The Fateful Fifth

Without falling victim to the fallacy of the predetermined outcome, there are is a rational way to look back at a baseball game and wonder what might have been. You have to identify a turning point in the game and restart from right there, assuming nothing going forward. But that method is always going to be unsatisfying because you can't say that that the Yankees would have won if a certain event didn't happen, you can only say that they might not have lost.

There are a lot of points that the Yankees probably wish they could rewind time and start last night's game from. Perhaps they'd like to put Brett Gardner up again with the bases loaded and one out in the fourth inning. The score was tied, but that was a real chance to break it open. Instead, Gardner settled for an RBI fielder's choice, Francisco Cervelli stayed in - instead of Jorge Posada pinch hitting - and struck out looking against Derek Holland and the Yankees walked away with a scant one run edge.

If they had to choose one spot though, it would likely be the moment before Mark Teixeira's fateful, balls-out sprint to first in the bottom of the fifth. As the ball dribbled up the third baseline, Teix reached for an extra gear that he apparently didn't have in order to beat out the double play and about fifteen feet from first, then reached for his right hamstring, lost his momentum and fell into an inadvertent feet-first slide, narrowly beating out the throw.

[As an aside... Could the hamstring have been weakened by the awkward attempt at tracking down the ball popped just into the stands by Nelson Cruz in the fourth inning? Maybe that at-bat would be a decent place to restart the tape from.]

Teixeira is a defensive wizard and generally a great hitter, but something about the postseason doesn't seem to agree with him. He's always said that one of the reasons he tends to start slow at the beginning of the regular season is that it takes time for both his right and left handed swings to align properly. Perhaps the long layoffs that are inherent to October baseball keep him too off balance to be the kind of devastating hitter he has the ability to be. In any event, it's not inconceivable that his replacement could hit better than he would have, in a small sample, from here on out. The Yankees will surely miss the plays Teix makes in the field (like the 3-6-1 DP he started in the top half of the fifth inning) but it's not impossible that the Yankees could win a World Series without him in their starting line up.

Nonetheless, this was still a soul-crushing moment. You could hear a groan of pure despair emanate from the crowd as he was helped towards the dugout and the feeling was that, even if the Yanks got out of this game with the win, their chances of defending their title just took a big hit. It was all too easy to forget that they were still holding at 3-2 edge, with men on first and second, only one out and had a roughly 75% chance of winning the game, according to WPA.

But A-Rod rapped into a double play, putting an end to what had begun as a two-on, no out potential rally and dropped that WPA down to 63%. That twin killing completed what might have been the worst imaginable outcome of having your 3 & 4 hitters up with two men on base and nobody out: force out (season ending injury), double play.

Still, it wasn't the end of the world. A.J. Burnett had acquitted himself quite nicely over the first five innings and seemed to be about as in control as one could rightfully expect him to be under the circumstances.

Burnett allowed a single to Vlad Guerrero to start the frame but sat down Nelson Cruz on a pivotal fielder's choice. Why is that important? Because Ian Kinsler, the next batter up, ripped a deep fly ball into center field that Curtis Granderson caught just off the warning track. The ball was so deep in fact, that Cruz tagged up from first base and slid safely into second, just ahead of a high throw from Granderson. Would Vlad and his ancient legs have tried to tag up under those circumstances? Highly doubtful.

So by advancing to second, Cruz opened up first base. And with David Murphy due up, Joe Girardi made one of the more controversial decisions of the evening and chose to intentionally walk him based on his history with Burnett, opting to face Bengie Molina with two men on instead of Murphy with just a man on second.

David Murphy is a capable hitter, but if Joe Girardi didn't like the match up, then why didn't he go to his bullpen in an attempt to shuffle the deck instead of putting a guy on base and leaving Burnett in?

What was he going to get out of Burnett, one more inning at most? Burnett was supposed to be on a short leash. Girardi might be the biggest proponent of two out pitching changes in the history of the fucking sport. Joba Chamberlain had been warming up for roughly two hours at that point. WHAT THE FUUUUCCCKKKK!??!?1

Sorry, I lost it for a second there. But for all the talk that there would be a quick hook for Burnett, the decision to walk Murphy (in addition to the one not to pinch hit for Cervelli) simply don't make any sense. Girardi was trying to ride Burnett for as long as possible and he paid dearly for it.

We all know too well what happened next. Molina took the first pitch he saw deep into the left field seats an delivered the running cockpunch from which the Yankees wouldn't recover.

They surely tried, however. With the bases loaded and the Bombers down by four in the eighth inning, Nick Swisher tried to avoid an inside breaking ball that got away from Darren Oliver. Replays showed that it caught Swisher's pant leg and he should have been awarded first base, thereby forcing in a run and putting the go-ahead run at the plate with just one out.

But on a night where almost everything went just about as wrong as possible for the Yanks, Angel Hernandez didn't see the contact and didn't buy Swisher's attempt at selling the fact that he got clipped when was contorted in some sort of yoga position (the dying giraffe?) on the ground.

There are losses and then there are impossibly brutal, heart-stabbing defeats like last night. The Yankees are still technically alive in the series and are a good bet to win tonight behind CC Sabathia, but even if they take the next two games, they'll have to get past Cliff Lee in Game 7. It's not over, but it certainly fucking feels like it is.

Other incredible/horrible moments that didn't make the cut:

• Jeffery Maier Part Douche
  
• Lance Berkman's overturned near homerun, that might have even glanced against the foul pole
  
• Brett Gardner's bat breaking the TBS camera
  
• A near Bartman moment in the top of the 5th

Game 87 Recap

[WE data via FG]

Highlights:

• Ichiro makes a great catch on Cano's sac fly
  
  
• Posada drives in a run with a single to center
  
  
• Franklin Gutierrez robs Derek Jeter of an extra base with with an incredible, ranging catch up against the wall in the second.
  
  
• A two run, fourth inning double by Jeter
  
  
• Teix with another two bagger in the 4th, driving in the Captain
  
  
• Marcus Thames' dinger off the foul pole
  

Not In The Highlights:

• The Mariners, who are typically play excellent defense, committed two errors in the first inning and had a lot of trouble tracking down balls in the sun.
  
  
• There was a lot of putting the ball in play today, as the Yankees worked only two walks and struck out four times, while the M's worked just one walk and K'd twice
  
  
• John Flaherty caught a foul ball in the booth during the seventh inning
  
  
• CC Sabathia induced 15 groundballs during his seven innings of one run ball. He's now won eight starts in a row, the longest such streak of his career.
  
  
• Mark Teixeira was 4-5 with two doubles one of which only missed being a home run by a couple of feet.
  
  
• Dustin Moseley pitched the ninth inning and allowed a homer to Casey Kotchman

Up Next:

• The All-Star break. The home run derby, which Nick Swisher will be participating in, will take place on Monday night at 8pm and the game itself will be on Tuesday.

Game 83 Recap

[WE data via FG]

Highlights:

• Brett Gardner makes a nice sliding grab in the first
  
  
• Ramiro Pena knocks in Gardner in the fourth to get the Yanks on the board
  
  
• Jeter singles in a run to keep the 4th inning going
  
  
• Teixeira's three run homer, that capped the rally and put the Yanks up 5-0
  
  
• Swisher's 6th inning home run

Not In The Highlights:

• The Yanks loaded the bases in the first inning with one out but Posada and Thames struck out to end the threat.
  
  
• A-Rod fell down trying to catch a pop up in foul territory

Basically:

• A.J. Burnett build on his last strong outing against the Blue Jays with a seven inning, two run effort last night. He only struck out two batters but induced 11 ground balls and allowed just five hits and two walks.
  
  
• In the fourth inning, despite the fact that Francisco Cervelli erased a leadoff single by Marcus Thames with a double play, the Yanks managed to plate five runs. Ramiro Pena and Derek Jeter both chipped in RBI singles and Mark Teixeira launched a three run homer off of Gio Gonzalez to center field.
  
  
• Stop the presses, Damaso Marte pitched a full fucking inning!
  
  
• Joba Chamberlain allowed a single to lead off the ninth inning but erased it with a double play and escaped without allowing a run.

Up Next:

• The Yanks fly up the coast to Seattle for a four game set with the Mariners which will lead them into the All-Star break.

Game 83 Recap

[WE data via FG]

Highlights:

• Alex Rodriguez's DEEP third inning grand slam, his third this season and 21st of his career
  
  
• A-Rod's second homer
  
  
• A-Rod makes a nice catch and doubles off Rosales
  
  
• Teixeira's slick catch in foul territory in the fifth
  
  
• CC Sabathia's 7 2/3 dominant innings

Not In The Highlights:

• Jeter just beating out a double play ball in the third. Not saying it was a great play or admirable in any capacity because he's The Captain Derek Jeter®, but if he gets doubled up there, A-Rod leads off the next inning instead of coming to the plate with two outs and the bases loaded.

Basically:

• It was clearly A-Rod's night, driving in five of the Yankees six runs and playing strong defense, but CC Sabathia was quite impressive as well. CC allowed one run in the first inning and loaded the bases in the fifth, but was otherwise never really in trouble, striking out ten A's while allowing seven hits and three walks. His pitch count climbed to 118 with two outs in the seventh and David Robertson got the final four outs (two via strikeout) without allowing anyone to reach base.

New recap style. Thoughts? Suggestions? Comments? There would probably be more in the "Not in the highlights" section if I didn't fall asleep in the 6th inning.

Game 82 Recap

[Data via FG]

Out of the 26 batters he faced last night, Javy Vazquez allowed 22 of them to put the ball in play. Luckily, he only walked two, didn't allow any homers and induced a lot of weak contact (10 grounders, 9 flyballs). Only three of those projectiles fell in for hits, phelped significantly by some excellent defensive plays by Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, Colin Curtis and Curtis Granderson.

Ben Sheets threw the ball awfully well last night too, but gave up a two out double to Nick Swisher in the second inning, then fell behind Granderson 3-1 and left a fastball over the plate that was redirected into the right field corner for an RBI triple. Frankie Cervelli came up next and flipped a curveball back up the middle that scored Granderson and gave the Yanks a 2-0 lead.

Cliff Pennington tripled in the third and scored on a sac fly by Coco Crisp but that was all the scoring the A's would do on the night.

Mark Teixeira added a solo home run to straightaway center in the top of the sixth to give to Yanks a little more breathing room, but they really didn't need it. Vazquez pitched two more perfect innings after that and neither Joba Chamberlain nor Mariano Rivera allowed a batter to reach base in the eighth or ninth innings.

The Yanks' bats were still largely dormant last night, but they pitched and defended well enough for it not to matter. They've got another 10:00 start tonight as CC Sabathia takes on Trevor Cahill.

Game 81: Fireworks

The Yankees were held scoreless by the Blue Jays in seven out of the eight innings they batted in yesterday. The good news was that they pushed across 11 runs in the third, their most productive frame in five years. Unlike Friday, when they blew an opportunity with the bases loaded and no one out, the Yanks actually packed the sacks three different times yesterday, leading to a two run double by Mark Teixeira, a grand slam by Brett Gardner and a bases-clearing "hit" by A-Rod that left fielder John McDonald just lost in the sun.

Andy Pettitte, who had given up a two run homer to Jose Bautista in the first, just put it into cruise control at that point and made the obligatory quality start of six innings and three runs, the final one coming on a sixth inning tater to Alex Gonzalez. Dustin Moseley made his Yankee debut, pitching two scoreless innings during which he gave up no baserunners and retired every batter via either strikeout or groundout.

Today we have a match up of young right-handed studs as 25 year old Brandon Morrow opposes 24 year old Phil Hughes. Morrow held the Yanks to one run over seven innings when he faced them about a month ago in Toronto but for whatever reason, he's struggled on the road so far this season.

Phil had his worst start of the year last time out, allowing seven runs in 5 2/3 IP against the Mariners, but as we said when it happened, he didn't pitch nearly that bad and it wasn't because they skipped one of his starts. Phil will be phine going phorward, and hopefully he can bounce right back today.

The violent one inning outburst that the Yanks had yesterday was fun to watch, but they didn't get a runner past second base aside from that. Runs are runs, but it would be encouraging to see a more balanced offensive display (perhaps punctuated by a nice finale).

Searchin' for that feelin', tell me where is the magic?
Let's stay together till we're ghosts
I want to witness love, I've never seen it close
Yeah, but I guess I gotta find it first
That's why I'm really goin' off, fireworks

I've missed them before, but won't miss them again
I keep having the same dream
And I think that I just realized what it means
All I see is fireworks

[Song Notes: I picked up Thank Me Later recently and Fireworks is the first track off of it. I've only listened to it all the way through once, so I don't have a great feel for it yet, but the first impression was pretty damn good.]

[Totally random note: Last year on the fourth of July, Chein-Ming Wang pitched his last game as a Yankee, a contest in which the Bombers tagged Roy Halladay for five runs and Jorge Posada won with a walkoff single in the 12th.

It's also George Steinbrenner's birthday, obviously.]

-Lineups-

Not today either, but Mr. Jennings and company will have you covered.

Game 78 Recap

CC Sabathia carried a shutout into the 8th inning and had allow just four baserunners to that point. It was widely assumed that since the Yankees were facing Ryan Rowland Smith, their bats would come to life, but instead Sabathia had only a two run cushion at that point.

The Big Fella walked the light-hitting Josh Bard on four straight pitches to begin the 8th and after getting Michael Saunders to pop out, allowed a single to Ichrio to put the tying run on base. Sabathia induced another very shallow fly to Chone Figgins but with Russell Braynan at the plate, Jorge Posada let a change up slip past him and the runners advanced to second on third. Braynan then pulled a clean base hit to right field and spoiled not only CC's shutout but the Yankees lead as well.

The tie was short-lived, however. Mark Teixeira came up with a one out single in the bottom half of the inning and Alex Rodriguez took a high fastball from David Aardsma the other way and into the short porch in right, thereby stealing back the win Sabathia rightfully deserved.

The Yanks did at least salvage some dignity in this series after losing the first two and they'll welcome Toronto to the Bronx for a three game set starting tomorrow night.

Game 73 Recap

[WE data via FanGraphs]

A few random thoughts:

• The star of last night's game was the 55 mph breaking pitch that Vincente Padilla was throwing. He first broke it out on Curtis Granderson in the first inning and used it 9 or 10 more times, including back to back against Brett Gardner in the second and Robinson Cano in the sixth. I loved it. The announcers were talking about how dangerous of a pitch it was for him to throw but he used it relatively sparingly, threw it mostly for strikes and the Yankees never squared up on it.
  
  
• Okay, if the star of the game has to be a person as opposed to a pitch, it was CC Sabathia. After giving up a manufactured run in the first, he shut the Dodgers down through the eighth innings and gave up just three hits and two walks from there on in while striking out eight. Those totals on the night were four, three and ten, respectively.
  
  
• Padilla did something I'd never seen before in the third. With Granderson at the plate and Jeter on second, the ball just dropped out of his hand when he was on the rubber for a balk.
  
  
• Speaking of dropping balls, Manny, playing his typically stellar left field dropped an easy fly ball off the bat of Robinson Cano in the 8th.
  
  
• With the game tied in the fourth, Padilla hit Cano right on the hip with a fastball. When Vincente's spot come up in the 5th, Sabathia threw a first pitch heater at his knees which evidently hit him, but it wasn't too serious. Padilla stared out of the mound as he slowly made his way to first with CC gazing right back at him as if to say "Make like Johnny Walker and keep walking, motherfucker".
  
  
• Mark Teixeira was due up in the top of the sixth and give the history between the two, it felt like there might be a plunkstravaganza about to go down, but Teix popped out to short. The next batter, however, was A-Rod and he ripped a no doubt shot to left field that put the Yankees ahead for good.
  
  
• Mariano Rivera came out for the 9th inning and with the aid of some close called strikes on the lower lefthand side of the plate (from the batter's perspective) struck out the side. James Loney was the third K victim and he threw a hissy fit and was ejected from the game after it had already ended. Joe Torre and Don Mattingly started jawing at the ump from the dugout and it was a rather ugly ending to the game.
  
  
• For them, anyway. Suckas!

Game 72 LOLcap

[WE data via FanGraphs]

Right out of the gate, last night's game had the feeling of one that would turn into an utter shitshow. It was exceedingly clear that Dontrelle Willis wasn't able to throw strikes when he walked Derek Jeter on four pitches and then allowed him to advance to second on a wild pitch in the process of going 3-1 on Nick Swisher. Swish singled to bring home the run and but when Willis ran the count full against Mark Teixeira, he left first too early and was picked off without even really trying to steal.

Teixeira walked on the next pitch and Alex Rodriguez watched four more balls fly by, the last of which went behind his ankles. That put runners on first and second for Robinson Cano who Willis proceeded to throw three straight balls to.

Just to review, at this point, Dontrelle had thrown 23 pitches and 18 of them were taken out of the strike zone. Not many of them were especially close. Cano was content to watch two fastballs slip in for strikes but swung at missed at the 3-2 pitch that was probably out of the zone. That's excusable, but Mark Teixeira got caught stealing third base to end the inning, which totally wasn't. The Yankees let a guy who threw more than twice as many balls as strikes in an inning escape with only one run allowed because they handed him two outs on the bases.

After that blown chance, Javy Vazquez started off the second by going walk-single-walk-single but was saved from allowing a run when the D-Backs third base coach attempted to make a late hold and left Kelly Johnson stranded on the way to home. Vazquez, who only had a little more control than Willis, then walked Miguel Montero to load the bases and after running the count full, gave up a two out, two run single to Adam LaRoche to put Arizona ahead 2-1.

Unfortunately, the horrible play didn't end there. Here's just a sampling of some of the other garbage that went down.

• Despite the fact that Willis obviously couldn't throw strikes, Francisco Cervelli bunted to lead off the second. MAKE HIM THROW THE BALL OVER THE PLATE FOR FUCK'S SAKE.
  
  
• Willis' seventh walk came with the bases loaded with one out in the third inning. However, the Yankees only scored one run that frame because Willis' replacement, Blaine Boyer, got Robinson Cano (the first batter he faced) to hit into an inning-ending double play.
  
  
• That was one of five DPs for the Yankees.
  
  
• Even with all of those twin killings, there were a total of 19 men left on base - 11 for the Yanks and 8 for the D-Backs - and the Bombers were 3/14 with runners in scoring position.
  
  
• The Yankees worked 13 walks, two of which were by Javy Vazquez.
  
  
• Javy eventually found the strikezone, but was done after five innings having given up four runs and with no chance to win the game.
  
  
• With two men on and one out in the fifth, Robinson Cano ripped a line drive to left but it Gerardo Parra made an incredible diving snag and got up in time to throw A-Rod out at first, ending the inning. Two of them weren't entirely his fault, but he was a part of three different inning-ending DPs.
  
  
• Damaso Marte was called for a balk in the sixth and then uncorked a wild pitch that put the go-ahead run on third with one out, and allowed him to score in the next at bat.

Despite the Snakes' best efforts to give it away, the Yanks were behind in this one until the ninth inning when Aaron Heilman began the frame with two walks. Teix moved the runners over with a grounder and A-Rod lofted the game-tying sac fly. With the opposing bullpen depleted and the game within striking distance, Joe Girardi went to Mariano Rivera, who worked a scoreless bottom half of the ninth.

Curtis Granderson led off the top of the 10th with a homer to right, so when Rivera's spot came up four batter's later, he made the plate appearance so that he could come back for his first two inning save this year.

Mo grounded out to first in his AB and immediately got into trouble in the bottom of the 10th. Clinging to a one run lead, he gave up a looping single to Stephen Drew and double down the left field line to Justin Upton. He then intentionally walked Montero to put a force at every base and the D-Backs looked to be in position to steal this one back. However, Rivera got Chris Young to pop out to the catcher, jammed Adam LaRoche in on his hands so that he skied it to third and struck out Mark Reynolds swinging to end the game.

After the game Mo really hit the nail on the head, saying:

We pulled this game [out] but we played horrible. It's unacceptable, the way that we played. We can't be playing games like that, you know? We are better than that, we are supposed to do what's right in baseball.

Oddly, it was a bit like the US Soccer Team's game in the World Cup. They blew an ungodly amount of opportunities but came back just in the nick of time and escaped by the skin of their teeth.

It was four hours and seven minutes long and uglier than Don Mossi, but at least the Yankees won. And not only did they win, but for the second night in a row, everyone else in the division lost, so they lead the Rays and Sawx by 2.5 games each.

Today is an off day before the team heads out to L.A. to meet up with old friends Joe Torre, Don Mattingly, Larry Bowa, Manny Ramirez and the rest of the Dodgers. Stay tuned for some posts about the history between the two teams today and tomorrow.

Game 61: Recap

The Yanks got to Brett Myers for three runs in the first inning and that was nearly enough to carry them to the finish line.

Andy Pettitte ran into some trouble in the top of the second and allowed a two runs on a double to Tommy Manzella but both pitchers found their respective grooves over the middle innings and only four runners reached base on either team between the tops of the second and eighth.

Derek Jeter booted an easy double play ball in the bottom half of the eighth that would have put Andy Pettitte just one out away from handing the ball to Mariano Rivera, but instead put the tying runs on base with no one out. After a bunt by Micheal Bourne that moved both the runners into scoring position, Joe Girardi called on Joba Chamberlain to preserve the lead. Jeff Keppinger drove in a run on a sac fly but Joba struck out Lanke Berkman on a questionable check swing call to escape with a one run advantage.

Rivera nailed down a perfect ninth and Andy Pettitte secured his 200th win as a Yankee against the only other team he's recorded a victory for. The squads next square off in Saturday afternoon match up between Javier Vazquez and Wandy Rodriguez.

Game 60 Recap

[WE data via FanGraphs]

Like they did the night before, the Yankees fell behind the Orioles 2-0 early and fought their way back to take a 3-2 lead. However, the A.J. Burnett couldn't hold the O's there and the offense couldn't come up with a timely hit as the innings wore on.

It probably didn't help that Alex Rodriguez was pulled from the game before he even had a chance to come to the plate. Eariler, Alex felt a cramp and/or some stiffness in his groin - the same thing that sidelined him last weekend against Toronto - but thought he could work through it in warm ups. During the bottom of the first, Adam Jones hit a two out ground ball that A-Rod said he should have fielded "10 times out of 10", but his groin "locked up" on him and the ball rolled past and into left field, allowing Miguel Tejada to score the O's second run.

Alex had warned Ramiro Pena prior to the start of the game that he wasn't feeling 100% and told him to be ready to come in. Nino got his chance in the top of the second and led off the frame batting clean up.

The Yankees offensive problems extended well beyond Pena batting in the heart of the order, though. The line up already had Chad Moeller and Marcus Thames in it and they were facing a good, young pitcher with whom they were unfamiliar. As I mentioned in yesterday's preview, Jake Arrieta has been all but unhittable in the minors so far this year. He brought that ability with him in his Major League debut, holding the Yanks to just 4 hits over six innings. He did walk four but two of them were distributed intentionally in the crucial sixth inning.

During the bottom of the fifth, the Orioles tied the game on a homer by Scott Moore, but Mark Teixiera brought the Yanks right back by leading off the sixth with a double. Ramiro Pena came to the plate and executed what Ken Singleton (whose birthday it was) pointed out on the broadcast was probably the first sacrifice executed out of the clean up slot all year for the Yanks. Juan Samuel had Arrieta put Cano on base, creating the potential for a double play with Jorge Posada coming up. The O's didn't get the DP they wanted but Jorge flew out to shallow center, not deep enough to bring in the run.

Although he obviously wasn't going to go on the play, Mark Teixeira executed a good enough fake to draw the throw. When Adam Jones unloaded the ball, Robinson Cano took off for second. On his way there, Ty Wigginton made a great play to cut off the throw and fired to second base. It looked like Cano might have been out, but he was ruled safe, making an intentional walk of the lefty Curtis Granderson to bring up the righty Marcus Thames the obvious move. Arrieta struck him out on four pitches, three of which were breaking balls down and away.

In the bottom half of the six, Luke Scott "tripled" on high fly ball that brought Nick Swisher all the way back to the scoreboard in left. Swish tracked it, made a leaping effort and thought he made the catch but didn't and momentarily lost track of the ball when it landed. Adam Jones struck again in the next at bat, slashing a double to right center, adding his second RBI of the game and giving the Orioles the lead.

The Yanks worked three walks in the last three innings, but that was it. Their 10 game winning streak over the Orioles came to an end and A.J. Burnett took the first loss of his career at Camden Yards. The Yanks still won the series, however and head home to face Houston tonight as Andy Pettitte squares off against Brett Meyers.

Game 58 Recap

[WE data via FanGraphs]

This is a great example of when a Win Expectancy can put a final score into perspective. The ultimate tally of 12-7 doesn't necessarily represent a blow out, but the Yankees snuffed the Orioles' chances of winning into the single digits as early as the third inning and had them under 1% almost exclusively from the seventh inning on.

It started early. Almost as early as possible, in fact, as Derek Jeter worked a walk to leadoff the game - something that he's only done two other times in 56 plate appearances this season. Moments later, Nick Swisher pounded the first pitch he saw - an 88 mile per hour fastball - over the wall in straight away center field and the Yankees were up 2-0 before Kevin Millwood could record an out. Mark Teixiera and Robinson Cano would both reach base around a strikeout by A-Rod but the two run jack by Swisher was the only blood in the inning.

The hit that really broke the game open came off the bat of Curtis Granderson in the third inning. With two outs and the bases loaded, Granderson took a 2-2 slider deep onto the plaza/terrace/patio atop the wall in right field, extending the margin to 6-0.

By the end of the fifth, the O's had plated three runs off of Phil Hughes, but the Yankees blew the game open again in the top of the seventh on a bases-clearing double by Swisher which was promptly proceeded by a two run homer from Mark Teixeira. Fucking finally.

The slumping Teixeira really came to life in his hometown tonight. He went 3-4 (thanks mostly to two well-placed singles) with two walks and might have driven in more than two runs if that selfish bastard Nick Swisher didn't sweep up five for himself. This may or may not be a memorable turning point or a change in the winds of fortune for Teixeira, but it was certainly fun to watch.

The game was played at a glacially slow pace and I can't help but think that it affected Phil Hughes. Even in the innings the Yankees weren't scoring, they were putting runners on base - they had 15 hits and 6 walks while Hughes was the pitcher of record. Still, he made the obligatory quality start of six innings and three earned runs and picked up an easy win.

Chad Gaudin was the main reason the game looked closer than it was. He was asked to pitch the eighth and ninth innings and during the course of his sloppy mop-up work, he allowed four runs, not to mention stranding three more runners in the process. If there was one blemish, this was probably it, but no one is going to remember it in the morning anyway.

Great Moments In Self-Congratulation

Tim Britton, who was filling in for Byran Hoch this weekend over at MLB.com, dug up this gem from Joe Girardi after yesterday's game:

When asked after Sunday's 4-3 win if he thought his ejection helped his team come from behind in the eighth inning, Joe Girardi just shrugged his shoulders and said, "Sometimes I think I should get thrown out in the first."

Let's hear it for Joe Girardi and his super-clutch ejection, ladies and gentlemen. Play. Of. The Game.

If he had just came out to argue the call without getting thrown out, who knows what might have happened...

• Would Cito Gaston decided against intentionally walking Mark Teixeira, instead leading to an improbable, line-out-step-on-the-bag double play?
  
  
• Would Jason Frasor still have tossed the wild pitch with A-Rod up that allowed Gardner to score and tie the game?
  
  
• Could A-Rod still have managed to strike out on a pitch right down the middle of the plate if Girardi hadn't lit a fire under his ass like that?
  
  
• Would Robinson Cano, who only had a meager 81 hits (two earlier in the game) and 43 RBIs coming into that at-bat have finally woken the fuck up and done something for this team!!1?1!/??
  
  
• Could Joba Chamberlain still have given up that run in the bottom half of the inning without the inspiration from Girardi's magical ejection?
  
  
• Where would Mariano Rivera have found the motivation to throw a perfect ninth inning had Joe not been tossed?

In all seriousness, this is an example of a manager thinking he matters way fucking more than he actually does. The Yankee rally was in full swing when Girardi got tossed. The Blue Jays already hit Cervelli and Gardner with pitches to start the inning and then Derek Jeter ripped a double, driving in a run and putting men on second and third, still with no one out. At that point, the Yankees' Win Expectancy was at 59% - a single gives them the lead, an out ties the game and they got multiple opportunities for both. Even after Swisher "struck out", they had a greater than 50/50 chance of winning the game and an even better chance of at least tying it right there.

The players were probably pretty ticked off at the terrible call by the umpire. Could that lead to a rally in some cases? Maybe. Did what Joe Girardi did help the team in any meaningful way, shape or form? I highly fucking doubt it. Players win games, not managers by getting ejected from them.

But keep telling yourself that getting thrown out of the game "fired the team up" or what have you, Joe. You came up huge yesterday. Great work. Just don't throw out your elbow patting yourself on the back.

Game 57: Sunday Street

Any hopes that the Yankees could have kept the momentum going from the Bronx through Toronto and connect the four sets against last place teams on either side of it have been dashed. The Yanks will take the field in Toronto this afternoon just hoping only to avoid a sweep at the hands of the Jays.

So far, the Blue Jays have put the two strengths that have carried them through the season on display in this series: power hitting and solid starting pitching. Jose Bautista, who came into the game tied for the league lead in homer runs, jacked two off A.J. Burnett Friday night and Edwin Encarnacion added a third. Vernon Wells and Alex Gonzalez both took Andy Pettitte deep on Saturday.

On the flip side, Brett Cecil and Rickey Romero each threw eight innings and allowed a combined three runs. Nick Swisher drove one in on a double play against Cecil, Derek Jeter hit a two run homer off of Romero, and that's it.

It depends on how you want to look at it, though. Perhaps Cecil and Romero were dealing. Maybe the Yanks were just terrible offensively. Or both.

On Friday, the Yanks mustered just eight baserunners in nine innings and plated only one of them. Yesterday, they scored two runs in 14 frames and put only 13 men on base. Mark Teixeira has been at the center of this futility, going 1-10 with with seven strikeouts, but is by no means alone in his awfulness. Robinson Cano is 0-10, Jorge Posada 1-9 and Curtis Granderson a combined 0-5 with 2 Ks. Aside from Jeter, Swisher has been the lone other bright spot with a double and four walks in ten plate appearances.

Saturday's game was especially tough since the Yanks had one run-scoring play in 14 innings and wasted a great start by Andy Pettitte (7.2 IP, 2ER) and some very solid work out of the bullpen by Joba Chamberlain, Damaso Marte, David Robertson and Chan Ho Park.

But not Mariano Rivera, because Joe Girardi believed that the choice was between Rivera for two innings or not bringing him in at all. He chose the latter and the Yanks lost the game with their most deadly round still in the chamber. In his defense, he hasn't used Mo for more than three outs all year long and if the Yankees took the lead, Rivera didn't come back to nail it down and the Jays ended up winning, the ensuing media shitstorm would have dwarfed this one.

Today, the Yanks look to Javier Vazquez to salvage something out of this series. Javy obviously had a solid outing against the Orioles at Yankee Stadium, but unlike the O's, who are near the bottom of the league in most offensive categories, the Jays are near the top. They have expanded their lead in home runs this weekend, also have the most doubles and are third in OPS. I'm still concerned about Javy, but much less than I was before his last start. Not that it matters, means anything or least of all, has any predictive value.

The offense will get a crack at Brandon Morrow, who has an enticing ERA of 6.00 but a much less appealing FIP of 3.72. Morrow is striking out over ten batters per nine innings but is also walking more than five. He's had a couple excellent starts, including his last time out against the Rays, but is capable of being both extremely extremely wild and very hittable.

After what was easily their longest and certainly one of their toughest losses of the year, the Yanks look to avoid their first three game sweep of the season. The middle of the order - who have-combined to go two for twenty-four so far this series - step it up would be nice for starters. A solid effort from Vazquez would be a nice bonus. I don't think that's too much to ask.

I'll get a pair of dice that makes me seven all the time,

Gonna be livin' on chicken and wine,

I want caviar, four star and Johnny Walker Black,

Six pretty women in my gold Cadillac,

Gonna move where the livin' is sweet,

From Saturday alley up to Sunday street.

[Song Notes: Vocally, Dave Van Ronk isn't exactly polished (here's cover version for a point of comparison). He gets the job done and has unique delivery of what are some really good lyrics, but the vocal performance certainly isn't what makes this track. That would be the guitar; the elegant, folksy, bluesy fingerpicking arrangement that carries the tune.

Van Ronk, a Greenwich Village native, has a posthumously published memoir called The Mayor of McDougald Street, which my Mom assures me is excellent. The Mayor was quite the character. He was one of Bob Dylan's principal influences, never learned to drive and refused to leave the Village for any stretch of time and used to tote around a vintage stoneware bottle of Tullamore Dew.]

-Lineups-

Yankees:

Derek Jeter SS
Nick Swisher RF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Jorge Posada DH
Curtis Granderson CF
Francisco Cervelli C
Brett Gardner LF

Blue Jays:

Fred Lewis LF
Aaron Hill 2B
Adam Lind DH
Vernon Wells CF
Jose Bautista 3B
Alex Gonzalez SS
Lyle Overbay 1B
Jeremy Reed RF
Jose Molina C

Off Day Linktacular

Mark Teixiera put his beautiful 7,000 square foot house in Vaquero, Texas on the market for the second time, for the princely sum of $4.55M, down from $5.75M. I doubt too many of you have an extra five mil laying around and feel like picking up and moving to Texas but that link is good for some serious house porn. The game room on the right with a pool table, card table, big TV and a bar looks like an ideal place to kick it with several of your closest homies.

According to Bryan Hoch, someone apparently sent Nick Swisher a plush tan bathrobe with #33 and his initials embroidered on it and he was rocking it in the locker room. You know you've got a good job when people send you stuff for free and you can wear a robe around the office.

Hoch also got a great story about the late Jose Lima from Yanks' bench coach Tony Pena. Lima was certianly a character and Joe Posnanski captured the enigmatic hurler's quest for the spotlight beautifully. Walkoff Walk directs us to this video of him ad libbing to Sweet Home Alabama and Craig points us towards a eulogy from his former teammate C.J. Nitkowski.

Has Derek Jeter lost his fade? During last night's game, they showed this shot of him in the dugout and as you can see, it appears as though he has opted for a cut of a more uniform length all around instead of having it longer on top. Is this a recent development?

Although it certainly hasn't hindered his love life, he's caught a fair amount of flack for having an outdated coiff in the past from various haters. Ladies (or metro dudes), care to offer an opinion on the new look?

Katie Sharp of ESPN's TMI (sub. required) blog thinks that the Yankees should move Derek Jeter out of the leadoff spot and notes that he has zero walks in 78 plate appearances when he's leading off an inning. We already discussed why the move not going to happen, but that's a troubling stat.

Hardball Talk had an NBC Sports interview with the Fackin' Youkstah.

Hey look, someone crossed the mound forty years ago without the pitcher throwing a temper tantrum.

The WSJ profiled Kevin Russo and talked about what it feels like for him to finally make his Major League debut on the team his father (who passed away in 2007) rooted for.

Austin Jackson's eye was swollen almost completely shut after getting hit by a pitch on Saturday. The ball hit his helmet but in turn forced the helmet down on to his eye. He wasn't seriously hurt but missed yesterday's game and might be out of the lineup for another couple of days.

Carson Cistulli digs up some purple prose used to describe an extra innings, walkoff grand slam by Babe Ruth.

Joe Girardi did an interview with the Harvard Business Review and talked a lot about his approach to managing.

Baseball-Reference now features photographs of almost every player who made their debut before 1960. It's a pretty cool addition that really brings the site to life.

It appears as though the Roy Oswalt sweepstakes is heating up. David Golebiewski at THT asks how much he's really worth and Aaron Gleeman wonders whether the Twins should make an effort to acquire him but ultimately rules that it's not work the prospects plus salary.

And finally, a bit of whimsy from the Sports Pickle.

Like the Yanks, we are going to take it easy today. If anything comes up, we'll try to get to it, but chances are we won't have anything until tomorrow.

Good Thames, Bad Thames

Good morning Fackers. For the second straight morning we're leading off with a bad pun on Marcus Thames' name. Except this time, it isn't quite as pleasant. And I can't take credit for coming up with this one, as Peter Botte of the Daily News tweeted this right after Thames' critical ninth inning error.

That's a pretty big swing in momentum for Thames in just over a day, going from Monday night's hero to Tuesday night's goat. That's the way it goes. Sometimes you end the game with pie on your face, sometimes you end it with egg on your face. For all the people screaming for Marcus Thames' head this morning, remember that 1) he had the biggest hit of the night on Monday and 2) the only reason he was even in last night's game at that point is because Nick Swisher is injured and because the team's undying love for Boone Logan meant that defensive whiz Greg Golson was sent down before the game to make room for Mark Melancon.

No one is ever going to confuse Thames with a Gold Glover. That ball should have been caught easily, and Thames would be the first to tell you that. But the team is banged up right now and they had to roll the dice with Thames out there in the late innings. There were no better options. Sometimes shit happens.

Aside from Thames, there's plenty of blame to go around this morning. The Yankees had the bases loaded with one out in the sixth and Brett Gardner and Mark Teixeira both failed to push what would have been valuable insurance runs across. Joba was definitively not of the 2007 vintage last night, as he had an eighth inning meltdown for his second consecutive outing. A-Rod made a costly error of his own in the ninth. Mo got squeezed on a number of pitches.

By his own admission, Joe Girardi's bullpen is "a mess", and with nothing but assorted spare parts left out there, he still chose to play for the tie in the ninth inning, giving up an out so Francisco Cervelli could sacrifice the potential tying run to third base. In the end, that didn't work out, and we could only wonder what the Yankees could have done with that extra out since the game ended with the tying and winning runs in scoring position. And that same short bench that left Thames in for defense in the ninth, whittled down to just one healthy position player due to injuries and questionable personnel decisions, was the reason it was Randy Winn and not Jorge Posada or Nick Swisher at the plate with the potential winning run in scoring position.

But those are the breaks in a 162 game season. Sometimes they go your way, as they did Monday, sometimes they don't. You gotta take the bad with the good.

Game 37 WPA Chart

That one stung. Kubel's salami resulted in a 59% swing in WPA, which is easily the largest of any single play in a Yankees game so far this year. The Yankees getting the tying run to the plate with no one out and following through with three straight strike outs - the last one looking on Teixeira - was pretty demoralizing as well. However, the Yanks took two out of three from a very good team, and at the end of the day, the series was still a success.

Game 36 WPA Chart

Game 35 Recap

A.J. Burnett ran into trouble right out of the gate. He stranded two runners in the first inning and then loaded the bases with no one out in the second. Nick Punto stood there while Burnett threw four straight balls to force in a run but up next, Denard Span tapped one back to the mound and allowed Burnett start a 1-2-3 double play and stall the rally. Orland Hudson struck out swinging to end the inning and Burnett escaped relatively unscathed.

Nick Swisher came out of the game after striking out in the second inning, his bicep injury apparently still nagging him. He had an MRI but it was negative and he's day-to-day.

The Yankees took a 2-1 lead in the fourth on a home run by Brett Gardner and a ground rule double to right by Robinson Cano but Joe Mauer hit a solo homer to even the score in the top of the fifth. In the bottom half of that inning, the Yanks jumped ahead once again, this time on a double my Mark Teixeira that scored Brett Garnder from first.

The score remained 3-2 until the top of the 7th. Burnett got two outs and with only 100 pitches and a man on first, Joe Girardi went to the bullpen for Damaso Marte, who promptly allowed a game-tying single to Joe Mauer. Brett Gardner threw the ball home for no apparent reason and allowed Joe Mauer to advance to second. Justin Morneau then ripped a double to center and gave the Twins a 4-3 advantage.

Scott Baker came out of the bottom of the 7th and gave up a single to Francisco Cervelli. Derek Jeter followed with a line drive directly off Baker's knee that deflected far enough away for Cervelli to get to third and Jeter to get to second with a double. Gardner looped out to left but it was caught and the Twins elected to walk Mark Teixeira to load the bases for A-Rod. Looking for the double play, Ron Gardnehire brought in sinkerballer Matt Guerrier, who A-Rod was 4-6 off of with three homers. Impossibly, his line got even better.

After ripping the first pitch down the third baseline (which looked to be fair or very close to it), Rodriguez blasted a fat fastball into the seats just in front of the bleachers in left for the 19th grand slam of his career, giving the Yanks a 7-4 lead. It also put him at 587, one ahead of Frank Robinson. A-Rod's home run was worth 35.9% of WPA which negated Marte's -33.5% implosion and then some.

Joba Chamberlain struck out the side in the top of the eighth inning, Francisco had an RBI triple in the bottom half and Mariano Rivera sat the Twins down in the ninth to wrap things up. The final score was 8-4 as the Yanks temporarily slowed their skid and continued their dominance at home over the Twins.

Tomorrow's game is at 1:00 as Andy Pettitte takes on the resurgent Francisco Liriano.

Game 29 Win Expectancy Chart