"He Did What He Had To Do"

Last night on the YES broadcast, after CC Sabathia threw behind Kurt Suzuki in the bottom of the first inning and both benches were warned, John Flaherty repeatedly praised the action by saying "pitchers need to protect their hitters" claiming it that it "clearly sent a message that you aren't going to abuse our starting third baseman" in addition to the quote in the title.

But did Sabathia really "have to do" anything?

Giving another team an automatic baserunner wouldn't seem to be good strategy ever, but last night's move was doubly unsuccessful since the pitch missed Suzuki and he deposited the very next one in the left field seats for a solo home run.

Looking back at the pitch that Vin Mazzaro hit A-Rod with, which prompted CC's warning shot, it didn't have the looks of an intentional beaning. Pitch f/x on Gameday on MLB.com identified the pitch as a 4 seam fastball, but it had the same speed and trajectory of the first pitch of the at bat which they identified as a two-seamer. Matt used a two-seamer as evidence of Rick Porcello not intending to hit Youk last week and and the same would stand to reason here. The ball broke pretty severely inside, like it got away from Mazzaro, not as if he was trying to hit A-Rod. Why would he have wanted to, anyway?

So why did the Yankees feel the need to respond? Yes, it was the same spot A-Rod got plunked last week against the Blue Jays, and if he was out for a significant amount of time, it would hurt the Yankees tremendously. But the pitch already happened. Did it stop the A's from hitting him again? I very seriously doubt that.

Just yesterday Bill James and Joe Posnanski took a look at hit batsmen over at SI.com (h/t BBTF). Pos noted a historical rise in the frequency of batters being hit, with the number of games which included a HBP climbing 10% from the 80's to the 90's and another 9% into the 00's, now at 36%. James hypothesizes that the advent of the metal bat in amateur baseball allowed taught young hitters to crowd the plate resulting in the recent rise.

Posnanski surmises that historically, the code of throwing at batters was much clearer and now determining intent is far more difficult:

And, all of this just makes it trickier than ever for everyone. Umpires and players and managers suddenly have to guess: "What was that pitcher THINKING?" [...] Suddenly you have to be Dr. Phil. And it's become silly.

All this guesswork leads to blind leading the blind, and hitters getting plunked in retaliation for something that wasn't intentional in the first place.

When Joe Torre was the manager, fans complained that pitchers like Mike Mussina and Andy Pettitte would never throw at opposing batters. In general, didn't seem to be Torre's style. He was by nature, a calming presence and by and large had pitchers on his team who didn't seem to be very interested in pegging anyone. I'm guessing he's had a negative HBP differential over his managerial career, but he's not included on this list. Contrast that with Joe Girardi, who in much younger and uptight with two guys in A.J. Burnett and CC Sabathia who Torre didn't have, who don't fear sending a message to the opposition from time to time.

Last night, as home plate umpire Jerry Lane was warning the benches, the cameras quickly panned to A-Rod, who had an almost childish-looking grin on his face. He was apparently quite pleased, or at least amused that his pitcher had his back. Maybe it's just another example of A-Rod having no self awareness (who wouldn't want to sit at a poker table with the guy?), or perhaps there is something about standing up for a teammate that really brings a ballclub together.

This One's Worth About 50 Words, Anyway

I couldn't shoehorn this into last night's recap, but here is a picture of Melky Cabrera after Jay Marshall hit him with a 71MPH changeup in the top of the sixth inning. Melky tried to turn and scamper out of the way but at the same time, Kurt Suzuki came behind him and tried to field the pitch. Awkward and mildly homoerotic poses ensued.

CC Conquers The Coliseum

Throughout the first few innings of last night's game, it looked like CC Sabathia was headed for another tough outing in the Oakland-Alameda Coliseum and the Yankees towards their third straight loss.

A-Rod got hit in the same place on his elbow he took one off last Wednesday in the top of the first but thankfully remained in the game. Two batters later, Jorge Posada struck out swinging with the bases loaded.

Seemingly in retaliation, CC Sabathia threw one behind Kurt Suzuki at waist level with two outs in the bottom half of the inning and both benches were warned. On the very next pitch Suzuki served up some retribution of his own by rocking a homer deep into the left field seats. Even after tonight, Suzuki is slugging just .393 this year, so it's safe to say he was emboldened by the near-beaning.

Derek Jeter brought Melky Cabrera to the plate in the top of the second on an error by Adam Kennedy at third base for the Yanks' own two out run. It was the first of four errors the A's committed in the game. Kennedy also struck out four times, so perhaps it just wasn't his night. Jeter had three hits for the third night in a row, so once again it was his.

Sabathia gave up another two out solo shot in the bottom of the second inning to Tommy Everidge, a 26 year old career minor leaguer (who Ken Singleton referred to as an "organizational player" during the broadcast) with highly mediocre numbers down on the farm and only 20 MLB games under his belt. Sabathia intentionally walked him in the 6th inning as well, accounting for 4 of the 28 balls he threw on the night and his only free pass, but that's a whole 'nother topic.

The Bombers scored again in the third on a ground rule double by Jorge Posada that drove in A-Rod after he had singled and advanced to second on a wild pitch by Vin Mazzaro.

The Yanks loaded the bases in the fourth inning with one out for Mark Teixeira, but like A-Rod the night before, he swung at the first pitch and grounded into an inning ending double play. After A-Rod walked and Matsui flew out to center in the 5th, Posada ended that frame with a DP of his own.

The score remained 2-2 at the beginning of the sixth inning at which point Mazzaro was replaced after throwing 103 pitches. From the bench, Mazzaro watched lefty side-arming junkballer Jay Marshall throw the game away with a double, wild pitch, HBP, single and a double before eing pulled in favor of Santiago Casilla with the score now 4-2. After an intentional walk to Mark Teixeira which loaded the bases, Casilla walked A-Rod on 4 pitches to force a run home and gave up a two run single to Hideki Matsui to bring the score to 7-2.

Sabathia settled in and continued his efficient effort, lasting 8 innings and needing just 94 pitches to do so. He struck out three batters in addition to Adam Everett's 4 K's and allowed 5 hits on top of the aforementioned IBB to Everidge. With a 5 run lead, David Robertson was called on for the 9th inning and promptly threw 8 straight balls. He then bore down and retired the next three batters, the first two on swinging strikes.

It took forty minutes longer than the previous night's game to complete, but was still under 3 hours. More importantly, though, the Yanks won and are not facing the prospect of a sweep when Chad Gaudin takes the hill tomorrow night. They remain 7 games up on the Red Sox after they took a topsy turvy affair against the Blue Jays to stay atop the Wild Card standings.