Joba couldn't spot his fastball, his curveball, his slider and probably couldn't spot his uniform in the clubhouse laundry cart, he was so off target today. Out of 93 pitches, 47 of them were balls. Terrible. To make matters worse, he was pitching against Cleveland, another brutal to watch, boring team that takes pitch after pitch. If umpires starting calling more strikes, perhaps they would eliminate this often used strategy that drags games on endlessly and forces us fans to scream at bullpen guys who probably have no business being in the majors.
Speaking of bullpens, the Yankees bullpen continued their Jekyll and Hyde performance, pitching shutout ball for the last 4 1/3 innings. Brian Bruney continues to amaze, striking out 2 more batters, giving him 12 in 6 innings. Mariano Rivera picked up his 3rd save after making things interesting in the 9th. After giving up 2 singles after recording the first out, he struck out the highly overrated, overhyped, overslurped Grady Sizemore and Mark DeRosa to end the game.
I'm sure everybody is all smiles with the Yankee hitters clubbing 5 HRs today, but they were all solo shots. I saw a team that just continued to struggle manufacturing runs. Jeter, Damon, Teixeira, Cano, and Cabrera all hit their HRs to right field. Apparently, there is a jet stream out there as balls seem to take off when hit to RF. Jeter hit the go-ahead shot in the bottom of the 8th. However, this team couldn't drive in a man on second with no outs twice, and left men all over the place. Posada has left 11 men on in 2 games now. Nobody on this team would ever make it as a Green Beret, with their motto "No man left behind", because there are good men, and more importantly, good runs being wasted out there.
The Yanks were hit with more bad news today when Matsui couldn't go because of fluid buildup on his knee. This is a glass half-empty, half-full kind of news. For as bad as Matsui has been, that leaves more playing time for Melky. Hopefully, he'll take advantage of his playing time, and is off to a good start with his HR today. It appears Nady is done for the season.
Tomorrow, Wang tries to get past the first inning. I hope the bullpen goes to bed early tonight. It could be a long Saturday afternoon.
Congrats to Cody Ransom. After falling below the interstate, his single in his third at bat brought his average up to .121. Arod - please, where are you, buddy? Hurry!
Yankees Record: 6-5
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