Liveblog 28: Right Before the Break

Here we are on the last game before the break. The Futures Game is tonight, Nick Swisher is going in the Home Run Derby tomorrow, and eight Yankees will be at the All-Star Game the day after. The team's been doing very well lately - despite losing out on the Cliff Lee sweepstakes (something I don't terribly mind since if there's one weakness on this team, it's not starting pitching), they have the best record in the majors and are on pace to do even better than last year's 103 wins. And that's despite an occasional inability to hit the broad side of the barn and the fact that Mariano Rivera is their only reliable reliever. Joba Chamberlain just blew his second 1-0 lead in as many opportunities, and they've got to stop putting him in those situations until he figures things out. I know the important things that are in his control have been pretty good, but he's simply not the pitcher he was two or three years ago. Anyway, CC Sabathia has been fantastic lately and is pitching this afternoon. He'll try to get the Yankees their third win in this four game series against Ryan Rowland-Smith. I'll probably start this a little late because of the World Cup final but I will try to go more than two innings this time.

Top 1 - As regulation time drew to a close in South Africa, the Yankees loaded the bases against Rowland-Smith and managed to score two runs. Marcus Thames is batting sixth, and strikes out looking.

Bottom 1 - Of course the World Cup Final is scoreless and going into extra time on the day I intended to blog the Yankee game. I'll be watching that, but also keeping this updated with Gameday until it's over. CC was voted onto the All-Star team by the players, but he won't participate because he's pitching today. He's actually not the best candidate, but he's been pitching very well lately, winning his last seven starts. Ichiro Suzuki grounds out to first. Chone Figgins strikes out swinging. Franklin Gutierrez grounds out to second. Pretty simple.

Top 2 - Curtis Granderson grounds out to first. He really hasn't done that much this year besides a few clutch hits. He's really got to figure out this left handed thing, or at least start against them less often. That would be easier if they could pick up a bat at the deadline since Nick Johnson seems to be in fine constantly-injured form. Brett Gardner gets a free pass in the form of a hit by pitch in what looks to be the upper arm area. Derek Jeter hits a deep fly ball, but Gutierrez catches it at the wall. Swisher grounds out to third and the inning's over.

Bottom 2 - Last night's hero at Joba's expense, Jose Lopez hits a line drive right at Mark Teixeira. Casey Kotchman hits what I assume is a solid single to left field. Newly acquired Justin Smoak does the same. Josh Bard flies out to the same general area and Jack Wilson grounds into a force though, so it's for naught.

Top 3 - Besides that kick to the chest that the referee missed, this has been kind of a boring World Cup Final. Here's a pretty amazing statistic: Brett Gardner has a higher slugging percentage than the entire Mariners lineup today. This is Brett Gardner we're talking about! Talk about a team that can't hit. Spain flops to get a red card called against the Dutch, but can't do anything with the free kick. Meanwhile Tex hits a double to left. A-Rod actually tries a bunt, but hits it foul and moves the runner to third on a foul fly out instead. Tex scores on a wild pitch over Robinson Cano's head. I don't understand why the team is letting Swisher hit in the derby but not Cano. They say he has a back issue, but if so it's so minor that he didn't even know it was a problem until they told him about it. Cano and Jorge Posada make fly outs to end the inning.

Bottom 3 - Late goal for Spain, looks like the Cup is theirs. Two cards on the play. Lots of cards in this game, man. Meanwhile CC has two quick outs. In case you were wondering, only one of the Yankees' three runs was earned, because in the first inning rally the Mariners actually made two errors. And the third run was scored on a wild pitch, so... that's not how you win games. When you can't hit, defense should be a priority. Figgins grounds out.

Top 4 - Game over, Spain wins its first World Cup, Netherlands fails yet again in their third final. I finished second in my pool to pick the winners. I've enjoyed the cup, but the combination of referee failure and lack of accountability makes it difficult to really care about soccer otherwise. Thames singles to start the inning. Granderson moves him to second with a ground ball. Gardner reaches base again with a walk. Passed ball moves up the runners. Really sloppy defense. Jeter doubles in both runs and things are looking nice on ice, all right. Swisher pops out, but Teixeira hits another double and the Yanks lead 6-0. Rodriguez flies out.

Bottom 4 - The Futures game starts at 6. I might watch that instead of finishing this if it's still so one-sided. Cano misses a ball but still manages to throw out the runner. CC knocks down a ball and throws to first for out number two. Full count against Kotchman, but he grounds out to second. CC's consistently cruising.

Top 5 - New pitcher for the Mariners, Brian Sweeney. Cano leads off with a double and Posada flies out. Thames smashes a home run just fair (off a right hander!), and this game is getting out of hand. Granderson singles to right. Gameday's lagging behind quite a bit for some reason. Gardner loops a fly ball to left for out number two. Jeter hits it far yet again, but it's caught by Ichiro.

Bottom 5 - Smoak and Bard make outs quickly. Wilson hangs in a while, but grounds out to third. Breezy game considering the eight runs.

Top 6 - Another deep fly by a Yankee as Swisher flies out to center. Tex flies out to right and A-Rod grounds out somewhere. On we go.

Bottom 6 - CC gives up consecutive singles again, and Figgins works a full count. Yet another single, and Michael Saunders breaks up the shutout. Gutierrez lines out to Jeter, who can't make the accurate throw to first to pick off Figgins. No worries though, as Lopez grounds in a double play on the next pitch. Game looks to be in hand, I'm going to flip over to the Futures game and wrap up later.

Wrap-Up - CC finished seven innings and with the Mariners only managing one run off the Yankees bullpen, they won 8-2, giving Sabathia his eighth straight win despite only one strikeout. They did great in the first half despite a few hiccups, and are maybe one trade away from a completely dominant second half of the season.

Liveblog 19: The Yankees Are a Baseball Team

The Yankees haven't been playing as well lately as they were when I last did this, and in fact if it wasn't for an embarrassing dropped pop up by Luis Castillo in a game against the Mets, they would have lost three series in a row and be looking at a possible fourth right now. They're still in a decent position, only three games back from Boston in the division despite losing all eight games they played against them, but they just aren't looking very good right now. The pitching still isn't consistent, and sometimes even when they do get a good performance like with A.J. Burnett last night, they aren't hitting enough to win games. The most disappointing of all was losing two out of three against the Nationals, on pace for a historically terrible season. Also, Robinson Cano can't seem to get enough of grounding into double plays to end games.

You're not going to win every game you should during a season though, and hopefully they're just scuffling a little right now and not showing anything truly alarming. Perhaps a couple days off will do A-Rod some good, and maybe CC Sabathia can get the team on another roll with a big win tonight. The team doesn't seem that far from getting everything together, and I'm still really confident in their playoff chances. Hell, they're leading the wild card and didn't really do that all last year. The game oddly starts at 5, and I'll be calling the shots then.

Top 1 - All right, Chris Volstad starts off the game by striking out Derek Jeter. Nick Swisher seems to have recovered from at least being completely terrible in May. He doubles off the wall in left center. Mark Teixeira's numbers are finally about where they should be. The count goes full before he flies out to left. Alex Rodriguez grounds out weakly to short to end the inning. Let's hope today's not a rerun of last night, threatening a lot but only scoring once.

Bottom 1 - Somebody leads off against CC. He hits a double. Yay! Chris Coghlan. Never heard of him. Wes Helms takes a couple balls before singling up the middle as Coghlan scores. Off to a great start here. Hanley Ramirez pops out to Cano behind first base. Former Ray Jorge Cantu flies out deep to left field. Dan Uggla of worst All-Star Game defensive performance ever fame draws a walk. Ronny Paulino watches three strikes go by to end the inning. Not great, but CC limited the damage.

Top 2 - Maybe I should have done this tomorrow so I could cover a Yankee pitcher I haven't already done this year and Tommy Hanson. Oh well. Cano returns the favor by popping out to Ramirez. Jorge Posada lines out to right. Melky Cabrera grounds out weakly to second, inning over.

Bottom 2 - Joe Girardi and the trainer came out to see Sabathia before the inning, I don't know what's going on with him. Cody Ross flies out to center field. Brett Carroll doubles down the line in left. I guess they see something, because they're talking to CC again and Alfredo Aceves is up in the bullpen. And now they're taking him out of the game. This is not what I signed up for.

Bottom 2, Take 2 - Aceves starts off Volstad with a ball. We didn't even get to see one at bat from CC! He can slug for a pitcher. Volstad hits an infield pop-up on a full count. Coghlan flies out to center to end the inning. Poop.

Top 3 - Brett Gardner chops out to Uggla. Aceves takes three swings and Ks quickly. Jeter bounces one over the pitchers head and makes it with an infield hit. Wild pitch inside allows Jeter to move into scoring position. Swisher draws a walk. A couple pitches later and Jeter steals third without a throw. Teixeira hits yet another chopper over the first baseman, and Jeter scores as Tex slides hard into second. If Swisher had taken second when Jeter went for third like he probably should have, the Yankees would have a lead instead of just being tied. It doesn't matter though, as A-Rod flops a single to left and both runners score, 3-1 Yankees. Cano ends the inning with a fly out to left, but that was a nice two out rally.

Bottom 3 - Browser crashed and I lost all the witty things I said here. Nothing really happened.

Top 4 - Posada makes the first out of the inning. Cabrera makes the second. It's kind of hard to pay full attention because the TV is behind me. Gardner beats out an infield single. Aceves makes the final out, letting the Yankees start the fifth at the top of the order.

Bottom 4 - Melky makes a nice running catch for the first out. Two more outs. I'm really not paying much attention here, am I?

Top 5 - This isn't really what I wanted. CC isn't pitching, I lost all those words, I can't see the game, other stuff is piss me off right now... three outs. One more half inning.

Bottom 5 - Brett Tomko in to pitch, and he strikes out Volstad. Coghlan lines a single up the middle. Another strikeout for Tomko. Ramirez hits a home run to tie the game. A fly out ends the inning. Back later with the final result.

Wrap-Up - Ugh. The Yankees' bullpen couldn't hold up giving up three more runs, and a late rally ended when Jeter made an out on the first pitch right after a walk. Yankees lose, 6-5. More annoying than if they just went out meekly in the ninth. Why do I even do these?

Liveblog 17: Hello, New Yankee Stadium

I have to say I'm satisfied with the Yankees' performance so far. They're only 5-4, but playing all of the games on the road, missing their best hitter and after having stunk in April for years, you take what you can get. Chien-Ming Wang, a couple bullpen pitchers, and center field and third base production have stunk, but CC Sabathia looked great in his second start after really struggling in the first, and AJ Burnett and Nick Swisher have both performed awesomely with their new team, the latter quickly becoming my favorite player on the squad. He's hit unbelievably, and besides that he seems like a really fun guy, evidenced by his scoreless inning of relief in support of a depleted bullpen during a blowout against the Rays.

Today's the first game in the new Yankee Stadium, and it will be interesting to see if it continues to play like a hitter's park as it did in the two exhibitions they played right before the season started. The old stadium was a pitcher's park, but while the new one has the same dimensions in specific places, the outfield walls are a bit closer in between and there's less foul territory, which suggests it won't be as ERA-friendly even if the ball doesn't fly out like it did against the Cubs. Sabathia will make his third start after they take care of the opening ceremonies, and I'll liveblog some of it although I have to leave a bit later to do some stuff. I look forward to whatever happens.

Pre-Game - Not much happening yet, a marching band is playing. Ken Singleton's talking about the seating and says he doesn't think there's a bad one in the house. I guess he missed the controversy with the obstructed outfield seats blocked by the restaurant in center. Ceremonies should begin soon. John Fogerty's really the best musician they could get for this? Seems like he's not really playing his gimmick baseball bat guitar but actually singing. Song's kinda familiar, I'm sure I'd know the name if I was twenty years older. Hey, Bernie Williams with the guitar. He was my favorite player through my youth when the team was winning World Series. He's playing a nice little acoustic piece. And now they're trotting out former Yankees. Fame not a particular requirement. Does this mean they don't have to take an hour announcing them on Old Timers' Day? Are they still going to do that? They're the only team that does anymore. Might work better as an every-five-years thing. This is actually a better turnout of memorable names than there usually is.

Introducing the Indians as the crowd boos. I picked them for that muddled division but they're off to a terrible start. Even worse than the Red Sox! Big boos for Carl Pavano, but that's the only big reaction. Watch Cliff Lee shut down the Yanks today after sucking in his first two starts. I've never heard of the Yankees' first base coach before. Xavier Nady's still with the team, even though he's about to hit the DL, maybe for the rest of the season. Big cheers for Burnett already. As I thought, bigger cheers for Swisher than Mark Teixeira. Crowd overall seems somewhat subdued. Maybe it's the reduced number of seats. Kelly Clarkson sings the national anthem with flags and jets flying over and shit. Now let's play some baseball! I have a little over an hour before I have to leave.

Top 1 - CC starts Grady Sizemore off with a couple balls. A couple strikes later he gets him to ground out to first. Is Mark DeRosa supposed to be good? I don't know. He works a full count before grounding out to second. Victor Martinez is the first hitter to see a first pitch strike. A few more pitches and CC strikes him out with a high heater.

Bottom 1 - Little thing before Derek Jeter leads off, placing Babe Ruth's bat from the first home run at the old stadium on home plate. On the first pitch, Jeter pops it up to center. Johnny Damon gets the first hit in the stadium, a single off Lee, who has had a strange couple years. He was so bad in 2007 that he was sent back to the minors, but bounced back amazingly last year and won the Cy Young. We've yet to really see what he'll do this year. He dings Teixeira with a pitch, runners on first and second for Swisher. He works the count a while before lining out to Sizemore. Jorge Posada gets a chance to drive in the first run. Unfortunately he ends the threat by grounding to first.

Top 2 - Jhonny "my parents can't spell" Peralta lines out to left. The TV glitched out for a bit, but all I missed was two balls to Shin-Soo Choo. CC's command doesn't look great today. On the eighth pitch of the at bat Choo grounds out to second. Ben Francisco doubles to left field. Kelly Shoppach walks, and CC's definitely not looking like he did against Kansas City. I just remembered that the camera placements weren't ideal in the exhibition games, but they seem back to normal now. At least the standard view of pitches looks right. CC Ks Tony Graffanino to end the inning. He seems effective if not dominant.

Bottom 2 - Little tribute to Bobby Murcer as Robinson Cano leads off. Unlike previous years, he's looked pretty strong coming out of the gate. He smacks a single through the infielders to right. Hideki Matsui grounds out weakly to first, but moves Cano to second at least. Cody Ransom, who has filled in less than adequately for Alex Rodriguez at third base, draws a full count before fanning on a bad pitch. Brett "people think I'm gritty because I can't hit very well" Gardner pops out to short left for the third out.

Top 3 - I've never heard of Trevor Crowe, who hits yet another ground ball out to first. Sabathia facing his former team for the first time in the first game at his team's new ballpark is a mildly interesting storyline, don't you think? Sizemore takes a walk. CC's strike to ball ratio is dangerously close to even. Another walk to DeRosa. Jeez. Some of those calls looks pretty sketchy on Gameday, too. The runners are off with the pitch, but Martinez pops out into a double play. A bit lucky on that one.

Bottom 3 - Last inning before I have to leave. Let me see the first run at the Stadium please. Technical problems as Bob Lorenz' microphone isn't working and we actually lose stadium noise for a few seconds, which is kind of eerie. Jeter's first hit at the stadium is a swinging bunt to third. Damon grounds into a force out but there's no chance for a double play thanks to a bobble. Teixeira's swinging first pitch and flies out to center. Swisher doubles to left, runners on second and third with two outs for Posada. Unfortunately he shatters his bat on a weak grounder to second. Oh well. Back later to summarize the rest.

Wrap-Up - Kind of glad I stopped blogging when I did because after CC labored through another two and two thirds innings, the bullpen exploded with Damaso Marte in the center as they managed to give up nine runs in the seventh inning. Sabathia ended up only giving up one run, but it took him 122 pitches to record 17 outs, and the Yankees left runners on base all day long, losing 10-2. Kind of a really bad way to open the new park, but at least the first home run at the stadium was hit by Posada, who otherwise managed to strand six runners. Tomorrow's another day.

Baseball's Back

After a fairly entertaining World Baseball Classic and a spring training that seemed to go on forever, baseball finally returned for real last night as the Braves beat the Phillies to start the regular season. Today's the first full day of games, with the Yankees starting the season against the Orioles in just a few minutes. It feels good to have the game back, I've had some fun watching things like the football playoffs and having those three hours every night, but I can't say any other sport makes me feel the way baseball does.

I don't have too much to say about this Yankee team. They should be a lot better than last year, with the additions of CC Sabathia and Mark Teixeira especially, which they need to be competitive in the game's best division. I've seen too many people thinking that those two will only replace the production of Mike Mussina and Jason Giambi, but they're overlooking how much else went wrong last season that probably won't happen this time. Almost everybody who got hurt is looking healthy now, and it seems like they might be missing Alex Rodriguez for less time than initially expected. This spring was a complete mess of controversy for him, but even at less than full health he's a dominant offensive force for this team.

Sabathia's first start begins shortly, although I won't be liveblogging the game for reasons I won't get into. I do intend to blog his first home start though, which will happen to be the first official game played in the new Yankee Stadium. They played a couple exhibition games against the Cubs a couple days ago, and while some of the camera positions seemed less than ideal, they have time to fix that, and it's a really nice looking park. The ball seemed to really fly out when hitters got a hold of it, but it remains to be seen whether it will be more of a hitter's park than the old stadium or it was just a fluke. Either way, I'm excited to see what this team does this year in it's new home.

Liveblog 8: ALDS Game 1

Playoffs! The Yankees couldn't catch Boston in the end, but they still played well enough to grab the wildcard. Boston picked the 8 game series, leaving the Yankees playing their first game today in Cleveland. The Yanks killed the Indians this season, but they didn't have to face their ace, CC Sabathia, who's starting tonight. Chien-Ming Wang is making his second consecutive Game 1 start in the playoffs, and hoepfully he can overcome his road woes and pitch well enough to give his team a shot. The big story is going to be if A-Rod can finally get it done in the playoffs. Apparently it doesn't matter that he's the biggest reason they're there, if he has a bad few games and they get bounced in the LDS again, he's a choker. I hate the media. I'm not terribly confident for this series with two geezers pitching in Game 3 and 4 (if that one happens), but I'm very hopeful. So let's go with the liveblog.

Top 1 - Damon leads off against Sabathia. He has bad career numbers against the Yankees, but he hasn't seen them since 2004 and has rounded into a Cy Young favorite this season. Damon works a 3-1 count before smacking a ball JUST foul down the right field line. Or was it? The umpires reconvene and call it a home run! I'd like to see a replay, but they don't seem to have a good angle. They of course bring up the discussion about instant replay in baseball. Most against a change can only cite the "human element" of having umpires make the calls, but I don't see why tradition is more valuable than being correct. If nothing else, they should be definitively right or wrong on home run calls. Jeter works a 2-2 count before popping up. Despite the vast weight difference, CC reminds me of Randy Johnson; big, tall left-hander with mid-nineties heat, good control, and a good slider. Abreu does his thing by drawing a walk. Apparently Froemming isn't giving that outside corner just yet. A-Rod draws a walk as well. They're following their game plan to the letter - make CC work for every out. He has 24 pitches already. He throws two balls to Posada before striking him out with three more pitches. Matsui up with two outs. Froemming starts giving that corner, two called strikes. Matsui grounds out weakly to end it. Would have liked more runs, but they did work CC for 33 pitches.

Bottom 1 - Wang hits Sizemore with his first pitch. Terrific. Cabrera smacks a grounder to Jeter who turns the double play easily. Actually terrific. I didn't liveblog any of Wang's starts this year and I don't talk about him much, but he might be my favorite Yankee at the moment, although my man-crush on Phil Hughes is challenging that. He's a hard worker, doesn't complain, seems friendly and composed, and gets the job done. Wins are an overrated statistic for pitchers, but it's still impressive he's won 38 games in his first two full seasons. I don't think he has the dominance in him to be a true ace, but he's definitely the team's number one starter right now and should be a good workhorse for a long time. Hafner's already seen more than twice as many pitches as the first two batters combined. He walks. Martinez hits a single. Without Posada, he'd be the best catcher in the league. Garko lines a single up the middle, and Hafner scores easily. Wang hung a slider, even though Mr. Gwynn called it an elevated sinker. The sinker's 95 Tony, not 85. Full count to Peralta. This inning would be a disaster without those first two outs on three pitches. It's still pretty bad anyway. Peralta walks, bases loaded for Kenny Lofton. If he gets a hit, I might just kill myself right now. He gets a single, driving in two, but Peralta is picked off on the bases to end the inning. This is why sometimes it's good to be able to get strikeouts. 3-1 Indians.

Top 2 - That was very bad, but there's still plenty of time. Cano walks on four pitches from Sabathia, which is hard to believe. Seriously, why are there outfield umpires if they can't make those calls? Froemming saw Damon's home run clear as day in the first, but the guy who's entire job it is to see it missed it. Cabrera pops up, which is much easier to believe. Eye Chart's up. He pops up as well. Damon works it 2-2, but Cano is thrown out easily attempting to steal. Not sure why they tried that, he's not fast at all. Just throwing away outs early. At least CC has 49 pitches already.

Bottom 2 - Gutierrez pops out to A-Rod. Wang strikes out Blake on four pitches, back to the top of the order. Sizemore singles, but gets caught stealing on the next pitch. That was better. I'm going to grab some food.

Top 3 - While I was gone, CC struck out Damon and Jeter before walking Abreu again, but then A-Rod popped out the first pitch. What a choker! 68 pitches. At least they're doing well on that front.

Bottom 3 - Cabrera clubs a home run to right-center after starting 0-2. Crap. Pronk grounds out weakly. Martinez flies out in similar fashion. Garko flares a duck-fart single. Peralta flies out to left, and the Yankees need to start hitting now.

Top 4 - Posada loops a liner to right for an out on the second pitch. That's not getting it done. Froemming's definitely giving that outside corner now. Matsui K's on 3 pitches. Also not getting it done. Cano hits a dinger, two run ball game. That's how you get it DONE. Cabrera pops out again because he's not a very good hitter. 80 pitches. The count doesn't matter as much any more, he's gonna get enough rope to go two more innings and get to Cleveland's two dominant Rafaels. Unless they light him up, which would just be fantastic.

Bottom 4 - Lofton pops out. He walks Gutierrez, bringing Blake to the plate, who grounds to Alex who gets the out at second. Wang strikes out Sizemore looking, and we're on to the fifth.

Top 5 - Shelley Duncan leads off, taking over for Mientkiewicz. Apparently the old ankle injury he aggravated earlier today has caught up with him. Duncan works the count full before smacking a single. He's pretty awesome, I have to say. I don't see how he stayed in the minors until age 27 before getting a chance. CC stays outside on Damon and walks him. Five walks tonight, very uncharacteristic for him. It's probably nerves. The Yankees should knock him out in this inning. Sweep the leg. Jeter flies out harmlessly to right, but CC has 99 pitches now. Abreu swings at the first pitch, which is surprising, but lines it for a double the other way, a run scores, and here's a big spot for A-Rod - runners on 2nd and 3rd with 1 out. They walk him intentionally. If someone says he didn't get the job done, I'm gonna punch them in the mouth. Bases loaded for Posada. The first three pitches are balls. The next two are strikes. He gets him swinging. HUGE out. Now a long fly ball doesn't tie the game. This would be a good time for Matsui's first hit against Sabathia. He pops out to Peralta. God damn it.

Bottom 5 - That could be the difference in the game and the series - tying run on third base with one out and they don't get it done. Wang has to hold down the fort. Unfortunately he walks Cabrera. Hafner flies out to center. Victor Martinez hits a two run homer. Wang is not getting it done at all. Garko grounds out to second. Peralta bloops a double to short right field. Fact: this is the most annoying hit in all of baseball. Lofton with another single, and a run scores, exacerbating the irritating nature of the dreaded bloop double. 7-3, Indians. Wang's night is over, and he'll be lucky if his season isn't. Ross Ohlendorf is coming in to put out the fire. Or so we hope. Unfortunately he walks Gutierrez after Lofton steals second. You have a fastball, Ross, it's okay to use it. Blake doubles down the line to score two runs. The commentators are going back to Jeter's at bat, thinking that if he had bunted instead of swinging away, they would have tied the game on Abreu's double. I guess they're ignoring that the Yankees have given up 5 runs this inning. Sizemore pops out, but the game is over. No way the bullpen blows this. I'll watch the rest of the game, but I'm done typing up everything that happens. Hopefully Pettitte can do well tomorrow and the Yankees can head back to New York with a split. Back later with the wrap-up.

Wrap-up - The Yankees managed nothing in the rest of their at bats, losing 12-3. It was a damned if he does, damned if he doesn't situation for A-Rod. He didn't get any hits so he'll probably get criticized again, but if he had it would have been dismissed as meaningless stat padding. Never mind that he was intentionally walked in his only high-leverage at bat, he can't win until he does something really big. Ohlendorf struggled as he started the next inning, and had to be relieved by Veras who finished it. Phil Hughes pitched two innings, which is annoying, because it seems like his talent was being wasted in a game that was already over. Besides another solo home run, he looked pretty sharp, commanding his pitches well and getting two strikeouts. I guess he could still pitch in a meaningful game this series, but I wouldn't count on it with Joe managing. Wedge made a couple questionable moves too, throwing his two best relievers a total of three innings with the game already in hand. We'll see if that's a factor tomorrow.