Burnett Pitches Well, Delivers Baked Goods

For a good portion of tonight's game, it appeared that Phil Coke was going to be the goat. Luckily for him, someone who is all too familiar with playing that role for the Yankees bailed him out.

A.J. Burnett and Anthony Lerew locked horns in a somewhat unlikely pitcher's duel for the first six innings of the game. Burnett improved on his last outing, lasting 6 1/3 innings, allowing six baserunners and striking out 8. His power curve was on point, getting six of those K's via the hook, and five of those swinging.

Lerew's weapon of choice was the change up. He only struck out three, but kept the Yanks off balance all night, dispersing 5 hits and 2 walks over six innings and tossing 56 of his 92 pitches for strikes.

Mark Teixeira was waiting for one of those change ups from Lerew in the sixth inning. Although the pitch was nearly chest high, Teix took an uppercut swing at it and launched a line drive with heavy overspin off the concrete part of the wall in right center that nearly bounced into the bleachers. The solo shot tied the game at one, but the Yanks would surrender the lead in the next half inning.

Burnett came out for top of the seventh having thrown 96 pitches, but an 11 pitch at bat against Mark Teahen quickly escalated his count. After he got the next batter, John Buck, to fly out to center, Joe Girardi went to the mound for his starter, knowing it was unnecessary to extend him with nothing on the line.

In came Phil Coke, who immediately started off on the wrong foot. He got Alex Gordon to tap back to the mound, but took his time getting to the ball and allowed Gordon to reach on a single. Up next, Josh Anderson bounced one back towards Coke, who, in an attempt to facilitate a double play, proceeded to throw the ball into centerfield, allowing Teahen to score and both of the other runners to advance safely, thereby coughing up the lead.

It didn't end there, though. Still with only one out, Coke got Mitch Maier to ground back to him, but instead of throwing the ball home, where he surely would have caught Gordon, Coke fired to first, taking the easy out but allowing the run to score. The three lapses in concentration cost the Yanks the lead and on a cold night with many of the seats in the Stadium left unoccupied, it didn't feel as if the Yanks were going to rally.

Lerew came back out for the bottom of the seventh and quickly allowed a lead off homer to Nick Swisher, putting the Yanks and the crowd right back in the game. The Yanks put two more runners on base in the inning but couldn't plate either of them.

David Roberston returned to the mound for the first time since being sidelined with pain in his throwing elbow in the the eighth. He got Billy Butler swinging and Brayan Pena to ground out, but saw his pitch count climb to 19 after walking Alberto Callaspo. Not wanting to over-exert the righty in his first appearance back, Girardi called on Brain Bruney who gave up a single but escaped the inning without further damage.

Bruney worked through the 9th inning without giving up a run, preserving a one run deficit for the Yanks heading into the home half. Either oblivious to Kyle Farnsworth's history with the Yankees or anxious to tempt fate, Trey Hillman called on the former Yankee to protect the Royals one run lead.

After striking out Brett Gardner, Farnsworth gave up a dribbling single to Frankie Cervelli. Eric Hinske was called on to pinch hit and ripped a single into right field, placing the tying run on third base with one out. The offensive hero of the previous night's game, Robinson Cano laced a sac fly to deep center to even the score.

Johnny Damon was next up and Hinske, who hadn't stolen a base all year, took off for second. He appeared to beat the throw, but better yet, it sailed into centerfield and Hinske made an even ballsier move in taking off for third. The ball arrived in time but Alex Gordon failed to make a clean catch and tag him out.

Farnsworth intentionally walked Damon to bring up International League stud Juan Miranda. In an improbable conclusion to an unlikely rally, Miranda banged a liner off of Krazy Kyle's leg which deflected into foul territory far enough for Miranda to get to first base and the winning run to score.

Yanks win 4-3. Win number 103 and walkoff number 15 in the books. The games aren't meaningless when you win like this.

Bruney & Marte

About two weeks ago, I took issue with Joe Girardi for giving Brian Bruney too many chances to make the postseason roster despite repeated poor performances and was not allowed to fail. Today I would like to log the opposite complaint about Damaso Marte. Despite rising to the occasion nearly every time he's been used, he hasn't been given the chance to succeed.

It's interesting that Girardi favors Bruney over Marte because they've had opposite trajectories to their seasons. Bruney started off well but up until getting 5 outs against the Red Sox on Sunday, he had been pretty bad since coming off the DL. Marte on the other hand, was poor at the beginning of the year but has been perfect - with the exception of one game - since rejoining the team. You'd think the guy with the better track record recently would get the benefit of the doubt, but that doesn't appear to be the case.

Marte has pitched in 11 games since coming off the DL and made it through 10 of them without allowing a run. The one bad outing he had was against the Orioles on September 11th, costing Andy Pettitte the chance at a win on the night when Jeter broke Gehrig's hit record. Even on that night, when he gave up 4 runs, he didn't give up an extra base hit but was instead allowed three singles and a walk and Jonathan Albaladejo let one of his inherited runners score. Needless to say, he wasn't pitching under the most favorable conditions that night either.

Aside from that outing, he's allowed only two hits and one walk over 6 1/3 innings. In his career, Marte has held righties to .728 OPS, which is pretty respectable when you consider that Phil Coke has help RHB to a .695 OPS and he is asked by Girardi to face righties at a higher frequency.

I understand it was a meaningless game, but last night, Girardi pulled Chad Gaudin with no one on base so he could bring in Marte to face Alex Gordon. Although his numbers are pretty terrible this year, Gordon is a talented left handed hitter, so I understand that Girardi was trying to give Marte some reps against lefties in preparation for the postseason.

As soon as he came back up to the Big League club, Girardi publicly announced that Marte would be used as a lefty match-up specialist. I don't understand what good it does to pigeonhole a reliever with a good track record who has never been just a LOOGY.

My contention is that this is the time to see if Marte can get be trusted to get right handed batters out. In fact, Marte has 1187 against RHB compared to only 850 against LHB, indicating that he hasn't been insulated from right handed bats at other points in his career. Coke has only 121 plate appearances against RHB compared to 159 against lefties.

Marte is not Mike Myers. He's not an inverted Chad Bradford. He's not the pitching Freddy Guzman. Yet I know that's exactly how Girardi is going to use him in the postseason.

For whatever reason, I like Damaso Marte. I liked him when the Yankees acquired him and a big part of the reason was that he was a solid lefty reliever who could get guys on either side of the plate out. I'm guessing that's what the Yankees organization saw when they signed him to a three year deal for $12M during the offseason.

I don't think the unidentified injury that kept him stashed away in exile for the better part of the regular season has destroyed his ability to get RHB out. I hope that over the next 5 games, he gets a chance to pitch a few full innings, because there's a pretty good chance that we are going to need him to do that at some point during the postseason because of a shortened outing by a starer or an extra innings contest. Brain Bruney figures to get that chance. So should Marte.

Yanks Trot Out Hangover Lineup, Still Beat Royals

Despite the hour and 56 minute rain delay and the fact that the Yankees played only three members of their starting lineup (Robinson Cano, Jorge Posada, and Melky Cabrera/Brett Gardner), the Bombers not only managed to keep the game interesting for the first six and a half innings, but also to blow it open in the bottom of the seventh.

Chad Gaudin bolstered his case for the postseason roster, again delivering an effective start. This time, he began by allowing only three baserunners over four scoreless innings, at one point retiring consecutive eight batters.

The Yankees led off the bottom of the fourth with three straight hits, a double by Robinson Cano, a single by Jorge Posada and an RBI base knock by Eric Hinske to put the Yanks up 1-0. The Royals struck back immediately when Mark Teahen led off the top of the 5th with a solo shot and tied it up.

Ramiro Pena countered with a solo home run of his own in the bottom half of the inning after Frankie Cervelli singled and was erased on a caught stealing (which was really a botched hit and run). Upon returning to the dugout, Pena received the silent treatment (giddily orchestrated by A-Rod) on a night when he might have actually believed that no one noticed it was the first homer of his career. Cliff from Bronx Banter has the details.

Gaudin gave up the lead once more on a sac fly to Mike Jacobs in the sixth but again, the Yanks snatched it back, this time on a single by Shelly Duncan. Duncan was pinch ran for by Freddy Guzman, who promptly stole second base on the very next pitch although the Royals were clearly expecting it, which is a necessary skill for a guy who is looking to make the postseason 25-man pretty much exclusively as a pinch runner.

Despite retiring the first two men in the 7th inning in order and having thrown only 92 pitches, Joe Girardi once again replaced Gaudin by calling on Damaso Marte to get one out - lefty Alex Gordon.

Trey Hillman took the exact opposite tact in the bottom half of the inning, leaving his starter, Luke Hochevar in, despite having allowed a run in the frame and then loading the bases with no one out. Robinson Cano stepped to the plate against the righty and took full advantage by smashing his second career grand slam and putting the game well out of the reach of the crew from KC.

Alfredo Aceves closed out the night with two perfect innings and the Yanks took a game that they wouldn't have minded giving away. They might not have been the top talent, but guys they sent out there didn't just roll over. Credit Chad Gaudin with a pretty solid performance, Robinson Cano for delivering with the bases loaded but most of all, the Royals for, well, still being the Royals.

Moore, Manuel, And Making Poor Decisions

Good morning Fackers. I don't know about you, but I'm certainly glad this week is coming to a close. I mean, I'm glad when every week comes to a close, but this one in particular. The Yanks were out on the west coast, meaning late starts and screwed up sleep patterns. Yesterday was another barely bearable off day. And work has completely, totally, and utterly kicked my ass this week.

In completely unrelated news, this year has been a good one for bad baseball. Entering play yesterday, six teams had winning percentages under .425, the most since 2004 (7), and nine teams had winning percentages under .450, again the most since 2004 (11).

The Nationals, despite a fairly recent eight game winning streak, are playing baseball that has bordered on historically bad. Their winning percentage entering yesterday would be the worst since the 2005 Royals. They've also endured botching the firing of their manager, as well as the resignations of their General Manager and his top assistant as a result of an illegal scheme skimming Latin American signing bonuses.

The Pirates are 12 losses away from ensuring their 17th consecutive losing season. Currently in year 10 of a 5 year rebuilding program, they've traded every saleable arbitration eligible player on their roster with the exception of Zach Duke and Ryan Doumit.

But with all the bad baseball going, no two teams have hit the trifecta of poor on field play, incompetent front office management, and public relations disasters quite like the Royals and Mets.

We've already had a little fun at both their expense when they both pulled off poor trades within hours of each other last month. This week they decided to go head-to-head in the public relations arena.

On Tuesday, the Royals optioned Alex Gordon to AAA Omaha. The second overall pick in the 2005 draft, Gordon made his Major League debut after breaking camp with Royals to start the 2007. Earlier this season, Gordon required the same labrum repair surgery that A-Rod had during spring training. He suffered the injury against the Yankees on April 11th, played through April 15th, and underwent surgery on April 17th. He began a rehab assignment in early July, but rather than taking the full 30 days, the Royals activated him after just 13 games and 53 plate appearances. In the month after his activation until his demotion, Gordon hit just .227/.310/.333. Maybe he could have used the full rehab assignment after all.

Where the impropriety comes in is in that by optioning him down for at least 20 days, the Royals ensure that Gordon will end the season without three full years of Major League service time, pushing his free agency clock back a year. While this isn't all that different from what Tampa has done with Mrs. Tony Parker and David Price or what Baltimore has done with Matt Wieters, all in an effort to keep them from Super Two arbitration status, Gordon's case seems somewhat seedier in that it's happening after he's been established as a Major Leaguer rather than before he was ever brought up.

It may well be a smart move by Dayton Moore and the Royals. But, they were the ones who decided to break camp with Gordon in 2007 after he had just one year and 576 PA of AA ball. They started this clock when they did. While Gordon certainly has struggled this season, the Royals elected to activate him after only half of his allowable rehab time expired. They made these decisions; they have to deal with the criticism that comes with this latest one.

Meanwhile, over in Flushing, the circus continues. In the wake of David Wright's sickening beaning Saturday, the Atlanta Braves just happened to be coming into town. As you may recall, the Braves are the team to which the Mets traded Ryan Church last month. As you may further recall, Ryan Church had a couple nasty concussions last year that the Mets medical staff handled very, very poorly. You may also recall that Jerry Manuel facking hates Ryan Church. Hmmm. I wonder what possibly could have happened next?

When giving his pre-game press conference Sunday, less the 24 hours after Wright has hit, and so soon after Wright was discharged from the hospital that he likely hadn't yet cut the bracelet from his wrist, Manuel had this to say (h/t Neyer):

You have to be careful into stereotyping individuals. David is a different animal, so to speak. How he is made up is a little different than, say, Ryan Church, in my opinion. That's not to say that one is better than the other, but they're different. With Ryan, there was always something thrown from leftfield - 'We need to check that.' That made it somewhat difficult to evaluate that particular situation.

Translation from jive talk: David Wright's a tough guy; Ryan Church is a pussy.

Let's back up the train a second here Jerry. Just because you elicit memories of the "Doctor of Style" Slick, doesn't mean that you are a doctor of neurology. Church, of course, knows this, and took exception. What a mess the Mets are. Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado, and now Daid Wright - their four best offensive players - are on all the DL and all likely out for the year. Meanwhile, the men in high profile leadership roles: Manuel, Omar Minaya, and until recently Tony Bernazard, continue to heap insult on top of the injuries.

So I suppose I could have had a worse week. I mean, I got it better than Moore or Manuel. And I haven't been concussed as badly as Church or Wright. Plus we have Yanks-Sox to look forward to tonight. Either way, I'll still feel a helluva lot better when that five o'clock whistle blows.