Game 15 Recap

1. After the Yankees went down on 7 pitches in the top of the first inning, CC Sabathia got off to a rocky start in the bottom. He walked Rajai Davis on four pitches to begin his afternoon, got Daric Barton to ground out, then walked Ryan Sweeney in another 4 pitch PA, during which Davis swiped thrid base. Kurt Suzuki, like he did the previous time he faced him last August, took Sabathia deep to left field. It was a 3 run shot that gave the A's an early 3-0 lead.

2. Sabathia's difficulties with Kurt Suzuki continued as he walked him on 4 pitches to begin the bottom of the 4th. Jake Fox grounded a ball to short that Jeter fielded and flipped to Cano, but his throw was somewhat rushed by an incoming Suzuki and he sailed it into the Yankees dugout. Cano's first error of the year put Fox on second with one out. Kevin Kouzmanoff rapped a ball up the middle that Jeter stopped but didn't have time to make a play on. Next up, Adam Rosales swung at the first pitch he saw, lofting a ball to shallow left. Nick Swisher made the catch and a strong throw home but it wasn't quite in time and the A's expanded their lead to 4-0.

3. Marcus Thames got that run back in the top of the 5th with his first home run of the year, a solo shot to left-center field on an 86mph fastball from Dallas Braden to make it 4-1 A's.

4. Mark Teixeira added a solo shot of his own off of Braden in the top of the 6th. The pitch was called a screwball by pitchFX, only the 20th classified as such this year and Braden's second. Singleton and Flaherty both thought it was a changeup and it probably was, but it was so slow that it fooled the system. Either way, Teix hit it a long way to left center, over the 389 sign and almost to the windows suite level. A-Rod followed with a single but Cano rapped into an inning ending double play. 4-2 A's.

5. To begin the bottom half of the inning, Sabathia gave up a single to Daric Barton and a walk to Ryan Sweeney, bringing up his nemesis, Suzuki, to the plate. Sabathia would have the last laugh this time as Suzuki rapped into a 5-4-3 triple play. The ball was hit right at 3rd base, A-Rod stepped on the bag, made a strong throw to Cano, who fired to Johnson in the nick of time (/nudges you with elbow). It was the Yanks first triple play since June 3rd, 1968, at which point I was negative 16 years old.

6. The Yankees went down quietly in the final three frames, their only baserunner coming in the form of a two out single by Cano in the 9th. Nick Swisher followed that with a chopper to first and that was the ballgame, A's win 4-2.

IFs, ANDs & BUTs

• Suzuki has five hits off of Sabathia and three of them are homers. But now he has a triple play, which like, totally negates all of that. Suck it, Kurt!
  
  
• The Yanks had gone 6,632 regular season games without a triple play. Bobby Cox was playing third base for the Yankees and Mickey Mantle was at first while Harmon Killebrew led off the inning for the Twins when it last happened. It came in the same year the A's moved from Kansas City to Oakland. The A's hadn't hit into one since 1994.
  
  
• Although Sabathia wasn't especially sharp and had 6 walks (tying his career high), he controlled his pitch count (97, 51 for strikes). A lot of that had to do with the fact that four of those walks came on exactly 4 pitches and the other two took only 5 and 6. Also, the double play, triple play and inning-ending pickoff certainly helped.
  
  His final line was 8IP, 4H, 4R, 3ER, 6BB, 5K and took the complete game loss. It was the second time in a row he got the CG without throwing 9 innings. It was only the 9th time in franchise history that's happened, the first since Melido Perez in 1992. In the process, he also became the first Yankee since David Wells in 1998 to throw back to back CGs of any sort.
  
  
• Jeter swung at the first pitch of the game, flew out to right, and only swung three more times in his next three at bats, making contact each time. While it seems that Jeter has been impatient at times this season, part of the problem is that he is too damn good at making contact and has mostly been hitting it weakly when he does.
  
  
• Somehow, Frankie Cervelli continues to provide more than just defense in his starts (although he made a nice throw to nail Kouzmanoff drifting off of 2nd to end the 4th). Frankie picked up a couple of singles today and is now 5 for 9 on the season with four of those being singles.
  
  
• Dallas Braden apparently yelled at A-Rod after the 6th inning because he ran across the pitcher's mound on the way back to the dugout. Somebody call a wahmbulance.
  
  
• In the 8th inning Rosales gave Jeter a taste of his own medicine as he fielded a grounder up the middle and executed a jump throw back towards first.
  
  
• The game completed in an extremely economical 2:07, far and away the quickest of the Yanks' season.
  
  
• The Yanks' six game winning streak came to an end, but there were still things to be encouraged (Teix and Thames both homering, CC hanging in there and saving a depleted bullpen) and entertained (TRIPLE PLAY!) by.

From here, the Yanks head south to Anaheim for a 3 game set in the Big A, beginning with a 10PM start tomorrow night.

Game 13 Recap

1. Gio Gonzalez looked like he was about to get out of the first inning unscathed, but the Yankees mounted a two out rally. Mark Teixeira roped a double down the left field line, then Alex Rodriguez and Robinson Cano followed with two consecutive walks. Up next, Jorge Posada grounded a ball to first that hit Daric Barton in the chest. The ball fell to the ground in plenty of time for Barton to scoop it up and run to first but he couldn't convert the play as Mark Teixeira came around to score and the inning was extended. So obviously, the play was scored a... base hit for Posada.

While Posada's single was somewhat cheap, Nick Swisher followed it with a clean, two-run base knock, scoring A-Rod and Cano and putting the Yanks ahead 3-0.

2. After retiring Jeter to begin the 5th, Gonzalez issued two more walks to Johnson and Teixeira. That was the end of his night as Bob Geren called on Craig Breslow to face A-Rod. Breslow laid an 88 mph, 2-1 fastball down the middle and A-Rod absolutely hammered it to left-center to make it 6-0 Yanks.

3. Javier Vazquez allowed a home run to Travis Buck to lead off the 5th inning and another two run shot to Kurt Suzuki in the 6th. He was replaced by Boone Logan with the Yanks leading 6-3.

4. Old friend Edwar Ramirez pitched the top of the 7th, loaded the bases with three walks but managed to escape the inning after allowing only one run. 7-3 Bombers.

5. Logan got into some trouble for the Yanks in the bottom half of the inning, loading the bases on an infield single, a clean base hit and a borderline walk. Joba Chamberlain came in and struck out Kevin Kouzmanoff to end the inning.

Joba came back to pitch the 8th inning and sat the A's down in order with two K's and a weak grounder to first. Damaso Marte started the 9th but Joe Girardi called on Mariano Rivera after a 5 pitch walk to Jake Fox. Mo got a strike out and a double play, ballgame over, Yanks win 7-3.

IFs, ANDs & BUTs

• Vazquez worked in and out of trouble in the 2nd. He allowed a single to Kurt Suzuki and a double to Eric Chavez to start the inning. Javy got his first out when Mark Ellis chopped a ball down the third baseline and Suzuki, going on contact, was gunned down at home, putting runners on the corners with one out. Travis Buck obliged Vazquez with a double play, but an unconventional one. Buck lined it back to Vazquez, who tossed it to first to catch Mark Ellis to far off the base.
  
  
• Aside from the two long balls, Javy pitched pretty well. He threw more than 2/3 of his pitches for strikes and broke off some nasty sliders and curves, the likes of which we haven't seen in his previous outings this season. Both home runs came on fastballs, so he likely still needs some work in that department. Regardless, he's on the board with a pretty good start and a victory.
  
  
• Umpire Ed Rapuano had to leave the game after being hit with a foul tip. It appeared that he was okay at first but left the game under his own power a batter after it happened and was taken to a local hospital for a CT scan.
  
  
• The song choice last night was somewhat prophetic as the Yankees drew 10 walks, 5 of them against Gonzalez (4 of which came around to score).
  
  
• A-Rod and Robinson Cano(!!!) both drew three bases on balls.
  
  
• No Yankee had more than one hit.
  
  
• Joba touched 96 on the radar gun a couple times and his fastball sat in the mid-90's. This was one of his very good nights as he notched 3 K's in 1 1/3 perfect innings.
  
  
• A refreshing change from the series against Texas: no one made an error!
  
  
• The Yanks are now on a 5 game winning streak.

Tonight's game is another late one as Phil Hughes takes on Ben Sheets at 10:05 PM.

Happily Heading East

It was going to be a long flight either way, but the Yankees just made the red eye to Boston a whole lot more tolerable. Even though they lost back to back games on Sunday and Monday, they won both series out West and during a stretch where the Red Sox went 4-2, they picked up a half game in the standings.

The top third of the order accounted for bascially all of the offense against Brett Anderson or otherwise last night. Derek Jeter, Johnny Damon and Mark Teixeira each scored a run and Teix drove in all three on a groundout in the first and a two run shot to left in the second. The only other Yankee hit was Nick Swisher's single in the fourth.

Chad Gaudin put together a start in place of Joba Chamberlain which resembled something Joba himself might have done. He didn't allow a run, the only hit Gaudin gave up was a single to Adam Kennedy to lead off the bottom of the first and he struck out 5 batters. However, the five walks he issued drove up his pitch count and kept him from getting the win. Two of the walks came in the 5th inning and after 90 pitches he was lifted with the bases loaded and one out in favor of Alfredo Aceves.

I prefer to think of Gaudin's start tonight as a great long relief appearance which just happened to occur at the beginning of the game. Which isn't really a bad thing when you have a bullpen that has been pitching as well as the Yankees'. With a projected pitch limit of ~85 and the tendency to walk a lot of batters, Gaudin wasn't expect to go very deep into the game. In fact, before the first pitch Mark Feinsand predicted that he'd go exactly 4 1/3 innings on Twitter.

Aceves needed only two pitches to induce an inning-ending double play from Yankee-killer Kurt Suzuki and get the Yankees out of trouble when he was summoned from the bullpen. It wasn't all smooth sailing for Alf, though. Jack Cust chipped in with this first home run since July 20th and his first RBI since 7/23 on a solo homer off of Aceves with two out in the 6th. The A's picked up another two out run in the 7th after Rajai Davis singled, stole second and scored on a single by Mark Ellis.

In all, Alf went 2 1/3 and gave up 4 of the 6 hits and the only two runs the A's scored in the game, but didn't relinquish the lead. Phil Coke came on for the final out of the 7th, Phil Hughes worked into and out of trouble in the 8th and Mo mowed them down in the 9th. It was Rivera's 32nd consecutive save converted, the longest such streak in his career.

It wasn't the crisp pitcher's duel that a final score of 3-2 sometimes indicates, but it wrapped up in just over two and a half hours nonetheless. Each of the games in the series finsihed in under three hours, a fact which wasn't that the A's are 15.5 games behind the Red Sox in the Wild Card standings. It was much appreciated by those of us who stayed up to watch the games on the East Coast.

And they ended on a high note.

"He Did What He Had To Do"

Last night on the YES broadcast, after CC Sabathia threw behind Kurt Suzuki in the bottom of the first inning and both benches were warned, John Flaherty repeatedly praised the action by saying "pitchers need to protect their hitters" claiming it that it "clearly sent a message that you aren't going to abuse our starting third baseman" in addition to the quote in the title.

But did Sabathia really "have to do" anything?

Giving another team an automatic baserunner wouldn't seem to be good strategy ever, but last night's move was doubly unsuccessful since the pitch missed Suzuki and he deposited the very next one in the left field seats for a solo home run.

Looking back at the pitch that Vin Mazzaro hit A-Rod with, which prompted CC's warning shot, it didn't have the looks of an intentional beaning. Pitch f/x on Gameday on MLB.com identified the pitch as a 4 seam fastball, but it had the same speed and trajectory of the first pitch of the at bat which they identified as a two-seamer. Matt used a two-seamer as evidence of Rick Porcello not intending to hit Youk last week and and the same would stand to reason here. The ball broke pretty severely inside, like it got away from Mazzaro, not as if he was trying to hit A-Rod. Why would he have wanted to, anyway?

So why did the Yankees feel the need to respond? Yes, it was the same spot A-Rod got plunked last week against the Blue Jays, and if he was out for a significant amount of time, it would hurt the Yankees tremendously. But the pitch already happened. Did it stop the A's from hitting him again? I very seriously doubt that.

Just yesterday Bill James and Joe Posnanski took a look at hit batsmen over at SI.com (h/t BBTF). Pos noted a historical rise in the frequency of batters being hit, with the number of games which included a HBP climbing 10% from the 80's to the 90's and another 9% into the 00's, now at 36%. James hypothesizes that the advent of the metal bat in amateur baseball allowed taught young hitters to crowd the plate resulting in the recent rise.

Posnanski surmises that historically, the code of throwing at batters was much clearer and now determining intent is far more difficult:

And, all of this just makes it trickier than ever for everyone. Umpires and players and managers suddenly have to guess: "What was that pitcher THINKING?" [...] Suddenly you have to be Dr. Phil. And it's become silly.

All this guesswork leads to blind leading the blind, and hitters getting plunked in retaliation for something that wasn't intentional in the first place.

When Joe Torre was the manager, fans complained that pitchers like Mike Mussina and Andy Pettitte would never throw at opposing batters. In general, didn't seem to be Torre's style. He was by nature, a calming presence and by and large had pitchers on his team who didn't seem to be very interested in pegging anyone. I'm guessing he's had a negative HBP differential over his managerial career, but he's not included on this list. Contrast that with Joe Girardi, who in much younger and uptight with two guys in A.J. Burnett and CC Sabathia who Torre didn't have, who don't fear sending a message to the opposition from time to time.

Last night, as home plate umpire Jerry Lane was warning the benches, the cameras quickly panned to A-Rod, who had an almost childish-looking grin on his face. He was apparently quite pleased, or at least amused that his pitcher had his back. Maybe it's just another example of A-Rod having no self awareness (who wouldn't want to sit at a poker table with the guy?), or perhaps there is something about standing up for a teammate that really brings a ballclub together.

This One's Worth About 50 Words, Anyway

I couldn't shoehorn this into last night's recap, but here is a picture of Melky Cabrera after Jay Marshall hit him with a 71MPH changeup in the top of the sixth inning. Melky tried to turn and scamper out of the way but at the same time, Kurt Suzuki came behind him and tried to field the pitch. Awkward and mildly homoerotic poses ensued.

CC Conquers The Coliseum

Throughout the first few innings of last night's game, it looked like CC Sabathia was headed for another tough outing in the Oakland-Alameda Coliseum and the Yankees towards their third straight loss.

A-Rod got hit in the same place on his elbow he took one off last Wednesday in the top of the first but thankfully remained in the game. Two batters later, Jorge Posada struck out swinging with the bases loaded.

Seemingly in retaliation, CC Sabathia threw one behind Kurt Suzuki at waist level with two outs in the bottom half of the inning and both benches were warned. On the very next pitch Suzuki served up some retribution of his own by rocking a homer deep into the left field seats. Even after tonight, Suzuki is slugging just .393 this year, so it's safe to say he was emboldened by the near-beaning.

Derek Jeter brought Melky Cabrera to the plate in the top of the second on an error by Adam Kennedy at third base for the Yanks' own two out run. It was the first of four errors the A's committed in the game. Kennedy also struck out four times, so perhaps it just wasn't his night. Jeter had three hits for the third night in a row, so once again it was his.

Sabathia gave up another two out solo shot in the bottom of the second inning to Tommy Everidge, a 26 year old career minor leaguer (who Ken Singleton referred to as an "organizational player" during the broadcast) with highly mediocre numbers down on the farm and only 20 MLB games under his belt. Sabathia intentionally walked him in the 6th inning as well, accounting for 4 of the 28 balls he threw on the night and his only free pass, but that's a whole 'nother topic.

The Bombers scored again in the third on a ground rule double by Jorge Posada that drove in A-Rod after he had singled and advanced to second on a wild pitch by Vin Mazzaro.

The Yanks loaded the bases in the fourth inning with one out for Mark Teixeira, but like A-Rod the night before, he swung at the first pitch and grounded into an inning ending double play. After A-Rod walked and Matsui flew out to center in the 5th, Posada ended that frame with a DP of his own.

The score remained 2-2 at the beginning of the sixth inning at which point Mazzaro was replaced after throwing 103 pitches. From the bench, Mazzaro watched lefty side-arming junkballer Jay Marshall throw the game away with a double, wild pitch, HBP, single and a double before eing pulled in favor of Santiago Casilla with the score now 4-2. After an intentional walk to Mark Teixeira which loaded the bases, Casilla walked A-Rod on 4 pitches to force a run home and gave up a two run single to Hideki Matsui to bring the score to 7-2.

Sabathia settled in and continued his efficient effort, lasting 8 innings and needing just 94 pitches to do so. He struck out three batters in addition to Adam Everett's 4 K's and allowed 5 hits on top of the aforementioned IBB to Everidge. With a 5 run lead, David Robertson was called on for the 9th inning and promptly threw 8 straight balls. He then bore down and retired the next three batters, the first two on swinging strikes.

It took forty minutes longer than the previous night's game to complete, but was still under 3 hours. More importantly, though, the Yanks won and are not facing the prospect of a sweep when Chad Gaudin takes the hill tomorrow night. They remain 7 games up on the Red Sox after they took a topsy turvy affair against the Blue Jays to stay atop the Wild Card standings.

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.

Good Melky, Bad Melky

While the likely takeaways from yesterday's game were Melky Cabrera's 2 homers, a solo shot in the second, and especially the walk-off in the bottom of the 14th inning...

...Don't forget about this:

In the 7th inning, with the bases loaded and no one out, Melky came to the plate and struck out on four pitches, the last of which was literally at his eyes. Look at what Suzuki had to just to catch that ball. Russ Springer missed his spot by three feet and still got the biggest K of the game. That at-bat would loom large, as the score remained 7-7 until the 14th.

To my eyes, there-in lies the problem with Melky. He goes up to the plate swinging for the fences, and refuses to believe that he's just not a home run hitter. Even a blind squirrel finds a nut on occasion, so there are going to be days like yesterday when he gets lucky and jacks one or two. But by and large this approach is killing his value as an everyday player.

Let's go to the numbers, shall we?

These are the three seasons in which Melky appeared in enough games to analyze the results. There are differences in PA's, but even when you factor those in, the trends are still clear. The darker shaded numbers are the most optimal ones.

From ages 21 (in 2006) to 23, his average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage and consequently OPS have all been in decline. He age 21 season was what got most Yankee fans excited about him. Homegrown talent with a strong arm and pretty decent production at the plate for a CF.

While his home runs were consistent throughout all three seasons, Melky's doubles declined drastically. Why would that be? When he takes his home run cut, Cabrera ends up hitting a lot of pop ups. It's the downside of his "all or nothing" approach to hitting.

The last column represents in-field fly balls, and as you can see that percentage jumped significantly (at the 90% confidence level) from '07 to '08. As a result of hitting more pop-ups, his Batting Average On Balls In Play has been on the decline as well, because a much higher percentage of pop flies are converted into outs than any other type of batted ball.

It's been a while since Max Kellerman tried to sell everyone on the notion that Melky was the second coming of Bernie Williams based on their minor league track records and early MLB performance. I don't know too many people who think he can be an everyday player, let alone a batting champion or top 10 MVP candidate anymore. Rob, the sponsor of Melky's Baseball-Reference page said it best:

Oh, what you, Leche, could have been. With only 280 ABs in AAA they wasted all your options before your 24th birthday. Bernie got 468 ABs in AAA and almost two full seasons in AA. Hopefully you find a chance to develop as a hitter.

I suppose for the time being that Melky is a pretty decent fourth outfielder. He has marginal defensive value in CF, but is solid in left and right with a strong arm. That makes him a good choice for a late-inning defensive replacement, and as he showed us yesterday, he's got the potential to make an impact offensively as well. I just don't want anyone to get carried away and say they want to see him starting.

Keep In Mind Kurt Suzuki Is Right Handed

This strikeout in the top of the tenth was the only out Damaso Marte recorded in yesterday's game, but it was a thing of beauty. If you participated in our Live Chat for Game 15, you have already seen this image, but for those who did not...

More embarassing: Suzuki striking out via a 360 and landing on his ass, or the empty seats behind him? Close call.

Can we see another angle?

Perfect. I think I'm going to go with the strikeout.

Other things you may have missed in the Live Chat: Hilarious stories about Freddy Sez, backed up with photographic evidence, unflattering nicknames for Damaso Marte, updates on every Yankee's marital status, how to listen to the game without buying the MLB.com radio package, and in-depth discussions of why and why not to purchase a quesadilla maker. You should really stop by next time.