Game 120: San Francisco Bay Blues

Back on July 23rd, Vin Mazzaro, a product of Rutherford High in New Jersey came to Yankee Stadium and faced off against CC Sabathia in front of a large gathering of friends and family after a 2:43 rain delay. Tonight, the tables will be turned as Sabathia, originally from Vallejo, California will take the mound at the Oakland-Alameda Coliseum in front of his own supporters.

Sabathia hasn't had much luck pitching against the team he rooted for as a kid in his hometown. He's made 8 career starts in Oakland, walking away with a 1-4 record and a 7.12 ERA, which is odd considering it's one of the better pitchers' parks in the Major Leagues and he's one of the better pitchers. It doesn't seem to be hometown jitters because across the Bay at AT&T Park, he's put together two great starts against the Giants, giving up just 3 runs in 17 innings.

In the last iteration of this match up, Mazzaro started off strong, holding the Yanks scoreless through three, while Sabathia stumbled out of the gate and gave up three runs in his first four innings. The tables turned, however, and the Bombers touched up Mazzaro for 6 runs before sending him to the showers with one out in the fifth inning. Sabathia lasted seven, didn't walk a batter and picked up the win.

Since then, Mazzaro has had a rough go of it, giving up 19 runs in his last 21 1/3 innings but still managing to go 2-1. Sabathia, meanwhile, has allowed 13 runs in 28 1/3 IP (4.12 ERA). Over his last two starts, though, he's been dominant, allowing just one run and 5 hits over 15 2/3 IP while striking out 19 and walking just 4.

After dropping the series opener against the A's last night, the Yankees look towards their ace to avoid a three game slide. The Yanks have had six separate losing streaks of three games or more this season, accounting for nearly half of their 45 losses. They've also had 11 streaks of 3 or more wins, which sum to represent 55 of their 74 victories.

The Yanks have looked pretty poor in their last two outings, mustering only 3 runs in games started by Doug Fister and Brett Tomko. Hopefully both they and CC Sabathia can shed their respective versions of the blues and chalk up a win tonight in the Bay Area. The game doesn't start for another 5 hours, so try to keep your spirits up as well.

[I'll check back in if there are any interesting pre-game developments or line up configurations]

If I ever get her back to stay,
It's going to be another brand new day,
Walking with my baby down by the San Francisco Bay.

1,001

I hope you folks don't mind a little self-congratulatory navel-gazing, but I wanted to take a quick moment to acknowledge the fact that the post on Johnny Damon that went up earlier today was the 1,000th to appear on this site.

The very first post came back in the beginning of last October when for some reason, I decided to reserve this domain name and write down a half baked argument for rooting for Red Sox over the Rays in the upcoming ALCS. I didn't bother telling anyone about the site, or writing anything else until over two and a half months later. On Christmas Day, on the heels of the acquisition of Mark Teixeira, I had some more thoughts ruminating and kicked up a 1,000 word post on the implications of the signing.

I followed that with an email entitled "The Fack Youk Manifesto" to a couple of my friends that said, in part:

I realize that there is like an 85% chance that this never really goes anywhere, then dies a slow death from neglect, but there's that 15% that we can carve out this little space for our thoughts, all contribute and make it interesting/entertaining enough for some other people to check it out. I talk enough sports with you guys and hear interesting stuff worthy of a blog post and it makes me think that we could put that stuff to use and concentrate it here.

It's taken a ridiculous amount of time and commitment to keep a steady stream of content flowing into the site, but I'm quite proud that we've established a readership and have a little niche that people seem to enjoy stopping by. We're getting close to 80,000 unique visitors since we started using Google Analytics and even if there is some double counting going on, that still seems like a lot.

Thanks specifically to people like Jason at IIATM,S, Joe at River Ave. Blues, Ross at New Stadium Insider, Craig at Shysterball, Peter Abraham, Tim at The Sports Hernia in addition to Deadspin, With Leather, Big League Stew, Awful Announcing, The Big Lead, BBTF, Jorge Says No!, and countless others who have linked to the site over the past 8 months. Without links from other blogs, it's basically impossible to develop a readership, so the recommendations are much appreciated.

Anyway, if you are new to the site, here are some of Fack Youk's greatest hits from days and months gone by in case you missed them:

• The Many (Awkward) Faces Of Alex Rodriguez
  
  
• An Avalanche Falls On Notre Dame
  
  
• The Chronicles Of Doris: Parts I, II, & III
  
  
• Mets To Play 2009 Season At Javits Center
  
  
• Look At It, Dave!
  
  
• Because You Can't Put Blogs On Your Bookshelf
  
  
• Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad
  
  
• The Extreme Beer Festival Diaries
  
  
• No More Max Kellerman? Um, WHAT?
  
  
• The Great Divider(s)
  
  
• He Also Picked Mickey Rourke
  
  
• Papeljerk

Hopefully these 1,001 posts are only the tip of the iceberg. Stay tuned.

Damon Stayin'?

To be honest, I hated the fact that the Yankees signed Johnny Damon when it first happened. It didn't have much to do with the fact that he was 32 years old and was already declining pretty steeply as a defensive center fielder. It wasn't just that the Yanks passed on Carlos Beltran the year before, who, with respect to the five tools, was better than Damon in every way. I couldn't wrap my head around being forced to root for a play that I had spent so much time deeply despising.

There was his impossibly weak throwing arm that make me wonder if he was actually right handed but never figured it out. It was so easy to hate his faux-Jesusy look, the "Idiots" and "Cowboy Up" bullshit and the goofy speech impediment he used to talk about it all. Above all, the grand slam he hit off Javier Vasquez in the 2004 ALCS was far too painful for me to acknowledge the possibility of ever actively rooting for him at the time.

I certainly never thought I would be in favor of the Yankees offering him another contract at the end of this year. However, nearly four years later, Damon has been one of the most durable players on the Yankees and has continued to pull his weight offensively, even after being shifted to left field.

Tyler Kepner talked to Damon yesterday and Johnny had this to say about his impending free agency:

I don’t know where else I would want to go to. Obviously, that’s not the right thing to say when you’re about ready to approach free agency, but I’m very happy with playing in New York, and my family’s happy I play for New York. There’s no bigger place to go. If you play well here, you’re going to get paid. New York has the resources.

It's important to note that Scott Boras is still his agent and if Damon is anything like the other capitalist robots manufactured by the Boras Corporation, you can take that quote with a grain of salt. In fact, if Damon is anything like the 2005 version of himself, we probably shouldn't put too much stock in his stated intentions, either (h/t NoMaas):

There's no way I can go play for the Yankees, but I know they are going to come after me hard. It's definitely not the most important thing to go out there for the top dollar, which the Yankees are going to offer me. It's not what I need.

As with any contractual negotiation, I'd be in favor of bringing back Damon at the right price. UZR doesn't think too highly of his defense this year, but I'm not ready to relegate Damon solely to DH status. Just last year his UZR/150 was 11.6 and this year it's -9.6. Has he really fallen of that sharply? Even with his below average defensive, Johnny has been so good with the bat that he projects to be worth $14.8M over the course of the season, comfortably more than the $13M he's making.

Damon's already knocked 22 homers this year, just two off his career high. True, 15 of those have come at home and every one has been to right field, but that's not an inherently bad thing. If the Yanks sign him again next year he'll be playing half of his games in the same park.

With Hideki Matsui likely moving on after this season, the Yanks won't have someone plugging up the DH slot who can't play another position. The Yanks have stated that they want to keep that position open to be able to rest other position players, which keeps the line up flexible, but Damon is still a somewhat competent left fielder, even if he doesn't rebound next year. His bat more than makes up for his defensive short-comings.

From his comments in Kepner's story, it's safe to say that Damon will be looking for at least 2 years. Should the Yanks bring him back for 2 years/$20M? Would that be enough? Who is going to give him more than that? Given the way the New Stadium plays, it seems that he would be worth more to the Yanks than anyone else. I wouldn't be surprised at all if Cash & Co. cut ties with Damon, but if they keep him around, I wouldn't be surprised to see him lift another twenty-something homers over the short porch in right field next year, either.

World Boogie Is Coming

"If you've got Dickinson, you don't need anyone else"
- Bob Dylan to Harp Magazine, May 2003

This will have nothing to do with the Yankees and little to do with anything previously posted at Fack Youk, but given our musical leanings here, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention it. Last week I mentioned how August seems to be a terrible month for deaths, both in baseball and music. Just hours before that post published, Les Paul went to the great beyond. Now, there is another loss to mourn.

Last night, as I was finishing cooking dinner, I logged onto to my favorite music website, jambands.com. It was only then that I learned that Memphis music legend Jim Dickinson passed away Saturday, at the age of 67, following triple bypass surgery.

Even if you're a music buff like Jay or me, you may never have heard of Jim Dickinson, but chances are you've heard Jim Dickinson. The man's music career has spanned the past forty-plus years and has associated him with some of the biggest names in music history.

As a sideman, Dickinson recorded with the likes of Arethra Franklin, Sam & Dave, Ry Cooder, Delaney and Bonnie, Arlo Guthrie, Mavis Staples, and Duane Allman. His Dixie Flyers were the house band during the heyday of Criteria Studios in Miami, where he worked with legenedary producer Tom Dowd.

Dickinson later recorded and toured with the Rolling Stones. He provides the piano on the recording of "Wild Horses". In the Stones documentary Gimme Shelter, Dickinson can be seen lounging next to Keith Richards as the band listens to the playback of the freshly cut track. More than twenty five years later, Dickinson would record with Bob Dylan on his critically acclaimed comeback album, Time Out of Mind.

In the early 1970s, Dickinson returned to the Memphis area, where he'd spent most of his youth. From then until the end of his days, he was at the forefront of the Memphis music scene, the city from which Sam Phillips and his Million Dollar Quartet brought rock and roll to the rest of the nation. He was instrumental in the rediscovery of blues acts such as Furry Lewis, Bukka White*, and Sleepy John Estes, often playing in their backing bands.

*White once played in the Negro Leagues, gifted his cousin B.B. King with the first guitar B.B. ever owned, and was an innovator of the National Steel guitar. One of his steel guitars is currently owned by blog favorite Derek Trucks.

Upon his return to the Memphis area, Dickinson also began a solo career, releasing the critically acclaimed Dixie Fried in 1972 (featuring Dr. John and Eric Clapton). After a 30 year hiatus, he jump started his solo career in 2002, releasing four more albums prior to his passing. During his recording hiatus, Dickinson continued to perform, assembling the legendary Memphis band Mudboy and the Neutrons.

For more than thirty years Dickinson has also enjoyed a wildly successful second career as a producer. He guided the recordings of artists such as Big Star, Toots Hibbert, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, The Replacements, Albert King, The Radiators, and John Hiatt.

In the mid 1970s, Dickinson moved slighly south of Memphis, to the hill country of north Mississippi. There, he established his Zebra Ranch Studios, and along with his wife Mary, raised their sons Luther and Cody. Growing up in that household, and in that region of the country, the Dickinson boys were exposed to a wealth of musical greatness, and were soon taken with the famed blues musicians of the hill country: Otha Turner, R.L. Burnside, and Junior Kimbrough. In 1996 the brothers Dickinson and childhood friend Chris Chew formed the North Mississippi Allstars, my favorite band, whose song "The Meeting" I used for our game preview just last Wednesday. The lyric I quoted at the bottom, "If you ain't right you better get right" was an old phrase Jim was fond of using. As father, mentor, and producer, Jim was a guiding force for NMA.

While Jim Dickinson is now gone, his legacy, in the recorded music he left behind as a performer and a producer and in the music that will continue to be created by his progeny, will last. Another phrase Jim was fond of was "World Boogie is coming". Indeed it is, and when it does, Jim Dickinson will be largely to thank for it. Rest in peace Jim.

Hey Joe

Good morning Fackers. Well, at least as good of a morning as you can have after losing to Brett Tomko. Hey Joe: see if you can't wake the bats up for tonight's game.

Forty years ago, on the morning of August 18, 1969, the Woodstock Music & Art Fair finally came to an end. Traffic and weather delays had caused the festival to run long over schedule. The sun had already come up on Monday morning when Jimi Hendrix, who had wanted to be the event's final act, finally took the stage with his newly formed and short-lived Gypsy Sun and Rainbows.

The crowd had dwindled to less than half of its peak size, but those who remained were treated to one of the most historic performances in rock and roll history. Hendrix launched one of the longest sets of his career. The band was somewhat unpolished due to their short time together, forcing Hendrix to play the virtuoso moreso than usual. He didn't disapoint, drawing an appropriately impressive and memorable conclusion to the historic event.

Twice previously we've featured Hendrix performances from Woodstock, including once already this weekend. But as we conclude Woodstock Weekend at Fack Youk, it's only appropriate that we do so with the artist and the performance that closed the festival. Enjoy. We'll be back with far less pleasant music news shortly.

Quick But Not Painless

[Photos]

After Sunday afternoon's game, Matt chose to eat a little crow for what he wrote in the preview, and tonight it's my turn. I spent my post making fun of Brett Tomko for whining about he lack of opportunities with the Yankees this season and for tonight at least, he had the last laugh.

Tomko threw just 78 pitches in his start because he wasn't fully stretched out, but used them efficiently and pitched to contact over his 5 innings of work. He struck out one and walked one, getting the other 13 outs with the help of his defense; five on the ground and nine in the air.

The most influential play, by more than 10% in WPA, came in the third inning when Tomko faced his only real jam of the game. Ramiro Pena and Derek Jeter led of the inning with back to back singles, Johnny Damon flew out to right and Mark Teixeira loaded the bases with a walk. With only one out, A-Rod came to the plate in an extremely favorable RBI situation but instead grounded into an inning-end 1-2-3 double play. A-Rod let Tomko off the hook and the Yankees never got another man to third base.

A.J. Burnett took a complete game loss, his first CG of the year and the Yankees' second after CC Sabathia's outing in Detroit back in April. All of the damage the A's did came in the bottom of the fourth inning. Rajai Davis doubled, stole third and was singled home by Kurt Suzuki to break the scoreless tie. Jerry Hairston, Jr.'s brother Scott followed that with another single and those two were moved over by a groundout courtesy of Mike Sweeney. With two outs, Burnett started his delivery home but stopped in the middle of his delivery and held onto the ball. The runners advanced and Mark Ellis doubled into the gap to make it 3-0 A's.

Aside from the 4th inning, Burnett was one of he lone bright spots in a frustrating game for the Yanks. Over his 8 innings, he gave up six hits and two walks while striking out 5. It only took him 99 pitches and combined with the Yanks absence at the plate allowed the game to wrap up in a tidy 2:15. Jeter went 3-4 and Posada picked up a hit on his birthday.

There isn't a whole lot more to say about this one. A solid pitching performance was wasted by a non-existent offense one. The Yanks have been rolling along so well that it's easy to forget that a lot of the time, things don't go according to plan. The Yanks were supposed to beat up on Brett Tomko, but instead he made people momentarily forget that he's 36 years old and has had one year since 1997 in which he was above league average. Congrats, buddy. Go paint a fucking picture about it.

Game 119: Tears Of Rage

The Yankees' West Coast road trip continues tonight, with the first of three 10PM starts. Three of the games in the last series in Seattle had late starts as well, which kind of sucks for us back here on the East Coast, but apparently not for the team, as those were the three games the Yankees won against the Mariners.

After dropping Sunday's matinee with Joba Chamberlain on the hill, the Yanks look to reload with A.J. Burnett taking the ball this evening. Burnett's last start against the Blue Jays, which Matt and I witnessed from the upper deck, was technically a quality start, but only by the slimmest of margins. He went six innings and allowed three runs, but was lucky to do so as the Jays tallied up 10 hits and two walks while Burnett was charged with three (albeit questionable) wild pitches. He ultimately coughed up the lead in his last inning and received a no-decision.

Opposing the Yankees will be an artist with a vendetta. When the Yankees DFA'd Brett Tomko earlier this year, he voiced his displeasure with not being given enough opportunities to succeed with the Big League club:

I don't think I got a fair shot. I pitched great in spring training and didn't make the team. I pitched great in the minors, got called up and didn't get much of a chance. I understand other guys are pitching great. But it could have been different. I can't see the point in coming back.

This is amusing because Tomko had a 5.23 ERA in 20 2/3 MLB innings this year, tallied a K/BB ratio of less than 2:1 and gave up 5 HRs. Sure, his numbers in 14 innings at AAA were very good, but that should be expected from a 36 year old journeyman who has years if not a decade of experience on his competition at that level. The A's picked him up off the scrapheap for whatever reason and are trotting him out tonight even after his three appearances in Sacramento for them consisted of 5 2/3 IP, 9 hits and 5 earned runs.

The Yankees have a chance to prove Tomko is not deserving of a starting pitching gig in the Major Leagues when they face him tonight. Hopefully they give him something to really cry about.

We pointed you the way to go,
And scratched your name in sand,
Though you just thought it was nothing more,
Than a place for you to stand.

I want you to know that while we watched,
You discovered no one would be true,
And I myself was among,
The ones who thought,
It was just a childish thing to do.

Feliz Cumpleaños, Jorge

Jorge Posada turns 38 today. Having watched Jorge throughout his entire career might prevent that number from resonating the way it should. We saw him come up through the system and insert himself first as a back up in 1997 and then as the primary catcher during the Championship seasons of 1998 and 1999 with Joe Girardi making 50-60 starts behind him. He shouldn't be that old yet, though, should he?

Perhaps it makes us feel old as Yankee fans to think about the fact that Jorge is damn near 40, but it should make you appreciate what he is doing at his age when you take a look at the rest of the league.

There are only three other active catchers in the Majors right now older than Jorge: Brad Ausmus, Mike Redmond and Gregg Zaun. Of those three, Redmond has the fewest innings behind the plate with 5,146 mostly because he's never played 88 or more games in a single season. He's got a .347 career OBP but only a 89 OPS+, dragged down by a .362 slugging percentage.

Ausmus was actually drafted by the Yankees in the 48th round of the 1987 draft but didn't make his debut until six years later, after being picked up by the Rockies in the expansion draft and and traded to San Diego shortly thereafter. He hasn't been an above average hitter, even for a catcher, over the course of a season since 1995. He's logged 15,606 innings behind the plate in his 17 years in the Majors, the only player other than Pudge Rodriguez with more than the 11,993 that Jorge has compiled.

The illustrious Zaun is now playing for his third team in two years and ninth in his career.

He's played more than 110 games in exactly one season, 2005, and has only been league average while making more than 300 plate appearances twice (1996 & 97).

Amazingly, Jorge has only been below average at the plate in one year of his career, in stark contrast to the three above whose very best season between three of them is still well short of Jorge's career averages.

Historically, there have only been 43 seasons with more than 200 plate appearances in the history of baseball turned in by catchers over the age of 38. Seven of those were played by Carlton Fisk with the White Sox and twenty others took place before 1947. The only Yankees to appear on the list are Elston Howard for a season he split with the Red Sox in 1967 and Deacon McGuire in 1904 & 05.

Of the 43 seasons, only 12 included above average offensive production, with Fisk accounting for one-third of those.

Although this year won't qualify as his age 38 season, Posada is hitting .273/.346./.495 with 15 home runs, good for a 118 OPS+. When the Yanks signed Jorge to his 4 year $52M extension they likely knew that they weren't going to get anything close to the .338/.426/.543 line he was coming off, and understood the uncertainly involved with signing a 36 year old catcher to a deal that long. But if they didn't give him that fourth year, someone else (the Mets) was certainly going to. Before that deal, he hadn't spent a day on the disabled list in his career. Since then, he missed more than two thirds of the '08 season and spend time on the DL earlier this year, but has still been able to produce at the plate and defend competently behind it when healthy.

The last time a catcher finished a season with an OPS+ over 100 at the age of 38 was when Fisk did it in 1990. He did it in 1989, '88 & '87 as well, and the last guy to do it before that was Ernie Lombardi in 1946.

Will Jorge be able to accomplish this rare feat in the next two years? Is he a physical freak like Pudge who can continue to simultaneously squat and rake well into his 40's? It's commonly stated that Jorge has less wear and tear on his body because he was signed as a second baseman, but he's been a catcher almost exclusively since he was 20 years old. 18 years behind the plate has to take its toll.

As much as we love Jose Molina's skills behind the plate and Frankie Cervelli's youthful spunk, Posada brings a combination of skills to the table surpassed perhaps only by Joe Mauer at the current moment. As evidenced by last year, the Yanks need Posada badly.

Happy birthday, Jorgie. Keep it rolling.

Draft Signings Update

Today is the last day that teams have to come to an agreement with the players they selected in the Amateur Draft back on June 10th & 11th. After signing their fifth round pick, Caleb Cotham, a right handed pitcher from Vanderbuilt for $675,000, nearly 4 times above slot, the only Yankees top 8 picks left unsigned were their first and second rounders.

Slade Heathcott, the lefty-hitting outfielder who we've talked about around here pretty extensively has now finalized his deal with the Yanks. His bonus is reported to be $2.2M, which is roughly double the $1.1M that recommended for the 29th overall pick. After losing Geritt Cole, their first round choice last year, the Yankees were obviously reluctant to see the same thing happen again lest they not be compensated with an additional pick next year, and saddled up with some serious loot for the young man from Texarkana.

Their second round pick, number 76 overall, was J.R. Murphy, a high school catcher from Bradenton, Florida. Keith Law and Lane Meyer (via RAB) have both confirmed the signing but no dollar amount has been announced. $478,000 is the recommended bonus for that slot, but Mike from RAB guesstimates that he'll receive upwards of twice that much.

Given that the Yanks have signed their 14 highest draft picks, with the exception of 9th rounder Tyler Lyons, this draft can be a successful one as of now. We won't know for quite some time how good it really was, though.

Oops Upside Your Head

Saturday saw two very scary incidents take place on the diamond. In the afternoon, a 93 MPH fastball from Matt Cain drilled David Wright in the ear, knocking him senseless. He left the park on a stretcher and was taken to the Hospital for Special Surgery for overnight observation. The Mets placed him on the DL Sunday, and Jerry Manuel conceeded it's possible that Wright could be done for the year. The Mets now have their four best offensive players on the disabled list. They may want to consider encasing Johan Santana in bubble wrap.




On Saturday night and even scarier incident took place in Phoenix. In the bottom of the sixth Rusty Ryal smashed a line drive up the middle that smacked Hiroki Kuroda square in the temple. The ball rebounded off his dome and landed on the warning track by the third base on deck circle on the fly, before one hopping into the stands for a ground rule double. Despite writhing in pain on the ground, reportedly the first think Kuroda asked was "Did anyone catch the ricochet?", which he off course prononuced "lick-o-shay". Kuroda was released from the hospital Sunday and flew home with the Dodgers (so it's clearly appropriate for me to make an insensitive joke at this point).


These two incidents happened just one day short of the 89th anniversary of the most notorious beaning in baseball history. On August 16, 1920, the Cleveland Indians faced the Yankees at the Polo Grounds. It reportedly was an overcast day. In the fifth inning, Yankee pitcher Carl Mays, a submariner, unleashed a fastball that plunked Cleveland shortstop Ray Chapman in the temple. He was knocked unconcious and taken to a hospital, where he died the next day. Mays had a reputation as a head hunter, but until his death in 1971 he claimed the beaning was not intentional. Mays purported that the ball was wet and scuffed - not uncommon in those days - causing it to sail high and tight. Given Mays' arm angle, the likely condition of the ball, and the overcast day, it's probable that Chapman never even saw it coming. It remains the only on-field fatality in Major League history.

As scary as things were for Wright and Kuroda on Saturday, they are both far luckier than poor Ray Chapman.

Matsui Has Knee Drained

When Hideki Matsui was out of the line up on Saturday, I assumed he was just being given a night off against a lefty even though he's destroying southpaws this year. When he was out of the line up again on Sunday, I figured something was up - and there was. Just before game time it cmae out that Matsui was day-to-day with fluid on his left knee.

After the game came the news that Matsui had his knee drained during the game, and that it will keep him out of the line up tonight as well. Matsui had a similar procedure performed on the same knee in mid-April, but this is the first attention it's required since then. It's the same knee that was operated on last September. He had surgery on his right knee in 2007.

Matsui's knees have limited him to DH duty for the entirety of this season. He looks like an old man as he hobbles around the bases. Yet he's been a very valuable bat all year, hitting .266/.361/.509 (126 OPS+). The Yankee line up is much stronger with him than without him. Matsui claims that he isn't concerned about this latest situation given his recovery from the draining in April. I hope he's right; the Yanks will need him down the stretch.

Seattle Salvages Series Finale

Me and my big mouth... again. After I opened today's preview talking about how well things have gone for the Yankees of late, they went out and turned in a clunker of a game in which seemingly every break went against them.

The afternoon didn't start off that poorly. The Yanks took an early 1-0 lead in the second on a Ramiro Pena bunt single and double by Derek Jeter, giving him the all-time record for hits by a shortstop. On the other side of the ball, Joba Chamberlain needed just 26 pitches to retire the first seven batters he faced.

From there, things started to head south. Chamberlain loaded the bases on two walks and a single, then Jose Lopez ripped a two out double down the left field line, giving Seattle a 2-1 lead. The Yankees retook the lead in the top of the fourth, when Nick Swisher crushed a two run homer to dead center, but that would be the last good news for the Yankees on the day.

In the fifth, Seattle plated two more two out runs, ending Chamberlain's day. He went five innings, gave up seven hits, four earned runs, three walks, and struck out only two. He threw just 57.8% of his pitches for strikes and recorded first pitch strikes to just 13 of 25 batters faced. He'll have a lot of time to think about this performance, as he's not due to take the mound again until August 25th.

Alfredo Aceves followed Chamberlain. Alf worked around a single and double to work a scoreless sixth, but the wheels came off for him and the Yanks in the seventh. He allowed a single and a double to start the inning. After recording a ground out, he hit a batter, then got a K. With the bases loaded and two outs, Alf plunked another one, making it 5-3 and ending his day.

Chad Gaudin, in need of work before his start Wednesday, relieved Alf, but didn't offer much relief. He allowed two singles and a double to the first three batters he faced, ruining Alf's line and letting the game to get to an out-of-hand 9-3. Gaudin would give up a two out homer in the eighth just for good measure. At the very least, Gaudin shouldn't be quite so rusty when he starts Wednesday night.

It's hard to complain about losing this one. The Yanks have still took 3 of 4 in the series, still have won 12 of 14, and still have a 7.5 game lead in the AL East. Things had gone so well for so long, it's almost as if the Yanks were due to miss a few breaks: things like giving up all ten runs with two outs, or Johnny Damon getting thrown out by a hair to end the seventh when an infield single would have tied the game, or Damon just missing a flyball in the seventh that could have prevented a five run inning. Hopefully they got all the bad breaks out of their system today and will start fresh in Oakland tomorrow. We'll see you then.

Game 118: Suite: Judy Blue Eyes

It's getting to the point where this season is really fun. The Yankees are 31 games over .500, have a 7.5 game lead in their division, and have won twelve of thirteen. Everything seems to be going their way.

Joba Chamberalin takes the mound for the Yanks today and will try to keep that roll going. After three consecutive impressive starts following the All-Star break, Joba has regressed to his frustrating ways over his last two starts, allowing 11 hits and 9 walks over 11 IP. Today would be an opportune time to right himself again. This will be his final start until August 25th as the Yankees attempt to control his innings over the remainder of the season.

Chamberlain has made one start against Seattle, coming on June 30th this year. He went five and a third, giving up three runs on nine hits and three walks while stiking out four. The Yankees won, but Joba did not factor in the decision. In four previous relief appearances against the M's, Joba pitched 4.2 innings, giving up just one run and five hits, with a 3:1 K:BB.

Seattle will toss a dreaded rookie starter. Doug Fister, who was drafted by the Yankees in 2005 but went unsigned, is a 6'8" righty who made his Major League debut with an inning of scoreless relief on August 8th. He made his first Big League start Tuesday against the White Sox, throwing six shutout innings of one hit ball, but walking four. While his MLB walk rate is quite high through all of seven innings, he issued just 12 free passes in 112 innings of minor league work this year. What little I can find about him on the internets says he doesn't have overpowering stuff, pounds the zone, pitches to contact, and induces a lot of ground balls.

Hideki Matsui is out of the line up for the second consecutive day, though I've yet to hear any news of an injury. [UPDATE 2:30: According to Pete Abe, Matsui has fluid on his left knee and is day-to-day] Mark Teixeira will DH, with Nick Swisher at first and Eric Hinske in RF. Melky Cabrera gets a much needed day off with Jerry Hairston taking his place in CF. Robinson Cano will not start at second base for the first time since June 25th. He's played every inning of every game since then and has missed only 19 innings all year. Ramiro Pena gets the start in his place. I have a feeling we'll be seeing a pinch hitter or two today, and I'm holding out hope that Chad Gaudin will at least get an inning of work so he doesn't go into his Wendesday start so rusty.

After playing three straight games starting after 10 PM on the east coast, we get the treat of baseball on Sunday in the afternoon. With three wins already to show for this series, what do the Yankees have to lose?