Liveblog 16: Goodbye, Yankee Stadium

The Yankees have actually been playing better of late, but they're still only a couple games from being eliminated, which would make tomorrow the last game ever at Yankee Stadium. I was only ever able to go once, but I'll still have some good memories of the place. I'm not too happy about them moving to a new stadium, since it's clear the only motivation is to increase profits. If the dimensions are exactly the same, you're not building a roof, the location's not even different, and the only real change is an increase in the number of private boxes, it's hard to pretend otherwise. We already don't go to many games because they're so expensive. The situation's about as disappointing as the Yankees season. They're missing the playoffs for the first time in years, while their old manager is riding in with the Dodgers. Some sports pundits are already getting obnoxious about it, and ignoring the fact that they play in the game's worst division while the Yankees play in the best, and still have a better record. To me, that's relevant information. Anyway, I'm liveblogging the penultimate game at the Cathedral, for two reasons. Alfredo Aceves has come and surprised me with his solid pitching, while Andy Pettitte is just irritating to watch these days, and I'm going to be busier tomorrow anyway. Be back in a few hours.

Top 1 - Last night was the first time a call was correctly overturned using the new limited replay system the league added. So hey... progress. Aceves is on the mound and gives up a lead off double to Brian Roberts of the Orioles. It's erased though as the next batter pops up a bunt to Aceves, who runs it over to second base for the double play. Having some fun with these games that don't matter, I guess. Aceves was found in an independent Mexican league when the Yankees found him, and he pitched very well in the minor leagues this year. He got called up in September, and has done very well. He could be a cheap option for next year's rotation. Markakis smacks a single. Huff grounds one to Cano, who throws it to Aceves as Giambi was pulled off the bag. I don't think I've ever seen the pitcher make all three putouts before.

Bottom 1 - Damon pops up for the first out. Jeter lines out to second. A few days ago he finally broke Gehrig's record for hits in Yankee Stadium, just before it closed. It's pretty amazing how one of the first great Yankees can set a benchmark that doesn't get passed until the final homestand at the Stadium. It's nearly poetic. Almost makes you forget how pathetic the season was overall. Adam Jones just misses catching a double off Abreu's bat as it pops out of his glove. The next pitch gets away from the catcher and Abreu moves to third. Brian Burres goes 3-0 to A-Rod but gets him to pop out a couple pitches later.

Top 2 - First batter of the inning slaps another single. Luke Scott pops out to Damon. Millar smacks a decent shot but Nady hauls it in. The runner tries to steal second but gets nailed by Moeller to end the inning.

Bottom 2 - Giambi flies to right. Nady might be the best thing to come from this season. He's one of those players who's not a superstar but puts up very good numbers. We'll see next year if this breakout season was real. He flies out to left. Cano's been playing well since getting benched for laziness, but it's too late at this point. He pops out in foul territory. Game's going quickly.

Top 3 - Nady makes a running catch to grab a bloop that nearly fell in. Next batter grounds out to Cody Ransom at short. Roberts works a walk to keep the inning alive. Jones works a full count but eventually becomes the day's first strikeout victim, and we're moving on.

Bottom 3 - Ransom flies to left. Moeller bloops one that Jones makes a great diving catch on. Back to the top of the order with Damon, who pops out to the catcher.

Top 4 - Markakis grounds out to Giambi. Michael Kay won't shut up about the facade, or as he calls it "the freeze". Apparently that's what it's really called, but since the Stadium's closing and no one knows that, who gives a shit? Huff pops out. The DH Salazar strikes out, and Moeller throws to Giambi to complete the play.

Bottom 4 - Jeter grounds out to Millar, who almost screws up the play. Roberts does screw up the next play, and Abreu reaches first, still the only Yankee to be on base. Rodriguez lines a single over the shortstop's head. Giambi strikes out. Nady ends the rally with a weak fly to short, ending the frame.

Top 5 - Another full count and Scott pops out. Lots of balls between the outfielders and infielders today. Millar watches the third strike go by for out number two. Alex Cintron draws a walk on yet another full count. Despite the deep counts, Aceves' pitch count isn't too high. His control seems to be leaving him, as he goes 3-0 on the next hitter. He walks him on the next pitch, and Moeller visits him on the mound. He gets out of it as Robers lines out to Abreu. Game's half over and still no runs.

Bottom 5 - Burres gets Cano to fly out to start the inning. Ransom grounds out. Like a lot of career minor leaguers, he came up and hit a couple home runs, but hasn't done much since. Moeller sees three balls to start his at bat but eventually flies out. This game is super exciting.

Top 6 - Jones singles, but Markakis fails to advance him by lining it right to Damon. Huff misses one as he flies out to Abreu. Salazar hits a weak ground ball and gets an infield single out of it. Scott grounds into a nicely turned force out, inning over.

Bottom 6 - Damon flies out. Cintron just gets Jeter on a close play at first. Abreu flies out. I've never seen a Yankee team go without scoring as much as this one, and that's why they're out of the postseason.

Top 7 - Millar doinks one past A-Rod to lead off against Bruney. He missed a lot of the season but has been great when he's played. I might have been wrong about him. Cintron lines out to left. Abreu, in his infinite mediocrity in the field, just barely catches a pop up in front of him. Roberts walks to keep the trail moving. Another line out to Abreu. I'm going to stop blogging now, because I'm bored and it's clear some sort of curse is in effect which disallows anyone from scoring while I'm typing, and if I don't stop the game will last forever. Be back later to wrap up the game post-seventh inning stretch.

Wrap-Up - Both teams continued to not score until the bottom of the ninth, when Cano singled with the bases loaded and two outs to win the game 1-0. It clinched their third series win in a row, the first time they've done that since right after the All-Star break.

Elimination

Well, that's the season. The Yankees, try as they might, were again eliminated from the playoffs in the first round, after four games. They were looking good in Game 2. And Pettitte had a tremendous, gutsy game. They hadn't scored much, but they were leading Cleveland 1-0 heading into the bottom of the eighth, and Joba was on for a second inning after shutting down the Indians for two outs in the seventh. But something had started previously that was now becoming a big problem... lots and lots of bugs. Midges apparently, they had settled on to the field after the wind had died down and they were everywhere. The Yankee fielders tried using bug spray but it didn't work. Joba's neck and face were covered with them, and it obviously got to him, as he allowed the tying run to score without giving up a hit, just a lot of wild pitches, hit batters, and walks. The offense continued to do nothing until Vizcaino gave up the walkoff in extra innings.

Game 3 started as poorly as Game 2 ended, as Roger Clemens, getting no help from Derek Jeter's phantom error, gave up runs and was visibly uncomfortable on the mound. He was removed in the third inning and replaced by Phil Hughes, who delivered a great performance. He allowed his inherited runner to score on a wild pitch and a bloop double, but shut down the Indians for the next three innings, striking out four. He kept his team in the game until Johnny Damon delivered a go-ahead home run. Joba relieved him in the seventh and seemed to tire before finishing the eighth, and then Mariano closed it in the ninth. Phil was awesome, becoming the youngest Yankee to ever earn a postseason win. Joba was surprisingly human after his incredible regular season, and he shouldn't have let the bugs get to him. But he's not why they lost the series.

Joe Torre, managing what is now likely his last game, decided to start Chien-Ming Wang on short rest for Game 4, despite his poor showing in Game 1. It didn't pay off, as he allowed two runs in the first and loaded the bases in the second before being relieved by the originally intended starter, Mike Mussina. Mussina was decent in reprising Phil's role from the day prior, but not good enough. Cleveland got six runs off the pair, and despite late home runs by Cano, Abreu, and Rodriguez, they ended up losing the game. The Yankees lost because Cleveland got hits when it was needed and New York didn't. The Indians had 12 hits with 2 outs and runners in scoring position, the Yankees had 1. And that's pretty much all you have to know. Derek Jeter grounded into three rally-killing double plays, and Jorge Posada continually struck out with men on base. Alex wasn't great, and will get a lot of blame for this, but he was definitely better than them. He managed four hits in the last two games, but they'll say it wasn't enough, too little too late. There's a strong possibility he and several others won't be on the team next year. He's an amazing hitter, and his offense from third base is simply not replaceable. If he does go to another city, I wish him luck in a place with a local media that's slightly less insane. 2008 could end up a rebuilding year with three promising pitchers 23 or younger in the rotation, but it should be fun regardless of who's still around.

The Yankees Are Streaky

This has been a frustrating season for the Yankees. Since the last game I blogged, they went 10-6. They're within 6 games of the Red Sox and 2.5 games of the wildcard, after being so far from the playoffs for so long. 10-6 wouldn't be so bad in that period, if so many of the losses didn't come consecutively. Those 6 losses include 3 in a row against Baltimore and Detroit and 2 against the Angels, who last night thoroughly embarrassed the team with an 18-9 rout. 10 of those runs were driven in by Garret Anderson, which is disgusting. Garret Anderson is not a good baseball player, at least not any more. The man has 12 walks on the season, how on earth do you give him that many opportunities to hit the ball hard? The Yankees wouldn't be nearly this irritating if they weren't so streaky. They're prone to both long winning streaks and extended slumps. They're fully capable of scoring 10 runs in a game and then getting shut out the next day. The pitching is just as inconsistent as the hitting. Every starter has proven capable of being both great and disastrous, while the bullpen can either shut down an opponent for the duration of a series or get lit up every night.

Most of the players who were struggling early on have improved. Melky and Cano are both having fine seasons after dreadful starts, although they've both slumped lately. Abreu's also turned his season around after a bad start, and is making a strong case for having his option picked up. It's very fair in today's market, and there just aren't many possibilities out there, especially with prospect Jose Tabata's development being hindered by a nagging hand injury that now requires surgery. Johnny Damon still isn't near his expected production, although he's shown improvement in recent days. What's annoying though is Michael Kay being down on him for only having seven home runs, when he's a "20 home run guy". He's done that precisely twice in 13 big league seasons. After Matsui's huge surge in July, he's cooled off in August. Jeter's had a deceptively bad season. He still has a high batting average, but isn't driving in runs like he was earlier, he's not stealing bases like he used to, and his power continues to dwindle. He seems more like a non-factor in this lineup than he ever has, for some reason. Alex Rodriguez is still himself, with six homers since his 500th, although they still come in bunches, with three in two different two-game spans. First base is interesting. Andy Phillips was slumping again after being re-exposed to the league, and is showing basically no power, but has been better lately, maybe worried about his job since Wilson Betemit got here. Betemit is still prone to the strikeout, and really shouldn't be facing tough lefties, but he's still OPSing over .900 with the team. Jorge Posada is still amazing for his age, Jason Giambi has been good since returning, and Shelley Duncan hasn't stopped being a useful pinch hitter.

Mussina was going well for a while, but has been awful in his last two starts. Chien Ming-Wang has also struggled lately, but not as horribly. Roger Clemens has done well besides the bone-headed move to hit Alex Rios in defense of Rodriguez, which cost him a start and led to a brutal 12-0 drubbing by the Orioles when Jeff Karstens took the start in his stead. Whatever effectiveness Karstens had last year appears to be gone, as he's been demoted back to the minors. I still think he could be a useful long-man or back-end starter, but probably not on a team that intends to win. Andy Pettitte scuffled around the all-star break after a good-but-unlucky first half, but now he's rebounded and been on a roll, winning all four starts in August. He's been the Yankees' workhorse this year, and definitely who I'd want to start the first game of an important series. Phil Hughes has only had one good start since coming back, against Cleveland. He's been walking batters, which he doesn't normally do, and his command just isn't where it's been in his minor league career. He was doing well against the Angels, throwing four scoreless innings after a three run double in the second, but allowed two base runners in the seventh, both of which scored after he was taken out, making his start seem significantly worse. Right now, if they make the playoffs, I might make him the fourth starter instead of Mussina. His control has been an issue, but he still has shown flashes of his ability, and Mussina has really been terrible the last two games. By the end of the season, if they do make it, I hope Mike has things basically figured out, and I bet he gets the starts, with Phil going to the bullpen to help when he can. I think Phil has the potential for a Mussina-like career, which would be awesome. Right now though, he's been showing some rookie problems and mistakes, like not hustling off the mound to make the play on a grounder to first, which led to two runs and an eventual loss. Going by both the team's record in his starts (3-3) and his Win Probability Added (-0.02), he's neither helped nor hurt the team significantly. Also interesting is despite the fact that righties hit worse off him than lefties (normal), he's above average at striking out lefties while below average at fanning rightes (not normal).

Mariano Rivera's at that time of the year again where he struggles and we all question how much longer he can be good. I think he'll be okay for the rest of the year and hopefully will be effective through 2009 (he really wants to pitch in the new stadium), but he definitely shouldn't be leaned on as heavily as Joe Torre seems to like. He has other effective arms in that pen now, he just needs to mix them well. Edwar Ramirez has recovered after a disaster before his first demotion, and Vizcaino has been a pretty effective setup-guy. Kyle Farnsworth became a pariah, but after pitching some good games and striking out even-more-hated Gary Sheffield and ML-batting-leader Magglio Ordonez in a tight game, he's on the way to winning back some support. Ron Villone probably shouldn't be on the team anymore. I'd rather have another righty like Britton than an ineffective lefty.

You can't mention the bullpen without mentioning Joba. Since coming up he's lit the world on fire. In an obviously small sample size of 7 innings, he's given up no runs and struck out almost half the batters he's faced, with more than half of his outs coming on strikeouts. Obviously he won't keep this up forever, but it's raised an interesting question of his future role. If he can be anywhere near this absurdly dominant as a closer, some think he should stay there instead of moving back to starting. Having a good closer is important to having a good team. A pitcher with an average leverage index for a closer, who throws 70 innings with a 2.00 ERA, which Joba could very conceivably do, has the same VORP as a starter who throws 200 innings with a 3.69 ERA (Sorry about those nerdy, esoteric terms of discussion, you can ask if you don't get it). In a relatively pitching-strong season, that would qualify as 31st among this year's qualifying starters. That's a pretty good pitcher. The thing is, I think Joba could be that good without that much projection. He has a killer fastball and slider, and two more offspeed pitches with room to develop, which would be a very good repetoire. He could be deadly with just average command, which he basically has. He's also very good at maintaining his velocity deep into games, as witnessed in his minor league starts. A lot of the concern about his weight and injury problems has gone away. The fact is, Phil Hughes was the consensus best or second-best pitching prospect in the minors at the beginning of the year, and a lot of those same analysts now project Joba to be better than him. He could be dominant for years to come. A specimen with malevolent stuff, as Bill Simmons would say. I think a lot of people don't realize how many great closers were failed starters. Mariano Rivera is regarded by many as the best closer of all time. He was a bad starter before he converted to relief. You don't need an amazing, otherworldly closer to be a good team, just one who gets the job done. You should at least make sure Joba isn't your best starting pitcher (which he has the potential to be) before you make him your closer.

Liveblog 3: The Yankees Are Terrible

For a while there, it looked like the Yankees were finally coming around and starting to win consistently. It turns out, they were just playing the Texas Rangers. Besides taking 5 of 6 from them, nothing has gone right for the team. They lost 4 out of 7 to the Mariners when they should have lost only two. They lost a series against the White Sox and are on the verge of being swept by the Mets. Meanwhile, Boston continues to pound out wins and has built a double digit lead in the standings. It really doesn't look good for the Yankees.

The team just doesn't look good, as exemplified by the two losses to the Mets. In the first game, they got a strong start from Andy Pettitte but could barely put together any offense and lost 2 to 3. Andy could easily have 4 or 5 more wins if the bullpen and offense didn't constantly let him down. In the second game, the offense showed some life, especially late, pounding the Mets for 7 runs. But they lost another starter to injury (Rasner with a broken finger) and the bullpen sucked it up, giving up 10 runs. They weren't helped by Robinson Cano's terrible defense, which he really can't afford considering his lack of hitting this year, although he hit a home run in the loss. Damon isn't hitting, and a home run was hit off his glove. After an amazing April, Rodriguez has done almost nothing in May. Abreu is doing nothing. First base is doing nothing. Giambi is doing nothing. Posada, incredibly leading the league in batting, can't take a day off because his backup is an out machine. Matsui has been decent and Jeter has been great. Brian Bruney should be the eighth inning guy instead of Kyle Farnsworth. Farnsworth, in 18 appearances, has only had two innings without a baserunner. Meanwhile, Bruney hasn't given up a run in over 9 innings. Roger Clemens might be ready for the majors after only two starts in the minors. He looked pretty good pitching against A hitters. I wonder if he'll really have an impact on the race or if the yankees are just throwing money at a problem that can't be fixed.

Tyler Clippard is going to try to stop the losing tonight. He's the Yankees' seventh (!!!) rookie to start a game in the team's first 42 games, which is the most for any team in about fifty years, and the fifth to make his major league debut. There's a lot of debate about how good he is. His fastball isn't great, but he has decent off-speed pitches, and has had good numbers in the minors. A lot of scouts don't think very highly of him, though. Hopefully, he can do well enough to not embarrass the team and the Yankees smack Maine around a bit, who seems to be coming down from a stellar beginning to the season.

The first time I blogged a game, it was Chase Wright's second start, and Boston chased him back to the minors with four consecutive home runs. The second time, it was Phil Hughes' second start, and he carried a no-hitter to the seventh before injuring his hamstring, and he still isn't throwing from the mound yet. Maybe blogging Clippard's first start instead of his second will break the unlucky streak. If it doesn't, I might have to just stop doing it. I'll be back tonight.

Top 1 - What's the percent chance that Joe Morgan says something stupid tonight? 60? 70? I'm just kidding. We all know it's impossible for him to talk for three hours without saying something idiotic. Wow, that didn't take long. Apparently, A-Rod is the reason why the Yankees have fallen off. He was carrying them in April, and that's the only reason their offensive deficiencies were covered up before and have been exposed now. Really? Because they haven't fallen off. Their record in May, when A-Rod has stunk, is better than it was in April, when he was amazing. Joe also said he's not bad now, just back to normal. In May, Alex has a .258/.372/.379 line with only 2 homers and 6 RBI. His average line for his career is .306/.386/.575 with about 7.33 home runs and about 21 RBI a month. Joe Morgan is a moron who does absolutely no research and has no idea what he's talking about. Damon takes a few pitches before popping out to Wright. Jeter flies out to right field. Matsui is batting third now, which makes sense, since he's a lefty between Jeter and Rodriguez and one of three Yankees that seem to know how to hit right now. He slaps a double to left field. A-Rod works the count before striking out looking. Considering how vehemently he's arguing the call, you'd think ESPN would show the pitch on the K-Zone or whatever they call it, but they go to commercial.

Bottom 1 - So here's Clippard. Let's hope this goes well. He has quite a violent delivery. Two called strikes and a nice curve ball later, and Reyes is struck out swinging. I thought the third pitch to Chavez was a strike, but it was called a ball. A few pitches later, he pops out to left. He gets Beltran to fly out, and that was a promising inning.

Top 2 - Posada leads off with a walk. Seriously, it's late May and he leads the league in batting average. I don't know what's going on. He and Jeter are sharing a pretty long hit streak coming into tonight. Abreu bloops a single, first and second. Cano hits a foul ball a few feet from a home run. He's not a .340 hitter but he's not a .240 hitter either. He grounds into a fielder's choice, runners on the corners and one out. Doug strikes out trying to do too much, and there will be no runs this inning, as Clippard is doing something he will almost never have to do, bat. He strikes out, of course.

Bottom 2 - Clip-dog takes the mound again after failing to help himself out. He strikes out Delgado looking. The umpire seems to be giving both pitchers the left corner pretty liberally. David Wright smacks a home run to right field. How does he have no power all year and then hit three home runs in two games against the Yankees? Shawn Green gets a ground-rule double off the fans. Apparently it's still cool to play that one Blur song that goes "Woo-hoo!" at ballgames. Lo Duca strikes out. I don't understand how Clippard doesn't have more velocity. He's tall, throws pretty hard, and has added some muscle. Maybe it will come in time. Easley is being intentionally walked to face the pitcher. Jon Miller says Clip-dog is "only" 24, but he's actually 22. He's nibbling too much against Maine, he should just throw strikes. The umpire doesn't call a strike I'm pretty sure he's called before. I'd rather have a way too big or way too small strike zone than an inconsistent one. He walks Maine, which he definitely shouldn't have done. Joe Morgan continues to prove he's an idiot. First he quotes Mike Tyson to make a point about how after the home run, we've seen holes in Clippard's pitching. He claims Clippard pitches worse in the stretch than in the windup. I'd disagree based on just what we've seen here. Two hits from the windup, just a walk from the stretch, not counting the intentional one. Reyes pops out to end the inning, so the damage is minimized, but Clippard threw about 30 pitches that inning. The bullpen had to pitch the whole game yesterday because of Rasner's injury, so the Yankees need a bit of distance from Clip-dog, and he's not giving them that with innings like this.

Top 3 - Damon grounds out. Morgan says the lineup seems easier to go through without Sheffield in it. I'm sure that's the reason they're near the top of the league in runs per game since he's been gone. Jeter works the count full and then rips a double to left field. Maine has thrown a lot of pitches too. This could end up being a bullpen slugfest, which doesn't favor the Yankees. Beltran comes very close to making a great play to rob Matsui, but he does manage to save a run since Jeter held up in case he caught it. Runners on 2nd and 3rd. Only in baseball can something happen like Jeter being on second when a double is hit and not score. Rodriguez strikes out. How can a player be this far above and below his career averages in back to back months? Breathtaking regression to the mean. If you just look at the totals, he's having a pretty good year. This doesn't look like the Yankees' night. With one out, they hit two doubles and don't score in the inning.

Bottom 3 - At first Clippard was only throwing strikes, but now he's diggin' him some balls. Chavez works another walk. Beltran squibs a grounder for a fielder's choice. Delgado grounds into an unorthodox double play and the inning is over relatively quickly despite the walk.

Top 4 - Morgan made the wild claim last inning, I believe, that Beltran has like, the highest stolen base success rate ever, or something. I went and checked it, and it's actually true, except he doesn't have enough at bats yet to qualify in a lot of lists. Interesting. Abreu works a walk somehow. The Yankees use a hit and run to stay out of a double play as Cano grounds out. You see how Maine's pitching to Mientkiewicz even though the pitcher is up next and first base is open? It's because Mientkiewicz is not a good hitter. I don't care how bad the pitcher is, Damion Easley has no business being intentionally walked. Mientkiewicz ends up walking anyway, hilariously, and Clippard is up. He successfully bunts the runners over, even if that might not really be success since it decreases the average number of runs scored in that situation to the end of the inning. It worked out in the end, as Damon fists a double in front of the outfielders and two runs score. Two more score on a home run by Derek Jeter. What's this feeling? Is it... joy? Hope? I won't embrace it yet. Matsui a drives a long fly out to left and the inning is over, Yankees leading 4-1.

Bottom 4 - If Clip-dog can give two more innings without much incident I'll be psyched. He gets revenge on Wright, striking him out on three pitches with some help from the umps. He comes back from 2-0 on Green to get him to ground it to Cano. Lo Duca hits a single up the middle. Is it a good sign that the three hits off Clippard have gone for fewer bases each time? Miller calls a bad curve a hanging slider despite Clippard not having a slider in his repertoire. Is it really that hard to check before the game to make sure you know what a pitcher does and doesn't throw? At least the starters. A quick inning has gotten longer with a full count on Easley. He strikes out swinging on a nice curve, and that's the inning. Long game, only 4 innings in about 100 minutes.

Top 5 - As pointed out by Peter Abraham from LoHud, A-Rod's high leg kick is back, and it seems to be there whenever he's not hitting well. He pops out. Posada absolutely CRUSHES a home run, and both he and Jeter have used the long ball to help extend their hit streaks to 15 games. Abreu flies out to center. Reyes dives to stop a grounder from Cano and just misses throwing him out at first. Why did Cano just try to steal? He doesn't run fast. Inning over.

Bottom 5 - So, there's this drug for older guys with prostate problems who have trouble urinating. It's called Flomax. I think that's awesome. Maine is out, and grounded out for by David Newhan. Reyes copycat-grounds out to the same place. Morgan is going on about how Clip-dog falls off to different sides of the mound based on the pitch he throws, but I don't think it's really a problem. Even if hitters are capable of seeing where he's going and then getting a read on where the pitch is, they can't guess what it is because he has a fastball and an offspeed pitch in both directions. Chavez makes the third ground out to Cano of the inning.

Top 6 - Schoeneweis is in, which could mean more runs. Mientkiewicz is up, and if I see a pinch hitter up after him I'll be mad, because Clip should be allowed to try the 6th. Eye chart strikes out. Fortunately, he's batting, so he'll get a shot. They're saying he helped his own cause by bunting in the third, which is only true if you assume he would have hit into a double play otherwise, because four runs would have scored on a double and homer whether or not those runners advanced. He's somehow working the count, and miraculously hits a freaking double in the gap. Amazing. Imagine if he did that instead of bunting. Of course, Maine is much better than Schoeneweis. Damon strikes out as well. Jeter is being walked to face Matsui, who flies out to left. He's not hitting lefties like he used to this year.

Bottom 6 - Here's Clippard against the heart of the Mets' batting order for the third time. He'll probably be taken out if he allows a base runner. Beltran hits a deep fly out to Damon in left center. Delgado strikes out looking on five pitches. What I find funny about Gameday is that they don't acknowledge mistakes by umpires. It doesn't matter how outside the zone a pitch actually was, they'll pretend he was right and draw the location like it was a strike. There wasn't a real mistake here, they just drew a swinging strike near the middle of the zone when it was clearly half a foot above it from the video. Wright pops out. Hell, let Clip start the seventh against the bottom of the order. Who cares, they won't do much.

Top 7 - Morgan tried to make excuses near the beginning of the game that Clippard was getting outs because the Mets haven't seen him before, but he's gotten better as the game's gone on. Rodriguez hits a laser to left for a homer, and maybe he's getting hot again. Posada clubs an out to Beltran. Abreu doubles to right, and maybe Clippard's spot will come up and he'll be pinch hit for. Who am I kidding? He's not starting the seventh either way. Torre allow a rookie to throw over 100 pitches? Never. There's a pitching change for Cano. A lot of people seem to think Clemens' ability to leave the team between starts is actually written in his contract, but it isn't. It's just an agreement with the team. Cano grounds out. Mientkiewicz is hit with the ball, but the umpire is saying he didn't attempt to get out of the way. It looked to me like he just turned the wrong way to avoid it. The at-bat continues. How come they never call that for Bonds and Biggio who wear all that padding and just stand there waiting to get hit? Doug pops out to end the inning.

Bottom 7 - Amazingly, Clippard gets to start the seventh. Wait, that's Scott Proctor on the mound. Never mind. Morgan thinks it's great he was taken out after pitching well because it builds his confidence. Wouldn't being given a chance to pitch the seventh build more confidence? Either he finishes it and gets even more confidence, or he gets hit and taken out, but still is in line for the win and knows Torre let him give it a shot, building maybe less confidence but still more than just pitching six. Torre and Morgan are the twin Joes of baseball idiocy. A Lo Duca single is sandwiched by two pop outs to Rodriguez. Pinch hitter Gotay hits a double, runners on second and third. Reyes strikes out looking, inning over. Rivera should pitch the ninth because he hasn't gone in a while but I wonder who gets the eighth.

Top 8 - Aaron Heilman has the goofiest picture I've ever seen on Gameday. Here, look at it:

What the hell, right? He doesn't normally look like that (His picture has been changed to a less goofy one since I posted this). Scott Proctor strikes out, leading me to believe he'll pitch the eighth. Awesome. Which is worse, a blister or tearing the skin on your finger? Apparently blisters are a bigger long term problem, at least for Josh Beckett's pitching hand. Damon pops out to the catcher. Jeter skies it to Beltran to end the inning.

Bottom 8 - Another inning for Scott. I hope he relaxed his arm good during that suspension, because he's gonna be using it a lot soon. I'll be surprised if he doesn't log more than three innings against the Red Sox in the next series. Chavez grounds out. Beltran hits a single in front of Abreu. I'd just like to take a moment to remark on how amazing the faces are in Half-Life 2. They look supremely realistic and manage to completely avoid the Uncanny Vally. Good stuff. Delgado advances the runner while grounding out. Wright strikes out to end the inning.

Top 9 - Until the Yankees stop winning blowouts and stop losing close games, they'll never live up to their Pythagorean Record. Matsui squeaks a single past Wright. They just showed a hilarious video of a grounds crewman unrolling some turf or something and there was a kitten inside that popped out. It was pretty hilarious. A-Rod pops out. Posada does so as well. Abreu works a walk. Many players are showing signs they may be awakening from their slumber. Cano grounds out, inning over.

Bottom 9 - Mariano in the ninth. He only has three saves this year, which is insane. Few opportunities + ineffectiveness = not many saves. As long as he does his job I don't care how many saves he gets, I just feel bad for unfortunate fantasy owners. Shawn Green grounds out to Cano. Lo Duca flies out to defensive replacement Melky Cabrera in center. The last inning of a game that isn't close is always boring, and the last hitter always seems to not want to give up. Just let it go, dude. Or hit a home run, whatever. Julio Franco pinch hitting for the pitcher. Did you know he's like, really old? Crazy, huh? What's interesting about him is that he's only in his nineteenth year of service despite being 48. He joined the bigs late but he still managed a pretty long stay through crazy conditioning. He strikes out to put this one to rest.

Wrap-up - Woo, game over. In the three games I blogged, the Yankees are 2-1 with a Grade 1 hamstring pull. Because of the bad outcomes of the first two games, I thought I might be cursing the team, even though that's ridiculous. From tonight's win, we know it isn't blogging games, we know it isn't blogging Yankee games, and we know it isn't blogging Yankee games started by rookies. It could still be a curse of blogging Yankee games started by rookies in their second career start, so I'll lay off doing that. Also, I wonder if calling the Yankees terrible in the post title helped. I'll try to continue the trend by doing that next time.

The Yankees' First Homestand

The Yankees have finished their first two series of the year at home, and tonight they play against the Twins in Minnesota. They are 2-3, having had one game against the Devil Rays postponed due to weather. It's not the best start imaginable, but it's only been five games, so I'm not really worried at all. But what isn't great about the losses is that they were deserved and not just unlucky. Offensively, the Yankees have been very good, tied for 4th in the majors in runs scored, with all the teams ahead of them having played more games. A big part of the offense has been Alex Rodriguez, who leads the majors in home runs, runs batted in, and slugging percentage. Moronic fans and members of the media had already been piling on him for not being clutch this season, but he shut them up with a game winning grand slam against the Orioles. Whether he stays or goes at the beginning of the year, it looks like he'll have a great season.

The bullpen has also been very good so far this year. They haven't given much to opposing teams, unfortunately it's hard to win with your bullpen when the guys who pitch before them are giving up so many runs. The starting pitching has been very bad so far, and they haven't been helped by equally bad defense. The Yankees have committed eight errors, which is tied for the Major League lead, the worst offender being captain Derek Jeter, who has three by himself and should have four. In a play with the bases loaded, the ball was dunked perfectly in short right field for a hit, scoring two runs. Bobby Abreu fielded the ball and fired to Jeter at second, who should have had the greedy runner out easily, but Jeter dropped the ball, and the runner was safe, while allowing yet another run to score. The official scorer somehow, insanely, decided this was a double and not a single with an error, and even more insanely, Michael Kay said it was an error on Abreu, who should have made sure to magically will Jeter to catch the perfectly good throw, apparently. In addition to the errors, the Yankee field has also shown magnificently poor range, and I wonder how well they can help out the numerous ground ball pitchers on the team this way.

I don't really want to blame the starters, as they all have decent excuses for not performing well. Pavano hadn't pitched a major league game since 2005. Igawa never had. Pettitte and Mussina are both getting older and it was very cold in New York this week. And Rasner, in addition to not being very good, seemed to be having some sort of blister problem. That's still no excuse for not one of them going past five innings in their first go-around. They're going to kill the bullpen if they don't do better than this. I have all confidence they will, I'd just like to see it soon before everyone else blows out their arms. Here's a comparison of the starters' and relievers' numbers in the first five games, including Pettitte's one inning of relief:

5 Starters: 21 2/3 IP, 27 runs, 24 ER, 9.97 ERA, 12 SO, 13 BB

8 Relievers: 23 1/3 IP, 4 runs, 3 ER, 1.16 ERA, 17 SO, 10 BB

That's a dominant bullpen. If the starters can just get decent length, with this offense, the Yankees will win lots of games. Let's see if Pavano can get things started right tonight. Luckily, they won't have to face Johan Santana in this series.