Series Recap: White Sox v. Yankees

GAME 1: White Sox 4, Yankees 6

Box Score

Andy Pettitte got roughed up. There. I said it. For the first time all year, Pettitte allowed more than 2 runs and served up a home run in the opening game of the home series against the White Sox. But even though Andy had a "bad" start (by his standards), he gave his team a chance to come back. The 4 runs that he gave up in his 6 innings of work all came within the first two frames. Alexei Ramirez lead-off the game by fighting off an 0-2 fastball to right field. Andy just didn't quite get the ball up and in enough. Then Gordon Beckham followed suit, falling behind 0-2 before blooping a jam-job fastball over Cano to put men on first and second base. Two batters later, Paul Konerko jumped on Andy's first mistake pitch, a 1-2 cutter that ended up belt-high and down the outer third of the dish. Nick Swisher got completely "Jeffrey Maiered" by some idiot and his hoodie, and Konerko's drive fell just behind the wall to give the Sox an early 3-0 lead, the biggest edge any team has held on Pettitte all season. After Carlos Quentin doubled, Andy settled in and fanned Mark Teahan and Jayson Nix. Big response from the veteran after an unfortunate bloop-bloop-blast sequence.

Speaking of big responses, the Yankee offense countered immediately in the bottom half of the frame against the seasoned Freddy Garcia. Freddy lost his one and only game in the New Yankee Stadium last season, and it looked like it might be another long day for him right from the get go. Jeter smacked a 2-0 fastball into left, Tex worked an easy walk, A-Rod smashed a 2-0 slider for a double into left to score Jeter, and Cano cracked a hot worm to right on a 2-1 change-up to make it a 3-2 score after one inning. Yep, it can happen that quick against these Yanks.

Pettitte chalked up another run in the second after a lead-off double by Donny Lucy (seriously?) and a sac fly by Beckham, but after that he finally got on a more characteristic roll, retiring 7 straight hitters until surrendering a lead-off single to Beckham in the fifth. However, a heads-up play by the captain nullified that baserunner, as he backhanded a hot smash by Alex Rios to freeze Beckham between second and third. Pettitte finished his day emphatically with a 1-2-3 sixth inning. Garcia actually had a very similar, if not better, outing than the southpaw, as he sat 12 consecutive Bombers before they rallied in the fifth with two outs. Gardner broke the streak with a single and Jeter made it hurt on a 1-1 hanger that he launched well into the left field seats. Freddy bounced back in the sixth to go 1-2-3 before exiting.

With the score 4-4 heading into the final three innings, it was essentially up to the bullpens. And on this day, Alfredo Aceves won the battle of relief over Matt Thornton. Alfredo got Ramirez and Beckham for the first two outs of the seventh before receiving some luck on a Quentin liner that landed right in A-Rod's glove. Thornton benefitted from no such fortune, although he didn't really help himself by hitting Francisco Cervelli with an 0-2 fastball. Gardener fought off several pitches before singling into center, and the captain came up with yet another huge hit, a 2-run triple that put the Yanks up for good. Marte, Chamberlain, and Rivera registered the final 6 outs in a row to seal the 6-4 win.

Game MVP: Derek Jeter, who was clutch at the plate and in the field

Honorable Mention: Andy Pettitte, for keeping it a game after suffering some early blows and showing us why he had the most wins of any pitcher in the '00 decade.

GAME 2: White Sox 7, Yankees 6

Box Score

Once again, Chicago jumped out to an early and convincing lead, only this time it was against the Yankee pitcher you would except to have a rough start. That would be Javy Vazquez, who would exit this game in the fourth inning before he could record a 10th out. Just when you thought his ERA couldn't get any higher, a 3.0 inning, 7 hit, 5 run showing Saturday afternoon spiked it to 9.78. Jesus. For a guy who led all pitchers in the majors over the previous decade with 2001 strikeouts (besides the Big Unit), he sure looks lost out there. As my father observed, Javy's fastball has no "bite"; it's not cutting, it's not drifting, it's not sinking, it's not rising. It is sucking, though, that's for sure. In addition, Vazquez has had some real problems keeping his pitches down. This was evident in the first inning, when he hung a lazy, hanging curve down the cock to Andruw Jones, who put a charge into it for a solo jack. Jones did it again in the third, this time stroking a 2-seamer (intended target low and away, ended up belt-high, middle-in) deep into the stratosphere. Another breaking ball that floated down the heart of the plate ended up in the right field seats of the bat of Mark Kotsay to score two more in the fourth. That would be all for Mr. Vazquez, as he gave way to Mr. Mitre.

Mr. Mitre was actually quite brilliant in his 3 innings of no-hit, 2-walk work. With rumors now circulating that Vazquez may lose the rights to his next start, Mitre is now looking like a more viable option. In four appearances, he's given up just one run for an ERA of 1.23. He's throwing strikes this year, and showing more confidence in his stuff, challenging batters more so than I've seen him do in any season. Well, Girardi? Dave Island? What say you as to the promotion? Maybe like a Mitre/Aceves combo kind of set-up? Mitre goes five and Aceves goes two? I'm not sayin'...I'm just sayin'.

So Mitre got the pinstripes into the seventh inning, holding the score at 5. And wouldn't ya know it, the Yanks scratched and clawed their way back into this one too. Down 3-0 in the bottom of the third, New York broke through against John Danks (who held an outstanding 3-0 record with a 1.55 ERA coming into the action), as Mark Teixeira drove in Gardener from third with two outs, after...wait. Did I just type, what I think I just typed? Marky T? A two-out RBI? For serious? Ha, it must be May, huh Tex? Danks may have only given up one run in that stanza, it took him 35 pitches to get those three outs. He had another long inning in the fifth, largely due to a 9-pitch walk to Teixeira (see more about this in the most recent post), but the ace escaped a bases-loaded jam allowing just one run, yet again. By the end of that inning, however, Danks had stepped and hurled 118 times. Much like the Lackey and Shields games, the experience, patience, and feistiness of the Yanks order battled a tough pitcher, and while they didn't necessarily produce a lot of runs, they drew a lot of pitches, and they forced the manager's hand in the middle innings. And so Ozzie Guillen dipped into his pen, always a dangerous situation against the Yanks.

Scott Linebrink was the unlucky relief victim in this contest, as he and his teammates watched a 5-2 advantage turn into a 6-5 deficit within five batters. Thames, Grandy, and Gardener strung together three singles before Swisher punctuated that sentence by drilling a 1-0 cockshot fastball deep over the center field wall.

The satisfaction from this comeback was short-lived, thanks to none other than the Yanks worst reliever David Robertson. I'm really, really trying hard to understand the logic here, Girardi. Why does Joe seem so hell bent on giving this kid chance after chance in close-score situations? Even though the young righty gave up a double to Konerko, he did get two outs, so for once the young righty had a decent appearance. Regardless, I completely disagreed with Girardi's decision. So after the kid gets two outs, Joe pulls him for the Marte-Pierzynski matchup, which blew up right in his face. A.J. drove a double over a flat-footed Thames that one-hopped the wall and brought in both Konerko and Quentin and take back the lead 7-6. And that, folks, was all she wrote.

Oh, and to add injury to insult, Granderson strained his groin during the game somehow and was placed on the 15-day DL as of yesterday. Not good for the pinstripes or my weekly-league fantasy team.

Game MVP: A.J. Pierzynski, who went 3-for-4 including the game-winning drive

Honorable Mention: The rest of the Chicago pen, that was actually able to accomplish what they get paid to do in the last three innings

GAME 3: White Sox 3, Yankees 12

Box Score

Phil Hughes baby! Phil "Philthy" Hughes. I dare say that Phil had the best April of any fifth starter in the bigs, and if he didn't, I wanna know who did. How do you beat a 1.44 ERA and a 3-0 record from your fifth starter? The organization definitely had high hopes for this dude in 2010, but I don't think anyone thought he'd have this good a beginning. The 4 hits he gave up in this one were the most he's allowed in any of his four performances this season, but he didn't allow a single run in 7.0 innings of dominance. The better news? He walked just one batter in this game. I'd much rather see Phil allowing a few more hits and a few less walks in his starts, and that's exactly what he did Sunday afternoon. Great command, great movement aggressive mindset; these factors combined for the winning recipe in this rout of a ballgame.

You know who else is having a surprisingly fantastic spring so far? I'll give you a hint: he's fast, he's a natural lefty, and he has an oddly-shaped head. You guessed it. It's Brett Gardener. Brett drove in the first two runs of this game against White Sox starter Mark Burhle, with a hard grounder off a diving Konerko's glove in the second and a deep fly over everything on a 3-2 heater in the fourth. Burhle hasn't faired particularly well in any start since opening day, and the result wasn't any different against the Yankee lineup, who put on quite a hitting clinic against him and the all comers afterward. Cano tagged the southpaw for a three-run dong in the fifth, and Swisher did the same in the sixth for two more off a 1-1 off-speed offering from Tony Pena. That marked two straight games for Swish with a round-tripper (power surge anyone?). Pena would load the bases in the seventh (with help from a Ramirez error at second) and walk Jeter to force in a run before Randy Williams, a bullpen hero of the previous day, took the hill and gave up back-to-back doubles to Nick Johnson (?!!) and Marky T (???!!!!). When it was all said and done, New York had unloaded for 5 runs in the inning and 12 runs total for the game. No coming back from that I'm afraid.

Game MVP: Phil Hughes, for his continued mastery

Honorable Mention: Mark Teixeira, for busting out a 4-hit game outta nowhere, and to the hope that he might be finally heating up here in May

So what have we learned?

1. Andy Pettitte knows how to grind out a game and keep his team within reach of the victory, making him a true pitcher's pitcher.
2. Phil Hughes is looking more like a potential 20-game winner with every start. Plus he's cutting down on walks which bodes well for May.
3. Javy Vazquez needs to be replaced by Mitre or some other scrub before his next start. At most, I say they should give him one more. AT MOST.
4. David Robertson and Damaso Marte should not be trusted right now in close games, although Girardi seems to believe otherwise for some unknown reason.
5. Marky T in May = Game Over for the rest of the A.L.
6. Robinson Cano is the best hitter in the game right now. Yeah, what's good?
7. Even with the injury to Granderson, the Yanks could be looking at a 20-win month, assuming the rotation stays healthy, and Swisher, Gardener, and Jeter can keep doing what they're doing right now.