Picking Up Right Where We Left Off

6/8/10 - Camden Yards (Baltimore, MA)
GAME 1: Yankees 12, Orioles 7

Box Score

It is tempting to fantasize about a 2010 season in which the Yankees played the Orioles exclusively, but then again that would be just plain boring. After a hard-fought but disappointing series against the Blue Jays, I'm sure the stripes were comforted on the plane ride from Toronto to Baltimore by the thought of pummeling the birds of the orange feather. And pummel they did in the opening evening of yet another three-game set against O's, unloading for 6 runs on veteran starter Kevin Millwood and 12 runs total. That's almost double the run production they had in their entire three-game stint in Canada. To me, this indicates two things: a) Toronto might actually have the pitching to compete in the AL East even in the later months, and b) Baltimore has no shot whatsoever at doing so.

In case you need one last extra piece of evidence regarding the struggles of the bay birds this spring (now 16-42), one not need look any farther than Millwood himself. Coming into this start, the 14-year northpaw posted a respectable ERA of 3.89...with a record of 0-5????!! I'm sorry, is that a joke? To be maintaining a sub-4.00 ERA in the AL East and not have a single victory is virtually sacriligious. Compare that to Javier Vazquez, the Yanks' worse starter by statistical standards. With a mark of 5.62 runs per nine, he has scrounged together an even tally of 5 wins, 5 losses. No one ever said baseball was a fair game, but if you're K-Mills, you've gotta be feeling just a tick on the frustrated side right about now. Although, I guess it's nothing new for a guy who was the American League ERA-leader in '05, yet garnered a mere 9 wins. That'll happen on teams like the O's and Indians I suppose.

Among the more damaging mistakes made by Millwood in this contest was a fat, first-inning, first-pitch fastball to Nick Swisher that the right fielder sent screaming over the center field wall for a two-run dong. He plated three more in the seventh inning with a bases-loaded double to right-center off bullpenner Matt Albers to put the game (sorta) out of reach. The Swish man is as quick and as locked in as I've ever seen him since coming to the Bronx, and he deserves strong consideration for a spot on the All-Star team this year. In addition to the Swisher cookie, a lazy, poorly-spotted slider to Curtis Granderson in the third frame was lifted towards the gate in right for a two-out grand slam to put New York up 6-0. Grandy also added a sharp line-drive single up the middle off of lefty reliever Mark Hendrickson in the seventh inning, as he continues to improve in areas where he once looked weak (i.e. hitting to all fields and tracking the ball against lefties). With inconsistency plagues their so-called "big bats" (Tex Mex and A-Roid), and average-at-best hitting is pulling up the caboose of the order (I'm sorry, but you can't tell me Cervelli and Gardener--although both are much improved--are reliable producers), the importance of Granderson's bat in these coming weeks and months can't be stressed enough. Although Austin Jackson continues to make Brian Cashman and the Yankees front office look like short-sighted fools, Curtis is slowly but surely redeeming the faith of his GM since returning from injury.

Speaking of redemption, Mark Teixeira earned a small speckle of it in this contest, turning in a 3-4 night at the dish, with 2 RBIs, 2 runs scored, and a seventh-inning launch-job off Albers that makes you wonder why he can't just do that every night. Knowing Tex, he'll be back to looking like he did against the Jays on Saturday, when he struck out 5 times in what my father claimed to be "the worst hitting performance he had ever seen...ever" (and yes, that's a direct quote). Robinson Cano, who's been the unchallenged anchor of the team, sprayed 3 hits in 4 appearances just for kicks and tickles. Hmmm. I wonder if it's just a coincidence that the two dudes who've been taking extra batting practice with hitting coach Kevin Long are shouldering the offensive load for the team...more on this later, perhaps?

Finally, the young, the dashing, the indomitable Phil Hughes snatched his 8th victory of the season tonight, and his second straight against Baltimore. While there's no doubt he didn't have his best stuff, nor his best control in his 6.0 innings of 9-hit, 3-run work, Phil made the pitches that he had to make in order to get out of tough spots. Pitching with a big lead against a rinky-dink lineup helps, sure, but I liked that he battled through mistakes and cruddy calls (he got ripped off twice in the Lou Montanez at-bat in a 2-run, 31 pitch fourth inning) to get the outs he needed. I also liked that he finished on a forceful note, saving his best effort for the last three outs of his outing to get through six stanzas. Endurance and resilience are as much the mark of a great pitcher as anything else, and their best two chuckers (Hughes and Pettitte) have been showcasing that all spring. Gotta love that the oldest and youngest starter in the rotation have been the most trusty arms of the whole batch.

Hopefully the bats take care of business again tomorrow night against a volitatile Chris Tillman, an unripe, second-year call-up who imploded in the second inning facing the Red Sox last Friday. Granted, the kid did churn out a stellar performance against the Jays in his first start of the year, so I guess we'll have to see which Tillman takes the hill. Don't tell me the Yanks are going to have one of those games where they make a mediocre youth look like Greg Maddux. If they do, I'll know who to blame. Chad Gaudin, of course.

GAME MVP: Nick Swisher, because he's a Monster via Power...yeah

Honorable Mention: Curtis Grandslamerson...see what I did there?

PS - Strasburg: best debut ever? Defintely the most impressive I've ever seen in my lifetime. Not because of the 14 K's or the 7 consecutive, or the 99 mile-per-hour fastballs in the seventh inning, or the fact that he never seemed to break so much as a bead of sweat. But because he did it all on 94 pitches and allowed no walks. 14 strikeouts on 94 pitches? I can't even do that in a video game.

A Costly Error, A Really Costly Error, "Crying Shame," and a Crying Apology

By now most everyone who's anyone has seen or heard about Armando Galarraga's perfect game that never was, an incident that might have gone down as a great tragedy of modern baseball had it not been for a touching moment of civil reconciliation between the young Tiger righty and veteran umpire Jim Joyce yesterday afternoon. Shortly after the end of Galarraga's mostly-bitter-not-so-sweet masterpiece, Detroit manager Jim Leyland told the media that what occurred was simply "a crying shame." Well sure enough, Joyce found himself fighting back tears during the presentation of the line-up cards Wednesday afternoon, as Galarraga emerged from the dugout with the Tiger order and shared a tender exchange of apology/absolution with the man who robbed him of baseball perfection. Wow. It's times like these that put the game in perspective for me, while simultaneously reaffirming the reasons why I love the game so much.

I have to be honest with you folks. When I watched the replay of that play on Tuesday night, I was overcome with the distinct urge to vomit. Seriously, it was like watching a child wander obliviously into oncoming traffic or something. Okay, okay, I'm exaggerating, but not by too much. In the heat of my agony and fury, I am ashamed to confess that I may have whispered a few silent death wishes against Joyce. Yeah, it's not cool, and I really tried to restrain myself mentally, but people, believe me when I say I haven't been that upset about a sports-related event in a long, long time (the 2004 ALCS might even come second to this, and I nearly cried when Damon hit that grand slam). Luckily, Galarraga was much more composed and mature about the whole situation, both in the immediate aftermath and the day after. I give him infinite props for handling it all so well. Not every ballplayer would have taken such an egregious offense with such grace, but this kid displayed a genuinely impressive amount of compassion and altruism in all of this. For that Mr. Galarraga, I automatically award you the Man of the Year. Hint to TIME magazine: You can start reeling off those cover pictures now.

GAME 1: Orioles 1, Yankees 3
Box Score

Not a particularly exciting game to start the series, but then again you can't really expect any series to be that exciting when the Orioles are involved. After a nice victory to cap off a series win over the last-place (in the AL Central) Indians on Monday, the Yanks followed up with a rather mundane effort against last-place (in the whole major leagues) Baltimore and their southpaw starter Brian Matusz, batting in just 1 earned run in the 6.2 innings he was on the bump. The lack of offense was especially surprising when you consider that Brian had suffered a whopping 16 hits and 13 runs in his previous two outings, and the fact that the pinstripes had piled on 37 runs at the Stadium in the four-game Cleveland series. The sole tally was delivered by none other than Curtis Granderson, who yanked a solo job in the fifth for the first run of the contest. Grandy has responded to the critics in a big way since coming off that injury, as he laced two late-game doubles off Cleveland reliever Tony Sipp in that series before launching his first homer off a lefty on Tuesday. All I can say is, it's about damn time.

Yankee starter Javier Vazquez matched Matusz through six frames, allowing only a solo counterpunch from Corey Patterson (really, Javy? Not Scott, not Wieters, not Tejada, but Patterson?) that leveled the count at 1 a piece in the top of the sixth. Just when it looked like the Yanks would go ahead in the sixth, Thames, Cervelli, and Grandy squandered a 1st-and-3rd no out opporunity. In the subsequent stanza, Vazquez too pitched himself into trouble, but by some miracle of Zeus, skipper Joe Girardi held his ground and allowed Javy to pull himself out of the hole. The hurler rewarded his manager's patience by fanning Adam Jones and inducing an inning ending ground ball off of Julio Lugo's bat to escape a bases-loaded one-out pickle. Granted, Joe probably never would have kept Vazquez on the hill if he weren't facing the disgraceful O's, a team that has mustered a mere 180 runs to date, the lowest total in the bigs. In general, Vazquez has only done well against weaker teams this year, so the real test will be in the third game of the Jays series this coming Sunday, a matchup that should reveal more about whether the sharpness he showed in this game was just a result of the opponent or a real turn in the right direction.

Let's return to this thrilling recap. So now it's the bottom of the seventh, and captain Derek Jeter and Nick Swisher are on base at 2nd and 3rd with two outs. A-Rod is at the plate, and although Matusz had worked a solid game, Dave Trembley opted to go with righty Dave Hernandez against Alex. Flashes of Manny Acta and the Justin Masterson game instantly came to mind, but unlike that game, in which that managerial decision led to a grand slam by Robinson Cano, Tremble's call worked...sort of. It worked in the sense that Hernandez got Rodriguez to swing at a pitcher's pitch and bounce a low fastball to Miguel Tejada at third. The part that didn't work everything after that. Tejada backed up on the ball (mistake #1), then in a panicked haste tried to muscle the throw over to Ty Wigginton at first (mistake #2), causing him to skip it about seven feet short of the target. Wigginton could not come up with the tough pick, the ball deflected towards the wall, Swisher and Jeter came in to score, and the Yanks went on to win game 1 by a final of 3-1. A costly error, to say the least.

GAME MVP: Miguel Tejada, a cheap shot, but I couldn't resist
Honroable Mention: Javier Vazquez, for finally showing signs of confidence and brainpower

While you were away...

Hey. Remember me? I used to write stuff once upon a yesterweek. That was before I was stricken with a deadly illness commonly referred to as "finalitis." It was a long, rough road to recovery, but I am pleased to inform all three of my fans that I am back, and this time I am here to say. With a new summer comes a new Bullfrog, an excuse-free, responsible, on-top-of-matters Bullfrog who will not let you down. And you can take that one to the bank. Yep. I went there.


SO...with that said, it's time to play catch up. Since my last game/series-related post about the White Sox series, the pinstripes have swept the O's in three at home, took 2 of 3 from the Red Sox in Fenway, dropped 3 of 4 against the Tigers in Detroit, nabbed 2 of 3 off the Twins at the Stadium, split a 2-game series with Boston, were swept by the Rays in another random 2-game series, lost 2 of 3 to the Mets at Citi, and repeated a 2-of-3 series victory at the brand new Target Field in Minnesota. Granderson went down on May 1st with a groin injury, Johnson exited the stage on May 8th with a sore wrist, Posada broke a foot and was disabled on May 17th, Swisher missed a couple of games around the same time, and Pettitte and Mo have even been hampered with pesky ailments this past month that can only be attributed to old age. Yet despite these injuries and some woeful fill-in performances by the likes of Marcus Thames (save his one game-winning homer) and Randy Winn (who was recently cut from the squad), the Yanks stood at 13-12 in the month of May coming into this weekend's home series against Cleveland. Shall we?



GAME 1: Indians 2, Yankees 8

Box Score



Let's face it kids. If it weren't for the offensive efforts of Robinson Cano, this club would be in a lot worse shape than they are right now. He's the only Yankee currently leading the All-Star voting who actually deserves to be there, as he stands atop all second baseman with a .359 batting average (2nd in the bigs), 66 hits (also 2nd in bigs), 34 RBIs, 112 total bases (3rd in the majors), a slugging percentage of .604, and is tied for the lead in on-base percentage with Chase Utley at .403. Damn. Indeed, it was Robby's grand slam in the seventh inning of this game of Tony Sipp that proved to be the deal sealer. Cano did his best to wreck my never-swing-at-the-first-pitch-with-the-bases-loaded theory by homering on Sipp's first offering, a fat, flat, hanging curve ball that ended up in the mezzanine section of right field. Hey, with results like that, I don't mind being wrong. A-Rod was given the day off, so Girardi decided to bump Cano into the clean-up spot for the first time in his career. A smart choice by Joe, although with Robby hitting the way he has been, it was pretty much a no-brainer.



The bombers lit up the scoreboard early off Nick Swisher's towering drive to right field, a second-inning blast that banked off the top of the foul pole to give New York a 2-0 edge over starter Fausto Carmona and the last-place Tribe. Apparently, he, Cano, and hitting coach Kevin Long had been working on quickness inside, and it certainly showed in that at-bat. After the Indians countered with a run off Johnny Peralta's two-out double in the fourth, the Cano/Swish combo answered in the sixth with back-to-back singles to load the bases. Random call-up/DH Juan Miranda's walk and Brett Gardner's sacrifice fly plated two more to stretch the lead to three. Slugger Russell Branyon always seems to find a way to tag Yankee pitching at least once, and he did so off Hughes in the seventh with a solo homer to make it 4-2. But Cano worked his grand-slam magic in the bottom end of the frame and that was all she wrote.



This was a big game for the young Phil Hughes. The power righty made it look easy in his first six starts this season, allowing just 6 runs on 22 hits and 1 home run. However, in his previous two coming into Friday's contest, letting up 5 runs in 5.0 innings to the Red Sox and 4 runs in 5.2 innings to the Mets. Hughes admitted that he was struggling to put batters away in those starts when he had two strikes on them, as well as to end innings where he had two outs. To be sure, if there is one weakness in his game, it is his lack of a consistent out pitch. He has a great get-ahead pitch in the fastball, which has had tremendous late life through the zone all year. But he has been erractic at times with the command of his curve ball and very reluctant to use the change, a pitch that he had supposedly worked on over the off-season.



As it turns out, he didn't really need the curve or the change-up in this outing. His rising four-seamer and a surprisingly effective cut-fastball were enough to get the job done. After striking out the first five Cleveland batters he faced, Phil went on to post a 7.0-inning, 5-hit, 2-run line en route to his 6th win of 2010. He did an outstanding job of working the fastball in all areas of the zone, chaning eye levels and throwing hard inside when necessary. The cutter boring into the hands of lefties was a valuable weapon, and if he can get that pitch going, we could be witnessing the birth of a Yankee legend this year. Too soon? Sue me. Phil did look like he was laboring around pitch 95 in the seventh, but he battled through the Branyon homer to finish the inning. And that is exactly what great pitchers do.



In other notable news, Curtis Granderson returned to the line-up from that nasty groin pull and contributed a double and walk in his first game since May 1st. It's good to see him back in action, especially when you consider the lack of offensive and defensive production the Yanks have been getting from his replacements. Plus Gardner is starting to revert back to his usual, I'm-a-fly-ball-hitter-despite-my-tremendous-speed ways, so they're really in need of some pop from the back end of the lineup. Grandy is gonna have to find a way to hit left-handed pitching though (batting in the .160 range so far this year), else that trade might go down as the worst one Cashman and the front office have made in a long time. For those who don't know, Grandy was acquired from the Tigers in a deal that sent prospect Austin Jackson (hitting .328) and Phil Coke (3-0 with a 3.22 ERA and 2 holds) to Detroit. Time will tell I suppose, but for now, let's hope the double off of southpaw Sipp is a sign of good things to come. Lord knows Tex and A-Rod ain't doing squat.



Game MVP: Robinson Cano

Honorable Mention: Phil Hughes





GAME 2: Indians 13, Yankees 11

Box Score

WOOOOOWWW. My whole game 2 post got deleted. Thanks Blogger. I'm way to pissed off to write it again. Guess I'll have a go at it tomorrow....