Game 12 Recap

[WPA data via FanGraphs]

1. The Yankees took an early lead in the bottom of the first without the benefit of a hit. True to form, Rich Harden limited balls in play by hitting Brett Gardner (who then stole second), striking out Nick Johnson, hitting Mark Teixeira, and walking Alex Rodriguez. Robinson Cano followed with a sacrifice fly to make it 1-0 Yankees.

2. The Rangers bounced back in the third to take a 2-1 lead. Matt Treanor led off with a single, was bunted to second, and scored on a double from Elvis Andrus. Michael Young then drove Andrus in with a base hit. Mark Teixeira prevented further damage by making a nice leaping catch on hotshot off the bat of Josh Hamilton.

3. The Yankees responded quickly in the bottom half of the inning. Following his defensive gem, Teixeira led off with his first home run of the year to even the score. A single by Jorge Posada was sandwiched between walks by A-Rod and Curtis Granderson. With two outs, Ramiro Pena came to the plate and El Nino lined a base hit to right, making it 4-2 Yankees.

4. Posada capped the scoring in the seventh, lining a shot into the right field seats for the Yankees' second inning-opening solo shot on the afternoon, making it 5-2 Yankees.

IFs, ANDs, & BUTs

• Our preview proved somewhat prophetic in outlining how the starters would fair today. Rich Harden had something resembling his first start of the year, needing 94 pitches to go just three and two thirds. He faced 23 batters, hitting two, walking six, fanning five, and allowing a home run. As such, just nine balls were put in play against him.


• As for Pettitte, he struggled a bit through the early innings, then went into lock down mode. He didn't allow a hit after the third inning and retired twelve in a row from the fourth into the eighth. He needed 65 pitches to get through his first four innings of work and just 42 to get through his final four frames. Perhaps the Rangers were in a hurry to get to Boston.


• Nick Swisher intentionally overthrew the cutoff man in the third, despite having virtually no chance of gunning down Elvis Andrus at the plate. The mental gaffe allowed Michael Young to take second, and if not for the nice stab by Teixeira, Josh Hamilton's liner would have plated Young. I'm not as bearish on Swisher's defense as many others are, but such mental errors are not excusable. Swisher made some similar decisions last season and unfortunately this isn't his first such offense in the young 2010 season.


• In addition to his grab in the third, Teixeira made a nice diving stop to end the fourth inning.


• While Teix's defense was top notch, Texas' defense continued to be suspect, as was the official scoring. David Murphy allowed a can of corn off the bat of Jorge Posada to fall in for a base hit in the bottom of the third, and second baseman Joaquin Arias let a slow roller off the bat of Brett Gardner trickle under his glove to start the eighth.


• In addition to his stolen base in the first, Gardner swiped another in the sixth and was picked off/caught stealing in the eighth. It was just the seventh time in his career he's been caught in 53 attempts, good for a very impressive 86.8% success rate.


• Alex Rodriguez stole a base of his own, pilfering third in the fourth inning. Matt Treanor's Dustin Nippert's throw had him dead to rights, but an inventive slide from A-Rod delivered him to the bag safely.


• Mo was downright nasty in the ninth, catching both Nelson Cruz and Chris Davis looking to end the game.


• Former Yankee reliever Tanyon Sturtze was in the house, with some choice Legends Seats behind the Yankee dugout. He was given an inordinate amount of face time on YES, as John Flaherty spoke about Sturtze being one of his favorite teammates. All Sturtze's camera time allowed me to see that he waved and ate exclusively with his left arm; his right is apparently still unusable thanks to Joe Torre.

See you in the morning Fackers.

Game 12: Dust My Broom

In the first two games of this series, the Rangers have been betrayed by their defense. They've been charged with one error in both games, leading to two unearned runs, but if not for some home cooking from official scorer Bill Shannon, the error total would be closer to five or six. If not for Texas' lackluster leather on Friday night, the Yankees may not have escaped with a rain shortened victory.

Texas may have a cure for what ails them this afternoon, as Rich Harden takes to the hill. Since making his Major League debut with the A's in 2003, Harden has been a strikeout machine. He's never posted a K/9 below 7.9 and has been at 9.5 or above for the last four seasons, including 10.9 and 11.0 in the last two years. Harden's also fairly adept at giving out free passes, posting walk rates greater than league average in all but one of his seven seasons, and allowing 35% of his career baserunners against via the walk. Those factors combined mean that Harden generally puts less pressure on his defense than the average pitcher.

An extreme example of this occurred in Harden's first start this year, against Toronto on April 7th. Harden went only 3.2 IP, but struck out 8, walked 5, plunked a batter, and surrendered a gopher ball as the only hit he allowed. He faced 19 batters and only four of them put the ball in play. And even at that, his defense still made an error behind him, with Michael Young booting a ball at third. Crash Davis would say Harden was a little less fascist his next time out, only stirking out three over six innings, and allowing 18 balls in play, with another error made behind him.

For the Yankees, Andy Pettitte will make his third start of the season. Over the past several years we've seen Pettitte morph into the stereotypical crafty lefty, seemingly working his way into and out of trouble every other inning, but rarely getting touched up. Never has that been more true than in his first two starts this year. Through twelve innings of work, Pettitte has surrendered eleven hits, issued six base on balls, and hit a batter. But he's yet to allow a home run, and has managed to strand a ridiculous 94.4% of those 18 runners. With 17 runners left on base and just a single earned run on his ledger, Pettitte boasts a sparkling 0.75 ERA despite a 4.46 xFIP.

In contrast to Aprils past, the Yankees have been moving right along in the early goings of the 2010 season. They've won their first four series for the first time since 1926, and today, they go for their first sweep of the young season. It's been a happy home stand, with four wins already in the bank. Time to dust off the brooms and then leave home for a West Coast road trip. To help us on our way, here's the King of the Slide Guitar:

I'm getting up soon in the morning, I believe I'll dust my broom
I'm getting up soon in the morning, I believe I'll dust my broom
I quit the best gal I'm loving
Now my friends can get my room

I believe, I believe my time ain't long
I believe, I believe my time ain't long
I ain't gonna leave my baby
And break up my happy home

-Lineups-

Yankees:
Derek Jeter is nursing a head cold, so he gets the day off. Brett Gardner moves up to the lead off spot and Ramiro Pena gets his first start of the year, taking Jeter's spot at short and Gardner's customary spot at the bottom of the order. The rest of the lineup remains as usual.

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

Rangers:
Some changes for Texas today. Lefties Julio Borbon and Chris Davis hit the bench for the first time this series. Taylor Teagarden, still hitless on the year, and Joaquin Arias are also not starting. Josh Hamilton slides over to center; Elvis Andrus, like Brett Gardner, moves from the nine hole to the leadoff spot. David Murphy, Ryan Garko, Matt Treanor, and Andres Blanco all see their first action for the weekend.

Elvis Andrus SS
Michael Young 3B
Josh Hamilton CF
Vladimir Guerrero DH
Nelson Cruz RF
Ryan Garko 1B
David Murphy LF
Matt Treanor C
Andres Blanco 2B

Game 11 Recap

[WPA data via FanGraphs]

1. The Yankees loaded the bases in the second inning on singles by Jorge Posada, Nick Swisher and Derek Jeter. With two outs, Nick Johnson worked the count to 3-1 and fouled off three straight pitches before taking a cutter high for ball four and forcing in a run. Mark Teixeira followed that with a broken bat single that just reached the outfield grass between first and second base, putting the Yanks up 2-0. With the bases still loaded, A-Rod swung at the first pitch he saw and flew out to center, ending the inning.

2. Scott Feldman ran into more trouble in the third. After getting Robinson Cano to ground out to second, he gave up a single to Posada and a double to Curtis Granderson before Ron Washington had seen enough. Wash called on Doug Mathis to face Nick Swisher.

Swish hit a fly ball to shallow left, not deep enough to score Jorge Posada and the Rangers once again were one out away from getting out of the inning. However, Brett Gardner hit an infield single, scoring Posada and brining Jeter to the plate. With the Captain at bat, Gardner took of for second base and Taylor Teagarden sailed the throw into the outfield and Curtis Granderson took off for home.

Jeter then followed with a rare home run to left, a two run shot that put the Yanks ahead 6-0.

3. A-Rod hit his first home run of the year in the bottom of the 4th, a solo shot that extended the lead to 7-0.

4. Despite getting 8 men on base against him, the Rangers didn't get to A.J. Burnett. The same could not be said for Alfredo Aceves. Nelson Cruz blasted a three run homer off of him in the 8th inning to bring the score to 7-3 Yankees. That was the final.

IFs, ANDs & BUTs

• The Yankees had a host of infield hits today. Gardner picked up three of them, and one each for Granderson, Jeter and Teixeira.
  
  
• In the at bat that Teix eventually came up with the RBI single, he took a 0-1 curveball that was clearly low and outside but called a strike. Obviously, 0-2 is worlds away from 1-1 and it looked for a moment like that call might doom the at bat, but alas it did not.
  
  
• A.J. Burnett had three 1-2-3 innings but had a runner get to at least second base in the other four, although none of them came around to core. The Rangers loaded the bases in the 5th inning with one out but Burnett got Julio Borbon to pop out to first and Michael Young to fly out to right. His final line: 7 IP, 0ER, 6H, 2BB, 7K.
  
  
• Cano's ten game hitting streak to begin the season came to and end, but after a 3-4 effort, Jeter's rolls on.
  
  
• The Yanks worked only two walks in the game, both by Nick Johnson. They only struck out four times whereas the Rangers had 10 Ks.
  
  
• Ramiro Pena entered as a defensive replacement in the 8th inning, his second appearance of the year.
  
  
• After Aveces gave up the home run, Damaso Marte and Joba Chamberlain combined to get the final five outs without giving up a baserunner.
  

The series - which the Yanks have already won - concludes with a matchup between Andy Pettitte and Rich Harden at 1:05 tomorrow.

Game 11: End Of The Line

The Yankees have completed three series this season, taking them all by virtue of winning the rubber game. Today, A.J. Burnett had the opportunity to deliver the club's fourth series win of 2010 without having it go down to the final game.

After a fair but unimpressive start at Fenway Park in the season's second game, Burnett had a very good outing in last Sunday's series finale in St. Petersburg. He surrendered two runs in the first, then shut the Rays down over his final six innings of work, scattering six hits and three walks over the afternoon. Perhaps the only blemish on his line that day was an uncharacteristic strikeout total, with just one K on the afternoon.

In his career, Burnett has made on relief appearance and eight starts against the Rangers, with three of the starts coming during his first year in pinstripes. Burnett pitched quite well against Texas last year, posting a 2.84 ERA and fanning 27 while allowing just 23 baserunners in 19 innings of work. His first two outings against them came in back-to-back starts on May 27th and June 2nd. In the latter, Burnett buzzed the tower of Nelson Cruz, after the Rangers had taken some liberties with Mark Teixeira earlier in the game. Though Burnett was not ejected from the game, it did earn him a suspension, which was later reduced to the point that he didn't miss a single start. His final 2009 start against the Rangers came on August 27th. He got saddled with the loss in that one, but did manage to whiff a season high twelve batters over six innings of work.

Opposing Burnett will be Scott Feldman. Armed with a new contract extension that could pay him just over $20M through 2013, the 6'7" righty has been impressive in his two outings thus far this season, allowing just twelve hits, one walk, and four earned runs through fourteen innings of work.

Feldman has four career appearances against the Yankees, three of them starts. In them, he's 2-1 with a 3.72 ERA and 1.45 WHIP over 19.1 IP, and has allowed four home runs. He picked up the victory in his only 2009 start against the Yankees, June 3rd at the Stadium, allowing eight baserunners and two runs over six and a third.

The forecast isn't great for today, with temps in the mid-fifties, breezes at 10 to 15 MPH, and the sun may not shine, but it's all right, at the very least the chance of rain is much less than it was last night. After playing a rain shortened game last night, the first for the Yankees since September 2006, the two clubs will look today's game right to the end of the line.

Well it's all right, riding around in the breeze
Well it's all right, if you live the life you please
Well it's all right, even if the sun don't shine
Well it's all right, we're going to the end of the line

-Lineups-

Yankees:
Not much to see here folks. The "A" line up returns after a couple games with a few subs scattered in the order. Posada is back behind the plate to catch Burnett for the third time in as many starts this year. Marcus Thames grabs some pine for the first time since Wednesday; Mark Teixeira continues to look to snap out of his April funk.

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

Rangers:

Julio Borbon, CF
Michael Young, 3B
Josh Hamilton, LF
Vladimir Guerrero, DH
Nelson Cruz, RF
Chris Davis, 1B
Joaquin Arias, 2B
Taylor Teagarden, C
Elvis Andrus, SS

Game 10 Recap

[WPA data via FanGraphs, picture via Yahoo!]

1. The only trouble CC Sabathia had came in the first inning, and even then, the Rangers were lucky to get a run across. Michael Young bounced one up the middle that Derek Jeter, ranging to his left, knocked down but couldn't quite get a hold of. Up next, Josh Hamilton looped a wind-aided double into the left field corner that Marcus Thames pulled up short of, putting runners on the corners for Vlad Guerrero. Vlad lifted an 0-2 pitch off the end of the bat to center field and Curtis Granderson made a strong throw to the plate, but Michael Young was safe by a couple of seconds. 1-0 Rangers.

2. The Yankees got to C.J. Wilson in the first inning as well. True to their respective natures, Derek Jeter led off the game with an opposite field single and Nick Johnson worked a walk. Johnson was erased on a double play by Mark Teixeira but Jeter moved to third and scored on a pased ball off of Talyor Teagarden's glove with A-Rod at the plate, tying the game at 1.

3. As the rain began to pick up in the 4th inning, the Yanks loaded the bases on a HBP, single and a walk with no one out for Marcus Thames, but he struck out looking on a slider over the inside corner. Next up, Curtis Granderson slapped one sharply to first that was fielded by Chris Davis, who attempted to get Nick Swisher at second base, but his throw hit Swish in the back, ricocheted into the outfield and allowed an additional run to score. Francisco Cervelli then hit a bloop single to shallow left to put the Yanks ahead 4-1.

4. The mound started to get sloppy in the 6th inning. CC Sabathia lost his footing while delivering a pitch and then plunked Julio Borbon but then retired the side in order.

In the bottom half of the inning, Marcus Thames singled and was replaced by Brett Gardner, who stole second. With two outs, Cervelli beat out a ground ball to shortstop, passing the baton to Jeter. The Captain bounced an RBI infield single just out of the reach of Wilson to put the Yanks up 5-1.

The grounds crew attempted to tame the soaked field before the 7th inning but were forced to declare a rain delay before calling the game all together about an hour later.

IFs, ANDs & BUTs

• The ball that Marcus Thames couldn't get to in the first fell within 5 or 10 feet of him and he looked lead-footed in pursuit of it. Mike from RAB thought it wouldn't have mattered if Brett Garnder was in there but watching the replay makes me think that Brett would have at least had a chance.
  
  
• Thames continues to hit, though, going 2-3 last night and bringing him up to 5-10 on the season.

• Brett Gardner's pinch running appearance was highly amusing. Curtis Granderson and C.J. Wilson engaged in an 11 pitch at bat and Gardner running on four of those pitches, only to have Granderson foul them back. The Rangers pitched out twice in a row to begin Cervelli's AB, and guessed right on the second one as Gardner was going, but still couldn't catch him.
  
  
• Sabathia was on another level last night. He struck out nine, walked none and allowed only three hits. As detailed above, the Rangers were lucky to patch together a run in the first and CC responded by striking out the next 6 batters he faced. Only 15 of the 73 pitches (20%) he threw were balls, he tossed 20 first pitch strikes, got to 0-2 twelve times and never had a 3 ball count. If anything, he got sort of gypped out of a chance at a more dominant start considering his pitch count and the way he was throwing through the 6 inning, but I'm sure he'll take the guaranteed rain-shortened win.
  
  
• We should probably reevaluate the notion that Sabathia can't pitch in cold weather after his performance last night. It was in the 40's and rainy and he looked a good as he ever has - probably even better than his last time out.
  
  
• Nick Johnson got caught stealing to end the third (probably on a missed hit and run) but replays showed he was safe. The throw beat him but he did some sort of a twisting scissor slide and touched the bag with his left leg before the tag was applied to his right.
  
  
• Mark Teixiera's futility was not diminished by the abbreviated game as he managed to make 4 outs in 3 at bats thanks to the double play in the first inning. Seriously, he should like, starting hitting pretty soon.
  

Game 2 of the series starts at 1:05 today, weather permitting and all that. We'll be back with the preview sometime before then.

Game 10: Wilson

The Yankees welcome the Rangers to the Bronx tonight for the first of a three game set. The weather isn't looking too promising, but if/when action gets under way tonight, the pitching match up will feature a duo of of double initialed left handers.

CC Sabathia is fresh off an excellent start against against the Rays in which he flirted with a no hitter but had to settle for it's still attractive younger sister, 7 2/3 shutout, one-hit innings. Joe Girardi is looking to keep the magic alive from that last outing as Francisco Cervelli is scheduled to be back behind the plate. It's too early to tell if Girardi is planning on making this a "personal catcher" situation but Jorge Posada is going to need days off and Cervelli and Sabathia have had considerable success together. Now that Burnett and Posada are working together, it might make sense to ride the CC-Frankie wave as long as it will take them.

For the Rangers, famous Twitterer C.J. Wilson will be starting his second game of the year. Wilson was originally supposed to start against the Indians on Wednesday but came down with a case of food poisoning and was pushed back to today.

Wilson has been a reliever for the majority of his Big Leauge career, and a pretty decent one at that. He's thrown 259 innings to a 3.65 ERA out of the 'pen, which is pretty good but certainly not jaw-dropping. Wilson saw his strikeout rates jump over one per inning last year, his ERA and FIP drop to around 2.90 and the Rangers decided to give him a chance to start this spring.

The move was justifiably met with some scrutiny but Wilson shined in his first outing of the year, throwing seven shutout innings against the Blue Jays, allowing just five hits and two walks while striking out nine. Wilson saw a notable decrease in velocity during the start but some of that could be attributable to the fact that the season has barely begun and he obviously found a way to make his diminished stuff work for him. Will he enjoy the same success against much better offense tonight?

You got me back thinkin',
that you're the worst one,
I must inquire Wilson...
Can you still have fun?

-Lineups-

Yankees:

Marcus Thames is in the lineup again after going 2 for 3 last night against Scott Kazmir but he will be playing left field instead of DHing. Nick Johnson gets the start after drawing a walk in his pinch hit appearance last night. Cervelli gets the 9 slot, pushing Granderson up to 8th.

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

Rangers:

Julio Borbon CF

Michael Young, 3B

Josh Hamilton LF

Vladimir Guerrero DH

Nelson Cruz RF

Chris Davis 3B

Joaquin Arias 2B

Taylor Teagarden C

Elvis Andrus SS

Calcaterra & Carton Clash Over "Classless" Comment

The distinguished gentleman on the left, levitating a baseball with only the considerable powers of his mind, is Craig Calcaterra of NBC's Hardball Talk. The douchetastic brotard on the right is something commonly referred to as "Craig Carton". Those of you who live in the NYC area and hate your jobs so much that you can't help but fill your ears with obnoxious and nonsensical sports-related soliloquy to dull the pain may be familiar with him.

What do these two lifeforms, separated by about 70 IQ points have in common? Not much, aside from a first name, last initial and a short and highly entertaining radio segment.

The catalyst was the infamous Javier Vazquez post that Calcaterra wrote on Wednesday, which prompted a wholly non-sensical rebuttal from Carton which can be heard at around the 6:00 mark in the first audio clip on this page. Lisa from Subway Squwakers transcribed some of the quotes:

"I don't like it when people write columns attacking the integrity of the fan base," Carton complained, saying it was "open season on us Yankee fans," and promised to "defend New York fans to my death."

[...]

"How dare anybody tell Yankee fans" not to boo Vazquez, Carton griped, saying "Vazquez sucks, I'm gonna boo him."

If you listen to the segment, you might also notice that Carton pronounces it "Vass-Kwez" instead of "Vaz-kez", which might be excusable if he didn't, you know, get paid to say athletes names all fucking day long.

Naturally, a NYC radio host is going to pander to his audience railing against a blogger accusing them of being "classless and ignorant". But you might not expect a humble Midwestern gentleman such as Mr. Calcaterra to call up and defend his point.

Oh, but he did. The caption for the clip on the WFAN website (which spells C-a-l-c-a-t-e-r-r-a's name wrong) claims that "Craig and Boomer [Esiason] had him on and took the guy to task for his stupidity", which, as you might expect, is wildly inaccurate. See for yourself.

Carton does the typical egomaniac talk radio host and shouts down his guest to the point that his co-host Boomer Esiason has intervene to let Calcaterra get a word in edgewise. Predictably, the call ends as Carton calls Calcaterra "a nobody" and "a clown" and emphatically hangs up on him.

This interaction tells you pretty much all you need to know about the current state of sports talk radio vis-à-vis the blogosphere. Typically, you can comment on a blog and debate the relative merits of your arguments with the author, but if you try to call into a sports talk radio show to make a point, you'll get ridiculed, shouted down and hung up on if the host doesn't agree with what you're saying. Not to mention that the level of analysis and discourse found on blogs is several light years beyond what you are likely to hear on most talk radio shows.

Now if you'll excuse me, my acute case of Bill James Disease is flaring up and I need to get that taken care of.

Double Triples

Good morning, Fackers. We're going to start off this Friday with some fun stuff we found by digging through Baseball-Reference's Play Index. Basically, we are going to go Jayson Stark on your asses for a moment.

Last night, Curtis Granderson notched the first and second triples of his young Yankee career, the first down the right field line off Scott Kazmir in the 4th inning and the second a deep fly to right center off of Brian Stokes in the following inning.

• Granderson led the league with 23 triples during his monster 2007. That year he became the 6th member of the 20-20-20 club, by collecting more than 20 doubles and 20 homers as well.
  
  
• Two triple games are nothing new to Granderson, as the one last night was the 5th of his career. He had two of them in 2007 (one against the Yankees) and two more in 2008. One of those '08 games was against the Rangers in August, and like last night, he did it in back to back ABs in consecutive innings. Unlike last night though, he drove in 4 runs in the process.
  
  
• The last Yankee to have two triples in one game was current Angel Bobby Abreu in 2008, but that happened in the Metro Dome. The last Yankee to do it at home was Enrique Wilson back in 2002 against the Indians.
  
  
• Twenty years and two days before Wilson did it, Ken Griffey Sr. pulled off the same feat against the Brewers at the Stadium. Like Granderson, Griffey did it in consecutive at bats (his 1st & 2nd) in back to back innings (the 1st and 2nd) off of two different pitchers (Moose Haas & Jerry Augustine).
  
  
• The only Yankees ever to collect three three-baggers in one game were Joe DiMaggio back in 1938 (who somehow only scored one run in that game) and Earle Combs in 1928. The Yanks happened to win both of those games by a score of 8-7. Furthermore, they blew one run leads in the top of the ninth inning in both of them and came back to walk off with the win in the bottom half.
  
  
• There were at least 32 multiple triple games by Yankee batters in the pre-renovation years of Yankee Stadium and likely more because the Play Index isn't totally complete. Conversely, there were only 4 from 1973 to 2008.
  
  
• Now there is one in the first 84 regular season games in the new joint, a park which suppresses extra-base hits that aren't home runs.
  
  
• On Wednesday night Nick Swisher had a triple as well, giving the Yanks 3 of them in 2 games, something that hasn't happened since 2007. Before that though, you have to go back to 1998, when the Yanks hit four triples in the same night against the Rangers in Arlington (two by Bernie Williams and one each by Derek Jeter and Tim Raines). That game was a 15-13 battle during which the Yanks and Rangers each had a 7 run inning.

They say triples are the most exciting play in baseball and I can't argue with that. Granderson is going to have a tough time legging out too many of them in Yankee Stadium but if he can pick up 10 of them, he'd be the first Yankee to do it since Jerry Mumphrey in 1982. Keep chuggin', Curtis.

Game 9 Recap

1. After sitting the top of the Angels' order down in dominant fashion in the first inning, Phil Hughes faced Hideki Matsui to lead off the second. Hughes threw two consecutive fastballs, the second one breaking right over the middle of the plate and Matsui smashed it into the Yankees bullpen to put the Angels up 1-0.

2. Leading off the bottom of the 2nd inning, Robinson Cano leveled the score at 1-1, redirecting a 90MPH fastball that Scott Kazmir left over the inner half out into the right field seats.

3. In the bottom of the third, Derek Jeter joined the lead off home run party, taking two fastballs from Kazmir before smashing a line drive to right that gave the Yankees a 2-1 lead. After Nick Swisher flied out to center, Mark Teixeira and A-Rod worked back to back walks, but Cano and Posada grounded out back to back to end the inning.

4. Marcus Thames came to the plate to lead off the fourth, but instead of jacking a home run he managed only a lowly single. It was okay as Curtis Granderson followed him with a triple down the right field line. Randy Winn grounded out to second without scoring Granderson from third, but Jeter got the job done with a single in the next at bat. 4-1 Yanks.

5. Kazmir gave up yet another lead off hit to start the 5th, this time a double to A-Rod. Cano followed with his second homer of the game, sending Kazmir to the showers and putting the Yankees ahead 6-1.

6. After expending 26 pitches to get through just four hitters in the top of the 5, Phil Hughes came back out for the 6th inning, having already thrown 97 pitches. He had Torii Hunter 1-2 but ultimately surrendered a single and then walked Matsui on 6 pitches. That free pass ended Hughes night and bought in David Robertson, who gave up the inherited runner before getting out of the inning. 6-2 Yanks.

7. The Yanks' bullpen came together to close down the game from there. Robertson got two outs in the 7th before turning it over to Damaso Marte, who retired Abreu. Marte gave up two straight singles to start the 8th before getting one out and passing the baton to Joba Chamberlain. It only took 3 pitches for Joba to get Howie Kendrick to ground into an inning-ending double play.

Chamberlain came back out for the ninth inning but Mike Napoli worked a walk and Eric Aybar singled with two outs, bringing on Mariano Rivera for the ol' one out save. Four pitches later, Mo retired Bobby Abreu and the Yanks won 6-2.

IFs, ANDs & BUTs

• It was quite poetic that Robinson Cano (who was named after Jackie Robinson) had two home runs and Mariano Rivera (who is the last active player to wear #42) nailed down the save. Of all the games played in the Majors last night, the Robinson's surviving family chose to attend this one. That's pretty cool.
  
  
• Hughes struck out 6 batters but also walked 5 in 5 innings. The only of the three hits he allowed that went for extra bases was the homer to Matsui. A respectable sixty six of his 108 pitches went for strikes but the Angels extended a lot of at bats by fouling good pitches off. Hughes might not have been efficient, but he was effective. His fastball seemed extra live in the first inning, getting two swinging strikeouts, but lost a little life as the game progressed. Hopefully that will change as we get deeper into the season and he develops a little more stamina.
  
  
• Hughes had a balk in the 4th. Hideki Matsui was on first, and it wasn't like Matsui forced him to make a mistake; it appeared that Hughes just forgot he was there.
  
  
• Mike Napoli lined a single up the middle that very nearly scored Matsui but Curtis Granderson gunned him down at the plate.
  
  
• Curtis Granderson added a second triple with two outs in the 5th inning, that one standing up. The ball bounced around against the wall in right center for a moment and by the time Abreu had fielded it, Granderson was already around second.
  
  
• Randy Winn went 0-4, rapping three groundballs and striking out swinging once.
  
  
• Girardi pinch hit Nick Johnson for Marcus Thames against right hander Matt Palmer in the 6th inning with the Yanks already up 6-2. During a game with a four run lead might have been a good chance to give Thames an AB against a righty, but Girardi was unwilling to sacrifice that potential advantage. That's fine, but what happened to the philosophy of using these early season games to find out what guys are capable of doing?
  
  
• Bringing in Rivera for the save was probably equally unnecessary, but it was a nice moment considering his uniform number and the occasion.
  
  
• The Yanks won their third straight series via a third consecutive rubber game and now sit at 6-3.

The homestand continues tomorrow at 7:05 as the welcome C.J. Wilson and the Rangers to town.

Game 9: Four Sticks

As the Yankees attempt to take their third straight rubber match to begin the season, both teams send young starting pitchers to the mound to make their season debuts, albeit a little bit late.

After beginning the season on the 15 day DL with a left shoulder issue, Scott Kazmir takes the ball for the Angels tonight. The 26 year old lefty had a rough go in his time with Tampa Bay last year, amassing a 5.92 ERA in 20 starts and spending almost a month on the DL with a quadriceps injury before being traded to Anaheim at the wavier trade deadline. Kazmir saw his strikeout rate dip below one per inning for the first time since his rookie season in '09 as his hit rate jumped over that 9/9IP mark for the first time in his career.

In six regular season starts with the Angels, Kazmir pitched 36 innings and gave up just 7 ER, good for a 1.73 ERA. It would appear that he found his groove out in California but judging by xFIP, the two parts of the season were virtually indistinguishable. Kazmir made three appearances in the postseason (including a start and a relief appearance against the Yankees) and didn't fare well, allowing 9 ER in 10 2/3 innings.

Given that Kazmir is due $20M over the next two years, the Angels took on significant risk when they acquired him and the early season trip to the DL isn't a good sign considering he's battled shoulder issues before. If he can stay healthy, though, Kazmir has proven he is a valuable commodity in the past. He has also had quite a few of the Yankees' numbers, Derek Jeter in particular, so it will be interesting to see if that trend continues.

For the Yankees, Phil Hughes makes his much-anticipated 2010 debut. Although he's still only 23 years old, this will be the fourth season in a row that Phil has been given a chance to start a game in April.

Back in 2007, he went on 4/28 against Toronto before the infamous hamstring injury in Texas on May 1st. In 2008, he had a 9.00 ERA after 6 April outings and was placed on the DL, supposedly with a broken rib and some other ailments although many suspected that it was just a case of "bad pitcheritis". Last year he was called up from the minors after Chien-Ming Wang came down with that same ailment to make another April 28th start and stayed in the rotation for a total of 7 games before being relocated to the bullpen in early June.

It was his performance as a reliever last year that has been the most encouraging sign of his young Major League career. In 41 appearances spanning 51.1 innings, Hughes tallied a 1.40 ERA and held opponents to an anemic .456 OPS against, allowing just 5 extra base hits. Starting is going to be a different sort of challenge for him, but Hughes says he feels much more ready than he has in the past.

After being awarded the 5th starter's job in Tampa in March, Hughes made two starts in extended Spring Training attempting to refine his pitching arsenal while the team played the Red Sox and Rays. Now he's back with the club and about to be given his fourth shot to become a full time member of the starting rotation. Let's hope he sticks there this time around.

Oh, Baby, the river's red, Oh, Baby, in my head.
There's a funny feelin' goin' on, I don't think I can hold out long.

-Lineups-

Yankees:

There's a lot going on here. Nick Johnson is on the bench (just a regular day off), and Nick Swisher moves up to take his place in the two hole. Marcus Thames will DH as Randy Winn plays left field (his first start of the season), which is clearly the better choice defensively. In between those two in the bottom third of the lineup, Curtis Granderson occupies the 8th spot, one position higher than he's batted against the other lefties the Yankees have faced.

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

Angels:

Erick Aybar SS
Bobby Abreu RF
Torii Hunter CF
Hideki Matsui DH
Kendry Morales 1B
Howie Kendrick 2B
Mike Napoli 2B
Brandon Wood 3B
Reggie Willits LF

Thursday Afternoon Linkaround

Over at the NYT Bats Blog, Benjamin Hoffman talks about the other numbers Jackie Robinson wore playing football at UCLA, in the Negro Leagues and at the Dodger's AAA team, then located in Montreal.

This article from Mental Floss talks about Robinson's MiLB debut and is the source of the picture to the left.

On a day when most are descussing Robinson's legacy, Joe Posnanski talks about the way he played the game.

Curtis Granderson is looking forward to honoring Robinson in the city where Jackie played his home games.

Ross from NYYSI notes that yesterday was the second lowest attendance that the New Stadium has played host to and explains why we might be in for some more low turnouts in the near future. He also created a comprehensive list of the changes that have been made to the Stadium since last year, most of which have to do with the concessions.

Mike from River Ave. Blues has an excellent post about waiting for Mark Teixeira to start hitting and suggests that the Yanks might want to drop him down in the lineup until he finds his swing(s). Couldn't hurt at this point.

Not to keeping harping on the Vazquez thing, but this morning Joel Sherman said:

But this idea that the media is feeding this beast is silly. Does anyone really think Vazquez would not incur boos if no one wrote or talked about 2004?

Really? The media doesn't influence fan perception? Not when another tabloid is saying that Vazquez "can't handle wearing those pinstripes" after two fucking starts? So why does The Post bother writing about the Yankees so much? Obviously because a lot of people read and have their opinions shaped by it.

Booing is contagious and there might be a some people who would do it of their own volition but the stoking of the fire by the Post and Daily News in particular most definitely had contributed to the scope of the boos. I'm not saying they shouldn't write the things they do, but it's ridiculous to pretend that what they put into print has no affect on people whatsoever.

Amidst all the negativity, there were some good deeds going on at the Stadium yesterday as well. An Iraq war veteran saved a rabbi's wife from choking during the game.

Even though they are staunchly anti-Vazquez, props to IIH,IIF,IIc for capturing this gem from Sarah Silverman.

For those of you who have always wanted the option of burning the Yankee logo into your toast, here you go.

Lar from Wezen-Ball searches for the best name in baseball. Unfortunately for Cannonball Titcomb, Jack Glasscock and Buzz McWeeny, it's not that kind of search.

David Pinto notes that if David Ortiz keeps striking out at the rate he's going right now, it's going to be incredibly difficult for him to be productive at the plate. Speaking of Papi, he's riding the pine tonight.

Diane Firstman at Bronx Banter looks back at some notable Yankee strikeout streaks.

Over a Baseball Analysts, Jeremy Greenhouse used batted ball data to create some visuals explaining where guys tend to hit the ball in the outfield. The one to the right compares Jeter and Jesus Flores and there is plenty of other interesting stuff if you click through.

I'm not sure how many of you listen to FanGraphs audio with contributor/occasional destroyer Carson Cistulli, but I highly recommend it, nof only for the "white hot analysis" but for the sly humor that Carson kicks in. Here is the latest version wherein they discuss the current state of PitchFX and here is an episode with an appearance by our friend Joe from RAB.

Giants manager Bruce Bochy says that chewing tobacco makes his in-game decision making sharper. That's called an addiction, folks. (h/t Sam Miller)

And finally, appropos of nothing, here is some badass acoustic guitaring via Boing Boing.

Happy Jackie Robinson Day

Sixty three years ago today, the Brooklyn Dodgers opened their season by hosting the Boston Braves at Ebbets Field. When the local nine took the diamond in the top of the first, they had a rookie, the reigning International League MVP, manning first base. That man was Jackie Robinson, and he was the first African American to appear in a Major League game since the 1880s.

Today, Major League Baseball will observe Jackie Robinson Day, commemorating the anniversary of Robinson's debut. Robinson will be remembered not just because he was the first, but because of the grace and dignity with which he carried himself during Branch Rickey's great experiment. He laid a firm foundation for those who followed, and assured once and for all that baseball's long-standing gentleman's agreement would be finally cast aside.

Three months after Robinson debuted, Larry Doby broke the American League's color line, when he debuted with the Cleveland Indians. Robinson's Dodgers won the NL Pennant in '47, but lost to the Yankees in the Fall Classic. The following year, Doby's Indians, fortified by 41 year old rookie and Negro League legend Satchel Paige, beat out the Yankees and Red Sox in a three team pennant race, and went on to capture the World Series.

Quickly, most Major League clubs followed suit. In 1948 the Dodgers added Roy Campanella and in 1949, Don Newcombe, both key cogs on five pennant winners. Over in Upper Manhattan, the Giants brought on Monte Irvin and Hank Thompson in 1949, and Willie Mays in '51.

But New York's other club was slow to change. The Yankees won the World Series, their seventh in twelve years, when Robinson debuted in 1947. After being usurped by Doby, Paige, and the Indians in '48, the Yankees went on an unprecedented, and as of yet unmatched, run of five consecutive World Series championships from '49 through '53, ousting the Dodgers in '49, '52, and '53, and the Giants in '51. The Yankees may have been slow to react to the changing times, but it was hard to argue with the results.

However, their extended run of success may not have been the only reason the Yankees were hesitant to change. It's been widely reported that George Weiss, the club's Hall of Fame general manager during that era, was a racist. According to Peter Golenbock's Dynasty, a socially lubricated Weiss once said at a cocktail party "I will never allow a black man to wear a Yankee uniform. Boxholders from Westchester don't want that sort of crowd. They would be offended to have to sit with [redacted]".

Weiss' stance cost the Yankees the opportunity to sign some incredibly talented Negro Leaguers, including Willie Mays. Instead they opted to sign lesser talent who would populate their farm system, but had little real chance of making the Major League club. But as long as the Yankees kept winning, Weiss had a plausible defense.

In 1954 the Yankees won 103 games, their highest total since 1942. It was only good for second place. Cleveland, with Larry Doby in the heart of their lineup and patrolling center field, finished at 111-43, a whopping eight games ahead of the Yanks. They would eventually fall to Mays, Irvin, Thompson, and the Giants in the World Series.

With the Yankees dynastic run of five consecutive championships at an end, they could no longer hide behind the excuse that they were good enough to win without African American players. The club was under pressure - from pickets at the Stadium to allegations leveled by Robinson himself. The Yankees had traded away their best African American minor leaguer, Vic Power, at the conclusion of the 1953 season. But they had another viable prospect waiting in the wings.

On April 14, 1955, fifty five years ago yesterday and one day short of the eighth anniversary of Robinson's debut, Elston Howard became the first African American to play for the New York Yankees, making them the fourth to last club to integrate. Like Robinson, Howard was the reigning International League MVP at the time of his debut. Like Robinson, Howard had the proper character to carry the burden of being the first Yankee to break the color line; his plaque in Monument Park aptly describes him as "a man of great gentleness and dignity".

Though blocked behind the plate by Yogi Berra, Howard was a valuable contributor to the Yankees as a back up catcher, and spent some time outfielder and fist baseman. By 1960, with Berra aging, Howard took over as the primary catcher. In 1963, he earned the American League MVP, becoming the first African American to do so.

After twelve and a half productive seasons with the Yankees, Howard spent the final year and a half of his career with the Red Sox. Upon his retirement, he immediately returned to the Bronx as a coach. He served on the staffs of four different managers from 1969 through 1979, earning two more World Series rings to compliment the four he captured as a player. Even when the Bronx Zoo was at it worst during those years, Howard remained a calming presence, perhaps best illustrated by his role as a peacemaker when Billy Martin and Reggie Jackson nearly came to blows in the Fenway Park dugout during the summer of '77.

Despite the turmoil and turnover that marked the Yankees of that era, Howard was a constant. Coaches and managers came and went, but Howard remained. There was a good chance that he would eventually become the first African American manager of the Yankees. Instead, Howard fell ill with myocarditis, a rare heart disease. It kept him out of the Yankee dugout for the entire 1980 season, and eventually took his life that December. The Yankees retired his number and dedicated his Monument Park plaque in 1984.

Major League Baseball owes a debt of gratitude to the likes of Rickey, Robinson, Doby, Paige, Campanella, Newcombe, Irvin, Thompson, Mays, Howard, and all the other men who were strong enough to change the game's bigoted practices. At the risk going all Ken Burns/George Will here, baseball has long been an integral part of the fabric American life, and the changes that these men precipitated within the game foretold, and perhaps even influenced, the changes that would take place in society at large over the following decades.

It's a shame that the Mets, with their Brooklyn Dodgers obsession and Jackie Robinson Rotunda, are not home today to commemorate Jackie Robinson Day. But all 30 clubs will mark the day in one way or another. Mariano Rivera remains the final grandfathered player in baseball to wear #42, retired league wide by Bud Selig in 1997 in marking the fiftieth anniversary of Robinson's debut. In years past, Derek Jeter, Joe Torre, and Robinson Cano - named for Jackie Robinson and who switched to #24 three years ago to honor him - have joined Mo in donning Robinson's number for the day. I'm sure we'll see them and others rightly pay tribute him in that manner again today.

Booing Vazquez

Good morning, Fackers. As I'm sure you know by now, Matt and I are unabashed Javier Vazquez supporters. We spent several posts this offseason discussing whether or not his reputation as someone who is not clutch is deserved and during Spring Training, I explained why I was rooting for for Javy to do well this season. Matt wrote the previews for both of his starts this year and in yesterday's, he said:

Yet as Javier Vazquez returns to the Bronx, makes his first home start of 2010, and tries to re-establish a home in New York, I fear he may be facing a higher degree of difficulty than most, particularly in light of those who saw what they expected to see in his first start. I hope that these fans, who are so often told they're the best in the world, don't prove my fears to be well founded.

Of course those fears came to fruition when Vazquez had a poor outing - which was exacerbated by the fact that Joel Pineiro had an excellent one - and a vocal minority of fans decided to boo him. It's not surprising, but the fact that we were expecting it doesn't diminish the ridiculousness of it.

Everyone has a right to voice their displeasure if they want to, but the right to do something doesn't absolve you from being wrong for doing it. Just ask this guy.

Although the type of people who root against their own players are probably not the same ones who read a lot of baseball blogs, I'm glad that Craig Calcaterra noticed the "classless, ignorant" reaction to Vazquez's outing and wrote a short post at NBC about it:

These boos are almost certainly a function of people thinking back to 2004, which is amazingly weak given that, you know, the team just won the World Series five months ago. For a fan base that fancies itself so much more knowledgeable than anyone else's, this was pretty bad.

Obviously there are painful memories of Vazquez that none of us have completely forgotten, but as Craig points out, the Yanks just won the fucking World Series. All grudges concerning 2004 should have been erased by now. I'm not sure it's about "knowledge" so much as arrogance and entitlement, that are the issues at hand though.

A lot of New Yorkers (rightfully) believe that it's the best city in the world, which isn't exactly a controversial point, but it tends to taint the way that some of them follow their sports teams. Success and failure are magnified through the lens of the Big Apple to the point that the city becomes the reason for every poor performance that happens in it, which of course, is bullshit. These are the same people who take it upon themselves to determine who "belongs here" or "can handle it". They feel like they are a part of the city and telling themselves that not everyone can "make it here" as Sinatra said, grants them an added feeling of supremacy.

Rob from Bronx Baseball Daily thinks that the expectations for Javier Vazquez are too high, but I actually believe the opposite to be the case. I think the jerkoffs who booed Vazquez as soon as he gave up runs in the third inning were fully expecting him to fail and pounced on the first opportunity to display their disgust. Obviously we saw the same thing happen with A-Rod in Octobers past as his postseason struggles began to snowball. We even witnessed it in the beginning of last year when Mark Teixeira got of to a slow start and the home fans got restless.

To his credit, Vazquez is keeping his head up and saying the right things ("I feel like it's unfair because that was so long ago"), but I'm still ashamed that people I share a rooting interest with fans would treat someone who is vital to the team with such derision the first chance they got. Clearly they don't think he's cut out to play in New York, but apparently haven't figured out that booing the guy is just going to put more pressure on him.

Michael Kay and John Sterling both love to tell us that Yankee fans are "the best in the world", but that's only true when things are going well. As Neyer says, passion cuts both ways. When it turns sour (or in this case, before it even has a chance to), there is a contingent of Yanks fans who can be some of the absolute worst.