fifth time in six starts this has happened following a loss. Four times it resulted in a Yankee victory. One of those times was on April 14th, when Burnett carried a no-hitter into the 7th inning against the Rays. 

Sitting at 12-16, the Rays actually make the 13-13 record the Bombers have accumulated look pretty good. Since they play in Tampa and have no fans, however, no one seems to be pushing the panic button on them yet. This is New York, so not only is the team under a magnifying glass, it's a sunny day and the media is trying to angle it juuuuust right.

If you want to read doom and gloom about the Yanks, you're probably in the wrong place. There's enough of that out there and there's really no use getting all bent out of shape over something that's supposed to be fun. We can only offer you level-headed analysis, immature photoshops, drinking advice and a look on the bright side.