Yanks - Rays Rained Out

The CC Sabathia - David Price matchup was postponed tonight due to rain.  They'll try again tomorrow in the Bronx.  

In other games - the girl softball player, Seattle's Suzuki, hitting streak ended at 27 games.  The Red Sox lost to Texas, putting the Yanks up by .5 game.  Big Sloppy Ortiz announced he's getting his eyes checked - is that code for hyperdermic needle?  Are we to believe if he starts hitting better it will be his new contact lenses?  Ironically, he had the Sox only RBI tonight.  

Carl "American Idle" tossed a complete game shutout against the White Sox and improved to 6-4 on the season.  That's more than anyone on the Yankee pitching staff.  Amazing how productive he's become pitching on an incentive-laden contract.  In 4 seasons with the Yanks he went 9-8.   

MLB Suspends Burnett 6 Games

Major League Baseball suspended Yankee pitcher, AJ Burnett, for 6 games.  Burnett threw a high hard one towards Texas Rangers, Nelson Cruz, in apparent retaliation of Vicente Padilla tagging Yanks first basemen, Mark Teixeira, not once, but twice.  

Burnett is appealing the suspension, hoping it will be reduced.  Predictions are 5 games, for one turn through the rotation.  What's shocking about the suspension is that Padilla, the true criminal that continues to walk the streets a free man, was only fined an undisclosed amount.  I must admit though, I like Padilla's style.  Instead of walking batters and wasting pitches, he's known to just plunk a batter.  Often, I've wished Yankee pitchers would hit Big Nugget Youkilis with a pitch just to move on from his customary 8 pitch at bat.

Game 54 - Melk-man Delivers Again

Chien-Ming Wang returned to the starting rotation, and what started out as promising, began to turn ugly when he departed after 4.2 innings, trailing 5-1 against Texas.  He came out firing, retiring the first 6 batters he faced, striking out 3 them.  He yielded 2 runs in the 3rd, 2 more in the 4th and was pulled after giving up a bomb to Nelson Cruz in the 5th.  

Compared to his first 3 frightening starts, Wang actually wasn't as bad as his numbers indicate.  His sinker was working, as he recorded 7 ground ball outs.  He did struggle against the lefties though, as Chris Davis laced 2 doubles off of him, knocking in 2 runs and scoring on a wild pitch.  Hank Blalock also hit a two-out single for a run.  Perhaps he ran out of steam, pitching out the bullpen recently.  In my opinion, I would love to see him return to the bullpen.  I think he has better stuff and strikes out batters at a better rate than he typically does as a starter.  

The Yankees actually had a 1-0 lead after the first, as Johnny Damon led off with a HR that just cleared the fence in right.  Their offense then went into a little lull, as they stranded Nick Swisher who hit a double after Damon's shot, and stranded Mark Teixeira who led off with a double in the 4th.  They woke up in the 5th against Texas pitcher, David McCarthy.  Swisher did what he does best, working a walk with the bases loaded.  Big Tex, by far the Yanks MVP in the first third of the season, hit a cue shot double past 3rd to clear the bases and tie the game.  ARod followed up with a single to put them up 6-5.

Alfredo Aceves, who relieved Wang, quickly let Texas tie it up on an Ian Kinsler blast that hit the upper foul pole in the 6th.  It would remain tied till the bottom of the 8th, when Melky Cabrera, who's been struggling at the plate since he lost his battle with the Cleveland centerfield fence, hit a 2-run shot that scraped the back of the left field fence.  Enter the Sandman, Mariano Rivera.  He scared some Yankee fans by giving up 2 hits and allowing the hot-hitting Nelson Cruz to come to plate representing the go-ahead run.  The Hammer of God struck out Cruz and got David Murphy to pop up to record his 12th save of the season and 494th of his career.     

Other notes:  Boston kept pace with the Yanks as they downed Detroit 6-3.  Dontrelle Willis walked 5 guys in the 3rd that led to a 6-run rally.  Yesterday, I lamented how the luck of Boston by dodging the likes of Justin Verlander and Roy Halladay.  But not only did they not faced the Tigers ace pitcher in this 3 game set, they avoided their #2 stud as well, Edwin Jackson, who's been pitching as well as anybody in baseball right now.  I'm amazed they faced Johan Santana in the Met series (thankfully, the frauds lost). 

Randy Johnson won his 300th game in front of just 16,000 people in D.C despite the fact that he may well be the last pitcher to reach that milestone for a very long time.  There's a team in D.C. because...?  It's time to start contracting teams.  If you can't economically compete year after year (Pittsburgh, anyone) or draw fans, it's time to fold shop.  Less teams would equal better talented teams.   

Yankees Record:  32-22, tied for 1st and 1/3 of the season down.  Projected win total:  96 - I'll take it.  

Game 53 - Yanks Fail in the Clutch

The Yanks lost to Texas 4-2 and it can be contributed to 2 at bats that cost them the game.  With the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the 3rd and the Yanks trailing 4-1, ARod grounded into a double play on a 3-1 pitch that was likely ball 4 after Texas pitcher, Matt Feldman, walked the bases loaded.  Then ARod followed that terrible performance by striking out with Johnny Damon on 3rd and one out in the 6th.  It appears the Yankees are slumping again with runners in scoring position, which led to their mediocre start to the season.   

Andy Pettitte's performance wasn't any better - he surrendered 3 runs in the 1st and another one in the 2nd, but it could have been much worse.  He got out of a first and second with no out jam in the 3rd and walked the bases loaded in the 4th.  In 5 innings of work, he yielded 7 hits and 6 walks.  13 base runners!  He did record 6 Ks, which helped limit the damage.  

On the bright side, Jorge Posada homered for the 2nd straight game.  Brett Tomko pitched 3 scoreless innings, giving the Yanks a fighting chance to get back in the game.  He's sporting a 2.16 ERA in 8.1 innings and could be a valuable reliever who could hold the fort down and spare the rest of the bullpen.

Other notes:  Red Sox won their 3rd straight game, beating Detroit 10-5 and tying the Yanks for first.  Josh Beckett pitched a no-hitter into the 7th.   Of course, the Red Sox will dodge Justin Verlander tomorrow in the series finale.  God continues to shine on this overrated team.  They've already ducked Roy Halladay twice this season, but the earth would freeze over before Halladay's turn didn't come up in a Yankee series.  

How come every time I turn on the XM radio baseball channel, they're interviewing either Pirates GM Neal Huntington or their manager, John Russell.   The Pirates?  C'mon, the Pirates?  I keep hearing callers complain that all they talk about is Sox and Yanks, but I hardly ever hear these teams mentioned.  I would actually prefer some good Sox talk, besides the perfunctory Ortiz is in a slump banter, then to hear once again how the Pirates are rebuilding.

And the Pirates trade of Nate McLouth - did the Yanks get to kick the tires on that one?  He sure would have looked good patrolling CF in the Bronx.  

Yankees Record:  31-22

Wang Back in Rotation; Hughes to Bullpen

The Yankees announced Chien-Ming Wang will return to the rotation tomorrow against Texas.  The move means Phil Hughes, not Joba Chamberlain, will move to the bullpen.  In the meantime, CC Sabathia's start was pushed back to Friday against Tampa Bay.  

Personally, I don't like the move.  Sure, Wang has a track record and 46 wins in the past 2.5 years, but he's looked downright God awful this year as a starter.  He's had some recent success in the bullpen, which is why the Yanks are making this move now.  I feel because of his success in the bullpen, that's a great reason he should remain there until the Yanks need him in the rotation to either spot start, fill in for an injury, or replace an ineffective Joba or Hughes.  Maybe by coming out of the pen, he could crank up that sinking fastball a few more ticks on the speed gun.  I guess we'll find out tomorrow against Texas, who is an aggressive hitting team.  It should be a good test.     

As for Hughes, will this retard his maturity as a top of the line starting pitcher?  He finally looks comfortable and belongs in the Majors.  At least the Yanks didn't send him back to dominate the minors again.  And, they could really use another good arm in the pen.  Perhaps, the Yanks don't really trust Wang is all the way back - but how many starts will they give him before they consider moving Hughes back to the rotation?  I put the over/under at 2 starts.  

Game 52 - Yanks Take Texas Behind the Woodshed

The score was tied 3-3 in the bottom of the 4th, when Texas pitcher, Vincente Padilla, plunked Mark Teixeira in the buttocks.  It was the second time in the game he hit Tex, and you could see Tex shout at him "(Bleeping) throw the ball over the plate".  Unfortunately for Padilla, he woke the sleeping giant and he was very angry.  

With ARod at the plate and the bases loaded with one out, Padilla still had a shot to get out of the inning.  All he needed was a double play ball and it looked like ARod would oblige Padilla when he hit a grounder to second.  But Tex went in hard to the base with a vengeance, upending SS Elvis Andrus and allowing ARod to just beat the throw, avoiding the DP.  Robinson Cano and Jorge Posada would follow with run scoring singles and Hideki Matsui hit a 3-run blast, completing a 7-run outburst for a 9-3 lead.  Tex loved every minute of it, as he shed his usually calm and stoic persona and showing, dare I say, true emotion and fire.  I can only hope the Yankees will continue to show any kind of emotion and passion, which seemed to have disappeared with O'Neill, Brosius, Knoblauch and others of the 90's dynasty as they took on the boring, business-like persona in the latter years of Joe Torre's regime.  

AJ Burnett pitched well, despite nearly collapsing in the 3rd inning.  For the first 2.2 innings, he was in cruise control, until he walked a batter.  That was followed up by a double and 3-run jack by Nelson Cruz that gave Texas a brief 3-2 lead.  Burnett gave up 2 more hard singles and a long drive to deep center that finally getting him out of the inning, but he looked very shaky.  However, he would settle down again and pitch 7 strong innings with 8 Ks and one walk.  He even defended his teammate, Tex, nearly decapitating Nelson Cruz with a high inside fastball.  Both teams received warnings from the ump and it will be interesting to see if this bad blood will carry over tomorrow night. 

The Captain, Derek Jeter, banged out another 3 hits tonight and scored his 15ooth run of his career.  He collected his 2600th hit of his career yesterday, and with the 3 more tonight, has an excellent shot at passing Lou Gehrig for the all-time Yankee hit record later this season.  Gehrig had 2,721 hits in his career.  Posada also had 3 hits, including a 3-run blast and 4 RBIs, although his throwing error brought an end to the Yankees consecutive errorless streak at 18 games.  

But other things went well for the Yankees tonight, so well that even Brett Tomko and Jose Veras pitched a scoreless frame each, as the final score was 12-3.  They also didn't issue any free passes.  To Veras' credit, he won a tough battle against Ian Kinsler for the last out of the game, repeatedly challenging him on a full count after Kinsler fouled off numerous fastballs, instead of walking him.  Hopefully, Veras can build on this performance.  The Yanks need him till Brian Bruney and Damaso Marte return from their injuries.  

Yankees Record:  31-21 - best record in AL

Game 51 - Yanks Walk Out of Cleveland With Win

With Chien-Ming Wang pitching decently in relief and Phil Hughes coming into his own, the "Joba to the bullpen" fanatics started circling their wagons again.  In response, Joba Chamberlain came out and threw a career-high 8 innings, limiting Cleveland to 2 runs on 4 hits with 5 Ks in the 5-2 victory.  Who still wants Joba in the bullpen now?  Joba came out with ace-like stuff, flashing all 4 of his pitches as he was perfect for the first 3 frames.   In the 4th, he made his only real mistake of the night when he surrendered a solo homer to Victor Martinez, tying the game at 1.  

The play of the game came in the 5th, with Joba showing off his catlike reflexes.  He turned a Kelly Shoppach popup bunt into a highlight play, going full out on a dive (Joe Girardi characterized it as a bellyflop) and miraculously speared the ball as he hit the turf.  Runners were on 1st and 2nd, no out, and as he caught the ball, he jumped up and threw a strike to Derek Jeter to double up the runner.  

The Yankee hitters almost didn't provide Joba any support tonight.  Going into the top of the 6th, they loaded the bases on 3 walks with none out.  ARod, Posada and Cano were coming to the plate.  They all failed miserably and all runners were stranded.  ARod struck out.  Posada, after blowing yesterday's game, promptly swung at the first pitch and tapped back weakly to the mound, forcing the runner at home.  And, to finish off the humiliation, Cano lined out to left to end the inning.  

In the top of the 7th, like deja vu all over again, they loaded the bases on 3 walks.  With one out, Nick Swisher, batting in the 2-hole with Johnny Damon resting, ripped an opposite field double to left that just missed a grand slam by a foot.  After an intentional walk to Tex to reload the bases, ARod hit a 2-run single to finish up the Yankees scoring.  The Indians walked the Yanks 11 times tonight and the score could have been much worse, if the Yanks had come through with all of their opportunities.  They were 3-13 with runners in scoring position, and with Posada failing in yesterday's loss, I hope this doesn't start becoming a trend like earlier in the season.  They've been playing exceptionally well for the better part of a month now and cannot let up, playing in the brutal AL East.  

The Yanks defense went errorless tonight for the 18th straight game, setting a major league record, and to make it sweeter, broke the 2006 Red Sox record.  Joba wasn't the only pitcher to make an outstanding play tonight, either.  On the final batter of the game, Mariano Rivera fielded a Baltimore-chop over his head from Shin-Soo Choo and threw him out by a step at first for his 11th save in 12 opportunities.  With tonight's win, the Yanks gained a half game over the idle Red Sox.

Yankees Record:  30-21