Game 92: 46 Days

For some odd reason, even though the Yankees got a late start after the All-Star Break and weren't doing any traveling after the three game series against the Rays, yesterday was an off day for them. It doesn't really matter now, but that rest probably could have come in handy sometime during the next 46 days, during which the Yankees are scheduled to play 44 games.

Tonight, Phil Hughes takes the mound for the first time since taking the loss in the All-Star Game. Fortunately he'll be facing the relatively marginal Angels' lineup instead of the best players in the National League and the opposing pitcher will be 22 year old right hander Sean O'Sullivan, who has only 58 MLB innings under his belt and a relatively uninspiring Minor League career backing that up.

The Yanks have a two and a half game lead over the Rays at the moment and perhaps there isn't much reason for concern, as Joe from River Ave. Blues said this morning. But as they begin this tough stretch, most of which they will likely have to navigate without Andy Pettitte, it would be nice if Hughes and the offense can get them off on the right foot against the Halos.

Leigh Fordham sold me out,
46 days and the coal ran out,
Please come round here another day,
Sit yourself down when you're ready to stay.

She dug down when they took the town,
Lookin' for clues but they couldn't be found,
Leigh found out she was ready to roam,
47 days and the coal came home.

Taste the fear,
For the devil's drawing near.

[Song Notes: There's a few numerical coincidences here, with 46 being Andy Pettitte's number as well as half of 92. This is a relatively new Phish tune, off of the album Round Room, which they released in 2002.]

-Lineup(s)-

Yankees: Jonathan Albaladejo, who has been doing excellent work this season as Scranton's closer (46.2 IP, 0.96 ERA and a club record 31 saves already) has been called up to take Andy Pettitte's roster spot. The Yanks have passed over him for guys like Mark Melancon, Ivan Nova, Romulo Sanchez and (repeatedly) Boone Logan this season, but Albie is finally joining the Big League club for the first time in 2010 tonight.

He doesn't have to eat up batters (4.8 Hs, 2.4 BBs & 11.8 Ks per 9) like he has been doing in the minors to be valuable to the team. He just has to be better than he has in the parts of three seasons he's spent in the Majors or just more effective than fucking Joba, neither of which is asking a whole lot.

As for the lineup, Jorge Posada will be behind the plate while Curtis Granderson hits 7th and Juan Miranda DH's and bats 8th against the righty O'Sullivan.

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

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 60: Get Up Jake

Now that we've reached the stage of the season where clubs can promote minor leaguers without having to worry about them being eligible for Super Two status, this year has really begun tp produce a bumper crop of top prospect debuts in the MLB.

Jason Heyward began his career as an Atlanta Brave with a bang at the beginning of the season and Ike Davis was called up when the Mets were struggling in mid-April. More recently, we've seen the debuts of Steven Strasburg, former Yankee farmhand Jose Tabata, fellow Pirate Brad Lincoln, and Mike Stanton (who is not related to the former Yankee reliever) to name a few. Still on the horizon are promising youngsters like the awesomely-named Carlos Santana - a catcher in the Indians' system, outfielders Domonic Brown of the Phillies and Desmond Jennings of the Rays, Scott Boras' Pittsburgh's Pedro Alvarez and Kyle Drabek - now property of the Blue Jays - who was the centerpiece of the Roy Halladay deal. Even these players experience a higher than expected rate of attrition, there's a good chance that we'll look back at this class of rookies as one of the best in the ten or fifteen years surrounding it.

Tonight, a highly-regarded Baltimore prospect will make his debut, but given the performance that happened just two days ago and forty miles down I-95, this one will seem considerably more subdued.

Jake Arietta was a fifth round pick in the 2007 draft but didn't begin his ascent through the minor leagues until the 2008 season. He debuted at High-A ball and struck out 120 batters in 113 1/3 innings while maintaining an ERA of 2.87. Last season, started with the AA Bowie Baysox, pitched 59 strong innings over 11 starts there and was promoted to AAA. While in Norfolk, Arrieta's strikeout rate dropped and his ERA rose, but was still respectable in his 92 innings there, tallying an ERA of 3.92 and a K/BB ratio comfortably over 2.

The twenty four year old right hander broke camp with the Triple-A squad this year and got off to a great start. Although his strikeout and walk rates aren't as strong as they were in the lower levels of the minors, they are better than they were at the same level last year and Arrieta has an ERA of just 1.85 through 11 starts. He has been more or less unhittable so far, surrendering fewer than six hits per nine innings and allowing only three homers in 73 IP.

In the past two years, the Orioles have seen more than their fair share of pitching prospects make their Major League debuts. Brad Bergesen first appeared in the Big Leagues April 21st of 2009, the less-celebrated-but-still-young David Hernandez joined the club May 28th, last night's pitcher Chris Tillman was called up at the end of last July, Brain Matusz made his debut six days later. Tonight, Arrieta will get his shot.

When we talked to Orioles fan and blogger Daniel Moroz before the season began, he surmised that barring a number of injuries, Arrieta wouldn't see more than a cup of coffee this season. Koji Uehara, who began the rotation, is on the DL and Hernandez, who has been ineffective in his eight starts, has been relegated to the bullpen. Those two moves, along with Arrieta's dominance and the O's futility, created Jake's chance to be called up.

It might not be occurring under the greatest of circumstances and it might not pay dividends immediately, but tonight should be a bit of a silver lining for Orioles fans, if such a thing can be found in one of their worst stretches in one of their worst seasons in franchise history.

Get up Jake, it's late in the mornin',
The rain is pourin' and we got work to do.
Get up Jake, there's no need a-lyin',
You tell me that you're dyin', but I know it's not true.

Now, me and Jake, we work down on the river,
on the ferry "Baltimore".
And when Jake don't rise up in the mornin',

People lined up along the shore.

[Song Notes: I've been a fan of this tune for a long time and it was the first thing I thought of when I heard Arrieta was going to be starting tonight. The lyrics don't line up perfectly, but the kid's name is Jake, "Baltimore" and "lined up" are in the song and that's good enough for our purposes. If only there was someone named Dan from Savannah on the Yankees, it would have really sealed the deal.

I had to upload the version from To Kingdom Come because the only "video" on YouTube kind of sucks.]

-Lineups-

Yankees:

Brett Gardner is once again out of the lineup; Marcus Thames gets the start in left field tonight. Pray for lots of groundballs and strike outs. Francisco Cervelli gets the finale off, with Chad Moeller getting the start against his former team.

Derek Jeter SS
Nick Swisher RF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Jorge Posada DH
Curtis Granderson CF
Marcus Thames LF
Chad Moeller C

RHP A.J. Burnett

Orioles:

Corey Patterson LF
Miguel Tejada 3B
Nick Markakis RF
Ty Wigginton 1B
Luke Scott LF
Adam Jones CF
Matt Wieters C
Scott Moore 2B
Cesar Izturis SS

RHP Jake Arrieta

Worth The Wait

By the time the players and fans had sat out the 2:43 minute rain delay last night, they could have watched a replay of Mark Buherle's perfect game in Chicago and still had 40 minutes to spare. It was almost 10:00PM at gametime, a brisk 66 degrees and windy with a slight drizzle still falling down. The weather system that had caused the delay had moved off the coast, leaving only scattered pockets of light rain behind.

Early on, Vin Mazzaro seemed poised to out-pitch CC Sabathia in front of a huge cheering section in the upper deck that was a mix of #54 Mazzaro jerseys, Oakland hoodies and Yankees logos.

He blazed through the first three innings, holding the Yanks scoreless and striking out six in the process, all the while be staked to a 3-0 lead. The runs came on a sac fly by Jack Cust and a single by Bobby Crosby in the second and a single by his battery mate Kurt Suzuki in the top of the 4th.

However, not all went according to plan for the 22 year old righty from Rutherford. Mark Teixeira ripped a two run homer to right after being green-lighted on a 3-0 pitch in the 4th to get the Yanks off the schneid. A-Rod followed that with a walk, stole second and was rewarded for his timely thievery by being promptly doubled in by Jorge Posada. Eric Hinkse continued his Swisherific start as a Yankee by adding a two out single and putting the Yanks ahead for good.

Two more runs came to the plate against Mazzaro in the 5th inning, bringing his total to six and sending him to the showers. He pitched well in the early going, but once the Yanks woke up from their rain delay slumber, he couldn't hold on. The win last night brought the Bombers' record against rookie starters this year to 18-7, which is the best in the AL and second only to the Braves (10-4) in the Majors, according to the YES broadcast last night. You think we can put that myth to rest for a while?

Sabathia settled down after his rough 2nd and 4th innings and held the A's to three runs though seven. He gave up 9 hits but didn't walk a batter while striking out 4. Phil Hughes came on for the 8th inning and sat the A's down 1-2-3. To be honest, I thought Joe Girardi would probably bring on Rivera in the 9th to close it out but to my surprise (and delight) he gave the new found bullpen stud a shot at his first major league save. Hughes sat them down in order in the 9th and seized the opportunity.

The Yanks are making it look easy right now. This was their largest margin of victory since the All-Star Break, a whopping three runs, and they did it in comeback fashion. In those 7 games, the pitching staff has given up only 17 runs (2.4/game) while the offense has scored 29 (4.1 per). They haven't blown their opponents out of the water, but they've found ways to win close games, which might be even more satisfying. This victory, coupled with an off night for the Sox stretches their lead in the AL East to 2.5 games.

Game 71: Hot 'Lanta

Daytime highs in Atlanta today were in the low 90's and by the time game time rolls around this evening, it should still be in the upper 80's. During the hottest stretch of the season thus far for the Yanks, a road trip through Miami and Atlanta, their bats have gone cold. Averaging fewer than 3 runs per game, they were held to one run by Josh Johnson on Saturday and the Marlins and shut out by Tommy Hanson and the Braves last night. Before that, they managed only 7 runs in three games against the Nationals.

It certainly hasn't been the pitching. Aside from CC Sabathia's early exit from Land Shark Stadium, the Yanks haven't allowed more than four runs in any game. Out of the past six contests, the Yanks have lost three of them while holding their opponents to three runs or fewer, something they hadn't done all season until that point. When pitchers struggle, it's easy to point the finger at one guy. When it's the offense that is faltering, the failure is more often projected on the team as a whole.

Over the last 13 games, the Yankees OPS leaders are Hideki Matsui (okay) and Brett Gardner (yikes) and they've combined for only 48 at bats. The least productive hitter with significant playing time? A-Rod at .486. That's an OPS that even David Ortiz can scoff at. If we gave A-Rod credit for energizing the team upon his return, he certainly deserves some blame for this recent slump. Unfortunately, as Tyler Kepner points out, there's no guarantee that he'll return to form.

The slumping bats have in turn put Joe Girardi back onto the hot seat. Local scribes have speculated that is Girardi fails to make the playoffs with a $200M payroll once again, it could be the very last time he gets the chance to manage in the Majors. There have been conflicting reports, but some have said that the decision to bench A-Rod came from the front office. The fact that Angel Berroa was on the roster that entire time, presumably ready to play in place of A-Rod, but was never used would seem to back that up.

Girardi getting overruled when it comes to the handling of the team's most valuable asset seems a bit like the Joba Rules being imposed on Joe Torre. If the front office needs to step in and make decisions because they don't trust the manager to, it probably doesn't bode well for Girardi's future as Yankee skipper.

Of course, with a dominant performance by the offense or Joba Chamberlain tonight, these issues could be temporarily swept aside. Joba had a respectable start last time out against the Nationals, going 6 innings and allowing three runs, but was still tagged with the loss. Given the way the offense has (not) produced recently, they might need to do better than that.

Tonight will be yet another chance for the Yankees to shake the notion that they can't hit pitchers they haven't seen before, as the Braves send Kenshin Kawakami to the mound. The Japanese rookie turned 29 on Monday and aside from Hideki Matsui who can't play the field and probably won't face him, he is completley new to the Yanks.

If you look at the MLB odds page on Bodog, the over/under for the game sits at 9 runs. Neither Kawakami or Chamberlain have allowed more than three earned runs in a start since the beginning of May, they are playing in a National League park and neither of the line ups have been able to manage much offensively as of late. All of these things would seem to portend another low scoring game. But baseball in funny like that... perhaps things are about to heat up.

The Supposed "Rookie Starter Difficulties"

Every time the Yankees face an unheralded starting pitcher who they have never seen before, a sentiment echoes throughout Yankeedom. There's a collective "here we go again", as it has become a popular notion that they Yankees can't handle these types of pitchers. Last night, during the top of the sixth inning of the YES broadcast, Ken Singleton dropped a stat that is undoubtedly going to surprise you if you subscribe to that idea:

• In the past two years (since 5/27/07) the Yankees have faced 31 rookie pitchers for the first time. In that span, those pitchers have a combined record 3-18 in those games (after the Yanks beat Derek Holland last night).  

Wins and losses are never going to tell the whole story, but 3-18 paints a pretty clear picture. Singleton was about to say who the three pitchers were, but Brett Gardner dropped a drag bunt, which Derek Holland proceeded to throw away, just before he was pulled from the game and tagged with the loss. Ken didn't continue the thought after the commerical break, so I went back and looked them up. 

Matt Harrison - August 5th, 2008 - Harrison didn't completely shut down the Yanks, but did hold them to two runs in 6 1/3 innings pitched while Andy Pettitte let up 5 runs in 5IP.

Koji Uehara - April 8th, 2009 - The 35 year old Japanese transplant is not your typical rookie, and he had the luxury of facing Chien Ming Wang in one of his first three starts of the season. 

Matt Palmer - May 2nd, 2009 - Palmer, a 30 year old journeyman, slayed CC Sabathia with 6 1/3 innings of one run ball for his second of five straight wins. Despite an ERA of 4.76 with the Angels this season, Palmer still has a 5-0 record. 

So, why the perception that the Yankees are doomed when they face a rookie they have never seen before, especially a lefty?

For one, the stat that YES came up with is heavily caveated. It only looked at the past two calendar years, so it didn't include John Danks' victory on May 16, 2007. It consisted of only guys who the Yankees hadn't faced before, so it didn't acknowledge games like Scott Feldman's win on June 30th, 2008 because they faced him in relief on May 16th, 2006. 

Also, and I think most importantly, it only accounted for actual rookies, not just "guys who we think should suck". Baseball is unique because guys can linger for years on the periphery of the game, ducking in and out of the minors and changing organizations only to emerge at 29 or 30 years old in a starting role for a team in need. So when the Yanks lose a game to a guy like Dustin Mosely, Ryan Feierabend, Paul Maholm, or Jorge de la Rosa, it might not factor into that stat, but it registers in our consciousness. 

The underlying reason that we percieve the Yankees to have problems with rookie starters is our expectations. We see that the opposing pitcher is some no name journeyman and assume the Yankees should pummel him. When they do, we think nothing of it. But when they don't it tends to stick in our craw. When something goes according to plan, it's easy to forget about. You can eat sushi 100 times from the same place and hardly be able to tell each one apart, but if you ever get sick from it, you will remember the exact order for years to come.

Although the Yanks have losses to Uehara and Palmer this year, they have also disposed of Horacio Ramirez, Anthony Reyes, Anthony Ortega, Brett Anderson, Scott Richmond, Brain Tallet, Dana Eveland, Rick Porcello, Brad Bergesen, and the aforementioned Derek Holland. How many of those games did you remember?