Liveblog 27: I Don't Really Like Joe Torre

I was surprised to learn that last night was the first time former Yankee manager Joe Torre had ever competed against the team in any capacity, whether as a player or coach. It made more sense though when I remembered that there was no interleague play back when he was on the field, and he was always a National League guy before joining the Yanks. Ah, interleague play, something we all love so much, right? Um. Anyway, the Yankees won the first game against Torre's Dodgers last night on the strength of a great start from CC Sabathia and a tie breaking home run by Alex Rodriguez, which had to feel good after some of the stuff that was said about him in Torre's book. Tonight A.J. Burnett, who's been pretty awful lately, changing his season from good to sub-average in nearly the blink of an eye, faces off against Hiroki Kuroda. I'm not actually sure if I'll be here when the game's happening though... huh. I'll try to talk about it if I can. I know how much you love my comments on sports! Go USA!

Top 1 - Darn that soccer game. I feel like the US should have won, but Ghana just played better in the first half and held them off well in extra time. Maybe in four years. Anyway, Derek Jeter leads off with a walk. Curtis Granderson swings through strike two, but Jeter steals second and reaches third after the ball skips away. The next pitch is ball four, and the Yankees are in a great position to score here. Mark Teixeira might finally be turning things around, and he continues that idea with a three run home run to right field on a high fastball. A-Rod lines a pitch to center, but right to Matt Kemp who makes the catch. Robinson Cano strikes out swinging. He's currently leading the league in hitting like many a broadcaster has predicted he one day might. Probably the best hitter on the team right now. Nick Swisher grounds out to first for the third out.

Bottom 1 - Did you see Edwin Jackson's no-hitter last night? Eight walks and a hit by pitch. The Diamondbacks actually got a force out at home at one point. That will go down as the least impressive career-defining feat of all time. Rafael Furcal leads off A.J. with a single to left. Tim McCarver's already pounding on Burnett for pitching like "they're tied", rather than with a lead. It's the second at bat, Tim. Calm down. Kemp strikes out on a couple breaking balls. They're talking about the game a couple days ago where the Dodgers lost partly because of mental mistakes, but also partly because the umpires totally jobbed them. I always enjoy seeing whenever a team (besides the Yankees) manages to lose in a crazy and depressing way. Andre Ethier singles, runners on the corners for Manny Ramirez. He belts a ground rule double, Yankees lead 3-1 with runners on second and third. I do think A.J. was good for the Yankees in the playoffs last year, but the five year deal really was probably a mistake. Javy Vazquez couldn't get an out to save his life in April and now their numbers look almost identical. Brett Gardner makes a nice effort to shag a James Loney fly ball, but a run scores on the sacrifice. Casey Blake watches strike one get called ball two. Francisco Cervelli throws on ball three and almost catches Manny off second. Full count to Blake. A third straight fastball gets him swinging, and A.J. keeps his ERA under 5 for the time being.

Top 2 - While I was eating, the Yankees failed to score.

Bottom 2 - So did the Dodgers.

Top 3 - Okay, I gotta go! Bye!

Wrap-Up - The Yankees lost, which makes me less happy than I was before they lost. They still have a two game lead in the AL East though, which is nice.

Liveblog 23: The Yankees Are In the Playoffs

The Yankees have already won seven more games than they did all of last season, and they have ten more to play. If they win just half of those, they'll finish with 101 wins and their best record since 2004. Last night they overcame the Angels in the ninth inning, and in the process clinched the first playoff berth of the year. Needless to say, this is a big improvement over last time. Surprisingly, it really has very little to do with pitching. CC Sabathia has been brilliant and Phil Hughes and Mariano Rivera have been rocks in the bullpen, while A.J. Burnett and Andy Pettitte have at times been very good, but overall the pitching has been a little below average, partially due to the easy home runs at the stadium.

What has carried them to such a great performance is the hitting, as the offense has been outstanding. They have an amazing eight players with an OPS+ of at least 120, meaning they have by a certain measure hit 20% better than the average, and if Derek Jeter can manage three more home runs in the short time left they'll all have at least 20 as well, a big league record. The defense has been less terrible than recent years as well. They set the record for consecutive games without an error, which actually isn't a great measure of that, but they've gotten to more balls than years past, helping the pitchers a bit, as a lot of them are outdoing their peripherals.

The team's magic number to clinch both the division and homefield advantage through the playoffs for the first time 2006 is six, and they can reduce both of those as well take a rare series victory in Los Angeles today as Burnett faces off against former Ray Scott Kazmir. For no understandable reason, in a few hours I'll be blogging at least the first five innings of the game.

Top 1 - The Yankees have four regular players out of the lineup today so this should be interesting. Jeter leads off by flying out to right. Since I last blogged about baseball he took over the record for most hits by a Yankee, but considering how many other teams have players with more it's not as impressive as the New York media made it out to be. Jerry Hairston Jr. works a full count walk. Mark Teixeira pops out to second. Hideki Matsui ends the inning with a line drive right to Gary Matthews Jr. in right field.

Bottom 1 - Watching A.J. pitch this year has been frustrating. You can't say enough about his stuff, but it is too frequently ineffective for whatever reason and he leads or nearly leads the league in a bunch of negative statistics like wild pitches and walks. He's had stretches of brilliance, and hopefully that's the side of him that shows up in October. Chone Figgins, constant thorn in the Yankees' side, singles to left. Burnett gets two strikes on Erick Aybar with a fastball and then the curve. Another curve in the dirt gets Aybar swinging. Former Yankee and Angels-offensive-resurgence-credit-getter Bobby Abreu lines out to Shelley Duncan in right. Figgins finally tries to steal second, but the effort is wasted as Torii Hunter grounds out to Robinson Cano.

Top 2 - Duncan is way late on the first fastball from Kazmir. Two more escape his grasp and he strikes out in a very feeble-looking at bat. Cano drives one to center field that falls into Hunter's glove. Melky Cabrera grounds out meekly for the third out.

Bottom 2 - Kendry Morales, getting some mild MVP consideration from people blissfully ignoring the real world, leads off with a single past Cano. Juan Rivera swings through a fastball for strike three. Howie Kendrick strikes out on the eighth pitch of the at bat as Morales swipes second thanks to a bad throw by Jose Molina. Matthews walks on four pitches to bring up the only white guy in the Angels' lineup today, catcher Mike Napoli. He strikes out on three pitches to end the threat.

Top 3 - I really don't understand Joe Girardi's decision to only play half of his good hitters today. Two of them are kind of hurt, but the others aren't, Kazmir already kind of destroys this team, and there's an off day tomorrow anyway. Brett Gardner gets an infield single off a grounder right back to Kazmir, who doesn't get to the ball quickly enough to make the play. Molina pops out to right. Back to Jeter, who grounds into a double play.

Bottom 3 - Figgins raps his sixth hit of the series, a single up the middle. Aybar bounces one that Burnett grabs and throws to first for the out as Figgins moves to second. Abreu watches three pitches go by and walks back to the dugout. Gardner takes a funny route to a fly ball by Hunter but tracks it down for out number three.

Top 4 - Hairston watches a third strike for the first out. Teixeira doubles into the corner in right. Matsui lets five pitches go by and walks. Duncan rips one that ricochets off Figgins' glove and dribbles to left field, but Teixeira held up thinking it might get caught and is thrown out at home trying to score. Matsui and Duncan moved to third and second on the play. Cano makes up for it by grounding a single between first and second on a 2-2 pitch, two runs score and he moves to second on the bad throw to home. Cabrera doubles into the gap in left and drives in Cano. Rivera puts about twice as much effort into catching a Gardner pop fly as he did trying to prevent the Red Sox from scoring the winning run on a simlar play a little while ago, and the inning's over, but the Yankees lead 3-0.

Bottom 4 - Now pitching with a lead, Burnett responds by throwing three straight balls to Morales, but comes back to strike him out, already his sixth of the game. Rivera walks in a kind of irritating at bat. Kendrick strikes out again. Another full count, and another strikeout, as Matthews becomes Burnett's seveth different victim of the K. He's pitching well.

Top 5 - Molina flies out to the warning track in dead center. Jeter fails to check his swing on a third strike but the ball gets away from Napoli and he makes it to first base. For the record, I think it's dumb that you can do that. Jeter steals second on the next pitch. Hairston pops out to short center. I just noticed that Teixeira is creeping towards .300 as the season ends. After a terrible first month he's been around .280 all year, but if he made it that would be neat. Kazmir just misses a called strike that puts the count full and the next pitch is fouled off the ground into Napoli's junk. After a short break, ball four comes in for a walk. Matsui pops out to cut the frame short.

Bottom 5 - Napoli recovers from the ball shot by smacking a ground ball past the listless Jeter for a single to open the bottom of the inning. Figgins comes up as the only batter A.J. hasn't retired at least once. He stays that way lining a double down the right field line. Aybar swings at a curve that actually hits his foot for strike two. Another curve down and in gets him for the second time. Abreu drives in the Angels' first run with a groundball out to Cano playing deep. Hunter lines out to Duncan in right, and Burnett gets out of it with a two run lead intact.

Top 6 - Duncan works a long at bat before Hunter makes a catch near the wall for the first out. Cano strikes out on another ball in the dirt, but this one doesn't get far enough away for him to reach. Cabrera singles, but Gardner flies out to end the inning.

Bottom 6 - Full count and another called strikeout for Morales. Rivera singles up the middle. Kendrick fans again, the 11th of the game. Matthews crushes one to right that Duncan falls over going after and a run scores. Napoli walks on a questionable fourth ball, and that's it for Burnett. I'm out of here before this gets worse.

Wrap-Up - Damaso Marte finished off the sixth, and then there was a couple of tense innings as the Yankees' second-string relievers bent but didn't break against the Angels' offense before Rivera shut the door in the ninth. Good win, as it's the Yankees' first series win in Anaheim in years and an admirable job in a pressure-filled situation. If Boston loses today or tomorrow against the Royals, then the Yankees can clinch the division with a series win at home against them this weekend. That would certainly be sweet.

Liveblog 18: The Yankees Are Soaring

Overall, this season is going fairly well. The Yankees have certainly had their struggles, and are only right at the top of the AL East standings thanks to their current nine game winning streak. Boston enjoyed one that lasted eleven games and vaulted them from the bottom to second place, and now New York's having a similar surge. They've lost to the Red Sox all five times they've played them so far, and at least two of those games should have been wins. Still, they're looking more like a winning ball club, and they're in a bit better of a position in mid-May than they have typically been this decade.

Plenty of players have had problems. CC Sabathia was not looking like the best paid pitcher of all time in April. After a hot start, A.J. Burnett has slowed down considerably. Mark Teixeira was in the doldrums for far too long to start off, Nick Swisher has fallen off since his amazing first couple weeks as a Yankee, and Brett Gardner quickly showed he wasn't ready for the everyday center fielder job. Chien-Ming Wang was putrid out of the gate, apparently not completely over his injuries from last year, and Phil Hughes has only had a few acceptable starts in his place while he figures it out.

Still, there are bright spots. Robinson Cano and Melky Cabrera have both had a great couple months, fending off their naysayers. In the last few games, CC Sabathia has been an absolute monster. Joba Chamberlain and Andy Pettitte have both done pretty well in their turns through the rotation. Alex Rodriguez finally returned from his hip surgery in grand fashion, hitting the first pitch he saw for a three run homer. He hasn't gotten many hits since then, but he's continued to slug and draw his walks as he gets back into form, and whether it's a coincidence or not, Teixeira has looked like the outstanding player he was supposed to be and the team has only lost two of the thirteen games they've played since his return. Johnny Damon's also had a great year at the plate, and putting him second with Derek Jeter batting leadoff seems to have been a smart move. The bullpen is looking very weak right now, but that's the only issue the team seems to have, and that could end up working itself out.

Interleague play begins tonight as Burnett takes the mound against the Philadelphia Phillies, last year's World Series winner and the current leader of their division. The last time these teams played, the only thing I really remember is a game where Ryan Howard drove in something like seven runs against Mike Mussina but the Yankees won anyway. Let's hope they can do that again tonight without having to deal with such an outburst. Although if they do lose and break the winning streak, I'm going to have a hard time convincing myself to do a liveblog again for a while. I'll be back in a few hours.

Top 1 - Woo baseball. Let's go for ten. Burnett got off on the wrong foot, giving up a homer, hitting a batter, and allowing a single with his first four pitches. It seems like he's pitched better so far than his 5.02 ERA, but them's the numbers. Before I could eat my pizza and finish typing this paragraph, he came back strong with strikeouts of Ryan Howard and Jayson Werth, and got Shane Victorino to ground out on a nice diving play by Teixeira.

Bottom 1 - I'm not sure if Burnett hit Chase Utley on purpose, but Brett Myers seems to think he did as his second pitch to Jeter is behind his back. That prompts a warning for both clubs from the umpire, and Jeter hits the next pitch past Jimmy Rollins' glove for a single. Damon chops a ball that Myers knocks down and throws to second for the force out. Teixeira's up, and the protection discussion begins. Studies have shown that who's behind the current batter doesn't significantly affect pitch selection, but the theory still persists. Myers debunks it a little bit by getting him on a nice curve. A-Rod laces a double to left, but a nice relay results in Damon getting tagged out at the plate, inning over.

Top 2 - I think that was only A-Rod's third hit this season that wasn't a home run. Matt Stairs dunks the ball just out of reach to Burnett's left, resulting in an infield hit. Those are so much more irritating than clean singles to the outfield. Pedro Feliz flies out harmlessly to right. Burnett's consistently hitting 95 with the fastball tonight. Carlos Ruiz takes one to left for a home run that extends their lead to three. I'm already cursing myself for blogging this. They just showed that Damon lost his glove on the play and had to ask the fans for it back. Don't see that much. Rollins walks on five pitches. Utley strikes out on a curve that allows Rollins to steal second base. Raul Ibanez flies out to Cabrera for the final out.

Bottom 2 -Hideki Matsui grounds out weakly to second. I keep forgetting he's on the team lately. Swisher strikes out on the first pitch I actually watch of his at bat. Just waiting for something good to happen. Cano grounds one up the middle, but Rollins shows range Jeter could only dream of and just gets him at first.

Top 3 - Howard grounds out weakly to Cano, one down. Two pitches later, Werth flies out to second. I was just looking at my game reviews on Giant Bomb, and every single one is at least four stars out of five. Now, I only play games I'm pretty sure I'll like, I'm fairly generous with my ratings, and I round up all of my half points so a 7.5 out of 10 becomes a 4 out of 5, but that still seems ridiculous to me. Oh well. Victorino works the count full before lining out Teixeira to retire the side.

Bottom 3 - Cabrera grounds out to the pitcher on the first pitch. Great job. Cash flies out to the no man's land in short right field where three fielders converge, but it's high enough to be easily caught. Back to the top of the order as Jeter grounds out. Myers has thrown 33 pitches. Awesome job, guys.

Top 4 - Stairs strikes out swinging on another curve. Feliz grounds a ball that forces A-Rod to range a bit to his left for out number two. Ruiz takes a 1-2 pitch to right for a single which is just... just unfortunate. Come on, Burnett. No one named Ruiz has ever been good at baseball. The good thing about Michael Kay if you don't follow baseball much is that he often explains references or rules that you may not be familiar with. The bad thing about Kay if you do follow baseball is you hear him say the same shit constantly over and over. I could understand national broadcasters wanting to make sure viewers understand the game, but I'm watching a regional game on Friday fucking night. I probably understand what the Mendoza Line is. Burnett racks up yet another K with the curveball. He has five in four innings, but has thrown twice as many pitches as Myers.

Bottom 4 - Damon is yet another Yankee to ground out to Myers, but Teixeira slaps a single to left. Alex watches the third strike go by and walks back to the dugout. These guys are on fire tonight. Matsui dribbles one that Rollins can't field cleanly with his bare hand and gets an infield hit. With those knees, it could be his only one all season. Wait, that was his third? Jesus. Swisher ends the thread with a grounder to second. This is lame.

Top 5 - At least Myers threw some pitches that time. Utley becomes Burnett's sixth strikeout victim. Ibanez then walks on four pitches. Yo, that pitch to Howard was totally a strike. Yet another diving play by Teixeira, who manages to get the lead runner out. I bet he'd definitely have more gold gloves if he didn't keep switching leagues mid-season. Not that gold gloves are a good indicator of defense or anything. Werth crushes another home run to left, 5-0 Phillies. Great, I cursed the Yankees. Unless something good happens in the bottom of the frame, I'm out. And now Victorino gets an easy triple to right center. Yay baseball! I must be testy, because I just threatened to mutilate my dog's genitals for barking. Another strikeout (hooray!) limits the damage a bit.

Bottom 5 - Cano hits a ball that bounces off Utley and reaches first, and it's scored an error. Melky strikes out. Boo. I guess I forgot to mention earlier that the Yankees are playing their fourth catcher tonight. Both Jorge Posada and Jose Molina are out with hamstring issues, forcing the team to rely on garbage like Cash and the rookie Francisco Cervelli. The latter is doing pretty well actually, but it's still a pitiful situation. Cash struck out, by the way. Jeter grounds out, and I'm done. At least the Sox are losing to the Mets right now. I'll be back later to summarize how much I suck.

Wrap-Up - The Yankees proceeded to hit three solo home runs in the next three innings, but that was all they could do as Wang returned from the DL with three innings of two run ball and the Yankees lost 7-4, snapping their winning streak. It was a pretty snappy game considering ten runs scored. On the bright side, Toronto and Boston both lost too. The Yankees still have a good shot to win the series, with Pettitte pitching against someone who I've never heard of tomorrow and CC Sabathia going against a guy who's not CC Sabathia the day after. Time to start a new streak.