Yesterday afternoon Javier Vazquez looked like surefire trade bait, as the heavily rumored Cliff Lee deal would have left the Yankees with six starters. Instead, Lee went to Texas, Javy takes the hill tonight, and it looks like his spot with the Yankees is secure for the rest of the season.
As you might surmise given our support of him from the time he was reacquired in December, I'm happy Javy is sticking around. Unloading him slightly more than halfway through the first season of his second go round in New York would only have been more fuel for those that say Vazquez is incapable of pitching in the Big Apple.
To the contrary, Javy has pitched quite well over the last month and a half. In his last seven starts he's 4-2 with a 2.93 ERA, has allowed just 45 baserunners in 46 innings, and has held opponents to a .179/.251/.327 batting line. One of those seven starts came ten days ago the Mariners, as Vazquez allowed three runs over six frames and the Yankee bats couldn't respond.
Felix Hernandez pitched for the Mariners that night, tossing a complete game, two hit, three walk, eleven K shutout. He'll oppose Javy again tonight. With Cliff Lee off to Texas, King Felix is the undisputed king of Seattle's rotation once again. With any luck for the Yanks though, Vazquez will prove to be king of the hill tonight.
I was in a real bad way When you turned the power on And you made me feel for all the world Like I was the king of all the world
I was away from my computer today. Did I miss anything?
No? Good.
In all seriousness, I saw the report break after I finished recapping last night's game but didn't have time to write anything about it before I left for the day. I was nowhere near a computer at any point, but kept checking on the rumors on my phone, hoping against hope that the propsed trade for Jesus Montero and (less importantly) David Adams didn't go through.
Cliff Lee is obviously an incredibly talented pitcher who would make any team in the history of the sport significantly better, but I don't like the idea of trading the best prospect in the system for him now, when the Yankees already have five capable starters and he has three months left on his contract. Yes, they could still swing a deal for Javy Vazquez, but they'll have zero leverage with whatever team might be interested in him.
There's also an element of stacking the deck at work here. The Yankees are clearly capable of winning the World Series as currently constructed. They have the best record in baseball, for fuck's sake. Do they really need to add one of the top 5 starting pitchers in the game? Does the marginal increase in their chances of winning a World Series really justify getting rid of an awesome prospect and some other potentially useful pieces? If they make the trade and don't win, the answer to that question is painfully obvious. If they pull the trigger and win a Championship, the answer could still be "no".
Maybe I'm in the minority here, but I like rooting for a team that tries to develop their own players and isn't willing to mortgage their future for a slight increase of winning it for one year. Maybe Jesus Montero never pans out to be the great hitting catcher that he's projected to be but I'd rather that than the Yankees dealing him out of impatience and insecurity and watching him blossom somewhere else.
Jesus is just alright with me, Jesus is just alright, oh yeah. Jesus is just alright with me, Jesus is just alright.
I don't care what they may know, I don't care where they may go, I don't care what they may know, Jesus is just alright, oh yeah.
Andy Pettitte was brilliant yet again, striking out nine in eight innings and allowing just one run. His only real rough patch came in the 6th. He gave up two straight singles to begin the frame and Ichiro dropped a bunt right in front of the plate. Pettitte fielded it cleanly but sailed the throw wide of first, allowing a run to score and the runners to move to second and third.
There was still no one out at this point and it looked likely that the game would be blown wide open. However, Pettitte retired Chone Figgins, intentionally walked Franklin Gutierrez and then proceeded to strike out Russell Braynan and Jose Lopez to wriggle out of the jam with minimal damage.
The Yanks put runners on first and second with no one out in the 8th on a walk by A-Rod and a single by Robby Cano. Jason Vargas uncorked a wild pitch and A-Rod moved to third, but Cano didn't take the opportunity to advance to second, possibly influenced by the batter, Jorge Posada initially gesturing for the runners to stay put. As it turns out, Posada grounded into a double play, which scored the run but shut down a further rally. It was a big mistake at the time, regardless of whose fault it was, but thankfully the Yanks got away with it when they got to Mariners' closer David Aardsma for the second time in just over a week.
Seattle fans, apparently still bitter over him leaving the team ten fucking years ago, threw fake money at Alex Rodriguez when he game to bat in the 8th inning.
The Yankees put at least one man on base in every inning last night, but didn't score until the 8th. Particularly frustrating were 1st (1st & 2nd, no outs) and 4th (1st & 2nd, one out). They were 1-11 with runners in scoring position and left 12 men on base.
Mark Teixeira had a pretty terrible night, hurting the Yanks chances of winning by 38%. he grounded into a double play in the first, and failed to get the runner in from third in the ninth when he popped out to the catcher. Luckily A-Rod was there to pick him up with a huge two out hit.
Up Next:
Yet another late start as Phil Hughes takes on Cliff Lee.
Just a week ago the Yankees were looking to salvage one victory from a sinking three game set against the Mariners in the Bronx. Today they begin a new four gamer, this time on the Mariners's home turf. They will have to face Cliff Lee and Felix Hernandez again, but they get a crack at Jason Vargas first as Andy Pettitte matches up with him tonight.
Vargas is a bit of a soft-tosser, with a fastball averaging about 87mph, but as we've seen with guys like Dallas Braden and Jamie Moyer earlier this year, that doesn't mean he'll be a push over. For what it's worth (not much) the Yankees faced him last July and scored four runs off of him in four innings but the Mariners still won the game.
The last series with the M's was a bit of a wreck, but with any luck the Yanks will be able to walk away with this one with more than one victory. It would certainly behoove them to get on the board tonight, before the big guns come out Friday and Saturday night.
As I was walking down the street I met big Rapper Brown. I asked him if he would take me in, and he looked at me with a frown. He said, “Last time you was paid off, with me you chalked up no score, But I'll take your advance and I'll give youse a chance to go to sea once more.”.
[Song Notes: This is a traditional song which Jerry Garcia and David Grisman adapted for their awesome album Shady Grove.]
Hey Yankee fans! Check out the team's website this morning and tell me what the first thing you see is.
Is it a recap of last night's game, which most people who are up early on East Coast time would probably be interested in seeing? Why, no, it's yet another message from the Yankees telling you to vote Nick Swisher into the All-Star game to go along with the - not kidding - THIRTEEN other mentions of the Final Vote and TEN pictures of his face on the front page before you even have to scroll down.
We have:
A gaudy background design telling you to "Send Swish" and visit Yankees.com, even though you are already there.
A banner ad on top of the site.
Underneath the main picture, there is a link to this page created for the "Send Swish" campaign.
And a link to an article Bryan Hoch wrote about all the support Swisher is getting (with a video interview).
And a link to an article about Brian Cashman coercing children into stuffing the ballot box under the guise of charity work.
Another link to an article by Hoch on the status of the vote (Swish is in the lead!!1!). I'm sure Bryan is having a fucking blast writing all of these!
On the right, there is the video with him and his surfboard that you would have to have been living in a hole not to to have seen ten times already.
Under that, there is a second link to the support article.
And a second link to the status article.
And yet another link to where you can vote.
This is in addition to the four or five emails the Yankees have blasted out, the shameless plug in the recap, the innumerable on-air mentions, more articles that Hoch has probably been forced to write at gunpoint, and pretty much every Yankee blog happily joining in this massive, elaborate PR circle jerk to maybe see Swisher play a couple of innings in an exhibition game over someone who is more deserving.
To be clear, it's not really the Yankees who are at fault here. They are just doing what they do best: flexing their considerable resources to gain an advantage over the competition. I'm sure the Red Sox campaign for Youk is equally exasperating. The true culprit here is the concept of the "Final Vote", which is baseball's equivalent of having a play-in game for the 64th spot in the NCAA Tournament - a stupid attention grab that means next to nothing.
Sure, all of the All-star voting is essentially a popularity contest and teams are all too happy to promote their own guys ad nauseam as soon as they have the chance, but the Final Vote takes everything that is wrong and irksome with the process and shoves it down your throat constantly for four days straight.
I get it, "Let's rally around our guy". Swisher is having an excellent year. In terms of WAR and wOBA, he trails only Robinson Cano on the team. He's never been an All-Star and since he's a corner outfielder, he's not going to get all that many chances to be one. From his perspective, the opportunity to rally the Yankees' massive fanbase around his candidacy is probably his best shot of ever being able to add the feather of playing in the Mid-Summer Classic to his cap. He seems to sincerely want it, too. But I don't care.
I'm not voting, and if I was - and I know this is tough to believe - I would vote for Kevin Youkilis (you know, the guy who is the best player among those available). He's been worth nearly a full win more than Swisher this year (with Paul Konerko, Michael and Delmon Young trailing well behind) and, as much as we hate him, deserves his third straight All-Star selection more than Swisher deserves his first. Furthermore, when push comes to shove, if the AL needs a pinch hitter in extra innings of the ASG to win homefield advantage in the World Series, I'd much rather see Youk at the plate than Swish. Wouldn't you?
A.J. Burnett build on his last strong outing against the Blue Jays with a seven inning, two run effort last night. He only struck out two batters but induced 11 ground balls and allowed just five hits and two walks.
In the fourth inning, despite the fact that Francisco Cervelli erased a leadoff single by Marcus Thames with a double play, the Yanks managed to plate five runs. Ramiro Pena and Derek Jeter both chipped in RBI singles and Mark Teixeira launched a three run homer off of Gio Gonzalez to center field.
Stop the presses, Damaso Marte pitched a full fucking inning!
Joba Chamberlain allowed a single to lead off the ninth inning but erased it with a double play and escaped without allowing a run.
Up Next:
The Yanks fly up the coast to Seattle for a four game set with the Mariners which will lead them into the All-Star break.
Jeter just beating out a double play ball in the third. Not saying it was a great play or admirable in any capacity because he's The Captain Derek Jeter®, but if he gets doubled up there, A-Rod leads off the next inning instead of coming to the plate with two outs and the bases loaded.
Basically:
It was clearly A-Rod's night, driving in five of the Yankees six runs and playing strong defense, but CC Sabathia was quite impressive as well. CC allowed one run in the first inning and loaded the bases in the fifth, but was otherwise never really in trouble, striking out ten A's while allowing seven hits and three walks. His pitch count climbed to 118 with two outs in the seventh and David Robertson got the final four outs (two via strikeout) without allowing anyone to reach base.
New recap style. Thoughts? Suggestions? Comments? There would probably be more in the "Not in the highlights" section if I didn't fall asleep in the 6th inning.
It's far too hot to piece together anything resembling a cogent preview. It's the middle game of the series between the Yankees and A's, as hometown guy CC Sabathia faces off against Trevor Cahill. Both hurlers were named to the AL All-Star team on Saturday. However, with both starting tonight they're on pace to start again on Sunday, thereby making them ineligible for the mid-summer classic.
Forecasts call for a 62 degree game-time temperature in Oakland tonight. It's currently 97 in my neck of the woods and 102 in NYC. By the time Cahill delivers the game's first pitch, the sun will have been down for a good hour plus on the East Coast, yet it will still be a good fifteen or twenty degrees warmer here than at the Coliseum. And there isn't much relief in sight.
Yankees: Brett Gardner leads off for the second night in a row, Nick Swisher DH's for the second night in a row, and Colin Curtis starts in right field for the second night in a row. Jorge Posada is back behind the plate; he left Sunday's game after a foul ball sprained his ring finger.
Brett Gardner LF Derek Jeter SS Mark Teixeira 1B Alex Rodriguez 3B Robinson Cano 2B Nick Swisher DH Jorge Posada C Curtis Granderson CF Colin Curtis RF
A's:
Coco Crisp CF Daric Barton 1B Kurt Suzuki C Kevin Kouzmanoff 3B Mark Ellis 2B Jack Cust DH Adam Rosales SS Matt Carson RF Rajai Davis LF
Out of the 26 batters he faced last night, Javy Vazquez allowed 22 of them to put the ball in play. Luckily, he only walked two, didn't allow any homers and induced a lot of weak contact (10 grounders, 9 flyballs). Only three of those projectiles fell in for hits, phelped significantly by some excellent defensive plays by Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, Colin Curtis and Curtis Granderson.
Ben Sheets threw the ball awfully well last night too, but gave up a two out double to Nick Swisher in the second inning, then fell behind Granderson 3-1 and left a fastball over the plate that was redirected into the right field corner for an RBI triple. Frankie Cervelli came up next and flipped a curveball back up the middle that scored Granderson and gave the Yanks a 2-0 lead.
Cliff Pennington tripled in the third and scored on a sac fly by Coco Crisp but that was all the scoring the A's would do on the night.
Mark Teixeira added a solo home run to straightaway center in the top of the sixth to give to Yanks a little more breathing room, but they really didn't need it. Vazquez pitched two more perfect innings after that and neither Joba Chamberlain nor Mariano Rivera allowed a batter to reach base in the eighth or ninth innings.
The Yanks' bats were still largely dormant last night, but they pitched and defended well enough for it not to matter. They've got another 10:00 start tonight as CC Sabathia takes on Trevor Cahill.
Today is the first day of the second half of the season. The Yankees, despite weathering a seemingly never-ending storm of injuries of varying severity and playing fairly mediocre baseball over the past three weeks or so, still find themselves on top of the standings and on pace for 100 wins.
It's easy to forget because of how dominant last year's team was from the All-Star Break on, but when the midpoint of the '09 season rolled around, the team was only 48-33, two games behind the pace set by the 2010 Yanks. Of course, the '09 squad won an incredible 55 games in the second half and rolled through the playoffs, but it's worth noting that this year's team had put itself in pretty good position despite all that has gone wrong for them so far.
Big injuries to Nick Johnson, Curtis Granderson and Jorge Posada (and countless other bumps and bruises distributed throughout the rest of the roster) have kept the team from being at full strength since early May. Robinson Cano has been a man possessed over these first 81 games, but he's had to pick of the slack left by Mark Teixeira, Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter, three of the teams biggest stars who have been producing below their career statlines. Brett Gardner and Nick Swisher have helped fill in some of those gaps as well, but the third starting outfielder, Granderson, has been below league average as a hitter in the 57 games he's appeared in.
Without Alfredo Aceves there to pitch crucial bridge innings since May 8th, the bullpen has been the Yanks' biggest weakness. Joba Chamberlain, David Robertson and Chan Ho Park, the three relievers the Yankees have depended on in late inning, high leverage situations, all have ERA's over 5 and are allowing from 1.46 (Park) to 1.9 (Robertson) baserunners per inning. Luckily for the Bombers, their starting rotation has taken a lot of pressure off of them.
Andy Pettitte, Phil Hughes and CC Sabathia have all collected 10 wins and are pitching admirably and aside from some sustained rough patches, A.J. Burnett and Javy Vazquez have been okay as well.
Vazquez goes tonight in Oakland against Ben Sheets, who the Yankees might have been in the market for, had they not pulled off the deal for Javy. Sheets is in an eight game streak during which he has either gone six or seven innings and given up three or four runs and watched his ERA hover right around the 5.00 mark.
The main difference between the situation the Yankees were in last year and this year at the midway point of the season is that there is a very tight three team race atop the division. The Yanks were a game behind the Red Sox and Tampa was six games back and fading fast at this point, whereas this year, all three teams are within two games of each other.
Like Nick Swisher said, coming into the season, if the Yanks knew they would have the best record in baseball at this point, they would have signed up for it immediately. The Yanks have no reason to be ashamed of the half season that they've left behind and there are reasons to hope that the one upcoming could be a little better.
If all you've got to live for, is what you left behind, Get yourself a powder charge, and seal that silver mine. Lost my boots in transit baby, a pile of smokin' leather, I nailed a retread to my feet and prayed for better weather.
Halfstep, Mississippi uptown, toodeloo, Hello baby, I'm gone, goodbye, Half a cup of rock and rye, Farewell to you old southern skies, I'm on my way, on my way.
[Song Notes: Naturally, with the Yankees visiting the Bay area, we turn to their native sons, The Grateful Dead. This has long been one of my favorite Dead tunes and was one of the first songs I managed to sing and play at the same time - while I was on Semester at Sea. This two part video is from a show they played on April 26th, 1977 at the Capitol Theater in Passaic, NJ, right in the Yanks' backyard.]
-Lineups-
Yankees: X-Rays were negative but Jorge Posada is day to day after the foul tip that deflected awkwardly off of his glove hand. As a result, Nick Swisher takes his place in the six hole, Derek Jeter slides into the two slot for the first time this year and Brett Garnder makes his third appearance at leadoff.
Brett Gardner LF Derek Jeter SS Mark Teixeira 1B Alex Rodriguez 3B Robinson Cano 2B Nick Swisher DH Curtis Granderson CF Francisco Cervelli C Colin Curtis RF
The Yankees were held scoreless by the Blue Jays in seven out of the eight innings they batted in yesterday. The good news was that they pushed across 11 runs in the third, their most productive frame in five years. Unlike Friday, when they blew an opportunity with the bases loaded and no one out, the Yanks actually packed the sacks three different times yesterday, leading to a two run double by Mark Teixeira, a grand slam by Brett Gardner and a bases-clearing "hit" by A-Rod that left fielder John McDonald just lost in the sun.
Andy Pettitte, who had given up a two run homer to Jose Bautista in the first, just put it into cruise control at that point and made the obligatory quality start of six innings and three runs, the final one coming on a sixth inning tater to Alex Gonzalez. Dustin Moseley made his Yankee debut, pitching two scoreless innings during which he gave up no baserunners and retired every batter via either strikeout or groundout.
Phil had his worst start of the year last time out, allowing seven runs in 5 2/3 IP against the Mariners, but as we said when it happened, he didn't pitch nearly that bad and it wasn't because they skipped one of his starts. Phil will be phine going phorward, and hopefully he can bounce right back today.
The violent one inning outburst that the Yanks had yesterday was fun to watch, but they didn't get a runner past second base aside from that. Runs are runs, but it would be encouraging to see a more balanced offensive display (perhaps punctuated by a nice finale).
Searchin' for that feelin', tell me where is the magic? Let's stay together till we're ghosts I want to witness love, I've never seen it close Yeah, but I guess I gotta find it first That's why I'm really goin' off, fireworks
I've missed them before, but won't miss them again I keep having the same dream And I think that I just realized what it means All I see is fireworks
[Song Notes: I picked up Thank Me Later recently and Fireworks is the first track off of it. I've only listened to it all the way through once, so I don't have a great feel for it yet, but the first impression was pretty damn good.]
[Totally random note: Last year on the fourth of July, Chein-Ming Wang pitched his last game as a Yankee, a contest in which the Bombers tagged Roy Halladay for five runs and Jorge Posada won with a walkoff single in the 12th.
It's also George Steinbrenner's birthday, obviously.]
Holiday weekend mode here Fackers. It's a good lefty-lefty match up at the Stadium today. Andy Pettitte faces Ricky Romero in a pairing of two of the AL's better pitchers thus far in 2010. Meanwhile the Yankee offense looks to shake off their week-long malaise and put some runs on the board. Let's hope the bats don't have the blues again today.
Red and white, blue suede shoes I'm Uncle Sam, how do you do Gimme five, still alive Ain't no luck, I learned to duck
[Song Notes: Yes, we used this one last year against the Nats. While we had a sweet black and white version for that game, today we go with a performance from The Grateful Dead Movie.]
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