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.