A.J. Burnett and Hiroki Kuroda square off on Derek Jeter's birthday. Burnett has been amazingly shittastic of late while Kuroda has given up just two runs in his last 19 innings (over three starts).
Recent performances would indicate that this match up is leaning heavily towards the Dodgers, but perhaps a trip to California will do Burnett good.
He'd headed west 'cause he felt that a change would do him good, See some old friends, good for the soul, She had been born with a face that would let her get her way, He saw that face and he lost all control, He had lost all control.
And those Hollywood nights, In those Hollywood hills, It was looking so right, It was giving him chills, In those big city nights, In those high rolling hills, Above all the lights, With a passion that kills.
[Song Notes: There was one summer during college when my buddies and I would ironically listen to this tune when we were partying and, well, that's probably as much detail as I should go into about that summer.]
After tying their longest winning streak of the season at six, the Yanks have lost three straight and are now in the midst of their lengthiest losing skid of 2010. Tonight they look to stop the bleeding and salvage a chance at halving the series with Detroit.
Their hopes rest with Phil Hughes as he gets the ball for the sixth time this season tonight. Last time out he picked up the win behind seven strong innings of two run ball in Boston, although with the implosion by Josh Beckett giving up just two was overkill.
In his previous five starts, Hughes has been nothing short of excellent, allowing just six runs in 32 innings while striking out 31 and allowing 30 baserunners. His FIP of 2.77 and xFIP of 3.86 are quite a bit higher than his ERA of 1.86, based on a high strand rate (84%), low BABIP (.213) and tiny HR/FB (2.9%).
The last time Hughes was in Detroit was during his first start of last year and he pitched six shutout innings, allowing two hits and two walks. The game was tied heading into the seventh but the Yankees dropped 10 runs in the top half of the inning and blew the game wide open. Not really relevant to tonight's game but fun to look back on.
Righthanded Moneyballer Jeremy Bonderman takes the mound for the Tigers this evening. After missing the better part of the the past two years due to blood clots in his Axillary Vein and subsequent pain in his pitching shoulder, Bonderman is back in the Tigers rotation this season.
He carries a 5.74 ERA but his peripheral numbers suggest that he should be doing much better (3.50 FIP). However, his numbers don't include the game he started against the Indians on Saturday which got cancelled in the fourth inning with the Tigers leading 7-6. A nasty thunderstorm saved Bonderman from an ugly line as he gave up six consecutive hits before getting pulled during the third inning.
Yes, the Yanks lost earlier fairly humiliating fashion, but that's okay. They've got another chance to find a way to win before we turn the page to tomorrow.
We've got tonight, who needs tomorrow? Let's make it last, let's find a way.
[Song Notes: Yeah this song is all sorts of sappy, but Bob Seger is a Detroit institution for fuck's sake. I would have used Night Moves but there was no way to chop and twist those lyrics to make any sense in this context whatsoever.]
-Lineups-
Yankees: The top five in the order are the same as earlier but Swisher slides up to sixth, where Posada was before. After DH'ing this afternoon, A-Rod is at 3rd. Marcus Thames is starting, playing left field and batting seventh despite the fact that Bonderman is right handed and Comerica's outfield is massive. No love for Greg Golson, apparently. Frankie Cervelli is obviously catching this one and Ramiro Pena, fresh off of killing the Yankees' chances to win by 20% at the plate will play short and bat 9th.
Jeter DH Gardner CF Teixeira 1B Rodriguez 3B Cano 2B Swisher RF Thames LF Cervelli C Pena SS
Tigers: Like the Yanks, the top five in the order are the same as they were this afternoon. Ramon Santiago shifts over the shortstop, Scott Sizemore comes in at second, Alex Avilla catches and Don Kelly (real person?) plays third base.
Austin Jackson, CF Johnny Damon, DH Magglio Ordonez, RF Miguel Cabrera, 1B Brennan Boesch, LF Alex Avila, C Don Kelly, 3B Ramon Santiago, SS Scott Sizemore, 2B
The Yankees have been hosting an Old-Timers' Day in its current format every year since 1946. It's amazing to to think that, even back then, the Yankees had enough distingushed former players that they felt the need to honor by hosting a pregame ceremony once a year. This year will include the largest number of attendees ever, probably due in part to the fact that it's taking place at the New Stadium.
Among those donning pinstripes will be legends such as Yogi Berra, Reggie Jackson, Whitey Ford, Don Larsen, Moose Skowron, Dave Winfield, and Paul O'Neill. The widows of Thurman Munson, Elston Howard, Catfish Hunter, Phil Rizzuto and Billy Martin will also be there to represent their husbands. Don Zimmer, now a member of the Rays coaching staff (for home games only), will be back in Pinstripes for the first time since his angry departure in 2003. Always a fan favorite, Zim promises to get one of the louder ovations from the crowd.
Far smaller hands will be given to the likes of Aaron Small, Homer Bush, Andy Carey, Jeff Torborg, Brian Doyle and other relatively obscure former Yanks. You can't fault those guys for accepting the invite, even though their presence might drag out the ceremony a bit. The Yankees have taken a "more the merrier" type of approach to Old Timers' Day and I think overall, that's probably a good thing. The events start at 11:45 and the first pitch of the game is slated for 2:05.
On the mound today will be two pitchers who are anything but old-timers. At age 25, Edwin Jackson has had a breakout season thus far. He's got a 2.52 ERA and has given up only 94 hits in 121 2/3 IP. Even with 35 walks, his WHIP is still a dominant 1.060. In his only start against the Yanks this year, Jackson threw six innings of shutout ball in what started off as a pitcher's duel against Phil Hughes, but the Yanks blew the game open in the seventh and won 11-0. Part of the reason for their success back in April was working Jackson's pitch count to 117 and getting him out of the game early so they could do their damage against Tigers' bullpen (now without Joel Zumaya). One would imagine they will be taking a similar approach this afternoon.
Joba Chamberlain will be the Yankees' hurler this afternoon, at least for the first 4 or 5 innings anyway (kidding... hopefully). We are all heavily invested in Joba's ability to become a dominant starter his last two outings, totalling 8 innings, haven't been especially encouraging. He was charged with 7 runs over those two games, but 6 unearned runs came to the plate when he was on the mound as well. The Yankees were lucky to win the first of those starts 10-8 but lost then next 10-6. The team is 12-6 when Joba starts, but that is more of a testament to the offense and the bullpen than it is to his contributions as a starter. He needs to get it going if he wants to be back for some Old-Timers' Days down the line.
Still like that old time rock and roll, That kind of music, just soothes the soul, I reminisce about the days of old.
[This column brought to you by the 8% of me that doesn't want to try to punch a hole through a brick wall right now]
Nothing like a home playoff loss against a divisional rival by your favorite team to ruin an otherwise unbelievably awesome weekend.
This is one of those times when you are reminded that loving a sports team can be a steaming pile of baby diapers just like all other aspects of life. It was nice to watch the GMen when they were a red giant with an 11-1 record, mowing down six teams with a winning record in a row. It was not as nice to watch them dwindle into a white dwarf in a game against a team who benched their starting QB during the season and had to hit a hot streak and got fairly lucky just to sneak into the playoffs.
I'm not going to get into the officiating because that's something that fans of losing teams like to cling to, instead of acknowledging that their team wasn't good enough for that not to matter. I'm not going to get into the play calling because Kevin Gilbride knows way fucking more about football than I ever will.
Maybe it was the wind, but Eli Manning was tossing up wounded ducks the likes of which have not been seen in quite some time. The once sanctified offensive line wasn't pancaking would-be tacklers at anywhere near the rate they were when the Giants were universally considered of the best team in, as Mark Schlereth might say, THE NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE. Derrick Ward probably gave back some of the money he made himself when he violated the Panthers to the tune of 215 yards on 15 carries.
The playoff flame-out doesn't completely take away from the awesomeness of that Panthers game, the undressing of the Ravens, or the victories IN Arizona and IN Pittsburgh. It's just that now we are left with horrific hypothetical ponderance that is... "What If".
I fucking hate "What If". "What If" sucks a bag of dicks.
Tomorrow is going to be one of the rare days where work will be a welcome break from sports. I don't want to listen to Mike & Mike state the obvious, apply some hindpsychology, and talk about PlaxicoBurress. I'm sure Max Kellerman will spin his take around, so he won't be eating any humble pie after proclaiming Eli Manning as the best QB in the NFL. I'd guess what Michael Kay's take is going to be, but trying to predict what such a nimble mind would say is a rabbit hole I don't want to go down.
Maybe when I wake up tomorrow I'll forget that the one team that links me to my childhood and that I truly take pride in (sorry, Yanks), just laid an egg that next Sunday will hatch into the 8-8 Arizona Cardinals, who were 3-7 outside of their historically shitty division, hosting the all-faggy-bird-team-name NFC Championship. I hate the anticlimactic nature of the BCS, but this just goes to show that even a single elimination playoff system isn't going to tie up all the loose ends either. I'm the type of person who will watch the pretty much all of the playoffs in any sport because of the inherent do-or-die drama, but I just might have to take this one off.
In the words of Bob Seger: "No matter what you dream, or feel, or say, it ends in dust and disarray"
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