Michael Kay Is One Sick Puppy

[Updated with video. H/t Crazy Yankee Chick]

I'm surprised I haven't seen this one pop up elsewhere on the interwebs today. Lost in the humiliation of losing to the Nationals last night was a pretty damn funny moment courtesy of Michael Kay.

With one on and two out in the top of the seventh, Phil Hughes faced Ryan Zimmerman. After falling behind 2-0, Hughes threw two straight fastballs to run the count to 3-1. In a fastball count, Hughes came back with a slider that Zimmerman either didn't expect or didn't like, as it he took it for strike two.

With the count full Zimmerman was looking fastball again. Hughes fooled him with a nasty, nasty curveball that completely froze Zimmerman, who promptly dropped his bat and helmet and started walking out towards third base. It was thing of beauty, reminiscient of this.

Michael Kay was so impressed that he forgot he was on the air and not at one his twisted sex parties. He commented: "Zimmerman was looking for heat all the way, but Phil Hughes dropped a deuce on him".

You are one sick bastard Michael Kay. That's not the family friendly image the YES Network is trying to project. Then again, neither is the nightly late inning Listerine pop-up ad that sounds like someone hitting a bong.

[Ed Note: Matt refuses to use Twitter, and I'm no Tweetmachine like our boy The_Real_Schiff, but I did catch this update from YESMichaelKay last night.

If you are on Twitter during Yankees games, I would highly recommend following "Michael", as the feed can be quite hilarious.

And yes, that Listerine ad sounds like a person hitting a bong, particularly because they don't say anything when it comes on. (Awkward silence...) (Bubbling...) David Cone, if you're out there, please just once intentionally miss the cough button coming out of that and start giggling uncontrollably. Thanks.]

Juuuuuust Kidding!

A well oiled machine, that Yankee PR department!

The good news: More Mike Francesa!!!!

Probability of a Live Chat declining by the moment.

This sucks.

4:00 First Pitch (Live Chat Reminder)

That's what the tell me on Twitter, anyway.

Come by around that time for some good old fashioned newfangled live chattery.

Whither Wang?

Or perhaps given his performance this year, wither Wang?

As we wait out the rain, I'd like to take a look back on CMW's start last night and ponder what happens next. Well, we know what will happen next; he'll start against the Braves on Tuesday (where he'll have to bat and run - uh oh). But what after that?

Without question, last night's start was far and away the best Wang has made this year. Amongst his six starts, he set season highs last night in innings pitched (5) and Game Score (45), tied a season low in hits allowed (6), and set a season low in runs allowed (3). But even if it was his best, was it good?

Let's start with the good parts. For the first time this year, CMW made a start and gave his team a chance to win. 3 ER in 5 IP is not a Quality Start, nor should it be considered one, but he kept his team in the game while he was on the hill. He made it through 23 batters and 91 pitches, both season highs, and threw a respectable 59% of his pitches for strikes.

He induced ground balls like the old CMW, recording 10 of his 16 outs (one extra due to the wild pitch 3rd strike to Corey Patterson) on ground balls, including a doubleplay. Of the six hits he gave up, two were seeing-eye grounders just beyond the reach of Robinson Cano, and a third was a slow roller to A-Rod that resulted in a blown call at first. The triple allowed to Nick Johnson was well struck and just out of the reach of Melky Cabrera. One could make the argument that Melky's dive was ill-advised, and that had he laid up on the play he might have held Johnson to a double and potentially prevented Christian Guzman from scoring all the way from first.

Wang also struck out 4, just one short of his season high. Despite all his numerous failings this year, Wang has shown improvement in one area: strikeouts. His 4 Ks in 5 IP last night was right in line with his 2009 rate of 7.2 K/9, and is well ahead of his career average of 4.0 K/9 entering 2009. In general, sinkerballers pitch to contact and don't register many Ks, the main reason statheads are concerned about their ability to sustain success. If Wang's sinker continues to betray him, he'll need to miss bats to mitigate the damage.

As Jay mentioned in the recap, Wang was victimized by a bad call and a couple bad breaks. But such is life. Pitchers have to face things like that seemingly every start; Wang shouldn't be graded on a curve just because of his struggles this year. So what was bad about Wang's start last night?

First, he needed far too many pitches. He's likely still building arm strength given the way he's been used this year, so throwing pitches isn't necessarily a bad thing. It was good to see him cross the 90 pitch threshhold for the first time all year. But needing 91 pitches to get through 5 innings is not good, and is not what you want to see on a start by start basis. Wang is a guy that pitches to contact, so he shouldn't be going that deep into counts to begin with. The dropped ball on the would-be CS, the third strike wild pitch, and the blown call at first all cost Wang outs and resulted in extra pitches. But as I said above, these things happen. Even in the innings that he didn't have those issues he only once came in at the magic number of 15 pitches.

Secondly, he had problems with both his release point and his location. This is the big one, as it's been the root of his problems all year. In the first inning particularly, Wang left several sinkers up in the zone, including many that drifted horizontally over the heart of the plate rather than diving on a vertical plane. Posada also mimed an over-the-top motion to Wang several times, reminding him to watch his release point. Wang improved on this as the game progressed, but didn't eliminate the issue. The HR Adam Dunn launched halfway to Yonkers in the fourth came on a sinker left up in the zone.

All in all it was a step forward in as much as it earned Wang another start and he didn't get his teeth kicked in. But I'm not convinced that he's "back", only that he showed some improvement last night and for the most part didn't get battered on his mistakes. His 2009 high Game Score of 45 would have ranked in the bottom third of his starts in 2007 or 2008.

After watching Phil Hughes blow through the sixth and seventh on just 24 pitches with 2 Ks against just 1 H, I find it hard to believe that he doesn't offer a better chance at winning every fifth day. Wang may or may not get right pitching as a starter, but he almost certainly won't fix his problems if he's buried as the mop-up man in the pen. The question I'm having a hard time answering is how long should he be given to correct his problems? Step forward or not, the line he turned in last night isn't going to cut it every time out.

Game 66: Crying, Waiting, Hoping

Crying, crying,
Tears keep a-falling,
All night long.
Waiting, waiting,
It seems so useless,
I know its wrong,
To keep on...

...crying, crying,
Waiting, waiting,
Hoping, hoping...

While the weather looks pretty dismal at the moment, the end does appear to be in sight. All indications are that the Yanks are going to try to get this one in. If/When the game goes off, provided that it's still during work hours, we will host a live chat to keep you entertained and kill your productivity at your job.

-----

A rain delay has to be particularly difficult on a starting pitcher. They spend their professional lives knowing exactly when their next outing is going to take place, down to a matter of minutes. They prepare and work out and sleep and eat in accordance to when they will be taking the mound. They can focus and prepare for when they take the ball and all eyes turn to them. It's a gradual and predictable build up. But not today. Joba Chamberlain and Craig Stammen have to amble about the clubhouse, trying to stay loose, or alert, or ready, knowing that the call could come at any time.

This happened to Joba once already this season and the results weren't especially encouraging. On May 26th in Texas, the game was delayed almost two and a half hours by rain. If you'll recall, this was the outing that Joba was pulled after 4 innings, 4 walks, 4 hits, 84 pitches and 3 runs. His last start against the Mets wasn't a whole lot better (4IP, 2ER, 100 pitches). Since his 8 strong innings in Cleveland he's gone progressively fewer innings (8, 6, 4), while his pitch count has remained about the same (106, 100, 100). The free swinging Nats should help him buck that trend.

Starting for the Nats will be Craig Stammen (not "Stamen", easy there, flower children). As was the case with the other two pitchers Manny Acta has trotted out this year, the Yankees have not faced Stammen yet. He's a 25 year old rookie who has pitched a grand total of 27 1/3 innings in the major leagues and has yet to throw 100 pitches in an outing or see his ERA below 5. Let's test that theory again. He's lasted at least until the fifth inning in each of his starts, but (shockingly!) has yet to come away with one of the Nationals' 17 victories.

If they do get around to playing this thing, Jeter, Posada and Melky will all be out of the line up.

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Come back for the live chat when game time rolls around.

"Henry & Me"

A couple Yankees are contributing to an animated film called "Henry & Me". The title character turns out to be (SPOLIER ALERT!) Lou Gehrig and will be portrayed by Richard Gere.

Since it's a children's book, everyone has predictably altrustic motives. Here is the author of the book the movie is based upon:

"We can give the innocence of the game back to the children," Negron said. "Goodbye steroids, hello grassroots."

Which sounds great, right?

But A-Rod is in the movie. You'd think that if you were really trying to say "goodbye steroids" or whatever, you might not want to include an admitted steroid user in the fucking cast. But then they probably wouldn't get Newsday to write a story about the movie with A-Rod's part as the lede, would they?

It was George Steinbrenner who gave Negron a job as a Yankees batboy in the 1970s, after The Boss caught Negron spray-painting the team logo on the old Yankee Stadium.

"This is a tribute to George Steinbrenner, and his passion for all of the young kids in the country," Negron said.

It's a shame he's not alive to see it.

ABJECT FAILURE !!!1!!!1!

Maybe I'm alone on this one, but I don't think losing to a guy with an ERA of 3.51 with your worst pitcher on the mound is really that bad, regardless of what team the other guy plays for. I made fun of some of the beat writers this morning for proclaiming anything less than a sweep was unacceptable and unfortunately, tonight's game proves my point exactly. An opposing pitcher with an ERA in the threes and is entitled to have a good night once in a while, regardless of how shitty the team he plays for is.

Without question, last night was frustrating on several levels. For one, the offense was lackluster against lefty John Lannan. Only six men reached base. The Yanks had no hits with runners in scoring position, but that was mostly because they only had three chances. The only two runs were scored off John Lannan came via solo home runs by Robinson Cano in the 5th inning and Johnny Damon leading off the ninth. Even after Damon's jack, Lannan had thrown only 103 pitches. He got Nick Swisher to fly out on one pitch, but was pulled after giving up a single to Mark Teixeira.

Representing the tying run, Teix was ran for by Brett Gardner. With one out and trailing 3-2, the speedster was much more likely to score from first and tie the game. It turns out that wasn't the only benefit of making the swap. The Nationals guessed correctly with a pitchout in an 0-1 count after three consecutive pick off attempts, but Gardner swiped second anyway. He then stole third on the very next pitch as Josh Bard failed to handle a ball in the dirt.

With the tying run 90 feet away, A-Rod worked a walk and passed the buck to the hot hand from last night, Robinson Cano. Ironically, the presence of a runner on first for the Yanks would be their undoing. It's always A-Rod's fault, isn't it? Cano and Mike MacDougal battled for nine pitches, six of them fouls. When Robby finally put on in play, it rolled right to Cristian Guzman who turned an easy game-ending double play.

The reason the Yankees had to play catch up the whole night wasn't Chien Ming Wang. Through four innings, the lone run the Nats scored came from a towering solo blast by Adam Dunn. Wang only lasted 5IP, but it could have easily been more if it wasn't for the raw deal he got in the fifth inning.

Willie Harris reached base on a single to lead off the frame and get the wheels in motion. He got a marginal jump when he took off for second base, and Posada made a great throw, but Ramiro Pena couldn't quite hold on to it. Replays showed that Pena's glove beat Harris to the bag, but it didn't have the ball to go along with it.

One batter later, Cristian Guzman pulled a grounder to A-Rod at third. Alex made a brilliant play and fired across the diamond. Guzman was called safe at first, but slow-mo proved that he was indisputably out. Nick Johnson stepped into the box next and lofted a ball in between Melky Cabrera and Johnny Damon in left-center field. Melky made a diving attempt but the ball fell and rolled past him, allowing both runners to score and Johnson to end up on third base. Wang prevented further damage, but 3 runs would prove to be just enough for the Nationals to secure the victory.

When I wrote "Even if Wang turns in by far his best performance of the year, the Yanks could very easily lose" this morning, it was one of those rare times that you'd rather not be right. Tonight sucked, but it's not the end of the world. If they lose tomorrow, then get back to me.

Game 65: Papa's Got A Brand New Bag

Chien-Ming Wang became a father yesterday as he and his wife Chia-Ling Wu welcomed their first child. Justin Jesse Wang checked in yesterday morning at 7 pounds, 12 ounces. Word is he already has the best sinker in the nursery.

In Taiwanese culture, the birth of a child is said to bring good luck to the parents. CMW can certainly use it today. His struggles this year have been well documented. This could be his last chance in the rotation for the foreseeable future.

The good news for Wang is that he'll be facing the lowly Washington Nationals. The bad news for Wang is that, as we detailed yesterday, they feature an above average offense despite being an epically bad team. Further compounding issues for Wang is that the Nats are slightly below league average in groundball to flyball ratio (0.72 vs. 0.79) and in groundouts to airouts (1.04 vs. 1.08). The Nats trend slightly towards being a flyball team, and flyballs in Yankee Stadium often turn into home runs. If Wang's sinker isn't sinking tonight, he could find himself in more trouble than usual.

Wang will be opposed by Washington's default "ace" John Lannan. The young southpaw has not faced the Yankees in his year plus in the Big Leagues (uh oh). He enters his start tonight with an impressive ERA+ of 124, but his peripherals suggest he might be getting lucky. His FIP of 5.06 is far above the league average of 4.35. His K/9 is low (4.4); his BB/9 (3.6) and WHIP (1.42) are somewhat high, and his BABIP of .278 is far below the league average of .301. In short, the numbers suggest he's due to get rocked at some point soon. Let's hope it happens tonight.

As Jay suggested this morning, Derek Jeter and his gimpy ankle will get the night off. According to Pete Abe, Jeter wanted to play (of course) but has been sent for an MRI. Having Ramiro Pena at short to scoop up some groundballs maybe helpful in getting Wanger right. And the poor guy needs all the help he can get right now.

In his two starts since returning from the disabled list, we've selected songs connected to the theme of Wang righting his 2009 season. It hasn't happened so far. Tonight, we try one more time as the new papa looks to start a brand new season for himself. So as CMW tries to break his funk, we turn to the song generally credited as giving birth to funk. Here's hoping the Godfather of Soul can bring some good mojo for tonight's start.

Come here sister
Papa's in the swing
He ain't too hip now
But I can dig that new breed babe
He ain't no drag
He's got a brand new bag

The Bethpage Report

Yesterday, for the second Tuesday in a row, I headed out to Bethpage State Park. This time, however, I wasn't planning on playing 18 and we didn't get rained out. I love to play golf, but couldn't care less about the PGA Tour on a week to week basis. Like many of you, however, if I'm trying to take a nap on a Sunday, golf is the perfect backdrop. It's almost as if the announcers know you are trying to sleep.

That said, I love the US Open. I think I only like the British Open because it's on when you wake up in the morning and I'm not captivated by the Masters or the PGA Championship. But the US Open winds my clock. I love the fact that they take an incredibly challenging course and make it impossibly hard. Having the winning score end up around par every year is also a refreshing change from tour events like last week, when the winning score was -18.

As is the case with all of golf's majors, the early part of the week leading up to the US Open is reserved for players to play practice rounds, get a feel for the course, and fend of all the annoying autograph hounds. Despite the practice being explicitly forbidden by the tournament, even on practice days, it's still wildly prevalent.

Every time a player goes from a green to the next tee they have to walk past dozens of people sticking out US Open hats, flags, posters, shirts and other memorabilia for them to sign. It's the reason that Tiger sneaks out at 7am and only plays 9 holes. It's probably cool to walk away with a US Open flag with a bunch of signatures on it, but in order to do so, you have to constantly pester the players for them. Not my cup of tea.

My friend Mike got our Trophy Club passes on Craigslist for half of face value including shipping. Why they were $60 to begin with is beyond me, but we got a pretty good deal. We took the LIRR from Penn Station out to the Farmingdale stop. It was $14 a person, with shuttle service right to the course and took a little over an hour both ways. Highly recommended if you are going out to the course from Manhattan. I promise it's faster and less of a hassle than driving.

We checked out the driving range and short game area when we first got there. One thing that was truly amazing is that each player practices with the same kind of balls they play with. As a result, there is a staff of 3-4 volunteers at all times taking the balls off the practice green and sorting them by brand. The entire tournament is staffed by volunteers. It's too bad the USGA doesn't make any money off of this thing or there isn't $7.5M in prize money given away, cause you'd think that these poor schlubs sorting the fucking golf balls might deserve to be compensated for their efforts.

We walked the entire course in reverse, and below you can find some of the better pictures I took. You can check out the entire layout here.

#5 - 478 Yard Par 4

# 6 - 408 Yard Par 4

#10 - 435 Yard Par 4

#17 - 207 Yard Par 3

#4 - 517 Yard Par 5

What's amazing about #4 is that #7 is 525 yards... and it's a Par 4. Even for the pros, that's pretty ridiculous. At a certain point, it's not a two shot hole anymore. There are 3 par 4's over 500 yards at Bethpage. That ain't right.

The total length of the course as the players will take it on this weekend is 7,426 as a Par 70. To give you an idea, that's about 200-400 yards longer than most tour stops and about 1,000 yards or more than the tracks your average Sunday slashers call home. And most of those are par 72's.

I'd be willing to bet two things I noticed yesterday are going to lead to somewhat lower scores this year than when Tiger won the Open here in 2002. #1) It was wet. This might make it more difficult for your average Joe, but wetter conditions allow the pros to hold fairways and greens and they'd gladly trade the distance they lose off their drives to be hitting from the fairway and have their approach shots sit softly on the greens. #2) The rough is graduated. This means that right off the fairways, there won't be the six inch rough that vexed the players last time. The rough is still long, no doubt, but it's not nearly as punitive as it was in past Opens, namely when it was at Winged Foot in '05 the winning score was Geoff Ogilvy at +5.

I doubt I'm going to make it out for any of the actual tournament days, but it's probably for the better. As Malcom Gladwell said in a conversation with Bill Simmons a few years back, golf is probably the sport that has the most to gain by being televised live. You miss a ton when you are on the course but watching on TV, they can omnisciently bring you all of the best action.

Runnin' On Jorge

Entering this season, before everyone was questioning whether or not Jorge Posada could call a game, the biggest concern was whether or not his shoulder would be healthy enough to throw out potential base stealers. Given that Posada is 38 years old, there was no guarantee that his shoulder would make a full recovery from the surgery he underwent to repair a tear in his rotator cuff and damage to his glenoid labrum. It seems that opposing teams still aren't convinced that he is healthy.

Last year, in 241 innings behind the plate, teams attempted 41 steals against Posada. He was run on in 10.3% of the plate appearances where there was s stolen base opportunity, which was second in the the American League only to Toby Hall (11.2%). Kevin Cash (9.3%) was the only other catcher with significant playing time to be tested more that 8.4% of the time. The attempts against Posada were successful 34/41 times, and of the seven times they were caught, five times the runner was picked off before the pitcher delivered the ball. That left Jorge's percentage of actually throwing out runners at a horrific 5.5%.

This year, one of those trends has reversed dramatically. Teams still are running on Posada, in fact, at an even higher percentage than before. They have attempted to steal in 11.2% of stolen base opportunities, far and away the most in the AL. Jason Varitek has been challenged next most often, but at only 8.5% of the time.

Here is the good news. Despite teams running on Jorge at an even higher rate than last year, they are successful far less often. Would-be thieves have been nabbed in 15 out of 47 attempts, 10 by Posada. That's 32% caught stealing and 21% by Jorge himself. It's still early in the season, but judging by this metric, the results of his surgery appear to be pretty incredible.

Frankie Cervelli gets run on 7.4% of the time (7th among the 21 AL catchers with 200+ SBOs) but has thrown out 31%, and sports a total CS% of 38. Here are the top 10 by Run %.

Theoretically, caught stealing percentage and run percentage would have an inverse relationship because in aggregate, managers should be less likely to test the catchers most likely to throw out the runner (obviously). But a lot of managers still rely on their gut or other instincts as opposed to hard numbers, so the list doesn't really bear that out.

It would seem that opposing managers and speedsters are underestimating Posada pretty drastically. Since a pitcher picking a runner off in the process of trying to steal a base has little to do with who is behind the plate, the best way to determine who gets the least respect for throwing out runners would be to juxtapose Run % with the Catcher's Caught Stealing % (CS% by C above).

Using this method, here are the three most disrespected catchers in the AL, sorted by the differential between the two rankings:

Kenji Johjima has the highest caught stealing and caught stealing by catcher, yet he ranks in the top half in Run % (8th). Talk about No Respect... Kenji is a very low key player, stashed away up in Seattle which must work to his advantage because this is one of the cases where flying under the radar does you a lot of good.

Figure this one out: A.J. Pierzynski only gets run on 5.5% of the time (18th out the 21), but has only thrown out one runner this season. Attention AL Skippers... you might want to start running on A.J. Pierzynski. Navarro and Suzuki are far less egregious cases, but it should be noted that they haven't quite earned the respect they have been given.

These Aren't The Washington Generals

The Nationals are a bad team. I think we can all agree on that. Being 30 games under .500 at this point in the season puts them on pace to lose roughly 120 games. That is mind-bogginglingly awful. But it doesn't mean that anything less than a sweep against them is a disgrace.

Beat writers don't play the "sweep or die" card very often, but they have in spades for this series.

Ken Davidoff:

Big-picture usually dominates this column. No game, or series, exists in a vacuum - at least, before September. But this week at Yankee Stadium, we're tossing the big picture in the garbage.

The Nationals are so horrible that a Yankees loss to them is virtually inexcusable.

Joel Sherman:

I try hard never to talk about must wins unless games truly are must wins or to apply weighty proportions to games in June. However, I will say this: The Yankees can't just win a series against Washington starting tomorrow. Anything less than a sweep is abject failure.

Pete Abe:

It’s tough to say the Yankees need to sweep. The Nats do figure to show up, after all. But winning two out of three won’t be satisfactory against this team.

In 21 series this year, the Nationals have "only" been swept seven times. Not doing something that only one out of three teams that has faced them this year have been able to do would be an "abject failure"? Remember when the Pirates top prospects lost to Manatee Community College? It's still baseball, guys. I understand the temptation to demand a sweep, but as last night goes to show, it only takes one bad pitch (especially in the New Yankee Stadium) to turn a game around.

After last night's loss, the Nationals' record is 16-46. A wining percentage of .258 is a lot closer to .333 (1-2) than it is to .000 (0-3). As you might expect is the case with any historically terrible team, their Pythagorean record (23-39, .370) indicates that they have been somewhat unlucky in their run distribution, meaning that their current wining percentage sells them a little short.

Tonight the Nats send their best pitcher, lefty John Lannan to face Chien Ming Wang. Even if Wang turns in by far his best performance of the year, the Yanks could very easily lose.

If the Yankees won two out of every three games, they would finish with 108 wins. Taking two out of three in this series is not a failure... it would improve their winning percentage on the year. Let's not get ahead of ourselves. As CC said after the he notched his sixth win of the season last night, "This is the big leagues, you can't take anyone lightly."

Nice Try Kyle

You remember Kyle Farnsworth, don't you? Farnsworthless. Relief pitcher. Never really offered much relief. Makes the late Jose Veras seem reliable. Inspiration for the "Anyone But Farnsworth" t-shirt. Guy that often showed up his teammates and/or manager. That guy.

Perhaps you'd remember him if you saw his name as it's usually posted in the box score: Farnsworth, BS

Well, Kyle is now in Kansas City and up to his old tricks. Namely being an extremely frustrating pitcher to watch. Joe Posnarski had a spot-on piece on Farnsworth last week.

But the latest news on Farnsworth is that he required four stitches in his non pitching hand yesterday after getting bit while breaking up a fight between his dogs. That sounds like the punch line to a Jeff Foxworthy joke. Farnsworth bites and his dogs do too.

Nice try Kyle, but just because David Cone suffered a bite from his mother's Jack Russell Terrier on his way to a twenty win season in 1998 doesn't mean that this will make you any less of a crappy pitcher. A dalmation can't change his spots and an inflammable relief pitcher can't help but blow saves.

Given his recent use and reading between the lines of manager Trey Hillman's quotes in the dog bite article gives me the impression that Krazy Kyle may have already worn out his welcome in KC. Which is too bad since, despite his track record, Farnsworth signed a two year, $9.25M contract this past off-season. $4M+ per year for a relief pitcher. A relief pitcher who isn't the closer. A relief pitcher who is Kyle Farnsworth.

Next time you hear some KC fan bellyaching about how they can't compete financially with the Yankees, point to Kyle Farnsworth's contract (or Jose Guillen's for that matter). Having limited resources is one thing, deploying them in an idiotic manner is quite another. As friend of Foxworthy Bill Engvall Ron White is given to say: you can't fix stupid.

CC & Cano Carry

(Photos)

For the first four innings of last night's game, everything went accoring to plan. The Yankees pushed across a run via a Melky Cabrera sacrifice fly in the second inning and another on a single by Robinson Cano in the third. CC Sabathia mowed through the Nationals' line-up, who collectively looked like they'd much rather be somewhere else. It only took 46 pitches to get through the four frames and CC never used up more than 5 pitches on any single at bat. He gave up three hits, but his efficency and dominance made the outcome of the game seem like a forgone conclusion.

Anyone who bought into this notion was in for a rude awakening in the fifth inning, however. Former Yankees Alberto Gonzalez and Wil Nieves got on via back to back one out singles, the latter the result of a tough 9 pitch at bat, setting the table for the legendary Anderson Hernandez.

Owner of a .309 career slugging percentage and one home run in 356 plate appearances, Hernandez was clearly not cause for much concern. But down 1-2, he reversed a floated change up into the most unlikely of home runs, just of the the reach of Johnny Damon in the left field corner. A shocked crowd at the Stadium watched in relative silence as Hernandez rounded the bases and the Nationals pulled ahead 3-2.

The circumstances were similar to the three run homer Sabathia gave up to Willy Aybar in his last start against the Rays. In the sixth inning of that game, Sabathia looked dominant aside from a hiccup the inning before, but allowed two quick baserunners, and in a flash, Aybar turned the game on it's head with a three-run homer to left.

Not to fear, because another Yankee castoff would factor into the decision. Good old Ron Villone (or should I say bad old Ron Villone) entered the game with a 0.96 ERA for the Nationals on the season, allowing just two runs in 18 2/3 innings pitched. Memories of Villone's 120 or so innings with a 4.90 ERA for the Yankees foreshadowed what was about to happen next.

In the top of the 7th Villone came into to replace Sharion Martis, who had allowed only one earned run despite walking 5, giving even more creedence to the rookie starter conspiracy. Ronny V promptly served up a single to Johnny Damon and a towering double off the wall in left center to Mark Teixeira to tie the game at 3. A-Rod struck out to a chorus of boos, but the player of the night, Robinson Cano stepped in finish the deal.

Robby laced a line drive over the head of Elijah Dukes in centerfield who made two mistakes on the play. His first was misjudging the ball off the ball, which allowed it to fly over his head and roll back to the wall. The second was casually flipping the ball to the relay man, which Cano read as a green light to try and take third. The second and third legs of the relay were much more efficient and Cano was busted trying to stretch. The damage was done however, and the Yanks never looked back.

Sabathia forged ahead into the top of the 8th and had retired the last ten batters before Nick Johnson stepped into the box. With two outs, he walked on 10 pitches, and that was it for the big fella. Joe Girardi, working an incredibly sort leash, came out to get Sabathia in favor of the recently activated Brian Bruney, taking him off the disabled list and throwing him directly into the fire. The move worked as Bruney got Ryan Zimmerman to ground out to second base. Touching 96 with his fastball, it looked like Bruney hadn't missed a beat. Funny how having effective releivers can make a manager look smart.

The Yanks put up another run in the bottom half of the frame and Mo did what Mo does in the top of the 9th.

Sabathia and Cano were the two centerpieces to this victory. The walk to Johnson was the only one Sabathia allowed in his 7 2/3 IP, to go along with 6 hits. He only struck out two, but that could be chalked up to the fact that most of the guys on the Nationals came up hacking. Being on a last place team doesn't provide a whole lot of incentive to be patient at the plate. Cano went 4-4, factoring in three of the team's runs by driving in two and scoring another.

One odd/end: In the sixth inning, after hitting a soft grounder to third, Derek Jeter was noticably limping down the line to first. He was removed from the game with "stiffness in his left ankle" or something vague to that affect and he is listed as day to day. You never know with Jeter, but one would assume by how gingerly he was treating it, he is going to get at the very least a day off.