Game 84: G'z Iz G'z

Gio Gonzalez gets the ball for the A's as the Yankees go for the sweep. That is all.

'Cause bustaz is bustaz, and G's iz G's,
But ain't nobody fuckin' 'round wit' MCs like these.

-Lineups-

Maybe later?

Game 129: Riders On The Storm

Sergio Mitre has the unenviable task today of wandering around the clubhouse and biding his time while Tropical Depression Danny shifts shapes amorphously out in the Atlantic and tosses rain down on Yankee Stadium. Sergio might be used to the suspense by now though, since he's only appeared in two of the last 15 games for the Yanks. He makes Phil Hughes seem taxed by comparison.

Mitre had his best start of the year (still not all that good) in Seattle on the 15th, but since then has only popped up once, in two innings of relief during the Red Sox game the Yanks won by 9 runs. After working a perfect 8th inning, Mitre allowed 4 runs in the 9th including two homers before recording the final out. Who knows which Mitre we are going to get today, but the recent inactivity doesn't bode very well for his success.

Former Yankee Jose Contreras will take the mound for the White Sox today. El Titan de Bronze got off to a rocky start this year, getting sent down to AAA after an 0-5 start with an 8.19 ERA. He reemerged triumphantly, however after being called up for the first game of a double-header a month later. He pitched 8 innings of scoreless ball and then duplicated the feat in his next start out. Since then, his ERA has hovered around 5, mixing some good performances with some terrible ones. Since he varies his arm angle his control is erratic, sometimes allowing too many walks, and other times compiling lots of strikeouts while walking hardly anyone. This is the essence of Contreras, brilliant at times, but consistently inconsistent.

Jose Molina will be doing the catching again today as Jerry Hairston Jr. spells Melky in centerfield. Other than that, it will be the usual suspects, including Hurricane A-Rod at 3rd.

Last night's game went late, but not for the reason I envisioned in the preview. Today however, with Danny slowly meandering his way up the East Coast, it's clear there are going to be some delays involved with riding out this storm.

Riders on the storm,
Into this house were born,
Into this world were thrown,
Like a dog without a bone,
An actor out on loan,
Riders on the storm.

Since there will likely be some time to kill before game time, here's a Snoop Dogg remix of the song that I didn't know existed until I searched for the original on YouTube today. Truth be told, I think it's pretty damn good.

Game 57: Serial Killa(z)

Since dropping both halves of a two game set against the Rays back on May 6th and 7th, the Yankees have won seven out of eight series against their opposition. The only one they lost was against the World Champion Phillies and all three of those games were closely contested. A win tonight could make it eight out of nine.

They done it every which way, dropping the first game of three against Toronto, taking all four against the Twins by a grand total of 5 runs, blasting the Orioles in each of the three games in the Bronx, and taking 2 out of three from Texas both in Arlington and at the Stadium. The Twins and O's were the only two sweeps, the other five have gone 2-1 in favor of the Yanks.

Those three walk off wins against the Twins seem like the obvious turning points in hindsight. Dramatic wins and whipped cream pies in the face have a way of galvanizing teams and making them think they should win every game (or at least every series). Momentum is a fickle mistress, but the Yankees appear to be doing a hell of a job of keeping her around at the moment.

The one player with the most influence on whether the Yanks can notch another series victory tonight will be Andy Pettitte. The 37 year old eclipsed the 2800 innings pitched mark in the fifth inning of his last start, which is a hell of a lot when you think about it. The only problem was that he didn't come out for the sixth. He only allowed one run in the outing before that in Cleveland (where his back problems first surfaced) but that outing was only 5 innings as well. Pettitte went deeper into his previous two but allowed 4ER in each. His last quality start was on May 13th and before that you have to go back to April 26th to find another. It's not to say that Pettitte has been horrible, he's pitched well enough to pick up five wins, but we've come to expect a little more from our lefty.

For the Rays, Andy Sonnanstine will toe the rubber. His two starts against the Yankees this year are the only two in which he has not received a decision. One was a 4-3 victory for the Yanks back on April 15th, and the other was a 4-3 win for the Rays on May 6th. In 11 starts this year, Sonnanstine has a decent 4-5 record but a hideous 7.07 ERA. He's been good against the Bombers so far this year, allowing 2 runs in each of his starts, going 5IP the first time and 7 1/3 the second. He's been decidedly more cold than hot against the rest of the league, however. The other Andy has given up 2 or fewer runs just as often he's given up 5 or more (5 times each), so let's set the over/under at 3.5 and see what happens.