Wrapping Up The Weekend

Good morning, Fackers. I hope your weekend was more exciting than the one that the Yankees and Red Sox had on the field.

It feels like there is almost always at least one tightly contested game between the Yanks and Sox in every series they play. In the first series of the season, each of the games were decided by two runs. Even last year, when every time the two teams met, except for one, the result was a sweep, there was usually at least one game that was engaging. This weekend, the losing team scored three runs each time out while the winners plated nine or more. Games decided by six or more runs are rarely exciting and these were no exception.

Watching your guys pile it on in a blowout win can be enjoyable, but it's not all that interesting to see two teams playing out the string when the game has basically already been decided. There are mop-up guys on the mound and replacements in the field. On Saturday, there was even a replacement fielder doing the mop-up work. Friday's game was over in the 6th inning, Saturday's dragged out by a rain delay and decided by the seventh and you could have turned off last night's in the third and been 95% certain of who was going to win, at least according to WPA.

I don't want this to come across as whiny or anything; that's what we sign up for as baseball fans. You take the exciting along with the boring. One of the many things that makes the sport rewarding to follow is that it's rare that it lives up to its billing. A great game could break out between teams that have no natural rivalry and something unforgettable could go down when you least expect it. And that's exactly what happened yesterday in front of 12,228 fans in Oakland.

There have been 19 perfect games in the history of baseball, and now one of them belongs to Dallas Braden. If it wasn't for Braden's spat with A-Rod, his performance against the Rays would have probably been an even better story. His mother died of melanoma when he was a senior in high school and it would be hard to pick a more symbolically significant day for him to pitch the game of his life. It happened for him in front of his hometown fans not far from where he grew up and his grandmother, who he is very close with, was in attendance (although she, unlike A-Rod, took the low road).

More relevant to the baseball side of the story, as Joe Posnanski pointed out yesterday, Braden was never really a prospect and has the type of velocity and skills that make him seem like an unlikely candidate to be wearing a Major League uniform, let alone go 27 up and 27 down against the team with the best record in baseball. On a certain level, you have to respect that.

Interestingly, as Kevin Kaduk pointed out, the third baseman on the Rays broke an unwritten rule along the way. With no one out in the 5th inning, Evan Longoria attempted to lay a drag bunt down and was lustily booed as a result. At Big League Stew just this week, Jason Turnbow named trying to bunt for a hit when the pitcher has a no hitter of a perfect game going as one of the 10 unwritten rules you might not know about. Being aware of the value Braden places on that kind of stuff, perhaps Longoria and manager Joe Maddon thought they could get under his skin by squaring up and trying to get on base on the cheap. The bunt rolled foul and Longoria ended up striking out, so if Braden did take offense to the attempt, unlike the A-Rod situation, he didn't let it bother him too much.

It was because of that pointless dust up with Rodriguez that my first reaction to hearing that Braden had pulled off a perfecto was one of disgust. Really? That fucking guy? Since then, though, I've come around on it. Good for him. Hopefully people will stop asking him about crossing the pitcher's mound and maybe this will mellow him out enough to not do something stupid the next time the Yankees play the A's. I'm with Craig, if Braden's accomplishment yesterday means that we can leave the drama with A-Rod behind, then we should all be happy about it.

Swish Steps Up, Yanks Walk Off

Even though both the Yankees and the Rays have increasingly less to play for with each passing regular season game, it wasn't apparent last night. The game had all the trimmings of a postseason match-up, save for the fact that Chad Gaudin was starting.

Like he did in his previous two starts for the Yankees, Gaudin fizzled out at a certain point. Unlike his previous two, he went deep into the game, holding the Rays scoreless up until Evan Longoria came to the plate in the top of the seventh inning. Longoria ripped an 0-2, lined shot over the wall in left field. Gaudin then gave up a single to Ben Zobrist and a walk to Pat Burrell prompting Joe Girardi to go to the bullpen.

He first called on Damaso Marte causing Joe Maddon to pinch hit for lefty-hitting first baseman Chris Richard with Gabe Kapler. Marte retired Kapler on a fly ball to right on only two pitches, but then with switch hitting Gregg Zaun due up, Maddon summoned switch-hitting Dioner Navarro, who spun around to bat left handed. Girardi countered by signaling for the righty Brian Bruney who got Navarro to ground into a force out at third. The managerial meddling didn't stop there as Girardi tapped his left arm for Phil Coke and Maddon deployed the switch-hitter Willy Aybar. Coke walked Aybar but got Akanori Iwamura to ground out to short, ending the inning.

Ironically, it was the most obvious move to the bullpen of the night that backfired on Joe Girardi. Phil Hughes was given the ball to start the 8th inning and was taken deep on his very first pitch to Jason Bartlett, a no-doubt shot to left field. It was Hughes' first blown lead as a relief pitcher. He gave up a single to the next batter but induced a flyball and a double play grounder to get out of the inning.

Even though lefty sidearmer Randy Choate has massive platoon splits, he was left in to face Derek Jeter in the bottom half of the inning. Jeter ripped one to right, but Gabe Kapler was standing right where it was headed. Johnny Damon then dragged a surprise bunt towards first base that got past Choate and looked to be a single until Choate flipped it to first with his glove, beating Damon by a half of a step.

The score remained knotted at 2 when Mariano Rivera took the hill for the top of the 9th. Mo knocked the Rays down 1-2-3, setting the stage for the Yankees 13th walk off win of the year.

Before his massive blast off of David Price in the second inning, Nick Swisher hadn't hit a home run at Yankee Stadium since June 8th. He had hit only three there all season. He had hit only one other walk off jack in his career. But he lifted his second round-tripper of the night just barely over the right field wall, and continued along with the obligatory jog around the bases, helmet toss and pie in the face. Predicatably giddy, Swish had a giant smile on his face right on through the post game interviews on TV.

Maybe it was the spunky newcomer conquering the demons that had sapped his power at home all year. More likely though, it was a statistical correction that Swisher's 25th and 26th homers on the year were lofted into the New York City night. Either way, it was just another game that the Yankees could have easily lost but seemed destined to win.

Yanks Rock Rays, Sweep Twin Bill

The first two and a half innings of the night portion of the doubleheader seemed to indicate that the Yankees and Rays were headed for another pitcher's duel. A.J. Burnett stumbled out of the gate, allowing back to back doubles to Gabe Gross and Evan Longoria to put the Rays up 1-0. However, he then rebounded to strike out four over the next 2.2 IP, working around two walks and a single to keep the Rays lead at one heading into the bottom of the third.

Andy Sonnanstine had faced the minimum amount of batters through the first two frames but not only did the wheels come off in the third, but the car swerved off the road, down an embankment and burst into flames. The Yanks sent 13 men to the plate in the inning, eight of whom came around to score on eight hits and two walks. The game was blown wide open, but there was a lingering sense of a disappointment.

Derek Jeter, the man receiving the loudest cheers of encouragement, made two of the three outs in the inning. He did reach base on a fielder's choice, driving in a run and came around to score. However, the 17 hits tallied by the Yankees tonight will be best remembered not for Mark Teixiera's two home runs or Jose Molina picking up 3 singles, but for the fact that Jeter, still 3 away from Lou Gehirg on the All-Time Yankee hit list after going 0-4 in the first game, didn't pick up any of them. It was reminiscent of the game back on July 31st, 2007 when A-Rod was sitting at 499 HRs and the Yankees bashed 8 as a team en route to a 16-3 win, but Alex went 0-5.

Jeter wasn't as close to his milestone and this game wasn't quite that lopsided, but Burnett went six innings and didn't allow another run and the Yanks added three more as they dominated the fading Rays. A.J. was backed up by Edwar Ramirez, Jonathan Albaledejo and Mike Dunn, who each threw scoreless innings of relief. Dunn's was the least impressive as his control problems continued, throwing only 11 of his 24 pitches for strikes and walking two.

The sweep of the doubleheader in conjunction with a White Sox win over the Red Sox shrank the Yankees magic number from 19 to 16, extended their lead in the division to a season-high 9 games and their record to 39 games over .500 for the first time since September 30th, 2004. There have been ample opportunities for the Yankees to let up since the All-Star break, but they haven't taken any of them, ripping off a 38-13 record (.745) since that point.

Going 11-12 over their final 23 games would give the Yanks their first 100 win season since '04, but there has been nothing to indicate that this team will coast to the finish line in such a manner. This team just gets more impressive as the season wears on.

A New Hope

Good morning Fackers. Please forgive the fact that the Star Wars dork in me is making an appearance this morning. Last night was a good one for the Yanks. Minutes after they topped the best pitcher in the league, the Yanks caught a break down in St. Petersburg, as an eighth inning leadoff home run from Evan Longoria knotted the Rays and Sawx at two. Despite chances for both teams in the intervening innings, the score remained the same until the Rays ended it in the 13th, using another longball from Mrs. Tony Parker.

The Yankee win coupled with the Sox loss puts the Yanks up 1.5 games in the AL East, ensuring that no matter what happens tonight the Yanks will be in first place on Thursday when the Evil Empire and whatever the Red Sox call themselves commence Episode IV of their 2009 series. But we've seen this before, so I'm going to temper my enthusiasm on this one.

Besides, it isn't those events in St. Petersburg last night that give me hope this morning. Rather, it's what happened hours earlier across Tampa Bay, as Ian Kennedy threw from a half mound at the Yankees minor league complex.

Kennedy was pitching well at AAA Scranton (1.59 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, 25:7 K:BB) when numbness in his fingers forced him from his April 27th start. Initially diagnosed as a vasospasm, it was soon discovered to be something far more serious: an aneurysm. He underwent surgery on May 12th, performed by Dr. George Todd, the same surgeon who performed David Cone's 1996 procedure. Kennedy has been rehabbing since late June, but to the best of my knowledge yesterday marks the first time he's thrown. He's slated for another session Friday.

This is of course good news, as Sergio Mitre is currently the Yankees 5th starter and will take the mound in Toronto tonight. Don't get me wrong, it's an extreme longshot. But, Kennedy said he hopes to pitch in a minor league game this season before moving on to the Puerto Rican Winter League. The minor league seasons wrap at the end of this month, so there's a chance, however slim that IPK could get a September call up. Mike Axisa at RAB had a similar thought yesterday.

As a point of reference, Cone had his surgery on May 11th, thirteen years and one day before Kennedy's, and returned to a Major League mound on September 2nd, throwing seven no hit innings before pitch count restrictions forced him from the hill.

I don't know how the specifics of Kennedy's case compare to Cone's, but Cone's recovery seems to indicate that Kennedy could be back this year. The only questions are what damage does Sergio Mitre do in the meantime or what moves do the Yanks make to get him off the hill and make a Kennedy return unnecessary.

Matt Garza: Not A Genius

Look Out! (Sorry, still working on my Ken Singleton impression)

This is what Matt Garza had to say after hitting Mark Teixeira on the arm in the top of the 5th inning last night:

Tampa Bay Rays RHP Matt Garza acknowledged it was more than coincidence than he hit Mark Teixeira the inning after Yankees starter Joba Chamberlain threw a pitch at the head of Evan Longoria, and noted the Yankees threw inside to Longoria and hit him Monday too.

If you'll recall, Chamberlain went up and in on Longoria in the 4th inning on the first pitch of the at bat. Longoria then popped out to Robinson Cano on the next one to end the inning, and broke his bat by slamming it on the ground in disgust. He was hit by Jonathan Albaldejo on Monday.

I just kind of got tired of people brushing [Evan Longoria] back. It’s about time someone made a statement. They did it on Monday night and we didn’t do anything, they didn’t do it too much (Tuesday) and (Chamberlain) did it again tonight. I hate to be that guy, but someone had to take a stand and say, “You know, we’re tired of it.” You can go after our best guy, well, we’ll make some noise too, and that’s what happened.

I'm sure you really "hate to be that guy", Matt. Especially when you consider that (A) Longoria didn't even get hit, (B) no one made you throw at Teixeira and (C) no one would have known it was intentional until you started running your mouth. It was a good pitch up and in, which barely got a piece of Teix. I personally didn't think there was any malice behind it because it hitting Teix brought A-Rod up to the plate with two men on. Not exactly optimal strategy there. A-Rod ended up striking out, but only after a 9 pitch battle.

At least now everyone will know how tough you are while you're serving that six game suspension, Matt. Enjoy!

Eight Strong To Win Seven For Joba

From the first batter of the game last night, it was apparent that the Yanks had put the struggles of the previous game behind them. Derek Jeter worked a 2-2 count and proceeded to slice a ball down the right field line that travelled all the way into the corner. In his attempt to wrangle the ball, LF Gabe Gross inadvertently did his best Nick Swisher impression, buying Jeter enough time to get to 3rd base standing up. Two batters later, Mark Teixeira knocked Jete home with a single and the Yanks were off to the races.

After being staked to the early lead, Joba Chamberlain looked confident and dominant. He worked relatively quickly, retiring the first 8 batters of the game in a row before giving up a bloop single to Jason Bartlett who was immediately caught stealing on the next pitch.

The Yanks put runners on second and third with no one out in the 4th via a single by A-Rod and a double by Hideki Matsui. Robinson Cano drove in Alex with a ground out, but one run was all they could manage. Cano struck again in the 6th, but this time more decisively. After taking a ball way up and in, he absolutely rocked a pitch deep into the seats in right field. He paused a for a second to watch it sail and Garza literally gave it a little wave on it's way out.

Joba blazed through the Rays with a perfect fourth, worked around two walks in the fifth, a single in the sixth and sat down the side in order in the seventh. In all, Joba had four 1-2-3 innings last night, a season high.

He received another run in support in the top of the inning after Hideki Matsui singled and was pinch run for by Cody Ransom. Ransom came around to score all the way from first on a single by Jorge Posada. Swisher ended the inning with a double play, the Yanks third of the night in addition to two by A-Rod, but it didn't matter.

Joba entered the 8th inning with only 88 pitches, a number he's surpassed in 5 innings multiple times this year. He allowed another single to Barlett in the frame, but that was all. It was only the second time in his career he's gone 8 innings and the only time he's done so without allowing a run. Furthermore, he finished with 101 pitches and had as many baserunners as strikeouts, five. Garza didn't pitch terribly, allowing 3 runs through 7 innings, but was clearly out-classed.

Melky Cabrera and Mark Teixeira added homers off of Dan Wheeler in the 9th to give the Yanks even more breathing room, bringing the score to 6-0. Brian Bruney, continuing with his "turd in the punchbowl" role of late, was called on to pitch the 9th and could not complete the shutout, or even the inning. He allowed a triple to Carl Crawford and a homer to Evan Longoria before recording an out. He got Ben Zobrist to pop out but after Carlos Pena doubled, Joe Girardi was forced to go to the bullpen. Mariano Rivera came out even though it wasn't a save situation and locked down the victory. Mo did allow his 5th walk of the season, reducing his K/BB ratio to a merely superhuman 9.4, from a Godly 11.75.

It was obviously tremendously encouraging to see Joba deliver such a dominant performance, but the double-edged sword is that the deeper he goes into games, the sooner he will be bumping up against his innings limit. But that's a different issue for another day. The Yanks took the first series of the road trip and extended their lead to 3.5 games as the Sox lost 8-6 to the A's.

Leave My Blues At Home

Let's start with the positive:

• Johnny Damon went 4-5 and chipped in 4 very timely RBIs
• Derek Jeter picked up two hits and a walk in 5 PAs
• Melky Cabrera continued to impress at the plate, reaching base on two walks and a single and swiping a bag.
• David Robertson appeared in the game and didn't give up a run, which is more than any of the other pitchers can say. 

That's it. Everything else about that game was excruciating. Maybe we're just getting impatient, or maybe it's just getting a little late in the season to say "it's still early". 

Right out of the gate, the Yanks found themselves in a hole. Pettitte jumped ahead of lead off man Jason Bartlett 0-2, but Bartlett then turned a 1-2 pitch into an opposite field HR into the Yankees' bullpen. Yes, that would be the same Jason Bartlett that had one home run all of last year. Two batters later, Pettitte killer Carlos Pena hit an absolute blast which landed about halfway up the bleachers in right center. 

It was a terrible way to start a game that felt as important as any so far this year. Let this sink in: the Yankees haven't been ahead in a game in the fifth inning on Saturday. 41 innings without a lead. As a fan, when your confidence has been shattered by a losing streak, the worst feeling is to get behind early. It can't be much different for the players. 

The Rays added two more runs in the third inning courtesy of an Evan Longoria round-tripper that left over the manual scoreboard in right. Maybe it's just because the pitching has been shitty thus far, but tonight especially, it seemed like the balls were flying around the New Stadium. 

The Bombers scored three in the fourth, two from a Johnny Damon double, and one more in the fifth on a homer from Hideki Matsui, knotting the game at four apiece. Pettitte promptly relinquished the lead in the top of the sixth, allowing yet another homer, this time to Ben Zobrist. He had only given up one HR coming into this game and it was the first time in his career he had given up four home runs in a single outing. He went six innings, allowed 9 hits and was fairly lucky to only surrender 5 runs.

Throughout the night, just when it seemed like the Yankees had grabbed the momentum, the Rays would snatch it right back. 

Jose Veras gave up a run in the seventh, which set up Johnny Damon for another huge hit in the bottom of the eighth. Jeter poked a two out single to center and Damon cracked a two run homer to tie the game once again. The Stadium erupted, and for one of the few times in the night, there was hope.

Of course those aspirations were quickly dashed when Mariano Rivera gave up the first pair of back to back home runs he has ever allowed in his career to Carl Crawford and Evan Longoria. It was a night of "firsts" for Yankee pitchers and not in a good way. The YES cameras panned the crowd, capturing reactions of disbelief and shock. Rivera was sporting the same lost look.  

This was a tortuous loss at a very inopportune time. It was a brutal dicktease when I think we all could have used a little action. 

Now the Yankees will take to the road for six more divisional games in Baltimore and Toronto. A win last night would have taken a tremendous amount of pressure off of today's game in Camden Yards. CC Sabathia is going to be on the hill while A-Rod and Teixeria will be booed vociferously... three guys who haven't had the best track record of responding to pressure.

After going 2-5 on the homestand, perhaps some away games will cure what ails the Yanks. Perhaps they can leave their blues at home.   

You don't work, the man don't pay ya,
There ain't no saint to come and save ya, oh, puttin' your toll down,
Well if you ride, you pay the fare, with Satan on your back,
And he don't care where you come from or where you goin',
And before I get myself all down, I jump up and kick the door down,
And walk down on the street, and leave my blues at home.

All behind.