Game 16: Black Magic Woman

For the most part, the 2009 Yankees vanquished their past demons with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. After an embarassing pre-All-Star Game three game sweep at the Big A left them 2-4 against the Halos for the year, the Yankees took three of the final four meetings between the clubs, finishing the season series at .500 despite a run differential of negative ten.

Of course, everything that matters with the Yankees is measured through the lens of post-season success, and in that regard, the 2009 Yankees fared even better against their west coast nemesis. A six game victory over the Angels in the ALCS didn't erase what happened in 2002 or 2005, but at the very least the psyche of the fan base should be soothed knowing the Yankees have had the most recent laugh, and that the Angels do not in fact hold some sort of mystical power over the Yanks. And if that wasn't enough to convince the perpetually pessimistic, taking two out of three in convincing fashion in the Bronx last week should.

One Angel with whom the Yankees haven't had trouble is taking the mound tonight. Ervin Santana surrendered eight hits, five walks, five runs, and two longballs in just five and two thirds during the Home Opener last week. The Yankees roughed him up similarly in his lone 2009 start against them, using two walks and nine hits, three of them homers, to rough him up for five runs (four ER) in six innings of work. While Santana did pitch well in four ALCS relief appearances last year, earning one of the Angels two wins, he also got saddled with the loss when Maicer Izturis threw away Game Two. For his regular season career, Santana is 5-3 in nine starts against the Yankees, but with an unsightly 5.50 ERA and 1.57 WHIP.

Opposing Santana will be A.J. Burnett. Much like his 2009 at large, Burnett's appearances against the Angels last year were a bit of a Jekyll and Hyde act. His April no decision at the Stadium saw him give up four runs over seven innings. In September in southern California, he struck out eleven and allowed only two runs, but allowed ten baserunners in just 5.2 IP. In the post-season, Burnett tossed 6.1 innings of two run ball in Game Two, but did not factor in the decision. His Molina Magic wore off in Game Five, as the Angels roasted for six runs in six innings. Burnett missed the Angels in last week's series, so this will mark his first 2010 appearances against the Halos. For his career, Burnett is 2-2 with a 4.43 ERA and 1.33 WHIP in six starts against the Angels.

Both pitchers are coming off strong outings. Following his poor Yankee Stadium outing last week, Santana tossed a four hit, no walk, one run complete game against the Blue Jays, striking out six. Meanwhile, Burnett has been good in all three starts this year, entering tonight at 2-0 with a 2.37 ERA through 19 innings of work, most recently tossing seven shutout innings against Texas Saturday. As River Ave. Blues pointed out earlier today, Burnett has also done a good job of limiting his walks thus far this year, but his strikeouts are also down.

Despite the Yankees exploits against the Angels since last year's All-Star Break, we're still likely to hear about the team's past struggles against the Angels, and particularly about their difficulties at the Big A. Someone may even point out the Yankees did lose two of the three ALCS games contested there last October. As far as I'm concerned though, the Yankees have the upper hand right now. The spell Santana and the Angels held over the Yankees has been broken.

I got a Black Magic Woman
I got a Black Magic Woman
Yes, I got a Black Magic Woman
She's got me so blind I can't see
But she's a Black Magic Woman and
she's trying to make a devil out of me

Don't turn your back on me baby
Don't turn your back on me baby
Yes, don't turn your back on me baby
Don't mess around with your tricks
Don't turn your back on me baby
'cause you might just wake up my magic sticks

-Lineups-

Yankees:
Everything is back to normal after yesterday's creativity.

Jeter SS
Johnson DH
Teixeira 1B
Rodriguez 3B
Cano 2B
Posada C
Granderson CF
Swisher RF
Gardner LF

Angels:
Jeff Mathis has been DL'd with a broken wrist since we've last seen the Halos. As such, Bobby Wilson gets the nod behind the plate tonight. Mike Scioscia must really not like Mike Napoli. Maicer Izturis plays third tonight as perpetual prospect Brandon Wood continues to struggle at the Big League level.

Erick Aybar SS
Bobby Abreu RF
Torii Hunter CF
Hideki Matsui DH
Kendry Morales 1B
Juan Rivera LF
Maicer Izturis 3B
Howie Kendrick 2B
Bobby Wilson C

Swept Away

As far as sweeps go, that one was pretty bad. It occurred against the Red Sox, involved a blown save by Mariano Rivera, a fackin' Kevin Youkilis walk-off homer onto Landsdowne St., a grand slam by Jason Varitek, games called by Tim McCarver and Joe Morgan, and the coup de grace, a fucking steal of home by Jacoby Ellsfairy. 

It's only one run. It didn't decide the game. I'm guessing it probably won't happen again. But that perfectly placed the poo cherry right on top of the shit sundae that was this series. If you look closely at the replays (or watch the end of the slideshow below), you'll see that he tripped about 10 feet from home plate, which actually helped him barely sneak under the tag. The expression on Andy Pettitte's face pretty much says it all: 

It looks like he just watched someone kick his dog. Although, to complete the analogy, Pettitte would have been holding the leash when it happened. 

The only thing that eases the pain is the fact that this weekend was absolutely beautiful this weekend here on the Eastern seaboard, and still is. Would you trade three Yankee wins for three straight days of 50 degrees and rain? I'll get back to you in September. 

It's still April, and the Yanks are 9-9. They are heading to a pitcher's park and will have their ace on the hill tonight. I just hope this is the last sweep at the hands of the Sox this year, because this is (not surprisingly) the only song in my iTunes library that has anything to do with sweeping. 

[Disclaimer: It's only a little over a minute long, but please be sure to remove all sharp objects from your reach, because this show is about three times more depressing than I intended it to be.]

That Baseballing Contest Was Most Unpleasant To Witness!

Can anyone explain this to me? Why, why, why, why would Joe Girardi, when Jonathan Albaledejo was 0-1 on Jacoby Ellsbury, bring in Mariano Rivera for one out in the bottom of the eighth inning? Alby had already got three easy outs (one in the 7th) before accidentally nipping Nick Green on the thigh with a 0-2 two-seam fastball that moved in just a little too much. Joe let him stay on the mound, throw over to first, and even get ahead on Ellsbury. Then, to every one's surprise, he walked out to the mound, talked to Jon for a second and tapped his right arm.

I like Girardi as a manager. I was fully on board with his hiring. But all this meddling with the bullpen is not only frustrating to watch, it's costing the Yankees games.

In a 4-2 game, Ellsbury represented the tying run. This year he has TWO doubles, ZERO triples or home runs and is slugging .304. What was Joe worried about? The count was already 0-1. Why not let Albaledejo try and get through this at bat? Because even if he did get a hit, chances are it would have been a single, which would not have scored Nick Green from first.

I'm not against using Rivera for more than three outs. That's one of the many abilities he has that separates him from other closers of this era. But there is no justification for bringing him in the 8th last night to face a shitty hitter. It was at someone else's expense as well. You can see the look on Albaledejo face. He looks dejected... embarrassed, even. He was throwing well and got pulled in the middle of a fucking at-bat for no good reason in Fenway park. Can you blame him?

I can't help but wonder if Alby got that out, and Mariano was reserved for the 9th inning that perhaps this wouldn't have happened:

Maybe this comes across as second guessing, but it was mind boggling at the time and it's not the first occasion this year when his bullpen management has squandered a late lead.

After Bay hit that home run, there was sense of inevitability to the outcome. Although the home team's advantage in extra innings is only 52/48, it feels much greater. The visiting team, in effect, has to play their hand first while the home team has the chance to respond. All it takes for the road team is one mistake, kind of like the one Damaso Marte made to Kevin Fackin' Youkilis.


/punches self in face repeatedly

Does This Usually Happen?

When Dustin Pedroia doubled in the bottom of the third inning, I noticed something odd.


Look towards the ump's chest plate below. (Click to enlarge)

See that little poof of dust/chalk/smoke?

It has dissipated slightly in the one below:

And it's gone in this screen shot:

Maybe it's just because little Dusty hits the ball so squarely, but I can't remember ever seeing that before. Perhaps Joba was hitting the rosin bag especially hard? I don't know.

Just thought it was worth pointing out.

Number 1,775

It has been just shy of 108 years since the Yankees and Red Sox first met. It was the first year of the American League, and neither team was know by it's current name yet. The Yanks were still in Baltimore and went by the Orioles while the Sox were based in Boston but had no official nickname. That same day marked Christy Mathewson's first of 373 Major League wins.

Led by player-manager John McGraw at Oriole Park in Baltimore, the Yankees won the very first match-up in the storied rivalry 10-6. They took the second and final game of the series 12-6, but ended up splitting the season tilt 9-9.

When Byron "Ban" Johnson reorganized the Western League in 1893, he was only a newspaper reporter, but had the blessing of former St. Louis Brown Stockings star Charles Comiskey and was elected president of the league. He remained at the helm for 35 years. In 1899, the National League dropped four cities (Baltimore, Louisville, Cleveland and Washington) from their circuit, creating an opening for the Western League to establish teams in those locales.

According to Bill James, one of the things that made the American League preferable to the National League for fans was the elimination of the dirty elements of the game that had characterized baseball before the turn of the century. In his Historical Baseball Abstract, James says "[Ban] Johnson realized that the bad manners and frequent fistfights the National League permitted were restraining the public's enthusiasm for the game". It turned out he was right and the American League overtook the National League in terms of popularity, thereby forcing the NL to clean up their act.

After relocating to New York two years later, the Yankees were known first as the "Highlanders" (because they played their games at Hilltop Park in Washington Heights), and then the "Americans" so as to distinguish them from the National League team in New York at the time. The Sox were first known as the Americans as well, so as not to be confused with the Boston Braves. Not very far removed from the Civil War, the name Yankees was synonymous with "Americans" in the North at the time, and the moniker stuck.


It's hard to imagine what it must have been like for the players on the starting rosters of what would become the Yankees and Red Sox on April 26th, 1901. They were miscellaneous parts of no name teams, in a fledgling league, at a hand-me-down park.

Little did they know that over a century and 1774 regular season contests later, the games would be played in billion-dollar palaces, broadcast in HDTV all over the world and people would be complaining that the heated rivalry between these two teams was being covered too much by the national media.

Tonight, the season starts in earnest for many Yankees and Sox supporters. Until now, us Yankees fans have watched baseball being played in an desolate Camden Yards, a full Tropicana Field, a remodeled Kaufman Stadium and the Structure That Mariano Rivera Erected, and none of them seemed quite right.

There will be a certain familiarity to seeing Fenway packed full of hostile exuberance on an absolutely perfect summery night. The pitching match-up pits the two young guns on either team tagged as future aces, Joba Chamberlain and Jon Lester. Does a game in April get any better than this? I'd argue that it does not.

Let's go Yanks.